Stevenson Willwin

I am back. Finally, I could see them again. A sense of anxiety welled up inside me after John spat that remark, I was inclined to kill him at that moment but Adron took over, I didn't know before but he can take over my body forcefully now.

"What all are you up to when I sleep?" I asked.

[It is because your body needs sleep that I had to do this. You are clearly too vulnerable at the time.] He answered deadpan.

"That's all?" I suppressed a smile, raising a brow.

[It's also a reminder for you of your place in this symbiosis, lesser.] He was embarrassed but of course, it was beneath him to not be arrogant for even a second. A god trying to bully a measly peasant huh? Anyways, he was pretty excited after that encounter with John. Although he had partially possessed the body, just my eyes, the results were drastic, I was reminded of my reaction when he first spoke to me.

I was excited too, I wondered how they'd react, aunt Ella and Sara. I picked up the pace when my eyes landed on the house from the plaza. Coming near, my heart ached seeing that our chimney was the only one out cold, they didn't have firewood, but it was all going to change so I didn't let my mood go down to mud.

It was Sara I saw first, she was looking out from the window and although I couldn't see her face clearly, her cinnamon red hair gleamed in the moonlight. Everything paused for a moment as her face turned in my direction, I came to a still but then she vanished inside. She didn't recognize me. At that moment I just wanted to run to my house but there was the pile of gliders I had to carry. Incidentally, their bodies don't decompose easily, that's good, or else carrying them all the way from the forest while they rotted would have made me insane.

I stood before the steps and bore my eyes into every corner of the house, completely immersing in the stream of memories that flowed as I looked at it. I had never been away from home before, that's what I used to justify the tears that welled up.

[What? Just stop that drama and open the damn door, kid!] Adron's voice shook me out. I wiped the tears off and sighed.

"It's knock." I replied before bringing my hand to the door. 

Before I could knock, the door opened just enough for me to see her face from behind. Sara stood there, at first her eyes widened as she peered at me but then her usual detached self took over. I was emaciated, my clothes in tatters, and I had welts and bruises all around my body, Adron withdrew the healing effect to make me 'toughen up' but all it took for Sara to digest it in was a fleeting moment. She is similar to someone else here in those regards.

[She would have been a lot better host than you kid.] He groused just as I thought of the possibility.

"Come in" Sara hushed, opening the door wider, as I stood staring at her from behind it. Her sight then fell on something behind me. "And don't bring that in!"

I dropped the makeshift rope that I had made from tree vines to carry the carcasses. Come to think of it she didn't even ask why the hell am I carrying these? 

"Won't you ask what are they?" I whispered, smiling. My eyes were still wet.

"I am not the one who wants to become rich selling pelts. Why would I care?" She replied with a smile this time. Right, she is the only one here that beats me in the area of knowledge. 

She bore an expression of relief, looking at me with a smile as she waved for me to get in. 

A strange sense of comfort engulfed me as I walked through the narrow foyer. Even the creaking of the floor, the very thing that I used to hate, sounded like a bell to me. Tears started rolling down my cheeks again as I walked.

[You only start loving them when they get far away.] Adron chimed in, his voice was faint. He radiated a feeling of sheer loneliness. That's when it struck me, all this time, he was away from his home too but unlike me, he can't go back. He feels lonely but he will never show that he is hurting. It's his decision whether he wants to share it or not and I chose to stay silent respecting his choice.

Sara asked me not to wake aunt up as she was having a hard time sleeping these days so we went to the living room, I lied on the settee and she sat across on the wooden armchair. For a while, no word was uttered in that room but then a question broke the silence.

"Where did you get that?" She asked very softly as if she didn't want to ask it at all.

"I was training." I replied as if it was something obvious but then Sara raised her brow, piercing me with her brown eyes."...On my own."

"They didn't take you in the academy, did they?" More so than asking, it was like she just needed me to confirm her presumption. 

Ahh, shoot! I told them I'd be going to the academy. What do I say now? There's no point lying since she would catch it easily and well, there is no need to lie either. "I didn't go to the academy," I paused, then looked in the direction of the main entrance where the glider's corpses were kept. "...Yet."