A few days later, Uncle Winter had his funeral, and Star covered all the expenses as promised.

Drew was surprised to learn that the funeral was rather large. Two hundred people attended, including the kitchen staff, random students, and even Star's Headmaster, Milford Schnee.

But why would the headmaster attend the funeral of someone who works in a soup kitchen?

This made Uncle Winter seem even more mysterious.

He didn't know what to think of the funeral.

There were feelings of anger, sadness, resentment, and remorse, but Drew couldn't pick one as he just stared at the casket where Uncle Winter rested. The bullet hole through his head had been stitched up and caked in a layer of makeup. A tranquil expression was painted on his ethereal face. He could finally rest peacefully from whatever happened in his seemingly tumultuous life.

Taking one more glimpse of the Uncle who took care of him for the past few months, Drew clenched his fist.

It was then it clicked to him.

How exactly he felt.

Powerless.

If only he were stronger, he could have prevented this from happening.

Yet, it was a lofty thought. There was no possible way he could have predicted this.

The church bells rang. The hands on the clock right on the hour, signaling the gravediggers to begin lowering Uncle Winter's marble casket into the hollowed-out ground.

The clouds overhead grow darker with each passing second.

It was going to rain soon.

The reception would begin in a few minutes. Sauntering down the paved path in the cemetery, Drew reminisced about his short time with Uncle Winter.

The day he begged to help Drew get a job in the soup kitchen fresh out of Compulsory Education, the days he brought him to work, and the days he passed all played in his mind.

A tape recorder on repeat.

Fast forward.

Fast back.

He was immersed in his thoughts when suddenly, a hand pat him on the back.

Turning around, Drew found a middle-aged man with a face similar to Uncle Winter's. It was like he was his doppelganger, except that his build was somewhat unproportional. The man's face showed some traces of sadness. His aqua eyes welled up with tears, and his unkempt tangerine hair had traces of white scattered throughout it. His black tie loosely hung off his neck, and his suit coat was unbuttoned, revealing his slightly plump abdomen.

Drew recognized him.

He was the man sitting in the VIP section.

"Pardon," he began, "You must be Drew Li."

He nodded.

"Yes," Drew replied.

The man held out his hand.

"Mathis Ryhard."

Timidly, Drew returned his greeting in kind.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Ryhard."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." He chuckled. "Also, don't call me Mister. Just call me Uncle Ryhard. After all, Winter and I were good friends."

Drew nodded.

"Okay, Uncle Ryhard."

"You don't have to be shy; a friend of Linus is a friend of mine, too." He smiled, walking beside Drew as they passed the cold stone graves. "So what's your relationship with Linus, kid?"

"He was a parental figure to me," Drew replied solemnly, "Even though I didn't know him that long, he's done so much. He offered me a job out of Compulsory Education half a year ago. He even added more to my salary to afford regiments, hoping I could get into Star next admission season. I'm an orphan, so I had no means of supporting myself once the government stopped sending me assistance when I turned seventeen. Strange, I'm telling this to someone I've never met until today. You?"

Ryhard sighed.

"Let's just say that he and I are brothers*. I owe him my life."

*Note: When Ryhard says 'brothers,' he doesn't mean that he and Winter are related. ' rother' is a term used to refer to someone who is a good/close friend.

"If that's the case, he probably did something you will never forget."

"Yeah." He responded, glancing up at the cloudy sky, "He was a reckless man in our younger days. It's a shame that he passed away like this. He's now up there with him. I'm the only one left."

"Him?" Drew muttered.

"Ah," Ryhard shot up straight, realizing Drew had no context about what he was saying. "Guess he never told anyone, but you deserve to know."

"Know what?" Drew cocked his head.

"His last name is not Winter. It's Griffin, Linus Reeves Griffin. T at man, can't believe he took his last name for all those years."

"His?"

"It's best if I don't mention his name. You'll know who he is soon."

