"WHAT HAPPENED? Why does Damien have a scar on his neck? Why is Silky a bird again? And why can't I hear my father commanding the warriors anymore? What's going on guys?" Ahara huffed, eyes running between the four men sitting in front of her.
They were all clustered outside the topmost balcony that led to Damien's room after placing the kid in his crib, the door closed so they wouldn't wake the baby and the pet.
Old man Dextro raised his hand at her, lowering it as a gesture for her to calm down. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and mouth—allowing the others ample time to reply to her questions.
Unfortunately, even before they answered, deep down, she had a rough idea of what had transpired during the war. It was anything but pretty.
A fucking nightmare that was sure to haunt her sleep in the coming days, if it was true.
Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes, glancing around the room for any sign of someone opening their mouth to speak, but the three boys behind the Principal wouldn't even quiver their mouths to breathe, better yet, to speak about the horrors they had just faced.
Ahara's eyes landed on their bodies for the first time since they met outside the mansion a few minutes ago, and she winced.
Bleeding scars were all over their bodies, and the fine coat made from refined spider silk that Song Kim wore to battle was now but a ragged cloth.
The copper stench of dried dark-red blood coating their bodies and weapons filled her scrunched nose, strong enough to overpower even the beautiful scent of fresh air outside.
She didn't need any explanation to know the battle had been fierce, but she still wanted to know the details.
Shuffling in his seat, the Principal caught the young woman's attention with a faked cough. "Your uncle and aunt..." He choked on his words, looking away so he could compose himself.
The boys winced as though they had been pinched, each looking aside to avoid Ahara's piercing gaze.
No.
"What about them?" Ahara questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.
Principal Twiller slowly raised his head to look at her, but not before wiping the tear falling from the corner of his eye. Witnessing the rare sight before her, Ahara unraveled the ugly revelation she didn't want to realize so soon.
"Are—are they dead?" She asked in a shaky voice, her hands slightly quivering from the suspense her words brought into the room.
The old man slowly nodded, his ocean-blue eyes glistening with tears as he once again looked away from Ahara to wipe them away. Even Dion turned his face away, rubbing his eyes stubbornly as if that would intimidate the tears.
Ahara let out a shaky breath, trying to stand up but failing altogether. "Ugh!" She shrieked, hitting her legs as her voice squeaked in her throat, the tears coming out of her eyes hot and burning.
"This can't be happening. He's the strongest person in the entire world. How can he be defeated by that weakling?"
Ignoring the pain in her broken arm, she grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling it in all directions and lowering herself to the ground as the grief weighed on her.
No one dared to move.
They let her flail in her misery, her tears forming a small river down the ceramic joints with no sound coming from her except for the times she had to take in deep sharp breaths.
Other than that, it was the snort flowing down her cupid's bow that showed she was pained and crying.
Kingston walked to the center of the balcony and crouched next to her. Reaching out, he hugged her, gritting his teeth at the sight of his pained girlfriend. "I'm sorry we were useless. We couldn't reach them on time."
Raising her head to show the misery all over her pretty face, Ahara tried saying something, but nothing came out.
"Ah...ah...ah," she kept making the barren sound, holding onto her chest like it was falling apart.
The old man finally stood, not able to contain himself either. He knelt beside her, taking Ahara's hand in his as he sat on the floor. "Your uncle and aunt were great people to this world, we just experienced a loss no one will ever be able to repair."
"Ah...," Ahara sobbed. Placing his hand on her back, Professor Twiller began patting the young lady.
"Let it all out," he soothed her, "we're here with you."
And so she sobbed.
Until her hair was ruffled and unkempt. Until her throat felt sore and she had lost her voice. Until her tears had dried out on their own, leaving a powdery white trail down her cheeks.
She sobbed until her eyes were red from crying, and everyone was sitting around crying along with her, doing whatever they could do to make her stop crying.
It took a whole day, but she finally composed herself around midnight. The realization that she was yet again orphaned took a great toll on her, and so did the question that kept ringing in her head all this time.
Nowwhat?
Old man Twiller had fixed her wounds with some of his strong potions and spells, but the broken bones needed a day or two to grow back and completely heal.
However, that was the least of her concerns.
She wasn't the only orphan now.
Grabbing the golden steel balcony, she forced herself up and gazed at the mesmerizing sight before her. The view below the mountain in which the Numen resided was such that he could oversee the entire majestic city of Dragonpeak.
Unlike the other cities in Gibbous, the Devil king's disciples—the Corvus, hadn't dared to cross Dragonpeak. Even as the war raged on in other lands, Dragonpeak remained untouched, and now that the war was over, it was to stay that way for all eternity.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Came the soothing old man's voice from behind Ahara. In his hand was a tray of bean soup and piping hot bread. "Would you care to sit for a while and eat?"
The others had gone back inside after she asked for space to cry alone. She needed time to process everything that had happened and come to terms with the death of the only immediate family she had ever known, but alas, processing wasn't something she was very good at.
Her aunt had always been the one to soothe her every time she missed her parents, and her uncle had been the father figure she needed in her childhood.
Then Damien came and filled the spot of a sibling she'd longed for since childhood, and she thought she would be happy for all eternity. But death seemed to like her too much, or rather, he liked taking her favorite people away from her.
