Legacies of light

Arc 1.06

Year 5

Log of the boy

Name: Orb

Age: 10 (approximately)

Hair: White (normal?), Red (anger), Green (excitement), Yellow (fear), Brown (nervousness), Grey(confusion), Cream(hunger), Lime(lying), Orange(discomfort), Black(worry), Pink(happiness), Purple(?), Gold(arrogance). All with strands of silver.

Eyes: Blue(left) Gold(Right)

Likes: Drawing, Food, Snow Sculptures, Books, Captivant, Wolfie

Dislikes: Being left alone, Physical contact

Height: 150 cm

“Orb, it’s time for your special crash course in the Heavens and the Heroes songs. Let me hear your excitement.”

Orb screams very cutely.

“Orb in this world, there are three main languages from which all others derive, we call these the trinity languages or the tria carmina. The saviours song, the heavens song and the heroes song.”

“Hey Capti, why are there different languages, and why would there be differences between them?”

“A language is heavily derived from environments, so if you think about it logically, it won’t make sense for people living all across the world in different environments to come up with similar languages.

And the difference between them is that the Heroes song has lots of synonyms because the Heroes language was forced to be adopted by many civilisations, but many of them simply integrated their own languages into it, which led to this.

The Heavens song's biggest issue is that a closed society used it for thousands of years, so because of that, it’s the most different from normal languages. It is also an ideographic language, meaning it uses symbols rather than phonetic letters and many of them.”

“Ok, I got it,” he replied.

-Break-

Φ Capti has been weird lately; he told me he was getting a present ready for me, but he’s spent months locked away in the room called a study, upstairs, only coming out to eat and check on me. I am worried, but since he is immortal, there is nothing to worry about.

But that’s not the only weird behaviour, usually Capti is with me when I’m learning a language, but he has been handing me multiple workbooks he made himself and a glossary. They have been beneficial due to how detailed they are, but I would rather learn with Capti.

But at least I have progressed a lot in both the heavens and heroes songs. I can speak the heroes on a low level, but the heavens song is a bit hard to understand; I have to memorise symbols with very slight differences between them. It’s very annoying, but apparently, Capti says I am learning abnormally fast, but it doesn’t feel like it.

Still, I would like to see Capti. He’s always locked away, which must be affecting him because whenever I see him, he looks more pale and tired than before. All of this, plus the fact that he keeps dodging my questions about what happened to his arm, has left me constantly feeling worried.

“I have had enough”, I say as he marches towards the study. “Capti, I don’t feel well,” I say against the door.

Then almost instantly, Capti opens the door. “Orb, are you okay?"But then Capti feels a headbutt against his leg.

“Gotcha, Capti”, I say as I smile upwards.

“Orb, you shouldn’t lie like that. You don’t want to be the boy who cried deer. Because when a deer is kicking the shit out of you, no one will come to help you,” Captivant says sternly.

“Sorry, but it was the only way to get you to respond. Now come outside and play with me.”

Φ “I can’t orb. I am swamped right now”, is what I say to the orb, but to be honest, I don’t think I can physically handle it right now.

“Please, Capti,” he says while looking like a sad pet.

I must be clear and straight with him. “Orb, I said no, it is not happening,” I say harshly.

Orb starts sulking and says, “But I just wanted to talk to you, since you have been acting funny this year, and we haven’t spent much time together. It’s boring only reading and working every day, so I just wanted to play with you.”

Crap, I hadn’t realised how little we had seen each other this year, I got to fix this “Ok Orb, let’s go out and play.”

“Capti, follow me,” Orb says as he runs headfirst into the snow.

It’s been a long time since I was out here. I probably avoided it because I’m not that fond of snow anymore; my right arm is a constant reminder of that.

Looking around, I notice something ridiculous: Orb snow sculptures now have houses. “Hey Orb, what’s all this?”

