**

Chapter 49: A Family Affair

**

“How are you my brother?!” Aiden demanded. “My parents are dead!”

Grasping his stomach, Zaki writhed on the ground in agony. “You... busted up my insides..! I’m dying!” he coughed.

Aiden ignored Zaki's suffering, telekinetically ripped the helmet off his head, and stood over him. Blood flowed from his nostrils and spilled between his clenched teeth. “Answer me!”

“I...I’m dying here..!”

After what he planned, letting him die would be so satisfying for Aiden. He was likely lying about being his brother just to buy himself some time. Frustrated, Aiden telekinetically removed the rest of Zaki’s armor and went to work repairing the damage he inflicted on him, just enough to lessen his pain.

“You..healed me.”

“You’d better start talking!” Aiden said, grabbing Zaki by his collar and lifting him off the ground.

“Right, right,” Zaki said, shifting his position. "Boy, do I have a lot to tell you!" He snatched a dagger from the back of his belt and drew down Aiden. His arm twisted and bones split before his weapon could hit its target, causing him to scream out in pain.

“You’re nothing but a liar,” Aiden said, throwing him to the ground. He left Zaki’s side and started for the castle. Yamato and the others had their hands full against Ahmya after all. He needed to get to them in a hurry. As he walked away, Zaki began laughing with a mix of moaning.

“If you think I’m lying, then ask Yamato what happened to our father,” he teased with a chuckle.

Aiden warped back to the castle where Ahmya had Yamato’s men caught in a column of whipping wind while she and her father clashed.

“Enough of this!” said Aiden, appearing between the father and daughter. He grabbed Ahmya’s hand and shattered the Rebirth of Storms within her palm.

“No!” she screamed, watching the fog gradually clear around her and the winds settle. “I was so close!”

The clouds parted beneath the sun’s heat, and for the first time since Aiden arrived, the sky was bright and clear.

“I can’t believe my eyes!” Ino exclaimed, picking himself off the ground. After weeks of living under gray skies, he could hardly contain his excitement. “Matsuo, do you see what I see?!”

“Looks like our ordeal has ended, Ino,” Matsuo said.

“Sweet Sakura! I’m going back for the others!” Ino shouted, ecstatically and sprinted down the road.

“Wait, Ino! It might not be safe for them to return, yet!”

“I think it is, Matsuo,” Yamato said. “Go with him.”

Matsuo glanced over at Ahmya as she laid defeatedly on the ground. “If you say so. We won’t be very long.”

Yamato picked up his weapon and walked over to Ahmya as she laid on the ground. “Have you returned to your senses, Ahmya?”

“I sure have,” Ahmya smiled. Her smile widened into an angry scream as she rushed to her feet and lunged at Yamato with a short sword. Aiden stopped her telekinetically before her father could raise his defense.

“You keep asking for death, daughter,” Yamato said, staring her in the face, searching her angered eyes for a sign of remorse. He looked away, convinced there was none. “I’ll grant you your wish.”

“Yamato,” Aiden said. “Is she Zaki’s mother?”

“Why are you asking him that?!” Ahmya interrupted. “He’ll never acknowledge the fact that he has a grandson!”

Zaki was telling the truth? “Where’s his father?”

“His father....” Yamato paused, searching for words to say. He resheathed his weapon and stepped away from Ahmya. “Was a good man. We were comrades for a while. He was the one who told me about you, Aiden, and the prophecy that preceded your birth. ”

“Skip to the part where you had him executed!” Ahmya demanded.

Executed? Here?

“Yes, I had him executed for betraying my trust!” Yamato snapped. “For having his way with my daughter!”

“He loved me!” Ahmya exclaimed, her eyes watering. “And I loved him!”

“You were a child!” Yamato argued, marching back over to Ahmya. “What do you know about love?! You definitely didn’t know anything about him!”

“Just couldn’t stand seeing me with someone I chose! Not some silk stocking, son of a....!”

Yamato interrupted her with a well-timed backhand to the mouth. He held her in a fiery gaze that had been simmering for nearly two decades. “You’re still nothing but a child!”

