“For where the love begins is where it ends. If there was but none to love, there was none to hate. And if everything is not capable of being loved, then nothing can ever be ruined.”
CHAPTER XLVI: The Statue in the Pond; And To Everything That Talks
FROM THE POKY room of dirt, the treasure chest instructed me to pick one of any of those glowing eggs from their stand. Albeit skeptical, I walked to one and tried to reach, but before completely touching it, I looked back.
“Will it do me something bad?” I asked.
The chest quieted. “Well, not exactly.”
“What do y
“But a family is built by compassion for other people. And in your case, it was not if. You are merely building one without it.”CHAPTER XLVII: A Warm Welcome; Strong Convictions and An Odd Tone“COME, COME!” one called in the air to us.All of a sudden, the place glowed and I started to hear the cheer and greetings from everyone. Now, some objects were pushing us into the village, as if trying to make friends now. The nymph was smiling as she followed behind, walking delicately with bare feet. Instinctively, I turned to the prince, who was shrugging, and to Houlio Merto who was letting himself loose. They looked at ease.“You must have had a rou
“Sometimes, those who come to give you a helping hand, are the ones that actually need saving.”CHAPTER XLVIII: A Party Down the Village; A Friendly Advice From An Old Teddy Bear“JUMP HIGHER, RISTO!” shouted one from the crowd and blew off something like an explosive in the sky. And the darkness blinked shiny spots of light, like fireworks but closer and smaller. I thought my eyes sparkled from bewilderment.The crowd turned into a loud burst of cheers and laughter by then. Everyone seemed to be excited for the night’s untypical event, as we were led to sit down a log around a big fire in the middle of the playground. The houses in the surroundings lit a faint color of orange as they emptied, all the objects in the
“But what does it mean when someone overlooks your broken fence because they are busy looking at your garden’s flowers?”CHAPTER XLIX: Another Hint; What Is the Nymph Plotting Up the Hill?“OY ROBIN, COME here and start enjoying this wine they have! I never knew something like this ever existed. This is way tastier than any other branded wine in the city.” The old man, who was now beet red, flushing from drinking too much, and was having hiccups from time to time, called me to join him with the other brass instruments he made friends with. They were laughing so loud, exchanging stories that only they saw as funny, and then tossed a cup in the air, cheering. He was starting to get drunk, meanwhile, I was not touching any food.&nbs
“I do not try to make someone or anyone understand the things about myself that I never really understood too.”CHAPTER L: The True Story of the Alive Objects; The Nymph’s Reason (Part I)THE BARENESS OF my skin left me with such a horrible feeling. The wind was cold— too cold for me to handle that night. I had forgotten that I had my jacket taken off because it was warm around the bonfire, and I thought it would no longer be needed in that heat.Now, I was climbing the hill, with my shoes slipping in the grass from time to time. The moon, yes, the moon was brilliant in such a dark sky, I thought I could fly around it. The trees around the village swayed with the bree
“I do not try to make someone or anyone understand the things about myself that I never really understood too.”CHAPTER L: The True Story of the Alive Objects; The Nymph’s Reason (Part II)I TOOK A glance over my shoulder and I saw the nymph nowhere in sight so I continued without my steps slowing down — albeit it was evident that I was struggling because my knees just could not seem to stop trembling. If it might be possible, it would only take me to shit on my pants to completely look like a loser.“Houlio Merto!” I called again. I could not spot them anywhere. After all, it was dark. “Prince Sigmund!” I came again.
