Ry's pov
Brother Zen started to shoot his arrows again but Uncle Spot called me over so we could look at other things inside the chest. I called brother Zen as well but it looked like his love for the bow had made him forget about the chest.
I and Uncle Spot looked into the remaining items in the chest. There was a cylindrically shaped item mounted with a transparent crystal. It looked cool but I was confused looking at it, So I asked Uncle Spot about it
"Uncle Spot, What is that?"
"I think it's a guard that covers your forearm, Maybe" answered Uncle Spot.
Uncle Spot picked the arm guard and looked at it for some time with different angles and said
"I think it is damaged or out of power cause it's not showing any kind of reaction. So, Let's put it inside the chest and show it to a technician later."
Brother Zen suddenly fired an arrow so far away that it was barely visible.
"Uncle Spot, I think my arrow didn't break this time." he closed his eyes to track and check his soul arrow and said.
"It looks like that. Let go and check it out then," suggested Uncle Spot.
"Alright, Let's go Ry," said Brother Zen but I just shook my head as I had other plans.
"Why?" asked Uncle Spot
I told him that I was not coming that far away walking on sand as it was difficult for me to walk with my tired little feet. Uncle Spot suggested that he will carry me but I just declined his offer. As they knew they could not persuade me they left me and went to look for the arrow.
As I saw their figure becoming smaller and smaller like a blemish in the red Desert,
My plan kicked in, To check out the chest and other things in the glider bike's storage.
I opened up the chest and picked up the arm guard. It was not heavy at all and was kinda soft to the touch but was hard as well. I put my arm inside it but it was way too big for my thin forearm. But I thought that it still looked cool. I looked at the Hexagonal Box as well but before I could pick it up, the arm guard started shrinking and covered my forearm, before I could even notice it got intact.
I tried to shake it off but it did not help. I put my forearm between my feet to use my whole body and tried to remove it in all different ways but it did not help. I thought maybe some water might help so I poured some water on it but it did not help.
I got scared thinking that I was in danger and tears started to flow down my eyes. I started to run towards the direction Uncle Spot and Zen went but I felt the warm touch of the wind on my forehead which calmed me down. Then I touched my forehead and felt the presence of Vay. She then embraced me and assured me that everything was alright and I didn't need to feel scared.
"It's alright, Ry. Don't be scared. I am here with you."
Hearing her voice made my fear evaporate like water does under the scorching heat of the sun. I asked her to help me remove this thing from my arm.
"Vay, Help me remove it from my arm."
But the answer I got was not something I expected from Vay.
"Sorry, Ry. But I can't do that," said Vay.
"Why can't you do that? I am scared of this thing" I asked her with tears in my eyes.
"Because it is Bracer of Itra," said Vay.
I saw the expression of happiness and pride but a hint of sadness as well in Vay's eyes as she spoke. I was sure this was not a dream. I calmed myself and asked her, "Why does that matter?"
Vay said " This has part of my brother's soul in it, Itra was the god of lightning and thunder.
This bracer has now bonded with you, so I can remove it. But no need to be scared of it as it will give you unimaginable power."
"Did you know about this before it bonded with me?" I questioned her.
"Yes, I did. I arrived here to protect the bracer until it found someone worthy of it," answered Vay.
"So am I worthy?" I asked her this question as I did not feel worthy enough to wield it.
"I sensed that you are worthy of my blessing but I did not know that my brother would also choose you as his wielder," Vay said with astonishment.
"So does that mean I will be able to use wind and lightning?" My eyes sparked as I asked her this question.
"You should be able to do more than that" Vay said but this only filled me with more questions as to what more I will be able to do. Maybe seeing my confused face, she continued to explain further.
"I don't know how much power you can draw from the bracer as it depends on the user but the blessing I gave you wasn't an ordinary one," said Vay but she looked a little bit embarrassed when saying it.
"What happened Vay? Why are you embarrassed to say this?" I asked her but in the back of my mind, I thought of the possibility that Vay was embarrassed to give her blessing to me but I also remember that she told me that she wasn't good at conversations. So maybe that's the reason for her bashful attitude.
"People may call beings like me Gods but we are not that different from other mortal beings like Humans. We are the personification of the elements we represent. We feel sorrow, happiness, pain, hatred and love as well.
