The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 37 - Kaden's Past Life

"Kaden! Wait a moment, please." Mai said as she ran to catch up with him, Aaron and Via.

"Thought you were heading home for the night Maira." Kaden replied.

"I have some questions, if you don't mind."

"What kinda questions?"

"... You never told me what had happened during your first attempt of the gate... If I'm overstepping, then I understand -"

"No, no, no, it's cool." Kaden replied.

Aaron read the perturbed look on Kaden's face and immediately knew where his head was.

"Via and I are gonna catch up with Elder Claire. See you two in the morning." Aaron said.

"We are?" Via asked.

"Nope, just keep walking."

"He's a wingman by nature." Kaden thought to himself.

Kaden glanced back at Mai and noticed that she was patiently awaiting for him to begin.

"Sigh, c'mon." He said while walking off with Mai following close behind.

"..."

"... Is this too sudden?" Mai questioned.

"No, it's just... where am I supposed to start with something like this." He replied, placing both of his hands behind his head. "Sigh... I saw my dad in the trial."

"From your previous world?"

"I don't have a dad in this world now do I?" Kaden replied sarcastically. "Probably a good thing, I don't need anybody else being disappointed in me."

Mai's eyes widened to that response.

"My old man was a huge piece of shit. He jumped on every given chance to call me a disappointment, and his favorite thing to say was 'ain't no way you could be my child.' He said that so many times I started to question it myself. Then even after that, there came a point where I didn't even want to be."

"You didn't want to be your father's son anymore?" Mai restated.

"I didn't want anything to do with him, but I had nowhere else to go. I was just a kid after all, but my mom. To this day, I don't understand why she stuck around for as long as she did."

"Her being your mom wasn't enough of a reason?"

"It'd be nice to think that, but I don't think she had anywhere to go either. Ya see, my mom came from a christian household, and they basically disowned her for her choices."

"What do you mean by 'christian'?" Mai asked.

"It's uh, a kind of religion. Back in my world, people have their gods who they worship just like you guys do here, and along with that, everyone has their different practices on what they think will appeal to their god. For instance, my mom's family believes that sex before marriage is 'immoral' and 'adulterous'. Let alone having a child outside of marriage."

"That was their reason for disowning her. I can only imagine what they thought about you as the child."

"Hmph. Along with that, she never had a decent education, so when it came to finding a job, there weren't many options for her. Decent, options anyway. So she became reliant on my dad."

"The world you're describing sounds so similar to what I've heard about Ignus." Mai stated.

"Yeah, and that world's burning as if everyone there were fire users." Kaden replied while kicking a rock down the path.