Chapter 22

"Where have you been!? Why are you so covered in blood?! Did these bastards hurt you?!" my mother shrieked all in one breath. I must say she had quite the set of lungs on her. Each and every one of her cries hurt both my ears and my heart. I couldn't help myself from hugging her back. Everything I had done in those past few moments came flooding back as tears welled up in my eyes. The mantra I had used before was almost completely ineffective now.

"I'm sorry mama, it was me that hurt them, they were hurting the mana beasts, they would have killed them and me. I'm a monster now aren't ?" I asked in an uneven and broken tone, even if it was in self-defence I couldn't help it. I had personally killed the majority of them, and played a hand in the rest of their deaths. They were monsters too, but I have entered their ranks.

In truth I wasn't upset because I had killed them. They were disgusting for what they were doing, selling animals into slavery to be slaughtered, not only that but illegally on another kingdoms property. I may not know their specifics but knew that a large majority of the species in this forest were not hostile towards humanity... Or at least elves. What scared me is how they would look at me. This woman actually treated me as family. She cared for me. She loved me. She shed tears for me. What if all she could see now was the monster that could kill multiple people by the age of 4. It terrified me that she may end up rejecting me. It sent shivers down my spine as I struggled to hold the tears back.

'Please don't hate me, I don't think I can bear it again.' I begged internally.

"Stupid Eli, my baby, I'm just glad you're safe" she replied in a sweet tone. All the tension had left my body, as I melted into her hug.

After that, I don't particularly remember what happened, just vague images of us going home after splitting ways with the elves that had accompanied my mother to get me. It was all blurred, most likely due to the lack of adrenaline forcing me to realise how tired I was. Truth be told, I don't even remember how I made it back to bed that night nor when I went to sleep.

I fell into dreamless sleep at a time I couldn't remember. And woke up just slightly less tired than I felt before sleeping.

'Oh I didn't miss this feeling' I thought exasperatedly. I soon remembered that I had developed a of being a light sleeper, in the sense that no matter how much I slept I would always be tired. That old habit must have come back with the most recent slide show of torture.

'Good bye fulfilling sleep' I thought with an inaudible sigh.

"ELI! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, I NOW YOU'RE AWAKE NOW"

With that I shot off down stairs, not even bothering to comb the effects of my sleep out of my hair. Mothers are scary like that.

"Now that I'm no longer worried sick about you, you. Are. Going. To. Tell. Me. What. Happened" she commanded, enunciating every word with the tone of a veteran drill sergeant. In which I responded with pencil like posture, only just refusing the temptation to salute, as I explained in clear detail how I had incapacitated and then killed my opponents, making sure to leave out both the spirit that had told me to do it, as well as my decision to go back and kill the opponents, making it seem like they had put up enough resistance to warrant killing them.

From the look she was giving me, I could tell she didn't completely believe my story, either that or had questions. An example of which 'how on earth did you get into that situation in the first place'. If she asked me those questions, I had no way to answer. I wanted that spirit for myself for screwing me over like that.

It would seem she didn't like me keeping things secret from her, as she increased the amount of physical training I would need to do a day. Even if I enjoy sword play, swinging to the point I feel my arms becoming lead is fun for no one. Even still I could tell she did it out of worry for me, as she also added in more basic mana training. After getting a handle on what I could do using both all four of my technical skill sets, she then put into place what I should do next to further one skillset, or which skillset I should focus on the most.

For focusing most, it was clear that it should be lightning conjuration. It was a very volatile element, and was much easier to control in closer distances. What confused me even more though, was that I was never given any chants. Even for ice magic, nothing.

'Oh well, not like they've been necessary so far'

Time went by, training more and more. Occasionally exploring the forest and finding Freya at our first meeting spot. She had awoken too, and we shared what we could do through demonstrations that seemed more like plays.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks into months. Soon the 6 month mark hit and went. But one thing was very clear.

"Dad should be home by now"

"Nathaniel should be home by now" we both said simultaneously.