ARAGU

Revelations

Xaeron woke up from a deep slumber. She got up and saw she was in a room.

"How come there's a room in the Spirit World?"  She asked herself, she moved away from the bed and walked outside the room.

"Mako? Yue?" She called the only Spirits she knew.

She reached the living room. She was surprised that she was in her house back at Fylux. "What am I doing here?" She saw their old things.

"Your awake." She heard someone said from her back, she quickly turned around and about to throw a fire ball to the stranger. But there's no Element coming out.

"It's not gonna work here." The stranger said, Xaeron fix her eyes on him and froze.

"D-Dad?" She blurted out.

Before the man could say anything, Xaeron walked to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I missed you." She said and cried. She felt him hugging back.

"It's alright." He whispered against her head. He rubbed her back gently, and Xaeron missed that.

"Am I dreaming?" The man she called Dad pull out from the hug. "No your not." He chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"Come and sit down." He ushered her to sit on their old couch. "Why am I here?"

"Let me ask you that Xaeron. Why are you here?" Her Dad asked.

"Grandmama told me I can find myself in the Spirit World. I talked to Mako and Yue earlier and when I woke up, I'm already here." Xaeron said.

Her Dad nods. "Lady Labu." Xaeron looked at him, wondering why he called his mother by her name.

"She's your mother Dad." Her Dad looked at her and sadness was visible in his eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Listen carefully Xaeron. Our time is limited, for what I'm about to tell you I wish for you to be strong." He said and grasped her hand tightly and smiled at her reassuringly.

Xaeron didn't speak, from his tone she could tell that he's hiding something big.

He let go of her hand and stared at her eyes. "My name is Raven, the former Prince of Fylux. And I'm not your father, and Halsey is not your mother."

Xaeron was staring at the man she knew was her father. She didn't speak nor show any reaction. But one thing is sure, she was sad, surprise and she felt betrayed. She was lost.

Raven stared at Xaeron. He continued to talk. "I was a former Prince of Fylux. Drale's father was my friend, Meru is a great friend of mine."

Raven wanted to continue but Xaeron urge him to stop. "He's the reason why your dead." She said coldly.

Raven gave her a small smile. "Listen to me first."

Xaeron nodded. "When I was a Prince, my father told me I was gonna replaced him as King. And I was excited to know that, because it was my dream to serve the Kingdom and the citizens." Raven smiled, remembering the old days.

"But something came up and my coronation was postponed. I fell in love with Halsey."

Xaeron nodded, reminiscing how her mother looked like or the mother she used to know.

"I talked to my father and he was okay with it. I said that I don't want to be King anymore, and I recommended Meru. He was a son of a general, so my father didn't question me. I told him that Meru knows a lot of how to take care of the kingdom as he was a general himself."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Xaeron butted in.

"I'm not yet finished." Raven smiled so Xaeron let him be.

"As I was saying, once the coronation was done the citizens were all at ease by my decisions. Because they know Meru as well. While Halsey and I got wed, and happily at the palace."

Xaeron stared at him for a while. "And how did I end up being under your care?"

Raven sighed, "We're getting there."

He noticed how Xaeron become impatient. He knows that Xaeron changed how he treated him. He missed the daughter he knows and he still treat her like his own. He sighed again.

"Halsey and I roam around the City one day. We we're having an outing just by ourselves and we happened to stop on front of this tree." Raven pointed the big tree that was attached in their house.

"I was laying the blanket on the ground, because Halsey brought food for picnic. And we heard a baby cry." Raven smiled at the memory. "Halsey immediately look for that baby and that's when we found you."

Xaeron couldn't decipher what she felt at the moment. But seeing the man's reaction who she thought was her father, she was happy.

"We took you in and my father was glad, he treated you like his own granddaughter." Raven said, looking for any sign that Xaeron wasn't sad or anything.

"I'm glad it was you who found me. Thank you for taking good care of me Da- I mean Raven." Xaeron smiled genuinely at him. So Raven was happy, "Halsey and I missed you kid." he said.

Xaeron was teary eyed now, and she couldn't help it. Her tears roll down on her cheeks as Raven hugged her, tightly.

"I miss you too Dad." Xaeron sobbed now, her shoulders moving up and down. She was sad and happy at the same time, but also she was wondering who she really was.

Raven hugged her, patted her back softly. "Hush now child. Now, I'm going to tell you the truth of your existence." He said.

Xaeron stopped crying and she wiped her tears away. She pulled away from Raven's embrace as she looked at him seriously.

"The time when the First Great War occured, that's when Halsey and I knew who you really are." He said, Xaeron didn't speak so he continued.

"A man came in Fylux, I didn't recognize him but he introduced himself as the Shadow King. He brought with him his Shadow Knights, everything was in chaos. Meru and I faced him, we fought him until we were tired."

Xaeron just looked at him, her hand balling into a fist. Her hatred on the Shadow King will not be easily erased.

"But Meru left you and that's why you died." She said.

Raven shook his head. "Sacrificing our lives for the people and the kingdom was the only option. I let Meru escaped so he can help our people."

"The Shadow King and I talked, he even let Meru escaped and I didn't know why."

Xaeron looked at him, she was puzzled. "He didn't killed me when I was there. I saw how he killed you and Mom, he didn't hurt me. Why?"

Raven sighed by the question, "He's your brother." Raven dropped the news like a fireball.

Xaeron glanced at him, looking for any sign that he must be fooling around. But he wasn't. Raven ducked his head.

"What?"  She blurted out, not sure of what she would feel.

"The Shadow King is your brother."

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Sorry for the long wait guys. Thank you for reading.

-Choi