Faen's Child

Epilogue

[Epilogue]

He lay in bed, unable to fall asleep. The bedtime story had manifested horrific images in his mind, and try as he might, he couldn’t fall asleep without thinking of those images. Worse, he imagined worse. He imaged a vampire, his fangs all out, leaning towards his sister. His sister screamed his name, backed up to a wall, tears in her eyes. Yet, there was nothing he could do.

He slapped himself, waking out of that nightmare. Ever since that incident, he had not felt safe in this place. He knew he should; this was his home, his house ever since he was born. But since his sister and her friends left, he never felt safe. He felt like he should know more.

More than what he knew now. More than his childish thoughts; he felt as if he had matured in the span of just a few weeks.

He could not believe the amount of things he had ignored in his childish moments. The return of his sister had opened his eyes wide, and he felt as if he had plunged headfirst into the deep end of the ocean, floundering without someone to lend a helping hand. His parents were confused at why he wasn’t running around anymore. His babysitter thought it was strange that he began to pick up books by himself, to embrace his higher ordered thinking.

How could he explain to them? He could not tell them that he had matured mentally over a few weeks. But at least now, he knew what he had to do. He had to study hard. He had to tame down on his hyperactivity. He had to force himself to concentrate. He had to be extremely clever. He had to go to his sister’s school.

That had how she had gotten into that school, hadn’t she? She was too clever for the local school, so his grandmother put her in that school. That school struck something in him. He wanted to go there. He wanted to see his sister there. He wanted to belong there. He wanted to be there.

He climbed out of his bed, unable to fall asleep, thinking to get downstairs to get a cup of milk. Maybe he would sleep better after a drink, he wagered to himself.

Strangely, instead, he found himself in his sister’s room. He didn’t know why he was here, but he had found himself here so many times for him to feel confused anymore. He had always felt that compelling feeling to come here. He knew there was something for him to find here. But what was it that he had to see in his sister’s room? She would kill him if she knew he had been snooping around her things. After she went to that school, it seemed as if she had many things to hide from him; when she never hid anything from him before.

Raun, he told himself firmly, don’t do anything stupid. Ashe is just studying. She’s secretive because she has gotten a boyfriend now. She doesn’t want you to know every single thing that goes on between her and Brother Noel. You don’t want to know about it too.

Yet, no matter how he tried to convince himself that he didn’t want to be here, he found himself searching the room for the twentieth time since she left. He wanted to find something, something that satisfied that strange hunger inside him.

He climbed up on the chair at her dresser table, pulling her drawers open softly. In it were her accessories –her necklaces, her earrings, her rings and such. He wrinkled his nose at the amount of girly things there, but he spotted something he didn’t spot before there.

A small key, hung upon a chain. It laid by the side, separated from the rest of the junk at the middle of the drawer. Feeling the strange compel, he reached in and grabbed the key, closing the drawer as he jumped down silently. It was a key… but what did it unlock?

An image flashed across his mind, an image from the days when he was still childish and all unknowing.

It was of her, when she was still here. He had watched her, through a slit in the door, as he knocked the door, calling her to go for dinner. He had wanted to surprise her, but he watched as she fumbled to shove the books that he hadn’t seen before into a box of some sort. He watched as she slammed the lid shut, clicking the lock shut before she hid it behind her shelf of books.

The key had to be for that box. He was almost certain of it.

By pure memory, he carried –with much effort –the chair from the dresser table to the shelf, before climbing on it. Despite his height deficiency, he managed to reach the shelf. He removed the books at the front, watching as the box stared back out at him. Feeling a little like an archaeologist about to discover a new family of dinosaurs, he did his work faster, piling her books to one side.

Then he reached in, dragging the box out. It was heavier than he expected. Still, with effort, he managed to pull it out from the shelf without losing his balance. Carefully, he brought it to sit on his bed, before he rushed back to his sister’s room, placing the books back in order so that no one would know of his theft.

Heart thundering in his chest, he returned everything back to where it belonged, before closing the door behind him. He rushed to his room, and locked the door just in case his parents walked in on him. He turned on the bedside lamp to see in the darkness, and fit the key in the lock, cheering silently for himself as it fit.

He twisted the key, feeling the satisfaction as the lock clicked and the lid sprang up. He did not miss his cue. He pulled the lid open fully, bringing light to the many books piled in the box.

Truth and Myth of Wards.

Wards 101 –Why you need something to protect you and your loved ones

Faen’s History –From Cynus to the School of the Knights of Cynus

Element of Fire –Theory and skills (Volume 1)

Element of Air –Practical (Volume 1)

Element of Air –History, Theory and skill sets (Volume 1)

Air: Why you should think like the wind

Air: In search for the Name of the Wind

Air: Wind’s Call

Fire: The Uses, Practicality and Dangers of your element

The many titles of the many books jumped out at him, and a few worksheets and papers were found at the bottom, scribbled with his sister’s handwriting, as well as marked respectively by her teachers.

He picked one of random up for a quick read, hoping that his meager grasp of the language of English at the moment would allow him to understand.

The Dawn of Faens, Vampires and Humans

That was the title of her essay, and it went on to explain how each faction was made, how each faction was characterized.

He could not believe it. This was obviously his sister’s work. But what exactly was she studying in that school? What was this about Faens? Why were there vampires? What were these books all about?

He was determined to find out.

He slid out of bed again, this time to really get his milk. Then he climbed back to bed and began reading. He started on the history of the ‘Faens’.

He started to read about Cynus, and how the Faens were freed from vampires.

He read about Cynus being Faen’s Child, and how the twelve families became the constellation Faens.

Little did he know; he was reading about the abilities of his sister.

He was reading about the elements he would grasp.

In the future.

-The End-