A dark, human-like figure hovered in the sky, seeming to be peering down straight at the boy. Did the man recognize him? No, that was impossible.

All the little animals scattered, and the boy began scrambling away towards home. His breathing turned ragged as he sought the shade of the surrounding trees. When he thought he was safe to go forward, the tall and wide frame of the figure slammed down in front, blowing the boy's shiny golden hair back.

A jolt of fear ran through the boy as the man landed in a firm crouch from a fall that should've shattered his legs. Unfazed, he stood up and dusted off his clothes before noticing the boy's stiff posture and trembling lips.

His mouth opened in shock. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He raised his hands into the air. "I come in peace." The man was dressed in light brown clothing of better quality than he'd ever seen. "It's an honor to meet you, Aurelius. I'm Gabriel, a subordinate of your father."

Aurelius' vibrant blue eyes opened wider, his pupils dilating despite the light of day. "My father? Is he here? Is my father with you?!" He pumped his fists. "Oh, oh, if he's here, tell him it's my birthday." He laughed to himself. He had planned it for years. "I want to make it seem like he returned at the perfect time."

Gabriel's friendly expression faltered for a moment. "There's a lot we have to discuss."

Despite his mother having forbidden exploring the forest, Aurelius had explored enough to navigate back to the farm with ease even as he bombarded Gabriel with questions about his father. However, the polite man brushed off most of the questions. The rest he answered with words that didn't quite make sense. Aurelius felt like Gabriel and he didn't speak the same way.

"I've answered your questions, so how about you answering some of mine for a change," Gabriel suggested.

"But you haven't told me anything!" he said, playful anger in his voice.

Gabriel chuckled and ruffled his hair as he glanced around the forest. "You like nature, don't you?"

Aurelius beamed. "I think nature likes me."

"Pfft, right. You sure have your father's... lack of inhibition."

Aurelius squinted. "What's that mean?"

"I don't know. They're just words." Gabriel waved a hand and smiled. Aurelius had never seen a smile like his. It made him smile too. "But tell me, Aurelius, do you have any friends around here? I was under the impression you had company beside your mother. Some children around your age."

"Ah, well there's my uncle and he has three kids. But I'm not really... I'm more..." Aurelius struggled before pivoting his tone. "We play around. Sometimes. Often, actually. We're friends."

Gabriel let the silence linger and Aurelius felt a pang of guilt. "Did something happen?" he asked.

Aurelius looked around and mumbled something. "Wait a second. I think we're going in the—"

Gabriel grabbed his shoulder. "Did something happen?" Aurelius turned to look up at him. "You can tell me."

Aurelius shook. "It's okay. It's resolved. We're family."

"What is?"

"Well we were playing and I did something wrong and..." He gestured with his hands. "His arm went in the wrong direction. It's still not healed. But once it's fine we can all play again, so it's resolved."

Gabriel frowned. "Aurelius, has your mother told you about essence."

"About what?"

"Ah, don't worry about it." Gabriel rubbed Aurelius' shoulder and assured him, "Just know you did nothing wrong. It'll all be okay."

"Okay," Aurelius said with an uncertain nod.

Gabriel's face suddenly face, his eyes shifting as he stood up. "Aurelius, I think your mother wants to see you."

Aurelius turned around, and in the distance before a large cottage, he saw his mother's eyes, wrinkled and teary.

'What is...' he thought as Gabriel walked past.

Aurelius ran up behind him and asked what was going on. Gabriel just walked ahead. Then he saw his mother's hard expression. They were both like statues. Aurelius ran to his mother and clung to her, asking her the same question. She just caressed his cheek.

'Why is nobody saying anything?' he thought in a panic, just this once wanting for his mother to wag her finger and swear if he went into that forest one more time...

"Aurelius, go inside," his mother said sharply.

Aurelius furrowed his brows and looked at Gabriel who seemed to agree. "Is this about my father?" Aurelius asked. Gabriel nodded. "Then I'll stay."

Gabriel glanced at Aurelius' mother before turning his gaze to the ground and kneeling. "The truth is... I have failed you," he said, his voice breaking and his words filling the air with something heavy.

"What?" Aurelius turned to his mother. "What's he talking about?"

Gabriel looked at him with sad eyes that smile had hidden. "Your father, Aurelius. My commander... 106 days ago, he passed away."

