Hunter Of The Six Realms

Chapter 16

"She's rewriting the rules," Kael muttered. "We're not just fighting power. We're fighting her will."

Velmaria walked forward now. Slowly. Calmly. The battlefield warped beneath her bare feet.

"You fought well," she said. Her voice was no longer soft. It was final. Like she had decided to end them finally, like she was done having fun.

Borin charged, rage and fear flaring in his eyes, he could no longer think logically at the moment, this thing , this Beast was beyond logic, beyond anything a hunter could comprehend.

He held a hammer made of steel and magic, moving with so much speed as he glided using earth magic. But he didn't reach her. His body collapsed mid-swing, twisted unnaturally and crumbled like paper... blood splattering all around his dismembered corpse.

And then, there was only one person left.

Kael.

He didn't speak. Didn't move. Just stared at her with a look of defeat, he knew he couldn't win no matter what he tried. His grip tightened around his sword, but there was no strength left in him.

Velmaria stepped close. Her presence towered over him.

She reached out, gently placing a black rose into his bloodied hand. "Give this to your leader," she said, her crimson eyes gleaming.

"Tell them I don't want prey next time. I want a warrior."

Those were her last words to him, and with that....Kael disappeared from the her presence and out of the beast realm....and the portal closed Instantly, sealing her off once again.

—

Moments later after he had been shown the memory...

Kaizen stood there, dumbfounded, frozen....not from cold, but from what he just witnessed. The cold no longer seemed to matter.

His eyes were wide but hollow, glazed with something far heavier than confusion. The scenes he had just seen, the memory that unfolded before him like a window into someone else's past had refused to leave his mind. It looped again and again, imprinting itself deep into his thoughts.

He didn't know what to say or what to feel. He felt an emotionally strong connection to that woman, he could feel that he knew her from somewhere, but he didn't know where. Maybe the old man was right.... maybe that woman was his mother.

His eyes were slightly damp from unshed tears as he stared blankly at the old man, his mind reeling with thoughts.

Finally, his lips parted, voice hoarse.

Kaizen's eyes shimmered. "That woman. Was she… my mother?"

"Yes,"

"So, she's dead?"

The old man nodded once in approval, the faint snow fluttering down onto his shoulders like dust.

Kaizen looked down, sniffing hard as his hand reached up to wipe his nose. His other hand clenched by his side, shaking slightly, fingers curling into a tight fist.

"…And that baby… was that… really me?"

"Yes," the man replied again, voice softer now.

There was no hesitation in his tone nor doubt, just the truth.

Kaizen exhaled slowly, shoulders rising and falling. His expression changed then, turning skeptical and looking less confused, more focused. Still shaken, but no longer stunned.

He looked up at the old man again, eyes narrowed with caution.

"…How can I confirm that's actually me?"

The man's lips curled faintly into a small smirk.

"The white hair," he said.

Kaizen blinked.

"What?" he muttered.

"Your white hair, child. It didn't start after you were born. You were born with it," the old man explained, taking a step forward through the snow.

"Even as an infant, you bore the mark of calamity. No one in your clan had hair like that. No one in your adoptive family either. Infact, there's no one with the record of being born with white hair except you, and maybe all other five element weilders who came before you."

Kaizen's brows furrowed deeply. His hand instinctively ran through his hair, tugging at the snow-crusted strands as if trying to pull answers from them.

"…So you're saying that white-haired baby… was me?"

"Yes."

Kaizen turned slightly, pacing back in a small, uneven circle. His bare fit digging softly against the snow, his toes reddish from excess exposure to cold, his breath coming out in cloudy wisps.

"I mean… yeah. I was always told it was just some rare mutation or some crap like that," he muttered, almost to himself. "Elen used to say it made me special. Dad said it made me unlucky."

He paused. Then looked over his shoulder at the old man.

"But that doesn't prove anything. That doesn't mean all this is true."

"I expected you to be skeptical," the man replied. "I would be too, and I understand that it's hard for you to accept the truth."

Kaizen frowned, hard. "So prove it, prove you're telling the truth."

"I already did."

Kaizen stared, waiting.

The old man's eyes gleamed faintly, the blackness of his pupils swirling with something ancient, almost like ink in water.

"You've seen the memory. You saw everything that happened on that night you were born."

Kaizen's chest tightened.

"You saw her seal me into your body with the last of her magic," the man continued. "You watched her sacrifice her life to perform the sealing ritual. It's forbidden Kaizen, but she did it anyway, to protect YOU!"

Kaizen looked away, jaw clenched. His eyes burned with welling tears as he replayed the whole memory in his mind.

"I don't know what the hell you are," he muttered, voice quiet but shaky. "Or what kind of trick this is. But if you're telling the truth… that means my whole life's been a lie."

The wind howled again.

No response came immediately. The old man gave him a moment. A chance to breathe, to process.

"…Then tell me," Kaizen finally said. "What happened to the Shadow realm? Why did they go extinct? If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have never found out a realm like that ever existed.

The old man exhaled, "The first five element wielder burnt the whole realm to ashes, the only few left were killed twenty one years ago for fear of the next five element wielder being born from there. Your father included."