14. A Freak and His Son

Kalos thought back to his childhood. He remembered when his father hand-built their house in Silves. Those times were full of curiosity and wonder for young Kalos. He would energetically run along the perimeter of the farm's fence, searching for whatever caught his eye.

Unfortunately, the town of Silva was rather boring, but one thing that kept Kalos entertained was training with his father.

Raymond taught Kalos many things, including how to defend himself from attackers, how to farm, survive in the forest and what plants were safe to eat.

The last lesson would prove important as Kalos had made the mistake of eating whatever he found on the forest floor.

Kalos could feel his father's worry when his face turned pale and he started vomiting all over the place. Fortunately for Kalos the village doctor had a soft spot for him, so his sickness never lasted long.

Kalos remembered when he'd find his father crying in his room.

During certain days of each year, Raymond would send Kalos out to play, but if Kalos arrived before a certain time, he'd find his father knee-deep in bottles of the cheap alcohol with tears running down his face.

Kalos would do his best to comfort his father, which worked for the most part, but Raymond never talked about why he was crying so Kalos never knew.

At a certain age, Kalos realized that other children usually had two parents. So out of pure curiosity, Kalos asked his father about where his mother was. On that day, Raymond accidentally released some of his magic, which knocked young Kalos out.

Kalos figured out that his father had indeed used magic after Raymond showed his true power back in Tolman.

After that day, no mention of Kalosýni's mother ever came up, until just recently.

However, around that time, Kalos and his father got some neighbours, namely Leeden and his wife Estella.

The villagers of Silva didn't really like them because Leeden was a knight and by that time, the reputation of the order was on a decline. The villagers also didn't like Estella because she was from Carimae.

Kalos would find himself at the young couple's door frequently as Estella enjoyed fosberries.

The two would go on to form a rather close bond and this bond was strengthened by the fact that Leeden was often away, so Estella would often grow lonely.

Kalos took it upon himself to protect Estella, which she found amusing at first, but as the time passed, she would grow fond of his presence both in her house and in her heart.

After their adventure began, Kalos noticed that his father enjoyed Crimwal's company and often told things to Kalos through the little man. He'd pretend to tell a story to Crimwal and the group when in truth he was explaining certain things to Kalos.

This made Kalos realize something. His father was rather shy when it came to his feelings, but this didn't change the way Kalos felt about him. It only strengthened his love for his old man.

Satisfied with what was in his heart, Kalos decided to explore his mind. His dreams, to be specific.

.

..

Kalos saw countless flashes of terrible images that depicted terrible suffering and sorrow.

A certain image persisted.

One of Kalos sitting in a cave.

Kalos watched as his dream self awoke.

The voice that echoed throughout the world was singing far clearer than last time.

Kalos realized that it wasn't one voice but many.

The song was so beautiful yet he couldn't make out the lyrics.

Kalos watched as his dream self picked up the godlike sword. It was so beautiful, yet merely looking at it made Kalosýni's chest burn with such rage.

Kalos focused on the blade and the more he did, the more his vision darkened. The pain from before intensified and kalos could feel ģot tears falling from his eyes.

Kaloa continuously analyzed the swords magical structure.

Countless blue flashes then came from the sword and it sizzled as arcs of pure magical energy flew from its surface. Its edge now attained a dim blue glow, while the rest of the blade retained its gunmetal grey look.

[Come…]

Kalos paused as he thought of a name. He wondered what would happen if he named the sword after itself, but better.

[… Eexel Ultra!]

The pain from before intensified once again, but Kalos remained determined.

A moment passed and as though the sword accepted its name, it stopped glowing.

Dream kalos let out a deep sigh, before being shaken by a loud explosion from somewhere.

Kalos then remembered that he was having the same dream he had all those nights before where some city was being attacked by monsters and some person attacked him as well.

Dream Kalos them packed his things and exited the cave, again.

Upon exiting the cave, he was greeted by the familiar scene of the scorched forest and destroyed city.

Then he saw the very space before him twist and warp.

Two people then appeared before him.

One being the familiar being from before.

"You... all you had to do was follow my instructions!" The being screamed in a weird distorted way as though some higher power were hiding his identity on purpose.

Dream Kalos said something but it seemed as though his voice was sealed, so the strange man couldn't hear him.

"No! No, Kalos. What you did was unforgivable!" The person said while violently beating dream alos, who simply stood still.

Kalosýni's vision then darkened until everything went black.

