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‘Did you know that there are only 88 official constellations?’
Mentioned the amazed once prisoner. It was… 3 am approximately, and thankfully the manor has a hidden open space where light is nowhere to be found, the ideal place to go see the stars.
Well, Balsa loved astronomy, and science in general, so it was no surprise that this little hidden spot would be the brunette's comfort place. Was he feeling bad? Had a bad match? No worries, let the star wash your sorrows away young man.
‘Really? But aren’t there like… Millions of stars?’
What he didn’t expect was that this little secret of him was the same one for an old participant of the same game. One that the inventor actually, kind of, feared.
It was with reason, the ‘aura’ this man gave was one of power and strength, while Luca… was pretty much the opposite, the only thing of him that was scary was his title, ‘Prisoner’.
‘Pfft yeah! But even so… only some of them could form a constellation… Isn’t that amazing?’
It was… a bad day. A terrible, horrible, disastrous one for Balsa. 4 games played, 4 games lost. At the end of the day the only thing he wanted to do was sleep, but he made a promise to himself that every bad day of his life, he was going to see the stars above and tell his sorrows away.
Well, once he passes through the multiple hidden entries that hide between trees and doors, he could see a man. That man that inspired his fight or flight reflex.
‘Hey, Balsa, Let’s play a game… Let’s make constellations together.’
But the man was nothing like what he imagined… The prospector was actually a pretty calm man, why was he afraid? It was just a prejudice of the prisoner to assume someone so serious of a face was a bad person…
Luca was a bit ashamed… to fulfill his own promise he had to talk his sorrows away, right? But if there was another person here… He can’t. Showing weakness is terrible, his mentor always said that you should always look the best and the strongest… Just like Campbell.
‘Like how people find forms to clouds…? I accept! You won’t win to me Campbell, I know the stars in the sky like I know my face!’
Campbell was… a normal person. Someone with problems, someone with sadness and anger too. But he couldn’t show them at all. He had a slight reputation, or so he thinks… So the only ‘person’ he could be honest to was… the sky.
The prospector had just as bad of a day as the ‘prisoner’, so he also had to tell his feelings to the stars above… But could he? Could he really drop that stone facade of his?
‘Let’s see… That one looks like a Lion.’
Luca was the one to drop the fear first. He told the other man that he needed to get something off his chest there… Once finished, the silent Norton did the same.
With no words, they came to an agreement to meet every night there. To see the stars, to talk or to just stay in silence. It was mostly to be together.
‘... That… is actually the Leo constellation, how did you kn- Were you just playing with me and all this time you knew about stars Norton?’
None of them know how it happened, neither they expected it or denied it at all. Love was knocking at their door.
But just as Love was knocking, death was too.
‘I actually was. You should’ve seen that face of yours Luca, it was gold.’
One unlucky game. A prospector, a ‘prisoner’, a mercenary and a doctor were put in a village just beside the lake.
But she… She was furious. Even if her face was one of pure sadness and grief, you could feel the hate on her attacks and her watery steps. Everyone has a bad day, even monsters.
The doctor was gone first, then the mercenary.
The ‘prisoner’ was found, 1 cipher left.
‘Focus on decoding!’
Was what the prospector heard on his side as he tried to decode as fast as he could. This position wasn’t his favorite, decoding the last cipher… Decoding in general. And to add, the one he loved was in danger… He hated it.
One hit.
Two hits.
0 ciphers left, survivors can open the gate.
But luca didn’t heal. That's… weird. Norton knows he always has borrowed time…
Hunter has surrendered, you will return to the manor shortly.
But Luca’s downed icon was still there.
‘My favorite constellation is Cygnus… the swan. It kinda looks like an angel, right?’
Turns out that the hunter of that match hit the inventor in such a specific damaged area of his head, resulting in instant death. The game doesn’t recognize this type of death, therefore, the icon malfunctioning.
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How many days has it been? How many days has it been since Norton Campbell has hidden away in their little secret place where they were happy?
How many days has it been since he last ate something? Since he saw someone alive…?
The prospector didn’t care either way, he wanted Luca back. He didn’t even want to win anymore. Because it means he was going to be away from this spot. Away from his memories and feelings.
‘Did you know that you are my angel, Luca?’