The Silver Path

Chapter 81: Chapter 81 : Aftermath


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Swoosh!

With desperation and yearning fueling him, Silver’s figure moved like the wind, causing the leaves and branches around him to dance at his passing. Flicker after Flicker, he continued to accelerate.

When considering the timing of Stuart’s appearance, the possibility of his mother still making her way towards Lagner passed through his head. With this idea in mind, he cast his vision towards the northern road. Upon finding a familiar face operating a carriage, Silver set off in hopes that it was the carriage his mother was riding in.

Emotional as he was, Silver hadn’t lost his rationality. Instead of making a beeline to the carriage, he headed into the adjacent forest and moved in a curve.

‘There!’ Eyes flashing with killing intent, he did a Final True Flicker and burst out from the forest. Conjuring his Psi Odachi, he flashed past Tim’s front while executing a devastating slash.

He met with no resistance. Tim, a non-psionic hadn’t even registered Silver’s existence let alone the attack, nor did he have any means to counter it. Decapitated in an instant, Tim was sent to the Great Aether ignorant of many things.

*Swoosh*

Still moving at high speed, Silver did a 180-degree loop using his Psi rope, then activated Psi Parachute to slow himself down.

‘Mom mom mom...mom.’ Landing on the carriage, tears began welling up in his eyes as he found what he desired most. The boulder that had been on his heart for seemingly an eternity, finally lifted.

Moving down, he entered the carriage. Opening the door, his eyes set themselves upon his beloved mother’s unconscious form. Sensing her heartbeat and confirming that she was just knocked out, a never-before level of relief flooded his being.

Overwhelmed by emotion, his vision instantly blurred. He hobbled over, took a seat and with slow and deliberate motions, brought his mother into his embrace.

‘Mom mom mom...’ Repeating, Silver’s embrace tightened. His emotions raged like an ocean amidst a storm. Very quickly, negative emotions began flooding his heart, drowning out the initial relief and joy.

Inspecting his mother’s body with his Psi Scan, Silver confirmed Charlie’s words to be false. However, using his enhanced nose, he could pick up another’s scent all over her. The unfamiliarity of it and the regions it was gathered at, was everything Silver needed, to understand what happened. His mood plummeted even further as he mentally reconstructed the scene.

Knowing that his mother was subjected to an unwanted touch caused incomparable anger and hatred to surge within him. Imagining the look on the gangster’s, presumably Stuart’s face, caused his face to twist up.

‘How could I let this happen…I should have acted earlier…to let my mother experience this…’

At the thought, the words he spoke to Eric earlier floated into awareness. Remembering them, Silver’s face further scrunched up. The words were akin to jazzed blades scarping against his consciousness.

‘…disgrace.’

At this moment, the coat of superiority and self-confidence that Silver usually wore was nowhere to be seen. Instead, one of immense self-loathing and guilt now donned his figure.

More than any other party, Silver blamed himself for allowing everything to play out as it did. He was more rational than others, but not perfectly so. Even understanding that there were many things out of his control, he couldn’t help but feel responsible.

The crux of these feelings stemmed from his sense of self, but there was more to it. Silver, given his Fawkes lineage, had naturally considered the possibility of Hana being targeted. His decision to purchase property in the Orchard District and insistence that she remained there for the first week were products of this worry.

The idea of keeping her quarantined in the Orchard District until the Red Star matter was settled had come up, but thinking it over, the duo decided against it, opting to keep her in the dark and handle it themselves. They believed that they had taken enough steps to avoid such a situation, paying the money, the scary rumours…however, reality had proven them wrong.

Rocking with the carriage’s motions, Silver was forced to confront his failure and ineptitude.

‘Foolish…I truly am. There were so many errors. If we had not gotten lucky, history would have been repeated. And if that happened, I…’

Imagining the possibility, Silver’s soul seemed to shake. A crazed look appeared on his face and destructive flames burned in his eyes. His lips began mouthing words unknown as his mind wandered off. The more his thoughts spun, the darker they became. Feeling his control inching away from him, Silver quickly reined himself in, blinking hard, he snuffed out the flames and the destructive thoughts that accompanied them.

‘That may exist in another timeline, but not this one.’ He glanced down at his mother’s resting face. It was beautiful as ever, but more importantly, it was filled with warmth. Her chest heaving up and down, the murmurs that escaped her lips, the sound of her heartbeat; Silver’s chaotic heart was soothed as he took in these sensations. His mom was alive, and that was the most important thing to him.

‘Stronger…I need to become stronger, strong enough that these emotions never visit me or those I love again.’ His gaze moved over Hana’s face before his hand followed suit.