But we are not supposed to go against the basic nature that we are made of, like I can't help but blow wind to see the trees and grass move and blow people's hats and clothes with the wind. Well this is a harmless example but you can understand right?" said Vay but her embarrassment did not decrease at all.
So as I noticed that she still hasn't answered my question I asked her once again
" So Why are you embarrassed? Am I not worthy of your blessing?"
"It's not that, Ry. I didn't give you the blessing of a devotee but something different" Vay held my hands and answered quickly.
"I told you that beings like me are not different from you right," said Vay.
"Yes, you said that just now," I answered her as she looked into my eyes. This made me notice her eyes had a little bit of a whitish tint to them.
"For so many years I have flown alone in the galaxy. But last night, when we flew together, you became my friend. I had never in my immortal life met someone who I can be so carefree with. When it was time for me to leave, I just could not bear to do that. I was completely smitten by you Ry." Vay's expression was something I had never seen before, Her eyes were filled with something I couldn't describe at all.
Vay did not stop yet as she hugged me and whispered into my ears " I shared my immortality with you so that you can be my partner forever ".
"What's there to be embarrassed about, Vay?" I couldn't understand her reason to be embarrassed.
"You will understand in the future when you come of age, So can we not talk about it until that time, Ry," asked Vay with a stern yet bashful look on her face.
Before I could ask her more about it, She put her hand on my mouth and stopped me from speaking and said "Sleep for now Ry."
As soon as her voice stopped she vanished and I lost consciousness.
Uncle Spot's pov
I and Zen had ventured far ahead in search of the arrow, leaving Ry to handle his quest back at camp.
"Do you think it was a good idea to leave him alone, Uncle Spot?" asked Zen, concern evident in his voice.
"Don't worry, Zen. The place in the Red Desert is the safest place for him. He might be going wild with the glider bike's storage by now, hehe," I reassured with a smile but I could still see concern on his face.
Seeing the concerned expression on his face I told him that I had set a safety perimeter around our campsite. Only then did he ease his face. But then he asked me something else.
"Is there no problem with him going through the storage?" Zen inquired.
"Well, there isn't anything dangerous inside the storage. And didn't you say that he is knowledgeable about things like that?" I responded remembering our prior conversation during the journey.
"He might have learned about it but I can't help but worry," Zen replied and looked back in the direction of the camp.
"Sometimes you need to trust others, Zen. If you live your life worrying all the time, when will you have fun at all?" I replied to him as I noticed that he might be overprotective of his brother but then again they have still not overcome the tragedy.
"Okay, Uncle Spot." He replied to me but then the atmosphere between us became tense as I didn't know how to keep on the conversation and Zen isn't the one to ask questions like Ry.
Before there was Ry that made the atmosphere so that there is no awkwardness but now that it's just the two of us, you could hear the silence as well.
But it might also be the lack of trust he has in me as I am still a stranger in his eyes who came into their life just a week ago.
So I thought of things that might interest him but unlike Ry whose face tells his whole story, Zen's face and expression might as well make him the best poker player.
But then I thought that maybe he might be interested in the life of his father.
"Do you wanna know how your father was when he was young?" I asked him this question because that's the best I could do as I am not someone who has handled kids before.
But as soon as I asked him this question, Zen looked me straight in the eyes which he hadn't done since we met.
"How was he?" Zen asked.
"Well, How can I describe him? Well first of all he was the smart one between the two of us.
He could make these big intricate plans that I couldn't even remember at all. We accomplished many things because of his planning. If we had continued on that path we would have been either very rich or dead" I am reminded of the days that I spent with Sam.
"What did you two do, Uncle Spot?" He asked me to tell him more about the days when we used to do petty crimes.
"Well, first of all, we were criminals, that's how you could describe the work we did back then.
Stealing, vandalising, just being the pain in the ass to everyone we didn't like." I was a little embarrassed about telling him about my dirty past but the more I told him the more curious he became.
"This is the first time I am hearing about it. All I knew was that my father used to be a Slave Smuggler," asked Zen as this was the first he had heard of his dad's past.
"Who told you that Sam was a smuggler? First of all, Sam was not a Smuggler. He set people free of their unfair service of slavery, Okay. He was an activist and a good one at that." I got annoyed that my brother's son didn't know my brother's good work and had become a petty smuggler in his eyes.
"Dad himself told me that he was a smuggler" Zen's innocent answer caught me off guard. As I did not understand why Sam would describe himself like that to his son.
