Humanity Return

Ch. 60 – Old Wounds and Exits

The white moon is at the top of the night sky and surrounded by stars. The rays produced from the nearly full moon illuminated the grass field in the middle of the academy.

Leaning against one of the trees in the garden was a black-haired young man who was seen drowning in his own daydream.

Leinn was seen enjoying the silence of the night and the cool breeze that blew slowly, moving the leaves on the tree where he rested.

Clear's ball can be seen leaning against a large bag beside it.

Leinn placed his left hand there while closing his eyes.

Time passed slowly...

“...”

His eyes opened again and he found a girl standing in front of him, looking at his face with a dark expression.

A few moments passed with the two of them looking at each other, then Aura started walking then sat on the other side of the tree, making them unable to see each other.

Silence formed between them, between Aura who said nothing and Leinn who realized that and waited quietly.

I don't know how much time passed in that calmness and finally...

“...First Brother is here”

Aura finally started to let out her excuses getting more agitated for her fight tomorrow.

Leinn still said nothing and let Aura continue.

“The group has just finished completing their special mission and has already returned to the academy today, First Brother will probably come to the stadium tomorrow.”.

“...”

“Tomorrow I will fight against the geniuses from other large families who have prepared themselves for dozens of years. Compared to myself and Rufus.

Aura managed to spill all her fear, making her voice tremble even more with each word she spoke.

“If I lose.. if I disappoint him too... as I always do... a-I..”.

Tears began to flow from his eyes, discussing both of his cheeks.

The aura that realized it began to attempt to remove it without success, as new tears continued to flow in place of the old one.

The childhood memories he harbored began to flow profusely filled his head.

The family members who looked at him with condescending eyes, the children who imitated their parents and mocked him, the teachers who tried to teach him fire magic without success.

One memory among all that recalls most vividly, as it has just happened.

The memory of the day she resurrected her Gift, the day Aura was finally considered to have nothing left.

“...a-what.. b-how...”.

The words that came out of his mouth started to lose their meaning, as those memories started to spin back in his head.

A white flame appeared in his hand, which could not burn anything.

The faces of the elders around him, who looked on with disappointed gazes.

And the clan head, his father who was standing in front of him. The man with smoldering red hair and a beard on his face, and the expression he showed.

Not an expression of anger, disappointment or sadness. Just a flat expression, without any expression.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Does he have any hope in me?

Did he know this was going to happen?

“...Aa..aa..”.

In that low-most moment, Little Aura used all her remaining strength to turn her head beside him, towards her First Brother who forced to accompany her in this matter.

And he saw that his brother was not looking back at him, because he was staring in front of him without saying anything, just staring at Dad.

“Aaa..”.

Amidst that memory, his father's face began to form large cracks.

Pieces and pieces fell from his face.

The image of his greatest fear began to form, that of his First Brother's face that began to appear and replace his Father's face, looking at him with the same expression.

A moment before the last big piece could escape from half of his face, a voice managed to penetrate into his mind.

“Why don't you just give up?”

The statement stopped all the negative memories and thoughts that flowed in his head, even stopping his usual thoughts.

Leinn seemed to be unconcerned about the condition.

“As I said before, just give up. You can still reach high ground with Rufus later. Why do you have to hurry?”

“A...aa..what?”

Aura could see at the end of her gaze, Leinn who was waving her right hand.

“Why force yourself to do things you can't? Why become something you are not?”

That's a reasonable thing.

What if his clan members were right, then why? He can live as they think.

The suggestion started to sound very attractive to the already almost destroyed Aura, and her sadness began to turn into a sense of acceptance.

Relieved from the feeling that had always fulfilled him for so many years, relieved after he had been sequestering

“...ah”

Until a memory suddenly appears.

His most important memory.

He was only 13 years old, and he spent most of his time immersed in the world of stories in the books he read. The aura of finding the stories with those happy endings could make him forget about all the other things he didn't want to think about.

Until suddenly the door of his room that was almost always closed was wide open, showing the figure of a red-haired youth burning with wounds all over his body.

It was the day that Big Brother Blaze fought against the Clan Chief, the fight to take his place. The fight that Father received when First Brother threatened to come out of the clan if he refused.

The fight he won, and the first he did was walk away from the fighting arena and visit him, rejecting all those who tried to stop him from treating his injuries.

“I..”

He could recall himself throwing away the book he was reading after seeing that condition, and just running towards him.

She also recalled that her sister had simply placed her hands on her little head, trying to calm herself down who was crying for the first time since that night five years earlier.

Brother Blaze just stood there patiently, and said only one sentence.

‘I'm here’

“I... can't.. do that”.

When no one expected anything of him, his brother never left him.

His little brain can realize that.

“I cannot give up..”.

After that his life began to move in a different direction.

People around her were seen trying to avoid her as she walked outside her room.

The food he received also changed, from dried bread and plain water to the same food his family ate.

But the thing that changed the most was himself.

Aura was still not used to talking to others and rejected the new magic teachers who came to her room, but that did not mean she remained the same.

The books of fairy tales turned into Magic Theory Books and various Beast Types Books.

He also began to come to the main training room often with his small stick, when no one was using it.

And his biggest motivation was his brother who saw him with a flat expression as he showed the new magic he mastered.

Aura was sure she had seen her brother smile back then...

“Sister Blaze trusts me, I can't-“

“Means she's wrong”

Leinn cut out the Aura's sentence.