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A magician wandered through the buzzling streets of Backlund holding onto a fancy looking mirror in hand. His long brown hair would sometimes sway itself gently from the warm breeze.
Ocassionally, there would be curious gazes directed at him but the magician didn’t seem to care. He only kept casually strolling with a light smile on his face.
Soon, his steps gradually slowed and finally came to a stop in front of a bench where a man with long dark hair sat. He seemed to be in daze as he didn’t even notice that someone else had quietly settled down beside him.
The wandering magician paused for a second, almost as if he was surprised but he soon quickly recovered. “Hello there.” He greeted the man, the same small smile still visible on his lips.
Upon hearing the sudden voice, the young man snapped awake and quickly turned to his left where his eyes landed on the person who had greeted him.
“Oh… hello.” He greeted back, staring curiously at the other man. From the stranger’s odd attire, he had quickly guessed that this man was a magician. Perhaps, he was just another one of those street magicians who frequently scammed tourists that came to Backlund.
Well, whether or not this certain magician was another one of those scammers were none of Leonard’s concerns anyway. It’s not like he was going to be scammed.
“I couldn’t help but notice how down you looked.”
Leonard kept quiet, unsure of what to respond with. ‘ Is he going to attempt to scam me right now?’ He couldn’t help but think to himself in amusement.
This was usually a tactic that street swindlers liked to use. They would first pick the victims who looked vulnerable, approach you then promise you something ‘big’ before robbing you of almost all of your valuables. Another thing was that they usually dressed oddly while wandering the streets, like a magician for example.
It was such a common occurrence in Loen Kingdom that the locals here were all vary of oddly dressed people and would warn every foreigner they come across about it.
Leonard couldn’t lie though, compared to the other street swindlers, this one was pretty good looking that he couldn’t help but think, ‘Wow, since when have street swindlers upgraded? It seems like they’re trying out a different type of scam now by using pretty faces?’
He shamelessly stared at the wandering magician and silently admired this person’s beauty.
How could this person be a street swindler?
It really was a shame that he had to use his pretty face for this type of thing. This person could really get into anything with just their face alone so Leonard was feeling a bit bitter as he stared.
Noticing his intense gaze, the magician curiously tilted his head and stared back at him, his smile widening as if he was amused.
“How did you know?” Leonard asked, deciding to play along with the other person. In any case, the stranger wasn’t wrong about his current mood. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting on this specific bench in daze as his mind wondered off to a certain someone.
“A magician’s intuition, of course.” His tone was a teasing one which meant that he was most likely joking which Leonard found highly amusing that caused him raise a brow.
“You don’t seem to be doing fine. Would you like play with my magic mirror for a bit? Perhaps it could take your mind off of it for a bit while you chat with me and my companion.” He said, offering his fancy looking mirror.
“Companion?” Leonard asked, staring down at the “magic” mirror curiously.
“Ah. This magic mirror right here is my dear companion.” Right on queue, the mirror’s surface gently twists and swirls before a sentence popped up.
“Hello. My name is Arrodes.” The words on the mirror spelled out before a drawing of a hand moved itself inside of the mirror in a waving gesture.
Leonard was momentarily stunned.
This magic mirror was actually a magic mirror!
That means that this man was….
His gaze landed back at the magician who was still softly smiling at him. The man seemed to be a beyonder and this mirror was probably a high grade sealed artifact.
Still, after realising this, Leonard cracked a smile and leisurely leaned back on his bench. “Oh? So what can you and your companion here do to help my mood?” He asked.
“You may ask Arrodes some questions and chat with me if you’d like to.”
“Then, what’s your name?”
“My name is Merlin Hermes. You can call me Merlin. What about yours?”
“Call me Leonard.” Merlin nodded in response.
“Well then, Leonard, would you mind telling us about what’s been bothering you?” Merlin asked, also leaning back on the bench and directed his gaze towards the scenery in front of them. “If you don’t mind opening up of course.” He added.
Leonard retracted his gaze and also stared out in the same direction as the magician’s in silence. After a couple seconds of nothing but calm silence between them, Leonard was finally ready to slowly open up.
He wasn’t sure why but he felt comfortable with this stranger he had only met just a few minutes ago. It was rather strange but Leonard somehow felt as if he could trust him.
“I’ve been thinking about someone very special to me.” Merlin stayed quiet as Leonard started to speak. “He’s my companion. My partner. My only best friend…. the only friend I have in this world.” At that moment, Leonard looked down on his lap.
His smile had quickly turned into a bitter one.
“I wasn’t sure how it happened or how long it’s been but as long as I can remember, that person had always been rather… special to me. It was different from being friends, it was something else.”
“Ah….” Merlin’s tone was more of a startled one as if he had just seen a ghost but Leonard was already in daze that he didn’t notice anything amiss. “Leonard, do you….?”
Leonard laughed softly and nodded, as if already knowing what the magician was asking about. “I have feelings for him. A romantic one.” He confessed. “It’s been years and my feelings…. they really haven’t changed at all. I thought that I would get over him soon but…” He sighed bitterly.
Silence overcame the both of them.
“Hey, Merlin.”
“Yes?” Merlin answered, seemingly to have been snapped out of his daze.