From the tone of his voice, Drew decided to place that thought on the back burner as he knew, if he knew, if he asked, there would be consequences.

Consequences he was better off not facing right now.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

>>>

The day after the funeral, a lawyer came to Drew's home with a package with a letter taped onto the side addressed to him from Uncle Winter. The lawyer told him that these were part of Uncle Winter's will and that he should read them privately after he'd delivered them to him. D ew thanked the lawyer and closed the door behind him. As instructed, Drew opened the letter and placed the package beside the unopened Buddha box and the shutoff supercomputer.

Unfolding the pages, Drew recognized Uncle Winter's handwriting.

Hello Drew,

If you are reading this letter, that means I'm already dead.

Knowing your nature, you probably haven't opened the Buddha box or the supercomputer.

Good.

What I will tell you next is very much related to you. R hard probably mentioned some things at my funeral, so this will be a bit of a recap.

My name is not Linus Winter but Linus Reeves Griffin. I was an Intergalactic Warrior for the Orion Alliance for ten years before I retired. Specifically, I was a Lieutenant General of the Star Military Fleet along with Ryhard. We worked under your father.

At that moment, Drew felt the letter fall out of his hands. He knew Uncle Winter had a past, but he'd never thought it would be related to his birth parents. As shocking as it was, the boy scrambled to his senses and continued reading.

Your father, Gareth, was a General of the Star Military and a war hero respected by many in the Alliance. In our younger days, Ryhard and I admired him the most.

He was the heir to the Winter Family, a Family of powerful Snowhawk Avians from Xolk, many light years away from Kraus. You may have learned the Snowhawks are a race of shapeshifters that can transform from human to hawk at will. They also have a high affinity for Wind and Ice Otrio due to their bloodline.

Your father was one of them.

As for you, you are mixed blood. Mixed between Snowhawk and a Nightengale.

At this point, the Avian was reeling, pinching his brows as he tried to absorb the contents. Being a Nightengale Avian was a given to Drew since he had his DNA test done the moment he entered the orphanage. Nightengales were another Avian species that existed in the universe. Identified by their dark green hair and eyes, Nightingales were known for their disguise abilities and speed, making them perfect Assassins or Scouts.

However, what completely stumped Drew was how his Snowhawk DNA had gone unnoticed all these years. Perhaps it was done on purpose as a form of protection. But protection from what? There were too many questions that needed to be addressed. As such, Drew continued reading the letter, hoping to find more answers.

I don't know much about your mother except that she defected from the Night Family, another famous Avian Family from Xolk, sometime before enrolling at Star.

Anyways, they fell in love and gave birth to you, Drew, or, should I say, Aaron Night de Winter.

Because you were born of mixed blood, you inherited the traits of both races, which made two powerful Families fight over you.

From my knowledge, a bloody conflict broke out, and it ended in a stalemate with both Families wiping out each other. Your mother and father are in the process, too, unfortunately.

That's not all.

Other parties interested in you wanted to seize you to further their agendas. I'm not entirely sure of the details in that regard either. Hence, not only did your parents have to fight their own Families but also these other players.

Your parents handed you off to Ryhard and me a few months into this mess. They sealed your Snowhawk bloodline and told us, along with some servants, to flee to Kraus with their will, which is the package you just received from the lawyer, a mutual friend of mine.

Now, you're probably wondering how to unseal your bloodline. It's relatively simple, but revealing its full potential will take some time. R hard knows more, but I can tell you that once you reach Low F-Rank, one of the seals will unlock.

Next, you should head to Ryhard's place. The address is on the last page of this letter, and upon receipt of this package, the lawyer has filed the paperwork for your adoption.

Now, why didn't I do this earlier?

After some digging, we found the other parties knew of me but not of Ryhard for some strange reason. They knew I took you away from Xolk that day and ran to Kraus, but with some help, we could keep them off our trail for a while. If I had done the paperwork earlier, they would have gotten suspicious and gone after Ryhard, then you.

We didn't want that.

