Toga had his knees bent, his head bowed, and his hands cupped onto the ground in a proper dogeza. After years of spending his time in Rebble, he was now back in his home in Loil. The island of the West, where all the Red Dogs lived.
His father sat on the chair, glaring down on him with uncaring eyes. How long has it been since he's felt like this?
"You're back sooner than I would have liked…" Tawner Dawnheart said.
Although his face was hidden, Toga couldn't stop himself from scrunching it in disgust. This bastard… Nylo's dead, and this is all he had to say? Even though he felt the emotions, he couldn't get the words out the way he wanted it. It was as if his words were caught in his throat. It has always been that way with his father. Such an uncompromising man was near impossible to conversate with.
"Rebble island was attacked by its own shining spirit. Mom thought it was best to come back,"
"And you listened? Toga… what did you come back for?"
Toga's hand shook. What was wrong with this man? He lifted his head up in defiance. "Dad! Nylo's dead! I know you've had to have heard…"
"I heard what happened already. Was that not your job to protect him?" Tawner said.
Toga stopped talking. The guilt started to weigh in on him again. This was all his fault. Nylo… was his fault. Even so, that was no reason for his father to dismiss both his sons like that.
"Do you even care about what happened to your son?"
"Of course I care about what happens. What you guys do out there reflects on me. Why do you think I've sent you to the dragons in the first place? I wanted you outta my sight where you could no longer embarrass me,"
Toga stood up, slamming his foot into the wooden floors, splintering it in the process. Flames were spiraling around him. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" this was the first time Toga ever bared his teeth at his father.
Tawner was neither phased, nor moved in the slightest. His face remained stoic, and he stared at him like a child throwing a tantrum.
"What's wrong with me? I send you over there to toughen you boys up, and you come scurrying back a failure. You're even breaking my floors and throwing a fit. I don't know what they taught you over there, but if this is all that's changed, then I suppose the Dawnheart name will never go anywhere. I guess I should be impressed even one of you managed to come back,"
In one fell move, Toga launched at him, his greatsword summoned at his disposal. He swung it as hard as he could at his father.
Tawner lifted his hand and caught the blade between his thumb and index finger effortlessly. Toga was bearing down so hard on him the blade shook, but this didn't look like it affected him or his surroundings even a little. The chair he sat on wasn't broken, the floor or walls weren't damaged. Not only did Tawner block his attack, but he also managed to negate his force from any sort of blowback.
Tawner glared even harder. "You ungrateful little cretin. As your parent, I give you life and you return the favor with this?" He pushed him back causing Toga to fly into the opposite side of the room, crashing into the wall. "And now you've got me breaking my own house,"
Toga's back hurt like hell. The fact that he didn't launch through it with the power he displayed must've meant that his father held back. He still forced his way up.
"Did you even care about Nylo?" He was breathing hard already.
Tawner glared at him even longer. "Toga… what was you expecting coming back here?"
Toga leaned on his weapon for support. "To be honest, I don't even know the answer to that. What was I expecting coming here? I should have started my merging instead of coming to see you,"
For once this whole time Toga's been over here, Tawner showed somewhat of an expression. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Merging? Oh… I get it. I wondered why you bothered to see me. You thought that if I found out you were the next shining spirit of the Red Dogs, I'd think differently of you. On the contrary, now it means people will pay closer attention to your incompetence. Honestly, I feel sorry for our guardian. He'll realize what a disappointment he chose soon enough,"
Toga's eyes widened. No… he didn't come back to try and impress that bastard. He was done with those days. He realized long ago that nothing he ever did was good enough for this man. He thought even he should know how his own son died, but now he realized that he was giving him too much credit even in that regard. The man just didn't possess a heart like most people did. His family name was all he cared about.
"I should thank you then Tawner. You just made my departure that much easier," Toga said. He emphasized his father's name as there were no more need to give him the respect of addressing him as such anymore.
His lack of emotion, or a response to that was proof enough.
He left out of the room, and his mother was standing outside next to the wall. "And you wanted to come back why?" Toga asked.
She looked crestfallen. Surely, she must've heard everything through it. "I hoped that if you were a little older, the two of you could relate more. Maybe ya'll could reconcile,"
"Forget it mom. Reconciling with him means just taking his insults across the face. I'm done with him. I don't even know what you ever saw in him,"
"Toga I…"
"Enough mom! I've got my own path I want to follow," Toga said. There was no further reason to debate this. "At least with this, I've got the closure I needed to move forward. Do what you want. I won't need your protection anymore,"
He left without turning to look back at her. There was no need to look back. He was the shining spirit of the Red Dogs, and Nylo's avenger. It was better for him to have as few emotional ties as possible to focus on his goal.
Not to mention, he was free to help push Erika through the ranks.
He had few goals he needed to accomplish, but both goals seemed like an arduous tasks. Even the goal of saving Ryuma from the high council.
He froze once Ryuma popped into his head. Every time he thinks of Ryuma, he thinks back to the time he took a dive at the final moment and let him win. Suddenly, his father's words rung in his head again. The fact that he was such a disappointment.
He clenched his fist and continued walking. If only he could have gotten an answer, he wouldn't be stressing it, but why did he do it? It would often weigh on him. He pushed those thoughts to the side as best he could.
Walking through the town of Loil, he could see how much more developed, and it was than Rebble. There were Red Dogs everywhere. The color scheme of their faction was embedded everywhere in the town, to the common colors of non-priest, to the houses they lived in. Children here played as if they were already priests of the Red Dogs. A far more different atmosphere than Rebble.
At least there's one thing about this place I still love.
He found his way towards the Church of the Dogs. The place looked empty, with a lone priest in there, embroidered by their colors.
"Hello? I'm looking for pastor Lemdall," Toga said.
"Ahhh… you must be Toga Dawnheart. I'd heard news of your arrival as the new shining spirit for the Red Dogs. Apologies for the lack of a celebration. The news was all so sudden,"
Toga held his hand up. "No offense taken. I'd rather get it done like this anyway," Indeed, he'd rather not have a parade over this.
"Then please, right this way," The man guided him over towards an alter with the statue of a dog looming over it. "Please change into the wardrobe you'll find in that closet over there," He pointed.
Toga opened the closet, and it was big enough to use as a changing room. He stripped himself of his current priest clothes and slipped on the priest robes. Was this necessary for the merging, or was this just custom?
Toga didn't know, and kind of didn't care. Whatever got him through the merging. He came out, leaving his normal attire safely in a box and waited for his next instruction.
"Please, lie on the alter my boy,"
Toga looked at the stone alter and scrunched his face. Did this pastor really wanted him to lie on his back on such hard rock? He took a deep breath. Nothing could be done about it.
He got on the alter facing himself upwards. He saw the face of the man standing over him, as well as the Dog's statue leering down at him. He tried to shift himself a little to get as comfortable as he could.
"So like, after this I just wait a week, right?" Toga asked.
"No my boy, you don't have to wait at all. You'll be lit aflame, and it'll only be but a moment," Pastor Lemdall said.
"I'll be what!?" Toga asked. He panicked at what the priest told him. "I was told the merging was going to be for an entire week! What's this about lighting me on fire?" Before he knew it, his body was drowsy, too weak to even move, or put-up resistance.
"Shhhh… relax. The merging will be for a week, but you will be in slumber the entire time. It'll be but a fleeting moment for you, of dreams without end," Both caught on fire while Pastor Lemdall put his hand over his eyes.
Toga couldn't see anything but felt his eyes closing. Everything was going dark. He could feel his heartbeat slowing for some reason.
He had never felt the fear of slumber so much as he did today… it felt like, he'd never wake up from this. It felt like... death.