Crystal Shade Episodes 01

shard’s shadow suddenly changed to azure. The shadow of the crystal was forced away from that area. The old man’s fond smile returned.
    “You never rest, old friend. You never rest,” his soft voice addressed the crystal. “Our destiny ties us together. We will meet again. Soon.”
    The light flicker of soft footsteps was accompanied by a stifled chuckle behind one of the columns. The old man’s head bowed slowly as he curiously approached the column, but his memories rushed to remind him again of the forgotten past.
    In his mind, he was young again and stepped between the shadowed columns of a marvelous dark temple. Sapphire sun streamed in stripes through the stone balcony and window casements. The chuckling of a young woman, different than he heard moments ago, caught his attention. A dark silhouette of a woman passed between two columns. His eyes tried to follow it, but the friendly shadows hid her as she reached the pillar. Silence.
    His brown eyes mirrored the slick rune-covered columns before they noticed the shadows of the woman at the corner of a pillar. He moved ahead in silence to catch her from behind. They had played this age-old game forever. But as he reached the woman’s still, dark silhouette, it dissolved in his arms as he tried to hold her.
    Outwitted again, the old man hung his head as he found himself again in reality, between the walls and columns of his little sanctuary. There was no hiding the loving smile that broke his heart anew. He did not want to remember. While most of his memories gave him happiness, some only caused pain. This was one of them.
    The muffled chuckle of a child tickled his ears once again. It came from behind the closest column.
    “I got you,” the old man crowed as he looked behind the stone pillar. But no one was there.
    “No! We got you!” a little girl shouted victoriously from behind him.
    The old man raised his hands and slowly turned around, his loving smile stretched into a grin that only a grandfather could achieve. “I give up.”
    The little girl and boy who tricked him stood right in front of him, grinning in merry conquest.
    “You may consider yourself the prisoner of the Knight of the Light,” the young boy proclaimed, his wooden sword pointed at the old man’s belly.
    “Oh, I’m too old to be a prisoner, young knight,” responded the old man.
    The boy and the girl looked at each other, and then the girl stepped forward and crossed her arms.
    “On behalf of Princess of the Celestials – just to make that clear, that’s me...” She pointed at herself proudly, “You may redeem yourself, prisoner. For a prize.” Then she could not stop impishly grinning up at the old man as he played along.
    Amused, the old man shook his head and smiled. He recognized the girl’s behavior, and her mischievous smile, too. The little one had learned, rather, inherited this behavior from someone who meant everything to the old man.
    “And what would that prize be, little Princess?” he asked with a curious glance at the child.
    “Tell us a story,” the boy added with a grin not unlike his sister’s.
    “A story?”
    “Yes. A story about brave knights and be-a-utiful princesses,” the girl added in graceful majesty while she gestured slowly. This gesture was also so familiar to the old man.
    “And war, where valiant heroes are born,” the boy added.
    “Can you tell a story about her ?” the girl asked wistfully. The young boy nodded his agreement.
    The old man sank deep into thought, and then nodded to the children.
    “Come,” he invited them to the other end of the room and his chair, where he watched the chrono device day by day. The children followed in excited silence. But suddenly everything blurred and tilted around the old man. He tottered, but at the very last moment, he sat in his chair. The voices came to haunt him again.
    Not willing to believe. No explanation is possible, the woman’s great disappointment echoed in his mind.
    There is no mercy for weaklings! shouted a demented voice.
    To reveal the truth, to understand what surrounds you, now, in the present, you must reveal the truth of the past, a wise male voice added.
    When your journey ends, we will be together. Again, an angelic female tone whispered.
    Slowly reality surrounded the old man as he heard the woman’s voice. “Soon,” he whispered. The children looked at him. He felt they were always a little afraid when he talked to the air.
    “Are you alright?” asked