Chapter 3: Farewell Gifts.
Yrans was one of the only seven first-class cities under GA. Though it was called a city, it was the largest city on the Yalaqo planet, one of the planets ruled by GA. After rapid development, humans of earth reached out into space. After long struggles, they got hold of many planets that became part of their supervision, Yalaqo being one of them and one of the first planets under the control of GA. Yrans city was the one first established on it, followed by many other smaller cities. The planet was famous for being rich in mana crystals, a form of concentrated mana which took solid form. Other than that, it had many ores and natural treasures sought after by both Warriors and Mages. It also had beasts whose hides were used for armours and rest as quality food.
Soon after the planet came under the control of GA, they spared no effort to develop it as much as possible and hence Yrans, the first city of the earth, looked like a towering iron fortress with tall buildings. It was a city that never slept and a city where night never came. The busy lifestyle of the city suited many and those who could not adjust moved to smaller ones, but it was always a dream for many to be able to live in this high-profile city.
A man and a boy were currently eating food in one of the city's most expensive restaurants.
"Are you sure we have enough money for this? Mom would kill us if you mess this up", asked Kouen.
"Don't worry, I have enough money for all the food in the world," replied Drake with a smile.
"Sometimes, I wonder if I know you well. I mean, I always thought you were strong, but today was not something I expected", said Kouen while eating his food. He never believed that his father was sent off duty without any punishments just because of his merits. There had to be something else as well. He was thinking all this when Drake broke his chain of thought.
"Don't think much; you will find things soon enough, maybe not the entirety of it, but still, you will find some answers soon."
Then both went ahead and did small talk while enjoying their food. For Kouen, Drake was the best father in the world; he always supported him, told him what was right from wrong and always had his back. But Kouen always knew that his parents were hiding something from him, yet Kouen decided to ignore that for now and enjoy the moment with his father. For some reason, he had a weird feeling that something very significant would happen today. No matter how much he tried to shake that feeling, it always stayed, making him wonder what it was about.
Once they were done, they both left the restaurant. They both got into their care flew towards their home. The ride home was silent; no one spoke anything. It was Drake who broke the silence.
"What you did today, could you think about it once again? I don't mind you getting in fights; in fact, there will be some fights that would seem pointless, but you still have to fight them, some battles you would not be able to back down while others you would jump in yourself," said Drake.
"What are you trying to say?"
"To be effective in combat, a warrior must not feel for his enemy. The road ahead is long and unforgiving, no place for a boy, you. Must be a warrior", said Drake while patting Kouen's head. He had been on a battlefield, and he knew the horrors of it. That place was unforgiving. He would not stop his son from joining the GA, it was his decision, and he would respect that but being a father, he still wanted to give him some warnings.
"This but a normal fight between kids; you will learn what an actual battle is when you join GA. I want you to remember this son; showing mercy to an enemy means being cruel to yourself and those close to you."
"I will remember what you said."
"Now, let's go home unless I want to sleep on the couch tonight."
"Hahaha."
.........
*Slap*
"How dare you ruin the name of the Flare family. I gave you the best teachers, the best martial arts, and yet you get beaten by a kid in three vs one fight", shouted Travis while looking at his son, who was on the floor after his slap.
"I am sorry, father, I..." Tron wanted to say something, but a glare from Travis shut him up.
Travis went ahead and sat at the chair in the centre of the room. He closed his eyes and went into deep thought. He had never been humiliated, and he had never been suppressed this much in his entire life. Today's event was dark marks on his clean, Nobel life. He had been at the top of the city council, just below the GA headquarters itself. When he found out that the person he was up against today was a former GA, who was kicked out, he thought it would be easy to get hold of him and return the humiliation, but things went different than he had imagined. Not only was he not able to pay back his son's embarrassment, but he got humiliated himself. The strength shown by Drake was something he could have never imagined.
'Why was he discharged if he is this strong? I am already 5th circle Mage, and yet I could not move under his gaze. Hmm, this is more complicated than I thought.'
"You will join GAI next year after your awakening, and I can tell that the other kid joined too," said Travis while looking at Tron.
"What do you mean..." asked the confused Tron.
"You will take your revenge there and wash off this humiliation, or you better not show me your face," said Travis with a stern look.
"But you saw how strong he is and," but his words were cut off when Travis raised his hand. He went ahead and opened a drawer and brought out a book from it.
"Our family's secret art. The Wind Reaper Sword. I will entrust this to you. It is a 5-star martial art. make good use of it", he said while passing the book to his son and leaving the room soon after.
Only Tron was left in the room looking at the book with surprise on his face. Soon a determined look appeared on his face; he clenched the book tightly as if his life depended on it.
'I will get my revenge on you in GAI; you wait.
Meanwhile, Travis saw his son's reaction to it outside the room through a screen, and he just shook his head.
'There is no way someone stronger than me has a weak martial art to pass on to their kid; I need to pull some strings and get some help. You might as well use some favours. I will show you father-son duo what it means to mess with the Flare family.'
