-Break-
Φ Thinking back, I was a rather strange boy back then. Someone I doubt I could've been proud of being, yet it is a undoubtly someone who I was, and I can never forget that.
The emotions I felt every day were hectic and chaotic, unable to truly produce anything of worth. Just ramblings that couldn't condense themselves into anything of substance except arrogance.
But that all changed when I met her, when she became my friend. Each day Valda stayed at my house waiting for our fathers to return with news, we chatted, played, and even worked together.
And during that time, I told her things. Things that excited me.
Location: Zaad Ziener; Captivant's Room
Holding a book in front of her, I say, "In Enotita, the country of Satripa, they have a giant compass built into the land that they can use to feel the flow of spirit energy through their country, and even predict future events. The compass combines multiple man-made structures, wonderbeasts, and even the natural environment, along with the people, to make it all function properly. It is one of the most complex and inspiring pieces of integrated technology ever created in history."
Things that bored me.
With Genuis chasing after Rebellion, who rolls around in a small see-through ball, I say, "The scenery around this country is even more stale the further you go from here. It's just more green and trees, we don't even have the pleasure of having flora of multiple different colours, the only place that's even slightly more unquie is the capital, but no matter how much money they pump into it, it's nothing compare to the natural wonders that exist embedded throughout the lands of others countries, or the stories written into them by the great heroes born their or the battles that have taken place. The mediocre are always that."
Things that were rude.
As my mother slams the door, fall onto my back and says, "Sorry about that. I know my mother is always so annoying, trying to butt into my life and make me do menial tasks around the house instead of developing my intellect. It's like she doesn't know where the true value of my existence lies."
Things I thought were funny.
Snapping my fingers, I form two circles between my index and my thumbs, and then burst out in laughter. Staring at Valda, who holds the Divergent brothers, I say, "I know it's a pretty high-level joke that not everyone can understand. But I guarantee you that when you figure it out, it will make you die of laughter, it really is that funny."
Things I wanted her to think.
"Did you know that men are more likely to die than women. It was part of a study that Cordum did at one point. It may sound obvious at first, but this study controlled for things like war. It turns out that a lot of men are very, very dumb and end up doing stupid things that get them killed when you leave them by themselves for too long. So if you want a happy life, and marriage, it's better for a woman to aim for a man with high intellect."
Things a man should never have told a woman.
"I didn't say those clothes on your eyes were ugly? Are you sure that's what you heard? Maybe you just misheard what I said. I do talk a lot. I know that sometimes my intellect can move faster than what the average person can keep up with, but obviously, I didn't mean you were ugly. I can't really stand looking at ugly things anyway. So even if it did slip out when I was moving through my thoughts at high speed, it was obviously a mistake, nothing to write home about."
I was a fool of the highest order. Yet she always showed me grace and kindness undeserved by my actions, she always smiled back at me and responded with pleasant sounds that made my heart flutter.
"That sounds right, Captivant."
"That's pretty cool, Captivant!"
"I understand, Captivant."
"I guess it's too much for someone like me to know, Captivant."
"You're really reliable, Captivant."
"I guess I should change it out for something else, Captivant."
"Asking you to push yourself in ways unbefitting of someone like you is so selfish, Captivant. Your mother really needs to be smarter."
Words that I would never trust now, yet those words filled the empty container with something that all humans, no matter how vile they are, have access to. Love.
I felt love for the first time in my life, a blessing on my existence that made me want to read more, try more, believe more, in my life, allowing me to reach greater heights.
She had realised that for me. Valda, my first love, had realised that for me.
Φ Climbing the spiralling stairwell, that continues all across the room. Captivant and Valda enter a room where the young boy says, "The stars should be out, so take a look."
In front of her lies a giant telescope connected to the one that peers out of the top of the house, and with the Divergent brother excitedly rushing forward, she follows and quickly sits on a chair in front of the telescope with her back pushed against it.
She places her eye against the eyepiece, as Captivant moves to the side of her, and says, "Just place your hand on the side of it, and it will guide you."
Feeling her hand up against the telescope, its lens zooms in on one of the stars in the sky, and in that moment the details over it send waves of excitement through her body, causing her to pull back and says, "It's so pretty!"
"Yeah. If you want to see more, just touch the telescope with those feelings at the forefront."
Moving her hand against the scope, she holds her hands against the eyepiece and in that moment, the scope moves towards the moon, making her say, "How does this work?"
