The slow-moving breeze pushed past the tranquility of the scene. The trees swayed in their repetitive motions. The serene air passed through the breaths of man.

A lone commoner lay on the hillside taking in the scene that encapsulated the essence of nature and his own joy with life. He could feel his own self being lifted up by that peaceful feeling. He felt like he could just fly away at any given moment.

“Gale!”

The rushing little girl came from the side out of nowhere, like a ghost in the night. Her appearance displayed a different form of elegance to that of a noble. Not elegance from birth, and certainly not learned. It was that from being connected with nature since those days of serenity and child innocence.

“So you were here after all.”

The little girl’s cheeks were puffed out from her brother’s ignorance at the time. She grabbed and began to pull at the young man’s arm, but his body seemed to carry the weight of nature itself.

“C-come on.”

The girl struggled to get her voice out as she pulled at the arm with all she had. Her feet streaked the dirt with the print of her worn shoe.

The young man, her older brother, and the one named Gale, finally turned to look at his younger sister. Her cheeks were not only puffed up but were red due to the heat of the ever-approaching spring.

“Okay, okay. Stop pulling on me, will ya?”

Gale forcefully pulled back his arm, accidentally pulling his sister forward onto himself. Her body crashed into his stomach making him feel nauseous if only for a moment. The young girl, before Gale could even say anything, rushingly lifted herself off the ground.

“Hurry! It’s time for dinner. Mom is already mad that you didn’t return by when she told you to!”

The girl then began to push on the young man’s back in a forceful yet dull manner, so as to get him to move. The older Gale could only scratch the back of his head and walk to the oldened wooden house.

“Sari, what time was it when you last checked?”

“Six-thirty! That’s why I said we need to hurry!”

The man trembled.

“Shit!”

The man quickly lowered his body downward into a rideable position.

“Sari, we don’t have time to waste! Get on!”

The young girl quickly jumped on her brother’s lower back. The two quickly sped off into the lowering sun’s rays.

…

Through the village atmosphere, there was a lone house slightly offset from the rest. The oldest house in this village which had yet to fall even after three hundred years.

The door cracked open. The sound of water rustling could be heard from the small kitchen connected to the rest of the house by nothing but a long piece of wood.

Off at the dining table sat an old man who had large bags under his sunken eyes. The old man had been working as a low-ranking law enforcer for the past thirty years. He had long fallen asleep while reading the papers.

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The two siblings quietly closed the door as they wished to make as little noise as possible. Just as the door closed shut, the sound of water silenced. From behind a small wall came the one causing the water to make sounds.

“Gale! How many times do ya have to be told before ya realize that you need to be home when I tell ya.”

The mother of the two siblings began to shake her head in dissatisfaction.

“Go quickly wash up and wake up your father. It’s past time to eat.”

The two siblings looked somewhat dejected as they walked past their mother to the basin of water that filled a portion of the kitchen. After a quick cleansing, Sari walked over to the old man sleeping soundly at the dinner table and began to shake him violently.

His body moved from the excessive force, but it did not wake the man.

“Gale, I need help.”

The older Gale who had just finished cleaning his hands after Sari walked over and began to rock his father by the shoulder.

“Uh, Mom. Dad isn’t waking up.”

Their mom, who had aged quite a bit from when they were initially born into the world, walked over and began to slap the quiet man. The red marks festered with each slap to his face, but he did not wake.

“Help me put him on the table.”

While the young Sari moved the small decoration off the table, the older Gale and his mother began to lift the old man’s body out of the chair and onto the table. Completing his task, Gale walked back to let his mother do whatever she planned to do.

She moved her ear closest to the old man’s left breast. There was no sound that came from it.

“He’s dead.”

Gale’s eyes shook from shock. He moved his hand in front of his sister’s eyes. Sari began to shudder in fright. Their mother just stood there in silence, looking upon the dead body. No tears were shed for the man.

“I’ll go order a coffin from Mr. Kodo. You two can move his body to my bedroom. Just place him on the floor for now.”

Their mother quickly gave her orders before walking out of the house. The two siblings didn’t know what to do, but the older Gale was the first to move. He patted his sister’s back and told her to lie down for a bit.

Once she had gone as well, Gale was the only one left in the main room of the house. He slowly walked over to his father’s dead body and looked down on it. He quietly tapped on the old man’s chest, causing the body to float. A small gust formed underneath the body as both Gale and the wind carrying the body began to move in the direction of the master bedroom.

The room was quite baron, say for a few nicknacks, and the sole bed that stood in front of the farthest wall. Gale just silently put the body down on the ground. No sound could be heard from the body's contact with the wooden floors.

“Idiot. This is why you don’t mess with things you don’t understand.”

The young adult watched as the door was forcibly closed by an invisible force. A gust of cold air moved through his body, but he continued to stand there in silence.

“You should have asked Father Donavin for help.”

The items in the room began to float and fly in random directions. They were being pushed along by the invisible yet cold force.

“Hell. You could’ve even just told us. We could’ve done something.”

The floating objects soon charged at Gale’s still body. The things seemed close to tearing his body to shreds, but it was the objects which had been destroyed. All the parts broke apart as a wall of nothing appeared in midair.

A mild laughter could be heard in the air as those things were destroyed by a wind of soothing warmth. Gale finally turned around after hearing the laughter of a distant entity. Though invisible, the entity, the spirit, was still visible to Gale’s eyes.

More wind began to gather into a condensed space. The area around it began to warp due to the density of the spear of wind that seemed restless to pierce the evil spirit.

“Anemos, send it back to the land of the dead. That’s the least it deserves.”

A tiny figure created by wind began to form on the shoulder of the young man. A tiny, innocent cry could be heard from the little bird-like gale sitting on the shoulder of the big Gale.

The wind spear quickly pierced through the center of the transparent figure. The spirit quickly dissipated into nothing but a short, cold breeze.

Gale sighed to himself before walking out of the room. His mother had just now come back, and the young Sari was slowly eating a bowl of soup. Gale silently sat down at his place at the table and began to eat the bowl of soup. Soon followed that of their mother, but the soup still held enough for that of a family of four.

A single bowl of soup remained after the meal ended.