"Ow, ow! Be gentle sir... It hurts!"

A young man shouted in pain as the strain on both of his forearms worsened. The bright clanging of two metal chains resounded as they swayed in the air.

Both chains were connected at the opposite ends of a rectangular wooden shackle. A stone with inscriptions of patterned markings that glowed in dark purple was fixed on one of its sides. The whole thing sealed the hands of the young man behind his back.

The lonely sound of his feet slowly walking through the dirt floor was followed by the strong gait coming from the metal greaves of two guardsmen who accompanied him on his sides, both who wore real serious and straight faces.

"Keep walking." It was a short yet cold command from the guard on the young man's right side, to which the young man nodded lightly in reply. The sight of what seemed to be an endless, dark passage greeted the young man's eyes. A depressed sigh escaped his mouth.

They'd been walking only for a few seconds inside that dead silent passage, but it felt like it was an eternity for the young man. The ambiance was filled with the flickering of flames from the weak, fire-lit torch sticks. They were hung on the iron sconces attached to the walls that they'd passed from time to time.

There were sometimes drops of water coming from an unknown source that fell from the ceiling. With each resounding drop, distress and uncertainty slowly wrapped around the young man's heart.

"Are we there yet?" he asked the guards behind him followed by a big yawn, his tone showed his boredom.

A guard immediately replied.

"Almost."

*** Wildest Encounter ***

After a few more steps, rowdy yells in the distance could be heard. It got louder as they went deeper inside the passage. It filled the young man with confusion and made him think of what it could be. There were echoes of euphoric laughter and intervals of sharp grunts of someone who seemed to be beaten up. Whatever it was, the young man concluded in his head that it was something no good.

As they walked more, the dimly illuminated passage the three were walking on showed caved rooms on each side alternately. Each room was about three arms span wide and was sealed off with bitter poles of steel. It was the prison chambers, an underground jailing area full of rooms that spelled despair for everyone.

Shadows of human-like figures inside of those dark cells gazed out at the young man who was walking in the corridor. Fear crept in at the young man's heart as he witnessed the glints of lifeless eyes directly staring at him. It was something that tore a hole in his soul. Cold shivers traveled throughout his whole body, yes... until both of the guards who were escorting him behind pulled him back to a stop.

"We're here," said the guard behind him.

Without the young man realizing it, he was already at the end of the passageway, standing in front of a barred room far wider than those that he walked past before. Behind the bars of cold steel, there stood inside and in the middle - another young man with white, unkempt hair. Battered and bruised all over his body, he faced a strong-looking man holding a bloodied baton stick. The man wore nothing but leather pants to cover his lower body.

Several more guardsmen stood at the walls surrounding the interior of the room - cheering at the two in the middle, shouting at them to continue fighting.

"What is this?" the young man outside asked.

"A tiny session of 'entertainment'. The young one there is called Shiva, your soon-to-be cellmate," said the other guard.

All of a sudden, both guards threw him forward with such strong force. The young man stumbled on his feet and lost his balance. A deep thump manifested as he banged his right shoulder against the steel bars of the room. An immediate silence occurred - all the cheering noise inside was silenced and the young man knew that he was the reason behind it.

His eyes snatched a quick look inside the room and saw everybody staring at him crouching on the floor. His eyes glanced slowly from right to left and all but one eye took the young man's attention. It was the deep red eyes of Shiva glowing fiercely, staring right at him with such crazed anger like that of a cornered beast. The visage of such eyes full of emotions drew the young man more to this fellow. It made him curious and was about to talk to him when the rustling of dry parchment behind caught his hearing.

The guard pulled out a scroll-like parchment inside his waist bag and cleared his throat - ready to speak loud and clear for everyone near to be heard.

"This third day of this month, Leif the Self-proclaimed Sage was found guilty of practicing an unregistered variant of mysterious art and confronting the local guardsmen resulting in multiple injured personnel and damaged infrastructures. Above all else, he declared in public his intentions to follow the path of the land's most fraud sage that ever existed."

After hearing that last sentence, the faces of the other guards inside the cell showed shocked reactions at Leif and started to whisper among themselves. While the commotion went on, the guard continued to read what was written on the scroll.

"Therefore, he will be sentenced to three years of imprisonment and rehabilitation here at Prison Grande, his detention will be handled by the prison's respective warden. Signed by the Burgos Second Marshall - Swain Gora."

"Great. The higher echelons continue to bless me with such gifts," happily said the topless man inside.

