" lucas.. Huh.. Where are you two going again..?" athy asked
"well.. I am meeting with the boys and tanyu wants to come with me.."
" don't lie.. Are you giving him sword training..? I saw few cuts on his hands" athy said and they both smiled sheepishly
" mama it's ok.. I am strong" tanyu said and she sighed
"be careful.. Don't get hurt" she said and he nodded a big yes
"bye lucas.." she said and he smiled as they faded in air
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" ohh.. Come here little Duke.."
"tch.. Stop calling me like that khai" he said pouting.
"yeah yeah.." khai said giggling as tanyu looked cute
" who are you Guys..? What are you doing here..?" they turned to see a guy same age as them standing there..
" we are mercenaries.. We came Here for work" tor said
" mercenaries huh... Thank goodness I saw you.. Come with me I have work for you.. I will pay you hefty sum but if you say what we are gonna do out.. You are dead.. " he said.. Lucas and others stared at each other..
" OK we will come.." lucas said
"huh.. Who is this kid..?" he asked looking down at tanyu
"he is my son" lucas said and tanyu looked up at him smiling..
"yeah... I can tell that seeing your eyes are same what is this kid doing here..?"
" don't worry he won't get scared"
"let's see.. I bet he would be terrified.. I recommend you to leaving him to his mom. "
"thanks for your concern. But we have to test something.." lucas said with a smirk.. Kevin and others stared at him confused.
" then your wish... Let's go" he said and they followed him.. As they suspected.. It's him who is killing the animals using mercenaries and taking their hearts out
" hey what are you Guys doing...? Kill them." he said glaring at lucas and his friends staring at everything silently with Kevin secretly recording them
" Kevin are done..?" lucas whispered and he nodded a yes
" let's go tanyu.." lucas said and he nodded a yes as they walked forward.
" hey where are you taking him..?" Kevin asked surprised..
"hey kid.. Don't act dumb and move aside.." that guy said sitting on his chair.. Lucas was leisurely roaming around the corpse stacking them at one place..
"hey dumb kid." he shouted and tanyu turned back.. He flinched from his cold glare and menacing aura around him
" what the hell..?? I thought he was lucas for a moment...!!!" Aelous said surprised
"yeah.. He is lucas's son no wonder he is like him." tor mumbled
"but look at the aura..its exactly lucas.." Cyrus said amused
" he always act like a cute kid in front of athy.. So I thought he have her attitude.. Seems like he have both his parent's attitude and know very well whom to show which side of him.. Our smart little Duke " khai said with a proud smirk
A strong wind formed around tanyu and it soon caught fire.. That fire engulfed everything around them.. Those dead carcasses.. The bags full of hearts, bones and skins..
That guy stared at him gasping..
" what are you doing..? You evil brat!!" he shouted running towards him..
tanyu used his mana to chain him down to the ground and he screamed in pain...tanyu felt a cold hand on him and liked up to see lucas crouching down and staring at him..
"that's enough.. Your control is great now..I can't do this at your age " he said and smiled.. Tanyu got reminded of that dya when took him somewhere after taking him from athy..
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"where are we going..?"
"somewhere you have to go..." lucas mumbled.. Tanyu was shocked to thta dragon tied to chains being unconscious
"why did you take me here lucas..?" he mumbled looking down.. Tears dribbled down from his cheeks.. Lucas crouched down and wiped his tears
" don't cry in front of someone who called you weak.. I am gonna kill him.. I wanted you to see his end and you should take his power within you..." he said and tanyu looked up at him shocked..
" I don't want to take his mana" he said frowning.
" no you should.. You always had a weak mana.. It's more than enough for your human form but too low for your dragon form... Don't you want to be stronger..? I don't want my son to be weaker than others.. Both physically and mentally..
You said you want to protect sia once you grow up.. How will you do it with a weak body.? " he asked and tanyu was silent..
" OK.. I will try.. "he said
" yeah just take the level you can tolerate and leave the rest..ok.?" he said and he nodded a yes
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" cough... Cough... " tanyu coughed blood
" hey relax.. Here drink some water and take few deep breathes " lucas said as he laid him down on his lap and fed him water..
" you should train yourselves to hide your power as much as possible"
"just like you..?"
"yeah like me.. Humans are greedy beings.. They covet power.. So you shouldn't make it your weakness. Never use your power over the limit if it's not needed. And you have to pass the mana level test in the palace without others suspecting you.. From Now on.. Let's train for that.. "
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He smiled reminding how lucas was so strict about making him strong and even killed his so called father for his revenge.. He also got reminded of how lucas always protected him and taught him everything in the place of his dad since he is a child ..how he would always tease and bicker with him still hold him in his arms when he fell asleep or feeling tired.. He realised how safe he feels around him...
