Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 131 - Past and the Future

Previously:

Elaru meets up with Kiel after finishing her practical exam in which she subdued a familiar crew of ex-pirates. Kiel asks her about her background and this time Elaru does respond. She reveals that her father and her had spent the last 18 years searching for something. She says that she is specifically interested in topics concerning the gods, the soul and Aetherneal magic. Kiel offers to help her search for he is interested in information about Aetherneal bond. Kiel reveals that his father and Rhur's mother have no affection for each other.

* * *

Episode 131 – Past and the Future

"My father accidentally met my mother, who was merely a commoner and a non-mage to boot, and somehow, they fell in love." Kiel's face contorted, as if he had swallowed something sour. "Opposites attract and all that nonsense... anyway, my mother got pregnant and miraculously survived giving birth to me."

It took a while for Kiel to get the vile taste of love off his tongue before continuing. "To keep us safe from all the political problems, insidious plots, and a stigma of being a mistress and a bastard child, my father kept our existence a secret as long as he could."

"I lived a normal life of a normal child in a normal house in Ashar until it burned down." Kiel spoke as if he was talking about the weather.

"My mother, whose body had always been frail due to her mana deficiency, didn't survive the ordeal. With a lack of a mother, and any form of maternal relatives, my father didn't have anyone else to leave me with and thus my existence was revealed to the Rroda family." Kiel tried to hide the scowl threatening to emerge.

"It was a matter of time anyway. After all, I have the unique hair and eye color of a Rroda. Thus, although it pained grandfather greatly, he had no choice but to bestow Rroda for my last name." His scowl turned into a mocking sneer. "Well, it was either that or to make me disappear forever. The thought crossed his mind, I'm sure."

A frown and a sneer battled for dominance on Kiel's face. "Father brought me to the Rroda mansion where I was..." Kiel paused, trying to find a good word to describe it with. In the end, he settled for: "... educated." But judging by the tone of his voice, 'torture' might have been a more appropriate word.

The sneer won and practically radiated off Kiel's voice as he spoke: "To the horror of my grandfather, it turned out I was a non-mage like my mother. It also turned out that I and Rhur get along as well as the fire gets along with water. Thus, at the end, they dumped me at Beyd as soon as I was old enough to take care of myself."

Kiel's expression subconsciously returned to a neutral mask, yet not even his reflexive repression of emotion could hide the true feelings from bleeding into his voice as he spat out: "There you have it. Not nearly as interesting as your life story."

Elaru seemed to have picked up that there was more to the story from the way Kiel got agitated just by remembering it, thus she refrained from asking any questions. She stayed silent in thought for several seconds before speaking up in her melodic, pleasant voice: "Being a bastard child isn't something you should necessarily be ashamed of. Your parents literally loved you into being. That's something to be proud of if you ask me. Even if it was out of wedlock."

Love, huh? Kiel wasn't quite sure he believed in such a thing. His father was certainly not a loving person. He would be more inclined to believe that the whole affair was his father's infatuation with something exotic coupled with a good dose of lust.