"Sun! Wait up!"
Racing under the pale starlight of a depressing sky, through the desolate stone-paved streets, a young blonde boy ignored the calls of his mother.
It felt like the winds were howling in the young blonde's ears as he ran relentlessly.
Tears threatened to spill down his cheeks as his laboured breaths spilt fog from his mouth.
The street seemed to stretch endlessly; the young blonde's legs could only carry him so far.
Should he fall, his tumble would bring him grievous injuries. Yet, that did not discourage the boy from running.
Endlessly, relentlessly, unrestrained running.
At the end of what seemed like an eternity of running, he tripped just before a door.
A warm light seemed to spill between the cracks of that door; it also spilt from the cracks of the closed windows.
"Sun!"
Kneeling beside the young blonde was a woman, bearing the same golden hair and eyes as the boy.
"Please, Sun, you must listen to me!"
"I won't!"
Saying so, he writhed in his mother's embrace.
"Don't go in there, Sun... It's not something for you to see...!"
"I will!"
Yet, saying so, he could not break free from his mother's embrace.
"Don't go... You should not see something like that, you are too young, Sun!"
"Please..."
Shaking his head, the youth could not do anything else but plead to be freed from his mother's embrace.
"You must be strong... Sun, you must be strong. Those were his final words to you..."
Words that he did not get a chance to hear.
Words that he missed because he was too busy playing with the children.
Words that he wished to hear come from his father's mouth.
Yet, they are words that will never be spilt from that man's lips, for no words would ever come forth again.
"I can be strong... Let me see him, I can be strong!"
Ushering the last of his strength, the youthful boy disregarded the pain from his scraped legs and tried to stand.
"..."
Wiping the last of her tears, the blonde mother gently placed a hand on his injured leg. A pale green light poured onto his wounds.
The bleeding stemmed, the skin healed, and the pain subsided.
"I can't let you see him... but, Sun... please, just remember who your father was."
"..."
Cradled into his mother's arms, the boy was left without option but to be carried away.
"I can't have you seeing him like that, you are but a boy... Our boy..."
"But..."
"I need you to be strong and stay resilient."
"But..."
"Sun..."
There was a gradual shift in the tone of her voice, as well as a gradual shift in the atmosphere, and a gradual shift in Sun's memories.
Those golden eyes, like droplets of warm light in a pale grey pool of silver, blackened.
They were not her eyes; they were not the eyes of Sun's mother... and yet...
"You must be strong, for that is what your Father wanted~."
Dragging out her speech with an unfamiliar purr, husky and low, it sickened Sun to the fullest... and yet...
"He would want you to be strong, for him, for us. Don't forget that, okay~?"
Yet none of this seemed out of place.
Sun, the young blonde, the boy in his mother's arms, was not disturbed.
The youth held his gaze to those pitch-black eyes, and as his mother lifted her arm to the sky, so did he lead his gaze upwards.
"You're Father would want you to be strong, strong enough so your strength could even reach the skies, and shatter the ceiling above."
"Sun?"
Beckoned by the voice, Sun looked down, but instead of finding the face of his mother, he found another woman in her place.
"Ah... forgive me, Senior Winter..."
"That is fine, I will not blame you for contemplating this position; it is a heavy burden to handle, after all."
Unlike his mother's gentle tone, Sun felt the subtle threat in Call of Winter's voice.
"If you need time to think, that is fine, but we will need you to keep this from everyone else, no matter how close they are to you, or even how much you trust them."
"I understand... but..."
Sun leaned back in his seat as he recalled the information given to him.
'To become the Heir of Summer, one of the Four Seasons' Cultivators.'
'I do not mind taking up this position, but to do so would naturally drive a border between us... Dawn, Selene, I do not want to lose you two.'
'Being separated for so long leaves me with endless unease...'
Even as he thought so, he could not stifle the sudden rise of that memory, the memory he had just reminisced about, of his father's death and his mother's consolation.
He remembers the last words his father left to him, spoken through his mother's mouth, which seem to tickle his ear at this very moment.
"You must be strong..."
Then, he remembered the words his mother had spoken to him, her unfamiliar words. A gentle breath filled the inner cavity of his ear, once again.
"You must be strong... strong enough to reach even the skies... and shatter them."
Then, he grabbed his brows and dropped his gaze to the floor.
'To become the Heir of Summer is to embrace strength... no? Even if it means solitude, and even though that pains me greatly...'
'To seek strength... had that not been what I wanted all along...? I want to be strong... I will be strong... I must be strong!'
'To shatter the sky... is that what you wanted, Mother, Father?'
"Seniors."
Finally speaking, Sun had grabbed the attention of Warrior of Spring and Call of Winter, who sat before him.
Shade of Autumn was also listening attentively to Sun's words.
"I accept your proposal... Please, let me become Summer's Heir."
Saying so, Sun bowed his head lightly, his voice full of resolution and subtle desperation.
These subtleties brought delight to Call of Winter, but she could not outright accept his declaration.
"I will say first, that the Spirit of Summer must choose you first, but you have fully received our acknowledgement."
"So... that means...?"
"We will invite you to Veiled Forest Settlement and bring you before the Spirit of Summer. You must be recognised by him first. You must prove yourself to the Spirit, and if you succeed, you will become Herald of Summer, our fourth and final member of the Four Seasons' Cultivators!"