Chương 39: Forced Guest

"A vision?" Sevran's eyes sharpened. Then whatever composure the boy had been holding onto cracked. He crossed the distance in a single step and gripped Anadis by the shoulders.

"What is this vision you're talking about? Are you telling me you didn't even realize this wooden sculpture was crafted in the likeness of my father?

"Of course I didn't. How would I?" Anadis argued, trying to shake the boy's hands away.

"You were younger, and your hair was also different."

"Then explain! Why does this wooden figure look exactly like him?!" Sevran snapped, his voice cracking under the weight of his grief.

"How did you know him? How do you know he died five years ago?! Are you making fun of his death—fun of him?!"

"No, I'm not!" Anadis finally swatted Sevran's hands away from his shoulders. But the boy irritably clutched him again, tighter this time, glaring at him.

"Do I have to beat the answer out of you?" Sevran threatened. Anadis didn't want to fight. He knew Sevran was hurting, probably convinced Anadis was playing with his late father's memories. But damn Sevran if he thought Anadis was going to stand there and take a threat like that.

"I don't think you have the guts." Anadis spat it, swatted the boy's hands away again, and answered with a glare of his own. Sevran's grey-skinned face somehow turned red with anger as he cocked a fist, ready to strike. Anadis drew his good arm back, ready to respond with the same gesture when— Smack. The sharp crack of Aelia slapping Sevran rang through the room. He stumbled back, hand flying to his face, jaw slack and eyes wide as he stared at Aelia in disbelief.

"Don't you dare threaten my brother!" Aelia warned, fists clenched at her sides.

"Especially not in front of me, and even less so when he just woke up missing one arm." Anadis's breath caught in surprise. He had never seen Aelia snap, not like that. He was sure of it—it was just something that wasn't in her nature. She was just like a panda: adorable and quiet, but he supposed he was wrong. Very, very wrong. Wow… Aelia. Good for you. This is what they call character development. He felt the urge to applaud her but held back.

"I know you're yearning for answers, but trust me when I say my little brother has, and will give you, an explanation for why this sculpture looks like your father."

"I will," Anadis confirmed, eyes fixed sternly on the tall boy. Sevran took a deep breath, composed himself, and sat down again.

"Please explain," he said in a low voice.

"That happened almost five years ago, when I was ten. Don't leave out any details." Letting out a slow breath, Anadis steadied himself and sat cross-legged on his bed. He then recounted the events, omitting what didn't need to be said, such as obviously not mentioning Eljudnir, the Luminous ophidian woman, or his entire past life as Leander—that was not for them to know. He described how he had "gotten lost" in the forest for hours, followed by his encounter with the wolves and how the little fox saved him.

Then how he hid in the cave, the imprint's light drawing him in, and finally the fox leading him to where Aelia and Sevran were fighting. Aelia gingerly patted the fox's head as Anadis finished the retelling. On the other hand, Sevran stared for a full ten seconds, his eyebrows climbing toward his hairline.

"…That was a lot," he muttered at last.

"Ha, yeah." Anadis rubbed his misshapen arm, forcing a sheepish smile.

"I'm… sorry about your dad's passing." Stolen novel; please report.

"Thank you, but it's in the past now, and the man has already been avenged," he said, his lips pressed into a thin line. Then he looked away, his knuckles tightening slightly. Despite his words, the death of his father clearly still plagued him.

"An imprint you said… I've never heard of such a thing. A soul transforming into physical matter to do what it couldn't in life. That's even more impressive than Boons in my opinion."

"Maybe," Anadis shrugged.

"If I could somehow transfer the imprint to you, I would. But… I don't think it's possible."

"It's fine. Knowing that he's protecting people even after death is good enough for me. Thank you for letting me see my father again, even if it's in this form. And sorry for lashing out at you before."

"Don't apologize, and you don't have to thank me either," Anadis said, raising his hand.

