Lightly jogging through the hall – walls and ceiling painted grey – my thoughts wandered elsewhere. A person; to Tadashi himself.

Tadashi was a boy that I had found in the aftermath of a battle against the Thelonious kingdom. Though the war ended up giving both countries peace after a near century of conflict against one another; Cities, villages, and land on both sides were destroyed.

Both mage and civilians alike had experienced millions of losses on both sides. The war ended mainly because multiple major countries and kingdoms had fallen and if any more conflict were to have happened, the world itself would have been in disarray. So the countries and their allies all accepted a peace treaty making history as the first time the entirety of the world were at peace.

But those who were alive and survived such a war, well, quite frankly, most of them would have been better off dead.

Tadashi was only 11 when I found him. He didn’t know his parents. The only person who could be considered a parent to Tadashi was a guardian that had taken him in but died getting caught in a crossfire on an active battlefield.

He was only five years old then.

For six years he wandered, simply trying to survive on his own. He lost many comrades and saw many things, and experienced many things a chil- no, a man should ever see or experience.

Things I wouldn’t wish upon my own enemy.

My finding of Tadashi had been a little after the world had announced peace, but there had still been bandits nurtured and scarred by war, wreaking havoc on villages who had only recently been given a new hope. I don’t blame them for their actions, really, but I had been sent, along with many other soldiers of Darcy, to pursue and bring the bandits to “justice”.

That’s when I spotted him: Tadashi’s cheeks had been sunken, famine visibly taking its toll with no mercy on this poor boy; skin a sickly gray, devoid of all color. His ribs were visible and was as skinny and light as a stick. Ash from fire, pebbles from the cottage houses which had been reduced to rubble, as well as blood dirtied Tadashi’s golden hair. His eyes were that of light green but were dimmed with lifelessness.

I remember this gut wrenching sight like it was yesterday. Heh, there’s no way in hell I could possibly forget it, because that sight had shown the truth of the world; a reminder that hell still existed even amidst peace.

Tadashi was lying down on a pile of bodies with an odd-looking long sword that had a quillon shaped like a crucifix, and a bright white blade laid flat on top of him. It honestly would have looked like a wake if there weren’t other dead bodies surrounding him that engulfed the entire land with an acrid smell of steel, wet grass soaked with blood, and rotting corpses, either cooked from the flames or dead by another’s hand, though their body had been laid only a few feet from their prey.

If Tadashi hadn’t coughed up blood, I would have assumed he was already dead because out of all 500 villagers, including an additional 100 bandits… Tadashi had been the only one to survive.

I shook my head in an attempt to change what I had been thinking.

Regardless, Tadashi was a strong boy with no affinity towards any elements, but a rather peculiar ability to manipulate space and space aspects. He had trained himself to survive, but he never used his rare battle prowess to kill people. Not even if it was for food. It was only to defend himself which was how he ended up in that state.

Tadashi reminded me a lot of myself, forming a bond between the two of us. Since then I looked after him. Eventually, through what most would call rebellious stages, he started to see me as a father figure, and I saw him as my son.

Now he’s 15 and lives in the Alistair manor with both Gloria and I.

Who would’ve guessed that the boy that has experienced hell itself at such a young age would be lying face down at our doorway with a bag of medicinal herbs on top of him, nearly frozen to death?

‘Ah, is this the Déjà vu I’ve heard about?’

A wry smile formed on my face. “Umm. Are you ok?”

“I-I-I’m-” Tadashi stuttered, body quivering from the blanket of snow continuing to pile on top of him.

“Hmm? Did you say something? Speak up.”

“F-F-F”

“Well doesn’t matter.” I shrugged. “My new son! Yes! Your little brother has been born!”

He stood up so fast, almost like he wasn’t just about to die to the cold.

The boy that I knew back then – who was only skin and bones – changed into a man that matched my height. His clean golden hair looked like strands of gold, albeit, due to his unsightly display of having nearly experienced death, messily parted. His rich green eyes, moist with a particular glint far shinier than that of the suns beams, looked more similar to a polished emerald. He severely underdressed thus wearing a creamy colored turtleneck, sewn by Gloria, with black pants.

Having replayed the memory of Tadashi jumping up multiple times in my head, I couldn’t stifle back my laugh.

Tadashi’s right brow rose, eyeing me with a spark of confusion. “So? What’s the child’s name?”

“The ‘child’s’ name is Albus.”

A slight grin, so small one would assume Tadashi were expressionless, poked up on his thin lips. “Albus.” He spoke.

I had only seen him smile once before when Gloria and I asked him if he wanted to stay at the manor with us, so it caught me a little off guard.

Walking to the room Gloria was in, Tadashi began to tremble.

One would assume that it’s, surely, because Tadashi is still recovering from the cold, but I, thanks to my keen eye sight, am able to discern that that’s not the case, and that he, instead, had been trembling with excitement and nervousness.

Tadashi has made a name for himself, known as an inscrutable and solemn person. Most girls in the village have a crush on him because of his mysterious and aloof personality, which makes sense since people that experience hardships act cold and distant, but, right now, he looks like a child who has never experienced such a life. As if all the pain he had once seen, and experienced, disappeared.

Though he wouldn’t say it himself.

“What’s wrong, my son? You excited to see your little brother? I know, I know, it’s exciting, right? The time you’ve been so eagerly waiting for has come and you have now become an older brother!” I sang, playfully shoving Tadashi’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you forgetting I nearly froze to death since someone decided to lock the door and not open it for hours?”

“What? You’re still mad about that? The past is that past, right?” Leaning closer to his ear, I whispered: “You’re face say’s otherwise, idiot.”

He blushed, immediately fixing his face when we had reached the front door of Gloria’s room.

Upon opening the door, Tadashi greeted Mrs. Sakura with a nod of acknowledgement.

Gloria smiled at Tadashi, raising Albus – now wrapped in a white cover – and spoke softly: “Here, Tadashi. You’re little brother.”

Tadashi hesitated for a little bit, staring at the cover embracing Albus.

Finally, walking over to Gloria, Tadashi picked Albus up, cradling Albus’s tiny, fragile body within his arms, before looking into Albus’s eyes.

Albus smiled, eyes now widely open.

I was only able to see half of Tadashi’s face, but that was all I needed to see.

Tears gently streamed off of Tadashi’s cheek, landing on the wooden floor beneath us. Tadashi’s slight, minute grin had sprouted into a wide smile, turning his eyes into slits, as he spoke delicately so as to not scare his little brother.

“Albus, I’m your big brother, Tadashi.”