Chapter 14: Dad

Arlom shook his head, this kid was truly stupid, Cyan should know better than this.

[Arlom]: "Don't be stupid, my son should be at least 30 years old this year, he should be grown man and you are just a stupid little kid, do you even know math? How old are you?"

[Cyan]: "I am fifteen this year dad, well that’s in earth years".

Nevertheless Cyan still carry it on with his impossible ‘true’

As for Arlom, he was a little angry, was mocking him? Is this some kind of plot because he had tell him the true? Arlom has never expected to Cyan to react this way.

In fact, this was saying this because Arlom was told him the true, but not all of it, if his father were to be a monster that was beyond saving, then Cyan would not move so brazenly, no, the faster he acted, the better are the chances for saving Arlom, if let this matter go, Arlom would keep digging his own grave and then closed it with a door of regret which he wouldn’t be able to cross.

Cyan had a feeling this will come to past in the future, even if he was actually… not very sure of this ‘true’ he was talking about himself, but, saving Arlom now was the priority this can’t wait.

[Arlom]: "Stop calling me dad, I am not your dad, we don't even look anything alike"

[Cyan]: “Come on dad, even a blind man could see we look very alike, the monster king has realized it as soon I said my name”

Cyan nodded his head, like reaffirming his own true.

[Cyan]: "Dad, I very happy that, I can finally meet you in person".

[Arlom]: "Hey kid, are you listing to me here, I am not your dad".

Arlom was growing impatient, this stupid was acting stupid again, now this was beyond anything stupid Cyan had done before.

[Cyan]: "To think 'my dad is someone from another planet' oh it has a nice ring to it, I will write a book with this title when I am back to earth, what you think of this title dad?"

[Arlom]: "Kid you better stop talking nonsense in front of me"

Arlom was gripping his hands around the axe at his back, this joke has come too far now, it must be stopped.

Arlom was growing angrier now, this kid was surly making fun of him.

Nevertheless Cyan face grew serious, this was not a joking matter to him, this was all to save Arlom from his own future, there is not turning back now.

[Cyan]: "Dad, were you in cahoots with the hunter queen and the monster king too? Then you betrayed them just because I show up? or was your plan from the beginning? Is the only way I can explain that 3 of the most powerful individuals of this forest to show up at the same time as I did right?"

[Arlom]: "I already tell you I am not your dad or anything relate to you, so stop calling that already, and it was just a temporary alliance that I made with monster king, the hunter queen was just there to try to kill me, but at the end, she help me to trick you into following me that’s it is all"

Cyan keep staring to the eyes of the man in front of him.

[Cyan]: "So it was like that, dad"

Before Cyan could react, a flying fist hit him in the stomach throwing him a few meters back.

[Arlom]: "Hey kid do you think that I am playing games here"

With an eerie voice, Arlom was looking very menacing to Cyan, but he still… was a stupid kid after all.

[Cyan]: "cough… cough…. I know is not game, da...”

Before Cyan finish his sentence, Arlom was in front of him forcing him to shup up.

[Arlom]: "Said that I am you dad one more time kid"

Arlom as casting a huge black shadow over Cyan that was still on the floor holding his stomach because of the pain of that punch, Arlom was looking like a giant that could squash him like an ant at any second

Cyan was feeling something he had never felt before, no, he had feel it before, that indescribable cold win, he had felt 3 days ago when he had meet with Arlom for the first time, but he had not realized what this cold wind was, and after a few days of training Cyan could understand it now.

‘Is this… fear? Ah, so it was like this, the legendary killing intent, to think that the first time I got to experience it, it will coming from my own father, sigh’

Arlom eyes were not laughing at all, there was not any sign in Arlom eyes that he could mistake as a joke, Arlom will surly kill him if this go on. Arlom had the same eyes of the time when he asked him if he was his enemy, not a lot of time has passed after that, and Arlom was already ready to kill him again.

‘Sleeping with load guns is really troublesome, sigh, those eyes are no joke but…’

Cyan was sure what the consequences will be from the beginning when he said what he thought was the true, it was more like he… has seen it what would happen.

Nobody likes when someone else tell you the true that, you yourself choose to ignore after all.

Cyan could not help but to think, what the consequences would be if he failed now, it would not only be his end, but also Arlom end, the final step that would throw him of the cliff between a monster and a human, even now Cyan was think such stupid thing when his life was in danger, truly foolish.