“Since you’re a magician….” He trailed off, turning to look at Merlin. In the wandering magician’s eyes, he could see Leonard’s expression that seemed to be full of longing for someone. “Is it possible if you could make someone fall in love with you?”
“…. Huh?” Merlin was a bit startled from the unexpected question. “I… I do grant wishes.” He mumbled which cause the other person to raise a brow in surprise.
“Oh. So, you’re like a genie type magician? You don’t do tricks with your mirror?”
“I do both actually.” Merlin smiled.
“Then, it’s impossible to grant that wish, right?”
“…” Merlin kept silent. Truth be told, he was unsure himself whether or not he could make that wish come true. “I’m not sure myself.” He answered truthfully, staring down at his palms.
Could a Miracle Invoker really grant a wish like that? Merlin hadn’t come across someone who had directly wished for something like that so he wasn’t confident of it.
“I knew it. Things like that are just simply impossible.” Leonard muttered, clasping his hands together tightly. “Then, do you think that it’s possible if I could wish for all of my feelings for him to go away?”
This sudden question made Merlin look up in surprise.
“Why would you wish for something like that?”
“Sometimes, I wish that I wasn’t in love with him, you know?” Leonard continued to maintain his bitter smile. “Wouldn’t everything be better if I had no such feelings for him? I wouldn’t have to live everyday knowing that the person I love wouldn’t feel the same or he would rather choose someone else over me.”
“…. Do you regret loving him?”
“I do.”
“…” Merlin’s grip on Arrodes tightens.
“But, I don’t at the same time.” Leonard added. “Loving him was one of the best things that had happened to me. It’s just that, I’m quite the unlucky bastard.”
“How so?”
“Well, many different things had happened to us. One in particular was such a big blow that I thought I had completely lost him. I blamed myself so much for it… then, he came back and I thought that was the end of it. I was so ecstatic…. only to find out that I might lose him again in the future.” Leonard’s breathing starts to become uneven. “If I can’t have him the way I want him then why can’t I just have him by my side as normal?”
“…” Merlin once again clenched tightly onto the mirror in his hand.
“I just want…. I just want him to stay. Can’t I wish for that instead? If I can’t have those other wishes then is this one possible?” Leonard’s voice was shaky and his hands that had been tightly clapped together earlier were now laid on his lap. His hands curled, clenching itself into a fist as he dug his own nails into the fabric of his pants.
Leonard wasn’t sure how long they had both sat in silence for but he didn’t seem to be conscious as he hung his head low in daze.
It wasn’t until he felt his head being gently lifted up by someone. Through his blurred vision, he could faintly make out the face of the magician named Merlin who was previously sitting next to him a couple of minutes ago.
“Hey.” Merlin called out softly.
Leonard blinked in response and felt something warm trickling down his cheeks. The more he blinked, the more his vision gradually became clearer. He hadn’t fully registered that he was crying yet as he stared up at the other person.
Once again, Leonard found himself admiring the other person’s beauty.
Merlin who had soft features, looked ethereal with his gently swaying long brown hair. The top hat on his head had slightly tilted to the right from the warm breeze brushing past the both of them.
At this moment, this person in front of him looked like an angel that had just descended from heaven itself.
“Do you believe in miracles, Leonard?” He asked.
“I don’t.”
“That’s because you haven’t experienced it yourself, right?”
“Yes.” Leonard answered dazedly.
“Then, what do you want to wish for? I will grant you a wish. This one is for free, of course.” Merlin’s lips curved up as he spoke.
“I…” Leonard seemed to be speechless. What was he even supposed to wish for? He didn’t know what he wanted anymore. He seemed to have wanted a lot of things before but at this moment, he wasn’t sure himself.
“Then, would you like me to suggest something for you?”
“Like?”
“Courage.”
“Courage?” Leonard was genuinely confused by this. Merlin maintained his soft smile and nodded in response.
“Courage to confess to the one you love.” Leonard’s eyes widened and his lips parted open in shock.
“I— I can’t—! He doesn’t love me that way—!”
“Who told you that?” Merlin suddenly frowned. “You don’t know what for sure, do you? Have you ever asked him yourself?”
“… Of course not. How could I?!” Leonard was blushing furiously at even the thought of it!
“Then, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t feel the same way.”
“No— Wait—“
“Just trust me, Leonard. You wouldn’t know for sure if you don’t try it yourself.”
“But what if….” Merlin quickly shook his head and reached a hand out to hold onto Leonard’s. “Tell me. What’s your wish, dear poet?” The nickname slipped off the magician’s lips smoothly. Leonard noticed it yet he had too many things going on in his own mind that he had no time to properly comprehend it.
“I…” He hesitated. “Are you sure?” He looked up at Merlin. At this moment, he looked just like a lost puppy that Merlin’s lips couldn’t help but curl up in amusement.
“Of course.” He responded softly with a reassuring nod. “Go on.”
And Leonard didn’t know why. He really didn’t know why. It was as if someone or something had possessed him at that moment.
His lips slowly parted and the words softly rolled out of his tongue, “I wish to have courage to confess my feelings to the person whom I love.”
“Your wish is my command, my dearest poet.” Those words were gently whispered towards him like the wind had blown him a kiss.
Leonard sat there in daze for god knows how long. He wasn’t even fully aware that Merlin had completely disappeared, leaving only the warm temperature of his hand behind that still lingered on Leonard’s hand.