The eyes opened in an old wooden place. It was warm and cosy for Leon. But in the very instance, he remembered the trauma- death of his parents, destruction of town and clattering of people. Jumping off the bed, his body started to ache tremendously, as his injuries were not yet recovered.
The door opened with a creek due to the cracks, and Agasthus came in. The moment he saw Leon awake, tears burst out from his eyes.
"Brother" he cried, feeling relieved right from the bottom of his heart.
The noise reached others in the house and consequently an old man and woman came in.
"Oh, my child," the woman said. "You are awake. It's been a day since you haven't woken up"
"Trauma often make the body restless" the old man came in
"Why would you bring that word"
"I was just telling a fact"
The old couple started squarrling…..
A frost cold wave of relief set amidst the fire. A young beautiful blonde with blue eyes, as if flooded with pure water, came into the room. Leon was already in the ocean, unaware of his surroundings, completely involved in her beauty.
But the warmth of tides was broken by a sudden interception from Agasthus
"Brother, this place is amazing. They have all sorts of sweets and a beautiful garden to play in"
"Oh my" the old man silenced everyone "the poor boy just woke up and you are taking things so fast for him. Let the boy take his time to cope up"
He was right, currently it was too much for Leon to process. Right from when he woke up, things were going too fast. It was time to slow it down for a while.
Leon rested on the warm bed sheet, and Agasthus sat simply on his knees, looking at his brother with a cute smile. Others were simply preparing lunch and today it was going to be something delicious.
"Are you okay, big brother" Leon whispered
"I'm okay"
"But you calling me big brother kind off feels odd"
"You are my big brother," Leon giggled curling in pain.
Leon, closing his eyes, was trying to figure out his actions. He had to make a move before it's too late. The story had already started and the parchment was ordained. So he started from where it was the easiest- Ascension path of Eternal Deity.
This path was specially designed for poets. A path which processes adverse writes into reality. But it was also one of the rarest and hardest to tame. Not every being was granted with power to access it. In brief, you had to be the chosen one for accessing this pathway. But there was a certain restriction-
One cannot break the laws upheld by THE TESTAMENT OF THE ASCENDED- the book that held the laws of Ascensions.
The path gets more powerful with pain and blood- doesn't matter if it was of wielder or the target. The more people wielder killed, the more power was granted to him. The path of Eternal Deity simply wants amusement and thrill to its content.
That whole moment, Leon was consumed by a torrent of thoughts. That's when the old lady, likely called Mrs.Kaelen, asked the boys to come to the diner. The beauty with the ocean eyes was already on the chair, sitting right beside Mr. Kaelen. Leon swiftly tried to sit beside her, only to be obstructed by Faf. He was older than Agasthus, around 7 years. Faf, right from the moment he entered the orphanage, had always loved the same girl.
"Do you want the steak, Liora?" he simply added a new word to Leon's vocab.
"Liora" Leon thought, sending gentle tremors of warmth throughout his body.
Everyone was there for dinner- Mr and Mrs.Kaelen, Agasthus, Liora, Faf and finally Leon. The family of six was gentle and honest towards each other. Leon's life was going to take a gentle turn from that moment onwards. He was going to feel love, compassion, care and DEVASTATION…
Everybody prayed as their dinner came to an end. No one got up unless everybody completed their food. The bond was much stronger than it seemed. That's when Mrs.Kaelen ordered
"Everybody to their beds now. Only Leon will wait, as we need to settle the guidelines"
The command was absolute, and everybody headed towards their beds. Their rooms were quite close, giving them the warmth of company. Each door facing the other, they could see each other's beds. Faf noticed the silence on Agasthus face, which was unlike him.
"Maybe he is worried about the conversation" Faf thought to himself.
Mr and Mrs.Kaelen settled on the sofa in the drawing room. Leon was on the other end of couch waiting for the questions.
"Whats your name, kid?"
"It's…." he paused "It's Leon"
"Well Leon, this place is actually running on illegal basis. We hide children with lower elixirs in our little house, inside the imperial walls. But that doesn't mean you are safe here forever. You could be killed anytime?"
"We recently got a lead on hidden camp of peasants with lower elixirs, here in Ascension-1" the old man came in
"If you want, we can take you there"
"We are simply asking you this because, we don't want you to live here without your consent"
Silence…..
A little humming…..
"What has Agasthus choosen?"
"To live here"
"Then I will live here too"
The short answer genuinely lifted the couple's mood. For a little while, Leon thought they simply didn't have enough room. But looking at their happy faces, it seemed to be the other way around.
That's when the old man brought up a map of the Imperial town. On the map, right inside the walls but away from the main town, several red spots were marked.
"Do you see the red spots. These are the places our house shifts into every morning"
"You mean…."
"Yes, the core factor behind our disguise is ability of the house to switch it's places. At first it was simply amusing, but later we discovered a pattern. Sometimes it's amidst the dark forest, sometimes it's right behind the barren fields. Some other times it's closer to the forgotten edges, but every time it has a path that leads to the town."
And the old couple went on explaining the sequence, which to Leon's amazement was quite easy to learn. Maybe the wisdom from Alice wasn't limited to the knowledge woven into fate.
But right then, an unsettling confusion crept into Leon.
"Why are you doing all this?" He raised an eyebrow "I do think there's a strong reason behind it"
Mr.Kaelen laughed and Mrs.Kaelen gave a vivid smile. The vivid smile had pain and a broken memory behind it. Realising she could no longer hold it in, the final words of declaration came out of her mouth.
"My son was a member of the imperial army. He was a frontline Vanguard- happy and respectful about his duty. Everything was perfect in those moments. He earned respect and fame after the war against the rebels. He was the one to buy us this beautiful house. Well….it's old now, but it was quite a fortune in those days"
Pause….
"But one certain day, everything changed. The rebels attacked the peasants outside the walls. In those days, some people with higher status were blending with them. That is the only reason why the army was sent- simply to evacuate the higher class. But my son stayed behind, all alone, refusing to leave others to die. The lower class revolted against the rebels, but my son never came back"
Leon realized the coincidence, he lost his parents and they lost their son. But then he improvised, actually it was the same for every little soul living there. The pain shared from two ends was different, but it led to the same destiny. Maybe….maybe in the far future this bond will help them survive.
"Let me take you to your room, Leon" Mrs.Kaelen wiped her tears.
Both of them quietly left the quiet walls and the exhausted flames. Barely nicking its flame was the firewood on which Mr.Kaelen was dependent for the night. The conversation going on inside him was deep and pivotal. He was the man of the house, so all the important decisions regarding their safety were in his hands; it was his responsibility.
"This kid is different. He is suspicious and quite Catchy for his age. When we first spoke to Agasthus, he quite excitedly revealed that his brother was the one to eliminate all the vanguards in the attack. But how is that possible? They were practically in hundreds. In that moment, we even laughed it off"
He smirked
"But now I can see a little truth to what he said. Maybe Leon is something more…maybe he will change everything. It's what I thought about my son as well, but Leon is quite different. My son was shield for the poor, but Leon feels like storm for the imperial"
At that moment the old man closed his eyes. He felt a sense of relief and admiration for Leon. Tension and stress was piling up on his body, but now he was relieved that Leon would assemble everyone, he would help everyone in the house and keep them safe.
That's when Leon felt the last beat from Mr.Kaelen's heart. What came after was the trust and reliance that the old man showed towards Leon… he felt it too… But why him? They hadn't even met for one complete day. But still without any delay he slept, relaxing with the dead beat of the old heart. The news would come ahead anyway, so let it be curtained naturally.
He knew….from tomorrow everything was going to be different….everyone was going to be different.