‘Hang in there a little bit dad, I will help you to scape your prison’

Cyan was still trying his best to stand up but that punch really got him good, he was sure some bones were broken, his ears were buzzing and his vision was becoming blurry, but, Cyan still stood up at the end, he was not using mana or anything like that to stand up but only his will, he can’t ask mana to help him right now, no, mana has a more important task he needs to ask her to do.

With his shaky legs, Cyan looked directly to Arlom eyes again, and… smiled at him before taking air and start screaming the thing Arlom wanted to hear the lest, more than just once

[Cyan]: "DAD DAD DAD DAD DAD DAD DAD DA…".

The veins in Arlom head were almost bursting out, Cyan did not only said it just one more time, he did not shup up and was repeating the same word over and over.

Arlom would not allow to actions to continue, without thinking it, Arlom threw another fist to Cyan stupid face.

[Arlom]: "I SAID I AM NOT YOUR FATHER"

Cyan was sent flying back once more with great force, what stopped him was the cave wall behind him, it was not a soft impact.

Coughing a mouth full of blood, Cyan body could only drop to the floor, he was not moving at all.

His face was swelling, his mouth could only taste the flavor of blood, Cyan was feeling like that all of his organs were miss placed and his bones had turned into start dust, the pain he was felling was beyond the poison pills he has took before, he could be seeming in pain if not for his broken jaw stopping him to be able to talk…, but he still was able to…

[Cyan]: "Dad, can you tell how Mon and you meet for the first time?”

Even if Cyan should not be able to talk right now, Arlom was still hearing him very clearly like if he was at his side, and that’s because, Cyan was talking with him using Mana, Arlom could hear the voice of Cyan in his brain… it was driving him crazy, a flow of question was invading Arlom brain right now, all the questions where about… his mon.

[Arlom]: "shup up"

[Cyan]: "Dad… can you tell me how was Mon…? I am sure she was very beautiful right?"

Maybe Cyan was a little bit afraid of listening his Mon history from his Dad, but he still was very curious about her, so he could only ask.

[Arlom]: "…shup up…."

Arlom was holding his head with his hands, like trying to pull out something of it.

[Cyan]: “Dad, did I have the same as her right? Like if she gave them to me”

[Arlom]: "shup up shup up"

[Cyan]: “Dad… did you fall in love with Mon at first sight?”

[Arlom]: “I SAID SHUT UP”

Screaming to the top of his lungs while covering his ears was Arlom, trying his hardest to listing to Cyan words, he was reaching his maximum tolerance limits.

[Cyan]: “Dad… what was Mon name?”

[Arlom]: "AAAARHHHHHGG SHUT UP!!!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP"

No matter how loud he screamed to Cyan, he did not obey him and the only way to make Cyan shut up was…

Now, Arlom flying in rage at him, something never before seen by Cyan or any other person that was still alive… but after coming this far, being afraid of death didn´t stopped Cyan from using mana to ‘talk’ with Arlom, there were somethings that he need to say to Arlom.

Cyan was reduce to a pile of broken bones, scramble organs and bleeding wounds, he was in this state with only two punches of Arlom and this was Arlom holding himself back, if you can call it that way, because, the one that was moving was not Arlom himself, but the guard of his prison, the one preventing him from...

Now Arlom started to walk in the direction Cyan was, his face was back to being calm and serious, but it was a serious of someone that was ready to kill somebody, and that face was looking directly to Cyan.

While they were ‘talking’ Cyan has managed to sit down by putting his back against the wall he has just crash into, he used a little of help from mana to do this huge achievement of sit down, and even if he was in a terrible pain for doing this, he wanted to see the at the eyes of the man that he was claiming it was his own father.

With a thug sound, Arlom has stopped just before of Cyan, on more hit and it would be the end for Cyan, one more hit and he would be buried into the wall… forever.

But just as Arlom was coming close to Cyan, in his blinding rage he could still see the bleeding and broken body of Cyan, after seen this, he manage to calm his mind down and regained a little of his sanity back, this is what extended Cyan life a few more minutes.

Raising his broken skull, Cyan could only see with his right eye now, but he still looked into Arlom eyes, even his Cyan face was physically incapable of showing a smile, his eyes still reflected that as matter of fact he smiling at Arlom.

[Cyan]: “I can see it in your eyes dad, I can see it with the eyes Mon gave me, even if you want to close your eyes to the true, your intuition are yelling at you the true, I can also feel it because in me there are the same intuition that you gave me, even if you want to be blind, you can´t remain blind forever, please I beg you, open your eyes and come back to the man you were before, I know you can do it if is you”.

