Callum x Rayla-Darkness

Surprises Galore

Callum busied himself scanning through the various things they had found in the hideout. He was also looking through the stuff Viren had kept on his person when he killed him. He came across a book that had two unusually thick covers. The inside of it was nothing of significance. It was just some dark magic spell notes. "Hey, you find anything in that stuff yet?" Rayla asked him. Callum turned around and smiled."No, not yet. It doesn't help that I would rather be doing something else," Callum said."And what would that be?" Rayla asked him. Callum smirked."Spending time with the most beautiful elf in the world," Callum responded. He thought it was pretty smooth.Rayla blushed. "I don't know how to feel about bold you," Rayla said. "It's weird.""I guess when you can't be stabbed by conventional weapons, you get braver," Callum said as he shrugged."That's a morbid way of thinking about that," Rayla said as she walked over to stand next to him."Yes, but entirely true. Now I need to finish here so I can get out of this room," Callum said. He turned back to the book that had piqued his interest. The covers were thicker than most of the books Callum had read. He brought out his kagune and used it to carefully cut the top cover off of the book to see if anything was inside of it like he suspected. As he predicted, something was in there. It was another coin along with a piece of parchment. "Why would Viren put one of the coins here instead of in that pouch?" Callum thought to himself. He flipped it over and immediately dropped it. He didn't want to entertain the idea, lest he is wrong and sad all over again. "Callum, what's wrong!" Rayla said as he backed up into her during his panic. Callum didn't hear her. he was too focused on what he saw. He didn't answer her as he slowly picked up the coin and looked at it. There was no mistake. It was his mom, and she was alive. He showed Rayla what he had found. He needed to know he wasn't imagining things. "Is this an illusion?" he asked. Rayla looked closely at the coin and gasped. It was his mom. She looked just like the drawings and paintings Rayla had seen of her. She looked up and shook her head. Callum looked at it again himself. This was real. He didn't waste any more time. He used his kagune to cut his hand open. Rayla looked at him in shock."What are you doing?!" Rayla shouted at him. She thought he was going crazy."Calm down, this is part of the spell," Callum responded in a calm tone that surprised her. He used his blood to draw the symbols around the coin like before and activated the spell. He also prepared the spell for the vitality restoration. The coin levitated in the air. It began to glow, and it burst in a cloud of smoke. Callum activated the second spell as he heard breathing."Wh-Where am I? what happened?" Sarai said. Callum felt tears running down his face. It had been so long since he heard her voice. "Mom?" Callum said. He still couldn't believe this. The smoke vanished, and he saw her. She looked just like she had the day she set out on that mission where she had died. Now Callum knew what happened.Sarai looked around. She knew this room. It was Viren's study, but that voice sounded different. It sounded familiar, yet she had never heard it before. When the smoke cleared, she saw a man bearing a striking resemblance to her son. That was impossible. He ran over to hug her. "Mom, I'm so happy your alive," Callum said as he cried. So this was Callum."How long was I in there?" Sarai asked as he hugged Callum back."15 years mom," Callum choked out. He didn't want to think about it now that she was here."15 years. Wow," Sarai said in disbelief. She pulled back to look at Callum again. "You're all grown up," she laughed.Rayla smiled. Like mother like son. They were always saying sappy stuff. A visitor arrived just then."Hey Callum, are you almost-," Ezran stopped dead in his tracks. The woman he saw next to Callum looked just like the drawings Callum had shown him. But that was impossible. Their mom was dead. "Mom, is that you?" Ezran hoped that he wasn't seeing things. Sarai looked over. Like Callum, Ezran looked all grown up, but still looked so much like the baby she held in her arms."Ezran," Sarai said. She hoped she wasn't wrong. It would be awkward if she was. Ezran ran over as fast as he could and tackled his brother and mother in a hug. After a while, he looked at Callum."This is real right," he said with tears streaming down his face. Callum nodded. Sarai didn't think things could be any better. She looked up, and what, or who, she saw brought her out of her joy into fight mode. "What was a Moonshadow elf doing in the castle," Sarai thought. Callum noticed before she could get up."Mom, this is Rayla, and she's a friend," Callum said. Ezran nodded as Rayla waved sheepishly. Rayla was nervous. She wanted to make a good impression on their mom."Yeah, um, while you were gone," Ezran began, "The human kingdoms made peace with Xadia." Sarai looked between the three in surprise. Then again, she was gone for 15 years. "How?" she asked them. "No offense, but I didn't expect your father to bring peace," Sarai said. Harrow may have been less aggressive than previous rulers, but he wasn't exactly mister pacifist either."Um, about that," Callum looked down. Just then, Opeli walked in. "King Ezran, Prince Callum, do you have a mome-" Opeli stopped as she saw Sarai. "Your majesty, is that really you?" Sarai recognized the woman immediately."Yes, Opeli, it's me," Sarai said. She smiled, but then frowned. Opeli had called Ezran king, but that could only mean either two things. Either Harrow had given up the crown to a child, which was very unlikely, or he was dead. "Opeli is Harrow-" she couldn't even finish the sentence.Opeli looked down. "I'm sorry Queen Sarai. Yes, King Harrow is dead," she said. Callum quickly looked at Opeli.He mouthed, "let me tell her." Opeli nodded slightly. Sarai didn't know how to respond. In 15 years, Harrow had died, Ezran was king, and peace was achieved."We have a lot to talk about mom," Callum said. He and Ezran began recounting the story of their adventures. It ended when Callum explained that he had killed Viren and Claudia was now in the dungeon. Callum omitted the details about him and Rayla being together. When Rayla