In a dimly lit room, warm, reddish-yellow sunlight spilled freely through the open window, brushing past the loosely parted silk curtains to cast a glow upon the face of a boy in his late fifteens as he looked outside.
It was evening, and today the sunlight felt particularly warm and caring to him.
He took a gentle "whoosh" of evening soft air.
The evening sky he saw was vast and filled with red and yellow clouds, which felt like a force commanding his attention.
Seeing them, he felt calm, which he had failed to feel in the past few years.
Absorbing the warmth, He closed his eyes and stood still in front of the open window while the cool air and warm sunlight brushed past him.
As he was lost in the warmth, a memory resurfaced and held his consciousness. In that memory
Thalen was 13, and his body was in a bizarre state filled with wounds that would send shivers down the spine of even a grown man, his clothes wet with leaking blood, from a fight moments earlier in an underground arena.
He is now resting on a chair, but his bloodied body wouldn't allow it. The bandaged body trembled with pain. As an unwakener, he couldn't drink a healing potion, as it would do more harm than good.
"Huf…Hufff. Thalen drew ragged breaths, clenching his hands as tightly as he could to jump out of the discomfort and pain from the wounds that settled in him.
"Today you could have lost both your legs and even your life." In the room, a stern voice resounded, and Thalen looked at the presence beside him.
A boy with fair skin, blue eyes, and silver hair. Rectangular-shaped face with well-defined features; in short, he was handsome, even more so than Thalen.
Thalen frowned not at the words, but at the weight they carried. He had fought, bled, and nearly broken—and still failed to awaken.
"What do you want me to do then, Cain? Do nothing and get disowned?" Thalen unknowingly shot a glare towards Cain. Then, he calmed down quickly.
"You see, this life of mine has no value if I don't awaken." His lips twisted, almost bitter. "Varkheil house only cares for the strong. What do you think will happen to me if I stay like this?"
Cain's answer was flat, his face unmoving.
"You'll be disowned. So what? You have enough money to live your life freely. Without a care."
Thalen let out a breathless laugh, thin and joyless. "Without a care…" he echoed, and the memory dissolved.
"Thalen, your evening snacks and Iced lemon tea are ready."
Thalen's eyes opened slowly. The reddish-yellow light was still there, warm against his skin. Cain's voice, the same voice from the memory, pulled him back to the present.
Thalen turned, glancing at the boy—older now, sharper, more handsome than before. But the eyes hadn't changed. They were as stoic as ever.
"Without care," Thalen mutters under his breath, still thinking about the past memory he just reminisced about.
Cain's head turned slightly. His hearing had sharpened with awakening; the words didn't escape him.
"What do you mean, Thalen?"
"Tell me, Cain. Do you still think I can live without a care?" Thalen, with a faint smile, puckered his lips.
To which Cain replied with an indifferent voice showing no concern or so ever.
"You own a reputable artifact company and sit on billions in reserves. You could live in luxury anywhere you wish—without lifting a finger."
"You don't need to struggle or fight anymore; you already have everything you need to live well."
Thalen looked at Cain's unchanging stoic face and smiled as if expecting the same answer given by Cain.
"I know you would think that way, and…" Thalen shifted his head to the beautiful garden that could be seen from the window.
"Well, I would agree. In fact, it's the truth, but just as it's a truth, it doesn't mean it aligns with my desires."
"Let me guess, you want to make your Detached family into a loving one." Before Thalen could say anything, Cain settled his words and looked at Thalen, seeing his amused smile. Cain didn't feel anything. As he already knew, the way he sees things is different from how Thalen sees.
To Thalen, family is an emotion he is obsessed with, and here in Varkheil, he wouldn't be able to find it, no matter what he does.
Even Thalen, the boy who always tries harder than anyone to grow strong, knows it very well, but he himself fails to acknowledge it instead.
Thalen would always go to see his brother, Cheliyan Varkheil, but he was never permitted to enter.
Like he wasn't needed.
At some point, Thalen stopped going to visit his brother, but Cain, who had stayed with him for the past four years, knows that he still wishes to see his brother. At least talk to him once, but he was never given a chance.
His Father, Duke Azriel, after Thalen turned 13, never once heard from him.
His mother, Duchess Serene Varkheil, had left for some cursed land after giving birth to Thalen, to do god knows what. Thalen never once met her. So why was he so fascinated with family? They never showed an ounce of affection to him. So why?
Cain didn't know the answer, and he never wished to find out, because he didn't care.
His role as his shadow was to be of help to Thalen and never question his actions.
"I don't think I can work on that goal anymore."
Cain expected a satirical comment, but instead, he heard something that shook him a bit, which again turned back to being a stoic expression.
"I'm almost 16, and there is no hope for me to awaken, and it is highly possible for me to be disowned. Sooner or later."
"So you gave up?"
To Cain's question, Thalen just smiled and walked to the table where Cain placed the snacks and Iced lemon tea, and he picked a chocolate puff, which was almost the size of a coin, from his right hand and stuffed it inside his mouth.
He held a lemon tea in his left hand and sipped in, savoring the taste of his favorite snack and drink, which lifted his mood a bit, and he thought.
'Do I even have a choice?'
"Are you going to the underground Arena tonight again?" Cain asked as if this had become his daily routine.
"Yes, and what about you? Do you want to come?" Thalen asked.
"I'm in the middle of training a new technique for my elemental affinity, so tonight, I plan on developing it, but if you want me to come, I can." Already expecting a refusal, Cain voiced.
"No, just do your thing," Thalen said.
As a shadow, Cain's life belongs to Thalen, but Thalen didn't like the Idea of a boy of his age being a slave of his, so he treated Cain as a friend.
Even after Cain awakened, Thalen never mistreated him or felt jealous; instead, he felt happy for Cain.
But no matter how well Thalen treated him, Cain always maintained a wall that Thalen never understood. Still, He never asked Cain why, as he himself was busy in training and going through deadly situations to awaken.
Thalen dismissed Cain, and slowly he savored his evening snacks and tea, while thinking about what awaited him tonight at the arena.
Thinking about all the ordeals he experienced, His body tensed a bit but returned to normal as if the weight of pain didn't matter. His eyes were clear, even with the mockery of people in the house and outside as well. He never showed despair.
He maintained his grace with an Iron wall in his heart.