Kael Numbra 2

By the time young Kael regained his consciousness, he found himself facing the ceiling in his room, his father was leaning on the side of the bed, asleep. He had forgotten what transpired last evening.

Kael's squirming on his bed woke up his father.

"Kael..."

"Ama?"

Kael stared at his father in confusion. There were tears in the corner of his father's eyes, his voice was also weak and his wrinkled face looked so tired.

"Follow me, Kael."

The young Kael was unsure what brought those tears out of his father's pupils, regardless, he followed his father outside his room. Right outside their small house was a bunch of flowers and other decorations. And most importantly, a coffin.

The moment Kael saw the coffin, his face dimmed.

"Go, Kael."

Kael couldn't lift a single foot from the ground, so his father gently pushed his back forward. With each step closer to the coffin, vague memories of last night would flash before his eyes, his body could not help but tremble helplessly. Before he realized it, he was standing right in front of the coffin, where his mother lies.

The face of Kael's Ina whose eyes would never open again helped connect the pieces of his broken memories. The horrifying image of the Anino brought Kael on his knees, the sight of his mother along with other corpses that are covered in blood had him burst out crying.

Kael thought it was his fault. That night, even though he managed to tell them not to go, the uneasiness he felt has never disappeared. Kael thought he should have stopped them from going on their shift. But it's already too late, all he could do now is mourn until his mother's final day on Alteria arrives.

The news of the incident reached the rulers of Reilaea, hence a lot of Malayas were sent into Karna village for further investigation. Then, on the day before Kael's mother's burial take place, the Hari of Reilaea visited the village.

"You must be Kael."

"Mahal na Hari..."

"Do you mind if I join you on the final wake?"

The Hari came to share his sincerest condolences on each of the victim's families. After that, he was supposed to return to the capital as the hunt for the Anino went on. Staying the night beside Kael and her dead mother was not in the plan, or at least from what he told everyone.

"All right..."

Unbeknownst to Kael, the Hari had another purpose than just joining the final wake.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

The Hari waited for the moment to get to talk alone with Kael without stirring any suspicion. He patiently waited until dark came.

"Have you noticed anything strange with your Ama?"

"My Ama?"

When the Hari asked that question, it hit Kael. Kael's father did not miss the first five days of the wake, but then he stopped showing up in the wake yesterday. More than anything, Kael's father would just stay in his and her wife's bedroom.

"My Ama doesn't come out unless he has to make food, all he does is to keep to himself in their room." Kael's expression turned grey with his head down. "But last midnight, I heard him raging while talking to himself. I and a few others in the wake heard all kinds of noise coming from their bedroom. The visitors got scared so they decided to leave and never returned, so now it's only you and I here, Mahal na Hari."

"I see, that's more than enough."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Do you mind if I excuse myself for a minute? I'm gonna need to talk with someone."

"...Y-Yes."

Kael watched the Hari's silhouette disappear into the dark. He heard the same excuse with the visitors who had never returned since yesterday, Making Kael thought that the Hari wouldn't return as well. He believed it was only natural, no one would want to stay around someone who doesn't seem to be right in the head.

But then...

"I'll kill you!!"

"...?!"

Young Kael heard his father screaming with killing intent from inside the house.

"Ama!"

Kael hurriedly entered the house and immediately went to where his father was. The moment he opened the door to his father's room, he saw him seemingly fighting against himself, a knife between his hands, deadly close to his throat.

"If this is the only way, then so be it! You're coming with me in hell!"

Kael shouted for his father's name and he got his attention.

"Kael...! What are you...?"

Suddenly, Kael's father felt his hands being pushed down as he continued to talk to himself.

"Keh! You..."

With all his might, Kael's father managed to put the tip of the knife on his throat. He screamed on top of his lungs as he slowly dragged the tip across his neck until...

Crash!

The glass window shattered as the Hari made a flashy entrance.

"Just as I thought, those suicides aren't just coincidence."

"Mahal na Hari!" Kael looked at the king of Reilaea in shock.

"Your father is not insane, he's simply being possessed and being manipulated by the one who caused the deaths of many people in my kingdom!"

"Impressive, Hari of Reilaea. You're the only human clever enough to figure it out."

A deep, eerie voice came out of Kael's father's mouth. And then the Anino manifested from Kael's father's body.

"You're not gonna get away this time!"

Outside Kael's residence are a lot of soldiers and adventurers waiting for action from all directions. A few others helped move Kael's Ina's coffin out of the potential battlefield. Or more precisely, they took her and every civilian out of the village.