looked at him, Callum just mouthed, "later." Sarai was in even more shock now. It was no surprise that Harrow killed the dragon king in retaliation for killing her. He had always said he would go to war for her."It's a lot to take in, but I am proud of you both. You two did what nobody has done in the last 1,000 years. You achieved peace," she said as she hugged her two sons. If Callum and Ezran could forgive and move forward, then so could she. She got up and walked over to the Moonshadow elf. "Rayla, right?" she said. She nodded."Nice to meet your majesty," Rayla said."No, no, please, there's no need for that," Sarai said smiling. Guess Rayla finally knew where Ezran got that displeasure of being called by his title. Rayla looked stiff, and Sarai couldn't understand why.Rayla didn't know why she was so stiff. Callum had met her parents with a lot less stress than this. Who knows, maybe he hid his fear. "Mom, are you hungry?" Callum asked. He didn't want Rayla to feel uncomfortable, so he changed focus."Yes, very," Sarai responded. It was around dinner time. They went to the dining hall to eat. It was late, and everyone else had eaten except Yalaxy. He was busy with documents and lost track of time."Queen Sarai, nice to meet you. I was shocked to learn that you were alive. If I may, you look exactly like the sketches Callum has of you," Yalaxy said in his calm voice."Yes, Callum has always been an amazing artist," Sarai said. She looked at Callum. He had unusual friends."Don't worry. He's always like this," Callum said. Yalaxy only laughed as he shook his head. Sarai smiled as she enjoyed her food. She hadn't had a jelly tart in 15 years. When she said this, Ezran paled. He insisted that they go get them immediately. She couldn't bring herself to argue. While the others were distracted, Callum leaned over and whispered in her ear."We need to talk about a few things later. Meet me at the balcony on the east side of the castle," he said. Sarai nodded in agreement. She wondered what Callum had to say that he didn't want to say in front of others....They had all finished eating after Ezran and Her fought over the last jelly tart. Of all the things he could get from her, it had to be her sweet tooth. She made her way over to the east balcony. The servants and guards she passed bowed. Opeli had spread word around the castle quickly, and she planned to tell the kingdoms 2 days from now. She reached the balcony. Callum was already there. He was sitting on the bench with one leg up, and his arm was resting on it. It was a pose that didn't fit with the shy personality she remembered, but then again, he was four at the time. "Hey Cal, what did you want to talk about?" she asked him. Callum looked down. He seemed very nervous."I wanted to talk about two things, actually," he began. This wasn't easy. "The first thing is that I am a ghoul," he said it more quietly than he intended to, but Sarai heard him. Sarai paled at this. She wasn't around during their existence, but she read the history books. How was this possible, they were all dead weren't they? And Callum's father wasn't a ghoul, so how? "Yalaxy is a ghoul too," Callum said. "About four years ago, he offered to turn me into one. I accepted it because it was to only way to save someone I cared about," Callum looked down. He was afraid of his mom's response."Can you show me something to prove it? Sorry, but I just need to," Callum cut her off as she was finishing."It's fine," he said. Four blue tentacles emerged from his back. They flowed and glowed. Sarai had never seen something so utterly terrifying, yet so very beautiful. Callum retracted it as Sarai looked at him. She hugged Callum."It's okay Callum, this doesn't change the fact that you're my son, and I love you," Sarai said. Callum hugged her back. After a while, she asked, "So how have you been getting food?" It was a valid question."I and Yalaxy have been making runs against the criminals of Katolis. It's one of the reasons our crime rate is lower now than it's ever been. We also eat suicide victims. I've been using magic to transport us to other cities when we can't find anything here. Even this isn't good, but we have to eat, and I would rather do this than kill people. But, we can't always find already dead people," Callum said. Sarai nodded at him. His logic made sense."Does Ezran know?" she asked."Yeah, everyone knows actually. We weren't chased after because we saved the hides of the rulers of the other nations. Some are more than happy to ask for our assistance in dealing with their more troubling crime problem," Callum said. Sarai looked shocked again. The world was changing."So what was the other thing," Sarai asked her son. Surely no surprise could top that. She was about to be wrong."Um, you remember Rayla?" Callum asked. His nervous demeanor had returned."Yeah, what about her?" she asked."Well, we're um uh, together. Like, courting together," he said as he waited for his mom's reaction. Sarai smiled."I already knew," she said. Callum looked at her in surprise."How?" he asked."Oh please, I knew from the way you talked about her during your story that you liked her. But I wasn't sure until I saw you at dinner. It reminded me of I and Harrow when we dined together," she said. "So, do you love her?" she asked."Yes, mom. I can't imagine being with anyone else. She was the reason I became a ghoul. She was drowning in self-imposed guilt and undertook a mission that would have gotten her killed. Even though, I'll suffer for the rest of my life, saving her was worth it. I'm happy with her," Callum said."So, how did it all start," she asked him. Callum blushed. He told her the story of meeting Rayla and then how they ended up together. Sarai laughed. That sounded like Callum. She had been surprised to learn that her son was courting an elf, but times had changed, and Callum looked happy. He looked happier than he had ever been. "You know, I am still going to make her spar with me. I need to see this amazing warrior you keep telling me about," Sarai said. Callum smiled."She'll enjoy that. I had to fight her parents to prove I was worthy of her when I met them. I guess fair is fair," Callum said. Sarai laughed. She was happy to be with her sons again. One of them was king, and the other was dating an elf. Today had been full of surprises.