"Woohoo!! Another toy! More entertainment for the warden!" shouted the other guardsmen behind who seemed to be thrilled at the fact of Leif's imprisonment.

They called him a self-proclaimed sage and was about to be treated like mere entertainment in jail but no sort of reaction came from Leif. All of those things didn't get through his head... for he was only looking at Shiva. His focus was untouched, his eyes affixed on the injured young man inside the cell.

"You're not broken, are you?" asked Leif to Shiva, looking sympathetic at the state of his body.

"What do you want?" Shiva answered back.

"You're not broken, are you?" Leif asked again.

"That's none of your busi-"

"You're not broken... are you?" Leif asked again, abruptly interrupting Shiva's response.

Shiva paused for a moment as he tried to process in his head this persistence shown by Leif. He turned his body towards the direction of Leif outside and properly answered back his question this time. "Yes. I'm alright."

"Hey, HEY! What are you two whispering there?" grumpily asked the topless man who was mad for not being the center of attention inside the room. Despite hearing him, Leif and Shiva ignored his question.

After confirming Shiva's condition, Leif quickly jumped back on his feet and playfully wiggled off the dirt on his pants.

"They call me Leif! You're Shiva, right?"

"What? How did you know my name?" questioned Shiva with a surprised look.

"These guards behind told me, you see."

"Hold it right there!" The topless man went right between the two and successfully interrupted their conversation. A splatting sound went off as he smacked his belly with his left hand. "Hehehe, is your short acquaintance party finished? Should we go and do the main event now?"

Leif's face suddenly turned sour at the sight of the man. "Who are you supposed to be?" he asked with a disgusted face.

"What?! Such insolence! Know that I am the warden here!" said the topless man, who turned out to be the one with the highest authority in the prison.

"Nope, don't know you," Leif responded, denying the warden's declaration.

"Scoundrel! Quick, guards! Throw that insolent fool in here so I can beat some sense into him!"

"Too loud... Hmph!" Leif exerted a surge of strength. The next thing everyone heard was the sound of a wooden board cracked behind Leif - a sound every guard inside, including the warden, feared to hear. Both faces of the guards behind Leif turned pale at the sight of his hands having absolute freedom from his shackles.

"But that was infused with void stones!" reasoned one of the guards in disbelief as he reached out for his blade strapped on his waist.

"KRAAGH!" exclaimed the warden. A loud clang resounded as the warden busted open the door of the cell with his baton from the inside. Now Leif was surrounded - the warden in front of him while the other two guards behind pointed their blades at him. Yet instead of getting frightened at his current predicament, the young man just... smiled.

"Leaf Art: Milena."

Upon saying that word, a broad green leaf manifested in front of Leif out of thin air. It was big enough to cover the whole torso of the young man. The leaf's color was bursting with much vitality - almost as if it was shining with so much life.

"What's that supposed to do now, silly boy?" the warden mocked Leif, belittling what sort of ability he had shown. The other guards jeered at him and laughed loudly as if treating it like a circus performance.

Still, Leif paid no mind to such things. Ignoring the warden's taunt, Leif leaped into the air holding high the leaf he summoned earlier, and delivered himself towards the warden.

"How dare!" angrily shouted the warden as he raised his baton to block against Leif's sudden lunge. As he saw the warden take a defensive stance, Leif smirked and whispered another chant.

"Leaf Style: Folium Pound."

THUMP! It was the sound of the clean clash between a leaf and the baton. The sweat from everyone's faces dropped as the resounding echo between the impact of the warden's baton and Leif's broad leaf went off.

A shockwave manifested right after the clash, strong enough to blow away the bulky build of the warden. Knocked out cold, the warden lay wasted on the floor. His unconscious face rested near Shiva's feet where he was standing.

This unbelievable feat made everyone's jaw drop upon the sight of unexplainable wonder. How could a broad leaf do such damage to the warden's body? The same thoughts played through Shiva's mind - he who was the nearest person to witness everything that happened.

The next thing Shiva saw was Leif - standing at the broken door of the cell. His left hand firmly folded into a fist as the broad leaf swayed with vigor at his other hand. His eyes burned with the sparkling luster of an emerald while his smile bore more freedom than what he could think of.

"Who are you?" Shiva asked Leif with a hint of both disbelief and astonishment. The other young man wholeheartedly giggled and then answered back.

.

.

.

"I am Leif Twilight! The one who will one day become the millennium sage!"