[Arlom]: “Stop… please stop, stop looking at me with her eyes, I already knew it, but I… I could not bring myself to accepted it”

Arlom face was of someone in terrible pain, that was not physically pain but mentally, his eyes reflected this, by crying the amount he haven’t cry for years, he has move and attacked Cyan as a form of protection, protection for the prison he has built inside him, but Cyan has manage to strike at that the walls waking up the prisoner inside it, now Cyan just need to bring this wall down, but he could not move right now, no staying awake was already a huge task from him.

[Cyan]: “sigh, such a stupid father, ja, I think I know now from where I got my own stupid brain”

Arlom got into his knees in front of Cyan.

[Arlom]: “I don’t deserve to be called your father, because of me… because of me you are in this hellish place, I was too blind in my despair to leave this place, I tried to bring a pure innocent soul to take my place in this forest, and after you know up… I… everything I had done what was for? What if it was not you but someone else son or daughter? Would I continue without locking back? Did I became a monster without noticing it? In just what I have become?... and the price that I had to pay for my own stupidity is that ‘I dragged my own son to hell with me’ is that a good title for you to put in my grave?, my own hell has now become yours, how would I be able to face her, how would I look her into the eyes and tell her what I did… how I can ask you to forgive this stupid man”.

At this moment Arlom was seeing the shadow of his dead wife in Cyan eyes, his eyes where truly the same as hers, the smiling eyes of Cyan where more painful that the stronger of his poison, the weight of his regret were making him literally sink into the ground, like digging his own grave, but it was the turn of Cyan to talk.

‘Sigh, truly a SSS grade father, S for stupid that is’

Even if Cyan could not talk, he could still use Mana for communication, how he actually learn how to do that, it was from his dream, if he could communicate with Mana by just ‘talking’ and mana could reply him back in his dream, them would not that mana be able to communicate with other people too?

It was just a dream but, he feel like he could do it if he ask mana to do it, for Cyan it was like he was talking normally even if he was not moving his lips, for Arlom it was a nightmare, the only way to shut Cyan up was to kill him?, he couldn’t, even if he would turn into a monster, he wouldn’t be able to kill his own son, nevertheless Arlom still have a shred of humanity in him.

Cyan has seen it with his own eyes, he has seen that Arlom could not kill him, his eyes were a gift of his mother and they were the same as his mother eyes, as they could peek into the window of the soul and see the true a person was hiding, this was the reason of why someone has taken away his mother soon after she had gave birth to him, the true, it was always in Arlom eyes looking back at him, truly stupid.

[Cyan]: “Dad… I am not her, I am not Mon, nor I can replace her, I can´t forgive you in her stead, the weight of your sins, I can’t carry it for you… but, you had never looked away from them or refuse to accept them, the moment I appeared in from of you, you were able to tell who I was, and… what wrongs you had done, even if you choose to hide the true for me and even yourself, even if my age did not fit the age that I should had, you had already theorized that both of our world have different understanding of the law of time isn´t that right?, for me it has being only 15 years but for you it has being 30 years”

Cyan did not gave any change to Arlom to reply back, he don’t have a lot of time, he had to say his piece now or never, so he has continue to talk with stopping.

[Cyan]: “Dad if you don’t like in what you have become… then change it, my stupid Master has told before when I was afraid of my own changes that, you can always change yourself back if you keep moving forward, and the only thing you can´t change are the laws and the dead, I am still alive dad and I am still here, it is not too late to change yourself back to the man you were and escape this forest with me”

[Cyan]: “I don’t know what you did to make your load so heavy but you always face it head on, just like when you looked at me, you never looked away from me, even if it is too painful for you, I can understand know why Mon had fall in love with you”

The words of Cyan were stronger that the stronger of his fist, Arlom walls were shanking now, but his has not finished just yet.

[Cyan]: “Dad, You need to forgive yourself and move on that’s the first step, not because I said so, not because some else has forgiven you, not because you are afraid someone else will condemned you, not because you are afraid of being hated, but because you will regret it, and you will be shackle to that regret, you will be shackled to the past and never be able redeemed yourself, please for the sake of your future, go back to the man you were before this nightmare has begun, when mon was still alive, and… I still wasn’t born yet”

Cyan could not hold his conscience anymore and instantly closed his eyes, ‘truly a stupid father’ was his last thought before falling to the land of dreams, it has not being 30 minutes from the time he has just woken up and Cyan was knock out unconscious again.

