Sunshine poured into Altair's room. His eyelids slowly opened, and he could feel the hardened sand stained on the slits of his eyes. Annoyed, Altair walked over to the bathroom to wash his face. It was only when he started brushing his teeth did he remember the events of the past day, where nearly everything in his life had collapsed. After Altair looked at the mirror one last time, he picked up his groggy self and slowly walked downstairs. As he arrived to eat what he perceived as breakfast, he saw Celesta eyeing him down.

Altair avoided eye contact, but this didn't stop Celesta from speaking. "Altair, it's late afternoon."

"Is it really?" Altair muttered.

Celesta then took out the envelope and placed it on the table as Altair started to eat through his omelette. Altair did not react at all.

"I know you tried your hardest. You really did. But I guess we both should have realized this wasn't going to work out for you. You're just not fit to be in school, those other kids are different."

Altair continued to ignore her and focus on his brunch instead.

Celesta then sighed. "School isn't easy. I myself made it through easily and got a job with the government, but I know it wasn't the same for many. Success really does depend on the individual's own skills. Still," she said as she glanced pitifully at Altair. "I expected more out of you."

Altair placed his glass of water hard on the table. He still remained silent and refused to give Celesta any attention.

Then Celesta continued. "Look at your childhood friend, Kenji. He's only a year older, but he's been able to become top of the school and even awaken his Astral Strength at a young age. Many of the faculty agree that he might just turn out to be one of the strongest Astral Users in our village. Who knows what he will decide to do, he can have any occupation he wants since he's been so successful in school. Meanwhile, you've repeatedly been failing and have no powers."

It was then Altair finally raised his eye level and stared directly into Celesta's eyes.

"How does this comparison lecture help exactly?"

"I'm just trying to show you that he's successful and you are very behind."

Altair then got out of his chair.

"And what does it mean to be successful anyways?" Altair then pushed in his chair and stared back at Celesta. "What gives you, no, those old guys the right to determine if I'm successful or not? What if I enjoy school, and am fine with the measly grades I'm getting? I'm learning, isn't that what's important? Why kick me out of the entire school?!"

Celesta looked sternly at him.

"Now hold on just a second young man-"

"I don't get why everyone has so many issues with me. Why can't I do just do whatever I want?"

Celesta angrily raised the envelope and pointed it at Altair.

"It's because you're not capable of doing anything. The elders gave you a chance to be in that selective school, and you proved you could not handle it. Society deemed you unfit to succeed, so now you have to become something else."

As Altair stared at her with soft anger, she continued.

"Or if you don't want to do that, you can become a beggar. Live on the streets like you were a few years back."

Altair clenched his fist as he tried to hold in his anger. "Beggar? What is she talking about?!" Altair thought.

He then started to convert his thoughts to words. "I wasn't a beggar Celesta. I just wanted to live with a parent. I hated being alone."

Before Celesta could retract any of her words, Altair walked out of the house. In a fit of rage, he closed the door with all the strength he could muster up, which resulted in a loud thud.

Celesta called out for him to come back, but it was far too late. She then sighed and held her forehead.

"Perhaps I could've chosen my words more carefully," Celesta said remorsefully. "He just needs to see that he can't live his fantasies in the real world. How long will it take for him to grasp this.."

As Altair walked away from his house, he could see in the distance the school he once attended. He saw many kids laugh and talk as they entered the brown-bricked building, that was filled with the many wonders of education he once had. How he wished he could have it all back.

Altair stopped staring and picked up his pace. What kind of mom was she? Beggar? What the hell did she mean by that? He then started to vividly recall the moment he first met her.

At the time, Altair had been used to living on his own. He had no one and didn't need anyone. But, he secretly felt lonely. After a request from the government, he was assigned to Celesta for adoption.

Altair had a hard time figuring out if he really loved her, as any child would. Given the awkward period in time he lived with her, the idea of the word "love" was still very distant. He did not know what to think of his relationship with her. Was he his mother? By legal documentation yes. But….

He knew she wasn't his real mother. Throughout his life, he always wanted to know who his biological parents were. But no one knew. Not even the elders. No past medical records or even any legal documents of their known lives was anywhere in the village. It came to the point where he always came to a dead end in his research, and so he eventually gave up looking for his parents.

"Maybe Kenji's right, who needs parents anyways.." Altair thought as he headed back to the outside of the forest. Before he got there, something poked him on his back. He turned around and gasped.

Behind him was a girl with long brown hair. She had a backpack around her shoulders and wore a short blue dress. She warmly smiled. "Hey there Altair."

Altair's cheeks immediately turned a bright red. "L-l-luna?"

What did she want? She was so pretty and excelled in school. Everyone knew her, she was so popular. Why was she even talking to him..

Many thoughts were all over Altair's mind and he could not muster up any more words. He had terrible eye contact, and could not diminish any of the redness from his cheeks.

"Um... Um…. Hi Luna.."

Luna looked at him curiously. "Why aren't you at school today?"

Altair suddenly stopped fidgeting his body. He remained still, and then finally looked up.

