Five Arabian Nights

Elegant and fragile

His sadness saddened him.

He pondered why sadness had to exist

When joy felt all but hurtful.

But the more he pondered

The more he realized the beauty of sorrow.

Because sadness stems from experience

Sadness teaches how to mature oneself.

It purges thoughts of being thoughtless

To the hearts of others around oneself.

It makes one realize mistakes

So that improvements could be made to oneself.

Sadness led to joy.

It was indisputably

The most mature human emotion.

Chapter 5

The Second Night

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Jaune lay on the fields that covered the once empty world, his eyes set on the night sky.

A wondrous aurora glowed above a cluster of white mountains, stars glittering as if they could spill their bright sweetness. A full moon- not a shattered one- watched over him. And it watched over to the spirits he had met, both who stayed close to where he lay.

The jingling of bells echoed across the world as pristine white feathers filled the night with joy once more. Bell laughed, letting out a jingle, as she danced mindlessly around a dark-haired girl. Jaune named her Lilium; a name befitting of her, considering the flower she continued to hold even now. He never was good with names. She was rather reserved, her mannerisms refined yet natural. Her eyes had returned, her ears no longer bled, and she had found her tongue. Her dress had become cleaner, though her body remained to look as fragile as ever.

Lilium sang.

The experiences of life, poured into the voice of a child. The jingling of innocent bliss, all coming from the dancing of a child. A peaceful harmony pleased Jaune's sense of hearing.

All the sorrow had accumulated experience in the child of sadness. Yet, she sang as if she spoke of a tale.

The beauty of the breaking out of sorrow was always overlooked in favor of mindless joy.

He remembered feeling sad about ten thousand billion times in his life. Sounds like a lot? No. The extent of sadness determined how much impact it left within a person. Taking some examples, a child becoming sad over dropping his or her present about a thousand times could not equal to the forceful taking of a virgin treasure.

The impact sadness left made breaking out of it all the more satisfying.

Everyone deserved to complain. Some just deserved complaining more than others.

Jaune closed his eyes, letting the harmony of the bells and the singing flow into his soul.

Long ago, he used to feel sorrowful over what he would become in the future. But it all seemed like a mere memory that improved his own self in the end. Because he had the right to complain, and he complained, and after hiding his voice for so many years, he spoke out not as the leader of skilled Hunters, but as Jaune Arc. He had realized what he wanted to be, and it was not just to be Jaune Arc.

He wanted to be Jaune Arc, a man whose ambitions were aimed not to gain power, but to protect the value of life.

And all of a sudden, he began anticipating every day to come. The sorrow he thought to have made him a coward actually triggered an emotion locked in his memories for more than ten simple years.

He wanted to become what he thought and said he would become; a reliable and relevant human being. And now that was his dream.

Jaune smirked as he slowly opened his eyes, the nudging of Bell waking him up from his train of thoughts. The girl continued to glow brightly as she smiled at him, her sky-blue eyes shining every time she poked him. As Jaune sat up, he saw the dark-haired child singing. She sang, her eyes closed as she kept the white flower close to her heart.

She sang without words. Jaune could hear no words leaving her, but rather, the core of her spirit.

A spirit filled with hope.

As she sang, the aurora brightened, and the night stars glowed brighter. A series of comets flew across as the glowing feathers left in the air followed them slowly.

Jaune preferred a coward with redeeming intentions over a brave-hearted soul with no intentions in helping people up. As he tries to overcome his lack of bravery, he would make sure to keep his mind straight like the man he wanted to be.

For the serenity of others.

To those he treasured the most, and to those he can help out the most.

The short night of harmony reigned for what felt like an eternity.

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The Second Night -END-