Emgroge looked at Muran, who could not use her powers again after the tenth attempt. Her powers were all gone, her ability to create ice balls had disappeared. Life seemed to be playing a cruel game on her.
"My powers, Muran!" she cried out as she tumbled everything in her room.
"Don't worry, Muran. I'm sure your powers will come back to you when the time is right. All you have to do is eat enough and sleep well," the doctor said after he gave Muran a full check-up.
"You said I shouldn't worry, but the annual contest is just a few months away. How can I compete if my ice is gone?" Muran cried, yelling at the physician.
"How is everything going? When will her powers be restored?" Emgroge asked the physician immediately after they left Muran's room.
"I'm sorry, but the person she fought with has absorbed her power. And whoever she fought with has a rare, the strongest power in the whole realm," the physician said.
"Is there anything that can be done to bring back her power?" Emgroge asked.
"I'm not sure, but the only thing I know is that she still has some power left. If she would just cultivate it, and the person she fought with has yet to discover their full potential," the physician said before leaving the mansion.
"Muna is an absorber, and she has been hiding her identity from all of us. The hen is not as useless as I thought," Emgroge said to himself as he turned to look at Muran, who was weeping bitterly on the floor.
"Your powers are still with you. All you have to do is cultivate them, and you will rise as the star you are," Emgroge said to Muran.
"Muran is the star that always holds more value, but Muna happened to be the moon, whose potential is often not acknowledged," Emgroge said to himself as he walked to Muna's chamber, somewhere not too far from their Kraker mansion, the abandoned property of the Kraker.
When he walked into the room, he saw a mat on the floor and the room was neatly arranged. What caught his attention were the set of books on the table.
All his children went to school, but due to his ignorance towards Muna and the shame she brought to their family name, he refused to send her to school, even when his wife, Glen, begged him on Muna's behalf. He turned a deaf ear to it.
He looked at the artwork on the wall, a beautiful painting of him and Glen. He couldn't help but feel like he was the worst father to Muna.
"Sir, we lost her," one of the guards said as he bowed his head in respect and disappointment.
"What do you mean you can't find her? I want my daughter found before daybreak!" Emgroge commanded as he waited for Muna to come back home.
It was already very late at night when Muna tiptoed into her room, only to see her father there. She was about to run out, but he stopped her in time.
"Muna," Emgroge called her name as he tried to touch her, but Muna subconsciously dodged his hands, reminding him of the days he used to slap her for everything she did wrong. He had no other option but to withdraw his hands from her.
"I want you to move into the Kraker mansion from tomorrow morning, Muna," Emgroge said before walking out of her room.
Even if he wanted to talk to Muna, their relationship status was more like that of strangers than a father and daughter.
From the way she looked at him, he could feel the distance between them, a void that couldn't be filled up within a day or two.
Muna looked at the disappearing figure of her father, now enclosed by the dark night. This was strange; her father didn't do anything to her, and he left without any word of insult.
This was her last night in this flirty place she called home. Muna packed all her belongings, and she was going to look for a life outside somewhere else where no one knew her.
The next morning, Emgroge ordered his servants to prepare all kinds of dishes. This was the first time in eleven years that his daughter Muna was going to step foot into his compound again.
Everything was set, but there was no sign of Muna in the mansion. Emgroge's eyes grew dim as he waited for Muna's arrival.
"Are you sure she would come to the mansion?" Emgroge asked his wife, Glen.
"I don't know," Glen replied rudely, as she remembered what Emgroge had done to Muna when she was just six years old.
"I'm not sure if she would come. Remember, she promised not to step foot into the mansion again," Glen said.
That's when Emgroge remembered what he had done to her.
It was during the rainy season, when the rains were falling heavily. After the last test was done on Muna, and it still showed that she was born without superpowers, he looked at her with hatred.
He was very ashamed of her whenever he saw her. She was a disgrace to his name and status in the community. Keeping her close to the rest of his children would bring him nothing but pain if they stopped cultivating just to please Muna.
He decided to send her into exile, and he could remember the rain was very heavy that night. A six-year-old, alone in an abandoned property with no good bed and a leaking roof.
His wife begged him to lift the punishment, but due to his stubbornness and ego, he refused.