Eris' father, Jeril, was a strict man — and with being a teacher of swordsmanship for more than two decades, being strict wasn't a choice for him — it became an obligation to always maintain strict discipline. So, when he saw his own daughter with someone that he'd taken in as his disciple seven years ago coming home at midnight, he found himself grabbing them by their ears and trudging them forward while they let out shrieks of pain.

Eris tried to loosen her father's grip on her ear, but to no avail as she only made it worse. "Father, I—" she screamed again, a bit exaggerating now. "Ouch," she exclaimed, still trying hard to get away but gave up eventually.

Edric remained quiet all while Eris continued her hysterical scream and tried to apologise but doubted if his master even heard any of it due to Eris' loud voice.

"One job," Jeril said, finally letting them go as Eris let out a huge sigh of relief while Edric had his head bent down. "You two had one job," he said, shaking his head, the white streaks between his dark hair glistening due to the moonlight as a frown plastered upon his wrinkled skin. "Return home by midnight!"

Eris sighed. "We are fine. Besides, we are both strong enough to protect ourselves. Resrei has his seven renèi Possessions and I have my three Possessions. It's enough—"

Jeril cut her off, giving her a dark look. "Those won't stand a chance if you encounter an Ezèrian!"

"Resrei can—"

"Ezèrian are godly! They're monstrous! One Ezèrian is enough to kill both of you," Jeril raised his voice.

"Why do you always do this?" Eris said, her voice low as she took deep breaths, clenching her jaw. "Why do you always think we are too weak to protect ourselves? Why do you—"

"Eris," Edric took her hand in his, pressing it lightly as Eris looked over her shoulder, giving him a confused look but her expression softened when she realised what Edric meant.

"I am sorry, father," she said, her head inclined along with Edric as he said the next words.

"I apologise, Master Jeril. We were being irresponsible. This won't happen again,"

Jeril gave a curt nod and turned around, walking towards the cottage where they resided. "Very well. Now come home. The food is getting cold,"

Eris rolled her eyes and ambled towards her father as they both entered their home while Edric chuckled seeing Eris' attempts to ease Jeril's anger. He also followed them with a soft smile.

***

"Well?" Jeril asked once they'd began to dine on the floor, a small table placed there with food all cooked by Jeril himself. Edric sat beside Eris, while Jeril was seated parallel to them and began pouring water into the wooden mugs. "What took you two so long?"

Eris was too occupied with consuming the sizzling meat that was placed on her plate by her father, completely oblivious of what her father was saying. Edric took a look at her, sighed and decided to talk instead.

"We met someone from the palace," Edric said, nervous of what his teacher was about to comment on that. He knew his teacher wasn't fond of anyone from the palace as they served the tyrant king albeit ironically, he, also served him as a subject.

Jeril placed his wooden spoon back to his bowl, frowning, as he looked up to Edric. Jeril didn't know Edric wanted a job at the palace — only Eris knew, even though he'd told her half of the truth. "From the palace?"

Edric hardly nodded, his appetite gone, unlike Eris who still hadn't batted an eye at any of them and continued filling her empty stomach — she even took some of Edric's food from his plate, thinking he hadn't noticed her.

"Did they do something to you?" Jeril asked, his frown still intact as he waited for an answer.

"Master, I. . ." Edric began, sighing, contemplating and then decided to tell his master everything. "I would like to work at the palace,"

Jeril remained quiet.

Eris continued eating.

Edric waited for a response.

"You want to work for that monster? That bastard of a king who killed so many innocent people and ruined my home?" Jeril finally said, his voice on an edge and slightly quivering.

Edric didn't bother to give an explanation, for he knew, if he were to talk, he'd listen to his heart and spill the real truth to his only family. "Yes, master. I think I'm skilled enough to work by the king—"

"Why?" Jeril asked, watching Edric with a look so deep, Edric's heart tightened as he knew he just hurt the man who'd saved him from the brink of death.

By now, Eris had stopped eating as she realised what was going on and decided to pay attention to the situation. She gave a quick glance to Edric and noticed how hard he was trying to be calm as he was constantly fidgeting with his fingers beneath the table and noticed how they were trembling slightly as well.

Edric took a few seconds to reply. "I believe working at the palace will help me earn a decent amount of payment which can help me lead a more sustainable-—"

Jeril cut him off by standing up, nearly shaking the table and the contents on it as he turned on his heels. "It is your life. Do as you wish. I'm only your teacher. You don't need my approval," with that being said, he left, Edric's unspoken words hanging in the air as he swallowed the lump growing in his mouth.

"He hates me," Edric said once he saw Jeril walking out of the house.