He brushed his hair back with his hand, attempting to regain a calm composer before turning to Aiden. “My apologies, Aiden. My family’s shameful business usually isn’t for public display. But, I suppose you’re a member of the family as well, aren’t you?”

“I thought my father died in Midaharia. How..when did he get to Nihon?”

“He once told me that he stole a sea vessel to escape his homeland. A storm carried him to our shores.” A few moments of silence passed before Yamato turned to the castle steps and walked away. His descent stopped briefly as he looked back at Aiden. “If I knew our paths were destined to cross, young man, I wouldn’t have acted so hastily when I sentenced your father to death.”

Aiden watched Yamato as he departed. Did he manage to deter death back home, just to die in a faraway land? Was death my father’s fate all along, no matter what?

“I think he likes you,” Ahmya said, drying her eyes. “My father doesn’t hand out apologies to just anyone. I should know.”

“Can you tell me what his name was?”

Ahmya looked at Aiden with a hint of surprise in her eyes. “Malik was his name. You have his nose. I also have something of his, but maybe you should have it instead.”

“What is it?”

“I'll take you to it.” Ahmya started to walk off but stopped when she noticed Aiden’s hesitation to follow. “I’m not trying to trap you again, Aiden.”

“I’ll wait here if you don’t mind.”

“Very well. I guess I haven’t given you a reason to trust me, have I? Uhm...is Zaki okay?”

"He'll live."

"Oh." Ahmya sounded disappointed. "I regret raising him to hate his grandfather. I think I may have tainted his heart too much. You should try to avoid him for a while, Aiden."

She left the castle with a slight limp from her brief conflict with Yamato. Aiden contemplated healing her, but his disdain for her hadn't abated. Even though the madness was gone from her eyes, her voice gentle, Aiden wasn’t willing to risk it. Like his father, Aiden managed to deny his fate once, but could he do it again if ( or when ) the time came around again?

Meanwhile, at the Ahrman Empire capital city of Parigrah

The royal estate, home to generations of kings and queens, was always known for its lavish decorations and priceless antiques. Queen Katherine chose many of the ceramic vases that stood tall in nearly every corner of the building and the picturesque portraits framed in gold on a majority of the walls.

Some of the delicate glass decors had been a part of the queen’s family as long as she could remember. A crystal vase belonging to her grandmother, slightly heavy and brightly colored, sat front and center on a mantel above the fireplace. Lost in thought, Alba held the vase and stared at its vivid floral patterns.

“I had him!” he exclaimed, throwing the vase to the floor and shattering it. Her grandmother’s vase joined dozens of others that Alba destroyed in frustration. Aiden was supposed to be totally powerless in Ahmya’s twisted void, how did he manage to free himself with the Rebirth of Time?!

He wasn’t sure which one annoyed him more; Aiden’s escape or the fact that he remembered it even after time was rewound. “How is that even possible?!” he shouted, clearing the mantle of small trinkets and picture frames in one angry swipe. “He must be toying with me!”

The power flowing through Aiden’s veins was his, he could still taste it on his tongue, see the world on fire through Aiden’s eyes. “He should be mine! Right now!”

Nothing in the room was spared from Alba’s anger, not the glass table, portraits, statues, and definitely not the king’s crystal Verglas trophies. In the midst of his tantrum, a breathless state took hold of him and he staggered to the floor.

Despite his young age and excellent health, maintaining the menacing cloud and its spawn was taxing on Alba’s body. Unlike other Rebirths, the Damnation rune was too demanding for humankind. Even the heart of an average teenager would fail before long. Born with the power of every Rebirth known to man, Aiden was far from an average teen. And in his body, Damnation would live eternally, prospering off misery, death, and destruction.

Steadying his breathing, Alba leaned back against a wall, broken glass crushing beneath him. He raised his palm and stared at the small pieces of glass buried in it. There was no pain nor blood in his hand thanks to the Damnation rune. Alba’s body may be gradually losing its strength, but he had time to get what he desired.

He clenched his fist. “I'll tear it down without you, Aiden.”