[Your father] it said. [In a strange sort of way.]

Damien's mind froze for a second, anxiety raging through him. It took a lot to unsettle him, as most of the time, he wasn't even surprised by a lot of things, as they were either things he already knew or things which were within his prediction that they weren't that surprising. But what the man thing just said was so out of the blue that it took his mind a moment to process it.

The mystery about where he came from had been bugging him for as long as he had begun searching for answers. He had came up with lots of theories that were later disproven when he couldn't find any facts to base them on. Like when he had thought that he was a lost prince from a faraway kingdom, he and Keilan had searched for any of the royal lines that had any of the features resembling his, they'd even combed through libraries for lines that had died out but had still came up with nothing, not even a line with grey hairs among their young ones could be found. He'd even thought maybe his parents were the sort of secret powerful types, always working in the shadows, wielding grey destructive powers like his. That had also came up with nothing, as he hadn't even met anyone in years who wielded the same affinity as his. He'd checked the records of lots of kingdoms, secretly of course, but had also came up with nothing. He'd even checked with his contacts in some of the most powerful secret organisations, but no answers could be found.

He knew that the answers to his origin could be found somewhere and it was just a matter of time before he found it, but he never predicted that the answers would just appear in his lap like that. Afraid to hope but still basking in the ray of sunshine that had just shone on him, he asked the question that had been on his mind for years.

"Who are my parents? And what do you mean by 'strange sort of way;"

[To explain that, I'd have to tell you who your parents are, and I can't do that,] it said.

And that was how his ray of sunshine was turned to darkness.

Anger rose in him. "What do you mean you can't tell me?" he said, stretching his hands to catch the creature

Quickly escaping his reach, it replied. [I mean I can't tell you the answers, yet,]

"He's my father, I deserve to know who he is,"

[Not when your life depends on it,] it said, plunging the room into a tense silence.

"What do you mean by that," Keilan asked, tense, since Damien was too shocked to speak.

[It means that the moment you find out who your father is, your life would immediately be on a timer, probably in the seconds.]

Fear and surprise gripped him in equal measures.

Seeing as they were too dumbfounded to respond, the creature continued. [There are higher works in play here, and you knowing who your father is would bring unwanted attention to you, attention you would not like.]

Getting over his shock which kept coming back to back, he asked. "Attention from whom?"

[You're smart, I know, so smart that I know how easy it will be to piece who your father is the moment I tell you who his enemies are. Nice try tho,]

Having been caught, he raised his hands in exasperation. "How am I then supposed to know who my father is then!?" He shouted.

[Easy, you have to grow in power, and gather enough power to be able to fend off unwanted attention. You won't be able to fend off the truly powerful ones, but at least you'll be able to protect yourself from their lackeys.]

"You can't expect me to start with nothing, do you?" He asked, eyes narrowed.

[You have already been given clues to start with, you just need to leave this planet and eventually, you'll stumble on some answers.]

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"What clues?"

[Your powers. Specifically your affinity. You're not the only one wielding powers from the realm of destruction, start from there, and if you uncover a truth that's not going to risk your life, I will explain more.]

Damien opened his mouth to argue, but Keilan stopped him with a palm on the shoulder. He looked over to see the other man shaking his head. Accepting, he sighed. "What's your name? I can't keep thinking of you as thing or it or grey man,"

[Oh,] it sighed, pleased that they were finally going to change the subject. [You were supposed to give me a name.] It said, turning to Damien.

"Why? You can choose a name for yourself right?"

[Sure, but It'd still be better if you did it] it replied.

"Trust me, you don't want the ideas running through my head," Damien said. "What are you even supposed to be?" He asked. It had crossed his mind, judging by size, its size was so tiny that he didn't see how it was supposed to be of any use to him.

[I'm supposed to be your butler, advisor or anything you wish of me] it replied.

"Why advisor? I've been doing well by myself, I don't see why I need an advisor."

[Trust me, you'll need it.]

Damien frowned. "Since when we first met, you've mostly denied me information, information that I've spent my entire life searching for, and now you want me to just trust you on word alone?"

[The alternative is me letting you off and then you go stumble and get yourself in big trouble, trouble that'll then get a lot of extremely powerful beings after you. I may not be exactly forthcoming, but my job is to give you advice that'll save your life. Eventually, you're gonna find out the answers to your questions, and when you do, another of my jobs is to get you strong enough to survive them.]

Damien sighed. "Sorry, I'm just frustrated. I've been searching for answers for years now and it irks me to have all the answers in view but still can't grasp onto them."

[Don't worry, get powerful enough and answers will come rolling onto you.]

Keilan had been quiet for their conversation but then chirped in to bring their talks to more productive results. "Nice that everyone's calm now. Damien, we'll find your answers, even if it means turning the earth over looking for it." He said with confidence. Turning to the grey thingy, he said."as for you, we don't have a name for you yet, so I'm just gonna call you Gray with a letter 'a', and before you ask, that was the best I could come up with."

"Seriously? Gray? That's the best your mind could think of?" Damien asked, purposely repeating what Keilan just said.

"Didn't you hear? That was the best I could think of. It was either 'Gret' or 'little man' and I know how he's gonna be if I called him 'little man'," Keilan replied.

[Dodged an arrow there, you would have been toast if you had called me that, and besides, isn't calling someone by their racial colours kind of racist?]

"It isn't if you're completely grey," Keilan said.

[Still don't like it, I should be having cool names and such,] Gray replied.

"Well, if you don't like it, then you should come up with a better one,] Keilan returned, eyebrows raised expectedly.

Gray grumbled for a few moments, but he accepted the name.

"Now that we're done with the terrible naming ceremony, let's move on to the more important things," he turned to Gray. "You said you're some kind of multi-tool assistant, can you explain more?"

Gray rubbed his tiny chin with his equally tiny fingers.[it's hard to explain without showing you first, but the simplest answer is that I was made to become a weapon of any choice for you, armours included.]

It's always hard for a warrior to find a weapon that's perfect for them] it continued. [Some find good ones, but most never find the perfect ones. I was made to be that kind of perfect weapon for you.]

"How are you so sure you're what I need? Besides, how can you turn into a weapon when you're so tiny?" Damien asked, emphasizing his point by pinching his thumb and index finger almost together while doing the same for one of his eyes.

[If you recall the moments before you blacked out, you'll remember the feeling of completeness when I bonded with you, like a lost part of yourself was just returned to you,] it said.

Damien nodded.

[That's your sign, I'll never feel off when you're wielding me, I'll always have this complete rightness when being wielded by you.] It said, pride evident in its voice.

And about my size, trust me, it isn't going to be an issue, see] it said, immediately melting into a kind of grey liquid, when it again took shape, it was in the shape of an eleven-foot-long war spear.

Damien's mouth dropped as he admired the spear and even Keilan was completely awed.

The spear was eleven feet long, with a grey thick shaft. It looked like it was made with some strange grey metal, but the evidence a few seconds ago proved him inaccurate. At both ends of the shaft was a two-foot-long blade, shaped like a leaf. The blade was so silver-coloured that it almost glowed, freeing Damien from the misconception of its sharpness. He didn't doubt that the blade wouldn't be able to cut metal like butter.

Gray turned back into his human form. [See, no problem with the mass, I could even become a weapon if you want,] he said, turning into a sleek, grey silver armour.

"I have a different idea about the armour, but we'll get back on that later," he said, continuing, he asked. "Can you only turn into weapons and armour?"

[Oh, I can turn I to many things, you just need to say it,] it replied.

"Oh yes," Damien smiled excitedly, ideas running through his mind. "This will do just nice."