His pink lips slowly parted and he smiled as he called him..
"dad.."
Lucas didn't expected that and his eyes wided in surprise..he felt warmth oozing out of his heart filling every nook and corner of his body . He felt happiness springing from insides..he hugged him tight and lifted him up... tanyu giggled as he
Hugged his neck with his hands..
" did I do it right?" he asked smiling and lucas nodded a yes
" I thought you won't call me dad forever " lucas mumbled staring at him with a bright smile..
" nope.. Dad... I love you.." tanyu said showing finger heart which he learnt from athy..
Lucas giggled and ruffled his hair.. " then why didn't you called me dad until now..?" he asked
" I didn't wanted to call you 'dad..' cause I really really hate my real dad.. I can't call you in that title.. But.. Now I thought I should call you dad.." he said and lucas smiled bright
"huh.. Why now..? suddenly..?" he asked tiling his head and tanyu smiled.
" don't know.. I just felt like it ." he shrugged and lucas smiled..
" wow.. Enough of your father son bonding.. We are getting jealous" Cyrus said as he finished tying the last guy
" what's going on here..? Who are..
An old man stopped shouting as soon as lucas turned back... He is wearing expensive clothes and jeweles..there are servants behind him and his carriage have his family symbol.. He is the count of this area..
His light green eyes met lucas 's fierce red ones.. He immediately recognised him .. Even though lucas is wearing modest clothes.. He can never forget that gaze.. That aura around him.. When he walked past him with his knights looking princely at the grand palace of averna.. That moment is still vivid in his memories.. Even though he watched that from distance.. It's a majestic sight
" Grand Duke lucas arthur..?!! " he called and lucas nodded a yes.. That guy stared at him shocked..
"what..? You are a Duke..?!! You said you are a mercenary". He shouted and Khai kicked him and made him fell down.
" what's going on here..? Why my son and his servants are tied up..? " he asked looking around
"you aren't aware of anything your son did.?" Aelous asked and that old man nodded a yes
" do you think he is telling the truth..?" lucas whispered to tanyu.. He stared at him keenly for a while and nodded a yes.. Lucas smiled proudly as he patted his head
"it seems you really aren't aware of anything he did.." he said and explained everything
"oh my God..!! I am ashamed to face you like this Duke lucas... I really have no idea he is doing all this.. I will surrender him to the court myself.. It's really a shame to my family still what he did is a punishable offence" he said bowing down and lucas raised him up.
" you don't have to bow to me for him.. Now that I know you will take care of it.. We will get going" lucas said
" no sir lucas.. You saved this village and me from a bigger sin.. So you should visit our house.. Please" he said and lucas can't say no to him.
" is he your son.?" he asked and lucas nodded a yes.
" nice to meet you little Duke" he said and smiled.. Tanyu saw how innocent his smile is and smiled back
" hello grandpa" he said and smiled..
"such a cute child" he said smiling
"yeah.. Yeah that cute child is the one who beat the hell out of your son" khai whispered and they giggled
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" so that's what happened..? Then are we going back now.?" athy asked
"yeah.. I can't wait to go back.. I am gonna sleep like a log for atleast a week" lucas said stretching his hands.
Athy stared at him for a while and smiled
"did something happen...? You look ecstatic" athy said as she leaned down and give tanyu a kiss on the forehead and tucked him inside the bedsheet
"hmm.. Something did happen..." lucas said as he flipped on the couch smiling.. He told everything to athy and she smiled bright
"aww.. I missed to see that moment.. I know he will call you one day but didn't expected it happen today..." she said and he smiled
" I think now I kinda understand it now..."
Lucas said lying down on her lap.
"hmm.. What?" she asked caressing his head
"whenever you talk about parenting.. I always felt clueless.. I don't know anything about it... I thought kids would be annoying.. But when he called me dad.. I felt extremely happy... It's the same feeling I feels towards you... I was surprised by my own feelings... How can a single word makes me that happy?!! I know tanyu ever since he was born.. Still.. It felt so different.. I think I really like being called as dad " lucas said and athy smiled bright..
" yeah.. Let's do our best and raise tanyu well.. "
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P. S... Hello everyone....
Hope you all are doing well... It's back to college time so I got busy ...
I can't believe it's almost a month since I updated this... I swear I love all my stories equally... I think.. I should stop publishing more stories before finishing the existing ones... 🤧
Anyways... I will try my best to give my every stories a good ending... I won't give up..😤
OK.. Let's end my blabbers with this .. I am gonna do my assignment... Bye now... 👋🏻