Let us remember the past, not for our sake. But for the futures'
-A sad young man.
There was a time when I used to smile. A time when my heart wasn't filled with hate. A better time that I will always cherish.
'Father I don't want to leave the city! I want to stay with the Gaiden!!' A younger Reno said.
'We owe it to the Leon's. Bedsides you need a friend your age' His father told him as they sat for dinner.
'But I want to train with King Kang. I don't need friends' He whispered playing with his food.
'We leave in the morning, please try to wake up on time'.
'At least tell me where it is!'
'A little after Ark, Ladinglade. They have a castle there, isn't that nice?'
'Doesn't sound like it'll be any fun'.
I and my father always had conversations like this.
I excused myself to the balcony after dinner. I looked out to the city below, the lights looked like stars.
Someone else came behind me to enjoy the view. 'I know it's you father'.
'Your energy-sensing still needs work Reno' King Kang said.
'Oh!! Ah, King Kang what are you doing here!?' I stuttered.
'The same as you, taking in the breeze'
'Actually, I like to come here for the view...'
Kang let out a deep sigh. 'Look with me boy, are those lights beautiful?'
'Yeah, I guess so..'
'..You're just like your father.'
He made an abrupt exit and left me alone to wonder what he meant. I could see Kings fighting in the distance at the city's edge.
I thought to myself on his words 'Doesn't he think the world is beautiful?'. I looked up at the sky and smiled 'It's going to rain...'.
The next morning the lovely smell of petrichor still Lingered in the air. The car came, 'do I still have to do this?' I asked my father.
Yes now put your tie on well. It was a long trip to Ladinglade, we made a stop to the city of Ark. It was a nice place but it only had two kings.
The trip got even longer as my father told me stories of his youth to pass the time. He was probably trying to teach me something with his stories, but I was too young to understand.
We finally got to Ladinglade. The rest of the journey would be on foot. People kept coming up to my father, asking for an autograph, photos it was too annoying to be described.
'Uhm father the city is that way!' I told him, but he continued to lead me deeper into the forest.
'Are you scared?' he asked me with his gentle old smile.
'I can get there on my own!!' I yelled. And wandered off ahead on my own.
Eventually, I found a castle in the woods. 'He wasn't kidding!'. I saw a servant come out of the doorway and welcomed me in 'Your father is waiting inside'.
The displeasing exterior of the castle was outdone by its interior. It was even more luxurious than the Gaiden's HQ I grew up in.
'August this is my son, Reno' he introduced me curtly, speaking in an unfamiliarly lax voice. He tapped King August on the back, e had no problem with it.
'I appreciate your visit Woo but you should have called it's quite an ire-
'Come on August! Relax!!' my father cut in loosening his tie.
'Uggh! We're not kids anymore Raphe at least try to-
King August continued to yell at my father, something no one else would dare do, however it didn't bother father, and he enjoyed it.
King August got tired and sat with him. 'We're too old for this you know...'. He looked at me 'Don't just stand there, go see what Damian's up to'.
'I shall escort you escort master Damian's bedroom' A servant told me. I just noticed 'There are a bizarre number of servants here'. As she escorted me even more servants brushed passed me.
We stopped at the end of the hall on the third floor. He gave me a towel to clean my hands before going in. 'Strange' but as I entered I understood.
There was a boy in the room's balcony. He didn't seem to notice me. I looked around the room, there were books arranged alphabetically lining the shelves, I was impressed by how clean the room was wishing I could do the same to mine.
A picture on the wall grabbed my attention immediately. 'What!!!' I screamed catching the boy's attention he rushed inside.
I looked at him and he looked at me. His eyes showed shock, he had every right to be. It was like looking in a mirror!.
He wore a tasteful face mask in all his photos and even now. He took off his mask, and asked 'Who are you ?'.
'I'm King Raphael's son Reno Woo. Nice to meet you, you must be Damian'.
'You, you talk a lot' he said in a frail voice I could barely hear'.
'Haha, sorry I get that sometimes. You're really handsome you know?'
'You're just saying that because we look alike. Although thank you for your compliment we are quite handsome'.
Damian remembered something and quickly rushed to his shelf in search of a particular book. He sat on the floor and briskly scanned its pages.
'What type of person wanders off to read a book mid-conversation??' I wondered to myself.
I sat beside him on leaning on his bed and looked at the sky through the balcony. He found what he was looking for and turned to me.
'Friends! Yeah, friends! Be friends with me!' he yelled.
'Sure' I said with a smile. And we shook our hands in agreement.
'I don't have any friend either; I told him.
'I never told you I didn't have friends'.
'You don't have to tell me, it shows'.
'Everyone's just scared of us because our fathers are strong kings making socializing hard'.
'What a waste of such a handsome face I said and we both laughed.
We talked a little more and found we had so much in common. We shared similar views on things and shared them. What fun it was.
Before we knew it the sun was about to set. 'Reno I have an idea!; he told me then whispered the plan into my ear.
We snuck into the kitchen and stole a bottle of sake and two glasses and slipped out of the castle.
Of course, our father's noticed, we thought we did a pretty good job sneaking out.
'They're sneaking out Raphe'. 'Let them be August if I remember correctly we've done worse in our youth hahaha.
We went to the lake. Patting ourselves on the back for slipping through our fathers.
We sat on the grass with a rock in the middle of us where we placed the sake bottle.
'We could get in so much trouble for this' I told him.
'I read somewhere that if you drink sake with someone you'll become even closer than friends'
I already opened the bottle and poured him a shot. We clinked our glasses together and toasted to a beautiful friendship as the sunset.
After that, we were caught by King August and severely scolded. But it was fun getting in trouble with someone.
We sent each other messages and visited each other a few times.
It's truly tragic the series of events that followed that lead to this moment...