Youth Knight
Soul Compass II

It's getting darker. I walked for hours in the darkness, desperately looking for a place to rest. This leg feels like a pile of lead and stomach rumbling from hunger. I was lost because it was dark and had no choice but to rest under the dirty and smelly bridge.

Scared and alone, can I survive in this city? As I was about to sit in the corner, a faint buzzing sound came from the other side of the bridge. Intrigued by the sound, I slowly walked over to find out what it was.

I saw someone leaning in the corner. Without him noticing, I approached him, an old man in shabby clothes, his hair had turned white, losing his right arm and his left arm folded in his lap. The old man then noticed my presence and said, "I have nothing for you to take."

Then I told him my intention, "I'm just looking for a place to rest."

The old man took something beside him, a cloth that could be used as a blanket and offered it to myself. "Wear this and sleep."

Then I received and took the cloth, then sat down next to it while taking something out of my backpack, "I have a little bit of grain that's enough for both of us." His face turned to delight and asked, "What's your name son?"

" My name is Arezha." I replied slowly.

I lit a fire to cook while we chatted.

"What made you come here?"

" I came from Maren Village trying to find a job in this city, but it did not pay off. I don't have the money to sleep in the inn."

The old man looked at me with pity, I continued my words. "It seems that if my life continues like this, I will steal, rob, whatever it is to get on with my life." I took two bowls from my backpack, filled them with cooked food and gave them to the old man. The old man took his bowl. "Thank you" he said.

There was silence for a few moments as we fed ourselves with food.

The old man responded to me, "What a bad choice, while you can still work. No matter how cruel the life you are living right now, don't let your heart change for it." He put his bowl down, our eyes looked at each other and he continued, "Because it's not worth it if you have to lose yourself."

These few heart-affirming words were enough to make me feel relieved, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders.

We also started to become friends. The old man's name was Izwar, I called him Grandpa Izwar. Talk about life and share stories about our difficulties and struggles.

"Tell me a little bit about yourself, son!" he said while eating his food.

"Of course, I thought of it as a nightmare, I don't even want to remember it."

"Alright, then, let me tell you. How old are you now, son Arezha?"

"My life is now 20 years cake." Grandfather Izwar fed himself and said, "You feel so good!" I said, "Thank God, then".

Then returning to the subject, Grandpa Izwar continued his story. " You're 20 years old, which means you weren't born at that time. In 1260 which was 40 years ago, I was 21 years old. King Xiris Amberia II died at the age of 47 and a power vacuum was inevitable"

Not only was I silent, I reported what I saw to my superiors and planned a confrontation. Long story short they refused to cooperate so that there was suspicion. The fight was inevitable. We managed to defeat them and disarm the contents of the wagon. Swords or war gear were stacked in them and we held off the remaining enemies, interrogating some of them until they spoke. 'Punish me! I was just assigned to deliver the goods!" that's their answer. They were just pawns, mercenaries assigned to deliver weapons.

But to whom? The prisoner replied that the recipient was one of the rebels. A group of rebels bought all that weaponry, how could it not make sense unless someone else was financing it.

We can only conclude that it was the Kluir Empire that financed everything at that time. It made sense that the empire would not remain silent and take this opportunity, because Emperor Kluir named Avianto was a very ambitious person to unite the western continent, he said, he himself said it in his coronation speech. It was a good plan to unite the continents, but the price was blood!"

Grandpa Izwar paused for a moment. "Hey son, do you have any water? I'm thirsty for talking too much."

I distributed the rest of my drinking water to him, really curious about his continuation. It was like listening to a fairy tale before going to bed.

Grandfather Izwar drank it, then continued his story again. "When we destroyed their logistics, the rebels were overwhelmed. When the warlords were about to issue an ultimatum to the rebels, a third stronghold suddenly emerged, namely the members of the royal family who are entitled to the throne of power.

You may be wondering why they showed up so late, but I can only assume that there was panic among the members of the royal family.

The people did not want to be led by the young crown prince so it became very difficult to recruit troops loyal to them, somehow they could gather troops, probably due to the influence of money.

The emergence of this third camp comes at the right time, where the other two camps are weakening because of the focus of fighting with each other. My unit is soon assigned to join the royal family, the rightful heir to the throne. Why so? Since some of us do not want to be led by parties whose origins are unclear, rebel forces who are puppets of the Kluir Empire, woe to them if they win. As for the warlords who are trying to take over the kingdom in their hands. They only come in times of chaos, fighting their own people.

We managed to overcome the crisis back then, the rebels we captured had confirmed that they were financed by the Empire and the warlords had been executed by the kingdom. Power has been successfully secured by members of the royal family and affirmed to the rightful heir to the throne.

Don't think it's over, 3 months have passed. The kingdom of Kluir is not out of reason, they spread slander that members of the royal family lead their people tyrannically. In order to free the Xiris Kingdom from tyranny, they begin an invasion. Then I was assigned and joined another unit in Aldea City.

A city facing the border of the Kluir Empire. When Kluir's forces were seen at the far end of the horizon, we confronted him at a large place to give the population time to evacuate." Grandpa Izwar suddenly stopped telling stories.

"What's up, Cake?" ask me in confusion.

"I'm tired, let's continue tomorrow. Get some rest, I'm sleepy."

Grandpa Izwar cleared up the place where he would sleep and lie down. Without being able to force it, I also lie down and rest.

___

Thanks for reading, I am so happy!

Don't forget to Like & Share