Tbate | A clash between times | The beginning after the end

Chapter 29

Arthur Leywin

I watched Tess, Kathyln and Claire comfort Caera as she cried into their laps. I knew Caera never had a good childhood from over hearing her conversations with Grey.

After a while she calmed down. "So, what's Dicathen like?" Caera asked no one in particular. "Well, we have adventures and dungeons." I said not really knowing what else to say.

She looked at me with stars in her eyes. "Can we go to one? The high sovereign destroyed all the dungeons in Alacrya so we can never go to one."

"The high sovereign?" Tess questioned. "Yeah, Agrona. Everyone calls him that. I hate him though." Caera replied.

"And why do you hate him?" Curtis questioned. Caera took a long breath before answering. "Do you guys know about my secret?" she asked.

"Me and Art know but I don't think anyone else here does." remarked Tess. "Wait, what secret?" asked Feyfey.

"I'll show you since I feel that I can trust you guys for some reason. I guess it's because my future self trusts you guys." Caera said before taking out a medallion from under her shirt. She mumbled a chant and revealed two horns on her head.

Everyone except me and Tess gasped. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. They're disgusting aren't they." Caera said before mumbling a chant again.

But before she could finish Claire grabbed her arm. "What do you mean? They're really pretty! I don't see why you would hide them," she said with a large smile, the kind she would use to encourage us when we didn't want to work.

"D-Do you really think that?" Caera asked desperately. "Of course we do, you are our friend, right?" said Tess as she pulled Caera into a side hug.

Caera didn't respond and instead just started to cry into Tess' shoulder. "T-Thank you guys s-so much. I-I don't know what to say." Caera said through her sobs.

"Why did you hide your horns in the first place?" asked Kathyln who was rubbing Caera's head.

Caera took a huge breath. It seems like whatever she's about to say is hard on her. "When our horns manifest we are sent to the central domain to either be turned into a test subject or a mindless weapon for war. When my horns appeared I had two choices. Become a tool for Agrona or live as the unhappy daughter of my foster family. It's easy to imagine what I picked." She said, trying to hold back more tears.

"Foster family?" Feyfey questioned. "When a child is found to have a high concentration of Vritra blood they are stripped from their parents and given to a Highblood to raise. We're normally pushed to our limits because if our blood does manifest then the house that raised us is given tons of resources and if we don't manifest they are killed then their title is stripped. So you can imagine the pressure my foster family puts on me." Caera explained, her tears becoming harder and harder to keep at bay.

The girls then took her into a group hug leaving me, Curtis, Feyfey and Theo in an awkward position. "W-" Curtis was about to say something but Claire cut him off. "Don't say a thing, we're comforting her."

I sighed knowing the consequences of ignoring a woman. After a while Caera calmed down and fell asleep on Tess' lap. "They seem really close for some reason," I thought after I watched Tess feel Caera's horns.

"Well, this is a revelation if I've ever seen one." commented Curtis as he leaned back using is arms to support him.

"What do you mean by that, Curtis?" Claire asked, clearly not understanding what Curtis was talking about, but no one else seemed to understand what he was talking about either.