A Simple Day

Days passed without any mercy, time flowed like a river as everything kept going on. The war intensified as people started to lose their lives. Commoners started to feel the pressure of war from the high taxes and nobles made preparations to ensure the safety of their lands.

Lords with good hearts prioritized the well-being of their town while greedy ones only pumped up more resources, into the defence of their high and mighty castles, only to keep themselves tightly covered like a holed up bug.

The royal family, calm and collected, awaited something. Even high-ranking officials of the Kingdom didn't know the thoughts of the king, deeply hidden inside of his head. Still, one thing was definitely clear: This war wouldn't be a short one.

*********

''What are you watching, Leo?'' A soft glow, reminiscent of the sun, asked. There were no voice nor any action, only a thought.

''I'm watching the blue sky.''

''Blue sky? But, there are dark clouds. Many of them. How can you see the blue sky with them blocking it?''

''Light, you know that clouds are temporary. The sky is endless, eternal. It may look like I can't see it now but eventually, it will come out.''

''When it comes out, can I ask where it did go? Mr. Blue Sky must have seen a lot of things after all.''

''You can!'' Little boy, Leonardo, said as he patted the small ball of light in his hand, a small grin creeping on his face. ''I also wonder what stories it will bring to us tomorrow! Say light, can you guess it?''

''I don't know, Mr. Blue Sky's will is much larger than mine. He can see tons of things. But mine is only tiny...'' The soft hue of light radiating from the orb slowly dimmed, like it was going to lose its brilliance.

''Light, don't be so sad. We are little right now, right?'' Leonardo said as he puffed out his chest like he was proud of himself being a child. ''When the time comes, we will be much bigger, much stronger! And you can't know what will happen in the future. Maybe you can even be bigger than Mr. Blue Sky!''

''Bigger than Mr. Blue Sky?''

''Yes, Bigger than him!'' Leonardo said as he lifted up the orb of light with his tiny hands.

''But-but, what is bigger than Mr. Blue Sky?''

''Sun!''

''Sun?'' Light, with a tiny voice, muttered. Then, his small radiance slowly increased in size. A wave of light swept the room from head to toe as a cheerful thought emerged in Leonardo's head ''Yeah, being sun doesn't sound bad!''

''Right?'' With a wide grin, Leonardo looked at the sky again. It was already cleared, clouds nowhere in sight. The golden sun hanging in the sky was blinding, blinding enough to make Leonardo's eyes hurt. Still, Leonardo didn't close his eyes. Why? Only one reason:

''Mr. Blue Sky!''

*********

A shell. He is like a shell these years. He moves, he talks, he reads or writes. Yet, there is nothing. There is no meaning behind his actions. I can't see the excited glint he always had when reading books. I'm not even sure he is reading or not.

Leo won't respond to me, no matter what happens. No matter how much I talk, no matter how much I shout to him, he won't. I try to reach out to him, to release him from his shackles.

Yet, he won't even try. It's like, he is ignoring me. Like, I'm not existing at all. I don't know what to do. I don't want to see him get ruined. I don't want to...

Please, tell me. What should I do, Mr. Blue Sky?

*********

Calder was sitting on his chair, scratching his grayish-white hair as he flipped through the books on the table. He was constantly tapping on the ground with his leg in a rhythm like he was distressed. ''Is it worth it, Young Leonardo?''

Sitting on his messy bed, Leonardo replied with indifference ''What is it, Calder?''

''Is it worth to grieve over an arm? Something you can't get back, it's just silliness...''

''It is precisely because I can't get it back.'' Leonardo was irritated by Calder's calm voice as he replied back aggressively. ''I don't know how you would feel Calder but I am a noble as well as the son of a warrior. It's just, Just cruel to me.''

''Fighting is not for kids like you, Young Leonardo. Children like you should stay in their schools and learn about etiquette and respect towards elders.''

''Are you doubting my nobility, Calder?''

Leonardo's questioning tone, as well as his slightly aggressive behavior, didn't affect Calder's mood at all. He simply continued to flip through the books, same again.

'' It's not doubting, Leonardo. It's a fact. You are not a noble. You don't have the disposition of a noble nor you have the veteran aura of a warrior.''

''What AM I then? Am I nothing in your eyes?'' Instinctively, Leonardo felt a deep frustration. When he felt Calder doubting, ignoring him, a mysterious rage swelled inside of his heart.

''You are, just like how I said, a child. A poor child who faced a fate that you shouldn't have. A fate people like me should have faced.''

''...'' Leonardo fell silent as he felt the weight from the words of Calder. There was something wrong with his words. No, there was a truth. A truth he didn't dare to face. Instinctively, Calder's scar-filled, bareback felt broader to him. It was only for an instant but that mysterious feeling was deeply etched into his mind already.

Leonardo shook his head as he switched the topic.

