The echo of a large bronze bell could be heard across the little village of Haalo as it tolled and people offered their prayers, for it was the hour of grief. Yesterday, the unthinkable had occurred. A tragedy that no one could have ever foreseen...
A bright, young man full of promise — barely eighteen years old — had unexpectedly died.
Laude Tellstar had passed away.
The cause of his untimely death? A strange bolt of lightning had struck him on the head, instantly killing him in the middle of the day, on the 4th day of Nabello of the Fifth Letella Era, 839th Year.
After Francesco explained the events that transpired, the village mourned the loss of the poor lad. And though many dared not say it, the many in the village concluded that it had been divine punishment from the heavens for what Laude had uttered. Blasphemy was a heavy crime, indeed...
Still, the villagers had known the boy since he had uttered his very first word — they knew he was no devil. They knew him to be a clever, polite, and compassionate boy who had always put others before himself.
Sure, there were times when he had pranked his elders... and he always seemed to have a smart-ass reply for everything, but those were not grievous sins. At the very least, it shouldn't have been enough to warrant the punishment he had been handed.
Even his notorious greed known by all stemmed from his desire to improve the living standards of the village. Many remembered how Laude — as a young child — had scammed other children out of their money, only to use that money to hire a physician for old Grandpa Talo after he caught a particularly nasty illness many years ago...
It was then that they realized how special Laude had been. Not only because of his abnormal intelligence but because that intellect had been paired with a strong moral compass. That particular combination, in itself, was a scarce thing to behold.
More often than not, those who were intelligent were often the cruelest, but thankfully, Laude never developed such tendencies. Though he had always been more aloof than most kids his age, that was only natural development given his precociousness.
Nevertheless, all that mattered naught now. For all the gifts Laude had been blessed with, it amounted to nothing in the face of death. It went to show that for all that mankind could achieve and be blessed with, they were still nothing more than brittle dolls made of mud and clay.
In the end, all people — whether princes or paupers — shared the same inevitable fate. They would return from whence they came and turn back into dust...
The villagers had gathered at the outskirts of the Tellstar family's apple orchard for the funeral, Laude's favorite place. It was where he could always be found, his nose buried in an old book as he munched on an apple or two...
Laude's parents, Romudo and Celestine, were the ones who decided that this is where he would be buried.
It was a tranquil, private place where he would not be disturbed. And although it wasn't a grand enough place to bury a prince, it was the perfect place for a farm boy. Here at home, Laude would be allowed to peacefully slumber undisturbed for ages. After all, Haalo was a little village on the edge of the Janusphere Empire.
As Romudo and Celestine gazed at the stiff, charred corpse of their beloved son, their tears began to flow once more. The only thing that they could do was pray to the Heavens. Pray that the heavens be merciful and beg for forgiveness on his behalf.
And that was all that they asked of the villagers on this day. Nothing more than that would be necessary.
After everyone offered their prayers, the village's head elder, Samuel, stood beside Laude's casket and said, "...My dear friends, though we have come together to mourn the passing of one of our beloved children, I ask you to remain steadfast in your faith to the Heavens. They do not make mistakes, and..."
He gazed at the peaceful expression on Laude's face and said, "...I know that Laude possessed a righteous soul. The Heavens would never punish an innocent, so it is my belief that there must be more to this unexpected event. Perhaps, Laude's talents were needed in Heaven, or he had a fate that lay beyond this earth..."
Samuel gazed upward toward the sky with a smile and said, "I see this is as a transformation, a twist of fate. Mourn his loss, but know that the Heavens have opened another door for him. Instead of mourning his exit from this mortal coil, see our beloved Laude off with a smile instead and wish him well wherever the Heavens have whisked him away to..."
And with that, the funeral had reached its conclusion. Everyone paid their final respects as they got to look at Laude one last time before he was finally put to rest.
Francesco, Romudo, and Laude's older brother, Illia, slowly lowered Laude's humble coffin into the earth and then began to pour dirt on top of it until they could no longer see it anymore.
That was when the three of them finally accepted that Laude had truly passed away.
They had hoped for Laude to fool them as he had always done, to pull one last trick on them and rise out of the coffin with a smug smile, but... that moment never arrived.
He was gone, and the only thing they could was let him go.
Where had he gone? Where had the Heavens taken him? No one could say with certainty, but the villagers no longer feared for Laude. They knew him to be resourceful, determined, and most importantly, capable of making the right decisions. They knew that he would be fine no matter where his soul had gone off to.
Summers and winters came and went like the passing of the minutes. And like that, years turned into decades.
In that time, an enormous tree had sprouted where Laude had been buried what seemed like a lifetime ago. Even more curious was the fact that the apples that grew on this tree were sweeter than honey and tasted like cinnamon.
Many in the village thought the tree a blessing of the heavens. Some considered it proof that Laude had redeemed himself in the eyes of the Heavens. Others still thought it a sign that Laude had become a child of the Heavens and that it was a heavenly gift...
But there was an elderly couple who knew better. They understood what the mysterious tree truly represented. And they kept a watchful eye on it, waiting for the day that their suspicions would bear fruit.
And then after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, one fateful day...