CHAPTER 20: UNIQUE TALENT

(A/N Please don’t hesitate to comment or drop a review. ENJOY)

---------------------------------

By the time Orion came to, it was already the next morning.

He groggily opened his eyes to the wooden ceiling he’d gotten used to in the past few days.

’The carriage, I’m in the carriage. What happened?’ He thought, confused.

He turned around to look at the opposite seat, and sure enough, there he was, his father. Erevan was looking at him with that same unreadable expression.

Orion had gotten used to it, but this was a bit different. All of a sudden, it came rushing to him: the wolves, the fight, his strange behavior, and most importantly, his win.

He suddenly started laughing, deriving amusement from his own victory. He laughed for a whole minute before he calmed down, breathing out.

The next thing he did was check his body. He brought his left hand up; it was good as new, and not just his arm, his whole body was unblemished, not a single scar.

He was counting on there being a way to heal himself when he sacrificed his arm to be used as a chew toy, and fortunately, he was correct.

He tried to get up, yet he quickly realized that while his injuries were healed, his fatigue was far from gone.

The adrenaline rush that allowed him to go on during the battle while keeping up with the wolves was no longer available; now he was feeling the strain.

"You’ll be fine in a few days," He finally heard his father’s voice.

Orion kept silent; he currently had complicated feelings towards his father. On one hand, he couldn’t believe Erevan exposed him to such a fight this early, while on the other, he was grateful.

He had gained a lot in this fight, from insight to technique, and most importantly, a change in mindset.

"You did very well, from your observations to your actions. Field fangs are tricky opponents, especially for beginners, and you defeated them without prior information, a feat deemed impossible for a six-year-old." Erevan continued.

"Aren’t you curious as to how I did it?" Orion finally asked, his voice hoarse with tiredness.

"Not one of your movements or actions escaped my notice, but if you have doubts, I’d love to humor you," Erevan replied.

"You got into that fight, expecting and knowing you’d be outmatched, yet you were taken by surprise; they were far faster than what you expected, and so you lost ground and very quickly, I might add."

"Fortunately, you stumbled upon dry land, and one of the ignorant beasts made a fluke. It didn’t escape your eye, and this is where I got baffled," Erevan said with a confused expression.

"There are numerous things that could have led to the fluke, yet you singled out the piece of land and decisively acted on it. I’m curious as to how you came about that."

Of course, Orion couldn’t tell his father how, but a major part of why he could figure it out was his skill.

"I believe you’ve heard the name Field Fang from somewhere, I mentioned it earlier, and your facial reaction didn’t match the curiosity I would have expected, I’m guessing knowing their name helped," Erevan said, with an unreadable expression.

"Anyway, we digress, after your first kill, it became easier for you, so you used the same method to kill four of them, honestly considering their knowledge of their ability, you’d think they’d quickly grasp how exactly they were dying, but you were meticulous, you did your best to cover how you did it, being as careful as possible"

"Still, that didn’t ensure they would stick around to continue the same method after four of theirs were dead; their leader wasn’t dumb after all, you knew that, so you deliberately attacked its mate."

"You were observing the leader from the very beginning, so you saw it, the way it sneaked glances at a particular female, its body language, and most of all, the way the female carried herself; it was most likely pregnant."

"So, you made one last risky kill to enrage them and make sure they kept coming, and you were successful. The leader got very angry, enough to get reason out of the way."

"As enraged as they were, even they knew to attack from different directions, so you made a three-way strategy, one would attack from the patched ground and the other from a better ground while the leader would attack directly from your front."

"You were prepared to sacrifice your hand for the leader, as for the remaining two, one was going to get slower courtesy of the patched ground, yet the other wouldn’t, so you did something impossible again."

"You knew by now that their skill wasn’t for a full-on dash; it was a sudden burst of acceleration, and you timed it well enough for it to impale itself on your sword, a risky maneuver, but it worked. You turned around and made quick work of the other wolf."

"So many things could have gone wrong at that moment, yet it all worked out. The you before the fight would have struggled to execute such a maneuver, but the fight made you adapt. A terrifying talent you have."

"And the most terrifying of all, you attacked with your spatial powers. The beginning of one’s magical journey is the acolyte rank, but acolytes have no capability to wield their magic; it’s an ’I feel it but I can’t use it rank, yet you used it, Orion. I knew you had been training your spatial abilities, but I had no idea it had gotten this good."

"You broke space at the legs of the wolf; the precision it takes to do that should be completely out of your league, yet you did it."

"I might have had my hesitations when planning this, but I didn’t doubt you’d succeed; you more than succeeded, in fact, so while you might have your reservations concerning my actions. I do not regret them one bit; it was necessary." Erevan finished, his face a stoic mask.

Orion was understandably speechless; he didn’t even know where to begin or how to reply.

The glazing was overwhelming. Sure, he knew he was special, but it seemed he’d underestimated how unique he was. It was obvious his father had been looking at him in a special light from day one.

But all that didn’t matter; he was curious about something else.

"You observed all that from inside here?" Orion asked, his gaze taking on a strange light.

"Yes, I did, that shouldn’t surprise you," Erevan replied, confused as to why that shocked Orion.

"No, it didn’t, just felt like asking. What rank are you, father?" Orion asked another question.

"I’m at the Elite Tier or Archetype rank, whichever you prefer. If you are wondering how long it would take for you to get to my rank, I’d say you are skipping a few steps," Erevan replied with a chuckle.

Orion also laughed before replying with a serious face.

"I’ll surpass you in less than twenty years," He said with his fists clenched.

"That’s awfully specific, but I look forward to it," Erevan replied with a smile.

"We should be arriving in Niver city in a few days. It’s under the control of the Niver family. We’ve contacted Count Niver, they will escort us to the platform from where we’ll get to Ivory City, you’ll be all better by the time we get there." Erevan explained.

"This whole entourage and journey was simply for the fight?" Orion asked, his mind clear now.

"Yes, it was, there were numerous ways to arrive faster at our destination, but this journey was far too important," Erevan replied.

"Then why not just take me to fight beasts directly? Why go through all this trouble?" Orion asked, perplexed.

"I wasn’t ready to explain my reasoning to your mother. I doubt she would ever agree to such. Besides, it wasn’t all an elaborate gesture; we had some father-son bonding time, didn’t we?" Erevan replied with a grin.

Orion just sighed and closed his eyes.

’Oh, dear son, this is just the beginning,’ Erevan thought, looking at Orion with complicated eyes.

In Orion’s mind, he was thinking of what he had recently gone through, when he saw something that brought a smile to his face.

-QUEST COMPLETED

-BEAT THE ODDS:

Survive and prevail in your first real conflict.

DURATION: -

REWARD: REFLECTION.

’STATUS’