Unsealing Emptiness

“It turned out that I was too late to stop those men. I could not find any traces of them. So all I could do was to put my hopes in our men,” Raymond sighed again.

“Two weeks later, I got the report that there were some traces of battle towards the Silverbird Kingdom. None of those men who had gone chasing after Sylvia ever came back. So we wasted no time and sped towards the Silverbird Kingdom. When we got there... things were different.”

Ozul noticed the complicated emotions of the two brothers.

“We found out that our men were successful. They had killed off those assailants... but also died in the same battle. Meanwhile, Syliva... she was missing. There were no traces of her.”

“Later, we found her. However, it was too late,” the two brothers sighed simultaneously.

“Sylvia had lost her memories and completely forgotten about everything. She only remembered her name-that too a little distorted as she would introduce herself as Sylvia Ashfall instead of Ashin,”

.....

Ozul had thought that their feelings couldn’t get any more depressing, but it turned out that he had underestimated the love for their youngest sibling.

“Sylvia forgot about us. She had even married that yellow-haired dumb f*ck!” Alver cursed Edward. But he shut up when he remembered that the son of that ‘yellow-haired dumb f*ck’ was sitting in front of him.

“Continue,” Ozul himself had a grudge with that person, so he did not care whatever names he was called.

Raymond and Alver were not aware of everything that had happened on the day of his birth. They just assumed that he was most probably abandoned by that sick person and had to live by himself. They had yet to figure out what had happened with his limbs. One could not simply miss those metallic hands.

Shifting his eyes from those prosthetic hands, Raymond continued, “We met up with her, but she refused to listen to any reason. She said that she was in love and had a family.”

“The memory loss was most probably because of some head injury. Couldn’t you forcefully take her back and heal her? Surely the Ashin family could afford some expensive herbs.” Ozul asked. This was the first time that he had asked any question because it was an obvious choice of action. But from his tone and what had happened till now, Ozul figured that it wasn’t the case.

The two had troubled faces because of his question.

After a while, Alver replied, “We could not do it. We could not take away her happiness.”

Raymond and Alver remembered the day when they had turned away from the last step. Their sister was laughing while playing with some kids. The sound of laughter rang out in the air.

“She also smiled when we were together... but that laughter was totally different. She was free. Our little sister had grown up, and she was happy... we couldn’t take it away from her.”

Ozul noticed that Alver’s eyes were dampening.

No one would ever believe that these two depressed brothers in this room were Rank-9 Mages that could flatten hundred of thousands just on a whim.

Although Ozul disagreed with what they had done, he understood their reasons. If it was up to him, he would have still healed her. Then leaving it up to her to decide what she wanted.

“Our long-term stay in the Silverbird Kingdom would have alerted everyone and caused another huge battle to break out, so we came back and stationed a couple of men to always watch over Sylvia. They regularly sent us reports, whether anything happened or not.”

“Alver here had also decided to visit the day after we received the news that it was time for her delivery. However, when he reached there... it was too late,” Raymond felt as if something was stuck in his throat as he narrated everything.

A few moments of silence reigned in the room before Raymond looked up, straight in Ozul’s eyes with conviction, “We would have never thought that you were alive! It’s our fault that we did not investigate anything... you can punish us however you like!” Even Alver joined in with a nod full of determination to make it up to their nephew.

“...”

Ozul was suddenly taken off guard. One moment these overpowered uncles of his were depressed, and the next moment they were ready to go through any punishment as an apology.

“It’s fine. I don’t care about it,” Ozul was truthful with his words. He frankly did not believe that it was any of their faults.

Except for the person who had labeled him as the Devil’s spawn the moment he was born, there was no one that he would blame for his missing hands.

‘We live in a world where strength is everything. I did not have any strength to protect myself, and so I had to go through everything,’ Ozul knew in his heart, “If I start to blame each of my misfortunes on others, nothing will come out of it.”

His words caused Raymond and Alver to look at him in surprise. They knew that he was also a Rank-9 Mage for some extraordinary reasons; his mentality was even more refined.

But they could not deny his words since that was the true hard fact of reality. Things would happen to you, and you can’t just start cursing at everyone who was involved and ask for compensation. You would have to take everything yourself; with your own strength.

Even when Ozul did not give them any punishment, he had some other plans in his mind, ‘Now it will be much easier for me to get any help from them.’

“So... you forgave us?” Raymond asked with anticipation, his tone getting a little brighter. Alver’s previously grief-filled was also improved a little.

Ozul expressionlessly stared at the two as he thought, ‘I was never angry in the first place. Sigh... whatever.’

“Yes... I do,” Ozul said. This was the best way to get it over with as quickly as possible.

A gentle smile appeared on Raymond’s face as he looked at Alver. The latter seemed to understand whatever Raymond was trying to convey, while Ozul could only look confusedly between the two.

Even Ozul’s ability to sense emotions could not tell him what a person was thinking.

He looked as Alver nodded his head, and both turned towards him, “Will you come back to the family?”

Ozul could not help but raise his brows a little. He had almost forgotten that all of this meant that he was a part of the Ashin family.

He started to contemplate if he wanted to join them or not. It was up to him, and they could never really force him to do it.

Raymond and Alver also knew that it was his decision, so they let him decide.

After a while, Ozul had decided, “I won’t.”

Hearing his answer, both Raymond and Alver’s expressions fell. Alver blurted out, “But why?”

“Alver!” Raymond raised his voice when he saw that his brother asked their nephew such a question after all that had happened.

Alver realized his mistake and looked down on the floor. It was true; they had no right to ask him any question when they had never done anything family-like to him.

“It’s fine. I won’t join because I have my own things to do. It’s just that simple,” Ozul said in a calm voice, ignoring the fact that Raymond was about to lash out at Alver. His interference seemed to pacify the heavy atmosphere in the room.

Although Ozul knew that he would get a lot more benefits if he decided to enter the family, he still declined because he had various reasons.

He had questions whose answers were probably in the worlds far away from here. He would probably make many enemies, and most of all, he would never stay in one place.

If he entered the family, he would be bound to one place, and then there were the responsibilities that he would not be able to escape from.

So, it was better if he remained the way he was right now. There was no one to order him to do anything. He never liked any factors that forced him to change his course of action-whatever it was.

“We understand. We have no right to ask you this in the first place...” Raymond flashed a smile.

“I shall take my leave then. It’s been a long time. Irvin must be waiting for me,” Ozul said as he stood up. He was about to leave the room when Raymond called from behind, “Wait!”

Ozul turned around to see Raymond approaching him while taking off one of his rings from his hand. He had many rings for some reason.

“Here, take this. With this, you can enter and leave the estate whenever you want. If anyone dares to stop you, just show them this,” Raymond handed him a silver ring. Ozul remembered that it was the same ring that glowed when Raymond was about to pass the shield bubble outside the estate.

Even Alver stood up and approached him before saying, “The family’s doors will remain open for you. If you need any help, whatever it is, just tell us.”

Ozul did not deny the offer and nodded his head before walking out of the door.

As he walked out, the lady guard standing outside quickly bower her head in his direction.

“He grew up to be a fine young man,” Alver muttered, watching Ozul’s back in the corridor.

“Indeed, he did,” to his side, Raymond agreed with a pleased smile on his face.

Even if they hadn’t been there for him, he was still the son of their late sister. They could not help but feel proud of him.