Orb Guardians [Volume 1: Fire]

Chapter 2.2: Promise

Chapter 2: Encounter

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Almost an entire week had passed. Just a day left before Blaise could decide. During that time, Blaise had avoided Zephania and stayed close to Frederick. He couldn't talk to Zephania at the moment since their conversation.

Frederick took notice but didn't ask. Blaise would give him the usual happiness he always acted, but... they seemed to be hidden. Of course, Frederick was able to tell since he was Blaise's best friend since childhood, well, after adopting him.

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"Mommy, who is he?" asked a young Frederick.

The young Frederick wore a green shirt with stripes, brown shorts, a pair of space socks, and green sneakers. At the time, he had yet to wear glasses.

"Hm? Oh him he's... a survivor of the tsunami." Frederick's mother replied.

"Sunami...?" Frederick thought tilting his head slightly.

Facing his father, he asked, "Daddy, what's a sunami?"

Frederick's father blinked before chuckling softly. Frederick pouted at his father and lightly punched his father's leg.

"Frederick, it's tsunami. Ts-u-na-mi." Frederick's father said.

"So? What's a su... tu... tsunami?" Frederick asked.

"Well, a tsunami is a natural disaster caused by Earth. It only happens in the ocean and rarely occurs. When a tsunami happens, it comes to the border of any continent with its raging waves and destroys anything in its path. Just yesterday, a tsunami happened here and that boy you see there is one of the survivors." Frederick's father explained.

"Oh..." Frederick muttered.

Frederick stared at the lonely looking boy.

The boy had a blank face. His messy black hair was slightly wet from the tsunami, his ruby-red eyes were dull, and his small form was weak. His red shirt with white stripes was dirty, his beige shorts were torn, and he was barefoot with bruises on his skin. The boy hugged himself to his knees with dry tears on his cheeks. The only thing that seemed perfectly fine on him was a large yellow scarf wrapped around his neck, which covered his mouth.

"Mommy, can we take him?" Frederick asked, pointing at Blaise.

"That boy? Why, Frederick?" Frederick's mother asked.

"He looks sad," Frederick replied.

Frederick's mother looked at the boy. Frederick was right about the boy— the boy looked sad and lonely. Perhaps he had his parents die in the tsunami incident or was separated from his family but possibly the first option.

"I..." Frederick's mother hesitated.

"Of course," said Fredrick's father.

"Hun..." Frederick's mother said.

"The boy looks lonely and we don't want our son to be lonely too, right?" Frederick's father grinned.

Frederick nodded his head rapidly.

Frederick's mother sighed and said, "I guess we can adopt him."