"Yeah, I um got kicked out. For good. Courtesy of the High Council. So yeah," Altair awkwardly replied.

She then held her backpack and looked at him in pity. Altair still had a hard time believing what was happening right now. Why was she so interested in talking to him?

Luna finally spoke. "You know Altair, things may not look great right now. But you can't give up. It's not the end of the world, you never know what opportunities will come up your alley."

Altair stared in disbelief. "I just lost a lot of opportunities. N-now I have to become a merchant, and I don't want to."

"Trust me. I can't imagine how hard it must be to lose so much just like that. But you have to trust me. I believe something will come your way. You just can't give up trying."

Luna paused, and then added, "Try appealing to the High Council again, and get some more tutoring. If you can get better grades, or show them you know the content well, then maybe they might let you back in."

Altair then argued, "Even if I got higher grades, I still can't use Astral Strength like the rest of you guys."

A silence started to grow between the two of them. Luna stared at him with surprise.

"You can't? Really?"

Altair already felt the prejudice from her. He always could feel it off of his classmates, but he purposely chose to ignore it. What was the point of letting those kinds of things hurt? Altair figured it was best to ignore, but he could only maintain that act for so long. He always knew there was a reason why every other kid in school fit in more. They had Astral Powers, and manifested these skills at a young age. Altair never had a chance of competing with any of them, much less being compared to them, because he had himself no Astral Powers. The High Council for unknown reasons let Altair attend for many years. But now, these lacking traits caught up with him. Combined with his less than stellar grades, it was no wonder he was kicked out. And he knew this. It was until this moment when he kept on denying it. Right then and there, Luna's words woke something inside him. His deepest fears were realized, and he no longer wanted to explore them.

"Yeah. I can't. You know, it's probably for the best that I shouldn't be here. I don't belong here," he said as he hurriedly walked away. Luna looked worriedly in his direction as he slowly disappeared from the view.

As Altair finally made it to his usual sight-seeing area of the forest, he sat down. He observed the forest again, and thoughts started to emerge inside him. "Why can't I be more? Why am I so lame?"

Altair lay there for hours, observing the wildlife of Lunos Forest through an invisible wall. He knew no matter what, he would never be able to cross that wall, and always be trapped in the village. Not that the village was a horrible place to live. It was a peaceful place, one that had blessed him a healthy life. He, however, had been stripped of so many choices in his life once he was kicked out of school. Without graduating from Lunos Prep, he knew he'd have a difficult time finding a well enough livelihood to support himself. At the same time, he felt conflicted about the entire ordeal. What was wrong with him going to school? So what if he couldn't manifest powers, what was the big deal? Why was the system like this?

The negative thoughts circulating in Altair's mind made him frustrated as he tried to enjoy the forest's beauty. His fruitless attempts to ignore reality bothered him immensely since he could not stop thinking about his situation. But what could he do? He couldn't study whatever he wanted. By the end of the day, he would be assigned his new work area, probably as a merchant. Or maybe in a factory. Either way, he had nothing in his control. He was done.

Or was he? Altair pondered for what seemed an eternity to him. He lay there, scratching his head. Would things really be so bad?

"If I get to be a merchant," Altair contemplated. "That means I… Wait, I get to go outside the village!" He suddenly fist bumped the air. The sheer idea of leaving the village was strictly forbidden for most people, but there was an exception. And being a merchant granted that exception.

"Maybe things won't be too bad," Altair gleefully smiled. "I may not be able to learn and have fun in school anymore, but exploring the world would be kinda cool!"

He optimistically brightened his face and went back to observing the conker-brown forest's habitat. Then, without realizing it, he fell asleep under the comfort of the sun's blazing rays.

BOOM! Altair woke up. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the sky. The sun was lower in the sky until the trees stood almost as black statues silhouetted against the orange-reddish darkened sky. The shadows were slowly melting away in the darkness of the oncoming night.

"Geez, I went to sleep again? I'm not on medications or anything, so why am I so tired-" Altair started to say but then stopped himself.

He turned around towards the village and saw huge fires. Everywhere. There were growing fires around the school, and even on the majority of the government buildings. Altair squinted and could see even the High Council offices were engulfed by flames.

Altair stood up, and stared at the village confoundedly, detached from reality. He couldn't understand what he was seeing. The fires from the village started to blend in with orange and red colours of the sky, and it had appeared to be very artistic to him. If he had any kind of creativeness in the crafts, he certainly would have painted this.

A man burst out of his house with a child in his arms. He had a devastating look in his eyes as if someone was about to kill him. Ironically, a man in green cloth and silver armour came out of the house and pointed a black object at the man. It had a tubular design and was made of what appeared to be a combination of metal and plastic. The armoured man pulled the trigger of the object, and a skin-slapping explosion erupted. Altair's eardrums were in pain instantly, and the man and the child both fell down and stopped moving. The armoured man went back inside the house and proceeded to create the same deafening sounds.

Altair finally started to feel the impact of the destructive imagery he was experiencing. His eyes widened, he could feel nothing in his throat as he shrieked loudly.