Neron had five friends, and their group of six were pretty average kids in the slums.
In such a hellhole, having allies was necessary—even five-year-olds like them understood that.
“Hey, Neron! You’re late!”
As he approached his smiling friends, Neron took his time to note their faces.
Dan, Ral, Kid, Legris, and the only girl in the group, Yera. As always, he was the last to arrive, and they were all waiting for him.
“Sorry. I guess waking up took longer than expected.”
Neron knew his excuses were poor, but even his facial expression made it evident that he didn’t care enough to come up with anything better.
“Yeah, yeah!”
“Let’s just get started already!”
“You could at least try to sound sorry one of these days.”
“Welp, you know the rules.”
“Hehe!”
Now that they had all gathered in their usual spot, an open area with dilapidated structures and rubble strewn around, they were ready to do what little kids did best.
Have fun!
And what better way to do that than play games?
Their usual game was simple, a makeshift variant of tag. Each of them would take turns trying to outrun the ‘chaser.’
The ‘chaser’ was to be selected at random, but since Neron always came late, it was trite for him to take on the role.
‘This is tedious…’ Neron thought as he maintained his stoic gaze.
‘What can I do, though? Everyone seems to enjoy it—
especially when they believe they can outpace me.’
In the end, he had to just go along with it.
********
“Try to catch me, Neron!” Ral taunted, darting off like a rabbit. His laughter echoed in the otherwise desolate area of the slums.
“You’re too slow, Neron!” Yera chimed in, her voice full of playful defiance as she dashed away.
To them, this was all exhilarating.
However, for the chaser, Neron, it was just running—a thing he did with natural ease.
As usual, he ended the game quickly, catching each one of them with barely an effort.
“Why are you always the one to catch us?” Once again, they complained to him while panting heavily.
He was used to hearing these words by now.
“You’re too talented, Neron.”
“Yeah, it’s not fair. You’re always winning!”
“How do you do it?”
Neron could only shrug, hiding the fact that it was too easy.
******
As night fell, the group of friends gathered around for dinner—scraps salvaged from the nearby dump.
The food was sour and slightly off-putting, but everyone here had grown accustomed to it.
‘It’s not like complaining will do any good…’ Neron’s thoughts trailed as he took a good look at his mold-covered bread.
He took his eyes off it, almost hoping that him not seeing what he ate would somehow make it taste better.
He was wrong.
‘Disgusting… as always.’
Neron noticed that all the boys were taking it like champs, but he found Yera trying to hide her grimace as she swallowed a particularly sour morsel.
‘She used to be pretty comfortable until a year ago when her parents died…’
Now even Yera had to struggle in the harsh world of the slums.
Everyone here had their stories—some more pleasant than others.
In the end, though, they were brought together by their shared suffering.
“We should try to get something better next time.” Neron suggested, breaking the silence.
Everyone stared at him and nodded. Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time someone would say something like this.
These were merely words.
Nothing more… nothing less.
Under the open sky, on a makeshift bed of worn-out clothes and cardboard, Neron lay with his friends, staring at the stars.
It was a peaceful, if somewhat melancholic, routine.
No one said anything.
The slum was an ugly place, but at the very least the stars high up in the sky shone a little bit of beauty to its denizens.
Even as little children, Neron and his friends could appreciate the beauty that stared down at them.
“Hey, what would you guys wish for if you could wish for anything?” A voice suddenly echoed.
It belonged to Legris, Neron’s first friend and the one who took on the role of comedian in their group.
He was usually known for acting goofy and never taking anything serious. However, this time his tone was sullen.
He sounded so serious.
“Where’s the shooting star, Legris? Wishes don’t work without one.” Kid responded.
Everyone burst out laughing instantly.
Even he—the stoic Neron—let out a little chuckle.
“Shut up, Kid,” Legris said good-naturedly.
And then a small smile formed on his face; almost like he was sad about something.
“Just make a wish. Who knows if someone is listening out there.”
There was a pause before he continued.
“I’d wish for Magic,” he admitted.
Normally, this would but time he would let out a big laugh and crack a joke, but Legris did not.
His voice had lost all of its playful edge.
“With Magic, we could change everything. Eat good food, drink clean water… help everyone here. Maybe even get rid of that nasty noble. But most importantly…” he added with a smirk, staring at his closest friend.
“… I would finally beat Neron in our game.”
The others laughed at the last part, but everyone was nodding in agreement to the rest of his words.
Neron was the only one who remained silent.
‘Could Magic really do all of that?’ He gazed at the night sky.
He turned to his friends, their faces illuminated by the glow of the moon, all of them dreaming of a better life.
A life touched by Magic.
‘I don’t think it can…’
But there was no way he could tell his friends that.
In the end, Neron remained silent and instead Dan ruined the moment by letting out his weird laugh.
“You’re too greedy, Legris! That’s more than one wish.”
Everyone laughed after that, and all the seriousness dissipated into the night.
In no time at all, they returned to being dumb little kids.
Neron joined in the chuckles, but his mind was pretty far from his friends.
He couldn’t help but continuously mull over the words of his friend.
‘I… I wonder…’
Neron drifted off to sleep, unable to properly address the questions within his heart.
He just hoped they would go away when he woke up the next day.
*
*
*
