It was a winter night ten years ago... The day where a boy and a girl both found their convictions.
Most people from this side of the world had already gone to sleep, entering a world of peaceful dreams and new adventures. However, such was not the case for a group of kids in the small village of Eca.
Being understaffed, the orphanage they were staying in had little to no authority over their lives. Although they were told to go to sleep, none of them actually did so. A true household of chaos.
A boy and a girl often snuck out late at night in hopes of spending at least a bit more time together. Twenty-four hours was too little time in a single day, so they would do the best they could to stick by each other’s side as much as possible.
The girl was loud, boisterous, and had no problems speaking her mind. She was often feared by the other children in the orphanage, as nobody dared to even raise their voice at her, let alone lay a hand on her.
The boy, on the other hand, was quiet and reserved. His personality and attitude caught the girl’s attention, but also brought upon the ire that the other children had against her. In a way, he was a free punching bag for others to vent their frustration on.
This winter night was different from all the others. Rather than meeting under the large apple tree like they often did, this time the two friends were playing an elaborate game of tag in a seemingly endless grass field.
It wasn’t something the girl wanted to play, as she found herself out of breath almost immediately as the game began. Losing her balance, her foot slid against the wet soil, and she fell to the ground in a loud thud.
“—Wait!” she called out, but the boy simply kept running. From her perspective, the boy didn’t so much as look back, as his silhouette slowly but surely vanished in the distance. It was then, that she realized, this wasn’t a game in the slightest.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she wailed as loud as she could in hopes that the boy would catch on, turn around, and return to her side. But no matter how loudly she cried, or how many tears she shed, the boy never once turned his head.
“I’m sorry…” the boy mumbled while trying to catch his breath. His legs felt like they were about to tear off at any second, and his lungs were begging him for an ounce of mercy. But no matter how much it hurt him, the boy simply kept running as fast as he could.
There was nothing more in the world that he hated than being someone else’s punching bag, and on the previous night, it just so happened that one of his bullies actually laid a hand on his friend.
She was always there to protect him, but he couldn’t protect her.
“I need to get stronger! I need to…” he repeated those words over and over in his head, drilling them down until he couldn’t think of anything else. Some may call this determination, while others insanity.
Eventually, the sound of water calmly clashing against the earth overtook his sense of hearing. The salty taste of the ocean lingered in the air, leaving the boy far thirstier than he should have been. When he looked up, he saw the glistening shine of the moonlight reflected onto the endless bed of water in the distance.
Along the shore were dozens of fishing boats laid out. They weren’t used much ever since fishermen started traveling in large vessels, so the boy took one for himself, apologizing for the thievery in the meantime.
He had no experience with sailing the seas. But since they were on a relatively small island, there would be nowhere he could go to realistically achieve his goals, and get away from the girl that he brought so much trouble to.
Upon pushing the boat onto the water with all his might, he set out to sea in search of a new opportunity. He raised his arm with an open palm, casting wind magic to propel himself as far as he could. But being somewhat weak in magical capabilities due to his smaller body frame, he felt the toll of the spell almost right away.
It felt like his entire body was being weighed down by three cannonballs. Sweat dripped from his temple in cold rivulets, stinging his skin as the winter wind howled against him. Each breath came out sharp and uneven, the salty air scraping against his throat as his muscles strained to keep the spell alive. This small moment of struggle gave him a sobering realization.
Realistically, the boy knew whatever he was doing wasn’t the brightest or wisest choice he could have made. But a man’s determination was unstoppable once he made a promise.
Being so physically exhausted, the boy’s eyes grew heavier and heavier. With the current of the water drifting him ever so peacefully into the sea, he figured it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to take a five minute break to catch his breath and energy.
When he finally closed his eyes, time slipped by far too quickly. Five minutes turned into ten, then into an hour. By the time he woke, his snores had long been drowned out by crashing waves, and he found himself surrounded by a vast, suffocating darkness, with only the violent roars of the ocean to keep him company.
Lacking any form of sails or control over his vessel, the boy’s small physical frame was tossed into the void that was the sea, in darkness. Water filled his lungs. He tried to swim up to the surface, but with how dark it was, he didn’t know up from down. As the last of his breaths left his body, he couldn’t help but regret leaving the village he had come to love so much.
No… It wasn't the village that I loved.
He thought to himself. Just then, the image of the girl who had so fearlessly protected him, and kept his heart warm, flashed within his mind. Being faced with the scythe of death, all he wished for was to see her one more time.
I should apologize the next time I see her…
I was stupid. So stupid.
Just then, like divine interference, he heard a muffled crash coming from above. He then felt his limp body be pulled upward, his neck and arms flailing as they fought against the resistance of the water. All he could feel was the slender shape of someone’s hands.
He couldn’t help but feel like he was dreaming, being swept up into heaven by the goddess the people from his village so vehemently loved and preached the word of. The boy was never really one to believe in such grand mystics, and as such, often denied the existence of any goddess. But if he really did die, then he couldn’t help but conjure up some last-second thoughts of repentance.
By the time his consciousness fully came to be, he felt the stinging texture of the sand on the back of his head, his hands, and his legs. Immediately, as if it was waiting for a cue, he vomited out all the excess water in his system, his body writhing in pain as he coughed as loudly as he could.
When his senses slowly started to settle in, he scanned the area around him. It was still nighttime, and he was so obviously stranded on a beach, but they were shores he didn’t recognize at all. By a simple process of elimination, he deduced that he must have arrived at an island he wasn’t familiar with.
