**

Chapter 52: Homecoming

**

“I’ve had it!” Aiden exclaimed.

He wasn’t back in Khalm for twenty minutes before someone expressed their intent to kill, punish, sacrifice him for something he had yet to do. In Khalm, a little spot on the map that most passed by on their travels to Nabiil without a second look, Aiden hoped to find some tranquility before the inevitable.

Perhaps he should have remained in Ishikawa; he wasn’t as despised there and, if he dared to believe in the word, he made friends in Nihon. Here there were only two people who were friendly towards him, despite his lineage.

There was a moment when he thought he could trust the women from his mother’s homeland, but he was dead wrong. Now here they were, a long way from the island, standing ready to take something that didn’t belong to them; Aiden’s life.

“Are you going to make this difficult?” asked the one called Sergeant, her voice demanding and determined.

Aiden eyed the long whip in her hand and knew what he wanted to do with it. “I’m going to make it very difficult.”

“Have it your way,” Sergeant said. “Take him down!”

Out of the six women, only three of them acted on Sergeant’s command with their weapons drawn; the other two were hesitant. They watched as Aiden telekinetically sent their comrades flying overhead and far out of sight. He didn’t care much where they landed or how.

The other two women froze at the sight of their steely blades lifting from their sheaths and pointing back at them. “Well?” Aiden asked, waiting for the women to make a wrong move.

Despite the fear in her eyes, Leah swallowed her hesitation and snatched her weapon from the air. “No Leah!” Amara shouted, tackling Leah to the ground.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Sergeant asked angrily.

“We can’t fight him head-on, Sergeant!” Amara replied.

“Nonsense!” Sergeant readied her whip and dashed forward. Her speed was better than the others, even with her toned form, but that didn’t matter. Using the power of the Rebirth of Kinetic, Aiden snaked her whip around Sergeant’s neck, squeezing it until she dropped to her knees.

Ignoring Leah’s calls for him to stop and Sergeant’s struggle to breathe, Aiden tightened the whip. Taking her life would be right, wouldn’t it? After all, they were after him because of something he might do.

As tempting as it was to just strangle her, it wouldn’t change anything. More of them would come for me, skulking around every corner, in the dark, waiting for the moment when I let my guard down.

Like Jaff, the island women had a narrow-minded solution to the problem of saving the world from me; from a prophecy, I refuse to let come to pass. No matter what Damnation said or what the island women think, I do have a say in my destiny!

“You’re wasting your time here,” Aiden said, allowing the whip to drop from Sergeant’s neck. She collapsed to the ground with just enough air in her lungs to live another day.

“Sergeant!” Leah shouted, rushing to the woman’s side. “She’s alive!”

“Why’d you spare her?” Amara asked, perplexed.

“For the same reason, I didn’t kill my uncle.”

“I know you all have good intentions, but Misheal was wrong,” Jaff said. “Aiden can help us against Damnation. Sealing him away now won’t stop its spread.”

“If his mother’s nursemaids had done their job...!” Sergeant wheezed, pushing herself off the ground. “Damnation wouldn’t exist!”

“The Midaharian and Ahrman governments are preparing to challenge Damnation any day now. I think it would be better if you joined their fight rather than moan about the past.”

“They are?” Aiden pondered out loud. During his previous encounter with the Damnation rune images of unrestrained havoc unfolded before his eyes with defeated Guards and Generals at his feet. He dismissed the vivid memory with a stronger resolve to prevent it.

“I heard it from the queen, herself. Then I was stabbed by one of her guards.”

“Which one?” Amara asked, curiously.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“I didn’t get his name.”

“Of course,” Amara said. “I’m all for joining the other nations to stop that rune bearer.”

“I guess I am too,” said Leah, without Amara’s enthusiasm.

“I haven’t given either of you the authority to do anything!” Sergeant disagreed. “Mishael left clear instructions for us..!”

“I’m going to stop Damnation,” Aiden interrupted, annoyed by the woman’s stubborn devotion to the old elder.

“How are you going to do that?” Sergeant asked, her tone annoyingly accusing.

“Damnation is a Rebirth just like all other runes, isn’t it? I can destroy Rebirths. I just need everyone to trust me! The last thing I want is to become its permanent rune bearer and destroy everything, including Khalm, my uncle, the rest of the world! It doesn’t matter what Mishael saw, I will not let her vision come to pass!”

For once Sergeant stood speechless, but only for a moment. She gathered her whip and walked up to Aiden. “You can want whatever you want,” she said, standing over him with an angered gaze. “We all know what’s going to happen is unavoidable. And the instant that rune takes you, I’m going to be there to put you down before it’s too late.”