Aurelius' feet stuck to the ground. He was being pulled in. Sucked into the depths. He wanted to move. To lash out, but he couldn't. It was his father's friend. The one who joked and laughed with him just now.

He stared at the man, his empty eyes starting to turn red as he refused to blink. Then he saw it. He was a traitor. It was a trap. He launched himself at the man as a scream that sounded like it came from afar left his mouth. "Mom, run! I'll hold him."

He attempted to tackle the man, but as Gabriel stuck in place, he wrestled his way to Gabriel's torso and tried twisting the man. He looked back. His mother was still there. "Go, Mom! Go." His voice turned weaker as he exerted all his force to no avail.

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'Come on, go down! Or try hurt me. Just try it,' he thought as he squeezed his arms around the man as hard as he could. If the man hit him or flung him, it meant Aurelius was right. He was there to hurt them. That's why he lied.

But when nothing happened, he looked up. And when he saw Gabriel's tears, his strength faded and he broke. His face twisting as his lips quivered and his hands shook.

'Don't cry. Strong people don't cry,' he thought, but when the first tears came, there was no stopping it. Soon he sobbed with his face against Gabriel's chest and the hold had turned into a hug.

***

It was already evening when Aurelius sat against the frame of his bed in the V-shaped attic. His eyes were red and tired. As he stared at his mother's bed opposite his own.

He had been sent away to his room as the adults talked downstairs. There was no sound coming from there, though. Maybe they were just sitting around a table and staring at each other. Uncle didn't like him. Mother had barely said anything since he came.

There was a sound and Aurelius turned his head. Gabriel walked up the stairs with his head down. Then he came into the room and sat down, leaning against his mother's bed.

Aurelius wanted to snap at him. Tell him he had no right to touch his mother's bed. But he saw the pain in the man's eyes. And more than that, he was haunted. It was like there were a hundred ghosts at his back.

As they looked at each other there with pained expressions not sure what to feel, Aurelius wished for the first time that he would never have met Gabriel at all.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted. I—" Gabriel paused and took his gaze away from Aurelius and directed it at his feet. "I wasn't sure how I was supposed to tell you. Ares was my commander, but he was also like a father. In a way, you and I are like brothers." He looked up at Aurelius and smiled faintly. Aurelius' mouth twitched randomly, still unsure what he was feeling.

"When will you leave?" Aurelius asked.

"I will depart immediately if you so wish," Gabriel responded firmly. "But I was thinking I could teach you first. You know the incident with your cousin. I can help you make sure that you will never hurt anyone like that again. I will help you control that power, and with it, you can even help others. You can be like your father."

Aurelius opened his eyes wider, their vibrancy returning. "Really?"

Gabriel smiled and nodded. "Really." He moved forward and went to a knee, putting a hand on Aurelius' chest. "You are a very special person, Aurelius. Never restrict yourself. The possibilities for you are infinite. Always remember that." He put a hand on Aurelius' knee and Aurelius' heart was filled. And then he spoke those words. "The world is yours."

***

So much time had passed since, but those words still echoed in Aurelius' mind as he watched bits of his 16-year-old self reflected in the beauty in his grasp.

In the middle of his tensed hand, streaks rippled around a ball of essence that gave off a faint glow. The ball wasn't very large and barely managed to keep its existence at times, but it was mesmerizing nonetheless.

When he let his hand loosen, the ball disappeared. Then he took out his gray notebook and jotted something down as he sat on a rock in the forest.

"Close-range essence usage: no progress."

Then he looked over the other categories. Long-range essence usage, reinforcement, enhancement, and defensive essence usage abilities had all started to stagnate almost a year ago. Now his progress was just pathetic.

Aurelius breathed out slowly and rubbed his forehead. Harder and harder until he lashed out, squeezing his hand into a fist and pumping it three times before hitting the rock he was sitting on. His sitting position was compromised when the rock crumbled, sending him stumbling off to the side.

He grumbled as he dusted off his clothes.

He had done everything, reviewing the advice Gabriel had given him during the months he lived with him. However, he was stuck. With the fundamentals down, his progress had died down. Trying to better his setups without a teacher was like stumbling in the dark. And of course, Gabriel had refused to give him advice too far off into the future because he would've started skipping steps.