A voice called out to him. It carried that of someone cheerful, yet there were signs of experience and healed scars from the way she spoke. Her heavy footsteps were muted by the sand, but he could hear her drawing closer.
The boy sat up, tilting his head to match the gaze of the person who had just greeted him. Under the moonlight, he couldn’t help but admire the sheer beauty that she radiated. Her short blue tied into a ponytail swayed in the open air. A strange white light was being emitted from the mysterious lady’s eyes. It seemed almost inhuman, but still relaxing. To the boy, it was something indescribable.
Her clothes, which were simple long pants and a button-up shirt, seemed very unfitting for a beach outing, let alone for a dip in the water.
“What were you doing in the water all alone? I had to get my clothes wet to save you, you know?” she spoke so casually, as if saving drowning children was an hourly occurrence to her. His gaze fell upon the lady’s clothes, which weren’t wet in the slightest. The words she spoke and reality did not match at all.
“Do you know where your home is? I can help you get back.”
Her offer was extremely generous, but the boy shook his head. Mustering up all the strength within him, he responded, “I can’t go back. I need to get stronger for her. If I go back now, then I’ll just make things more difficult for her.”
Clenching his fist, he looked back up at the lady. “I want to get stronger so that I can support her. I want to be a man that she actually wants to be with, and not some weak kid who can’t even stand up to a few bullies.”
The lady froze upon hearing his words. To her, they were thoughts and troubles that were once all too familiar. From her estimate, the child in front of her couldn’t have been older than the age of ten or twelve.
A grin formed on her face, unable to contain her sense of nostalgia. “For a kid to talk like that, you must be pretty serious about all this.”
“I am!”
“Then, let me ask you this. How do you wanna become stronger? What’s ‘strong’ to you?”
He flinched, not expecting to be asked such a question. His reaction came mostly from the fact that he didn’t know the answer himself. A part of him wanted to say a strong heart, but having one wouldn’t be able to protect someone from trouble, so then his mind shifted to magical strength.
Seeing his struggle, the lady scoffed and extended her hand down to the boy. “I’ll help you get stronger. As long as you swear to use this new strength for the sake of your love, I’ll teach you anything you want.”
When she leaned in, he could see the beautiful blue eyes of his savior. “My name is Sa-... I guess that’s not quite right. My name is Oktavia. But you can call me Miss Oktavia if you’d like.”
By the time the boy realized he had extended his arm too, he was already standing up on his own two feet. She drew in closer, patting the boy’s clothes to dust off all the remaining sand stuck onto him.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Fin.”
“Fin B. Orangg.”
“—Pfft!”
“Did you just laugh?!” Fin exclaimed, a sudden rush of embarrassment spreading across his face.
“No, no! I swear I wasn’t! It’s just that you have such a unique name.” she averted her gaze guiltily.
“Why are you being so nice to some kid you just met?” he asked, lowering his head.
Oktavia, however, remained unfazed. “Hm? Why wouldn’t I?”
“What if I turn out to be someone bad, or I steal while you’re sleeping and run away. Y’know, orphan kids have a bad reputation around here! You shouldn’t be so trusting of everyone!”
“Ooh, you’re an orphan. I guess I should have kinda known since you didn’t seem to be worried about your parents.”
“Thank you for your concern, but believe it or not, I don’t actually just trust everyone.”
“You just reminded me of someone from when I was younger. She was also quite hopeless, and it took her a while to be strong enough to stand up on her own.”
“Who was that?” he asked. Even though Fin knew he couldn’t possibly know the person she was talking about, he was filled with curiosity nonetheless.
Oktavia let out a light chuckle, “that’s a story for another time.”
The two silhouettes walked across the shoreline in peace. For the first time since he started running in his village, Fin felt his heart beat steadily, no longer feeling the rush of anxiety pounding at the back of his mind and soul.
There was a newfound sense of relief, a quiet certainty settling within him that everything was going to be okay. It was too late for him to turn back now, and since he had made the decision himself, that he wouldn’t return to his village unless he became a stronger person. It was a promise he made to the young girl who had protected him for so long.
“I want you to understand one thing before we get started tomorrow, Fin”, she spoke gently while her head stared into the vast sea of stars in the sky.
“Strong doesn’t necessarily mean physical or magical power. It means having the willpower to do the right thing when the time is right.”
“You said you wanted to be strong for a girl.”
“Maybe what she’s looking for in the future isn’t someone to defend her from physical attacks, but someone strong enough to be gentle.”
Fin stared at his new teacher in confusion. Though her words made sense to him in some way, the meaning didn’t truly click within his mind. He cocked his head, wishing for her to go into a bit more detail, but his hopes were almost immediately shattered.
“Welp, I guess you’ll learn in time.”
“What kind of strong you want to be, is up to you to decide.”
“All I’ll be giving you are the tools necessary to build a structure. What you need to do is decide how you’re going to build it.”
Waves crashed against the shore gently, crawling across the sand. Fin’s eyes were fixed on the older lady’s unbothered expression. It all felt out of place to him. As an orphan, he had never felt so accepted by someone, especially not so quickly by someone he had just met and had no connection with.
But he knew one thing for certain. Despite being older and willing to help him, he could see bits of himself within her eyes. Perhaps he would grow to become a mage, or a strong soldier for a neighboring kingdom.
No matter what choice he would make, one thing was clear in his mind. He would do whatever he could to grow into a man who would never make his childhood best friend cry ever again. His heart already tugged to the point of tears whenever he left her behind in the field of grass.
When I see her again, I’ll be sure to apologize to her no matter what.
And now… here she was.