“Hey, hey, wake up! Stop lazing around.”

 The boy woke up from his nap under the shade of a tree, lying on the grass patch, with a girl with brown hair and light blue eyes waking him up.

“Sara? It's still early, why did you wake me up?”

“Early? It's almost noon,” said Sara

“So?”

“So, wake up!” Sara yelled.

  “I'm leaving for the capital tomorrow, might as well enjoy the last day in the village.”

“Welp, you should probably wake up, because the village chief is calling for you,”

“Huh.. why is the old man calling for me?”

“I don't know, but you better get going,”

 The boy stands up and rushes over to the village chief’s house. It’s a peaceful day; the warm sunlight shines over the village; the kids are playing around the grass field. The adults are busy with their day-to-day work, but no one is complaining. After all, they had been working every day for as long as they could remember. 

“Old man, where are you?”

“Who are you calling an old man, brat? Come around to the back!”

 The boy goes around the house to the training ground in the backyard to see a greyed-haired old man with black eyes who looks to be in his 60s holding a short wooden sword.

“Why did you call for me?”

“Pick up a sword, we will have a little spar.”

“Why do you suddenly want to spar today?” asked the boy as he picked up a wooden sword.

“You are leaving for the capital tomorrow, you should at least be capable of protecting yourself, especially if you want to find the Centiraria”

“Aren't I also gonna learn how to fight at the academy?” 

 The old man said nothing. He took a deep breath as he charged at the boy and swung his sword aiming at his chest. The boy quickly blocked the attack but as he tried to return the blow, the old man kicked his leg.

“Ow, that hurt. What dirty tricks,” said the boy as he fell over.

“No such thing, stand up!” shouted the old man.

“If you are gonna play dirty,” the boy picks himself up and charges at the old man thrusting his sword at his head.

 The old man ducked to dodge the attack.

“Too slow, again!”

“Are you sure about that?” the boy threw a kick at the old man's chest.

 The old man quickly dodged to the side and struck his blade, sending the sword two meters away.

“Your movement is too chaotic, it would only leave room for error,” the old man thrust his sword, stopping it right before the boy’s chest. “Again!” shouted the old man.

  The two of them fought till noon before they noticed there was a group of kids from the village gathered around them to watch the fight.

“Old man Granz, teach me!” “I'm next,” said some of the kids.

“Drop it, all of you!” Yelled Sara.

“Just what are the two of you doing the day before he’s leaving?” asked the girl as she took care of the boy's wounds. 

“Calm down, I didn't hit him that hard,” said the old man. “When you get to the academy, give this to an old woman named Kathe,” the old man gave the boy a letter.

“What for?”  asked the boy.

“You'll know when you do it, now tidy up and get some rest, we're going to have a party later,” the old man walked away.

“Why do you guys like fighting so much?” Sara asked

“We don't like fighting, sometimes we have to and when the time comes you should at least be able to protect yourself,” the boy answered.

“There you go, all patched up. Does it hurt anywhere else?” Sara finished patching up his wound.

“Nope,” the boy stood up.

“You mind helping me bring lunch for everyone on the field?” Sara asked

“Sure, where is it?”

“Grandma's place also brings her this,” Sara handed over some medicinal plants. “I picked it up this morning,”

“Okay, see you at the vineyard Sara”

 The boy ran over to a worn-down house in the village. 

“Grandma! Where are you? ” the boy knocked on the door

“Come in, come in.” said the old lady

 The boy opens the door to an organized room with stacks of books on the floor and bookshelves.

“I'm down in the basement,” said the old lady with a soft quiet tone.

 The boy walks down to the basement to see a grey-haired old lady with watery light yellow eyes making medicine.

“Sara found some medicine plant, I'll leave it here” the boy put all of the medicine plants on a table in the middle of the room then walks to the old lady next to the boiling pot of water.

“What are you making there?” asked the boy.

“Well, you are leaving tomorrow so I'm making you some cough and fever medicine,” said the old lady as she put some plants and dried flowers into the pot. “Can you get me one of the small flasks on the shelf please?”

“Of course,” the boy went and got five small flasks from the shelf and put it on the table next to the old lady.

“Ahh perfect,” the lady poured the medicine into all five of the small flasks. “Can you please put the wooden corks on them for me?”

“Of course,”

“Let it cool down for a bit, then you can bring it with you to the academy,” said the old lady.

“Ohh that is very sweet of you, your medicine is always the best,” said the boy.

“How flattering of you,”

“Ohh right, Sara told me to bring lunch to everyone,”

“Oh my, you should be on your way then, everyone’s lunch is in the kitchen,”

“I'll be on my way, see you later grandma, love you!”

 The boy takes everyone's lunch boxes and leaves the old lady's house. He rushes over to the vineyard where everyone is working.

“Sara! Where are you?” the boy shouted.

“Jeez, what took you so long?” Sara walks toward the boy.

“Sorry I had to help grandma with her medicine,” the boy handed over some of the lunch boxes to the girl. “Where is everyone?”

“We just finish picking the grapes so everyone is resting near the winery,”

 The two of them walk toward the winery.

“Oii kids, we are over here!” the two of them turn toward the direction where the voice is coming from to see a waving middle-aged man.

 They walk over to the waving man.

“What took you guys so long? I am starving over here.”

“Ask him,” Sara handed over one of the lunch boxes to the man.

 The two of them hand out everyone's lunch. 

“I'm going back,” said the boy.

“Hmm? You are not eating with us?” asked the man.

“Nah, I'm gonna rest,” said the boy as he walked toward the forest.

