Warming light

Over the mountains and the infinite green roof of the forest, the sun lazily rises up in the blue space which throne above everyone and everything. Its warming beams filter through the leaves, illuminating the ground of small spots with the soft yellow ray. The world slowly wakes up. The birds are happily singing and the insects are making the first noises, echoing throughout the wilderness. Among the trees, one shape seems different from the rest. It is not green either. Here lies a building, made out of wood and stone, in the middle of a clear space. 

As the sun gets higher in the sky, the light penetrates through the various windows. It lights up the various rooms of what seems to be a temple surrounded by walls along with numerous tinier buildings. Every of them seems empty but yet the temple doesn't look uninhabited either. The question of the number of residents in this domain, it is easy to guess as there are only two bedrooms. One of them is pretty neutral and classic, besides the tone of book shelves filled to the brim. The other room is quite modest, it only has a bed, a wardrobe, a mirror and a bookcase full of books. The walls are navy blue, contrasting with the brightness brought in by the almighty celestial body through its window. 

In every empty room, reverbs a young and innocent laughter from the corridor of the first floor. A child, a young boy, passes by, running bare foots on the wooden floor. He seems to be around 10 years old. He has short silver hair. His eyes, of the same color, shine like metal in the sun while reflecting the light coming from the windows. Like an answer to his laughter, an elderly man runs behind the child, growling. The old man has similar silver hair but his hair is long and tied into a long braid that goes down his back. He isn't really tall, making only one head above the child's height, but he is very muscular, especially for his age. 

The child is wearing a white kimono stained with black. His feet are full of mud. The old man tries to give him a bath. The boy played outside after the rain but refused to wash afterwards, giving rise to this chase. The hold man keeps yelling after the child. 

"-Kazuki, come back here! You have to wash! Now is not the time to play!

- Catch me master! I won't wash if you are too slow !"

The young boy's laughter continues to echo through the empty corridors and the empty rooms. The wood of the floor becomes covered in mud as the chase progresses with every steps the young boy makes. The child, named Kazuki, turns right into a room which unfortunately happens to be the bathroom. He no longer has any escape. The old man, who seems to be his master, blocks the door. There is already a basin of water ready for him so he can wash himself. In an attempt to sneak out, Kazuki slips due to his dirty feet. He landed in the basin of water, the exact opposite of what he wanted to do.

"Hey, it's not fair, Master!

- Well, that will teach you to listen to your elders. Now wash up.

- But you didn't catch me, so I won!"

The old man sighs while the kid is taking off his clothes, getting ready for the bath. He leaves the room and waits for his student to finish washing. Once finished, the old man gives a clean kimono to Kazuki. 

"And don't make it dirty this time, or else I won't let you play outside for a week."

The young boy puts on the kimono. He looks at his master and stick out his tongue. 

"But I still won!" 

The master sighs again. But this time, he smiles.

"Alright. This time, you won."

A wide grin appears on the young boy's face. Both of them leave the bathroom. Kazuki waits in the corridor for his hair to dry up. His Master waits with him. The kid looks at some small pictures on the furniture at the end of the corridor. There lay different stuff, and among them one where we can see a younger version of Kazuki's master and another man. 

"Who is this man in this picture, again?" 

The old man turns to the child. His gaze directs to the pictures he is pointing at. 

"- It is an old friend of mine. 

-And why is he not there? In my books, friends are always together."

The master stays silent for some minutes, choosing his words wisely. Finally he answers to the kid, who is watching him carefully. 

"-He is no longer there.

-No longer there? Well, let's ask him to come back! 

-Oh no, Kazuki. He is a better world, up there among the stars.

-Among the star? It is so cool! I want to be among the stars too. And I want to be able to grab them! 

-Oh no, trust me. You don't want to. 

-Why not? 

-You won't be able to come back. 

-and so..? 

-You won't be able to come back. And there are only stars there. It's boring. 

-Oh, okay.. "

After this discussion, the old man lets Kazuki strut around the domain. He watches the boy loudly proclaim that he is better than his master.

"I beat Master Yi! I'm the best ! I'm stronger than Master Yi!"

A smile crosses the old man's face when he sees the child laughing out loud. Its echo fills the space of the deserted domain. This laughter, which he continues to hear day after day since he is taking care of Kazuki, sounds like the most beautiful harmony to the master's ears and fill the old domain with a new youth and happiness, like when he used to train with his friend. In this solitary place, where reign the dark silence of age, the young boy shines brighter than anything else. 10 years ago, he became the center of the old man's life.

And as the kid is having fun, Master Yi talks to himself about Kazuki's future. He knows how things will be. He knows that a fatal day will come. He knows that things will change heavily for the kid after he won't be there anymore to take care of him. However, he'll do his best for him to avoid the darkness of this world and be happy. 

"May come the day you really win against me. That day, you'll be able to overcome every challenge and the legacy of what I gave you will be in good hands."

The time passes and the day slowly fades away, leaving place for the coldness of the night. Everything seems to stop, every sound is muffled by the wind of the night. Kazuki comes back to his master, who watches the sun disappear beyond the walls of the domain, while rubbing his eyes. Master Yi tells him to sit next to him. Kazuki sits on his left and, due to the fatigue of running all day long, places his head against the old man's arm to gently doze off. The old man place his arm around the young boy and smile while the last warming ray of light filters through the trees of the forest to reach them. 

Now the night has settled over the domain Yi. The sky has never been so clear, revealing its beauty to the eyes of stargazers and other dreamers raising their heads towards the purplish vault. The old man turns his gaze upon the dark sky. 

"Sitting among the stars, huh? That's a great way to end this, Kazuki."

He carries the young boy in his arms, takes off his shoes and the Kazuki's and enters the temple. He passes by the empty rooms. Now that Kazuki sleeps, the only thing present each step is a very deep silence. He gets up the stairs, which squeak each time a foot steps on them. This solely sound reverbs in the quiet corridor ahead of the old man. He goes through it and turns to enter Kazuki's room. There, he puts the young boy on his bed. He puts his forehead against the young boy's. 

"Sleep well, Kazuki."

Then, he leaves the room and heads to his own. There, he takes a look through his windows. He thinks about how many seasons he has left and what he could teach Kazuki. It seems to him that they have at least 10 years ahead of them. His student still have plenty of time to learn some things by himself, but Master Yi knows that there are things requires his guidance to learn. He keeps thinking, focusing on the star. They don't seem to appear at his windows anymore, like something covers them. The sky might be cloudy, so he looks at the pure black roof which lay kilometers above them. He stay like this until he hears a "click" coming from behind his door. His room faces Kazuki's. No time to think, he rushes to the boy's bedroom.