Chapter 5:Father

She opened the box, swiftly but cautiously. It revealed photos, letters, and a ring. She looked at the photos in surprise.

"Is this Dad?"

The young, handsome, and well-kept man was a sharp contrast to what he was now. The man she now called father looked much more aged; he had a bush for a beard and dressed so tackily. The man in the photo was full of life and happiness, but her father always looked depressed and worn out. Still, the resemblance was there. She was certain that this was definitely her father.

Now, she wanted to know what had happened to him.

What caused such a happy and kind-looking man to turn out this way?

As she went through the photos, she came across the same woman—the one she suspected of being her mother—but her appearance was a little different. Previously, the lady in question's hair had been red, and now it was pitch black.

The rest were business letters and promotion letters, and lastly, there was the ring.

As Alphi picked up the ring, visions rushed into her mind—visions of memories, memories that weren't hers. They were scattered and in no particular order, but she was certain they belonged to her father. They told a tale of his past, and now she needed to find a way to solve this puzzle.

The ring was a small gold ring with a blue gem in the middle. As she took a closer look at the gem, Alphi noticed it matched her necklace, just like the orb did. She wondered if there was some connection, like that of the power test. In her vision, she saw him wearing the ring, happily laughing with a woman. The woman's face was not clear, but maybe—just maybe—it was her mother. She remembered that her aunt had said that the necklace belonged to her mother, and it so perfectly matched with this ring. If she could find the owner of the necklace, she would have gotten a step closer, she thought. She searched the whole place, looking for something else to add to what she had found, something else to trigger her ability to see visions. Alphi knew her time was limited. She couldn't be caught here—not right now. She wanted to investigate the ring, just for some time, before finally facing the man she called father.

She had questions: What made him change so much? What happened to her mother? Who is the woman in the picture? What is the relationship between the ring and necklace? Does he know what I am?

"I need answers, and I will get them," Alphi said to herself as she clenched her fist in determination.

Alphi quickly put everything back in place, but she took the ring with her, with hope that he wouldn't notice. Alphi realized she didn't even know her father's name. All the promotion letters she saw either had the name torn out or erased. The biggest question remained: Who was he?

Alphi quickly made her way back to her aunt's house, leaving no evidence behind. It was already quite dark. She lit up the big lamp in the living room, staring at the time—it read 7:30 p.m. Everything here worked on coal and sunlight. The whole house worked in ways she couldn't understand. Unlike her father's house, which was always pitch black at night, all they had was a small coal lamp, which barely lit up anywhere.

She sat in the library, thinking of everything she had discovered today. She had no idea what she was going to do, no clue and no way forward. All she had was the ring—the one which she knew was a clue and could possibly be the key to solve the puzzle of her father, but she wasn't sure what to do with it.

Alphi held the ring up, examining it carefully. Maybe she had missed something, she thought. Suddenly, as the ring got close to her necklace, it started to glow. She pulled the ring away, and the glow stopped, then brought it back up, and the glow continued.

Alphi repeated the process a few times. It amazed her. She acted like a little child who had discovered a new game. Then she exclaimed, "Uh huh! I knew there was a connection! But wait—what does the glow even mean?"

Alphi's head began to hurt from thinking too much, to an extent that steam began to fill the room. Her powers were responding to her emotions again. She decided to go to bed and continue the search tomorrow.

The next day came sooner than expected. It was a cold and windy morning. The day had a chilling mystery that came with it, as if encouraging her. She went down to the secret room and decided to go through the many spell books lined up. Most of them were written in the mysterious language she still couldn't understand, but the beginner-level ones she could read. She never gave much thought to spell casting, and the fact that she couldn't read most of them was very discouraging. She reached the third line of the shelf and picked one of the books. She picked up one of the books that had to do with equipment; she hoped she could find the necklace or the ring. She wished she could figure it out as soon as possible.

The room was darker and colder than usual. She was sure it was not her emotions acting up again, but just to be sure, she took deep breaths. Then her reading journey began.

The first day passed and she found nothing. So did the next day, and the day after that—until a whole week had passed, and still nothing. The frustration Alphi felt was intense. She had wasted a full week—a whole seven days and seven nights—gone.

She needed to take out her frustrations, but her powers did it for her. The once chilly room was now boiling hot. Even her sweat was starting to evaporate; the ground she lay on was beginning to burn her.

Alphi quickly got up and ran upstairs to get some air, but to no avail. The heat was unbearable. She tried to get a glass of water, but the glass melted as she touched it.

Alphi stood there in shock and desperation, unsure of what to do. She held her necklace and tried her best to calm down, taking consecutive deep breaths.

Slowly, the house started to cool down. Then Alphi said to herself, "I can't go on like this."