The Lost Scholar

CHAPTER: 00

THE FOOL

It rained glass from the dark skies again; Each particle danced as the wind scattered them around the town. Gabriel always loved this time of the year, It's nice and cold and the snow piling up covering the streets in a white blanket of pure shaved ice gave him such an odd joy, and he loved to feel the cold beneath his bare feet most of all.

The young boy stood in the snow for a while now. He wasn't sure if he trembled with how cold it was or because of how excited he was. Most children his age were already inside asleep in their warm homes, he wondered why was he so different fromth the rest as he held his small pale hand out to catch the fragments of frozen water.

Little Gabriel wondered why do the plants die and wither when winter arrived, why does the seasons change, do seasonal changes affect everyone and everything, why did God created things that can kill and humans can't commit murder or suicide? Questioning such things explained in a hasty manner such as: "God intended it to be that way" or "It is his plan" or "God works in mysterious ways."

Standing idle around in the snow made Gabriel sleepy when he felt heavy around the eyes it would mean for him to go back inside to sleep. As he looked next to him he saw a girl with blue skin, almost translucent. He stared at her for a while, her hair long and curly, beautiful in his opinion. The small child went up to her and touch her, to his surprise her body shattered, and the pieces scatter like shooting stars. His heart readied to burst from his chest. "What was that...?" Gabriel said under his breath. The poor child was not sure if to look for her or if to even regard it as a dream.

The boy decided it was too late to go find it, so he ran inside his home and sneaked up to his room and lit a candle. He grabbed his blank papers and charcoal and sketched what he saw tonight, or doodle her, for he had no skills to trace perfect lines and throw shades with his apprentice hands. After a few more doodles his body shut down, he fell asleep on top of his artistic mess on the hard and warm floor.

Gabriel walked through tall grass and a flourish forest. He wore a purple velvet hooded cape to shield him from the elements. He couldn't hear a sound, nor could he produce any.

This forest had a different texture for everything his skin touched. He sensed the grass underneath the sole of his feet, stiff like paper. The puddle he stepped on had a consistency of ink, he concluded that everything around him made of ink and paper.

As he ventured the lively pastel hues that once adorned the forest changed a more dull color scheme. This monochromatic atmosphere was sad and lonely, the only thing contrasting was his robes, dark and vibrant tones of velvet purple. He ventured through an inverted canvas and the texture felt more soft and sharp. He felt something pierce the skin of his foot, upon inspecting it he was pierced with a purple shard. His blood was gray and also had the same consistency of ink. The shard were cold and inviting much like the winters he so much enjoyed. He heard a croak of a crow at the distance. The ground beneath him crumbled and took shape into birds in flight leaving behind the muted white color of snow with small purple drops, some had different hues, too. After gathering as many as his hands could he laid on the snow holding the pieces close to his heart.

Little Gabriel woke up feeling as he fell from somewhere. He drew many deep breaths as his soul filled in his vessel with cold impulses, trying to piece together the event he just witness. His small body was on the floor surrounded by his own sketches. “Just a dream..?” he said softly almost disappointed. Gabriel stood on his feet to gather the scattered pages from the floor and hid them in his night stand drawer.

Inside that drawer was a book written by his father. They were an assortment of short stories and epic tales his father wrote when he had free time and he would read them to Gabriel to teach him a moral lesson. His personal favorite is about King Amesthyn, inspired by Gabriel himself. A king that lived in the kingdom made of cold quartz. His second favorite would have to be the Gospel of the God of Song, a tale of a god that fell in love with a princess. A romantic epic he grew rather fond of.

Gabriel knew keeping the book would hurt his mother, it still hurts his small heart knowing his father left them. He wished to go find him, but he had a duty as a boy, as a man to stand by his mother. Not that she needed his presence, she is tough as dragon’s hide and resilient as water. He hid the book underneath his drawings from his mother’s eyes and went down stairs to help his mother in anyway he could.