.......
While the Flare family was figuring out how to deal with Drake and Kouen, the duo themselves were kneeling on the ground with their heads down, sweat on their foreheads as if they were too scared to look up.
"So you both have chosen death," came a female voice. It belonged to the woman sitting on a chair while carrying a broom in her hand as if it was a staff of some powerful witch.
"I went ahead and made such a big dinner for us today, and you two decided to eat outside without asking me to come along and even had the gal to describe how good the food tasted while here I have been waiting for you two for last 3 hours."
Both father and son felt a chill down their spines from the gaze of the woman. But then they heard a sigh.
"At least tell me next time. This will be the last time I will spare you two".
"I knew you would understand. This is why I love you so much, Anna", said Drake standing up and going ahead to hug his wife, but the broom stopped his attempt.
"You are still sleeping on the couch."
"Oh, come one."
"You want to argue?"
"..."
"Yea, that's what I thought."
"You both will still be eating what I made. I don't care if you stuff it or what. Now go get a shower, and you young man, come back and tell me how you got into that fight".
Kouen gave a big smile and a nod and ran upstairs to get changed.
"How much longer do we have" asked Drake. A very random question would be if Kouen heard it, but for Anna, it was not.
"We have to leave today itself," said Anna.
"Wasn't it four days," asked Drake, shocked, but he collected himself.
"Things have changed; we need to leave tonight. I guess it's about time we tell the little bird that he needs to spread his wings", replied Anna with a sad smile. She went towards her husband and gave him a big hug. She placed her right hand on his face and asked, "Are we leaving anything behind."
"No," said Drake.
"We can give something that can help him."
"Yes, we can, but we won't. He has his path, his vision and his own goals. It won't be his if I am interfering in it too much. I will only give him a little bit of head start, and that is it. Rest he will have to depend on himself. I know he can; he is my son", said Drake with a determined and proud face, but soon it turned into one full of panic and pain. He looked down at his wife in his arms and saw a cold, evil smile.
"Your son?".
"Nonono, I meant our, hehe," Drake said while giving an awkward smile.
Soon the time flew by, and the family had their happy dinner, but Kouen could feel the tension in the dining room. His feeling of something happening from earlier intensified. Soon Anna decided to break the weird atmosphere.
"Kou, we have something we need to tell you."
Kouen had a bad feeling about this, but he still gave a reply, "What is it, mom."
"You see, your father and I have been hiding a few things from you. We can not tell you what they are; yet. But due to certain circumstances, we have to leave."
Kouen was shocked, and then he gave a helpless sigh, "When, will you be leaving."
"Won't you ask why?" said Drake.
"I trust you. If possible, you would have told me already and you two hiding something even from me men it is essential. I can understand."
"You have matured a lot," said Anna before saying, "We will be leaving tonight."
Kouen's eyes jerked when he heard that. He didn't know it was this soon. He wouldn't lie to himself as he knew how much he loved his parents, and it saddened him to be away from them, but he kept his emotions in check.
"We know how you feel," said Anna, "But we want you to know that we love you too Kou", she finished while bringing her one hand over Kouen's and his father did the same to the other.
"I know you will join GAI and kids from really wealthy families will come there. They would have great martial arts or spells. I have them too but I wont be passing them to you. You will work hard to get them yourself, the merits you earn can get you top class spells and Martial arts from GAI", said Drake. Kouen was not surprised by what his father said, he didn't want it too. He wanted to work for his own things.
"But being a father I can't just leave you with nothing", said Drake and his words surprised Kouen.
"When you turn sixteen, you will awaken your mana core and get to know the element you have affinity to. I will not be there when that happens but I will help a little before hand. Follow me," said Drake before standing up and going into one of the rooms of the house.
Kouen and Anna followed him and soon something came into the view of Kouen. It was a magic circle, likes of which he had never seen before. It was beautifully with a charm of its own. it felt as if alive. Drake's voice broke Kouen's chain of thought.
"Come sit in the centre of it", he said and Kouen did as told.
"I cannot awaken your mana core and element now but i will open something else. I will open your Mana points. If mana core is what control, gathers and processes mana, then mana points are what make it flow. Though just opening these points won't make you able to control mana, it will be helpful in a different way. Whenever you push your body to the limit it would absorb some mana from your surroundings and nourish your body with it, hence increase the raw power of your body in every way."
Kouen was surprised by the words of his father. From the way he understood it, if he physically push his body to a limit it would grow stronger than it normally would. Though it may not sound much but when done everyday his body could reach the pinnacle of physical strength.
"I like the way your are thinking and you are right. You can reach the pinnacle of raw power with this, you do need a proper technique for that, a proper mana rotation. You are not storing the mana with this. you are just making it flow in your body and trying to get some of it to strengthen your physique.", Drake explained.
"And I will be passing that technique to you as a gift from me", added Anna.
"Now then, we are running out of time. Let's get this started and just a heads up, it may hurt a little".
"Bring it on--AHHHHHHHHHH"
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