A Snap Of Fire

Sometime later after being confronted atop the cliff in the east, Kael returned to the royal castle of Reilaea to find Aran. After frantically searching the big interior of the royal castle, Kael spotted Aran's blue hair in the garden outdoors.

He was sitting quietly while watching the blue sky. So that he doesn't startle him, Kael made sure his footsteps were loud enough so that the prinsepe would notice his approach.

Kael stood beside Aran.

"What do you want?" The prinsepe asked despondently.

Kael allowed himself to recollect his composure and muster the strength to speak.

"I've been asking myself the same question over and over again, why am I alive?"

Aran stood up furiously after hearing the same question that infuriated him. But the boy only continued to speak.

"When you said my parents died because they cared about me, I figured you were right."

Kael would always ask himself that question because he felt it was his fault that his mother got killed and his father got possessed by an Anino which ultimately killed him, too. But in reality, they left for their work not because Kael didn't tell them not to go, but because they wanted to protect the place for Kael.

"It was wrong of me to blame myself for their deaths when constantly facing danger is the path they chose for my sake."

That's right, they are knights doing their purpose to serve the kingdom. But more than anything, they are doing it because they wanted to protect their son, Kael, from danger. They wanted Kael to have a bright future, that is why his Ina died fighting the Anino, and his Ama tried to kill himself along with the Anino inside him.

"I remembered what the Hari told me before he threw me away..."

As he quoted the words the King had spoken back then, Kael also began reminiscing the moment that made him admire the King's fearlessness.

"You cannot save everyone, that's the cruel reality of the world. But that doesn't mean you can't protect the things you cared about the most. If dying here means I could protect the things I cared about most, then I shall face my end with no regrets."

"No one wants to die untimely, or horribly. I'm sure my parents and the Hari thought the same thing while confronting the Anino." Kael voiced with a gloomy face. "But they still chose to go through death's door because they cared about us, more so than their own lives."

"..."

"They accepted their death for us, so we have to accept that we are alive thanks to them, even if it seems unfair or cruel," Kael said as looked straight into Aran's frowning face. "I'm sorry for being so pathetic, Mahal na Prinsepe."

After a brief silence, the prinsepe of Reilaea scoffed in reply. "Shouldn't you be apologizing to your parents and everyone else who died instead?"

Kael knew, he just simply wanted to apologize to Aran as well because he felt like he had to. And then Kael declared to himself:

"I want to be like the Hari, the others, and my parents. I want to be someone who can accept even death for the things I cared about most."

Aran did not give Kael a response for a while, although the same frowning expression on his face remained there. Having received no reply from the prinsepe, Kael decided to gaze in the same direction Aran and admired the sky. And right when he least expected it, Aran gave Kael a question.

"What is it that you cared about most?"

"I have... nothing, not right now." While watching two cumulus clouds slowly disperse into nothingness close to another one, Kael's expression straightened. "I'm gonna have to find it, something that I would risk my life for to protect, although it might take a long while. Until then, I've decided that I will take care of the things they left behind with us."

"..."

A soft, melancholic smile formed on Kael's face. But it soon disappeared as he clenched his tiny fists.

"I want to become a knight and protect Reilaea."

***

Flash forward to the present, right as Kael was about to leave the town of Takkot...

"Why don't you want to do it? Why don't you use this opportunity to climb the ranks even higher?" Amaya stopped Kael with a question. "You're probably the only knight who would say no to earn power quick." She added sarcastically.

"Right now, I can say for certain that I am grateful for what my parents and the late King did for me." Kael said towards Amaya as he stopped in his tracks. "Truthfully I've made a decision to take care of the things everyone left behind with us, and if I become a Payapa, or perhaps a Makabayan, I might be able to do things more than I could as a Malaya and an attendant."

"So then, why not strive for power?"

"Because power is not what I'm looking for," Kael replied without delay.

"Looking for what...?"

Kael faced the Reyna behind him, his soft smile and eyes are brimming with nothing but an unyielding urge to find what he was looking for. Indeed, it might take longer than it already has, but Kael will not stop. He'll keep searching for it. Until he finds the thing he would risk his life to protect.