''What are you writing?''

''Random things. Martial arts, War, strategy, magic, drama, etc.''

''You sure write about many things.''

''You could say that.'' Leonardo, though very subtle, to the point of none, felt a small disturbance from Calder's voice. It was, pride?

''Why are you writing though? To spend time?''

''When you read too many books, It's inevitable to stop your urge to write''

Leonardo faintly guessed before but it was still a surprise to him when he heard it from Calder himself. As an old bookworm himself, it was hard to encounter people with the same interest as him, with the exception of mages. Though mages were another headache as they always read about magic formulas/arrays/symbols as well as hypothesizes. Simply, they were subjects of uninterest to Leonardo.

''What do you read most of the time?''

Calder slowly turned around to look at Leonardo, a hint of amusement in his eyes. ''There aren't many books I can read in here.''

''That's true...''Leonardo once more became silent.

''Though there may be an exception.''

''Exception?'' Leonardo lifted his head and looked at Calder, his eyes holding some sparks of interest.

''I don't have any books but I can create paper and ink to write things with some small Soul Power.''

''So?''

''Let's make a deal. I'll let you read things in my books and you will give me your thoughts about them.''

''You want pointers from me? Calder, I don't have much confidence in myself you should know.''

''I don't care if you are confident or not, just tell me what you think. In exchange, I will give you sets of ink and paper to write books from your memory.''

''Well, this doesn't seem too fair though. I'm doing most of the work.''

''Young Leonardo, You know that coating of this cell makes me unable to regenerate my Soul Power.''

''You are right...'' Leonardo nodded in understanding. Though these 2 huge cell doors were hurdles for normal people. Yet to high-level mages, they were nothing. With simple spells like fireball or Lightning bolt, they could be destroyed. Though the wardens and constructors of the prison were no idiots.

Using Soul grass's dew to coat the wall of a place was commonly used in the world. Soul grass could replenish Soul power, albeit very slowly unless it was used as a herb with correct methods. But it's dew was much more different. It could swallow Soulpower around the surroundings to deplete/eradicate Soulpower, making the people near to it unable to regenerate their source of soul.

Though it's properties looked amazing, to really deplete all Soulpower in a 10-meter area one had to use several hundreds of them. Luckily, they were mass produced in near to every place in the world.

Back to the topic, creating paper or ink was not that significant. The amount of Soulpower required to create them was too low but in such an environment, it was important to preserve Soulpower lest something happened.

''That is unless you can use Soulpower?''

''I can't'' Leonardo shook his head.

''I thought you nobles had a quite high aptitude to become mages?''

''My family is not from a Mage Lineage. Father said that we were much more different than them.''

''Different?''

''Well, let me show you. It's meaningless to keep this a secret as I'm locked up in here anyway.''

Leonardo took a deep breath as he raised his right hand to the air. His left hand, covered in bloody bandages, wasn't moving. ''Hah!'' With a shout, a stream of transparent energy flowed from his right hand. The energy had no mysterious aura like Soulpower nor it had a domineering aura like Lifeforce. It was, calm. Like it was in a synchronization with surroundings.

''You are a Princeps?'' Calder asked as his calm complexion twisted into one of a huge surprise.

''Prin-ceps? What do you mean?'' Leonardo asked as he lowered his hand again, beads of sweat rolling down from his forehead.

''Princeps, simply, is the man who carries the burden of his followers..''

''A Princeps? Carrying burdens?''

''Principes are people who command the power of the universe, Qi. Each Princeps is a great leader with extraordinary prowess. There are somethings... I don't quite remember. Let me finish my works and when I remember, I'll tell about it later.''

Though a bit disappointed, Leonardo still nodded. If he was not overthinking things, Calder was directly saying 'I'll talk about it after you complete some of your works' or something like that. He was not too sure though. Still, after doing nothing for 4 months straight, he felt quite stifled. It may be a good start to do some things in this boring and suffocating place.

''Let's start then!'' Hearing Leonardo's slightly apprehensive tone, a slight smile appeared on Calder's face. He threw one of the books on the table without looking back. Leonardo, hurriedly, caught it with his right arm and with a swift motion opened it. ''I forgot to ask, what is its title?''

''Fish And Bird.''

*********

I can feel it! I can feel it! It's coming back! I can feel my connection with Leo being repaired! Oh, my great father, this is amazing! I just have to wait, just have to wait. Oh, I can't! I can't be calm in such a situation. It has been more than 10 years! 10 years without him talking to me! Faster! Faster! Faster!

Wait. What will happen when I can talk to him again? Will we talk about how we missed each other? Will he be angry? Will he be sad? What will I do? Should I talk about old times? Oh I know, we can talk about that. He will surely be excited when we talk about him.

I'm sure, Mr. Blue Sky will make Leo happy again.