‘Until then, I’ll be burdened with these emotions.’ He caressed her cheek for a few seconds more before getting up. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

Several Slicing Strings materialised then whipped out at the carriage’s rear. Cutting out a large triangle opening, Silver, with his mother in princess-carry style, casually leapt out.

Landing softly with his Psi, he conjured his Psi Bike and got on before placing his mom at his backside, making sure to hold her in place with his telekinesis. All set, Silver readied to part. But before setting off, he glanced at Lagner to his rear. There was much to clean up and settle, however with his current mood, he didn’t have it in him to do so.

Turning his back on it, he rotated the throttle and made his way to Ganurg. Eyes quickly gathered on him as soon as he entered; the previous rumours and the four dead bodies that had been linked to him, drew great curiosity. However, as great as the onlookers’ curiosity were, it was instantly extinguished upon taking in the stormy aura he was exuding.

At his passing, crowds parted like the red sea, no one daring to approach or let their gazes linger on him too long.

Like this, Silver made his way home.

***

8 pm

“Mm umm ahm…ah?”

Coming to, Hana’s eyelids twitched a moment before opening. ‘Hmm, I’m in bed?’ In the blurry world that followed, she was struck by confusion. Striking next was a familiar feeling. Swinging her gaze leftward, she found her son seated on a Psi chair.

Her vision was still a rippling lake, but her mother’s intuition and the mental signal he exuded made failing to identify him impossible. Blinking quickly, she moved to rid the blurry filter, leaving only the usual mother filter to look through. Capturing him clearly, her chest immediately tightened.

A deep melancholy shrouded his figure. In his seat, he sat hunched forward, head hung low. With the moonlight striking his face, Hana could clearly make out the red swelling around his eyes. Knowing what it meant, Hana’s heartstrings were tugged at.

“Silver,” she called out with quivering lips as she moved to sit up.

The utterance broke Silver out of his trance. His blank eyes flickered a moment before filling with awareness.

“Mom...I’m sorry,” he uttered in a wisp-like voice.

Hana’s brows raised at the sudden apology. “What do you mean, what happened, why are you apologising?”

Her worry accelerated her speech. While delivering her words, she sat upright and positioned herself directly in front of Silver.

“Silver.”

With seconds passing of the other not responding, Hana called out again, her voice soft and filled with affection.

“Mom.”

“Yes.”

Another bout of silence followed. Hana didn’t rush to get an answer from her son, instead choosing to wait patiently for his words to arrive. She wouldn’t wait long as five seconds later, Silver’s lips parted.

“I have a lot to explain, hear me out and…don’t be too angry at me, okay.”

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“Okay.”

Silver proceeded to give Hana his account of his feud with the Red Star. The happenings in the office, the deal that was made, the money he paid, the encounters he had with them in Ganurg, and finally today’s incident; speaking for ten minutes straight, Silver gave her an almost full account, choosing to keep only a few details hidden.

Hearing the account, Hana’s heart experienced a roller coaster of emotions. Anger was the most dominant emotion; her knuckles had begun whitening at the sustained clenching. However, while it was the most dominant, over time it faded and gave way to an emotion that burned even brighter, love.

“... to put you through this traumatic experience, I’m a failure as a son. I’m sorry mo- ah,” Silver’s gloom was interrupted as Hana suddenly thrust her Psi his way. “Mom, what are you doing?” he asked in confusion as he found himself smothered by her telekinesis.

“What I’m doing? I’m doing what I should.” Hana responded, decisiveness ringing clear in her voice.

Swoosh!

Offering no resistance, Silver’s figure flew into his mother’s arms, before being wrapped up in her embrace.

“Mom,” Silver’s emotions stirred as he uttered. “You’re…not angry?”

The question was met with a hard squeeze. “Of course, I’m angry, very angry,” she said in a low growl, before pulling back slightly and delivering a hefty headbutt.

Landing the strike, she immediately winced. Swallowing the pain, a bitter smile formed on her face. “Aas…expected, hard-headed, both inside and out,” she said as she rubbed his forehead.

“I am,” Silver admitted, his eyes dimming and his posture deflating. “Hard-headed, thick-headed, pig-headed, I’m all of tho-”

*Tak*

“Enough,” Hana cut in sharply, opting to nip Silver’s self-deprecation in the bud with a finger flick this time. “I won’t hear any more of that. My sons aren’t failures, fools or anything in the same orbit. Another word and you’ll be punished.”

“Punished? With another headbutt?”

Hana’s face cringed at the thought of slamming into the concrete pillar that was his skull again. “No, a real punishment. No more hugs…forever,” she said in a serious tone.