Sam was really smart and I could never really understand what he was thinking. But maybe Sam did not want his son to go down his path or maybe he did not want his son to think that doing good would only lead to suffering.
"Well he had reasons to say that but remember that your dad was a good man" I made sure that he remembers this because I don't know the reason behind Sam's lie but I did not want to tarnish Sam's name.
"I always believed that my father was a good man 'cause mother always used to say that," Zen said with absolute belief in his eyes. Hearing him say that made me a little relieved.
"So when did you stop the petty crimes?" Said Zen with a curious look on his face.
"So you want to know more about our dark past, huh.?" I said with a gleefully comical smile on my face.
"If you don't want to tell me that's okay as well" My smile had the opposite effect than what I wanted as Zen had become dejected. Maybe he thought that I was seriously considering not telling him about my past.
"No, No, it's ok. I was just joking. I can tell you everything that you ask me. I will even tell you about things you did not ask as well." I tried to recover from the situation.
"Okay, Uncle Spot. I didn't know that you were joking," he replied, making me relieved by the fact that he wasn't hurt by my stupid attempt at making the air fun. So I moved on with telling him about our past.
"So when we were doing our usual stealing gig, We were single-handedly caught by your mother," I remember my shameful state that day.
"Mother did that!" said a surprised Zen.
"Yeah! Your mother was really powerful. But you see she was outsmarted by your father." I replied.
"How did he outsmart her? Because mother was always the dominant one in the household." Zen reminisced about his days living with his family.
"Well, We were supposed to only steal the cargo she was guarding but that's when she caught us. So she made us her prisoner for like a month as she was on the journey to deliver the cargo but the thief, who was your father, had already stolen something." I couldn't help but laugh while telling about her past.
But Zen looked a little confused. So he asked, "How did you steal when you were already caught."
I just could not stop laughing thinking about that time. And replied
"Well, Sam stole her heart"
"How was she alive then when father stole her heart?" Zen asked as he was devoid of knowledge in this field.
Hearing him say that just made me fall laughing like I was affected by the laughing serum that the crazy people in the capitol do. Seeing my condition Zen was absolutely confused and flabbergasted
"What happened to Uncle Spot? Why did you fall?" He asked with a concerned look.
I controlled myself then said "First of all you need to be taught a little bit about romance. By stealing her heart, it does not mean her actual heart that pumps blood in your body.
It just means that your mother was smitten by your father."
Maybe he did not understand but he might in the future when he goes through this experience himself, So I continued the story.
"So after spending the whole month as her prisoner, We had reached the spaceport of Shai, So we asked her to let us go and forgive us but she was adamant about handing us to the authorities," I said we had a tense look to go with the current situation in the story.
"What happened then?" Zen's curiosity has reached its peak now.
"Well, I asked Eliza that I will give her all the credits as compensation but your father had another idea." I acted just like I did in the story.
"What did father do?" said Zen.
"Well, He confessed his love for her in front of everyone on the Spaceport. My soul had left my body when I heard him say that. I thought that we were going to jail for a long time but" I stopped on purpose to see Zen's reaction.
"Why did he do that? Wasn't my father supposed to be smart? What happened next?" He asked with unyielding curiosity and wonder.
"Well, It worked actually. Eliza was taken aback for a moment which allowed us to escape from her clutches" I said.
"That's it. What about the stolen heart then?" He replied with a voice filled with confusion.
"There was no stolen heart. I said it figuratively." I was annoyed that he was still stuck on that part.
"She kept on following us saying that she will catch us and put us in jail and that she will kill Sam." I continued.
"Well, I will tell the rest of the story later as we have reached our goal," I said pointing at the arrow below our feet.
"Ok," A letdown Zen replied.
I told him to pick up the arrow and absorb it back just the way he created it just in reverse.
"So pick the arrow and absorb back your soul energy. This will help you recover a little bit of soul energy back but this can only happen when your arrow is undamaged."
"Okay, Uncle Spot." He picked up the arrow and in a couple of seconds the arrow vanished into thin air.
"I did it." He said with a smile on his face. The smile told me that he was comfortable being with me.
"That's good. So let's head back, Shall we." I said and saw Zen nodding in approval.
When we reached the campsite, We saw that Ry was lying unconscious and my heart was filled with dread.