Heart of Flame: Freshmen Year

Chapter 45

When father showed up, I made it very clear that I wasn't happy with him. I've known him for a few months now and you would think that something as big as "my best friend is my Guardian" he would have mentioned. Nope, instead he kept it from me for whatever reason and it made me wonder what else he wasn't saying.

He didn't seem surprised that I was angry with him, just had a somber look in his eyes like he had expected it. He placed his hand in front of me, where I hoped on without hesitation. He beckoned Ame to follow before turning around and walking back the way he had came.

I had hoped he would have just taken Ame and I home afterwards, but it seemed like he had other plans. Instead he took me to another unfamiliar section of the Caves. It was quieter then the busy main section but those that where there did seem to be in a hurry of some form.

Where are we going? I asked eventually.

My lair, where is quiet and away from prying eyes. He answered almost immediately. He refused to answer anymore than that, leaning me even more irritated than before.

Sorcha, calm down. Maybe we'll actually get some information. Ame reasoned. I huffed, voicing my doubt.

Few minutes later, we arrived at my father's lair. It looked like any normal cave entrance and if it didn't smell very clearly of my father I would have mistaken it for just another cave. It had a boulder in front of it, but with a snap of my father's fingers it disappeared. He walked in, and it reappeared again once Ame was inside. I made a mental note to ask someone about it later since I was kind of interested in the disappearing rocks. I wondered if maybe it was some sort of technology the Kaiju have, similar to the voice command stuff I have back home.

I looked back forward to see my surroundings, and at first it seemed like a pretty quaint home. Nothing overly fancy and my first words to describe it would not have been "kingly." There was a stone table, not nearly as big as the giant one back in the meeting room, and a couple of stone seats. They were all pushed to the side, and I wondered if maybe my father just liked to lay on his side while eating or whatever he does. It was small enough for him to do so.

Father walked past the "dining room" (as I had nicknamed it) and went through another cave that was attached to this one. It had no rock or door so father just walked through. He did have to duck, though. This one had a small tunnel, and there was another cave entrance in the middle of it but father walked right past it. I saw a soft glow in that other cave, and I hoped nothing was burning in there. Father didn't pay any attention to it, so I assumed it might have been just some Kaiju version of lights. Ame peeked her head into it and confirmed that there wasn't any smoke.

We reached the end of the tunnel in just a few, short minutes. This one was the darkest room out of all of them, and I could only make out a faint outline of something large right in front of us. I could hear water trickling down, and the only source of light was a hole at the top of the ceiling.

Dude, yours and your dad's eyes glow in the dark. Ame pointed out. Checking it out for myself, I looked up at my father and sure enough, his eyes were glowing a bright orange and gold color in the dark. Unfortunately I didn't have anything reflective so I could see if Ame was screwing with me about my eyes. She huffed at the thought of her lying to me, but didn't say anything.

"Close your eyes so you aren't blinded." Father warned. I was about to ask what he was talking about, but then I heard him take a deep breath, the kind he would use whenever he was ready to breathe fire. Instinctively I shut my eyes and blocked my face with my arms while turning away, listening for him to stop his flamethrower attack. Once he was done, I opened up my eyes again timidly to make sure he was done. He was, but on the spot were he blew fire there was an engraving on the floor, glowing gold. It was the flame insignia again, with a circle of what looked like lettering around it, but lettering I had never seen before. The closest thing I could liken it to was Dovahzul from Skyrim mixed with the Gerudo typography from Legend of Zelda.