“I do not try to make someone or anyone understand the things about myself that I never really understood too.”CHAPTER L: The True Story of the Alive Objects; The Nymph’s Reason (Part III)FROM THE THICK ample of trees around us, to the dark clouds, we had a hard time tracing the way back to the village. Whenever we head forward to a path, the trees and bushes would start to look familiar and then, ignoring it thereafter would not help at all. We would always go back having the same nostalgia and memory of the place. It was as though we were just going around in circles under these heavy leaves. It was starting to annoy me.“Robin, are you sure this is the way?!” The
“Because there was only the dead, and the living. But most times, the dead had seemed to live, as the living wanted to take its place.”CHAPTER LI: A Battle Against the Evil Nymph; This Is Either We Win or We Will Vanish Forever (Part I)THERE WAS THAT time before when I was told to give up on a game even though I had not been defeated yet. It was what they called an advance surrender. You must surrender before admitting defeat, because people used to live like that. They hated accepting they lost. Or maybe, it was just a smarter way to do it. No genius would want to uselessly finish a game even though they had already seen what was coming — unless it was for the purpose of humiliating someone.I have heard enough about it before. And
“Because there was only the dead, and the living. But most times, the dead had seemed to live, as the living wanted to take its place.”CHAPTER LI: A Battle Against the Evil Nymph; This Is Either We Win or We Will Vanish Forever (Part II)I LOST MY capability to think. That was all I could manage to think about. My legs were wobbling, and finally I fell to my knees. I took a deep, long breath before coming into a decision that I should just seek help. With all the ounces of strength my body had, I balled my fists and shouted to the top of my lungs… “FUCK IT!!!”My voice echoed around for a while, and I stayed, facing high up. With my sobbing, I looked back to the toys from afar. And it seemed as though they had finally sn
“But there is always something to look back to about endings, whether it is happy or not. And I think one should be able to thank the universe, that even the world gets rough, there still is something to be cherished for a moment in a billion stars. And perhaps, that alone, makes your ending better than the rest that matters.” CHAPTER XCIV: Finale; The Beginning of an End “Ragen Holler…” he spoke slowly, unable to find the correct words to add to that. The man in the dark did not utter for a moment, then he started to walk down. “What are you up to? Going up this building alone?” “Robin, you know him?” whispered
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER XCIII: The Soldiers of Decreto & Morvis; You Have To Escape, But You Can’t (Part II)“WHAT IS HAPPENING…” I mumbled as I watched them being held with their faces against the ground. There were soldiers around them, fighting off some of the monsters that tried to get in the way. And then, there was the rest of them…. Sigmund, Meredith, Johann, Joel, Jones, Tilton, Oswin, and all the others. And what caught my attention was…“ROBIN!” screamed Dominic as soon as he noticed me. A
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER XCIII: The Soldiers of Decreto & Morvis; You Have To Escape, But You Can’t (Part I)I COULD NOT move.When the first ray of the sun that stroke my eyes became warm enough to awaken me, I started with my lids that were heavy in sweat, my head that was feeling as though it was going to break, and a whole lot pain around my body. But somehow, it was not as painful as it was the first time. I moved my eyes around as all I could see were white. My eyes was still adjusting from the view. And it felt like the more I stared at
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER XCII: The Atondês Are Attacking?; A Glow From Robin’s Pocket (Part III)Why did they become this violent? What happened to them?“Johann to the right!” I yelled, but not as loud as to calling off the Atondês that was a distance away. We moved to an alleyway by our right, and immediately noticed the destroyed properties, and establishments — far too worse than we had seen a few minutes back.“Where in the f*cking world is Dominic, anyway?” Johann was struggling
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER XCII: The Atondês Are Attacking?; A Glow From Robin’s Pocket (Part II)ANOTHER SQUEALING WAS heard, echoing around the walls of the dome. It was loud, perfectly loud to shatter our drums. But it was muffled, it was thick and muffled by something, as though something was taped around its lips, and that all it could do is scream from its lungs.As we progressed on our way, we finally started to see shattered pieces that seemed to fly off far because of the impact, and the screams, and noises were getting clearer as we inched closer. A Train to Kokoshi
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER XCII: The Atondês Are Attacking?; A Glow From Robin’s Pocket (Part I)THERE WAS A long, long pause, before the crowd bursted out into a noisy chattering. I felt my breathing hitch. My heart was beating so fast, hoping the news they brought was not true, at least, was not as true as it was.I looked at Sigmund, only to find him looking down the ground, rather, staring intently at the ground as though figuring out what went wrong. He was not able to recover quickly. He was distorted for a moment. He was not responding. He did not seem to hear his surroundings. I walked to hiXCII: A Glow From Robin’s Pocket (Part I)
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER XCI: The Grand Ball; The Bed of Luxurious PeopleTHE MEETING WAS not done, but we were dismissed, the youngsters, to come down the Hall earlier than the rest. King Balmond said they were to discuss with King Ronald — probably to convince him, or to talk and analyze the situation more thoroughly.“Man, I was so close to screaming all that had happened to us in the South for them to believe us. But it is likely that the two of you have explained enough, and I was needed not for it.”I scoffed
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER XC: Confusions & Conditions; What The Meeting Is ForNO ONE SEEMED to have known what to answer. Not a single soul spoke. Not the princess, or princes — not even the Queens or Kings. They have kept themselves quiet for a while now. And I hated the uncomfortable eerieness between us.“Uh-hm.” One of the Kings cleared his throat. I suppose he was the King of Decreto. “As much as I did not want to be prying over your 'miraculous' ideas, young man, I did not seem to like that proposal either.” A Train to Kokoshi
“If there is magic in the winds, and a whole lot wisdom in the skies. There could be nothing to walk on Earth, for the world has everything it needs.”CHAPTER LXXXIX: Kingdom of Decreto; Prove Your Power (Part II)I WAS ASKED once when I was young what I would want to be in the future. Perhaps, perhaps not, I have thought about it too. But all that was for me to end up with was the word, wealthy.I wanted to be wealthy. I wanted to be rich. I wanted money. I wanted it because it was what the world was made for — well, it seemed like it. But there was this hint of pain in my heart whenever I say that. All along, it was not particularly the money that I wanted, it was the things that I could attain from it. Money became the thing that hLXXXIX: Prove Your Power (Part II)