Nephis seemed to have summoned her own runes as well, and was reading through them, her attention now entirely diverted from him.
And to Aelon's utmost bewilderment, Nephis was... crying, a complete contrast to her usually reticent personality.
It was not like her face was scrunched up, or she was sobbing, tears just simply rolled down her cheeks.
...
Nephis stared at the runes before her.
[My daughter, if you are reading this, then the time has finally come for you to learn the truth about the brother you never knew you had.
Four years after your birth, your mother and I were blessed with another child. A son. We named him Aelon.
However, by then the world around us had already begun to change. The Immortal Flame clan had enemies who watched our every step, and the strength of Valor and Song continued to grow. A male descendant of our bloodline would not have been ignored. He would have been seen as a threat before he was even old enough to understand the danger around him.
So I made the hardest decision of my life. I allowed the world to believe that my son had died at birth.
I know this may seem cruel. I know you may wonder why I did not tell you, why I let you grow up believing you had no younger brother. But believe me when I say that there was no choice I made more painfully. Every day I carried the knowledge that somewhere in this world my son was growing up without his family, and every day I reminded myself that it was better than him never having the chance to grow up at all.
The bracelet he carries was my only way of leaving a piece of us with him. Its enchantments preserved his name and his connection to our family, even if he could not know the reason behind it. If you have found him, then fate has succeeded where I failed.
Aelon is your little brother. He may not have grown surrounded by our family, and he may not know the warmth of the home he was meant to have, but he is still an Immortal Flame. More importantly, he is my son and your brother.
I know you, Nephis. I know that you will want to shoulder every burden yourself. You always have. But this is not a duty I ask of you. It is a request from a father who could not be there for his child.
Do not let him believe that he was abandoned. Do not let him think that he was unwanted. He has already suffered enough without carrying the weight of believing that his own family left him behind.
Give him the thing I could not.
A family.
When you were young, I told you stories of heroes who protected those important to them. I hope you remember them. But remember this as well: strength is not only found in defeating enemies. Sometimes it is found in reaching out your hand and refusing to let someone fall.
I do not know if I will still be alive when you hear this. My path has always been dangerous, and I have accepted that there may come a day when I cannot return to you. If that day has come, then there is only one thing I ask of you.
Take care of your little brother.
Not because he carries my blood. Not because he carries the name Immortal Flame.
Because he is Aelon.
Because he is family.]
She had already guessed that he was her brother, and was just about to reveal that fact to him. What she didn't expect was this message, a message from her deceased father. A request from her deceased father.
One thing was to put the pieces together, but seeing the confirmation right before her eyes was something else.
The person in question, was sitting in front of her, staring at her in disbelief, as he had just read his own runes.
'Father probably gave him his own message.'
His seemingly glowing grey eyes, that now bore a similarity to hers that wasn't just a similarity, but stemmed from the same source, bored into hers.
Neither of them spoke.
The room was utterly still.
Between them lay two messages from a father neither of them would ever hear speak again.
That was when Aelon stood up, and walked towards the door.
Before he knew it though, a hand rest on his shoulder, not letting him leave.
"Wait."
Aelon's smaller frame didn't turn around, and just continued facing the door.
Now, just with one soul in his vicinity, he was significantly weakened, compared to when they were in duel class. On the punch test, he would probably score a six.
"Tell me about your aspect, that way... I can help you."
...
"I-it's not that simple of an aspect... my innate ability allows me to go stronger, the more souls are in their presence... and I still haven't figured out my sleeper ability."
Nephis nodded silently, then looked him deeply in the eyes.
"Your flaw?"
"...I hate the presence of other people... unless I know them well enough. My flaw lessens up the more I know about a person, but crowds... they're just impossible."
'That's why he acted the way he did during the first day...'
"Does it make a difference if the person interacts with you?"
Aelon nodded.
"If I feel I'm getting looked at it gets worse, the more attention is on me the worse it gets... the flaw itself seems to be entirely psychological. What about you? What's your aspect... and flaw?"
Nephis' taciturn face gained a cold edge to it.
"Don't worry about it for now, just... focus on getting stronger for now."
Question marks seemingly appeared on Aelon's face.
"A-alright... if you don't feel comfortable telling me, I won't pry any further."
He stood up, raising himself off his seat, and walked to the door.
"Aelon."
His head turned around, eyes coming in contact with hers.
"I don't expect you to accept this today."
She paused.
"But from now on..."
"...you're not alone."
Aelon blinked.
Then, slowly, a small, uncertain smile appeared on his face.
It looked fragile, as though he wasn't used to smiling at all.
Still, it looked beautiful.
"Thank you Nephis."