“Well, in one of the books I read, it said everyone deserves a roof over their heads, so since I had lots of time, I built everyone houses that they could live in,” he says with a proud smile.

Shit, I have given this kid too much free time. All of this is making me feel terrible. “Orb, let’s have lots of fun,” I say energetically.

So as we play our games, Orb says, “Watch me do this”, and then he proceeds to do a handstand.

“That’s cool, Orb.”

His hair turns pink, and he says, “I can also do this as well”, then does a cartwheel but lands very shaky.

That landing wasn’t perfect. “That’s amazing, Orb. I’m blown away.”

Orb’s hair then turns bright gold “Ok, now for the finale, look at this,” then he proceeds to try a backflip and lands on his face.

I laugh at this, crap, I got to stop, this won’t be good if he sees me. But then I see his face looking at me with tears in his eyes, oh no.

Orb quickly gets up. “I can do it, I just had a sore leg today,” he says with his hair turning lime.

“Well, really, Orb isn’t that very convenient, especially since it didn’t seem to bother you with the other two moves.” Time to give this child a taste of his own medicine.

“That’s just how it is, Capti. If you can’t accept the truth, that’s just childish, you child,” he says arrogantly.

It seems he forgot he was crying a second ago, but as a grown-ass man, I will forgive him. “Ok, I believe you just wait till the day you can do it properly, ok Orb.”

Orb’s mood improves, saying, “Of course; I just have to wait for my leg to heal.”

“Orb, since you’ve shown me all of your cool moves, I will show you one of mine,” so I proceed to show him a one-handed handstand, then I go from one hand to my fingers.

“Capti, so cool, that’s super cool,” he says with a green head of hair.

But then suddenly, I feel my legs completely give out.

Φ “Capti, what’s wrong?” He is lying crouched on the floor, holding his chest.

Φ Crap, my chest, it hurts. I pushed myself too far. The pain is searing; I feel it throughout my entire body. This is some of the worst pain I have felt in my life.

“Capti, Capti, Capti”, Orb says as his hair turns black.

Damn it; Orb is starting to panic. I must fight through the pain. So I get up and say, “Gotcha, look at that childish crying face.”

“THAT WAS NOT FUNNY,” he screams at me.

I was then forced to sit down on my knees, as Orb complained.

“Sorry, Orb, I promise I won’t do anything like this ever again,” I say with my head plunged into the ground.

“Well, as long as you understand, it is ok, but if you do that again, I will never forgive you. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir Orb.”

“Well, I’m not in the mood to play anymore, so let us go back inside.”

Due to this lousy mood, playtime ended after that, so we returned to our rooms. When I entered the study, my legs gave out once again.

I was able to hide the pain until Orb finished his rant, good thing he didn’t want to play anymore after my lie. It’s been years since I felt this searing pain. Due to heart issues, the doctor told me I had one year left. I gave a lot of shit to those fruits, but they kept me healthy.

But I need to be careful in everything I do, so I don’t break down. I still have a lot of work to get done, but I need to keep in touch with Orb as well, so much work. I slap myself in the face with my hand and say, “There’s no use in complaining now, I just have to try my best.”

-Break-

Φ Capti has been looking worse and worse the more I see him. At first, he was just tired, but now he looks worse and worse every day. It has gotten to the point where I don’t want to ask him to play with me because he seems like he is struggling. I even make all the food that we both eat.

I have been wondering what’s wrong. He is immortal, and he has been eating, so it can’t be anything physical, so it must be mental. Something is making him sad, it’s up to me to fix that.

When I’m sad, it’s because I’m lonely or Capti is trying to hug me. So, I shouldn’t do either of those. Wait, I am so stupid. He must be sad because I have never made a snow sculpture for him. Capti can be so childish sometimes, so I should try to give him one.

“Hey, Capti, take this. I made it for you.”

Is this a snow sculpture of me? It’s well made (For Orb) with one arm and everything. “Thank you, Orb. I appreciate this.”

