"Oi! Stop ignoring me, what are you even thinking about so hard that you can't hear me!", Akito's best friend, Anna, was currently shouting right in his face, in fact, she was his only friend.
She had found him wandering around the park aimlessly and had joined him expecting him to notice her and start a conversation. However, after walking next to him for the better part of 10 minutes she realised he was completely zoned out and walking around on autopilot.
"Oh, sorry I didn't notice you at all. I have a lot on my mind."
"No shit, that is plain to see. So, what's bothering you?"
"... I talked with my mother."
Anna was a bit shocked, "Hold on a sec, don't you have a good relationship with her? What happened?"
Akito gave her a weird look, "What are you talking about? I've always had a good relationship with her and still do."
"Then what could possibly be bothering you?", she had assumed that the cause of his never before seen behaviour after talking with his mother would have been a never before seen disagreement.
"…", Akito was not sure how much he should tell Anna. He didn't know whether saying anything to Anna would upset his siblings or his mother. "Let me make a quick call."
He took out his phone and called his mother, who picked up immediately.
"Hello, do you need anything Akito? Is it to do with the book I gave you, do you have some questions?", Reiko had said that she would give him any answers he wanted, and thought that he called her to ask her questions.
"Hey mother, I just ran into my friend while I was walking around the park and thinking… Can I tell her?"
"Hmm? I see… Well to be completely honest I don't really care if you tell her, it's your friend, I don't even know why you are asking."
"Well, it's not really only about me, will it bother Yuto and Chie?", Akito realised that his mother was unbothered by it completely, however, he was not sure whether his brother and sister would mind.
"I'm pretty sure they won't mind, and besides you are telling this to someone you can trust I guess. So just ask them to not spread it around, unless you want it spread around. Do what you want, just know some problems might arise from spreading it around too much", Reiko didn't really think that there would be any problems, but she didn't want Akito to think that spreading his identity as an immortal was a good idea. It can turn friends away and often cause people to be jealous, after all they are on a timer counting down to their eventual death, while he was not.
"Ok, thanks", he was relieved his mother didn't mind him telling Anna. He was sure she would keep it to herself so he wouldn't have to worry about it spreading.
After saying goodbye, he hung up and took a deep breath.
"Hmm where do I start…"
"Cut the suspense, what did you find out that could possibly be that shocking? Just spill it", Akito had a habit of pausing and thinking before telling a story, it really annoyed Anna. The unnecessary suspense would always bother her, it made her tense for, usually, no reason.
"I'm not human", he had briefly thought about how to break it to ger gradually, but then abandoned all that and just told her bluntly.
Anna immediately stopped walking and stared at Akito as if he had grown an extra pair of limbs, "What do you even mean you are not human? You are the most human-looking dude I know, what the fuck even are you then?!"
"I look human at the moment, from what I understand I had my soul sealed at birth so I am very much like a human right now. As to what I even am? I have no idea, my mother didn't tell me she just gave me a book, it covers a few details about races so I could probably make a guess based on what my family look like". He had seen what his mother and sister looked like in their non-mortal forms, or rather their natural forms. Based on that he could pretty much guess, at least he could guess his sister, his mother was a bit more complicated.
Anna was initially shocked, however, she got over it quickly, and was now incredibly curious. "So, what do you think you are then?"
"Well, my sister is a textbook vampire. It literally can't get closer to a description of a vampire, so I would think I am a vampire. At least that is till you consider what my mother looks like… I am pretty sure she is at least part devil, maybe part vampire as well. I'm not too sure, it's rather ambiguous". To be fair to Akito, his mother didn't fit into either category fully. She had red eyes, however, they weren't blood red, and they also had black cracks running through them. Blood-red eyes are characteristic of vampires, but her eyes weren't blood-red, instead they glowed like coals. The black cracks could also suggest she is a devil, the book said that devil's appearances can vary greatly, but the cracks were quite suggestive.
"So… Are you saying that you and Chie have a different dad maybe? Maybe she inherited her eyes after her father."
"It's definitely a possibility, after all I have never met my dad". This was not something that he had ever told Anna. He also didn't think much about it; it was just how things were and it never interested him too much.
"Huh? You have never met your dad? You haven't asked about him or anything?", Anna was quite surprised, if she was in his shoes she would have been curious about who her father was.
"Is that a bit strange? It never really interested me…"
They walked in silence for a while, Anna was busy digesting the new information and Akito was thinking about what to do next.
"I think I should ask my mother a few questions when I get back to my apartment", he wanted to know what he was, he was certain that he would not change no matter what. However, curiosity was gnawing at his brain.
"Oh, can I come with you? I am pretty curious."
Akito looked at Anna and she looked like a curious child, who was super excited about what would happen next in her favourite tv show. Since he would end up telling her anyways, he just decided to agree. He doubted it would bother his mother, if it did, he could just ask Anna to leave and tell her later.
******
Reiko had been busy since she came back to Earth, she picked up a few materials from her workshop as she wanted to make Akito a weapon, he would need one after he was unsealed, and she was going to train him so that he wouldn't have problems controlling himself. In the many years of her long life, she had mastered many things, although a few things simply didn't interest her enough to master them. She loved fighting and in the past even travelled from planet to planet seeking skilled fighters to test herself against. She had mastered pretty much every weapon that existed and also how to forge all of them, she had created many devastating and beautiful weapons over the years. Most of these weapons were in her home in Iris, however, a few had been scattered around while she had travelled. Some had been used to save countries, others had been worshipped and most were used to create seas of blood.
She had also forged weapons for Yuto and Chie, Chie had received a longsword and Yuto received a spear. Both of them were excellent weapons and the two siblings still used them to this day.
Of course, she planned to create such a weapon for Akito, so she had spent the last couple of hours looking for materials. Usually this would involve hunting down magic beasts and looking for metal deposits or perhaps a dragon's hoard, however, Reiko had a far easier way of getting materials.
When she had been helping Earth stabilise 30 thousand years ago she had created a Guild and recruited skilled fighters and magicians. This Guild would form groups and clear out magic beast nests near cities and sometimes in the wild, as a result they would have loads of materials in their warehouses. It also made Reiko an unfathomable amount of money over the years because good quality magical beast materials were extremely expensive. Guilds had a lot of power, both political and military power. They were the primary protectors of cities, governments had never fully gone back to the way they used to be, and the general populace relied on the existence of guilds. Reiko's Guild was the very oldest on Earth, there were ones that had been created before it but they had disbanded after the original creators had passed away.
Although she no longer did anything in relation to the guild, she was still the official Guildmaster, so she decided to just rummage through the warehouses.
'Let's see let's see... I think I will need some good metal and definitely, some hide... Maybe some sort of horn as well, wood will crack if Akito uses his full strength.'
A few hours later Reiko had found some useful materials and was left very satisfied. On the other hand, Anthony would be left with a headache after he found out someone had taken all of the highest quality metal and magic beast materials.
While she was getting materials she received a text from Akito, if she could then he would like her to come to his apartment and answer some questions. She quickly teleported to Iris with the materials and dumped them at her forge in Iris and then teleported directly to his apartment.