CHAPTER 23: THE COALESCENCE OF TWO SOULS

["Walls and a roof over your head. It’s funny what people claim is a suitable home."]

Mold clung to the interior of the peeling paint of the house that was left in such a mess it looked as though a tornado had swept through. In his lonesome, the thin boy sat in his room on a cut-up mattress left without a bedframe, scribbling on the homework assigned to him.

Toys were a distant dream, and books would only be pawned off by his deadbeat parents. The only form of entertainment the child found for himself was schoolwork.

The math equations brought his mind to a different place, one that didn’t smell of ashtrays and mildew.

["It’s not like I had lofty aspirations of "making it out of poverty" or something like that. Genuinely, I just wanted to be distracted—to think I’m somewhere else."]

Getting to the last question at the bottom of the page, he paused, staring at it. While it wasn’t an equation out of his depth, the boy simply didn’t want his entertainment to reach its conclusion.

He set the paper down, hugging his knees to his chest. The front door soon opened as he listened to his mother practically stumble in. From his room, he could see the entrance, finding the blonde-haired woman dressed with a pink shirt practically halfway down walking in town with a man he’d never seen.

"Oh, woah...! Ha-ha..."

"Careful! Hold on, you have a kid here?" The man asked, peering down the hallway.

The drunken woman pulled the man into her room on the left end of the corridor, "Ignore ’im...He doesn’t mind!"

An everyday occurrence; a new man was brought into the home after the woman who was his mother by blood only sold herself for booze and pocket change.

["I learned to ignore it—I drowned it out, sometimes finding myself venturing outside unattended. It’s not like anybody at home cared where I was."]

Beneath the curtain of nightfall, the boy sat on the grass by the street-side curb. As his stomach growled, he was lost in thought while watching the stars.

Across the clouds, a plane hummed like a great, pale bird, unchained by bitter circumstances.

["I didn’t want much. All I wanted was to be able to dream."]

–

["Throughout my entire life, I was never a brave person. I admire people who could say what they had on their mind despite the consequences, who would stand up for themselves and others–but, that wasn’t me."]

In the halls built on ceramic tiles within the confines of the middle school, the meek student watched on as a much larger peer slammed a pudgy kid into the lockers. It wasn’t an uncommon sight, almost an everyday occurrence.

He looked on, but he didn’t help.

["Nothing scared me more than conflict. If I just kept my head down, everything would go along smoothly. That’s how I chose to live my life. As long as I was fine, nothing else mattered."]

On one such day in between classes, the boy placed his textbooks in his locker, hearing the usual cruel remarks between the bullies and the unfortunate targets. He looked over, finding the much taller, blonde jock shove the kid half his size into the lockers with enough force to make the bullied one drop all of his papers on the ground.

"Pick ’em up, piggy!" The jock shouted, scraping his foot against a bundle of papers.

The pudgy, short student gulped, kneeling down as he trembled, trying to lift the papers. As the bullied boy reached for the one stuck beneath the jock’s foot, he received a sharp kick to the gut.

Watching it all unfold, the quiet boy gulped, for some reason stepping closer to the frustrating scene. He opened his mouth to speak up, though nothing came out; nobody looked his way, leaving him to turn around as he left the poor boy to continue being harassed.

["Just keep your head down and everything will be alright. That’s the way I lived. I told myself it was the best way to survive, but really, I was just a coward."]

In the same moment, he and the thief blinked at one another, back in reality from the all-too-real memories experienced. As he met Elias’ eyes, the look they shared confirmed what they had simultaneously experienced.

Atop the plateau amidst the clouds as the night sky whispered, the two from another world were left silent for a moment.

"What...was that?" Elias audibly wondered, rubbing his own face.

"That was your past?" Leon mumbled.

Elias heard him, realizing the same, "So, that’s what it was. Ugh...What a gross feeling."

"I agree," Leon remarked, feeling as though he’d been seen completely naked. "Still, I think I understand where you’re coming from now."

For the amethyst-eyed man, he hardly looked pleased with bringing up what was seen by them both.

"I’m going to kill Haul," Elias suddenly claimed.

"Huh?"

"If you understand me, you’ll stand aside and let me make the world a better place, right?" Elias asked, flipped his blade around. "—Or not."

With all things considered, he could walk away—that was a simple enough solution. He stood there, feeling the winds shared only by those that stood at the peak.

"I saw your past, too. You lived your life as a coward. When push comes to shove, you crumble," Elias called out.

"You’re right. The person I was—no, I might still be the same person, really. I can’t tell if I’m only brave now because of the power I have," Leon admitted, conjuring a ball of fire in his hand before dispersing it.

"Are you implying...?" Elias asked sharply.

"I’m not. Just talking about myself, but...Do you really think this is the best use of your power?" Leon questioned.

"You’re still trying to save that scumbag’s neck. Keep defending the guilty, and you’ll end up just as guilty!" Elias yelled, lunging forward.

The way the thief moved was like a serpent slithering through the shadows fixated in the air.

"Greater Haste."

The world around him slowed as he grew faster, sliding to the right as the thief’s dagger passed by. As the blade missed his chest, the pinky finger of the man grazed him instead. With a single push backwards, he placed a dozen meters of distance between them.

Sound no longer met his ears, dashing forward as he let his fist lead.

His knuckles sailed for the bandit’s nose, though the quick man leaned back just before being touched. In that fleeting moment, their eyes met, just for a split second.

That was enough of a tell for him to realize—

’He’s increasing his body’s speed and heightening his perception as well. It wasn’t a spell that he cast, so how’s he doing it?’ The thoughts bolted through his accelerated mind.

To the left, he reacted to a swipe of the cerulean dagger, slipping back as it narrowly missed taking a piece of his nose. He flipped away, putting some distance between them, though noticed a peculiar fact—he was slower.

While he was undoubtedly moving within superhuman realms of agility, it wasn’t to the potency of "Greater Haste."

’This is no better than a standard cast of Haste. Not only that, but this guy was fast before, but not this fast. Unless he was completely holding back, something is off,’ he considered.

With consideration, he relinquished the enhancement of speed, immediately stomping his foot against the ground.

"Blockade of Nala’s Druids."

The land of the mountaintop rumbled as flat slabs of the earthen matter arose. Each wall of dirt and stone rose to several meters in height, sprouting in the dozens to intercept the agile bandit.

Elias clicked his tongue, having to slip back just as a rise of earth erupted from below.

Against the forest of walls, the man of black-and-white hair huffed, diving his arm into the disembodied dimension of shadows. As he pulled his limb out, it was clad in a massive, ivory gauntlet that covered his entire arm.

Leon could only somewhat make it out through the obscurity of the many barriers, though a shock wave rippled through the wind, making its usage loud and clear. Waves of the earthen walls were shattered, blown away as the wind roared.

’--It’s always something new with this guy. Well, I guess I’m the same,’ he thought, feeling the residual gusts brush against his body.