Chapter 9: Freedom
Will picked up an oval white mask with a small smile. It was a simple mask that had no features except for two holes for the eye to see out of. If worn, it would most probably only cover his upper face and leave his mouth exposed. It was a well designed mask. It would do it's job in disguising the wearer's identity while also allowing the wearer to speak clearly without the voice being muffled.
Kindly put, it was a mask that would do its job while allowing to converse with others normally. In harsher words, it was basically a plate with two holes and a strap.
Will put on the mask and turned around until he was facing Rina. "How is the mask? Does it look ok?"
Rina let out a giggle the moment she saw Will wearing the mask. "Are you wearing a mask or a plate?"
"So you thought so too," said Will with an indifferent tone as he reached for his face to take of the mask. "I personally like it. It seems like it would be very effective during everyday life and combat situations."
Rina shrugged. "You should buy it then. I'll be honest with you though, it does kinda fit you."
"In what way?"
"The mask in bland and expressionless just like you," said Rina with a smug smile. "once you wear the mask, you will become a double layered brick wall."
"Is that so?" said Will as he took the mask off his face. "I'll buy it then."
"Eh? Really? You really are gonna buy the mask?" asked Rina with a disbelieving look.
"Yep," said Will as he brought the mask to the counter and payed for it. Once the mask was bought, Will immediately put it on and headed onwards to his next destination. "Lets see here, we've bought a mask, black dye, some normal clothes... what else do we need?"
"Armor and a weapon," replied Rina almost immediately. "Wearing armor might save your life and you need a weapon to defend yourself when in danger."
"Thank you for stating the obvious," Will replied with a smile dancing right beneath the mask. "But I guess you do have a point. I really should buy some minimal equipment."
Will opened his money bag and checked his remaining number of coins. "I might have enough to buy a normal sword and a decent leather vest. But I'm running low on money."
Rina tilted her head. "Even you still have so many coins remaining?"
Will gave a small smile before taking out two coins out from the bag. He then pointed towards the small copper coin the size of his thumb. "This is a bronze coin. Most of the simple things like food, water, and shelter can be bought using copper coins. As a reference, 5 copper coins can be used to buy a loaf of bread."
"I see, I see," Rina said enthusiastically while nodding her head.
"The next coin is a silver coin," Will said as he put away the bronze coin and showed Rina the silver coin. "A silver is worth 20 bronze coins. Above the silver coin is the gold coin which is worth 30 silvers and above gold is white gold coins. Can you guess how many gold coins a white gold coin is worth?"
Rina tilted her head sideways. "40?"
"Nope," replied Will while shaking his head. "50. One white gold coin is worth 50 gold coins."
"Wooaah. Thats a lot of coins, isn't it Will?"
Will gave Rina a pat on the head as a small smile made its way onto his lips. "You are very right, Rina. It is indeed a lot of coins."
"How much money do we have then," asked Rina innocently. "Do we have white gold coins?"
Will shook his head. "We have a few silver coins while the rest are all copper. I didn't like to carry money around in my pocket you see."
"So how do we gain more money? You have to work right?"
"Yes, I have to work," said Will in a calm manner.
"What kind of job are you going to get?"
"I can either obtain a permanent residence in a town or city and make a steady living off of it or I can roam around as an adventurer. I'll probably go with a adventurer, even though its one of the most dangerous occupations."
"Why is that?"
Will turned to face the blue sky above and gave a small smile. "If you spent your entire life stuck in a cage, and finally had a chance to spread out your wings, would you fly away and explore the world beyond no matter the risk or would you build another cage around yourself to keep yourself safe from the unknown?"
Rina hesitated before answering Will in a somewhat subdued tone. "I-I don't really know."
"Thats alright if you don't know," laughed Will, his soft voice traveling through the air like a spring breeze, "there is no real answer anyways."
"Huh?"
"Its a question that can only be answered by someone's own life experiences. Since people live different lives than everyone else, the answers to the question always differ."
Out of the blue, a rain drop fell from the sky and fell onto Will's mask before slowly sliding down. As if seeing a long lost friend, Will grinned. "You see, for my entire life I was forced to live in this role of a hated prince. Although I wished to abandon everything behind and escape, I never did. I made the choice to stay in the cage. However, now the cage around me was forcefully crumbled away, I can finally open my wings freely and fly. I no longer have to be something I'm don't wish to be."
Will touched the mask on his face as the rain started to pour harder down from the heavens. "We live in a world where the very act of living guarantees that we will lose something. I've lost my sense of pain and emotions, and many more. But now that I'm free, I can regain these things one by one."
"You said that you were a spirit that was recently born, right Rina?" asked Will as he gave Rina a soft head pat with his finger. "You probably haven't experienced a lot of things in life but let me ask you this question anyways... what is it you love? What is it that you don't wanna lose? Why do you want to live?"
Rina tilted her head sideways in confusion. "I don't really understand your question Will."
"Thats alright," said Will with a laugh. "You still have a lot of time left to discover the answers to these questions in the future. But trust me when I say this... When you discover the thing you don't want to lose, never give up on it. Never let it go no matter the cost."
"What is it you never want to lose then, Will?"
"I thought you would've gotten it by now Rina. I even gave you so many hints," said Will as he closed his eyes to the whispers of the rain all around him.
"Freedom. I never want to lose my freedom."
"Freedom?"
Will smiled. "Yes, freedom. I gave up on my freedom once, I'll never make the same mistake again. I'll be free until the day I die. Free like the wind or the clouds that cry whenever they feel like it. I'll be something other than a rain catcher that collects the water that falls from the sky."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone