"It doesn't matter, what's done is done. He is not our son anymore."

The golden haired man spoke with strong resolve in his voice. However, looking closely, one could see his hands clenching until his knuckles turned white...

During the first few days of our journey all I did was sense our surroundings. A new flower here, a new insect there, everything was fascinating.

...

Then it got boring... just sitting in the couch for hours drains more mental energy than one might think.

Haux, however, was lucky. Being a bird, he could fly, so he usually roamed the skies looking for a mouse or some other small animal to gobble down.

Sitting in the couch, I sensed my father sleeping opposite me. His drool had been my only source of entertainment for hours...

A sigh escaped my mouth as I start playing with my ability.

'Monarchy of Thunder' was a name I had thought up approximately a year before.

That day, a storm hit Aspel. It was the first real storm I had seen in my life, and what happened left me almost brain dead.

When the sky started generating electricity, I saw it! I saw the way electricity flows. I almost fried my brain by sensing so many details, but that gave me the idea to create my own 'electrical flow'.

I could also send lightning bolts like Haux. But... it somehow felt like a waste of an incredible ability.

Lightning is fast and powerful, and a lightning bolt is next to impossible to 'control'. All I could do was aim and fire.

However, after seeing that flow of electricity the year before, I felt that there are so many more possibilities to this ability!

Sensing the sparks of electricity jumping between my fingers, I sighed.

'If only it were that simple to create new techniques.'

Without anything else to do, I started whistling while playing with some sparks.

...

Bandits were a problem for some Empires, but in Xeria things were a bit different. The reason for that was mainly the Order of Xeria.

The Order was a group of Chosens and Regulars who had gathered together in order to seek evildoers and deliver punishment. They, alone, made up almost half of Xeria's military power and they only answered to the Imperial family.

My brother Caden was a disciple of a senior member of the Order.

With the support of the Imperial family, they acted like harbinger of death, hunting down evildoers and not giving up until they came back with their heads.

At times things went so far that they hunted bandits across the borders!

Still, thanks to the Order of Xeria's fame and their 'an eye for an eye' policy, usually the military of the other empires closed an eye on them, unless they provoked them.

Bandits are, after all, a pest in every empire. No one turns down free workforce.

But where there is light there are shadows, and Xeria was simply too big to control, so of course there were some bandit gangs that decided to try their luck. However, the fact that in Xeria there are far less bandits than in other empires had already spread across the continent long ago.

That was why we didn't bother hiring guards. The road between Aspel and Neer was quite close to the Capital, so the chance of bandits attacking us was comparable to being hit by a snowball in hell.

...

The journey progressed slowly, but after two weeks we finally arrived at the city of Neer.

The first thing I had done when dad had said we were close was to focus my ability towards the city of Neer.

During the two weeks of our travel, my ability had immensely improved. Whereas before I could “see” in a radius of 10 meters, now it was almost 18 meters. However, the biggest change wasn't the extended range, but the quality of my perception.

Since that moment with Haux, my ability had improved by leaps and bounds. I didn’t even have to focus anymore to sense the facial expressions of those around me.

Also, being able to process more details had made it possible to increase my perception radius to approximately 100m, if I focused in one direction.

That was why I was so shocked right then. Even with my 100 meters long scan it felt like I had barely scratched the surface of Neer. My perception of the world was gradually changing.

The walls around Neer were supposed to be circular, but all I could sense was a straight wall. I could only imagine how big that city was.

The carriage arrived at a gate guarded by six heavily armoured men, with their wolf and bear Spirits standing beside them.

Comparing these guards to the ones in Aspel would have been like comparing war gods to some spoiled noble brats. Everything, from their appearance to their expression, screamed 'veterans'.

Even the crowds leaving and entering the city paid their respect to the guards.

Thanks to the stamp indicating that we were servants of the noble House of Silver, we entered without trouble.

Some of the guards stared at Haux with caution, but he kept resting on the carriage roof as if worldly matters didn’t concern him, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"We will first head to the Three Foxes. It's a tavern owned by Helia, your mother's childhood friend. She has three daughters your age, so try to make some friends while we are there. Think of it as practice for the Academy, okay?"

Dad said with a smile, his hand scratching Chappie behind his ear.

I nodded in response, not really taking it to mind.

'I have never had friends before, why would I need one now?'

That was what I thought. In the meantime, Haux woke up. He immediately turned his gaze towards East, with a very rare expression of unease in his eyes.

I immediately tried to sense what he was so concerned about.

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'It's too far away...'

I sighed, while retracting my ability's range back to my normal radius.

Though I could extend it to 17-18 meters, it was more comfortable not to sense unnecessary things.

I kept playing with my sparks, waiting patiently to arrive at our destination.

...

An hour later it seemed like we had entered the city center. The growing sea of people hindered the progress of our carriage, so we bid our farewells to Jon and continued on foot.

Spreading my ability to the maximum, I sighed. If it weren't for Haux intentionally scaring away people I would have probably drowned in this sea of people.

I pretended Haux was leading me, a sort of “guide bird”. We earned a few curious gazes but they quickly turned away. I guess a blind boy wasn’t as unusual there.

My father, seeing my difficulty, grabbed my hand before picking up the pace.

...

Ten minutes later we arrived in front of a five floor tavern. An engraving, depicting three baby foxes playing with each other, stood above the entrance.

- The Three Foxes -

Was carved in neat cursive script on a sign hanging beside the entrance.

After entering I had to immediately cover my ears.

'God! What a loud atmosphere!'

Haux seemed to have the same problem as he dug his head into my jacket.

"HELIA! YOUR BIG BRO IS HERE!"

My dad screamed even louder, with a smile on his face.

'Big bro? But I thought she was a childhood friend?'

The atmosphere turned silent for a few seconds and many stared at dad, gazes filled with curiosity, anger and... envy?

However, like a tsunami, the loud atmosphere once again enveloped the tavern.

Only three people remained focused on us. Or rather, three children my age. One of them ran away through a door behind the bar. The other two kept looking at us as if...

*Flinch*

Rubbing Haux's feathery back I tried to calm him down.

...as if we were a pair of thieves, they appeared hostile and ready to chase after us. Their expression was unmistakable.

Dad didn’t seem to have noticed them as he continued to smile while frantically looking around. I would have asked him what he was doing if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was pretending not to know him right then.

The noisy atmosphere persisted until a lady entered the lobby/dining room. Her movements were graceful and even I, a six years old kid, could sense she was a real beauty, one for which people would wage wars.

But when she saw dad I sensed her heartbeat accelerate. Her expression didn’t show it, but I was afraid she'd have a heart attack if it continued like that.

Dad smiled brightly at the sight of her.

"Ahahahah! Helia, how can you still look the same after all these years?"

Dad said while shaking his head.

"SUCH IMPUDENCE! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TOWARDS THE LADY LIKE THAT!"

Only then did dad notice that basically every man inside the lobby was staring at him with the intent to squash him on the spot.

Before dad got the chance to answer, the Lady did.

"Maggot, why are you speaking?!"

She said with an icy tone to the man who had just spoken.

Yet... his pulse... no, scratch that, every man in his nearest proximity pulse went completely haywire. Sensing the electricity gathering in his lower body and his...... I quickly stopped focusing on the electricity.

'I-It is that, r-right...? The thing w-which happens t-to grown-ups... D-dad said it was a... a natural thing... r-right?'

Still thinking I had sensed something I shouldn't have, I turned my attention onto Helia.

After glaring daggers at the guy who raised his voice, she once again turned towards dad.

"Charles, you look awful. It's probably that hag’s fault.. hmph. She told me you where coming but I didn't think you would have the balls to show up."

Helia said this with an indifferent tone, but her heart was still beating rapidly... like when you secretly take an extra piece of chocolate when no one is looking... but I couldn’t sense any chocolate on her... that was weird.

My dad, not affected by her words, just kept smiling.

"Ahhh, don't call my wife a hag... where is the cute little girl who ran around calling me onii-chan everyday?"

After dad  spoke I heard everyone gasp. Their pulse seemingly stopping completely. Their looks towards dad slightly changing with a feeling of respect.

'Onii-chan? What's that? Must be some foreign word, I'll ask dad later.'

But Helia was completely silent. Yet, her heart was beating so fast I worried it might burst through her chest. Just sensing it made my own heart hurt.

"Oh, her? She disappeared when you left saying you had fallen in love and didn’t come back to visit until 20 years later."

She spoke while smiling, but I recognised it: a forced smile. One I often wore when my 'friends' teased me thinking I didn't see anything...

My dad's smile disappeared. And an awkward silence enveloped the lobby.

Then, the Lady shook her head and smiled.

"Enough of this. We haven't seen each other for years. Let’s catch up privately, I don't want to disturb my customers."

A few people opened their mouth as if wanting to say something. But they were all quickly hushed by their friends.

'Seriously, what's going on?'

I thought with a frown.

Dad, noticing my expression, put his hand on my shoulder and began to smile.

"Sure, let's go."

Dad walked in front of me, following Helia. Haux returned to his original position and looked at me as if to ask what was happening.

Sensing that, I felt some relief in not being the only one who did not understand. Noticing a lot of people looking at me, I quickly picked up my pace and followed dad.