darklydivergent

17-1: Wizards dying


(flashback starts in front of the tower at the Sage's Manor)


A while back, I’d once asked Nero about something.

About wizards dying.


Faust: Nero, do you know any wizards who lived out their whole lifespan completely naturally?

Nero: Naturally? What’s not naturally s’pposed to mean then?

Faust: Like dying in battle or unexpected disasters. What I mean is, did you once meet a wizard going senile with age?

Faust: Since I didn’t go outside when I was living in the Valley of Storms, I don’t really know any other wizards.

Faust: I know wizards don’t age past a certain point. But then, how would one passing naturally turn to stone?

Faust: I was wondering if you knew or not…..


The moon was shining down brightly that evening.

My voice had become smaller and smaller unintentionally, almost as if I was trying to hide myself in the pale shadow of the tree we were under.

While I listened to the leaves softly rustling, I tried to understand the reason for the sense of guilt welling up in me.

My worry about this topic just stemmed from wanting to know Figaro’s future.

My heart was holding onto that guilty feeling because it almost felt like a crime to investigate the way his life may end.

For whatever reason, I feel like Figaro didn’t want to think about his own death at all.

Is that why he doesn’t want to reveal it to them? Oz and the twins-and the South wizards-about his own time running out?

He had already washed his hands of the whole deal, even if he was able to talk to his former student about it.


Faust: (Is that what you are thinking this whole time, Figaro?)

Faust: (I don’t understand you at all.)

Nero: Ah, I get ya now. Then yeah, I’ve seen someone bein’ turned to stone a couple a times.


Nero nodded and gave a small laugh, leaning against the stone tower. One of his feet was tapping absentmindedly on the ground.

Comforted as I was by the night wind, I was not eager for his answer.

Nero was a man who gave me the same gentle warmth as a comforting meal in my stomach.

Those amber eyes of his rarely showed any violent emotion that could disturb it.

That certainly didn’t make him seem simple or inoffensive.

It was a complex process for him; politely putting in the time as he sifted through everything like he would making any high quality goods….

Paying extra careful attention to his emotions, always ready to lay down whatever we wanted before us.

Never crossing the line; never making us cross it either.

But even with that distance, I could still somehow understand how he lived through such harsh conditions.

Being able to childishly smile as he talked about someone turning to stone; it was probably one way of many to cope.

At the same time, whenever anything like sentimentality was involved, he was basically a sulking child, and astonished me with how rude and flippant he could be.


Nero: So did ya’ never actually know a dyin’ wizard? You seriously never went outside the whole time in th’ Valley of Storms.

Nero: You ain’t that different then youn’ Master Heath and Shino there, huh? Not knowin’ much ‘bout the world.

Faust: It’s not like that. I had to take on the duties of our family’s patriarch since I was a child. We had no father.

Nero: ……oh, uh, really?

Faust: Yes, so most likely I know more about the world in comparison to those two. ...Probably.

Nero: Well, can’t say I know any wizard dyin’ naturally, though.

Faust: I see. Then wizards becoming senile…….


Every time I thought about that, Figaro’s face flickered in my memory, and something in my chest grew heavier and heavier.


Faust: …..What manner do we grow old then? Does our body start aging? Or, just suddenly one day, you turn into stone….

Nero: Oh yeah…I did hear about it once from an acquaintance o’ mine, I can give ya his impression.


Nero spread both his arms wide, his gestures animated as he began to explain.


Nero: Ya can’t use skilled magic no more. ‘What’s goin on, ‘ ya say, since the day this happened just came on ya all sudden.

Nero: Soon after, ya got completely better. But then it happens again. Just normal Usin’ magic for a time, but suddenly there’s a day where ya can’t.

Nero: An’ little by little, those days get more frequent. In the beginnin’, it’s once every 6 months, and then again in 3 months…

Nero: Before ya even realize it gets faster. It becomes 10 days, then every 3.

Faust: ……..

Nero: Then in the end after your strength decreased like that, he said, the days ya can use magic just disappear.

Nero: It was different for everyone; if one guy was slowly declinin’, the others it just happened in the’ blink of an eye. But it all still just quietly faded away.

Faust: In the blink of an eye…..


I frowned. I couldn’t help but imagine how humiliated Figaro would be if he weren’t able to use magic anymore.

Almost immediately, I stamped it all out.

I wouldn’t wish any of what I was thinking about to happen to Figaro.

Because he is a dignified man.


Faust: …..Is it just magic strength declining, or does your body stay healthy as well? Like being able to walk around, feed yourself?

Nero: Nah, they were bedridden by th’ end. Still lookin’ young, but apparently their breathin’ got slower and slower…..

Nero: Until suddenly-they stopped movin’, an’ turned to stone.

Faust: ……..


It was a tragic scene to imagine, and I could feel the creases on my face getting deeper. But through all of that, Nero was still smiling.

There’s a light of long in his eyes, filled with a painful sadness.


Nero: First time I saw a wizard dyin’, it wasn’t deeply movin’....despite that, there was still somethin’ so beautiful ‘bout the sadness I felt there.

Nero: But when he was talkin’ about how the light was sparklin, as th’ stone fell in his hands like that….

Nero: Made it easy t’ realize why. Picturin’ bein’ able to hold such an important, precious jewel in my hands. And it didn’t feel so bad no more.

Nero: It gave me hope for th’ future.


It took everything I had to not laugh at that.

I looked up at the moon; no matter how dreadful it was, the light was beautiful as it shined down on us.

In this quiet, pale part of the world, I breathed silently, my expression falling with it.

Gave him hope for the future, he says. What a laughable idea; it's certainly not what I’d thought.


Faust: (When I watched someone turn to stone for the first time, it was horribly tragic.)

Faust: (Sure, the stones were beautiful as they shattered and rained down on the ground below.)

Faust: (But it made me realize even if we died, we could never return to the earth we were born from.)


I see a bunch of lovely, shining lights scattered about, the people they once were having broken up and buried in the mud of the battlefield.

An arrow is shot, and a wizard turns to stone. I tried to look at them, see their face one more time, but soon even that was gone.

Even the people we wanted to hold on to dearly, we cannot even see their form after they die.

Like flowers that show no signs of withering suddenly turning into dirt.


Faust: Then……what if it can’t be helped?

Nero: Eh?

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