Blaze

Chapter 5: Explanations

Nathan looked at his brother who still had a bandage wrapped around his chest and laid in the small bed in the room. Nathan looked into those ocean blue eyes and searched for a hint, a hint that his brother was joking, a hint of recognition hiding behind mischief. Nathan found no green in those eyes. He had felt it. He'd known that something was wrong. Jacob really didn't remember him.

"Temporary memory loss..." Dr. Shifa said interrupting Nathan's thoughts. "...can occur when someone goes through significant head trauma."

"But his head is fine isn't it?" Mr. Blaze said from behind them. Nathan's father was a doctor so he knew about this kind of stuff.

"Yes," Dr. Shifa replied quietly. She was obviously uncomfortable as she looked at the members of the Blaze family.

Mrs. Blaze looked anguished as she heard this and Nathan noticed the lines through her light make up. Through the medley of feelings he was going through at the moment Nathan empathized with his mother.

"Nathanael?" Nathan looked up at his father as he called his name. He said everything in a calm monotone, nothing ever fazed him; Nathan feared him for it and they're relationship was never close because of this. "Come with me."

Nathan followed his father out the room without a word. As children it was usually Mrs. Blaze who would discipline the brothers but on the few occasions when Mr. Blaze had to step in, they would instantly stop whatever trouble they were up to. He never shouted. He would just look at them for a while and then tell them to stop in the same frighteningly calm monotone. He was rarely at home because he was constantly on call at different hospitals so Nathan barely saw him otherwise. Nathan would always wonder if his patients feared him too.

They walked for a while until they reached a wall. Nathan wondered what he would do now but didn't say a word. He preferred the silence than having to have an actual conversation with his father but he had a dreadful feeling that the latter was approaching soon. Nathan stepped back a little as his father touched the wall, it glowed and faded away. Nathan was getting used to the thing with the walls but he was surprised that his father knew about it and did it so casually.

Mr. Blaze stepped out into the wide open field that had appeared in front of them. He gave Nathan a look that indicated that he wanted Nathan to follow him, so he did. They walked for a few feet before Mr. Blaze stopped suddenly. He kneeled while not seeming to mind the dirt on his pants and touched the ground. Instantly a slab of stone rose out of the ground in front of him. Nathan looked on in shock as his father got up from the ground and proceeded to sit on the slab. He looked from Nathan to the spot beside him on the slab and then back to Nathan to tell him to take a seat. Nathan hesitated.

"You have questions, I know. Well let me answer one for you," Mr. Blaze said as his son continued to stare at him in disbelief. "You and I? We're not human."

***

Hours passed as Nathan listened to his father explain to him how he had been a terran and left Terra Haven because he wanted to give his family a different life. Apparently life in Terra Haven consisted of rigorous training at young ages so that people would be able to defend its regions and living cut-off from the rest of the world to protect its secrecy. Mr. Blaze had felt what the outside world had to offer and didn't want to deny his family that. When he left, he married a human with whom he had Nathan and Jacob. He wasn't sure if his children would inherit any Terran powers because of the fact that they were raised away from Terra Haven. Nathan wasn't sure what his father meant by that so his father explained to him how Terrans get their power from Terra Haven.

"So the Earth is a being?"

"Not completely. The earth is not sentient but Terrans have an innate ability to gather energy from the land and since they've taken such good care of the space they call Terra Haven they're able to use the energy here to unlock abilities that humans couldn't dream of using. The abilities range from defying gravity to manipulating the elements."