The corners of Amaya's lips arched up. "Very well, if that is what you want, then I won't stop you. Go!"

"Masusunod!"

With that, Reyna Amaya watched Kael Numbra, a young knight who possessed great zeal to find the thing he would protect with all his life, disappear into the shade of sunset as he lead Reilaea toward the battle.

"What a shame... I wanted him to protect and stay beside Aran even after he finally took over the throne, but at this rate, he's definitely gonna find someone else to look after." Amaya told herself with disappointment. "Nonetheless, I'm glad he's slowly turning into a man who can decide for himself."

Amaya proceed to look fixedly at a mountain in the east, where Lyrica and Kael went not long ago.

"Kael may go his own way one day, but at least I found the perfect person as his replacement." Amaya's mischievous... No, her lecherous smug made her royal knights, the Makabayans, take a step away from her. "Knowing my son, I might have to step up and help things progress between them."

Her half-suppressed giggle emanating with a strange determination made the knights take another step back from her.

"I'll make sure to make them more than just two crossing the same path at the same time."

Her half-suppressed giggle would only continue to resonate in the town of Takkot after that. And while this is all happening, Lyrica and Kael are halfway there to the entrance of the beehive. However...

"Ow! Kuh!"

"Hey, what's with you all of a sudden?"

The after-effects of using Jazz Harmony caught Lyrica by surprise. She collapsed to the ground as the intensified pain from her gut and her wounded hand struck her like lightning.

"I was expecting it, but I guess I can't prepare my body for it." Lyrica moaned in pain as she tried to stand up. "I'm all right, though."

"It'd probably be better if you just wait here while I make a run for it."

"It'd be even better if we just rode a horse instead of rushing here on foot. If you're going to forget something, make sure it's not something that could have been very useful." Lyrica taunted Aran.

"Huh?!"

And it was very effective.

"You talk as if you thought about it from the beginning! Why did you think I forgot to take a horse with us?!"

After being called out by his own soldiers for his unwillingness to face death unlike them, Lyrica's sneering left Aran's brain full with fumes. He ended up not having enough brain capacity to think and just took the lead towards the mountain because seeing Lyrica's smug and her eyes looking down on him as if he's trash is just making him even more infuriated.

Though it sounded silly, it is the reason why they ended up going to the mountain on foot.

"You said you got rid of all the Wither Bees inside the hive, right? In that case, there's no reason for the two of us to get there."

"But I'm afraid you might spoil the taste of the honey!"

"I'm not some kind of poisonous, rotten fruit that fell from a tree, you know?" Aran retorted with a blank stare at Lyrica.

"But what if you are?"

The prinsepe couldn't tell if Lyrica was being a jerk or if she was sincerely asking if he was one. All he could do was let out a long sigh of defeat.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go. You stay here and wait."

"Wait!"

Aran already turned his back on the girl and was about to take a step ahead. And yet, he had to stop again as the girl halted him.

"What now?! We're in a hurry!"

"Elemental manipulation is the general term for a magic ability that allows one to control any of the existing element in this world." Lyrica snapped her fingers, and a small ball of fire materialized before her eyes. "It's a very common ability, but it can also be unique at the same time. Though these unique capabilities rely on the five bases of magic."

"You know the five bases of magic?"

Lyrica sent the floating fireball hovering towards Aran.

"My magic ability manifested because of my strong desire—a desire to live without troubles stressing me out." Lyrica mouthed as the fireball cling above the palm of Aran's left hand. "Just in case you find yourself in trouble, it should protect you from harm."

"Wait, are you sure you defeated all the Wither Bees inside that beehive?"

"It's just a precaution. Humans aren't the only ones that can crave for something delicious."

"Are you perhaps trying to downplay your obsession with honey, woman?"

"Shoo!" Lyrica gestured at Aran as if she was trying to make her pet go away after messing with what she was doing.

"So I turned from a poisonous, rotten fruit to a damn animal, huh? I'm going."

The prinsepe turned his back on the girl once more as he started moving ahead.

"Be careful, you might trip on the way."

"I won't!"