1 Reunion
"Question: Do you want to win this war? Or do you want to end this war?"
...
The young boy aimlessly walked across the scorching earth. He was walking as if he was looking for something he had lost. Was he crazy or something? He was walking straight into a battlefield, or what's left of it anyway. The ground was painted red with the blood of countless bodies, as well as the flames that filled the earth with a radiant orange glow. At first it looked like he was looking for his family. Maybe he was caught up in the fighting. The more he walked the more desperate he got. The young boy would stop from time to time and start digging in rubble, but would come up short.
At second glance it seems that he was looking for survivors. Judging by the robe he was wearing, he was a Mage. Now everything made sense, he was part of the battle that took place. It was heart breaking to see him struggle to find people. Finally, the boy had reached his limit. The smoke was thick and the heat was unbearable, and eventually the boy fell to his knees. He looked endlessly for other people, but ultimately it was the end for him, until he heard a faint cough. The cough was like a spark of hope for the boy. He picked himself and started to head in the direction of the cough. When he reached the source, he was amazed to find a young girl who was barely hanging on to life. The girl was trapped under a large rock. With the last of his strength and magic power, he lifted the rock and the girl crawled out from under the rock.
She was badly hurt badly, her leg was bleeding and she was struggling to stand. He on the other hand was bleeding from the head. The two looked at each other and noticed the robes that they had on. Turns out he rescued the enemy, but the two remained silent. They just looked at each other for a few seconds before she lost her balance and fell down to the ground. The boy rushed to her, but stumbled close to her. The two laid beside each other with zero strength left in them.
"What happened?" he asked her. "I don't remember what happened before we got here. I remember getting here but I don't anything else."
"I don't remember anything as well. I do remember casting a spell, but after that I don't remember anything."
"Don't worry. I going to save you." He said as he coughing up blood.
…
Alexander woke up in a panic from his sleep. He was feeling dazed and sweating as the train sped across the country side.
"Just a dream. It was just a dream." He said breathing heavily. His heart was racing and it took a few minutes for him to calm down. His left arm was numb and then he felt a surge of blood flowing across it.
"Damn… my arm. My arm is numb." He mumbled, trying to get some feeling back in his arm. He managed to move a few fingers, so he decided to sit back and wait for the numbness to go away.
"Man, I must really be missing her if I'm dreaming about her," Alexander mumbles to himself with a grin on his face, "I would never hear the end of it if she found out."
He leaned against the window and watched the two suns set behind the mountains. The train continued at a steady pace towards its destination, which was the capital city of the Kingdom of Valentia. From there he was going to meet up with an old friend Katherine in the morning, and together they would head to the Magic Academy the following day. He was excited to finally leave the Kingdom of Samar behind, but he couldn't shake the feeling something bad was about to happen.
…
Two out of the three moons were visible that night, and Katherine woke up from her sleep screaming. Her heart was racing as she wiped her forehead. She left her bedroom and headed to the kitchen to drink some water. She was shaken by the nightmare, that she didn't realized her right arm was numb.
"Why now?" She asked herself, as if she knows what is going on. "I have a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen."
She headed to the balcony to get some air. She stood there looking at the city, it was beautiful and the street lights looked like stars heading to the Castle. She could help but admire the view.
"Where are you now, I wonder?" she thought to herself. "I can feel you getting closer. Mmh, that explains the nightmare I had. Alexander, I can't wait to see you. I should get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a great day."
…
The train arrived at the capital in the morning. The station was fill with people, even though it was early in the morning. Alexander grabbed his luggage and sword from the train and headed for the exit of the station. Alexander looked around hoping to see a familiar face.
"You're not free yet." A voice came from behind Alexander.
He quickly turned around to see nobody there. It was like someone was stalking him.
Suddenly he heard a woman voice. "Alexander! Alexander! Over here."
Alexander turned to see Katherine waving her hand in a crowd of people. He run towards Katherine and embraced her, dropping his luggage in the process. The two were finally reunited after two years.
"It's been too long, Katherine." Alexander released his hold on Katherine, but she didn't release her hold over Alexander.
"It's been far too long, Alex. I've missed you." Alexander embraced her again.
"So let go home and freshen up." She released Alex and grabbed his hand. "I will give you a tour of the city and catch up while we're at it."
She pulled Alexander along and headed to catch a taxi. First they home before hitting the city. They spent the whole day together, moving from store to store. They went to Magic shops; Black smiths; clothing stores and finally in the evening they went to a café. They sat on the first floor balcony looking at the duel sunset in silence.
"It's beautiful," Alexander broke the short silence, "It times like these, you forget the struggle we endured to get here."
Katherine looked at him as the rays from the suns shined on his face.
"This is what we dreamed off. Being able to look at this view without worrying about our past." She replied.
Alexander turned to look at Katherine. The same rays shined on her face. For some reason the sunset made her even more beautiful, he couldn't but blush.
"So… tomorrow we have go to the Magic Academy, right?" he asked her.
"Oh yeah. We have to take the instructors test tomorrow."
"Are you sure we can do this?"
"Yeah, with our background we probably can make it. You would make a good instructor. Do you think so?" Alexander remained silent.
"Besides, you don't want a repeat of 12 years ago." She continued. "Back then were young and we were thrown into war."
"Please don't remind me. I had a dream about that day on the train."
"Do you remember what that man asked us?"
"How could I forget?" Alexander grabbed his left arm. "Do you want to win the war?"
"Or do you want to end the war?" Katherine grabbed her right hand.
"It still hurts sometimes, but I feel we sealed our fate that day."
"You think so? I mean really believe that?"
"Yeah… or maybe we pissed off a higher power out there?" they both laughed. "But with all honesty, I feel something bad is coming."
Night came before long and the two left and made their way home. It was partly cloudy and the moons hid behind the clouds. Alexander and Katherine were walking but suddenly stopped outside a small park. Alexander's face changed and became more intense. Without warning he changed direction and headed inside the park, and Katherine followed him. They stood in the center of the park and waited in silence. Alexander's face changed again but this time he had fear in his eyes.
"Well, well, well. Isn't this lovely?" A man's voice echoed in the air. "It seems I've interrupted your perfect little date."
They look around, but nobody was there. Suddenly a magic circle appeared on the ground and a man wearing a hood teleported in front of them. He had silver hair and a scar over his left eye. Alexander and Katherine looked at the man with hostility.
"Aren't you happy to see me?" the man asked. "I hope I'm not interrupting you, Alexander?"
Alexander and Katherine looked at the man with hostility. They took one step back and Katherine grabbed Alexander's arm and wrapped herself against him. Alexander took a deep breath, and answered with a calm smile.
"It's been a while, Hunter. I never thought I would see you again 'Captain'."
…
"Question: Do you want to win this war? Or do you want to end this war?"
"Better question: Is there a difference?"