.

..

"Kalos!" Crimwal called out, but Kalos noticed that Crimwal wasn't looking at him. He looked down and saw the sword he had restored in his dream.

Kalos quickly grabbed his father's sword and pressed it against his own sword. The two swords fused to form what Kalos and the others couldn't even call a weapon anymore.

It had become a work of art. A beautiful grey sword with a white line running down its centre. Its blue edges and dark grey surface made Kalos tremble in excitement.

A loud explosion came from outside the carriage and Kalos wasted no time in leaving the carriage, only for him to find a gigantic crater where the grassland once was.

Crimwal peeked his head out of the door and witnessed the nightmarish sight that was the battlefield where Raymond and Peeta fought.

Crimwal then noticed that Kalos had jumped into the crater and was headed straight for its centre, but by this time it was far too late to stop him.

Kalos saw large streaks of magic energy flaring out into the sky from the centre of the crater as the battle raged on. He then saw two blurry images, one of which was his father.

"Dad! I did it!" Kalos said as he proudly raised his sword and, in that moment, his father appeared before him, clad in glorious gunmetal grey armour.

His head was crowned with a helmet that looked more fit for royalty than a knight.

Kalos also noticed that his father looked way younger than before, but he didn't pay that any mind.

"My son…" Raymond said as he took the artefact of a weapon from his Kalos.

"What's its name?" Raymond asked as his voice thundered out into the sky.

Kalos had already thought of a name, but he wondered what his father was going to think of it.

"R.E.U," Kalos said proudly.

"Reu? Sounds… amazing!" Raymond said as he reached out to rub his son's head but-

"Yes, it stands for Raymungr Eexel Ultra!" Kalosýni's declaration made Raymond drop both his hands and lower his head.

"You couldn't think of anything else, could you." Raymond accused, but before his son could reply, a knight wearing a beyond tattered set of armour approached the father-son duo.

"Enough chitchat! Come on, let's finish this. I'd rather be in Nar' Agrun than spend another second looking at you two." Peeta said as blood ran down his entire body, which contrasted with Raymond's clean, almost imperial look.

"Hey, this is hard for me too, but I agree. It's time to end this." Raymond said as he pointed Eexel Reu at Peeta, whose face instantly paled.

"What's that?" Peeta asked and Raymond puffed his chest and pointed his nose towards the sky.

"I have no idea!" Raymond declared, causing Peeta to finally drop his weapon.

"I give up." He said as he fell to his knees.

"You always do this. Every time I try to follow you, to serve you, to be with you, you do bizarre shit like this." Peeta said as Raymond approached him, his armour slowly fading away.

"I know," Raymond said as he sat next to him on the scorched ground.

"And what's with the kid? He might as well be the Axis or something." Peeta said as a tear rolled down his cheek. His voice was hoarse from all the yelling and his back was sore for various reasons. Raymond pulled Peeta closer and hugged him as they sat side by side.

"I know," Raymond said.

"He's a freak!" Peeta said, his voice completely gone at this point.

"I know."

"You're a freak!" Peeta said.

"I know."

"I missed you so much. I didn't even care that you chopped off my arm like it was traeltor meat." Peeta said as he went into a full cry.

Kalos sat next to his father as they both comforted the dark knight, who cried for the better part of thirty minutes.

"Where are you going anyway? And where is the woman who corrupted you?" Peeta asked.

Raymond looked at Peeta, then at his son. Kalos held his father's hand and gave him a gentle nod.

"Aluin-"

"WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU GUYS DOING DOWN THERE?" Crimwal yelled from above.

"Who's that?" Peeta asked with a hint of jealousy.

"He's a new friend of ours. Be careful with him, his mother is very powerful." Raymond said with a chuckle as he got up.

Kalos and Peeta got up as well.

They climbed out of the crater and walked towards Crimwal who looked several years older than he did a few moments before.

"Oh… Peeta was just saying hi." Raymond said as he patted Crimwal on the back.

"That's not how greetings work." Crimwal groaned.

Kalos noticed a few strands of white hair on his head so he proceeded to pull them out.

"Ouch! Stop it!" Crimwal yelled as he stormed back into the carriage.

Raymond handed Peeta some spare winter clothes and he proceeded to get dressed.

"Sorry about your armour." Raymond apologized as he joined Crimwal and the others in the carriage.

Peeta looked at Kalos and stuck out his tongue before entering the carriage.

Kalos was baffled.

