“The silent waterfall yard”, one of the most gorgeous and desirous yard in the entire clan. It is also the yard of the clan master, in other words my father's. I stepped inside and entered the yard. There was a man sitting near a pond in the backyard. He was wearing a cyan robe, his face was extremely handsome. The elegance, this man was carrying was enough to make him different from any random person. He was my father, Ayana Vihan. I looked at the face of my father and for the first time in my life I saw an unsettled and lost expression on his face. It was as if the cool and calm man I knew from the past, that indifferent person who was more of a clan elder to me than my father never existed.

“Father, I….”

“I promised your mother that I would take care of you. In the past I hoped that you would live a normal life rather than being a genius. But from a young age, you showed your capabilities. You excelled at everything. In a practitioner clan like this, there are more wolfs than tigers. There are people who will hate you for your success, your authority. I am the clan master of the Vihan clan. Why do I occupy this position? It’s obviously because, I am strong. But being strong, is it enoug? No, it isn’t. When dealing with an enemy, whether it’s an internal enemy or an external, you will have to be absolutely ruthless. And that is how I always have been from a young age. However, I didn’t want you to become like myself. Your mother wanted you to live a simple life. I respected her wish. Unlike what other clan masters do with their offsprings, I never wanted to push you for this seat. However, you just showed too much promise and after that even if you didn’t want to participate in this war of authority, you will be hunted. So, I didn’t stop you. Since you can’t live a simple life, you should rather have the throne. After all, even if you pull yourself out from this war, people will rather have a ferocious lion dead than gaining a promise that it won’t bite. But all my thoughts and plan for you failed. Now, you are in a such a troublesome situation, I don’t know how to handle it. You will be okay till I breathe but after that…”

“Father” I raised my voice to interrupt and looked at him to the eyes.

“All those time, I showed off my abilities, my capabilities to everyone, I had a motive behind it. It was not to be the next clan master neither it to be on the center of attention or gaining plenty of resources. All these time, I have worked hard and waited for a day. A day when I will get your approval. I don’t even remember the face of my mother. Although ,you were there I couldn’t get your love. But I was never a fool. I never took your indifference as your negligence but as your protection. After all the estimated clan master of Vihan clan, my father always hid himself in my backyard and watched me practice night after night.”

“You noticed?”, my father had a surprised look on his face.

“I have sharp senses and you underestimated me completely. Quite poor judgement for a clan leader.”

“You got some guts brat” my father lips twitched but a rather rare carefree expression was present on his face, he sighed as he looked at me and said, “how did someone like you got a basic grade martial spirit? “

“I didn’t “

“what??? What are you talking about?”

“I said my spirit is not a basic grade martial spirit.”

There was absolute silence in the backyard. My father was quiet and from the look of it he was thinking about something. And after a long while he said,

“Arya, if I am not mistaking, you got something powerful enough to break the shackles and fly from the continent, right?”

This time it was my time to be shocked. I never planned to tell the exact range of my ability to my father. I simply wanted him to be more relaxed and carefree, so gave him a little information. But somehow he knew it.

“From the looks on your face, I was right. As expected, there is absolutely no way you can be someone normal. I am rather a normal practitioner but she was not. A tiger cannot breed a dog son after all.”

“You are implying about my mother? But how can it be? My mother was from a humble background. I heard she was not even a practitioner and died of mortal illness.”, I said with a shaky voice as my thoughts were a mess. For the first time in my life, I was feeling like things were out of my control and I was completely in dark regarding everything.

“If a person is powerful enough, they can even create their own world let alone making people fall for a simple trick. That much you should understand, right Arya?”

“Then who is my mother? Is she alive?”, I was hoping to get a positive reply from him, I can’t describe how much I was desiring to hear that answer.

“Your mother, she was alive when she left, I don’t have any idea about her current conditions though.”

“Surely, you know more than that, right?”

“I do. I will tell you all about it when you become strong enough to dominate this province alone. You must become strong enough to tackle the situation even if all the clan together became your enemies. Then I will tell you all about it.”

“Father, I….”

“I won't consider it. Don’t be so impatient, my son. Maintaining your calm and having patience is a must for a practitioner, you know it too, right? “

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. The look on my face became more composed and stable as I nodded.

My father nodded with satisfaction and said, “ come here and sit. We never have a father and son meeting before, right?”

“Yes father”, I sat on the ground as I replied. This was probably the very first time I was having such a time with my father. Yes, my father not the estimated clan leader. Things rather quieted down as the dusk was approaching. This moment was something, I want to engrave within me.