Stepping to the side of the telescope, Captivant says, "I don't really know. Apparently, it's an heirloom dating back even further than St. Mika. I believe it's a cursed item; it responds to your emotions and allows you to gaze at the stars, pretty amazing, isn't it? Interestingly enough, this would technically be older than the Cursed City Blestemate, which means the origin of the curses that made this item is unknown to us."
Ignoring his rambling, she keeps looking into the eyepiece, staring at whatever her emotions bring her to see. The stairs, moon and planets out in space capture her heart and her mind, granting her unnatural joy, yet it quickly fades as she pulls her head back.
Turning, she struggles to put on a smile and says, "It's really cool."
Seeing her expression, Captivant bows down till they are both in eyeline with each other, and says, "Are you okay? You look like you're about to cry."
Waving her hands in front of him, she says, "What do you mean, I am perfectly fine."
"I think I have spent enough time with you over these last two months to be able to tell when you're about to cry." Flicking her against the forehead, he says, "So come on, and talk about it. Don't you know words are how we overwrite reality? So let's overwrite whatever sadness you hold."
Clenching her hands against the long skirt she wears, Valda says, "You're so annoying with how you can get at times, way too smart." With her voice trembling, she says, "This is all so beautiful, way too beautiful, something that I would never have gotten to see in my life, yet I get to do it for some reason.
My father was just lucky to be able to run to the border of your country faster than soldiers, faster than the other citizens. So I get to appreciate all of this while they are dead, dying, or just struggling to survive, and I have no idea how they are doing. It's not fair, they have to go through so much, and I just sit here unable to do anything, I don't even know if our fathers are even going to find any of them."
"I see, that's what's making you down. What a dumb reason to be upset, yet what else could I expect from those of lower intellect?"
"I am crying!"
Flicking her against her forehead, Captivant says, "I know, and for your affliction, I offer you two solutions. First is a story about myself."
Sitting down with his legs crossed, Captivant says, "The Nightfall family has always had a policy of taking in people in need, whether it be outside or inside the country. There was a very obvious reason why, as when the Beastkin were rampaging across the world, my ancestors were helping people by taking in people who ran from the Beastkin. Since then, it's basically just become a habit. In fact, it is said that a good 40% of all the people who populate the land come from people my family has taken in. Though of course this hasn't always been for the good, people bring all their good into a country when they are good, and they also bring all of their bad as well. Eventually, issues started coming up on our land and especially throughout the entire country due to my family's say laisse faire approach to these issues, and we had to sell our land to make money as reparations. Over the generations, this pushed us from the most powerful family in this god-forsaken country to just a noble family.
My great-grandfather was the absolute worst in this regard, but my grandfather was the opposite. Seeing the decline of our house, he started taking rather extreme measures to undo the egalitarian name that we had built up, and weaponised it in business deals for the sake of recouping our land, much of which he has done. And one of the main policies he put in place was loosening the laws and audit standards on labour, while also notifying scheming nobles about the free labour you can get from war escapees. Due to this, skilled workers who were being abused fled to his lands, and nobles in question started sending out convoys to war-torn lands to bring back cheap labour.
To put it simply, one of the biggest reasons wars have a lower civilian casualty rate is due to this. My father, however, hated my grandfather's methods and used them for his own gain. He keeps an eye on the movement of labour around the country, and can always tell which nobles and lords are essentially using slave labour, then petitions the King with favours to have those slaves given to him. Of course, it doesn't always work immediately, but it allows him to both secure their passage into the country via other lords' efforts and rescue them. So all in all, there is a giant chance all your friends are still alive."
"Really?"
"Of course! So instead of sitting around being a party popper, how about you get excited and instead stare at all the stars in the sky so you can tell them the genius information you've found out with me at your side."
Φ Nodding, she says, "Yes," with a smile so bright that it takes the young boy's heart.
It was in that moment when I saw her smiling due to the words I said, overcoming her sadness due to the actions I took, that I realised I loved her. Because she gave me what I needed to hold my head up high. So that's why it hurt ever more that day.
Rushing out the front door of my house, she jumps into the arms of the kids in front of her with tears streaming down her face, and says, "Everyone, you're back!"
Seeing the smile of happiness across her face, I place my fist over my heart, and there I feel a pounding so loud and intense that I feel like my soul is about to combust.