The golden sun casts its glow through the windows of our home, I'm woken up by the repeated beating sound coming from our door. "Aven, it's time to go!" A deep, scruffy voice calls out. I roll over and begin to speak to Mum, "How are you still asleep with this guy breaking down our… door?" I lift up the blanket, "Mum?" I whisper.
"She's already gone!" The voice calls out from the garden.
I freeze.
I then move to a window. It's beginning to snow.
After putting on the suit Dad picked out for me, I begin to wonder if I shouldn't have slept for so long. But why did she leave without telling me?
I tiptoe toward the door, taking a deep breath before opening it. What I saw on the other side brought me to a complete standstill.
A man so huge, he can't fit inside. Effortlessly scooping me up he says, "So this is my nephew! Hi Aven, my name's Jorren."
"What are you?" Aven asks, staring up at the mountain standing over him.
"I'm just a man. Same as you, same as your dad."
"You know Dad?" Aven asks.
"He's never told you about your uncle Jory?" Jorren frowns, "I should slap the shi-"
"You're the one that can punch mountains!!" Aven exclaims, causing Jorren to burst into laughter, "Ahhh so you do know about me?"
Aven nods repeatedly, "Can you teach me, please, please, please?" Jorren smiles as he crouches down, "It's not that easy to replicate greatness, kid. Hop on my back, I'll explain on the way. This snow is starting to pick up, let's get out of here ASAP."
With that, he turns around and allows Aven to climb onto his broad back, "Hold on tight!" He instructs before squatting down and jumping off of the hill, "W-wait!" Aven pleads whilst they take to the sky.
"This is captain Jory speaking, ETA approximately 130 seconds until arrival, should be a smooth flight to the country of Gamos."
"Humans can't do this." Aven mumbles.
"Wait, Darian's never told you about Soma?" Jorren asks.
"Soma? You mean SoulCraft?"
Jorren chuckles at Aven's response, "That fool…" He mutters to himself.
"If that-pus" He clears his throat, "scaredy cat doesn't want you to know? You don't know." He pauses, "Just make sure to learn before coming to the mainlands on your own."
Aven sighs, "But why can-"
"Uh, kid…" Jorren interrupts,
"What is it?" Aven asks.
"We're going down!" Jorren yells as he begins rapidly descending from the air. A screaming Aven tightens his grip on Jorren who lands elegantly on both feet outside of a large building on the outskirts of a city.
"That… was… awesome!" Aven enthuses, fueled by adrenaline "Where's Mum? She won't believe what I just did!"
Ignoring Aven, Jorren crouches next to him and begins to speak, "Okay kid, here's the deal. Once you wake up, you're my son. Don't talk to anyone unless me, Elira or Darian are with you. We'll watch the wedding, then Darian has a dinner planned for all of us after. You won't talk to Elira or your Dad until after my speech. Got it?"
Aven nods, "But what do you mean, when I wake-" The sound of Jorren's heartbeat echoes throughout the city. "Uncle, my head hu-" Aven falls unconscious.
The glamorous sound of church bells fill the room. I wake up in a large hall, filled with paintings of weapons, doves and the same stamp that is on the cover of the books Dad reads to me: the open palm leaning against the clenched fist representative of peace.
My ears ring whilst I rub my forehead. "There you are." Jorren whispers to me, pulling me out from the inside of his blazer and onto the floor. "Jor-"
"How ya feeling, son?" He interrupts, reminding me of my role. I nod, understanding his signal, "Where…am I?" I ask.
"Aven, today you're lucky enough to see the wedding of a hero to the people, my sworn brother and your uncle Darian Kaymar and his elegant bride, Elira Calypso."
"We're here?!" I ask in excitement to which Jorren nods.
"I can finally meet people!" I chirp, running off in search of others.
Jorren shakes his head, "This kid." He mutters to himself as he begins to search for Aven.
Dad was right, there aren't as many people here as I thought there'd be; let's see, we got a skinny guy with way too much gel in his hair, a couple random people in suits and sunglasses and… I stop dead in my tracks, "She's pretty…" I cover my mouth, "Oops." I whisper, realising I spoke aloud. The blue eyed young lady turns around to face me with a smile, "Oh my gosh no way!" She exclaims. "Huh?" I ask with a confused frown. "You've grown so tall! You're totally Aven right? OMG, you've definitely got Darian's eyes."
I take a small step back as I look at her.
