"Do you think he"s going to come back?" Ma Lari stroked Anna"s hair as she thought of what would be best to tell the young lady.
"Did he say he would?"
Anna lowered her head "No." Soon her lips quivered, and the silver liquid coated her eyes before it flowed like a stream.
It"s been a day since he left, but to Anna, it felt like years. She wasn"t prepared to lose him, to no longer feel him, and listen to his hoa.r.s.e voice whenever he made the slightest noise.
Just when her life began to bloom, Orion had to leave. She didn"t know what to live for anymore.
"You remind me so much of my father." Anna turned to face the old lady, brow raised as she tried to comprehend the point Ma Lari was trying to make by comparing her to someone that must"ve died years ago.
"My mother was a beastman" Anna gawked "Ah— I see" She mulled over the possibility of Ma Lari knowing the truth about Orion.
"I"m aware he was a beastman." Instead of being distraught or terrified about it, she was surprisingly calm.
"How did you...?"
"The night you both were at the cottage...ahem" Anna blushed scarlet at the mention of that, and the old lady"s face carried a teasing grin at her abrupt reaction.
Ma lari continued to explain "His ears popped out before the door closed. From the start, I"ve been suspecting he was, but I didn"t want too nosy."
"How were you onto us?"
"I guessed." Anna"s face went blank at her unamusing answer.
"Well, truth is, I"m what you call a spell caster, and I think it"s normal for us to sense a beastman"s radiation" Anna"s ardent eyes broadened, and her fingers were interlocked "Sp—spell caster?"
"Yes." The disclosure of her race seldom pa.s.sed her lips. "There are many of us scattered around this world."
"You have magical abilities to detect?"
The old woman uttered a sigh at the misconceptions and a.s.sumptions that were caused by rumours.
"Detecting isn"t anything special to us. Whether a beastman alters into a human disguise, or if they conceal their magic. We"ll always know." She thought it was the right time to educate Anna about the truth of her kind.
"Spell casters are of a hybrid race. The s.e.xual union of a beastman and a human. Sometimes, you inherit those magic abilities, sometimes you don"t. You could take the beastman"s size, but not the powers. I didn"t inherit my mother"s powers. I personally think it depends on the magic level of a beastman. Most cases of taboo children with powers are of a beastmale parent, and a human woman. Sometimes the powers might fade off after that one spell caster, unless they mate with a beastman again."
"You were born here right? Because taboo children aren"t allowed to live on Sol?"
Ma Lari a.s.sented.
"I don"t know anything about my mother. My father never spoke of her probably because she didn"t want me, or maybe she was a wife to a Beastman somewhere, some place. I was given to him and he fled to earth. Back then, it was easier to escape through the portals, but ever since the mark of ownership came into place. A slave could be traced no matter where they run to."
Anna"s eyes darkened. Her mark was still active. She just hoped her master was dead or sick, or encountering something that would halt his quest for her. At least until Orion comes back.
"I now understand exactly why you all are hiding. Beastmen have inferiority complex. They don"t want to lose their position in Atela. That"s why they want to get rid of anything that stands to oppose their rule."
Anna got out of the bath, picked up a cloth and dried herself "the only beastman I"ll ever love is Orion. If more could be selfless like him, I might consider. But the fact remains that they"re cold-blooded. If they do anything to my beloved Orion, I"ll never forgive them" She held her hand out to ease the old lady of the struggle of getting out of the bath alone.
"So everyone apart from you are humans right?" Ma Lari nodded "I"m the last here, but I"m certainly not the last in this world."
Somewhere faraway, there are spell casters. Some good, some bad, and some with different explanations of their origins. They wanted to start a rebellion, but with the population of Sol, and the difference in their magical abilities, they thought it was best to wait for the right time.
There was an age long prophecy they believed in. They hoped that the one human who would make a difference would come sooner before they all go extinct, and earth would be doomed.