NoGift 209 FATHER AND SON

He turned to the forest at the front. According to Argent, the boy should be here. A forest, huh? Ylannea also loved the forest. He couldn't help but smile remembering that day they met. It was also in a lush forest like this.

She was sitting near a stream, surrounded by animals and birds. Her long white blond hair was shining under the light of the sun. She was smiling and laughing with the animals, as if she could understand them. And maybe she did. Her blue eyes shone like the bluest of gem. 

She looked absolutely beautiful. 

At that moment, Jaxon felt completely thunderstruck. He couldn't take his eyes off her. It's like something started to course through his whole body. Something warm that he couldn't explain. It flowed through his whole being and gathered in his heart. Causing it to beat faster and faster.

And he just knew that this girl in front of him was his destiny. It might sound lame, but that's how he truly felt back then.

Gaining her trust was extremely difficult. He couldn't really blame her for that. She's an elf. Belonging to a race that should have been closed off inside the Mythos continent centuries ago. The fact that she's somewhere outside that continent meant that she was separated from her own race. Away from her own family. Or worse, she might have even grown up without them.

So, instead of just telling her to trust him, he did it with his action. And soon, it paid off. He gained her trust. But the most important of all, he also received her love. 

It was something he never dreamed would happen. He thought that it was just his imagination working on overdrive again. But he soon realized that it was real. He felt like he was on cloud nine. He never felt so happy in his life. And when he heard those sweet three words from her lips, he felt like he could die at that moment. It felt like his life finally had a meaning.

So, he made a promise. To her and to himself. That as long as he lived, he would do everything in his power to make her happy. 

But it only took a year before that promise was broken. And Ylannea completely vanished from his life. 

He searched for her trace everywhere. But after years and years of looking, he still couldn't find her. He thought that she simply didn't want to be found. With her immense Mana, she certainly could do that. But based on the little information Argent gave him, that was certainly not the case.

In some unknown place, she suffered. All alone. Without him even knowing. He closed his eyes in pain. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

[I'm sorry for letting you down, Ylannea…]

He opened his eyes. The pain and sadness were still in those green depths. But there's another emotion filling them – determination.

[I will atone for this sin.]

But first, he needed to meet the boy.

Jaxon entered the forest and walked to a certain direction. He actually didn't know the exact position of the boy. He just had a feeling that he would be in this direction.

And soon, he was proven correct.

Standing on a clearing was a boy who looked like he was seven or eight. His white blond hair was so similar to hers that just seeing it already made him tremble. But his eyes, it was the same as his. And all his other features were also similar to him.

This boy, he's definitely…

Before he could think, he already started walking towards the boy.

"Don't come closer!" Janea shouted.

He doesn't understand what he's feeling right now. It's like all kinds of emotions were coursing through him. Anger. Fear. Sadness. Hate. And longing. All of these emotions were interweaving inside him that it almost felt like he would explode.

Janea knew. Just by looking at this man's face, he just knew who he was. Either by instinct or simply because of the other half of the blood flowing inside his veins. A part of himself he truly hated. Because it belonged to the man he truly loathed. He who should have been there for them from the start. He who should have protected them. He who should have prevented those tragedies from happening.

The man labeled as his father.

And he had no doubt that that man was standing right in front of him right now.

"Janea—"

When he heard his name being uttered by the man, he was suddenly filled with so much anger. How dare he? How dare he? How dare he?

When he was younger, his mother would often tell him tales about this so-called 'father'. He would get excited every single time she did. Because he believed from the bottom of his heart that he would come. That he would take them from the hell that they were in. 

But days turned to months and months turned to years. The hope that he had was also extinguished. He knew that he shouldn't have put his hope on a person who might have even already forgotten them. Maybe while they're suffering, he was already living happily somewhere else.

Despite that, his mother still continued to tell him to not hate his 'father'. That he was not at fault. That it was because of her carelessness and naivety that they ended up in that kind of situation. That that person was surely also suffering because of her disappearance.

[But Mother, just look at him. He certainly doesn't look like he suffered.] 

"I said don't come closer!" he shouted when he saw the man taking another step towards him.

But the man seemed to not heed his warning and he just continued walking. This angered Janea even more. This anger manifested through his Mana. Causing the ground to shake and the trees around them to move. The trees started to attack the man, their leaves turned to blades and their roots turned to powerful whips. But the man still continued to walk towards him.

He didn't dodge the attacks coming to him. He didn't even use his Gift to defend himself. He just accepted everything. As if he was accepting Janea's own pain. His body soon became battered. All beaten and full of wounds. And yet, he still continued to walk.

"Why? Why wouldn't you just stop?!"

The man smiled at him. "Because if I stop, I may never be able to reach you."

He shook his head and stepped back. "No, stop. Go away. Don't come near me." 

Janea's knees gave out. He kneeled on the ground. All the pain, sadness, and anger he kept bottled up inside him just burst. And his Mana just poured out of him like tempest. He looked down and kept muttering the same thing over and over again.

"Don't come near me. Don't come near me. Don't come near me. Don't come near me. Don't come near me…"

He knew his Mana was wreaking havoc in the forest. But he didn't care. He just wanted everything to stop. He wanted all the pain and sadness to go away. For him to not feel this rage.

Out of nowhere, a pair of strong arms suddenly enveloped him. A kind of warmth that he had never known before surrounded him completely. He suddenly felt breathless. As if there was something blocking his chest.

"I'm sorry for being 18 years too late. But I'm here now. And I won't be leaving," he heard the man said before hugging him even tighter. "I vow on the name of Gaia that I, Jaxon McAllister, will never ever let you suffer again." 

And tears just fell from Janea's eyes.

Chapter end