A few days later, Uncle Winter had his funeral with Star covering all the expenses as promised. But it was surprising to Drew that the size of the funeral was rather large. There were over two hundred people, from the kitchen staff to the random students who were regulars in the cafeteria, even Star's Dean, Milford Schnee, an S-Rank Genetic Warrior attended. But why would the headmaster attend the funeral of someone who works in a soup kitchen? What secrets was Uncle Winter hiding?
He didn't know what to think of the funeral. There were feelings of anger, sadness, resentment, remorse but Drew couldn't pick one as he just stared at casket where Uncle Winter rested. Taking one more glimpse of the Uncle who took care of him for the past few months, Drew secretly clenched his fist. Finally, Drew figured out how he felt. Powerless. He couldn't do anything. If only he were stronger, he could have prevented this from happening or even delayed his death. What a lofty thought! He exclaimed to himself. How could he have predicted this? He doesn't even know why the Assassin wanted this Uncle dead! But it would only be later down the line, that the reason wasn't as simple as he thought it was.
The church bells rang. It was one o'clock and the gravediggers began to lower Uncle Winter's marble coffin into the hollowed-out ground. The clouds overhead growing darker with each passing second. It was going to rain soon.
The reception would begin in a few minutes, similarly to everyone else, Drew decided that he would head back to the church. Sauntering down the paved path in the cemetery, Drew began to reminisce about the time he spent with Uncle Winter. The day he begged to help Drew and a job in the soup kitchen fresh out of Compulsory Education, the days he brought him to work, the day he died, all of them played in his mind like a tape recorder on repeat. Fast foward. Fast back. He was immersed in his thoughts when suddenly, a hand pats him on the back. Craning his neck, Drew found a middle-aged man with a similar face as that of Uncle Winter's. It was like he was his doppelganger except for the fact that he has somewhat of an unproportional build. The man's face showed some traces of sadness. His aqua eyes welled up with tears and his unkempt orange hair showed signs of stress. His black tie was loosely hanging off his neck, his suit coat unbuttoned revealing his slightly plump abdomen. Drew recognized him. He was the man sitting in the VIP section along with Drew and the soup kitchen staff.
"Pardon," he began, "you must be Drew Li."
He nodded.
"Yes," Drew replied.
The man held out his hand.
"Mathis Ryhard."
Timidly, Drew shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Ryhard."
"Nice to meet you too," he chuckled, "also, don't call me mister. Just call me Uncle Ryhard after all, Winter and I were good friends. What he knew, I knew too."
Drew nodded.
"Okay, then Uncle Ryhard."
"You don't have to be shy, a friend of Linus is a friend of mine too." He smiled leading drew down the cemetery.
"So what's you're relationship with Linus, kid?"
"He was like a father to me," Drew gave a solemn expression, "he offered me a job straight out of Compulsory Education half a year ago. I'm an orphan so I had no means of supporting myself once the government stops sending me money when I turned seventeen. It's strange that I'm telling this to someone I've never met until today. You?"
Ryhard sighed.
"Let's just say that him and I are brothers*. I owe him my life."
*Note: When Ryhard says 'brothers' he doesn't mean that he and Winter are related. 'Brother' is a term used to refer to someone who is a good/close friend.
"If that's the case, he probably did something that you will never forget."
"Yeah," He sighed once more glancing up at the cloudy sky, "he was a reckless man in our younger days. It's a shame that he passed away like this. He's now up there with him and I'm the only one left living."
"Him?" Drew muttered.
"Ah," Ryhard shot up straight. He continued.
"I guess he never told anyone but you deserve to know."
"Know what?" Dre cocked his head.
"His last name is not Winter. It's actually Griffin, Linus Reeves Griffin. That man, can't believe he took his last name for all those years."
"His?"
"It's best if I don't mention his name. You'll know who he is...soon."
From the tone of his voice, Drew decided to place that thought on the backburner as he knew, if he knew, if he asked, he could be killed for it. Just like Uncle Winter.
>>>
The day after the funeral, a lawyer from the Ozwarth Law Firm came to Drew's home with a package that was addressed to him from Uncle Winter. Of course, he didn't remember the lawyer's appearance since he's not an important character in this story. On top of that package, was a letter addressed to Drew as well. The lawyer told him that these were part of Uncle Winter's will and that he should read them after he's delivered it to him. As instructed, Drew opened the letter while the lawyer took his leave placing the package down next to the unopened Buddha box and the shutoff supercomputer. Unfolding the pages, Drew recognized Uncle Winter's The contents of the letter shocked him to the core.
Hello Drew,
If you are reading this letter, that means I'm already dead. Knowing your nature, you probably haven't opened the Buddha box or the supercomputer, good. What I am going to tell you next is in regards to your past. Ryhard probably hinted at somethings before so this will be a bit of a recap. My name is not Linus Winter but Linus Reeves Griffin. I was a Genetic Warrior for the Orion Alliance for ten years before I retired. More specifically, I was a Lieutenant General of the Star Military Fleet along with Ryhard and the person who we worked under was your father.
At that moment, Drew got vibes from a certain intergalactic movie series then he continued reading.
Your father, Gareth, was a General of the Star Military, a war hero renowned by all. He was the man Ryhard and I admired the most in our younger days. Your father was the heir to the Winter family, a family of powerful Snowhawks from Planet Xolk, many light years away from Kraus. You may have learned the Snowhawks are a race of shapeshifters that can transform from human to hawk at will. They also have a high affinity for both wind and ice Otrio due to their bloodline. Your father was one of them and as for you, you are mixed blood. Mixed between Snowhawk and a Nightengale, a race derived from the Snowhawk bloodline known to be able to change their hair, eye, and skin color, perfect for assassination. I don't know much about your mother except for the fact that she defected from her clan many years before joining Star. Anyways, they fell in love and gave birth to you, Drew, or should I say Aaron Night de Winter.
