The day was young and along with the brilliant warmth of the Sun its radiance illuminated the whole desolate lands. Not so high mountains covered the place. Rivers of the white sands flowed between them spreading into the planes irregularly.
Rocky hills with nothing growing on them, lay barren devoid of any civilisations. This was the way of the cold desert.
'I guess it's not called hell for no reason,' he thought.
A soldier, a warrior of unknown war. A man with no home to go back. No family, no friends.
Maybe he had once. Who remembers now. He doesn't even remember his own name. This was a fate of the worst kind for any person, undoubtedly.
Just a sentence, or a command perhaps? For some reason those were the only words he remembered. Who ordered? Who commanded? Or was it a request? He didn't know. The sentence itself was hazy in his memories.
"AAH" he screamed, almost forgetting he was suffering from pain and agony of the severe wounds. Worst of all, he was bleeding. He didn't know where in the world he was. Or how did he get here?
His own existence remained a mystery to him.
His throat felt dry as the cold air caressed his bruised skin. The atmosphere in this place lacked humidity making people often die of thrust. These cold white lands weren't that different from those hot, burning deserts. Just their method of taking life was different, that's all.
The Sun was upon him. Its rays, which should have been gentle, clung onto his skin like countless thorns. Making every part of his skin ache from the constant warm touch.
Panting from exhaustion, he thought of taking a rest for now.
"How many days have passed since then?" The warrior collapsed and finally fell on the ground. Only his subconscious didn't betray him. He knew for some reason he had to remain alive. Hell, he would have died himself, had taken his own life if it weren't for the words resounded in his mind that too slowly disappearing without a trace. Fading away slowly from existence.
"YOU ARE THE RUIN OF WAR, LAST WITNESS OF THE DEAD.
MUST LIVE, MUST FIGHT, MUST PREVAIL"
"I will" he whispered, again and again, unknown determination embracing his facial expressions,
"I will, …I will"
The warrior fell unconscious, puddles of blood painting the white sand on its path …crimson.
— — —
"What? What was that?" May asked out of genuine curiosity, "was that a character introduction or something? What did it even wanted to convey? There is nothing but mystery."
"It sure was …mystery, I mean" he replied, nodding in agreement, "but, that is what makes it interesting doesn't it?"
"Interesting?" May asked furrowing her brows with a wry smile full of confusion on her face, "is history supposed to be interesting?"
At her confused words August let out a chuckle, "I feel you. Believe me no one could be more surprised on this than me."
"B …but" she asked in her continued confused expression, "you don't look that surprised to me."
August couldn't hold himself and let out a huge laugh. There was something in the confused expressions of this always composed girl that he found adorable. The fact that she wasn't able to process the concept of history filled with fabrications made August realise how honest and truthful she was for this world which itself was made from lies and deceit.
He wasn't able to guess the reason for her being so naive towards the workings of the world despite of her living in the epicenter of most of the human activities. The Great Empire wasn't by far any inferior to the other human nations after all. If anything, it was superior to most of them.
But August didn't mind teaching her a thing or two about the harsh conditions of human transactions. He himself felt a little happy about the sudden change in her attitude. The moment he met this girl, August watched her being so composed all the time up to the point he felt a little surprised to witness the peak of human conviction.
And now when May was behaving less like an elegant noble lady with royal etiquettes and more like a genuinely curious child acting her age, it felt different. Positively of course.
It was refreshing to see her out of her shell of mannerism of strict nobility.
"Hmph!" August thought as he heard her pout and then May spoke facing the other way, "You don't have to make fun of me alright."
"What?" August realised there has been a misunderstanding but it also felt kind of good actually, "I didn't mean to make fun of you. Rather than laughing at you I was laughing at your reaction to the book. It was different."
May didn't look quite convinced by his argument but she heard him despite that asking with a side glance, "Different? How so?"
August opened his mouth to say something, sighed and spoke, "I mean different from your usual behaviour."
"Usual behaviour?" She asked quickly in a concerned tone, a crack appearing in her usual calm demeanor, "How can you say so? It's only been a day since we met."
Now the fun and jokes atmosphere between those two was turning into something serious slowly. The tension in the air was to be felt clearly. Therefore, August didn't hold back either.
"Look, Miss May" he replied in a calm manner, knowing he was about to cross the boundary, "I don't think anyone can see that you are trying so hard to conceal your emotions. If you ask me, you can let it loose sometimes. It's obvious that you carry a burden of a secret on your shoulders. We all are hiding something aren't we?" waving his hand he continued, "everyone has a secret. So please don't over exert yourselves over that."
