The walk back to Everhurst Village felt long and painful.
All my injuries were healed, so the pain I was feeling wasn't physical. However, every time I looked at Ivy's arm, I felt a sharp pain in my heart. A pain that immortality couldn't heal.
Yet still, she didn't wince or complain. She swallowed her pain and remained silent until we arrived back at the village.
Once there, I screamed for help. Doctor Frost was no longer in Everhurst, but we still have other doctors who could help.
Tens of people rushed out of their houses. When they saw what had happened to Ivy's arm, they all cried.
"Has it come? Tell me it hasn't come!"
"The apocalypse is upon us. What else could do this to such a poor girl!"
"Doctor Jobeth, come quickly!"
"Someone call the priest. We need prayers. The apocalypse has arrived!"
The foolish people didn't even wait for me to confirm whether or not it was a monster that had done the damage.
Luckily, the doctor eventually arrived and carried Ivy to the apocethary to care for her.
That left me standing a the centre of the village, surrounded by the chaos.
"Young Leox, tell us what happened." An old man asked. "Is it true? Is the apocalypse upon us?"
I explained the story. Right up the the part where I was eaten by the fish.
Instead, I changed the events. I kept my ability to come back alive a secret, and instead mentioned how I had somehow controlled the waves and saved Ivy from death.
For a moment, the village when silent. Then they muttered amongst themselves.
There was a mixture of belief and disbelief. Some people thought I was making up tales to make myself the hero.
I didn't care for what they believed.
I only cared that my friend was alive.
After telling them what they wanted to know, I began to return home. It was then that two figures made their way towards me from the crowd.
"Son!"
It was my Father, with my Mother following close behind.
He pulled me into a tight hug as my mother watched with a look of disgust on her face.
"Son... I'm so glad you're alive." My father said as he hugged me.
I returned the hug. As I did, my mother added from the sidelines.
"Of course he's alive. His curse doesn't let him die."
The words didn't affect me, but I felt my father's arms wrap tightly around me due to his rage.
Afterwards, he turned and punched my mother in the face.
Mary stumbled to the ground with a look of shock on her face. She pressed her hand to her nose, which was broken and leaking blood.
"You dare slap me Kyle!" She growled.
My father didn't care.
"You're a sick woman. I should have left you years ago!"
"Yeah, you should have!" My mother returned. "Then perhaps we would have never taken in this demon child."
After that, she rose to her feet and ran back into the house, probably looking for herself in her room.
That left me and my father standing there beneath the night sky. The rage was still evident in him.
"What does she mean, 'taken in'?" I asked.
The words confirmed a suspicion that I had had for years, but refused to believe.
My father turned to me. His cheeks were still red, but he let out a sigh that seemed to calm him down.
"Son... There's so much that I need to tell you. Please, follow me. And don't be mad."
Without saying another word, my father and I made our way towards the outskirts of the village.
We ended up on the stone road that led to the capital city of our country. It was a long winding road that stretched out across a giant grass field.
There was a wooden bench at the beginning of the road. My father sat and asked me to sit beside him.
I did.
It took a while for my father to start speaking. I could tell that he was struggling to get whatever it was off his chest.
Eventually, he stopped struggling.
"Leox, you are not my son."
"..."
"..."
"..."
There it was. The suspicion was confirmed.
When I had started to grow faster than my mother and father, the suspicions started to rise. Despite us all having black hair, as I approached my teenage years, it became clear that we didn't look the same.
I stayed silent, uncertain of how to feel.
"I know you probably hate me. I should have told you earlier. I am a terrible father."
This wasn't entirely false, but I didn't tell him that I thought that. Instead, I let him continue.
"One day, during the first year of your mother's and my relationship, a man approached us on this very bench. He was carrying a young child, an orphan who had been abandoned by his true parents."
"Who was the man?" I asked quietly.
"Doctor Frost. He was once a traveller. I guess he still is."
Doctor Frost.
It made sense. In my childhood years, I always remembered the man having a deeper care for me than the other adults did. Even more than my own parents sometimes.
But that only left a thousand more questions for me to ask. A thousand more questions that I needed the answer to.
My father answered one of them.
Where had I come from?
"Doctor Frost claims to have found you on the other side of the sea. Back then, we laughed and thought he was some sort of jester. We took you in because your mother was unable to have children, and we raised you as our own."
"The other side of the sea? Such a place doesn't exist." I responded.
This was common knowledge to everyone. This giant island was all that existed in the fourth world.
"I know. When we asked him later on what these words meant, he claimed to have not remembered saying that. Instead, he said that he found you on the corners of a street in Glassneck Town."
A homeless orphan.
No, I didn't believe him. There was a reason why Doctor Frost said what he had. A reason why he found me in the first place, and brought me to the tiny village of Everhurst.
And perhaps it is all linked to the reason behind my inability to die.
Suddenly, I felt myself being filled with the strong desire to find out the secrets behind my life. Secrets that I thought I would never be able to find the answer to.
"Do you know where Doctor Frost went?" I asked curiously.
But my father shook his head. "No, unfortunately I don't. However, if I had to make a guess, he would be at our capital city, The Undying City. Doctor Frost was a man who always wished to seek greater knowledge of the world. He always spoke of wanting to visit the capital, to continue his practices."
The Undying City. Capital City of the Country, Varadna. Our country.
I nodded my head. Just like that, I had come to a decision.
"Then that's where I'll go."
My father turned his head to me, confusion thick on his face. "W-what? What do you mean son?"
I stared down at my hand, recalling the events that had happened earlier that day. The time I had controlled the waves.
"I've Awakened, father. I know others don't believe me, but I truly controlled the waves on the beach. I don't know how to access my status or use my powers correctly, but in a matter of days, the collectors from The Undying City will arrive, searching for children who have awakened."
"You can't mean..." My father stuttered.
I nodded my head. "I'll go with them. They'll teach me. During my time in the academy, I'll be able to search for Doctor Frost and uncover my truth."
"And you'll be made to fight against the demons!" My father spat with anger. "You'll risk dyi—"
My father's words stopped halfway out of his mouth. He stared at me with wide eyes.
At that moment, I smiled at him. He realised the mistake in his words.
"I can't die, father."
---
With that, my father and I returned home. Multiple times, he seemed to want to talk me out of my plan, but he was unable to.
After all, what reason could he give?
I wasn't his son, and my mother hated me. Not to mention, the Forever Empire were always looking for awakened to help fight against the apocalypse.
And the apocalypse was coming... In fact, it was already here.