Summoning Woes

Ch 15 - Railgun

Maroma couldn't accept it. Her mother was hugging a complete stranger as if she knew him for so long, and then she identified that man to be her father. Granted, he was a gentle person, but the sudden revelation that that young looking fellow was her dad? No way. Mother couldn't have married a person so much younger than her.

It was getting dark already but she wasn't ready to return home after running away from him. The only companion with her was the excessively heavy cloak he gave her and the sword that she forged earlier. But she wasn't used to the incoming darkness, frightened at the thought of meeting beings of the dark, devils, demons and what not. As if that was not bad enough, it didn't feel like she was alone sitting on the swing of a rundown playground. She scanned her environment only to find an owl staring back at her from the safety of the trees. Yet it was not a time to be complacent. She picked herself up, moving towards home but not without some caution.

She increased her pace, driven by the adrenaline fueling her as the lights around her flickered. She turned around, not a single soul appeared to be following her. So what was it that was making her feel worked up? The environment around her started to heat up. At the same time, pain twisted her heart so much that she fell to her knees.

When she came to, a giant centaur cloaked in fire was right before her, its breath steaming hot. Her hand dropped to her sword. It squinted at that sight, letting out a roar so loud that she was forced to cover her ears. It charged towards her, swinging its fiery axe when a line of black intercepted it.

In front of it was the heavily scarred man her mother called 'dad'. The fury of the flames triggered by the charge failed to pull him down as he slashed through the monster effortlessly. Its body decomposed, melting away under its own flames, leaving only burnt ashes and a red emblem on the ground.

"Whoa," she mumbled, a mix of surprise and adoration stirred in her heart.

"Are you okay?" Klavier offered his hand.

"Um, yeah, I guess," she accepted his hand. "How did you know I was here?"

"Your mom told me," he sheathed his sword. "She got worried that you weren't back when you were supposed to. She's down with housework, so she sent me to fetch you."

It felt more like an excuse by her mom to have some interaction time with him. After all, they just met and were blood related. As much as his presence irked her, she could not discount the fact that he saved her from certain death. Any normal person would celebrate their victory. Instead, Klavier remained quiet, his eyes focused on the dark, lonely road ahead of them.

Not a word about that incident was uttered by Klavier's mouth once they returned home. He simply greeted mother with a gentle but exhausted smile before stashing away all the dangerous tools on him at one corner of the house. He dragged his feet away to one of the rooms, retiring for the night. Things ought to have lightened up now that they were altogether but that hope was squashed when mother looked on at the tired man with even more worry.

"Maroma," Ana said. "What happened to your dad?"

"He's just a little tired," she replied dismissively.

"It's not just 'a little'," Ana's eyebrows arched inwards. "He always looks like that whenever he carries a sword."

"Geez, why are you so worried about him? It's not like he's going to die."

"But you don't know when he is going to," she let go of Maroma, now lost in her own miasma of thoughts.

What was the big deal? He just subdued a giant monster with a single slash. Surely he could do it again. The atmosphere was nothing but tension ever since he returned - mother was constantly looking out for Klavier as he went on playing the piano for hours, trying to perfect a song that sounded impossible to be done with just one person.