The Anino went back inside Kael's Ama's body and shot a ray of black fire at the Hari. The king of Reilaea reposted with a water vortex. The force of their clash blew Kael powerlessly in a nearby wall.

Right then, the ceiling crumbled as a few Malayas jumped on Kael's possessed Ama.

Bam!!

"Ama!"

"Hang tight! I'm gonna take you somewhere safe!"

The Hari used the chance to grab Kael and get out of the scene. On the way, he gave everyone an order not to let the Anino escape no matter what.

As the King tried to make his way out of the village, Kael turned back and watched the village light up with explosions and fire. And as he slowly began to dread the idea of not seeing his father again, the Hari spoke.

"I'm sorry."

"Mahal na Hari..."

"You cannot save everyone, that's the cruel reality of the world." The Hari told Kael. "But that doesn't mean you can't protect the things you cared about most."

Amidst the destroyed village of Karna, the Anino who appeared unharmed started chasing their tail.

"I-It's back!" Kael shouted as he started panting rapidly and sweating in terror. "A-Ama...!"

"If dying here means I could protect those I cared about the most, then..."

Without warning, the Hari threw young Kael forward.

"Argh!" Kael looked at the king of Reilaea in surprise.

"... I shall face my end with no regrets."

The Hari looked back at the boy with a confident smile before turning back to confront the Anino approaching him. That night was the first and last night he'll get to see and talk with the Hari. However, the fearless and selfless image of the king of Reilaea would forever be etched in Kael's heart.

Kael ran and kept on running towards the capital of Reilaea until he eventually passed out of exhaustion on the way. Later, a group of five adventurers would find him on the way while they were heading to Karna village to join the battle. They would leave Kael asleep in a safe and hidden spot somewhere on the way and continue going to Karna.

By sunrise, a few Malayas who are sent to Karna for search and rescue would find Kael wandering in confusion as to where he was. Along with the Malayas are four of the five adventurers who found him sleeping in an open field.

Kael later heard that the king died in the hands of the Anino just as the five adventurers arrived at the scene. The five adventurers fought the Anino to the death. One of them lost an arm, another was severely injured with a hole in his right lung that came from the magic arrow he shot and was thrown back at him by the Anino. Another one of them had four of his ribs shattered as well as his ankles and some parts of his limbs due to the immense pressure while seemingly tanking the Anino's heavy attacks. One of the five adventurers who uses a staff did not suffer any injuries but was very exhausted from using all the mana in her body.

As for the adventurer who did not return with the others, the four adventurers told the officials that the woman capable of using light magic sacrificed her life to seal the Anino with unbreakable sealing magic in a shape of a small cube.

The cube was in the staff user's possession and was tasked to feed the cube with mana crystals once a month to keep the sealing magic intact.

The Reyna of Reilaea, Amaya offered Kael shelter in the royal castle. Having no relatives to pick him up, his only choice is to accept the offer or wander off. It took a while, but Kael eventually took the former.

A few days later, Kael went outside the walls of Reilaea as he headed over the top of a cliff situated in the east. Ever since he moved to the royal castle, he would always come to this place alone, watching the capital below while contemplating:

"Why am I alive?"

"What a stupid question."

"Huh?!"

Without him knowing, the young prinsepe of Reilaea who is as old as him had been following his back ever since he started going to that exact same spot. Aran would always hear Kael ask the same question while looking down on the capital. And today he had enough.

"I'll give you an answer to that stupid question of yours."

"Mahal na Prinsepe...!"

"Your mother and father died because they cared about you." He told Kael. "My father... The Hari did not die to protect you, he died trying to protect the kingdom because he cared about Reilaea."

Aran proceeded to approach Kael.

"You! You're alive because you deserved it, but so are they!"

Kael's back hit the ground as he instinctively tried to get away from Aran and his intimidating approach.

"Asking yourself such a stupid question... How dare you look down on the people who sacrificed their lives for you and the kingdom!"

Aran violently grabbed Kael's shoulders. And Kael only realized it when he came face-to-face with the prinsepe, but Aran was on the verge of crying just like he was at that moment.

"T-That's not my intention..."

That should have been obvious. There are people like Kael who had lost someone during the incident, including Aran. The prinsepe and Kael are both in pain for losing the ones they loved, but the reason behind seemed to be different.

Kael is upset because of the fact that he'll never see his parents ever again. But for Aran, seemed more angry than sad.

Aran finally let go of Kael's shoulders.

"If you ask yourself that question one more time, I will end you myself!"

Aran ran shortly after that. The prinsepe's emotions and actions left Kael confused. But it also got him thinking of a lot of things.