Ancient Pasts - Tbate

Dead and Alive

Arthur Leywin Pov

"Go, go, go!" Tess encouraged Chloe as she crawled around the bedroom.

Tess and I clapped for Chloe as she huffed and crawled faster. She crawled around the room in circles before eventually stopping in front of us.

"Papa, walk." Chloe blabbered incoherently.

Chuckling, I lifted her up and held her arms as she attempted to walk. Tess watched with loving eyes as I helped Chloe learn how to walk.

Chloe stepped forward, again and again. When she reached the fifth step, I let go of her arms as she continued to walk without noticing. She continued to walk around until she realized I wasn't helping her walk and plopped down to the floor.

Tess sighed regretfully. It was the ninth time that this happened today. Chloe would walk without our help, but when she realized we weren't helping her walk, she would plop down to the floor and pout.

"Just like her mother," I muttered under my breath.

"In what aspect?" Tess glared at me, hearing what I muttered.

"I remember you'd always skulk when I wasn't training with you," I clarified with a placating gesture, feeling a shiver run down my spine at her glare.

Tess opened her mouth to retort, but the two of us suddenly tensed up after sensing an unmasked presence appear here. After realizing who it was, I calmed down, but Tess didn't know who it was since he started hiding his mana signature a few years ago.

I placed my arm in front of Tess. "It's fine."

"Quite hostile, aren't you?" His voice seemed to originate from everywhere. Chloe, hearing this, went to hide behind Tess.

I snorted as he knocked twice on the door. "Come in!"

He walked inside the room, wearing his usual black military-like uniform, his brown hair swept to the side like always, and three rings on his hand.

Tess, seeing who it was, breathed a sigh of relief. "I didn't realize that was you."

"I've been hiding my mana signature since I was four, so I expected that." Cathan shrugged.

Chloe, who hid behind Tess before seeing Cathan, crawled towards him and looked at him with glittering eyes. "Uncwle Cwthen, pwease."

Cathan stood silently for a while before letting out a long sigh. "Fine."

Cathan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, I could see the ambient aether fluctuate and move towards him. Purple flames covered Cathan's hands and shot towards the ground, where it quickly created a detailed doll.

Chloe let out a squeal as she plopped down to the floor and quickly took the doll into her grasp. Tess, seeing the toy, glared at Cathan and skipped towards him before pinching his arm. Oddly enough, Cathan just raised a brow and, from how it seemed, didn't feel any pain.

Tess didn't notice his reaction and scolded Cathan. "That's the ninth toy you made for her. Can you not spoil her so much?"

Seeing Cathan didn't feel pain made me feel uneasy. It reminded me of my talk with Uriel and how he told me Cathan's mind was tearing itself apart. Seeing Cathan not feel any pain now confirmed it.

"If I don't spoil my niece, who would?" Cathan retorted with a shrug. "I know the two of you certainly won't be spoiling her."

Tess opened her mouth to retort but ended up closing it and glaring at him.

I snorted and spoke up. "You still haven't told us why you're here."

"Aurora Constellate is in a few hours, so Azrael, Sylvie, and I will all be going to different places to train. We're here for a family gathering before going out." Cathan explained.