"Nonsense!" She seemed surprised as her eyes grew wider at his words at first but she hid it quickly, "Please refrain yourself from making any wild speculations."
"Can't apologise over the truth though" he said keeping his demeanor calm, "I always speak my mind."
Outside of his family, Shelly and a few other people he personally knew in the town, August never cared much about others. But the strange feeling that this girl in front of him was also burdened by something up to the point he felt a bit concerned for her —left August himself surprised. He wanted nothing more to be relaxed and for the people around him the same as well. So he felt a strange sensation of wanting to help that girl. No, more like there was an invisible pull between him and her suppressed emotions.
May pushed the wheels of her wheelchair away from him and said facing away, in her elegant way of speech, "I fear this session of book reading has to end for now."
"Very well" August closed the book in his hands with a sigh, then spoke something before she went away, "Look I ..I am sorry but If you ever want to talk, I am here."
August sat alone in the living area of their wooden mansion looking outside from the glassy window with a somber expression. His time with the daughter of Fiona family hadn't ended quite well. Right now he was wondering if it would have been alright if he kept his mouth shut and let the things proceed as they were going.
That would have been quite good actually if he hadn't meddled with her private life.
But August doesn't have any regrets. On the contrary, he would have regretted if he had chosen not to ask the emerging question in his mind then.
She looked burdened and he wanted to help her ease the burden. Why? He didn't know himself.
Maybe it was his sense of kindness, or morality or something.
Whatever it was, the most important thing was the intention. And he was obviously positive. The reason his talk with her turned out like that was his inability to handle those types of situations. It was the same mistake of not being able to keep his emotions in check which led to a serious argument between him and his father a long time ago.
Now August has done it again.
'Curse me'
"Why can't my mouth remain quiet for a moment?"
Well whatever. The deed was done and there was no way to go back to the moment. Ignore his comments or to take offense — it was up to her completely. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't do anything now. So, it was a waste of time to linger on this for very long.
Massaging his temples, August sighed again, cleared his mind and headed for breakfast.
— — —
The day passed quickly and the night also vanished in a hurry. The next day, August stood straight at the front yard of his house with a wooden sword in his hand. He was panting heavily while had taken a stance with both of his hands on the handle of the sword and was looking at the wooden tip of it with utmost concentration.
After a while, he relaxed his body and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off his face. Taking a sip of the cold water he stared at the distant mountain chains which for some reason always seemed away from his reach.
During his practice session today he was constantly being reminded about his lack of a personal weapon. His father did say to bring something for him from the capital though. For now August couldn't ask him about the matter because his father was hosting the guest. And in two days both of those old buddies seemed to be out of the house for most of the time.
Well, they could be doing some grown up stuff for all August cared.
His mother would be also going out for the classes, which meant that he was alone with Fiona siblings at home today. August wondered how he would spend the day knowing he wasn't on good terms with both of them actually.
"Hey! How ya doin?" The voice of Shelly came suddenly from behind startling August to his core.
"Woah!" he screamed, holding the left side of his chest, causing the towel to fall on the ground. Then he got a hold of himself catching his breath he lashed out, "are you out of your goddamn mind? Who in the world goes around startling people to death?"
Shelly however did not reply to his comment, only a viciously teasing smile on her face grew wide. After a moment or so she made her expressions serious and said,
"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that"
August was a little surprised to see his ever so stupid friend act completely out of her character all of a sudden. But she didn't give him any chance to speak as she continued,
"...And I am here to tell you that I will be out of town for sometime so please don't miss me. Don't cry for me. Since my father is waiting, I don't have much time to explain and don't ask stupid questions any further. Okay only one and that's enough."
August stared at her with a bored expression thinking he would finally have some quiet time. He was somewhat curious about Shelly's sudden trip though. So he contemplated the most efficient and short answered question in his mind so that starting from her answer his quiet time would start as soon as possible.
"How much time will you be spending out of town?"
In the flow of the moment he forgot to twist the question therefore his intention was very direct.
'oops'
Shelly immediately responded, "Don't know."
'God! This creature'
"Okay bye then" She turned and went away with hurried clumsy steps with her last words,
"...fine, you can miss me a little"
August inhaled deeply. For some reason the air today felt fresh and the warm rays of sunlight gentle on his skin. The world around him seemed more colourful. He enjoyed the best morning of his life with closed eyes, feeling the touch of gentle breeze on his skin. A polite smile of genuine happiness appeared on his lips as if he was a bird being freed from his cage after a thousand years and today was the day he finally was going to fly again spreading his wings in the boundless sky.
'Miss you? yeah, as if I'd do that.'
— — — — —