Chapter 20. Crushed Berries Aren’t Bad

Advik looked at the kid with astonished-big eyes, "How is my heart beating?" 

Samay frowned, "I don't know either. It's a serious mystery to us also."

Advik was shocked, "How is that possible? Prime Minister Svapn told me that I am a soul."

Samay serenely replied, "Of course, you are a soul. You don't have any flesh and bones."

Advik grimaced, "Then why is my heart…beating?"

"I also don't have any clue about it but in the palace, we were told that whichever soul comes to Lost Soul's Realm becomes like this." Advik gave a disbelieving look to Samay. The kid's eyes squinted, "Believe me. I have also seen and investigated some of the souls. And all of them showed at least one of the signs of a living being."

Advik gazed at the dark sky, "How is that possible? I am also dead. At first, I didn't believe them when they told me I had died many years ago but now…I can feel that I am a soul. I'm not living anymore. How can a soul have a heart which beats?"

Samay also gazed toward heaven, "We don't know. But isn't it good to know that at least your heart is beating even when you are dead?" His lips curved upward. "I have seen many souls beg to Svapn to give them their old, alive body but it is impossible to go against the law of nature for him even if he is a god."

"Advik." A smoky voice, full of love and grief mixed voice ringed inside Advik's head. It was a woman's voice for sure. He looked around to check something but he saw nothing except for the dark forest and the vast sky. He looked at the kid with an eyebrow going up.

"What?" Samay asked with an arrogant tone.

"Hmm…nothing. I think I just imagined something."

"Child, rest for a while. I feel you are exhausted by what happened tonight," Vismay suggested.

"I feel that as well," a pleasant smile showed on Advik's face. 

Samay's heart raced and thumped; he thought he shouldn't ask what he was going to ask but he wanted to know something so he just unconsciously called to the soul, "Hey…Advik." The soul blankly stared at him. Samay felt his body becoming stiff, "How-how d-did… you managed to… u--un-unsheathe my–the sword?" his chest tightened when he looked into the eyes of Advik.

The soul was a little surprised. He smiled awkwardly after a while, "Yes…the…sword, I am really sorry to pull it out without your permission. I just wanted to save us from those two."

"It is alright. I have no complaints from you."  Samay was calmed. He clenched his fist.

"Your sword," Advik's tone was calm, "your sword is a spiritual weapon, an extremely powerful one. Who gave you this?"

"Svapn gave me this when I was four years old." He glanced at the person beside him with deep eyes, "How did you wield it even when you don't have any spiritual energy left in you."

Advik smirked, "I don't have any spiritual energy but I have my skills and many years of practice that I have not forgotten."

Samay had his eyes fixed on the crimson red moon, his tone was deep and helpless, "So, you are saying skills and practice are more important than spiritual or cultivation energy?" There was some bitterness building inside him, not for Advik, but for himself. 

"No, both are equally important and necessary for any cultivator but spiritual energy is nothing if you don't practice and polish your skills. It will be like a lamp which is full of oil but does not have any light to illuminate the world." The soul's eyes were soft, "Don't look at me like that." 

Samay knitted his eyebrows.

"Advik is telling the truth." Vismay came into the conversation, "You can have the spiritual energy of the entire world however, you will not be able to do anything if your skills and talent are not  practiced and trained under good guidance and mentorship."

Samay had a bitter smile over his face, "Then, I think, I don't have any talent."  Samay's eyebrows came even more close, "I have been cultivating with this sword for years but it never came out even after years of hard work. I even gave it a name and it also recognized me as its master but still… it never  came out." His voice was low and thin.

He tried to hide the pain of his but somehow Advik saw the hidden pain and the tightly clenched fist of Samay.

Samay's heart tingled inside with little anxiousness, "But I am the owner and master of this sword and it's a spiritual weapon which should not be unsheathed by anyone except its master, so how did you manage to pull it out?"

Advik's eyes were closed again, faced above, "I don't have any clue about it. I was even shocked when it came out just like that. When I thought of pulling it out, I was ready to get some serious injury from it because of its overwhelming aura but it just accepted me so easily as if it recognized me!" His left side lip stretched.

Samay looked puzzled, "How is that possible? It's a sword given by Svapn to me and he is a god."

Advik glanced at the kid, "Would you show me your sword?"

Samay scrutinized with confusion but gave his sword to Advik. Advik straightened his back and sat properly. He took the sword with both of his hands. His eyes noticed the blue and silver floral designs over the scabbard which covered it beautifully. He touched the designs which were engraved over the scabbard. Gliding his long fingers over it gave him an indescribable nostalgic feeling. He felt calm and collected once again. But it was strange to feel like that toward an unfamiliar weapon. Too strange. He wondered. He looked at the kid, "May I unsheathe it again?"

Samay was surprised, "Y-yes, sure."

