Soulwielder Book Two: Corruption

Esteamed Battlers

Melora raised an eyebrow and stared at Kai. "How do you know my and my mothers' names,"

The Lizolis took shaky steps toward her. "Melora... I'm-I'm your father."

Melora gasped and her hands immediately went over her mouth. "Oh Maker!" The two embraced and Edom tilted his head.

"What's the big idea?" He asked.

Kai and his daughter ended their embrace and he looked back at us. "Well lads, sorry your fight was interrupted. Either way, I'll take you to the portals soon enough."

"Hang on," Melora broke in. "What's going on here? And dad what are you doing here?"

"I'm pretty interested, myself. So I can wait." I added.

Kai sighed and sat down. "Alright then, I'll try and keep things simple. I was deployed to help the Wurterence Army fight off some invading monsters many years ago. Your mother, Adonia, was an incredible healer and would constantly run to the battlefields to assist injured soldiers." Kai explained.

Melora had begun to cry but motioned for him to continue. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted.

"We spent many battles together and eventually fell in love. We even were married and when we returned to Aquosis we had you. But when I was assigned to go back home I knew I had to abandon the army. I fled to Cleptier and followed every lead I could to get back to Wurterence. It took me so long to arrive here that I was afraid it had been too late. I didn't want to go back and find out if your mother no longer loved me."

Kai looked off to the side as if saying it aloud made him realized how ridiculous the logic was. "I'm sorry Melora, I know it wasn't right. And I won't try and excuse it."

Melora exhaled and looked up. "Well for what it's worth, I appreciate that. And I'm happy I finally found you." She turned back to us. "So why were you two fighting?"

"I challenged him to a fight before he could hop in a portal and leave," Edom answered.

"And by the looks of it, you almost won." Melora glanced over at me.

I sighed. "Yeah, he beat me." Melora stifled a laugh.

"So does that mean you're staying here, then?" Melora asked.

I shook my head. "Nope, that match was just to see who was stronger."

Melora frowned. "Well, that's a bit anti-climactic. Here's an idea," A grin formed on her face. "How about you and Edom fight my father and me?"

Everyone gave her the same skeptical look. "Why would I want to work with this putz?" Edom asked. I wanted to get mad but my conscience told me he was fair to insult me.

"Besides," Kai added. "I'm certainly the best fighter out of all of us. It wouldn't be fair to put even two of you against me."

Melora rolled her eyes. "Calm down old man, I figure if Oritz wants to leave he should be able to work with someone from this place. And I'd quite like to team up with my father."

I sighed. "Let's just do it. It's fair enough terms and I'm fine with it."

Nobody else objected and we all approached the arena. Edom brought up a fresh layer of ground and we entered the cage.

Edom glanced over at me. "For the record, I don't want to work with you. Just focus on taking down the Mermaid and stay out of my way."

I wanted to say something but the fight had already begun. Edom burrowed into the ground and Kai ran at me while Melora stayed behind.