The Thieving knight (Book 3)

The Crossing (10/16)

[** The next morning **]

The morning came in soon. For the rest of the night, Lancelot had no sleep. He sat by a window, looking out. Eclipse came, kissing him in quills, but he hardly noticed it. Galahad put on his man clothes, but he was afraid to approach his father. The breakfast was a silent one. During it, Eclipse asked why is Mephiles lowering his head so much. Lancelot was still sitting by the window, lost in his thoughts, so there shouldn't be a reason for it.

The crystalline hedgehog reluctantly showed him his mouth. Eclipse's reaction was naturally a surprise, soon he tilted the head to get a better view. He came closer, inspecting it. Mephiles didn't dare to close it and he was surprised next, Eclipse stretched his mouth with fingers sticking out his own forked tongue, showing they share many similarities.

Aalis just swallowed. She was honestly scared of it, but since mom was okay, she decided not to think about it. Once the breakfast was over, she went outside to train as her siblings were supposed to return for the lunch. She had this special place for her. There she could climb a stone wall or trees, jump over slimy stones in the river or punch a trunk.

Since the revelation of her latent power, she came here more often and for a longer time. Her father sometimes accompanied her to assist her. This time she wanted to be alone. She slowly transformed. The lower parts of her limbs and tips of her quills were covered by crystals, her sclera turned red and she felt a surge of energy inside of her.

She jumped up and landed in the same spot. Each time she tried to jump higher and higher, making her leaps tens or more meters long. Next, she tried her claws on a stone and she cut it like a butter. Climbing was no problem either, she was able to do a midair maneuvers changing her trajectory more than once. She continued to do a lot of different exercising like making one hundred squats or push-ups without feeling tired. The transformation gave her huge boost.

It wasn't just her physical strength, her senses were better too as she heard an approaching person. She turned back, noticing a partly hidden dark figure behind a tree. There was no doubt who it was. She watched him... she watched her biological father hiding behind the tree.

He became aware she noticed him the moment she turned towards him. He hid even more, slowly turning away and walking back to the house. What did he wish to achieve, after what he has done? He heard quick steps behind him and then they stopped. He didn't look back.

"Hey..." she called him, which made him stop and wait. She bit her lip. "... uncle...?" his ears twitched, moving towards her. How did she call him? He felt watery in his eyes. "Why... are you here?" she formed her question.

He slightly turned to her, making sure no movement was too fast. "I... only wished to see you, that's all. I'm sorry for scaring you the last night. I only wanted for you to know the truth."

She was pondering for a bit, before saying: "That I'm a mistake to you."

Those words stabbed him. His eyes widen, he quickly turned his head away. "A mistake...?" So it wasn't just Lancelot's suggestion.

"Yeah, you told me so. You were supposed to be my mom, so what else I can be?"

He felt cold and his body was shivering. Was it because of his pregnancy or because of her words? Was she a mistake for him? He remembered the first time his eyes fell on her. He immediately knew she is his daughter... and he didn't care... that much. Did he start to see her differently? Or was it like that all the time and he only ignored it due to his dominant nature? "You... aren't a mistake," he muttered.

"Then who am I?"

"You are half Crystallian and half Darkling."

"That's just by blood, who am I as a person?" for her age she was having quite complicated questions.

He sighed. "You are who you decide to be. Just like everyone."

"But they aren't half monsters," she muttered.

"I understand, but you aren't a monster."

"What?" she barked. "How can you understand?" she felt angry.

"Because as of late I can understand the meaning of 'being a monster', and you aren't one." He tried to walk away, but she dashed in front of him.

"What do you mean by that?" she spread her arms, preventing him from leaving.

He looked into her eyes. "I think... because of Galahad... He showed me what means to love. It changed the way I look at the world."

"Like instead of destroying something you decided to let it be?"

"Something like that... I started to appreciate the things around me."

The was a silence between them. "Hey, uncle..." she again called him that way. It was making him happy. "Can you... teach me about my power?"

He winked, not being able to believe. He nodded while being dumbstruck. "Of course. Do you have any specific question?"

"About... everything?" she was fidgeting a bit.

"Alright... then let's start with a bit of theory."

She nodded and slowly ran to her training ground, there she sat on one bigger rock. Mephiles sat down too, but he made sure to put distance between them.