Advik smiled, "Thanks." He unsheathed the sword once again. Samay was undoubtedly astonished to see that the soul pulled out his sword the second time as well! He had some anger and frustration filling inside him for himself. The sword sparkled again with the overwhelming spiritual energy. The silver blade reflected Advik's image. So I looked like this? I even forgot how I looked. He gave a bitter smile. His eyes noticed the word written over the blade. He read it out loud, "Breeze Cutting The Heaven's Sky." His lips curved upward. 

Samay's eyes grew bigger as he thought that Advik would definitely laugh at the name of his sword so he prepared himself for the humiliation beforehand. In the past, he had seen many people joke about his sword's name. What another joke would do to him? His chest tightened.

"It's a very good name." Advik serenely said and smiled. Samay was startled by the soul's weird words. He stared at Advik with some unknown emotions. Advik looked at him, "It shows that you are not afraid of heaven, it means that you won't even spare heaven if heaven did anything wrong to your loved ones. I think."

Samay was shocked because what Advik said was similar to the meaning behind the name of his sword. He never thought anyone would ever understand the meaning of it but someone finally did. It warmed his heart. He felt happy though he had an annoying look over his handsome face. But his heart was at ease. His frustration went down. 

On the other hand, Advik felt a little confused inside his mind. How is it possible to unsheathe a spiritual weapon which has a master. It was a mystery to him. It was definitely strange for him. His mind wandered off. Everything went silent. Just the sound of trees and their leaves dancing with the breeze echoed there. It was soothing in the dark forest.

The silence stretched for a long while. Amid the silence, their heart was at ease again. 

Advik stared at the sky again and said, "Umaya Empire…" His heart sank to the bottom, it felt heavy as mountains just to speak those two words. "can… can you tell me something about it if you know?" His tone was so weak and low that it seemed just like a whisper of a person who was on their deathbed. His voice trembled slightly.

Samay felt the air tightened again. The teenager was not good at consoling anyone even if he truly wanted to, even when he could see the person in front of him breaking into pieces. He felt guilty about not being able to help the soul. He knew he could do nothing for the person beside him so he just preferred to answer, "Hmm, I think we have been taught some lessons on about the Umaya Empire." He raised his eyebrow, "Why… are you interested in the Umaya Empire?"

Advik put together his feeling before leaning a little on his arms, "I have a very old relation with it." He smiled looking into the eyes of the kid beside him who was perplexed while frowning.

Samay rolled his eyes seeing the man becoming his old self. He thought that the mood of the soul is not so bad. So he also became like usual, "Whatever. I am not interested." He peeked at the small green pouch in his left hand. He clutched it firmly when his heart twinged. His eyes grew a bit darker. He again glanced at the soul. Without a thought, he threw the pouch toward him. 

Advik caught it instinctively. He seemed stunned staring down at his hand which had the pouch. Studying it for a second his eyes again looked at the kid, "What's this?"

The jaw of Samay almost dropped for a moment. "Really… sigh…this is a pouch! Mister blind!"

This time Advik rolled his eyes, mockingly, he replied, "I can see that. I want to know why you gave it to me? Brat!"

Samay was irritated, "Oh I see… so you have eyes. But I think you also have hands. So why don't you open it with your own two  fucking hands!" he snarled.

"Okay. Don't be rude," Advik sighed before opening the pouch. He didn't know if it was the weather getting warm or the warmth coming out inside of his chest that puffed out of his mouth as a small chuckle. There were some berries in the pouch, totally crushed ones. The pulp of the berries came out and dyed the green pouch with dark red color from inside.

Samay didn't understand why the idiot chuckled even after getting something to eat in a situation where even finding drinking water felt like a sweet dream. His blood seemed hot to him seeing the man wasn't being grateful to him for having something to eat in those circumstances. He was going to open his mouth to yell at him when the man spoke while giggling lightly. 

"I am grateful for the berries even if they are crushed so pitifully," Advik warmly smiled showing the open mouth of the pouch. The kid's lips sealed seeing the berries. He cursed himself to crush those berries. "But I think these crushed berries aren't bad, hehe." Advik glowed with a wide grin.

The brat left with no words. He forgot what to say anymore. He felt stupid about his own silly thoughts. His ears got slightly pinkish. He looked away, stuttering, "I-I a-apologize, I… I used too much strength unknowingly."

"Children, the sun will come out in two more hours… so go to sleep for now." The sudden voice of the Black Fireball Vismay made their heart jump out of their chests. They both looked at Vismay with big surprised eyes. They've forgotten about Vismay and Tara who were there the whole time. 

"Please, don't scare us like this!" The soul and the teenager said in unison, then looked at each other with amazed eyes. The air and the laughter were all that came out of their lips. Their laughter echoed in the abandoned forest. Tara also rapturously blinked seeing them laughing so pleasantly.