After falling and getting up, Luka tried to go to the exit. But, he glanced around and found himself in an unfamiliar place.
He found himself in a forest.
"What's going on?" he wondered with a puzzled and confused look on his face.
Sunlight was passing from the branches of the trees— fell on Luka.
"Where am I?"
Everywhere he saw, there were trees.
"Ana!"
The first word, or rather the first person to come to his mind, was Ana.
He could hear a sound coming from somewhere. So he ran towards the sound, thinking he might find his answers there.
As he was running, he heard birds chirping. His feet stopped automatically after hearing that soothing sound.
He looked up to see the bunch of birds sitting on the branches of the trees.
"Wow!" he awed.
He was so lost in watching them that he forgot that he had something more important to do. After remembering what he was supposed to do, he once again ran towards the sound.
After running for a while, he reached the end of the forest. And the sound he was hearing was of none other than water hitting the shore.
"Beach?"
He was at the beach.
He slowly walked further and understood everything.
'I was at the park, and then I fell down. After that, I got up and found myself in the forest, and now the beach?!'
"What is going on?"
He walked further, only to see what he couldn't from the forest.
"How?!"
It was almost night ack in the park. But here, at the beach, the sun was about to rise.
It was twilight.
The sky was clear, and its blue color was reflecting deeply on the sea.
"What is going on?" He was even more confused than before.
"You are finally here. I was waiting for you."
Luka's head immediately moved and followed that voice.
There was a handsome man— who almost looked like in his early twenties— standing near the tree. His long black hair and loose clothes swayed with the icy breeze coming along with the sea as its water hit the shore.
"Who are you?" Luka asked.
"Hmm," The man looked at Luka with his grey eyes and said, "Good question."
There was a sheath of a sword lying on the sand next to him. While the sword was plunged in the sand and the man's hands were resting on it.
"Where am I?" Luka questioned.
"That is a good question too."
"Are you going to kill me?" Luka said with a horrified look on his face.
"Haha," The man laughed as he said, "Why would I kill you?"
"Then who are you?"
"I am... uhh... how do I explain. I am..." he glanced around as his gaze stopped on the nearest tree.
He raised his hand, and the branch of the tree moved and came to him.
Startled, Luka was taken aback by this.
The man plucked the flower from the branch and said, "I am a flower."
"..."
"Looks like I made it more confusing."
"You are an exorcist?" Luka asked softly.
"Exorcist, huh? Hmm," He nodded, "You can say that."
Luka's eye sparkled in admiration as he said, "So cool!"
"Heh," the man chuckled and said, "Now I don't feel any hint of fear from you. Why is that?"
"It's because you are an exorcist," Luka replied instantly.
"Why does it matter?"
"Exorcists are good and kind people."
"Is that so?"
"Yes! They help everyone and protect everyone."
Seeing how Luka looked so excited showed how deeply he admired all exorcists.
"Say, do you have anyone you want to protect?" the man asked.
"Yes! I want to protect everyone."
"Everyone? You can't protect everyone."
"Why?"
"It's impossible. There have always been casualties and sacrifices."
"Why?"
"It's the rule of the world, the rule for living."
"Then how can I protect everyone?"
"I just said you couldn't. You can only protect those who are dear to you. Who is dear to you?"
"Ana! Mom and dad. Lily. And...Sieg"
"Oho. Who is Ana?" the man smiled.
"Ana is...." after searching for the word he was looking for, he opened his mouth and said, "Ana is...friend."
"Ahahaha," the man laughed aloud as he said, "It doesn't look like she is just a friend."
Luka's face flushed as he yelled, "She is really my friend!"
"Yeah, yeah. It's too early for you to understand those feelings anyway." the man patted Luka's head.
"Umm. Mister Exorcist"
"Yes?"
"Where am I? Can you send me back again? It's Ana's birthday today."
"Okay. I would love to, but I don't know how to send you back."
"Then why did you bring me here?"
"Who said I brought you here?"
"You didn't?"
"I didn't," the man shook his head.
"Then why did you say 'You are finally here' when you saw me?"
"I said something like that?"
"Yes!" Luka nodded crazily.
"Hmm." The man placed his hand on his chin and looked at Luka, "Then maybe I did call you here."
"Why?"
"Why do you think?"
"I don't know."
"I see" He stared at Luka and said, "Okay. I will answer the question you asked me earlier. You asked me, 'Who am I?', right?"
"Yes. And you said you are a flower."
"That was just an example. Though I am indeed a flower."
The man raised his hand with the flower in his hand and moved it towards Luka.
"Take it."
Luka moved his hand to take the flower. But before he could touch it, all the petals from the flower turned into ash, with only one petal remaining on it.
"I am a flower that has long withered, while you are a blooming bud of it," said the man, tossing the withered flower in the air.
"What does that mean?" Luka asked with a confused yet calm look on his face.
"Nevermind. Let's just end this. You have a birthday party to attend, right?"
"Yes."
The man moved his hand down to the sheath lying on the sand. The sand moved and raised the sheath up to the man's hand.
He took out the sword that was stabbed in the sand and put it back in the sheath.
The hilt of the sword had three colored stripes. Red, blue and green, circling around the sheath. And the entire sheath was covered by three colored stripes.
The sword with the sheath looked like a smooth stone with stripes on it. Or a stick.
If anyone saw it lying on the ground, they would surely mistake it for a long stone or a stick.
The man handed the sword to Luka and said, "Can you take out the sword for me?"
"I can touch this sword?!" Luka exclaimed.
"Is this your first time seeing one?"
Luka shook his head and said, "I have seen swords many times, but this will be my first time touching one."
"Oh! Then this will be the first sword you will ever touch, huh? How magnificent."