At least this time he hadn't taken all of them.
"I'm not hungry," Ahara replied, not taking her eyes off the city.
Every house had a lit lantern floating above it, with wands, weapons, and magic flashing all over the roads—a tribute to the death of the Numen and his wife.
If you listened carefully, you could even hear a few women singing in sad melodic voices down the city.
"Your uncle and aunt would've wanted you to eat."
"My uncle and aunt are no more," Ahara bit back the guilt in her voice as she replied to the principal.
He didn't respond immediately, just sat on the bare floor as he placed the tray next to him.
"Where were you when they were fighting that Devil king anyways? You could have done away with him in an instant, I mean, aren't you stronger than the Numen?" Ahara finally tore her gaze from the city, fueling her rage and channeling it towards Principal Dextrodus instead, her eyes burning with fresh tears once again.
"If you were there, maybe my father and mother wouldn't have died, maybe this war would have ended a long time ago."
"I couldn't leave the kids alone at school," was all the old man said to make Ahara stop pointing fingers at him.
He was right, more than a thousand kids could have been butchered alive at the school if he wasn't there.
Letting out a deep breath, she flopped down next to him, snatching a utensil from the tray aggressively and dipping it in the bean soup. Taking it in her mouth, she tried to eat, but the lump in her throat wouldn't allow her to swallow anything other than bitterness.
"Tsk," Ahara clicked her tongue, throwing the spoon somewhere down the balcony as she leaned on the wall and looked up at the sky, holding her bandaged hand in place.
"Can you at least tell me how they died?"
"I wasn't there to witness it," Principal Twiller replied, "but the men who were there said when the boy was kidnapped, he managed to control the secretary bird beast, and it ended up attacking his father instead."
"What? He's only a child damnit. He hasn't even gained any abilities yet! Besides, isn't the beast tamer the only one who can't control their pet?"
"I find it hard to believe too, but it's not entirely impossible. There was a rare case like that one forty years ago, remember?"
"You mean Thanatos?"
"You finally said his name."
"Only because he took everything from me," the young lady taunted.
The old man slowly nodded at her and she scoffed. "So you're saying my baby brother is going to become the next Devil king who'll rule over those swine as Thanatos did?"
"I never said that, but if he did control the beast, he might be the next big threat or hero Gibbous has ever seen. However, that will have to wait until his abilities awaken. He might be a recessive child for all we know."
"He is not recessive," Ahara hissed turning a sharp eye at the old man who raised his hands in defeat.
"What about the scar on his neck? How did he get that?"
"They said when the beast attacked his father, Cora jumped in to save her son, but Thanatos had already attacked the kid's neck. In the end, Cora and Henry had to use the forbidden pendant to save their son, but it only ended up killing them and Thanatos instead," the old man stressed the last part curiously.
The pendant was forbidden for a reason, but never before had it killed anyone, better yet, three people at the same time. At the very least, they lost all their memories or became disabled or recessive, but never before did someone die from using it.
Then came the biggest problem of them all...
"Did they take Thanatos' body to the prison camp? His corpse needs to be burnt on a stake!" Ahara questioned the very thing Principal Twiller was thinking about.
"No, they said he was burned to ashes by the Numen's attack."
Ahara shuffled from the walls, eyes filled with uncertainty looking directly at the old man's face. "Do you believe them?" She asked, hoping he would tell her exactly what she wanted to hear.
"No. But if the pendant's spell managed to kill the Numen and his wife, he wouldn't have survived."
"But Damien did," Ahara added the last piece of the puzzle that bothered the Principal.
How could a small boy like him and the beast survive whilst his parents and the greatest threat to Gibbous vanished and died without a trace? And if he was right, the scar on the boy's neck could be far worse than he wanted to acknowledge, although, that would have to wait until the boy was grown enough, if his powers awakened that is.
"I think it's safer if I take the boy to the orphanage at Gibforge. That way he can grow with proper supervision and I can—"
"I'm going to be his guardian," Ahara cut the old man firmly. "No one is taking the only family I have away from me."
"Mind you the gossip in Gibbous says he is the one responsible for the Numen's death. If he were to live with you here, it won't be long before his most loyal worshippers start hunting the kid down to get their revenge."
"Will you be able to stop them when the time comes? Will you be able to juggle keeping the kid safe and giving him the love and guidance only a parent or skilled guardian can give? Will you be able to provide for him?"
Every fact the Principal threw at Ahara made her heart bleed at the realization that she couldn't do either of the things he mentioned. Damien was much safer with the Principal at the orphanage in Gibforge, and yet…
"Is there really no other way? I don't want to lose the only family tie I have. Please Professor," she pleaded with him.
The old man sighed. He had considered the possibility that she would be stubborn about letting her brother go to the orphanage, and he already had a plan laid out. But it was going to take a lot of influence to make everything work perfectly.
Crickets sounded as a cold breeze blew around them, making goosebumps erupt all around Principal Twiller's skin. Ahara wrapped her thin coat tightly around her, puffy red eyes gleaming expectantly at the old man.
He couldn't bring himself to take the only family she had left from her either. It would be just too cruel.
Smiling at her, he shrugged. "There is a way to keep the two of you together, but it's going to be tough to execute than it sounds."
A small smile tugged at the young woman's lips. "Hit me with your best shot old man."