Sometimes, a faithful day doesn’t have to be all big and shiny with all the commotions and tumults of the world that the gods bring down upon us. To this day, we still did not know whether this was a mere coincidence or a fated event that the higher beings had all planned long before when both the two of them were only a bunch of sands on a salty beach, but the encounter was a beginning of everything. It started peacefully, during a monthly normal class excursion to the Noasis river for the Aedis to practically test out their blessed powers.

“Hey Alexander. Is that a horse over there?”

One of Alexander’s friend, Thomas, asked, his finger pointed in the direction heading to the forest. Alexander looked with him.

He was right. It was a horse. A white horse

“Yeah, that’s right…But why is it alone like that?” Another Aedis, a female water Aedis, confirmed Thomas’s vision.

“He might be wild…But he has a rein on him. So he must have had an owner” Alexander said. “But the area seems to be quite remote. Not many people would live here.”

“Hey! The class is leaving you behind. Let’s go!” His train of thought was interrupted by a student from afar. All those who were looking at the horse, Thomas included, walked away without any objections, except for Alexander. The reason couldn’t be simpler: he can’t. Whether it was because he was charmed by the horse’s beauty or he was worried for the horse’s sake, he did not know. The thing he knew was that he was walking straight to her, into the forest, slowly.

“Hey. You’re a female.” Alexander examined her several times as he reached her, and then hold the rein. “Come on, let’s get out of here. It’s dangerous.”

He pulled the rein gently, with a soft voice, and began walking back to the path that he was taking. The horse followed him peacefully, through the thick trees of the forest, and out. But then…

“NEEEIIGGHH!!!”

It lashed out on him.

The horse jerked violently, lasing the leash that Alexander was holding, sending him tumbling to the ground.

“Oww…that hurts. You look like a stubborn one, don’t you?”

He sarcastically commented, as the horse’s movement was rather awkward, jerking back and forth.

“Alexander!”

It was about time his class had noticed that someone was missing. Around a dozen Aedises, his tutor Euphelia included, rushed towards Alexander, who was trying to stand up from the dirt. Some even had their weapons ready, but was soon stopped by the fourteen years old light Aedis.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. She’s just a little wild, that’s all.”

Said Alexander, as he cleaed himself while still gazing at the still spooked horse. Some were actually relieved that his classmate was ok, but others weren’t so pleased.

“You’re wasting our time. Just leave him!”

“It’s just a horse.”

“We don’t have much time.”

Complaints and whines like that, telling him to abandon the horse kept on escalating, which greatly irritated the young man. He had no patience for such selfish people. But thankfully, a rare sympathetic and wise voice among the dissatisfied crowd had dismissed them before any possible conflict could occur.

“Everyone. Let us not forget the rules of an Aedis. Help those who cannot help themselves.”

It was Euphelia, Alexander’s private tutor, the young woman he had grown to respect.

“Consider this as your first exercise for today’s excursion: tame the creature. There will be a day when you must do this in your real life course, so a little practice wouldn’t hurt, right?”

For a moment, although there were still grumbles muttered under the breathe of some, the innocent and gentle voice of the young tutor had dispersed most of their anger. Now that she had said that, there was no reason to say no.

But after an hour going into it, there were now a ton of reasons to leave the animal. The seemingly simple exercise that Euphelia gave the students proved to be a lot more difficult than they had expected. The horse was so strong, despite being female, that it took at least one Earth Aedis or two people to restrain it. And even if she was restrained it would not allow anyone to climb onto her back. The moment one of the the restraining Aedis let loose of his or her grip on her, she would lash out, shaking around, standing on her two heels and running around, anything to throw the unwanted rider off her back. Again and again, those who tried to climb onto her yielded the same fate: being violently flung away.

“Fuck this shit, I’m done!” Even Thomas, who was reowned for being a determined guy when it comes to challenge, had to give up.

“Come on…” Euphelia gazed at her exhausted Aedis. “None of you can tame it?”

“She’s impossible to be tamed, teacher. We’ve tried to become as gentle as possible and yet she still stomped us like stomping leaves. If you don’t believe it, see it for yourself.”

The class's tutor, after seeing the nods of approval by most of his students, decided to see the horse for herself. She truly indeed was a tough nut to crack. Her stubborn attitude, strong physical strength and unusually weird mental condition had indeed made her quite difficult to tame.

Euphelia headed to pull the rein on the horse, testing the animal, but it suddenly and fiercely retaliated. Although her intention wasn’t to hurt the woman, but her response showed pretty clear to everyone that she was not willing to cooperate.