 The boy walks through the path in the forest to a flower patch and lay down below the tree. He reaches his arm to the sky, the cloud is so close yet so far, he closes his eyes and starts to sleep. 

“Lazing around as usual aye?” a voice came from the forest.

“You are finally leaving tomorrow, shouldn't you enjoy the day with the villagers?” 

“Welp if I'm gonna leave then I might as well talk to you before I leave.” said the boy.

“This forest will miss you.”

“Yea I will miss it too, it's my favourite napping place after all.”

  “Chuckles. I don't think you will have a problem with that at the academy.”

“Hmm? I didn't know that you went to the academy,”

“You could say so.”

“Heh…” the boy paused for a moment before continuing with his sentence “Do you think that I can find information about that mythical land there?”

“Are you getting second thoughts?”

“Of course, after all, if we are wrong, I will waste three years at the academy.”

“Well, you can't know until you try can you?”

“Hmm… Maybe I'm overthinking it…” the voice interrupted him in the middle of his sentence. “No, you are not. It's only natural for you to get second thoughts, after all this is all just baseless assumptions. But with that being said, I'm sure you will find something you will need.”

“Maybe, maybe…”

“It seems like our conversation will be cut short, good luck on your journey Maz.” the voice started to fade away, leaving the boy with the sensation of falling through infinite space.

“Maz!... Maz!”

“MAZ! Wake up!” The boy woke up from his nap under the shade of a tree, lying on the flower patch, with a girl with brown hair and light blue eyes waking him up.

“Woah, I feel like I am having a bit of a Déjà vu,” said the boy.

“Will you stop joking around? Come on, everyone prepared a goodbye party for you,” said Sara.

 The boy sat up on a grass patch under the tree, watching the stars in the sky. The moonlight pierced through the leaves of the tree and shone on the flowers. It was a beautiful night, the sky was filled with stars, the silvery-white moonlight sprinkled on the ground with the dim light from the fireflies created a painting-like view, as he watched the stars he could smell the light sense of the flowers.

“Hey, hey! Are you even listening to me?” asked the girl.

 The boy stood up and started walking toward the village.

“Come, everyone is waiting.” said the boy.

“Huh? Did you forget that I was the one that came here to get you?” said the girl as she caught up to the boy.

“Doesn’t this bring back a lot of memories?” asked the girl.

“What? Having you wake me up?”

“You should really fix that, you know? I won’t be there to wake you up in the academy after all.”

“Ye I should probably do that… hey Uhm… do you think that I’m really doing the right thing?” asked the boy nervously.

“It is too late to regret your decision now, you know. And besides, what do you have to worry about? You were so excited just yesterday.”

“It’s just that it’s weird to think that after tomorrow I won’t be able to see anyone from the village for at least another three years.”

“Relax, think of it this way, you are going to the academy to learn new things and get stronger so that you can chase that childish dream of yours,” said Sara jokingly.

 The boy stays in silence as they walk back. The closer they get to the village, the boy can start to see the light from the lanterns that were hung up, the decorations, he can hear the sounds of people talking cheerfully. It’s almost as if there was a festival going on.

 As soon as the two of them step out of the forest the boy can see everyone in the village waiting for them to start the party, they are all sitting around a big campfire lighting up the entire village. 

“There you are, brat. Everyone has been waiting for you” the old man dragged the boy to the front of the campfire. “Now that the main character is here, let’s get the party started, cheer!”

“Cheer!”

 Everyone started drinking and cheering for the boy. 

“Everyone is looking forward to the day you come back, kid. Don’t die while you’re out there,” said the drunken old man. 

“I’ll miss you too?”

 The sound of laughter and cheer filled their village. The old lady came up to the boy and gave him the medicine bottle. 

“Don’t even think of sneaking out, everyone took the time to prepare this party for you.”

“Grandma, what would make you think that?”

“Kid, I know you better than anyone in this village, do you really think that you can deceive me?” the old lady calmingly patted the boy’s hair. “Tell me, what’s on your mind.”

“Nothing really, it’s just that I feel like I don’t have a reason to do this. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do.”

“Well then, what made you sign up for the academy?”

“I just thought that if I get accepted I would find out what I want to do but now that I did, I still can’t seem to figure it out.”

“You had always had that dream of finding that mythical land ever since you were little, why not make that your objective? On the way, you can also try and find your parents.”

“Finding Centiraria is what I want to do, but what should I do after that? Showing everyone where it is? Live there? It just doesn’t sound like something that I want to do. And my parents… I don’t really want to find them, they abandoned me when I was just a baby, I don’t know what they even look like and I kinda don’t want to know who they are.”

 The old lady laughed for a second and calmly patted the boy.

“Oh my child, you are overthinking this far too much. How about this? Make it your objective to find out what you want to do at the academy, you are always so eager when it comes to learning new things, I doubt that you won’t find anything that you want to do there and if you don’t, come back and I will tell you what to do.”

“Hah… Maybe you are right grandma, I'm just overthinking. Thank you, I really needed this talk.”

“This party is coming to an end, the fire is dying out and everyone is either drunk or tired, let’s end this here and go get some rest, you will have a long long day tomorrow. Good night my boy, good night.” said the old lady before she walked away to tell everyone to go and rest.

 The boy looks around the village, the big campfire that was lighting up the entire village a few moments ago is now slowly dying out, everyone is going home to rest and people are cleaning up. The boy walks to the drunken old man and carries him back home and puts him on his bed. After the boy puts him to sleep he returns to his room and lies down on his bed and closes his eyes and starts to sleep.