He was pretty sure that his father was over a hundred years old, meaning that Peeta was almost as old. Yet-

Kalos sighed as he entered the now cramped carriage. Everyone made sure to give Estella the space she needed.

Peeta noticed Eevana and groaned.

"You're travelling with knight-killers now?" He asked with a scoff.

"No… yes. But she's different. It looks like she was sent to our world for some reason." Raymond said before turning to face Crimwal.

"Oi. Let's take this carriage to another clearing so that we can set up camp and maybe eat something." Raymond said as he shimmied out of the carriage.

"Yes, we'll probably destroy that place too." Crimwal groaned as he too left the carriage for the driver seat.

Kalos noticed that his father had forgotten Reu, but just as he reached out to grab it, Peeta grabbed it instead.

"So, this is the work of a singing child? Passable." Peeta said as he snuggly sat in the corner seat of the carriage.

"What?" Kalos, Estella, Eevana and even Crimwal from in front exclaimed as the carriage took off.

"What? Raymond didn't tell you? Yeah, well your life is worth that of a thousand knights." Peeta said with another scoff, this one had fewer traces of jealousy.

"Mmm… if I'm a singing child, then why haven't any dreaded attacked me?" Kalos asked as Peeta inspected the sword, his eyes then widened.

"This sword… is solid?" He yelled.

"Yes!" Raymond answered on Kalosýni's behalf.

"Uh- umm… I don't exactly know why you haven't been attacked because no singing child has ever made it to your age. We usually… get rid of them before birth. Wanna know why?" Peeta asked as he wiped the mud away from his face.

"Because your kind brings nothing but darkness and death," Peeta growled.

"Oh-" Kalos and Estella said simultaneously before looking at each other.

"According to what we found in the dark realm, your kind is the precursor to some great war that's to come. The order has been desperately trying to avoid this at any and all costs- wait a minute, why am I speaking so openly around a bloody Saepenar?" Peeta exclaimed while clutching Reu.

Kalos reached out to take it back, but Peeta slapped his hand away.

"I'm technically your uncle, you know. That and I'm like several decades older than you, so have a little patience when it comes to your elders." Peeta said as he continued to inspect Reu.

"Hey, saepenar. I'm guessing you've known who Raymond was since you met. Why did you decide to travel with him?" Peeta asked.

"She has a name and it's Eevana," Kalos said.

"Tsk! Like I'm ever gonna call a monster by its-"

Kalos held Estella and Eevana's hands before unleashing a potent but small amount of his magical energy.

Peeta noticed this and decided to let out a piece of his own magical power.

"Like I was saying, the saepenar should have known. Why did it stay?" Peeta asked again. His eyes glowing bright blue.

"Her name is Eevana." Kalos insisted. He didn't like the idea of someone joining their adventure, only to be rude to certain members.

"Hey, stop it with the sizing each other up, the horses can't handle your auras," Raymond said.

Peeta scoffed and absorbed his aura only for his world to be cast in darkness.

"What is this?" Peeta's voice sounded muffled in the endless darkness that was Kalosýni's aura.

"Raymond!" Peeta called out, but his voice barely escaped his compressed lungs.

Kalos wasn't emitting any killing intent, he just wanted Peeta to respect Eevana as a member of their party.

"Fine! I said fine. I'll call her Eevana, dammit!" Peeta yelled and just like that, the world ending darkness disappeared.

"Good," Kalos said with a raised nose.

Crimwal looked through the window and saw what Kalosýni's face looked like.

Oh, no! He's becoming his father! He exclaimed internally.

"So… Eevana. Tell me. Why?" Peeta asked.

"You're right. I always knew. When Kalos called out to me in the motel, I knew that he possessed an incredible amount of power, so I did what seemed most logical at the time. I followed him. If anyone could protect me, it was the eminence and his son, no? Either that or he'd chop off my head instantly, but I didn't have much of a life to lose either way. Anyway, that wasn't the only reason, I also wanted to learn about myself. You see… I'm not like ordinary saepenar."

"Obviously. Otherwise, Raymond would have chopped-." Peeta interrupted, only to meet the disapproving eyes of Kalos.

"Anyway, when I was born, I did as all saepenar are born to do. I ascended the spire of sin, but upon reaching the highest room, I felt as though I wasn't bound to guard it, unlike my sister who guarded it without question." Eevana said.

"When was this?" Peeta asked.

"Twenty years ago," Eevana said.