"It must have been hard living after that, especially with how the Blessen Division hadn't helped you at all," Aelia said, doing her best to look like someone who wished she could take his pain away.

"I know my dad is one now, but he is a good one. If he had been in the Division back then, I know he would've helped." The Blessen Division hadn't helped him at all? People rarely had anything negative to say about them—perhaps they did, and due to his own ignorance, he just didn't know.

"I know your father is one of the good ones, but I still remember the name of the man who dismissed me back then. His name was Truss Conti. He just looked at me with disdain and told the other Blessens below him not to bother."

"Truss Conti… perhaps we should ask father if he knows this man," Aelia considered aloud. Anadis nodded, then asked Sevran, "How did you survive all these years? Where was your mother?"

"She died when I was four. I don't even remember her face." He lost his mother at a younger age than I did when I was Leander.

"I hunted game in the forest—the part before the gate, of course—and sold the fur or the meat in the market," Sevran said.

"But I mostly survived on the Learning Hall's free food. Sadly, the Hall wasn't open every day, as you know." Pity for the boy flooded Anadis. He didn't show it. He already figured Sevran wasn't the type to take that well.

"Oh, by the way, Anadis," Aelia cut through his thoughts.

"Sevran will be living with us from now on."

"I see," he muttered, then frowned after actually processing her words.

"Wait? What do you mean, he will live with us?!"

"Do you object to it?" Aelia asked.

"You know how difficult it must have been for him, living in a house alone."

"Well, no, but…"

"But?"

"But…" He didn't have one. He knew exactly how hard it was to sit in an empty house with his thoughts ricocheting off the walls.

"I don't want to intrude, but your mother and father sort of force me to," Sevran chuckled.

"I bet they did," Anadis huffed.

"Still, I'd better not catch you sneaking into my sisters' room or doing anything deviant around them."

"Gods, Anadis, stop it. That's not how Sevran acts at all," Aelia said, rubbing her temple. Then she tucked her hair behind one ear and looked at Sevran.

"You never did tell me how you survived the Grull attack when you were little. Based on what Anadis described, the imprint's vision ended just before the Grull attacked you."

"It was all thanks to Gusty. The Grull had just… finished." Sevran went quiet for a second, as though the word weighed on him.

"Then it was about to kill me, but Gusty came out of nowhere and blasted it away with a gust of wind. The thing chased him instead." He crossed his arms.

"After that, I dragged my dad to the cave, thinking he was still alive, then ran all the way to town begging people to come help." He breathed heavily.

"But all I got were glares. No one would set foot in these woods. Not for a no-name dead hunter and his kid."

"We both owe Gusty for saving us," Anadis said softly.

"By the way, how did you end up that deep in the forest? Your father—why was he hunting that far in?"

"It was all my fault," he said.

"We were fishing when I stupidly fell into the river. The current carried me away, and by the time he managed to fish me out, we were already past the gate into Grull territory." He said it plainly, as if it were simple reality—the reality he had carried for five years. Nobody said anything for a long moment, until Aelia broke the silence and gently switched the topic.

"Another question." She scratched under Gusty's neck as he crooned and stretched into her hand, a sheepish smile at her lips.

"How were you able to take him with you to the Blessed Trial? That shouldn't have been possible."

"Yes!" Anadis suddenly blurted.

"I do remember seeing something moving within your tunic back at the cathedral when we were lining up to start the trial. Was that… Gusty?" Anadis had to pause at the quirky name.

"Well." Sevran scratched his collarbone.

"I'm not sure. He just followed me toward the cathedral. I hid him under my tunic, scared someone would see him. He stayed there while I was being taken to the Blessed Trial, and somehow he was transported with me." He eyed the fox.

"I don't even know what he is, to be honest. He isn't a Grull. But he isn't a normal animal either."

"I know what he is." Anadis lifted his arm as if this were the Learning Hall and he needed permission to speak.

"He's a Guardian."