Because you were born a mixed blood of the two great races from Xolk, you essentially inherited both races' traits thus making both families fight over you. A war broke out between both families, it ended in a stalemate with both families wiping out each other completely, your mother and father in the process too. However, prior, other parties found out about your existence. So not only did your parents have to fight their own families, they had to fight with other parties who wanted your power. A few months into this mess, your parents handed you off to me and Ryhard. They sealed your bloodline and told me to flee with Ryhard to Kraus along with their will which is the package you just received from the lawyer. I do not know the details of their will except for the fact that they wanted me to give it to you along with my own. Let's move on. You are probably wondering how to unseal your bloodline. It's rather simple but it will take some time to fully unlock it. Ryhard knows more about it than I do but I can tell you that once you become an F-Class genetic warrior, one of the seals will unlock. As for what you should do next, head over to Ryhard's place, the address is on the last page of this letter, the paperwork for your adoption has been filled out. Now, why didn't I do this earlier? The other parties knew of me but not of Ryhard, for some strange reason. They knew I took you away from Xolk that day and ran to Kraus. If I did the paperwork any earlier, they would have gotten suspicious and gone after Ryhard then you. I didn't want that. So I used myself as bait since once they had me dead, you would be in the clear and so would Ryhard. That's why I put the paperwork in the will.
All that was left was to let the curtains fall. I knew they were coming for me so I set up some fake information and conversations in regards to your whereabouts but by the time they find out the information was fake, I will already be dead. Pretty stupid of them to kill me before they even verified the information but it worked out in the end. Now that I am, you are free and I will tell you, do not try to take revenge for me (I can't guarantee that). However, I will tell you that if you want to find out more information about the groups who targeted you, join the Scorpion Horde.
Drew began to wonder, Why the frick is Uncle Winter sending me to the people who killed him?
The Scorpion Horde is an organization of contracted assassins. They hold no grudges against anyone and only kill as instructed, they're neutral. The Horde also serves as info brokers but you can only access that information if you pay a high price or become a high ranking member.
Read carefully, this are my final instructions to you:
- Go to Uncle Ryhard's place once you've become an F-Class Genetic Warrior (I have a high-quality genetic medicine for you in the Buddha box) and hand him the paperwork. His address is:
6743 Glass Rd.
Ozwarth, KR
- Enter Star Military Academy as a student and study there.
- Reach C-Class and join the Scorpion Horde. You deserve to know more about your past.
- Don't try to get revenge for me. I've lived long enough and now that your safe, my debt to your family has been paid off. Although I can't say that you will follow this one.
One last thing. Use the program installed in my communication device to track your progress. I hope you become stronger. Your parents and I are watching. Make us proud.
Yours Truly,
Uncle Winter
Once finished, Drew folded the letter and place it neatly back into its envelope. To be completely honest, Drew was not really surprised about some of the contents. He had a hunch Uncle Winter was hiding something like this but he did not know how much. What really shocked Drew was the fact that Uncle Winter knew his parents and that his parents were killed in some freak conflict just because he was born. Even worse, just because he was born there is some ridiculous hysteria amongst many unknown powers that only want him for his powers which he hadn't even awakened yet. In fact, this whole conflict was just laughable to Drew. It was almost as humorous as the movie where a man killed everyone just because his dog died, but this was no laughing matter. It was real and it had just ended the moment Uncle Winter died and because of this matter, many others have died as well, including his parents. To be more precise, it had ended for them but not for Drew.
Placing down the letter, Drew opened the package, ripping the clear tape from the top. Inside was a blue messenger hat, a photo album, a small leather waist pouch with a silver box, a silver cuff earring with a small core, and another letter. Drew put on the hat. It was made out of some kind of reinforced fabric. Flipping the hat over, there was something embroidered on its underside in black. It was his father's name Gareth Winter. Put on the hat, Drew took a look at himself in the mirror. The hat suited him perfectly. Next, Drew approached the photo album. It was a thin binder with a leather cover that wrote: "To our Son". Opening the photo album, Drew saw pictures of a tall man with Dark blue hair wearing Star's blue military uniform which was decorated with silver medals. He was rather handsome. To the bottom right of the picture, Drew saw a date. March 25, 0456 IE. That was three months before he was born. In the same image, Drew spotted a beautiful pale skinned lady with flowing gree hair. She wore a similar military uniform, her stomach protruding a little, and was about a head shorter than the man. They were both smiling. Drew immediately knew that these people were his parents. His face curled into a little smile. Flipping through the photo album skimming the images of his parents, Drew came across another photo in which his parents were holding something in their arms. It was a child with sky blue hair wrapped in a blanket. The child's eyes were closed, Drew laughed. That was him. Looking at the bottom right corner, Drew found another date. April 14th, 0457 IE. He was almost 9 months old. Drew touched the image, imagining his parents. Their joy. Their sadness. Their love for him. After staring at the image a little longer, Drew flipped the page a realized he had reached the end.
Closing the photo album, Drew made his way over to the leather waist pouch. It looked like and ordinary pouch but on the inside, it contained a silver box the size of a portable camera with a glowing green core in the center. Pressing the core, Drew felt a small needle prick his pointer finger. A drop of crimson blood fell onto the core and began the shine even brighter. Drew flinched, falling right on his bottom as he watched the silver box expand from the size of a small camera to the size of his futon within seconds. It had grown a hundredfold.
"New User has been registered," the box said in a robotic female voice, "Welcome, Aaron Night de Winter."
Author sees plot hole, acknowledges plot hole, ignores plot hole.
Sorry about that I’m a procrastinator but I’m trying to fix it.