The orange evening light streamed down on Rion’s sweat-covered and bruised figure as he lay on the ground with his arms spread wide and a pained expression on his face.
He tried to move his bruised body but winced from the soreness. All of it came from the combat training — or rather, the beating disguised as one — from Haria.
He didn’t know what crime he had committed for her to beat him like he was some kind of ceremonial drum.
’If this continues, won’t I die even before taking part in the fang trial?’ He thought that even though he couldn’t die because of his Immortal body.
He took a deep, determined breath, fought against the stinging pain, and slowly turned his head to the right.
Haria came into his vision, and he stared at her as if he was looking at his worst enemy; his eyes shone with a glint that conveyed only one of them could be allowed to live.
She sat on a rock with a dazed look on her face, she couldn’t understand what was going on.
It was for the first time that someone other than a squad leader or group leader had lasted so long in her training.
First, he didn’t get tired no matter how much she tried to tire him. Then he brushed off her attacks and stood up within a few moments of taking them as if her punches and kicks were those of a child.
’What’s up with his healing speed?’ She thought while digging her brown eyes into him with an expression between awe and confusion.
She shook her head, jumped off the rock and walked towards him.
He shifted his eyes with each step she took and prayed in his head, ’No, not again!’
She crouched near his head and poked his cheek. He shivered slightly from the sting and looked at her with pleading eyes.
She heaved a dejected sigh and spoke, "I know you want to continue the training, but you have to go back now... don’t forget you still haven’t told your parents about this."
She stood up and stepped toward the exit of the cavern chamber.
Her ending words hit him so hard that he didn’t even try to deny her first statement. Those words reached him like a speeding bullet and dug deep in his heart.
He looked up at the rocky ceiling from which the orange evening light was brightening the room and asked, "Would they let me continue if I tell them?"
She stopped right before the exit and spoke, "I don’t know. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but... do you really want to lie to them? Do you really want to hide such an important part of your life from them? Think about it, Rion."
Her words echoed in his skull, over and over again. A twisted smile split his face as tears streaked down his cheeks. His dry lips parted, and he mumbled brokenly, "I am already lying... I am already hiding. I am not who they believe me to be..."
For them, he was their son, and he also wanted to be... he loved them more than anything in this world and his past world, but he knew he wasn’t truly theirs...
He hid about his reincarnation, his system and many other secrets, and he had made his mind to never tell them... because even if he was an Immortal he couldn’t see his parents looking at him as if they were looking at some stranger or worse... a killer.
Some may call him a hypocrite — he claimed to love them more than anything, after all. So, how could he lie to them? How could he hide such an important part of himself from the people he loved the most?
But he didn’t care about what others called him.
"Haha!" A broken chuckle left his lips as he pushed himself up. The bruises stung, but his mind was full of thoughts far more painful than those mere wounds.
It took him a minute to stand up due to his bruises. He wiped his tears and limped towards the exit of the cavern chamber.
As he walked, his limping leg healed within moments. He stopped, looked at his leg with a raised eyebrow and thought, ’So my wounds heal faster if I continue to move?’
He fluttered his brows in amazement before walking out of the chamber. Just as he stepped out, his gaze landed on a ten-year-old girl standing before his chamber with a lowered head and hands behind her back.
She appeared to be looking at something on the ground as she kept moving her head.
He inched closer to her and mumbled in her ear. Both of them were nearly of the same height, after all.
"What are you looking at, Dora?"
"Eek?!" Spooked by the sudden voice, she jumped a few steps and turned to look at the owner of the voice.
"Haha!" He grabbed his stomach and laughed while looking at her, tears welling up at the corners of his eyes.
Dora looked at him with an infuriated look, pointed her finger at him and muttered, "You!"
She turned around and shouted, "I am not talking to you anymore, hmph!"
She finished her words and began to walk out of the training ground with quick steps.
Rion sprinted, appeared beside her and spoke, "Who will you talk to if not me? Do you even have any other friends?"
"Only you have a single friend from both of us," she retorted.
He frowned and replied, "Huh? What are you talking about? I have more than a single friend."
She fastened her pace and commented, "Is that so? Then tell me the names of your so-called friends?"
He stopped to remember the names of his various friends, but for some strange reason, he couldn’t remember anyone.
A few moments later, Dora’s voice reached his ears, "Who are you even trying to remember? You don’t have anyone other than me, you stupid."
He lifted his head and looked at Dora, who was already a few meters away from him.
"Wait for me! Dora!!"