I was laying on the sunflowers in the backyard. Training was to start soon, but my father wanted to rest a little while longer to take in the beautiful day. Every day is the same in a way, but my father insisted that today we should simply take in the atmosphere.

So I partook.

While laying down, my father lying next to me, face staring at the clouds, as I faced the other beds of flowers that spanned out across the backyard, I caught myself thinking about my father and the crowned prince, and our family being rewarded a noble title.

I knew my father was incredibly strong, but I would think the prince wouldn’t just give him a Noble title that easily without some kind of ulterior motive.

One could say I’m just being cautious or I’m too skeptical for nothing. But no one just gives another person land because of friendship. Maybe money, but not land, let alone a noble title.

My father’s exploits during the war, along with Tadashi’s life on the battlefield, remains a mystery to me. So what did they do to please the prince so much?

I turned my body, now facing my father as his amethyst eyes reflected the birds soaring across the cloudy skies. “Hey, father, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“How did you please the prince so much that you got a noble title?”

With no moment’s hesitation, he spoke flatly. “It’s because of our eyes.”

“Our eyes? What’s so special about them? Is it because their purple or something?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“Hah!” My father laughed. “That could be a part of it!” As my father got hold of himself, he spoke once again, “Why do you think I didn’t tell you how to infuse mana in your blade when I attacked you that night?”

“Didn’t you just want to bully me?”

“Well, yes, but it was because I wanted to see if you had inherited my eyes. Though there’s nothing special about them, like some secret magic eyes or anything like that.” He paused, searching for words. “You know how you were able to learn everything Tadashi taught you about martial arts, usually after showing you just once?”

That’s the main reason why people considered me a genius.

“Are you saying that it has to do with our eyes?”

“Yes. You see, our eyes pick up on the little things: the movements, the twitches, things so small they can barely be classified as things. Time also tends to run slower within our eyes, though you may be unconscious of it. The martial arts style Tadashi taught you, for instance, is a mixture of all types of other martial arts.”

“Really? I did find it weird that so many movements that didn’t really share any similarities were able to work so well together. I’m surprised someone was willing to learn all types of martial arts just to combine them like that.”

‘What a loser. I mean, being dedicated to something is nice and all, but the patience and perseverance one needs to do such a thing is incredible. So much so that I can only call them a loser.’

“True,” my father continued. “no one in their right mind would learn all types of martial arts just to create a different style that combined it all; no one is that eager for something new. That’s why the person that created this martial art style didn’t learn them, he fought against many people and combined the styles he thought worked the best into one.”

I raised a brow. “You sound like you know this person’s exploits very well.”

“I think I know him pretty well. After all, I’m the one that created it.” He said, grinning, waiting for me to praise him.

“Wow.” I said in a blasé tone.

“AT LEAST PRAISE ME DAMNIT!”

“That truly is amazing father.” I said, waving off my father’s desperate wish for praise. “Anyways, although our eyes aren’t necessarily ‘special magic eyes’ as you put it, they see things no one else can.”

“Yes, I don’t know how to explain it further than that, but that’s the gist of it. The prince was intrigued by my fighting style and eyes, so much so that he granted me a noble title for the possibility of the future generation of Alistair’s to also be born with the eyes as you and I.”

“I see. That is interesting. I guess I have noticed small details about different things sometimes. I always thought they were details everyone else noticed as well.” I turned back around to face the clouds. “I have one last question: you say that the Alistair family was given a noble title because of our eyes, so does that mean that my grandpa also had our eyes.”

I’ve never met my grandpa or grandma on both my father and mother’s side of the family. My mother’s parents were simple civilians and died to old age before I was born. My father’s parents passed away in war.

They have no other family besides Tadashi and I.

“I can’t really say to be honest.” My father continued. “My father was only a farmer. He was raised as a farmer and lived solely to be a farmer. Before your grandpa passed, the Alistair name was mainly known for their farming and produce that was sent to aid in the great war. That was the main reason why our village was destroyed: since we were the core of food that went to soldiers, we also carried more danger than the soldiers themselves. So, to answer your question, my eyes were more than likely inherited by my father. But since he wasn’t raised to be a mage or a soldier, he never got to know more about the ‘Alistair eyes.’”

“Now that you say that it’s possible that our eyes were passed down throughout the Alistair blood line, isn’t it possible that our past family members had the potential to become great fighters and even be among the top Noble families?”

“That is possible. To be honest, I thought the same thing. If the Alistair family trained to be mages rather than farmers, then our noble title would’ve come a lot sooner. However, the Alistair family hated war. They were complete pacifists. They contributed by sending produce instead of sending family to fight in the war.”

“Then how come you fought in the war?”

“To get revenge for my family.” My father answered remaining expressionless.

My eyes widened in shock. “What?” Not out of shock from my fathers answer, but out of shock at how he remained expressionless. Almost like it was normal to remain expressionless. Terrifying normal.

From there he told me the entire story of what had happened.

Apparently, one of the soldiers from the Thelonious kingdom had infiltrated our village during the war. They got intel that Alistair family had been the main food line for the Darcy kingdom. Because of which, the Alistair Family was their main objective.

The original Alistair village didn’t have a lord or a dynasty that ruled the land. But there was a family that was revered as such, being the Alistair Family. That was how their name came to be known, and that’s why the Alistair Family became top priority in terms of eradication.

While the Thelonious soldiers invaded the village, they killed everyone with only a few being able to get away, mainly being the elderly, women, and children, while the men stayed and fought. However, even the women from the Alistair family fought alongside the men, including my father’s mother and older sister. That was just how much the farm and village meant to them.

That was how my father became the last person with the Alistair name and blood.

I couldn’t begin to imagine the pain my father had felt; I don’t want to; I really don’t.

Later, as time passed, my father felt that he didn’t deserve to bring about a village using the Alistair name, seeing as he chose to ignore the Alistair pacifist beliefs and fought in the war for revenge.

I couldn’t stop myself, no matter how much I attempted to forget, from imagining how different my life would be if my family members from my father’s side of the family had lived. It’s like the more I attempted to forget or venture away from the thought, the further the thought engraved itself into my hippocampus.

How would my relationship with my aunt be? What about my grandparents? Would we all be able to chastise my father out of pure amusement?

Even though I had never met them, I couldn’t hold back the tears suddenly forming from my eyes.

I turned back around as to not let my father see, staring at the purple hydrangeas to give me comfort. Some sort of comfort. Any sort of comfort…

It’s pathetic.

Everything.

Everything’s pathetic.

I’m pathetic.

The entire time we laid on the sunflowers, I began to feel more disgusted with myself, disgusted at the sunflowers though they did nothing wrong. But I remained there, sunflowers giving me their non-existent comfort.

Within time, we soon began training.

This time, for 10 hours, I can only use half of my mana pool while fighting both Tadashi and my father. Though it seems impossible for a child, I’m focusing solely on defending myself rather than attacking. When I attack, I use 30% of my mana pool for 10 hours. This way I expand my mana pool while I get used to fighting with little mana.

It may seem too much for a child to endure, but I also wish to get stronger, my father’s story only further strengthened my resolve.

I don’t want to lose my family because of my incompetence.

The two weeks of hellish training passed quickly.

It was time to go visit the Allen Family.