In other words, there was no escaping this slump. Unless...

***

"No," his mother answered as she devoted her attention to the stew she was cooking.

"Please, just consider it," Aurelius begged.

"I have considered it, and my answer is no."

Aurelius stood from his seat and walked over to her. "Listen, we can't stay here. We can't keep living like... Can't you understand that we have a better life waiting for us?"

She kept her eyes on the pot. "Where? A world away in the Great Zalfarian Empire? Tch. Gabriel left four years ago and you still can't get him out of your head." Then she turned. "Aurelius, we are here because your father thought it best."

Aurelius shook his head. "No, he wouldn't have wanted this. He's the Hero of Zalfari. If we go there, they'll welcome us and—" he stopped when his mother glared at him.

"The last thing your father would have wanted was for you to go to Zalfari. He fought for that nation so that you wouldn't have to."

Aurelius bit his tongue. Smart enough to know what was right, but too stupid to say it in a way that was undeniable. "Then not Zalfari. We can go elsewhere. Somewhere I can put my skills to use. Help people. And help us." He gently grasped her mother's shoulders.

She shook him off, her face hardening. "Stop it. The answer is no. I won't put what we have here at risk for what is... out there." She pointed her finger disdainfully and put her attention back on the food.

'What we have here?' Aurelius thought his eyes narrowing. 'What we have here is a chance for you to die working the fields and me becoming a useless failure. I have no friends, no property, no community, no purpose. Nobody wants me here except for you. So what do we... what do I have here?'

He returned from his thoughts as his mother looked at him like she disapproved of the thoughts he'd had. It truly felt like she could see all the dark thoughts in his mind he covered up with shame. If she really could see them, of course, she would think him unfit to continue his father's legacy.

Then she brought her hand up and patted him on the head with a slight smile. "I'm sorry that you're unsatisfied. I know you have dreams. But life isn't what you think. Often our dreams take us to our nightmares."

Aurelius opened his mouth, but no words came. Was he wrong to want to follow his heart? Was it so selfish? He didn't know, so he didn't argue against his mother.

He nodded and turned away, heading for the back door of the cottage. Then the back door opened and a man came inside. When he noticed Aurelius, he gave a smile to mask the spite he held for Aurelius.

"Good morning," Aurelius said with a nod.

"Is it? You haven't destroyed more of my land have you?"

Aurelius gave an affirmative sound as he walked past only to be stopped as the man grabbed his arm.

"When did you grow to be so rude as to not even answer your uncle?" he asked.

Aurelius looked to the side and down a dark thought passing through his head. His uncle wasn't a small man by any measure, however, his head barely reached Aurelius' shoulder. "I'm sorry, I thought I did."

His uncle laughed at the word. "Tch." He shook his head and patted Aurelius on the shoulder. "Well, go on. You have work to do like the rest of us."

Aurelius shrugged the man off and headed for the back door. Then he saw his eldest cousin.

"Hey," Aurelius said, awkwardly raising his hand.

She just pursed her lips and walked past. Aurelius' eyes went to her elbow and he grimaced slightly. It was a sight that haunted his dreams. The arm never fully healed.

He was about to walk into the backyard when he heard something and looked back to see his mother conversing with the two. Despite whatever his mother said, it was obvious that he had no place there.

***

Months went past with Aurelius spending entire nights staring at the roof, thoughts about that conversation and all like it never leaving him. Every day his beliefs were reinforced more and more. He wasn't improving anymore and his time was wasted on pointless work, but there was no way to convince his mother. Maybe it was better that way. But he could not stay any longer.

He took his large bag from under his bed at past midnight and silently made it out. It was a struggle to get out without having the floor creak under his feet, but he managed. Only when he was out, could he think again.

So simple was the act. Just take your stuff and go. But under the night sky, the forest was so dark, and the cottage unusually familiar. Nevertheless, it had to be done.

His mother thought she knew best, but it was her selfishness that kept him trapped in this place, useless and without purpose. But he had a purpose. He existed in this world for a reason. He was there to continue his father's legacy.

Without restrictions, he could do so much good. To others and himself. The world would be better for this choice, so it was one he had to make.

Under the night sky, he felt as if the stars were smiling at him. Then he looked back at the cottage one last time, wishing his mother goodbye before turning and entering the darkness.