This is a guaranteed chapter, as always if you find any mistakes, let me knwo in the comments. (For all of those that read Phabtom Song, this is where the relation between these two stories comes into full understanding if you hadn't realized already.)
Enjoy
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Chapter 8: Parents
When Curo and Kertu reached Curo's courtyard, they sat down near the big tree on the porch. Kertu didn't actually know where to start talking, so she asked Curo, “What do you want to know more exactly, what kind of people they were, what their background was or maybe something else?”
Curo thought for a second. To be honest, he wanted to know as much as he could about them. After a brief thought, he said, “I want to know everything you can tell me, how they grew up, what kind of people were they and so on.” Kertu sighed when she heard that, “This is going to be a really long story.” “Well, I currently have all the time in the world.” Curo said with a light smile. However, when Kertu heard that, she let out a small chuckle, “Well then, I can only mostly talk about your father though, since I don't know much about Lauren's upbringing.”
She took a breath and started, “You see, when your father was born, he had the same body as you, Phantom Body. This kind of a special body is extremely rare and coupled with the Yang Flame, for some people, he was like a ticking time bomb. If they had allowed him to grow up here, then sooner or later, he could have even earned a more ferocious nickname.” She let out a nostalgic smile when she remembered about her son Enn. However, Curo's interest was piqued and he asked, “He didn't grow up here and he had a nickname, given by who?”
Kertu just smiled and continued, “He had many nicknames given by a variety of people, the names he was most famous for were however “Phantom” and “Heavenly Dragon”, as to him growing up...” She made a slight pause to collect her thoughts, she was thinking on how to explain it better. After a brief pause she started talking again, “He grew up here until he was 7 years old. However, when he was 7, a group of people who saw him as a future threat, came to this world with a mission to kill him. Since Ivar knew that he couldn't protect his life by himself, we were forced to alter his appearance and memories before sending him off to another world, where his grandfather could protect him. Not all things go as planned though. A year after he was sent to that world, the clan member who we sent alongside him, died. She was the person who we made Enn's mother when we altered his memories. When she died, Enn was forcibly enlisted in the army. In that world a war had raged on for dozens of years already, without anyone even knowing who was responsible for the event that triggered the war. In that world was no magic, Qi or Heavenly Beasts. In that world, technology thrived and mankind had done things, that we couldn't even imagine here.”
Kertu made a brief pause to let it all sink in to Curo. She was actually very surprised that Curo was intently listening and didn't want to distract her thoughts by talking or asking questions. She let out a gentle smile before continuing, “In that world, Enn was a soldier and after two years of serving in the army, he was admitted to a organization that was very similar to the Shadow clan. There he worked on special operations for five years, the one who relayed the missions between him and the organization was his grandfather Ants. He silently watched over him and protected him but on his 15th birthday something unexpected happened. Care to guess what it was?” She asked Curo in a joking tone. Curo could only shake his head, he could not even imagine what heappened next.
Seeing this Kertu let out a small laugh and said, “He was summoned to another world, filled with magic. There they wanted him to become a “Hero” that fought and vanquished the demons that had been dormant for nearly a thousand years. Enn however, didn't have any motivation to do so, so he left. He became an adventurer and traveled across the continent. When he awakened his Yang Flame, he started searching for your mother, the Yin Flame. When he found her, something that none of could ever imagine happened.” Kertu's face turned quite ugly when she said that. Curo seeing this, wanted to know what happened.
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Kertu continued after taking a deep breath, “A God tried to kill him. A few days before Lauren and Enn would set out on their journey a Fallen God tried to kill him. Even though he fought hard against him, he nearly died. He lost his right leg in that incident, he only survived thanks to Ivar and Ants both making there in time but Enn's injuries were too severe. They had to put him in a artificial coma to even save his life. After making sure that he would survive, Ants decided to take him back to the world of technology since they had three times the chance of successfully saving his life. They also came to an agreement to alter his memories again, they erased everything that had to do with the fight and after that played it like everything about the summoning had been a dream, while he was in a coma.”
She looked at Curo with kind eyes and asked, “Do you have any questions this far?” Curo immediately asked her, “Why didn't mother try to heal him with the Yin Flame? You said it yourself, that the Yin Flame could even bring someone back from the last breath.” As he listened to the story, this kept bugging him if Lauren could heal practically every wounds no matter how serious it was, why couldn't she heal his? Kertu thought that this question was logical and answered honestly, “You see the Yin and Yang Flames are opposites, the only person a Yin Flame holder can't heal is a Yang Flame holder, since the body will reject the Flame and try to devour it.” When Curo heard that, everything fell into place.
Seeing the understanding look on Curos face, she continued on with the story, “Well, after that, when Enn had made a full recovery, he was brought to this world, where he started training again and took over the Clan. After reigning as the Clan Master for a few years, the group of immortals, who were lusting after the Flames came and you know what happened next.” Curo nodded, after that, Curo was born and then he was left on the streets so he wouldn't suffer the same fate as them. “What about my mother?” He asked with expectant eyes, seeing those eyes, Kertu felt like she truly had missed out on a lot from raising a child.
She thought for a second and said, “I don't know much about your mother's origins but I do know her personality and habits, those are the only things I do know.” When she had said that, she looked at Curo with a helpless face. Curo however just said, “I don't mind, tell me what you know.” Hearing this Kertu was once again proud of her grandchild and started talking, “She had a gentle personality, she liked traveling and she was a very good artist. She could get along with practically everyone she met, there were a few exceptions though. She would always scold Enn about fighting so much. You see since Enn had a childhood similar to yours, he also didn't trust anyone and if someone disrespected him, he would ignore once and strike twice. However, those people that treated him with respect, he did the same to them. I remember one time when an arrogant nobles son came to take Lauren as his concubine and couldn't understand what no meant. Enn told everyone of the Shadow clan to stand down and single handedly killed the 30 plus guards the noble boy had, leaving only him and his escorting elder alive. He then walked up to him, put his blade's tip on the nobles equipment and said, “You try and touch my wife again and I will cut your balls off and shove them up your ass, are we clear?” When everyone heard that they were stunned and their faces were hilarious.” As Kertu told Curo this, she broke out laughing and Curo had a weird smile on his face.
“Well, seems like father was a straightforward person.” As Curo thought that, Kertu had collected herself and started talking again, “After that no man tried to ever get your mother as a concubine or a wife again.” As Kertu said that, she glanced over the mansion wall, when she realized that they had talked until dawn, she said in a relaxed manner, “Well, seems like the Sun is about to come up, so I'll take my leave and you should go to sleep. I'll inform the guards to not let anyone disturb you.” She kissed Curo on the forehead and tucked him in, she also told him that if he had any questions, all he needed to do was ask. She left Curo when she was sure that he was asleep.