She turned and commanded the others to follow her. Looking back at Aiden and Jaff, Amara hesitated. “Shouldn’t one of us keep an eye on him, just in case?”

“Oh, we’re not going far,” Sergeant responded.

Aiden watched the women depart, exhaling once they were no longer in view. They were so certain, so convinced that his destiny was cemented, unchangeable; it was infuriating. He was determined, more than ever, to prove them wrong.

“When are the governments going to attack Damnation?” Aiden asked Jaff.

“I’m not too sure. They’re headquartered in Nabiil for now.”

“I’ll find them.”

"What are you planning?"

"I want to change their minds about attacking Damnation." Aiden lowered his gaze. "I...hope they'll listen to me."

“I know stopping Damnation is important and all,” Jaff said, throwing his arm around the young man’s shoulders. “But is it selfish of me to want to spend a little time with my nephew?”

Aiden looked at Jaff and flashed a smile. “It probably is.”

“Too bad. Come, let’s go have Laul fix you a big homecoming meal.”

Food was the last thing he wanted, but Aiden didn't protest. If Ahmya's tainted and poisoned relationship with her father taught him anything, it was how important forgiveness was; especially when it came to family.

Laul was more than happy to spend hours preparing his special, 'one-of-a-kind', grilled prairie chicken and vegetable dinner for Aiden; not so much for Jaff. Because he called him a jackal before, Laul fixed Jaff the smallest plate. Laul learned everything he knew about cooking from his late wife. Before he met her, he would quiet his stomach with boiled eggs and sunflower seeds. Needless to say, Laul's waistline was several sizes smaller back then.

As the evening grew older and bellies expanded, talk of doom-and-destiny took a backseat to memories of yesteryear. Jaff nearly choked on his meal when Aiden told him about Ahmya and Zaki. "How could he have forgotten mother so soon?" Aiden wondered aloud.

"My brother would never forget Eden, Aiden," Jaff said. "I suspect that loneliness got the better of him, being so far away from home as he was."

"Maybe," Aiden said. Jaff's answer made sense, but Aiden, never knowing the man himself, questioned his father's devotion.

After midnight, Aiden left his uncle and Laul as they carried on as if nothing had changed, and everything was as if was before Farah came to Khalm not too long ago. But it wasn't. Those island women were watching the store like hawks, waiting for a chance to kill him or waiting for the moment when the Damnation rune came for him. Whatever.

Aiden got into his old bed and dozed off.

>tak<

>tak<

>tak<

Aiden lifted his head from the pillow and narrowed his weary eyes on the small dirty window. "What's that..? Did something hit the window?"

>tak<

That was clearly a pebble. Sigh. Whoever was out there had better have a good reason for waking him from the first peaceful slumber he'd had in weeks. Aiden trudged over to the window and forced it open just in time to come face-to-face with a small stone. Ouch! "Who threw that!?" Aiden asked, impatiently.

"I did," replied the woman below. One of those island women from before. "But I didn't mean to hit you."

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you," she insisted. "Just the two of us."

"Right," said Aiden, suspiciously, then he instantly warped behind the warrior woman. "I'd have to be as dumb as that rock to believe that's why you're here."

"None of the others know I'm here. My name is Amara, and that little guy.." she said, looking at the precious cargo strapped on her back. "..is my son, D.J." She turned to face Aiden. "His father and grandfather were murdered by a rune bearer; a Royal Guard as I understand it. But, that's not what I wanted to talk about. Aiden, don't you think you're being selfish?"

"Selfish?"

"Sealing you away isn't personal, Aiden; it's our only chance at surviving Damnation. You know what's at stake; my future, your uncle's future, D.J's, everyone; why won't you just stop being selfish and think about the big picture?"

"I am not being SELFISH!" Aiden insisted with a defense tone. "I can destroy Damnation just like I can any other rune. And that's what I'm going to do."

"You're going to Damnation?" Amara looked him dead in the eye. "What if you fail?"

"I won't. I can't."

Amara crossed her arms, unmoved by Aiden's confidence. "Look, after the other rune bearers deal with Damnation, we can revive you. We just need you out of Damnation's reach and the only way we can do that.."

"That's not enough," Aiden said, shaking his head in disagreement.

"What do you mean?"

"I..." The young man paused. Keeping the answer to himself, Aiden turned his attention else. "Nevermind."

Amara grabbed him by the arm. "If you care anything about this place or your uncle, you'll do what you know in your heart is the only w--!"

Aiden vanished before Amara could finish. She exhaled, defeatedly, and could only hope the young man listened to her plea.