Arlom was still kneeling in front Cyan, his own son has grew splendid, even if both his real Mon and Dad were not there with him, Cyan was so much like both them that, it was like they never had left his side from the very beginning.

[Arlom]: “You are truly a fool like your mother and… stupid like your father, sigh, Cyan, her name was Cyan, she gave you her own name, just because the color of your eyes were the same Cyan, of course she would do something as foolish as that, but, that’s why I has fallen in love with her too, I am sorry Cyan, please forgive this stupid father of yours, I had already realized my mistakes but I could not forgive myself, I know now in what I have become and I will now change it back to the man I was before, so one day… you can call me dad… once more time”

The wall on Arlom prison were shaken but still not broken, even if Cyan had tried with all his being, he alone was incapable of bringing the walls down, no, there was one last obstacle in Arlom mind for truly be free of his prison, the true wall.

[Dark-Arlom]: “Arlom are you still this stupid so late in the game? It is way too late for you my friend, can you really change what you did? Do you think you can be forgiving?”

[Arlom]: “I can change only myself, what is already done can’t be changed back, at least with my own power, I can’t change it, but I still can change my own future and while I am at it, I will not let my son future be like my own too”

[Dark-Arlom]: “So greedy, but what is the point of that? Do you think you can live with yourself after what you have done? Do you think he will call you his father after he knows you true colors?”

[Arlom]: “You have it wrong, there is a point, to become what I should had being from the beginning, a father to Cyan”

[Dark-Arlom]: “You are just wasting your time, Cyan will never acknowledge you, a true monster, as his own father”

[Arlom]: “You are mistaken in that regard, I am doing this for myself and not for anyone else sake, even if Cyan never acknowledged me as his father I will still become his father, I am that selfish, and you can even call stupid all you want, but I will walk my own path not yours”

[Dark-Arlom]: “What about all the people you had killed in cold blood, you are just a murderer, you can’t change that, accept it, you are just a monster and you will remain as such, and you will never be able to change yourself back, it is too late for you”

While Arlom was ignoring that voice in his own head that was still mocking him, he stood up and took a red bottle from the thin air and emptied its contains of the bottle over Cyan, this was a dark red liquid potion, one of this could regrown limbs and heal all of his wounds, this will be enough to heal Cyan wounds back to top condition, but it would be painfully, nevertheless he dropped yet another red bottle in Cyan mouth making him drink it, still unconscious, Cyan body still manage to drink the potion.

After seeing that Cyan was out the danger zone, Arlom could let out a sigh of relief, he thought that maybe his other self would try out something while he was taking care of Cyan wounds.

Standing up and turning around, this time Arlom was facing… himself.

The calm and serious expression that he had before was back, that expression where he was ready to kill someone, but that face also had another meaning, it meant he was ready to die too for something he believe in, better to die as a man, that live like a monster, those were Arlom honest thoughts.

[Arlom]: “The only thing that doesn’t want me to change… it is you”

[Dark-Arlom]: “So you realized it now? Even if you are able to see me now, you will never able to beat me in a fight”

With his arms crossed and a mocking smiled, what was in front of Arlom was a shadow of himself, it has the same form as Arlom, but he was completely black in the outside as well as the insides.

[Arlom]: “We will know after I beat you”

Dark-Arlom could only shook his face, that was plastered with a villainous smile, that made you think, that he was borderline crazy, no, this smile was the same as the monster king had too, it make you wonder if all the monsters in this forest possess the same crazed smile.

It was a little sooner than Dark-Arlom expected or wanted, but it was not that big of a deal, he still had the winning hand, he had grew stronger than Arlom over the years, so he was very confident that he will win this battle with ease, and then, he will go teach that stupid boy over there, what pain truly meaning was.

That boy has foiled part of this plans, but it was nothing that a good beating to Arlom couldn’t solve, he was planning to take his sweet time before for this battle to occur to take over Arlom body, but, ‘whatever I just have to beat him’

Even if Arlom still hold a shred of humanity left in him, the end was already decided since long ago, Arlom was just living in borrowed time, it was already a miracle that he has come back to his senses once before, and he would not allow a next time.

[Dark-Arlom]: “HAHAHHA! Then Stupid King, come, that I am your end, come and become what you had always could had being… the true Monster King”