6 From Past To Present

"Listen Clover." his father said. "It's time I teach you how to defend yourself."

Young Clover looked at his father with a tinge of confusion and also with awe.

Clover himself stood there, watching his father tell his younger self this. Of course, because this was his past, he knew exactly how this played out and exactly how he felt when his father said this to him.

'I though that my father was just joking with me. I mean, I've never seen him fight or even had a quarrel with anyone.' he thought. 'After this day my father would go rough on me everyday after school in our backyard. Those were the only times that he would woop my ass and say things like: "If you come face to face with an opponent that is stronger than you, you can only hope to defeat them." or "Strength doesn't only come from within, it comes from something that we hold within ourselves.". I wasn't sure at the time if he was trying to motivate me or trying to make me feel pathetic.'

With that though, the scenery around him change again. But unlike the rest of the times of his past, he was viewing a time of his past that he couldn't forget, that he didn't want to forget. It was the night his father said his last words to him for a long time.

...

In a moonlit room, Clover focused on a long, dark haired boy in his bed. His eyes were open, his face in slight anticipation as the cool night breeze swayed the curtains, allowing the blue light of the moon to escape into the room.

Staring at himself, he only watched as he knew what this night had in store for him.

With a moment's breath, the door to the room opened and in walked his father.

Long navy blue leather jacket, navy blue cotton pants, white shirt made from an exotic fabric and shin high black leather boots.

Yes, Clover knew this combination of attires, it was burned into his retina as a photographic memory.

Silently, Clover watched as his father went to his bed and sat beside his younger self. He saw his father's mouth moving as he said something, yet Clover couldn't hear a word.

As his father gave his younger self two frying pans and moved his mouth again for a few more times, he got up and went to the door. And just as he remembered it, his father stopped at the doorway, looked at his younger self and said something. But this time, Clover heard what his father said, at least, the last part of what he said.

"Hold on to hope Clover, hold on to hope"

Those were the last words he heard from his father before he left the room.

The door closed and Clover stood in the corner of the room, stretching his hand at the door with his mouth agape.

Emotions from that night started to well up inside him. He held his chest with his other hand still stretched out. Tears ran from his eyes, yet he didn't make a sound. Even the breaths he took were still and silent. The only thing he focused on was the beat of his heart.

His heart wasn't beating fast, nor was it slow, but he knew there was something about his heart that felt, unfamiliar. A feeling, what was it? What could it be?

Venturing the thought, Clover came to a conclusion...He felt abandoned. He never knew it back then because he only thought about the sadness of his father's absence. But now, as he looked at it from a different perspective, he knew.

But even still, he didn't care, it was his father. The man that cared for him, that protected him, that loved him. He wanted to see his father. Even if it's just one more time, even if he couldn't touch him, even if he couldn't talk to him. He just wanted to.

As his emotions settled, he stood up and walked towards the door with only one though in his mind.

'I want to see him again, to see dad.'

And with that, he opened the door.

"Haaah"

Clover gasped when he flew the door open. What he thought was probably his last chance to see his father's face again, was actually what seemed to look like a veil. But unlike the veil before, this one was emitting blue light. It felt calm and stable, almost like the ocean under a clear blue sky.

Clover didn't think much about the blue light. He entered with the belief of a slight chance that he may see his father.

After entering the veil, his surroundings were immersed in blue light.

...

"You have manifested me much sooner than I thought you would."

A voice came to him from all directions. Speaking to him with a voice of many voices speaking at once, like the muffled vibrations of someone's voice under water, but clearer and calmer.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice.

"My name is Nevma Elprevis." the voice said. "I am a spirit that has resided within you from the moment you were born."

"Spirit?"

"Yes. And now that I have been awaken, I shall now share my powers with you."

"Powers? What?"

"Your questions will be answered once I gain form. As for now, your time in the past is coming to an end."

With that said, the blue lights around him got dimmer as he felt himself being drawn into consciousness.

"No wait...!"

Clover shouted but received no reply.

"Wait....."

He tried again, still unsuccessful. By this time, his voice got softer and softer. Feeling as if his vocal cords were being stifled and soon, everything went dark.

...

Clover's eyes stared flittering as his vision became blurry. As he opened his eyes, he tried focusing them.

Seeing a woman with red hair pressing her forehead against his, he blinked a few times. He then came to the realization that he had gained consciousness.

He lifted his left hand and prodded Scarlett's shoulder, trying to wake her from her unconscious state.

Immediately after he touched her, the blue glows of light died down from her forehead and her hands. She gradually opened her eyes while easing back into her seat.

Something happened as Clover opened his eyes, but he couldn't see it for himself. However, Scarlett could, she saw it.

As she looked into Clover's eyes, she dropped her jaw and widened her eyes.

Realizing Scarlett's expression Clover asked, "What? What's wrong?"

"Your eyes."

"What about my eyes?"

"They're blue."

Indeed, his eyes were blue, but how could he know that if he can't use his peepers to see his peepers. It was a logic that only held true if he wasn't looking at a highly reflective surface.

Instinctively, Clover touched his face as he tried to deny what he just heard.

As if understanding what he was thinking, Scarlett quickly went out of the circular room and came back in with a face mirror that had a handle.

Handing him the mirror, Clover took it and turned it to his face. And as Scarlett said, he looked at his eyes and they were blue, but not just a normal blue. His pupils were glowing blue and the circumference of his pupils had a sharp blue outline.