Silver’s eyes widened to their limits as his soul shook at the possibility. Never had he come across a worse string of words. ‘No more hugs forever, that’s…no, anything but that.’ Scared straight by the dreadful possibility, Silver quickly found himself. Blinking, the self-deprecation in eyes vanished. A moment later, the gleam of superiority and self-confidence retook its rightful place in his gaze.

Hana smiled at its return and rewarded it by hugging him. Silver returned the gesture and on the bed, the two lay wrapped up. The minutes passed by in silence, the pair merely relishing the other’s continued existence.

“Thank you, Silver,” Hana suddenly started.

“For what?”

“For many things - no, for everything. If it weren’t for you, I’d be suffering a horrible fate at those gangsters’ hands. You rescued me, so thank you.”

Silver shook his head. “Saving you needs no thanks. I’m just fulfilling my duty as your son. Also,” his expression darkened, “if not for their feud with me, you would have never been placed in such a position. It’s all my fault.”

“That again,” Hana’s grip around him loosened. Silver jolted at the happening and quickly spurted out, “ No no, I’m just stating a fact, a fact.”

“A fact huh,” Hana quirked her brow, “then, let me state one too. My sons are the most amazing beings in the world. And no matter what happens, I’ll always love them.” Pulling back slightly, Hana twisted her right hand into a gun then pointed it at his chest. Then, mimicking Ralf’s earlier action, she formed a Psi heart and blasted it into his chest. Accompanying this attack, Hana sent a cheeky wink his way.

Struck by the combo, Silver heart was set alight with warmth. “Mom,” uttering, he crashed into his mother, “I love you too.”

“Mmm,” Hana replied, a joyous smile forming on her face.

The two entered another affection-filled lull. It continued for some time before Hana’s voice once again sounded.

“Being kidnapped…it’s unpleasant to think about. But it could have been much worse. You mentioned traumatic experience, but I didn’t feel anything of the sort. From my perspective, one moment I was walking home and the next, I’m waking up in the comfort of my home with my beloved son to greet me. It’s like it never happened. Today, as hectic and confusing as it was, with these last few minutes, I’d still mark it a good day on my calendar.”

The emotional weight on Silver’s heart lessened a tad at her words, as per Hana’s intention.

“You swooped in and saved me, you’re like my very own Dragon Knight.”

“At your service, princess,” Silver’s muffled voice said.

Hana smiled at the reference. “And, you kept your promise while you were at it, there’s not a scratch on you.”

Since Silver’s first mention of fighting, Hana had been conducting inspections, however, be it visual or via Psi Scan, there were no injuries or even blemishes to be found on him. The injuries that Silver sustained hours earlier had long healed up thanks to potions and his body’s enhanced regeneration.

Taking in his pristine form brought a proud smile to Hana’s face. “You must have gotten quite strong.”

“Yeah, and I’ll continue to grow stronger.”

Hana smiled then planted a kiss on her son’s forehead.“Good boy.” Saying these words, Hana slipped out of the dazed Silver’s grasp and propped herself up.

“You must be hungry, I’ll whip something up,” she glanced back, “anything you want…food-wise, “she quickly added as she saw Silver’s arms spread apart.

“Ah, nothing in particular. Anything will do.” Having his request cruelly struck down, Silver’s voice and manner became one of dejection and bleakness.

Hana merely shook her head at the display then without lingering a second longer, turned and left.

Silver turned over and watched his mother’s parting form.

‘Our blunders nearly cost us our queen...and the game. We ended up getting lucky and avoided this, but we can’t count on the same luck going forward. Rei, Ralf, learn from this and grow stronger, for mother’s sake, your own and most importantly…mine.’

Finishing his thought, Silver shut his eyelids and defused.

Hana and the duo would spend the rest of the night merrily, eating dinner, playing games and chatting about unrelated topics.

While the Fawkes household was unwinding from the day’s events, other places saw people being wound up with emotion as they heard about the latest news involving the Fawkes descendent.

It wasn’t just the earlier incident either. With the Red Star massacre coming to light, many Ganurgians were curious about how things had gotten to this point, and luckily for them, a few Lagner villagers stepped in and provided the missing context. When the initial incident involving Turner and the subsequent deal became known, all made sense - or rather, it made more sense.

The public was still missing a lot of pieces to the puzzle, that was the mysterious incident.

Why had Ralf chosen now? What was the loud sound that rang out on 16th Street? Why was…

The public’s questions formed a long list. While they eagerly awaited answers, Ganurg and Lagner were set alight with Ralf’s name and stories.

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