With the words he said, Ethan's head went up. His father was a forbidden topic, it has been that way since he was young. Although he knew his father was killed he never knew how. Also never had anything related to his father.
"What do you mean... you are my father's friend?"
"Yes..." Edward nodded.
"A real friend of my father?"
"Yes." Edward responded affirmatively.
This made no sense to Ethan, he raised his chin and scrunched up his eyes at the one arm man.
"If you truly are my father's friend like you insist, why have I never seen you before? Your friend died, so you just not care about his wife and son and just go on living your life."
Edward heaved a sigh.
"Your mother didn't exactly make it easy to find you. Since she was running away from Galgunther's men, I figured I should be careful and just follow their traces. I didn't want to give away both of you by my mistakes. I had to be very careful."
His words didn't tally with anything in Ethan's mind. The only part Ethan could make sense of was the talk about his mother not making it easy to find them. After all they were always moving from city to city.
But Galgunther's men? Give both of them away, having to be very careful when all you just had to do was check up on your friend's son?
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Edward's eyes widened.
"Oh...no."
"What?"
"She kept you in the dark about all of these...?"
"All of what?" Raith was very confused but he wasn't shocked to find out that they was an underlying matter to this whole thing.
All his life he had been living like a wanted criminal, running from city to city. He would be surprised if there was no underlying matter to it.
Edward covered his mouth. This was a great mess. He never thought Emilia would put the boy in the dark throughout the whole time.
'How then did she manage to give him excuse anytime they wanted to move...'
He knew Emilia very well, even before she and Lance got engaged. Even though she was hailed as a wonder woman, Emilia was a very cold woman at heart. She thought to little of people's opinion and would prefer to just do everything all on her own, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
But after meeting a kind and warm hearted man like Lance, she changed over time. With Lance out of her life she might have been cold several times, plus this was parenting. It's a whole new turf for her.
'She must probably would have demanded that the boy moves by force and she'd probably regret after doing it and apologize with a hearty meal...'
She didn't exactly always say sorry, but Edward and Lance had come to understand her over time.
A smile curved up Edward's lips as he was reminded of the old memories.
"What is funny?" Ethan inquired, his tone was beginning to vibrate with rage.
"Calm down kiddo... apparently we have a long place to go so I will pick up slowly till we cover the major part of this story. Follow me."
He said and turned back, heading towards the stairs that led them down, after reaching down.
They went into an elevator and were transported to the lower floor.
As the elevator came to a stop and opened, what unveiled before Ethan's eyes was a marvel.
The underground chamber was vast, its walls constructed of sleek metallic alloys that glint in the soft, artificial lighting.
The ceiling was high, giving a cathedral-like quality to the space, and the room seems to stretch on endlessly. The metallic surfaces were adorned with uncommon patterns of circuitry and pulsating bioluminescent veins, creating an eerie yet mesmerizing atmosphere.
Ethan had not gone deep into the laboratory yet he was already mesmerized by the things he was seeing.
'What in the world is this place?'
His mind beckoned for an answer.
The laboratory was populated with biomechanical creations beyond his imagination.
Rows of towering, humanoid robots stood in various stages of assembly, their metal skeletons exposed, wires and cables intricately woven into their artificial musculature. Each robot was a testament to the fusion of biology and machinery, with synthetic skin-like coverings and lifelike facial features.
It made Ethan's memory juggle back to the robot maid he had encounter a few minutes ago. That compared to these ones. There was only one name for it. Junk!
"Hey, I know this is amazing but that is not the point of bringing you here. Ethan."
Ethan tilted his head, "How do you know my name?"
"Because that is why your father has always wanted to name you."
His words were a confirmation of his relationship with Ethan's father. Now, all that was left was a clarification for this confusion that was rummaging inside him.
"The things I'm about to say are going to sound very strange and unreal but when you are about to doubt me... start by looking at yourself. You were probably four feet five days ago but now you've grown over six feet, in just five days."
Ethan looked at himself, the man was right.
"Speak..."
"You are from a lineage of the strongest awakened on earth. And you have the potential to become the strongest awakened on earth."