Smoldering Fury.

Sandra was speechless. A young beautiful man stood before her and the guards. And of all the things to speak of, he asked for her name.

Andrew was frozen. In this dukedom, no one except for the Duke and his immediate family dared to behave this way in front of him!

So who was this young man? From the clothes he was wearing, he is noble and from a high end of the ruling class. But the style wasn't that he was familiar with.

"Young Sir, who might you be?"

Rune ignored Sir Andrew's question and raised his eyebrow to Sandra.

Before Sandra could reply though. Rune broke into a huge smile.

"Mom, why didn't you tell me that my sister is older than me? And so beautiful!"

Mrs Amaroc was stunned there for a moment before she saw his son standing between the door and the armoured guards.

Rune didn't want a spectacle. This best way to deal with such a situation was to negotiate in the way this world knew. That's from a position of power.

Rune summoned Grey in front of him and all guards and some unlucky individuals fell flat on the ground. Her aura was so domineering and suppressing that they fell on the ground.

If they knew that she had not even put effort in attacking them they would have fainted where they lay.

Rune had them march out and never return after Grey withdrew her aura.

.....

"It's nice to finally meet you Rune, without you I and mother would have long been homeless"

That was Sandra acknowledging Rune with some feeling. They were having supper with them sitting across the table from each other and Mrs Amaroc sitting at the head sit.

"It was your mother who did me a favour in the first place, without her kindness, I would have been still wandering in the streets " replied Rune.

Mrs Amaroc, for her part, ate her rice listening to the struck conversation. She had introduced the two earlier but it is said introductions are best done over a hearty meal.

She was relieved that the two clicked from the very start.

"I hope you don't mind me calling your mom my mom too, do you" Rune eyed Sandra as he shoved a spoonful of rice in his mouth.

"You are welcome to call her mother, and you are my little brother " she giggled covering her mouth with the back side of her hand

The smile was free and genuine. It reminded her of Sigrid. How he missed her! He will go go searching for her in three years time.

He needed to be as strong as he could before going for her.

Sandra and Mrs Amaroc saw the change of his mood and facial expression but didn't pry. Everyone had their own secrets and one can only let them out when they think it's time and to the right people.

"I will call you big sister then"

"Mom, so what have I missed in the time I had been gone"

Mrs Amaroc thought for a few minutes on how and where to start before narrating the events that had transpired in the time her son was away.

With each passing minute, Rune's face twisted and fury and hatred blossomed in his heart. What more, he had an inkling that her mother was leaving some things out in concern for his age.

"Why didn't you contact me mom! I gave you the means to signal for me. Why go all through this when I could have helped?"

Rune barely held his rage in check. His voice trembled with unprecedented fury. The spoon he was holding crushed under his grip.

"There was no need to hurry you son. I was going to tell you when you returned like now" Mrs Amaroc softly spoke caressing his shoulder.

Sandra looked on at the spoon that had been crashed. In the Sect, only those that had familiars could exhibit such strength and force! She thought of Grey and things kinda made sense to her. She still didn't know how strong his brother and familiar were.

Rune sat in his chair at the table smoldering from the information he had just received. He needed to move his new family to another city.

But before that, he was going to make sure that he leaves no unfinished business behind him if they were to start a new life.

.....

Duke Carlson was having lunch with his first immediate advisor, Chancellor Bronson.

Sir Bronson was a fit man in his late forties with brown eyes, a full beard and a bald head. He was a direct man who disliked political plots and intricacies that most nobles and merchants were so fond of.

Most nobles didn't like him for this. What more, he was a foreigner who had caught the eye of the Duke some time ago.

" I was thinking of establishing a pre-martial school on the northern fringes of that cannon you mentioned earlier" Duke Carlson's baritone voice reverberated throughout the high ceilinged room.

"That won't be necessary" Rune startled the four beings in the room.

Duke stood up and his menacing tiger growled at the new comer. Bronson recovered quickly and took note of the young man silently walking towards them.

The gait of the young man did not escape his experienced eyes, nor did the silent-ranger-assassin movements.

Bronson: a very interesting young man.

Unbeknownst to Carlson and his people, Bronson was a cultivator in the Fourth Tier Cultivation Level. Moreover, he was born in a martial family and taught all kinds of fighting styles with as many kinds of weapons as his family had access to.

So him seeing Rune was like seeing a kindred spirit. A warrior in every aspect of the word.

Of course, all that escaped Carlson!

" Who are you and what do you want here!?"

Carlson's voice had risen at being startled by the young man. He couldn't believe he had even withdrawn his sword halfway from its scabbard hanging on his waist.

"I'm the man whom you stepped on and didn't apologize, in short, I'm your doom.