She covers her mouth. "Oh crap. I totally forgot you're Jory's boy today right?" She ruffles my hair, "So sorry, kid." She says, glancing over over my shoulder, "Where is he anyways?" She asks me, "Isn't he supposed to be with you? Like all the time?"
"Umm, I ran off." I tell her whilst fidgeting with my fingers, "Sorry mam, how do you know," I begin to whisper, "you know…about me?" The beautiful lady crouches down to my eye level, "Awww, you're so cute." She tells me, "Silly Aven, I was the one to deliver you." My eyes widen in shock, "But!-" She put her finger over my lips, "Shhh, no one's supposed to know." She whispers.
"R-right." I mutter, "But, I thought only old ladies deliver kids."
The young lady giggles at my response, "What if I told you a secret?" She says. "What if I can become an old lady?"
I shake my head in confusion, "Excuse me?" Without replying, she stands up and her body begins to… morph. Her beautiful blonde hair begins to darken until it reaches grey, she hunches her back as her posture begins to deform, and her once flawless skin begins to olden and wrinkle. I gulp at the sight before me, "Who are you?" I ask the gremlin. She cackles before answering, "I'm Maelis, I work at the same company your Dad works at. He told me you're interested in SoulCraft, right?"
"Not this type…" I mutter under my breath, slowly backing up.
"You're leaving?" She asks, watching as I turn my back and sprint in the opposite direction.
"Aven ya little brat!" Jorren's voice booms from across the hallway, "Uh oh." I murmur as he sprints toward me and throws me onto his shoulder.
"Sorry, I kinda got excited." I whisper into his ear.
Jorren nods, "Yeah, she tends to have that effect on people." He glances over at her, face stiffening as he talks, "Under no circumstances do you run off like that again ok? You were lucky Maelis likes Darian…" I pause, taken aback by the weight of his words, "Y-yeah, sure. Sorry un-" he glares at me, "Sorry." I whisper.
I spend the next few minutes scouting out the crowd from atop uncle Jory's shoulder: there are probably 12-15 people here and only five of them look interesting: Uncle Jory, Maelis, the skinny weirdo with way too much hair gel, a cool, blue haired kid around my age with a… shark tattoo? On his neck. And the glasses wearing priest who's about to take centre stage.
"We will now commence the wedding ceremony." He says as everyone stands, "We are gathered here today to celebrate the coming together of a hero and his corner stone. Without one, the other would be nowhere and it is because they could find salvation within each other that we can live in the peaceful world we live in today." As he points toward the back door with a smile, he continues, "Please bow your heads; the bride has entered."
Then I see her. Mum walks down the aisle, hands still trembling from nerves as she glances at the floor, "You got this mum!" I whisper. Jory coughs in an attempt to silence me, but I know she heard. She glances at me, a tear descending her cheek as she flashes me a smile. Once she reaches the altar, the priest pulls her into a hug as he whispers something into her ear. Mum bows her head, hands trembling faster as she smiles, "Thank you." She replies. "Uncle Jory," I whisper, "Do you think Mum's nervous because she has to kiss Dad in front of everyone?" Jory chuckles at my question whilst shrugging, "Welp kid, I think anyone would be nervous if they were marrying the brother of such an accomplished man like myself." He frowns, "But, you're right. She does seem a little off. Even I can't tell what she's thinking."
A few moments later, Dad makes his entrance, proudly strolling down the aisle as everyone applauds. Once he nears us, I can feel Uncle Jory tense from atop his shoulder. Dad looks over in our direction and Jory nods toward gel hair and shark tat. Dad looks over at them, shrugs, then looks at me. He throws me a quick wave before locking eyes with Mum and trying to reassure her with a smile, "You got this." He mouths to her. Once he reaches the altar, he shakes the priest's hand before stepping up, "Congratulations." The priest tells him. Dad bows his head with a smile, "Thank you." He responds before holding Mum's hands in his own.
The room is filled with celebratory chatter as the priest continues the ceremony. "This is it kid," Jory tells me, "After this, they're gunna kiss then I get to give my kickass speech." He declares. I chuckle as I continue to watch closely, scanning everyone's happy reactions to the priest's words. "That concludes the ceremony and the coming together of our heroes, Darian Kaymar and Elira Velmera."
Silence… Dad coughs as Mum's eyes continue to tear up. Uncle Jory removes me from his shoulder and places me onto the bench. I catch glimmers of reactions: Maelis clapping, overgelled weirdo smirking, shark tattoo kid frowning with his arms folded and uncle Jory's gulp.
Velmera? That's not…that isn't Mum!