Instinctively, Eris placed her hand on Edric's palm, squeezing it gently, her cold hand warm against his as he looked up to her softened expression. "He doesn't," she said, her voice quiet. "He is worried about you. He thinks you will get hurt because the palace is full of Ezèrian."

"Talk to him. He will get it," Eris smiled, dimples appearing in her cheeks as Edric nodded, thinking how even if Jeril wouldn't get it, he'd still go there and will make his place at the palace and will avenge his family.

It took him seven years to master the renèi Possessions he had. The White Wings were already with him from his father but it still took an entire year to master it completely. After mastering his first renèi Possession, he had decided to acquire more renèi Possessions from people who were willing to transfer their renèi Possession to him as they no longer found them useful. When he got his seventh renèi from one of Jeril's students, he realised his body was no longer compatible with renèi reception, causing him to stop and focus on what he had.

He spent the next six years mastering all his renèi Possession while also learning swordsmanship from Jeril. Every blow that he'd given using his sword, he imagined his opponent as Miranda, and every time he had his sword at the nape of Jeril during practices, he imagined it was Miranda's and every time he'd defeated his opponents during practices, he always, always, imagined it was Miranda and that'd give him an immense amount of peace and tranquility.

There were times, when Edric would even dream about killing her father and those dreams seemed so much better than seeing his dead family staring at him and telling him to avenge them all.

"I will talk to him," Edric finally said, bobbing his head fiercely as Eris beamed but deep down, her heart shattered when she realised that Edric would be gone soon and she'd never be able to tell him how she felt for him.

***

Edric was outside the hut, facing Jeril's back as he saw him staring at the sky, his hands folded at his back. He approached him, stood by his side, his height hovering against his. Jeril didn't look at him when he said the next words.

"You were just a boy when we found you," he sighed. "Just a boy."

Edric said nothing and only took long breaths.

"I didn't even realise when these seven years went by. I still remember how you didn't speak for a year and you always spent your time using your wings," Jeril said, chuckling, surprising Edric as he barely even saw him smiling. "And then you talked — and it was like my own son talking for the first time."

Edric swallowed, biting his cheeks hard, his eyes twitching and he hated how he felt like crying at the moment. He wanted to tell him the real reason why he wanted to get a job at the Palace, tell him his real name, tell him to not regard him as his son because he didn't deserve any of it, tell him to hate him so it'd be easy for him to leave this place with no regrets, tell him to be angry at him so that when he leaves, he wouldn't look back at him and would focus on his revenge.

"Taking you as my student was the best decision of my life because not only did I get a student, but also a son," Jeril said, his eyes fixed on the moon who knew all of Edric's struggles and his current struggle to stop himself from breaking down in front of Jeril and tell him everything.

Stop it. You're making this more hard. Be mad at me. Tell me I'm making a bad decision. Tell me I have lost my mind so I can fight you.

"It's understandable that you want to live your life in your own way now. You're turning twenty-seven soon and you deserve to do what you wish to do with your life. I can not stop you. I have no right," Jeril continued speaking, his voice quiet as Edric clenched his fist, swallowing.

"I shouldn't have reacted that way, Resrei," he finally looked at him by looking over his shoulders and saw how his disciple had his head bent down. "Come on, don't feel bad. I didn't know how to react so I lashed out," he laughed lightly — another thing that he didn't do often — , patting Edric on the back gently. "You've seven mastered renèi Possession. You can protect yourself from any dangers, can't you?" he laughed again.

Edric only nodded vigorously, his head still bent down, looking at the ground and realised how the soil was getting wet due to his tears falling down from his eyes.

"You're meant for great things, Resrei. I knew it since the day I saw you. I know this is all something I would never say, but it has finally hit me that you won't be with us for forever and one day, you will have to go and I will have to let you go," Jeril said, oblivious of his student crying silently as he saw Edric nodding again. "To the world I am your teacher but to me, you are my one and only son."

Edric tried his best to not make it obvious he was shedding tears but after hearing that from Jeril, he sniffed with a shaky breath and just by that, Jeril realised what was going on. "Resrei," he faced him, surprised. "Are you. . . Are you crying?"

Jeril didn't wait for an answer before wrapping his hands around him and patting his back soothingly. "By the gods," he swore, sighing. "I have really hurt you, haven't I?"

Edric said nothing, he only sniffed on Jeril's shoulders, his tears smearing there as he embraced him back, feeling the fatherly warmth that he'd never gotten from his own father.

Jeril also didn't wait for him to speak, he only patted his back, remembering how that's how he'd held him that day as well. "You're still a boy, Resrei."