Six Warriors

About Chance - (Sam)

It had been the end of the second day of school and Sam realized that this would be a negative routine. He and his friends also started looking for club activities they could get involved in; extra-curricular activities. Having finished classes, Sam walked around the school grounds, trying to find out everything. Time never stopped and they had a mission, a mission to discover the so-called "secrets of the academy", to discover where the treasures would be hidden, especially the scrolls of the Metaphysical Configuration. Dinner was still an hour away, and Sam didn't feel like going back to the stinking dorm, so he decided to walk around. Some people were in Myrddin Square, which was lit by some lamps powered by magic. The fountain sprayed water over and over. It was a beautiful fountain, made of granite and marble, and the water seemed to glow. It was shaped like a mermaid sitting on a rock, and it was made of marble. Water came from a pot she held in her hands, propped up in her lap, and from a few small turtles carved out of stone, and also from frogs with eyes of navy blue glass.

Sam enjoyed the fountain view for a few minutes, and it seemed to be the only one. Everyone else gossiped, read or argued, not realizing their surroundings. He looked at the trees, the obelisk and the bronze bust there. He thought about visiting the vegetable garden as well, but it was too dark. He walked towards the main building, and saw the gardens in front. They had carnations, gardenias, lilies, sunflowers, daffodils, lysians, daisies, indigos, hydrangeas and roses, lots of roses. Sam marveled at the amount of flowers, all this just in front of the main castle. No doubt the gardeners in that place were talented and dedicated. He looked up and saw the stone gargoyles that guarded the academy grounds day and night. He walked to the back of the castle and saw a small window, lit in yellow and giving off a nice smell of cooking corn, maybe for the dinner he was coming. Sam realized he was hungry and decided to get out of there right away. The academy grounds were vast, so he was getting the soles of his feet hot. He caught a glimpse of the graceful women's dormitory. He was ten times better and more handsome than the male. Girls chatted in front of him, looked at him and giggled. He just continued walking. He could see the little shop he had on the outskirts of the girls' dorm. In the shop there were shelves of sweets, snacks and drinks, some basic items for adventurers as well as flashlights, matches, lighters, flints, some clothes, stickers and some souvenirs.

As he was simply walking around, Sam smelled something baking. They looked like chestnuts or walnuts. The chosen one of the wind followed the scent and found, in a secluded spot in the grounds, in the woods surrounding that large property, a boy, sitting on a log of wood beside a small, well-contained fire, where he roasted the chestnuts with some kind of tin.

That boy noticed him there.

" The smell isn't bad, huh, buddy?" Said the boy, and then he got up.

He was taller than Sam, slender and blond. He had short hair that fell over his forehead in a fringe, green eyes, and whiter teeth. He approached Sam.

"Hey, why don't you sit down with me for a while? Come on, I can share some nuts."

Sam sat on one of the logs around that small and contained fire. Sam was sure the boy controlled it by magic.

"Me and my older brother used to do this many times" said the blond boy, "just pick some nuts, sit under the trees, listen to the sounds of nature. We did it at different times of the day. In the morning, we picked sweet berries and things like that , succulent and refreshing. In the afternoon, we searched for chestnuts. The weather getting cold with the coming of the night was cozy around a fire. Those were good times. And simple." The boy looked at Sam as he took the chestnuts from the fire, "you must miss times that were simpler too, right?"

"In a way, yes," Sam replied.

"The human feeling is complex when it comes to feelings of longing and nostalgia. How can such good moments cause us a feeling of happiness and sadness at the same time? It's like a sweet and sour fruit that you keep eating, wishing the sweet part remains more time in the mouth."

“Still, my choices have brought me to this point. I miss some things, but if I'm here it's because of my choices. I chose…certain responsibilities, so even if I miss simpler, happier times, I can't say that I am dissatisfied with being where I am now."

"It's a good way of thinking" smiled the other boy, "although sometimes life takes us to unpredictable places, so where we are, or where we go, it doesn't all depend on our actions or choices. Sometimes, life surprises us with mishaps we weren't expecting."

"You're right" Sam smiled and looked up at the sky, where he was under trees that swayed slightly in the wind, which in turn were under an increasingly dark and starry sky, "at other times... at other times I would bemoan about life's sudden onslaughts, but now, I think I shouldn't try to control what I can't, it's like trying to hold the wind. The wind can't be held, but we can study where it blows, learn from his moves and then follow along with him, as a friend and not as a tamer."

The blond boy gave a smile that initially seemed kind, but in that early woods, in that dusk lit by the light of a dim fire, for a moment the smile seemed ironic.

"I see you have firmness in your words, colleague. I hope your actions confirm that determination, when the sounds of chance ring like bells that foretell death."