Luka took the sword in his hand and slowly rubbed his hand on the sheath.
"The sword is so light! And it looks so beautiful!"
"You find this sword beautiful?" the man asked with a surprised look on his face.
"It's awesome!"
"How about you take it out from the sheath then?"
"Can I?"
"You don't want to?"
"No, I want to. But my mom says, 'Never touch any weapon' whenever I go out."
"It should be 'never talk with strangers,' no?"
"She says that too!" Luka was so excited that he was shouting with every sentence.
"Don't worry. Just try to take out the sword."
"Okay!"
Luka moved his hand to the hilt and the other to the end of the sheath to pull the sword with all his strength. But the sword didn't even move an inch.
"Is it stuck? It won't budge."
"It's not stuck. Try again"
Luka tried to take out the sword again, but it still didn't come out.
"It is stuck," Luka groaned.
"It's not." The man took the sword from Luka's hand and took out the sword from the sheath.
"See? It's not stuck." the man showed the sword to Luka.
"Then why couldn't I take it out?"
"I guess this is too early for you," the man said, putting the sword back in the sheath.
"What?"
"You are not capable of wielding it yet," the man repeated.
'Not capable,' this is the word Luka hated the most.
He grew up hearing that word. Or rather, he grew up being called that.
It was natural for him to hate that word. And just now, he was once again called that.
"Just because I don't have magic doesn't mean I am not capable of anything!" Luka yelled.
"What?"
"Just because I don't have any magic, I can't do anything? I can't protect Ana?! Why? I never asked to be born like this! I also wanted to use magic like all other kids! What did I do to deserve this?!"
"What are you talking about?"
The man was baffled by Luka's sudden outburst. That was something the man had no idea about. Though he did get the faint idea after hearing Luka and how he reacted.
"I will take the sword out and show you that I am capable of protecting Ana!"
Luka snatched the sword from the man's hand and tried to take out the sword from its sheath.
"It won't open. No matter how hard you try. It's not any normal sword—"
"Shut up!"
The sheath moved a little, and Luka's hand started cracking.
"...!" The man's eyes widened in surprise.
Luka's eyes were closed, so he didn't know that his hands were cracking.
The cracks grew and spread throughout his entire body as if it was dried up from inside. His hair turned white, and it looked like his body was about to explode.
"Hey! Stop it!" The man yelled.
"I won't!—" Luka pulled out the sword from the sheath with his remaining strength saying, "—stop!"
The cracks widened up, and the white light started coming from them.
The man quickly grabbed the sword and put it back on the sheath.
Luka's body rose up and fell down on the sand, covering half of his body with sand as his hair turned back to normal.
He was already unconscious.
The cracks on his body were slowly healing, and eventually, it was healed entirety.
The man looked at Luka and said, "How could I underestimate you? After all, you are my..."
He stopped when he saw the last remaining petal from the flower, which he threw in the sky earlier, broke from the stem as it landed on the unconscious Luka.
"Please, don't repeat the same mistake I made," the man smiled wryly.
He raised his hand in the air as if he was waiting for something. He took out the mask from nothingness, which had the same pattern as on the sheath of the sword. He wore it as he said, "So long, my petal. Try to fulfill the legacy of..." as he disappeared into nothing, leaving Luka all alone on the beach.
The sand started moving, and soon Luka was buried in the sand.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"..ka."
"Lu.."
"Lu..a"
"Luka"
"Luka!"
Luka was found unconscious in the middle of the park.
"Luka!" Ana was desperately trying to wake Luka up as tears fell from her eyes like rain.
"Luka!"
Luka slowly opened his eyes just to close them again.
He opened his eyes again and blinked, once, twice.
"Ana! What's wrong?"
He immediately sat up and wiped Ana's tears.
"Luka," Ana hugged Luka.
"Why are you crying?"
"You didn't come back, so I thought you were angry at me."
"I am not angry. I was about to go home and...huh? I was on my way, then I tripped, and then...what happened after that?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am fine," he nodded.
"You must have tripped and fallen unconscious," Ana said, wiping away her tears.
"But it doesn't hurt anywhere."
"Let's go back." Ana helped Luka get up.
"Has your party already ended?"
"It's not. If you aren't there, then it is no fun."
Luka brushed off the dirt from his clothes and looked at Ana.
Ana grabbed his hand and said, "Let's go."
"Ana."
"Yes?"
"I will protect you."
Ana tilted her head and said, "I know."
"So, you don't need to protect me," he added.
"But I wanted to protect you too."
"I am the one who will protect you."
"If you protect me, then who will protect you? Me!" Ana declared.
"I don't need any protection."
"Why?"
"I just don't need any protection."
"Then I don't need it either."
Luka frowned his eyebrows and muttered, "Idiot."
"What did you say?"
He turned his face to the side and said, "Nothing."
"You called me idiot, didn't you?"
He gulped down and said, "Sorry."
"I don't want to hear 'sorry,' you know?"
"Then what?"
"You already know what I want you to say"
Sigh~
Luka sighed and said, "Please protect me."
Ana's face cheered as she hugged Luka. Luka tried to shrug her off, saying, "Stop doing that!"
She tightened her grip and said, "You will protect me, and I will protect you, okay? Always and forever."
"Hmm,"
"Make sure nothing happens to me because if something happens to me, no one will be there to protect you," Ana asserted.
"Ana."
"What?"
"Let go of me!"
Ana let go of him.
Even though Luka was only six years old, due to his terrible experience so far in his life, he couldn't understand the cruel reality of the world.
Luka started at Ana as his face flushed, then looked down and glanced at her again.
"What?" Ana asked.
"Let's make a promise."
"What kind of promise?"
He grabbed her hand and said, "Let's promise that once we grow up, we..."