So I decided to use myself as bait since once they had me dead and picked up on the false traces I've left, you and Ryhard would be in the clear.

All that was left was to let the curtains fall.

Now that we've reached this point, I will tell you not to try to take revenge for me. It's not worth it. However, if you desire to learn more than what is given, join the Scorpion Horde once you reach C-Rank. There are a few contacts who helped us and have what you might want to know by then. You won't understand now, but you will in due time.

Drew was even more confused as to why Uncle Winter was omitting information and sending him in the direction of the organization that killed him. Again, if the Avian needed to be hidden away for so many years, whatever Uncle Winter omitted was probably something that couldn't be written.

Read carefully. These are my final instructions to you:

- Go to Uncle Ryhard's place once you've become an F-Rank Warrior (I have a high-quality regiment for you in the Buddha box). His address is:

6743 Glass Rd.

Ozwarth, KR

- Enter Star Military Academy as a student and study there.

- Don't try to get revenge for me. I've lived long enough. My debt to your family has been paid off. However, I can't say that you will follow this one.

-Use the program I developed on my wristband to track your progress. I hope you become stronger. Your parents and I are watching. Make us proud.

- Optional: Reach C-Rank and join the Scorpion Horde if you want to understand more.

Yours Truly,

Uncle Winter

Once finished, Drew folded the letter and placed it neatly back into its envelope.

Honestly, Drew was not surprised by some of the content. He had a hunch Uncle Winter was hiding something like this, but he did not know how much. What shocked Drew was the fact that Uncle Winter knew his parents and that his parents were killed in some freak conflict just because he was born. Even worse, his birth sparked some ridiculous hysteria among unknown powers that wanted him for who knows what when he hadn't even awakened those Abilities.

This whole thing was ludicrous. It was almost as humorous as the movie where a man killed everyone just because his dog died, but this was no laughing matter. It was real, and many died for him to live.

Placing down the letter, Drew opened the package, ripping the clear tape from the top. I side was a blue messenger hat, a photo album, a small leather waist pouch with a silver box, a silver cuff earring with a small Core, and another letter.

Drew put on the hat, which was made of reinforced fabric. When he flipped the hat over, something was embroidered on its underside in black: "I," his father's name, Gareth Winter. After putting on the hat, Drew looked at himself in the mirror and was satisfied.

Next, Drew approached the photo album. I was a thin binder with a leather cover that read: "To our Son."

Opening the album, Drew saw pictures of a tall man with Dark blue hair wearing Star's blue military uniform decorated with silver medals. He was rather handsome. At the bottom right of the picture, Drew saw a date. M rch 25, 0456 IE. That was three months before he was born. Drew spotted a beautiful pale-skinned lady with flowing green hair in the same image. She wore a similar military uniform, her stomach protruding a little, and was about a head shorter than the man. They were both smiling.

Drew immediately knew that these people were his parents. His face curled into a little smile.

Flipping through the photo album and skimming the images of his parents, Drew came across another photo in which his parents were holding something in their arms. I was a child with ice-blue hair wrapped in a blanket. The child's eyes were closed, and Drew laughed.

That was him.

Looking at the bottom right corner, Drew found another date: April 14th, 0457 IE. He was almost 9 months old.

Drew touched the image, imagining his parents. Their joy. Their sadness. Their love for him. After staring at the picture a little longer, Drew flipped the page and realized he had reached the end, yet there were still many slots for any images he took in the future.

Closing the photo album, Drew made his way over to the leather waist pouch. It looked like an ordinary pouch, but inside, it contained a silver box the size of an old-fashioned portable camera with a glistening green Core in the center. Pressing the Core, Drew felt a small needle prick his pointer finger. A drop of crimson blood fell onto the Core, and it began to shine a brilliant light.

Drew flinched, falling right on his back as he watched the silver box expand to the size of his futon within seconds.

Suddenly, a robotic female voice came from the box.

[New User Registered. Welcome, Aaron Night de Winter.]