He widened his eyes at what he saw in the mirror, but before his expression became more exaggerated, he realized something else.

Carefully looking at the mirror, he glanced at the roots of his hair strands and saw that a very small part of his hair glowed blue as well.

And now, as he was about to freak out, something else happened.

In the middle of the air, blue flames appeared right Infront of him at chest height. Placing his focus on the flames, he backed up out of his seat.

"What is that?" Scarlett asked.

"You're asking the fire that question right?"

When he replied to Scarlett, the flames moved along with him as he kept moving backwards.

The blue flames bobbed with every movement it made. Surprisingly, Clover didn't feel any heat from the flame. It actually felt cool as a calming sensation started to exude from it.

Feeling this sensation, he looked at the flame and reached his hand out to it. Somehow, he felt like the flame was calling to him, asking him to reach out his hand.

Inch by inch the gap between his hand and the flame got reduced. And just as he was about to touch it, it puffed out as if loosing the fuel that was keeping it alive.

He shifted his hands away from the flame as it got extinguished. Sparkling blue dust particles remained in the air where the flames were.

The dust then glided towards Clover and spread itself all over his body as the dust got absorbed into his skin.

As the dust made it's way into his skin, he felt refreshed. Like he was on the border of dreaming and being awake. A tingling sensation spread across his body and he felt it, he felt power.

With his eyes widened and his body frozen, Clover was unable to move or even speak due to intense shock.

After all this occured, Something started talking to Scarlett as a transparent rectangular screen appeared before her.

[ Concentrated Neutral energy has been siphoned from target. ]

"Wait, I didn't tell you to speak." she said.

[ Please refrain from interrupting my notifications. ]

Scarlett pouted as the voice back talked to her, but she kept quiet.

[ Using Positive energy to dilute Concentrated Neutral energy.

[ Neutral energy has been successfully diluted.

[ Secret Functions Unlocked. ]

[ Sensing the presence of Negative energy in system.

[ Attempting to neutralize Negative energy.....

[ Attempt has failed: Possible system corruption.

[ Scanning system: System appears to be functioning properly. System corruption: Unlikely. ]

Although Clover was occupied with trying to compose himself, he was still able to divide his attention between his shock, and what was happening to Scarlett.

"What was that?" Clover asked, still flabbergasted.

"I don't know, that fire was-"

Cutting off Scarlett from her statement, Clover rephrased his question.

"I mean, that voice that was talking to you and that screen."

Scarlett arched her eyebrows upwards and a confused expression appeared on her face.

"You can hear my system? And see the status screen?"

"Well, sure I can. Should I not be able to?"

"Saying that you shouldn't be able to see it is an understatement."

While this conversation unfolded, the screen Infront of Scarlett started to flush red and her system spoke.

[ He's cute. ]

With those two words from her system, Scarlett's stopped breathing momentarily before speaking.

"What?" she said. "That's the first time I've ever heard you make a comment that's not distasteful."

[ Well I...uhh...]

Her system went silent, unable to give a suitable reply.

Clover, who was watching this, couldn't help but feel awkward as he easily figured out who Scarlett's system was referring to.

He scratched the back of his head and tried to loosen the atmosphere, "So, how long was I out?"

To be honest, he didn't just ask this question because he wanted to escape from feeling embarrassed. He had a deeper reason.

To him, he felt like he lived five years of his life over again, although some miscellaneous scenes were skipped, he felt like it was a long time.

Reverting her focus to Clover, her status screen disappeared.

"Not long. Only two minutes and eleven seconds." she said.

Clover blinked a few times as he was just hit with two things to think about simultaneously.

'Wow, that was an oddly specific time period' he thought 'But what's even more puzzling is the fact that not much time had past while I was out of commission.'

As Clover though this, a familiar feeling brushed along his feet accompanied by a 'Meow'.

It was Aera, he had forgotten about Aera again.

Looking at Aera at his feet, he wonder a bit before speaking.

"You sure do pop up out of nowhere when it's convenient for you." he said.

With a few more meows from Aera, Scarlett then noticed here at Clover's feet.

"Is that you familiar?" she asked.

Hearing this word again, Clover wondered what the word 'familiar' meant, but before he asked Scarlett about that, he gave her a reply.

"No. She's my pet. Her name is Aera."

"Your pet?" she asked.

'But I couldn't even sense her presence.' she thought. 'But if she is his pet, then she must have some sort of stealth ability. And if that's not it, maybe she can use magic.'

As she though this, a voice boomed into the room from the library outside.

"Scarlett, are you there?"

The voice sounded like Edward's, even though Clover had just met the man, he could easily distinguish the rough, deep and kind voice of the man who brought him here.

Scarlett announced her presence to Edward and beckoned Clover to follow her out of the room. However, unbeknown to Clover, his eyes and the roots of his hair returned to their normal colour as he accompanied Scarlett.

But just as he was about to exit the circular room. He felt something, or more like he was not feeling something. He felt naked, almost as if he wasn't wearing anything.

As he pondered why he felt this way, he heard scratching noises coming from behind him.

Looking behind him, he saw Aera scratching something near the wooden table...she was scratching his frying pan. Realizing that he almost left it, he went back to get it before exiting the room while Aera followed.