“Hey Capti, are you okay? You look tired.”

“Yeah, I am fine. I am working hard, and I can tell by this, so are you,” Capti gives me a soft smile.

When he said this, his expression was calm, it was just a tiny smile. I am sure it is probably nothing, but it looked as if he couldn’t make his body smile any more than that.

Capti still looked tired, so that couldn’t be it. Maybe instead of looking at things that make me sad, I should see things that make me happy. Well, I like it when Capti says nice things to me, so maybe I should compliment him. But will that be enough? Then I felt a jolt of sudden inspiration. I think I have an idea that might work.

But I will need to grasp the heavens and heroes songs better to do this. I know I can do it, Capti has been doing something for me, even though he has not been looking well, I can do the same, let’s go.

-Break-

Φ Crap, what time is it? I have been working all day for like the 360^th time this year. I didn’t even work this hard even back when I was a novelist, though I guess my last job didn’t have a child’s life hanging in the balance, but at least I’m almost done.

Oh, Crap, Orb, I haven’t checked on him today. As of late, he’s been pretty engrossed in something, so we haven’t spent much time together.

I thought Orb stopped asking me to play with him due to him noticing my deteriorating health. He is an intelligent kid, but maybe he has been just so obsessed with what he was doing that he did not want to play with me.

So, as I head down to check on him, I feel pain throughout my body: My arm is sore, my legs are buckling, and my chest has a shearing pain. This feels nostalgic. It’s almost the same as when I was climbing this godforsaken mountain. The ever-increasing pain I feel makes me wonder if I will be able to finish up before my body gives up.

When I arrived, I saw him passed out on the floor. It’s been a long time since Orb has fallen asleep out here. So, as I go to pick him up, I see a letter on the floor.

So, is this what he has been doing? I should put it down, but then I see it is addressed to me. Well, that’s all the permission I need to read it, I say to myself as I look at it.

[To Capti

You are excellent. You’ve made my life a wonder every day I have been with you. Without you, I would have never experienced so many beautiful things, such as drawing, Arithmetic, food, clothes and books.

Your books bring me nothing but happiness. From your books, I can tell that you’re a person who loves others and respects their troubles; I can see this in the details you put into your books.

I was so lonely and sad when Wolfie left. I thought I would be alone forever, but you promised you wouldn’t go, and I was able to be happy again.

I don’t know my parents; they probably left me on this mountain to die, but I don’t care about that. You and Wolfie raised me and gave me everything that makes me happy, like my name, Orb. I love it.

So, regardless of what’s making you sad and tired, know you are amazing, and I love you.

From Orb]

I feel like tears are welling up in my eyes. This letter is written in three different songs. He was stuck on Heaven’s song, so he must have worked hard to get this done. So, as I use all my strength and struggle to take Orb back to his room, I say, “What a failure of an adult I am, I couldn’t stop this child from being worried,” I mutter. Still, thank you, Orb. This has given me the strength to finish the rest of my work. I slap my face to wake myself up.

-Break-

Φ “So comfy,” I say as I gently open my eyes. When I do, I see I am on my bed. I don’t remember coming up here last night, then a sudden realisation hit me: Capti must have brought me up. Oh no, he must have seen my note!

It was supposed to be a surprise. Let me make sure he hasn’t seen it, so as I leave my room, I go into the study, open the door and say, “Capti.”

“Orb, could you please quiet down? I’m celebrating finishing my work a few minutes ago,” Capti says as he lies on the floor.

“Capti, where are you working all night? That isn’t good, everyone needs to sleep, so let’s get you to bed.”

“Sorry, Orb, I can’t do that right now.”

“Why”

“It’s just that it seems I can’t move my legs, and my vision is getting a bit blurry, and my chest hurts a lot, so I think I am going to go to sleep,” Capti says softly as he passes out.

“CAPTI," I scream. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but it’s physical. If so, then I need to take care of him until he feels, just until he wakes up.

Year 5 End