After the reaction, Euphelia too had doubts about her previous decisions to let the students exercise with a mad horse. She thought that by giving them a real life exercise on a wild horse, then they might get better when someone needs their help. That was a good thing actually, it’s just that she did not expect the horse to be this wild.

“Well, I guess so…” She finally admitted. That the horse couldn’t be ridden.

But it was not until the students were beginning to leave that something actually triggered in Alexander’s mind.

“No…”

“Huh?”

“It can be ridden. I think I can tame it. No…I definitely can tame it”

He said, decisively, as it was set in stone.

The Aedis’s face were a combination of surprise and irritation.

Said the one who had just been knocked down by it an hour ago.

This again…Just when would he let this go? Were the thoughts of a few among the student body.

But before they could say anything, Alexander had already by the white horse's side, this time even more casually than before.

“You don’t like the sun, do you?” He began speaking to the horse, as soft and gentle as a pillow. The horse did not respond, as obvious that she did not understand human language. But for the light Aedis, he knew that she did. In some way.

By constant watching, Alexander found out that the horse was not wild at all. She was just shying away from the brightness of the sun that shone down on her. She might have flung the owner somewhere and ran to this shady forest to calm herself down, that’s all. Then if he could just cure her fear…

“Look…” Alexander then showed his palm to the horse. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, trying his best to use the crystal that he was bestowed upon. He was still yet to familiarize himself with it, but eventually, his palm began to glow and shine. Although the light he emitted wasn’t like the light of a fire Aedis, it was still plausible.

“Neeeiggh!”

The animal freaked out, trying to cower away, turning away from the glowing palm. But Alexander was surprisingly patient with her, touching and petting her with calmness.

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing to be afraid of.” He touched her forehead, trying to release all the fear that she had bore for so long. Bring all the evils and pain she experienced, and banish it with the holy light that the gods had granted us humans so that we could live, expand and shine in glory.

He waited for the animal to calm down, before glowing his palm again. As he had expected, the animal jerked in retaliation again, trying to look away again. But Alexander did not relent, nor was being forceful. He knew that you cannot be impatient with curing a phobia, anger would not do, ignorant would only bring disastrous results. Only patience.

He repeated the process again and again, to the looks of all his friends and his tutor, who were all confused why he was so gentle and patient whereas inside class, he wasn’t really so. The animal’s response was still forceful, but overtime, she eventually got somewhat used to it.

It was then that Alexander knew it was time to take the next step. He walked to the side of the horse while petting the mane of her, trying to let her know that he meant no harm. It was difficult, since you don’t know when he was going to snap. With a single decisive step, he jumped up, wrapping his right leg around her back, his two arms grabbing her nape for stability, and then finally he sat on her, the thing that many Aedis here failed to accomplish.

The creature was surprised, and twitched again, almost sending Alexander off balance. A small gasp went through the spectators, as at that moment they thought he was gonna get jerked off the horse like many others were.

“Stella…” He whispered, with a touch of a feather to her. “That will be your name from now on. You’re beautiful like the moon, like countless stars in the sky.”

Alexander and Stella

The warrior of sunlight, and the mighty steed of the stars.

“You like it, don’t you?”

His palm glowed again, but the horse wasn’t afraid this time.

A beautiful combination.

With a commanding voice and a slight touch of the foot, Alexander had completely accomplished one of the first impossibles.

“Come Stella. Ride! To the Earth’s end!”

And the creature obeyed.

She began to trot, and then turned to a magnificent run, out of the forest, into the nearby plain, under the bright sunlight.

She now had nothing to fear anymore, as she had gotten all the courage she needed in a form of a five foot four young boy, the only person that treated her with all his kindness, regardless of who she was.

The spectators all held their breathe and looked with agony of surprise, as they saw the small yet courageous Alexander riding forth and back triumphantly, having tamed a difficult yet beautiful white horse that they had deemed completely impossible for them to tame.

Euphelia could not stand not smiling for joy from the scene. Her boy had done it. Right when she thought that nobody could ever accomplish. Things that anybody could be proud of. Is he really blessed with the destiny of becoming the greatest of the greats? She did not know, but in him right now, she could see that light, that true holy light.

Alexander, after finishing what was probably one of the most wonderful ride of his life, petted the horse mane again. He knew for sure that this would not be his last. There was still places to go, people to see, and missions to accomplish. And now that he had earned himself a trustful companion, he had no reasons to be hesistant or frightened of them anymore.

He had Stella, and Stella had him.

Alexander and Stella

And so it was accomplished. Two great warriors of the holy light.