Chapter 282 - § EXCEPTION §

CHAPTER 028

It was past nine in the evening, the curfew of the town was carried out. Few people were walking on the roads but it was generally adults. Lamps on each pole of the alley were torched, the front lights of the dwelling's front yard were also illuminating the streets. Although no one patrols at night, the town was safe for everyone. 

Lena just finished writing her memorandum and reviewing her lesson plan for tomorrow and the rest of the week. Tidied her desk, planners, ink, and books back to their shelves. She broomed the floor, quickly dusted the rims of the cabinets. She returned the cleaning materials to their spots and walked to the door, she looked around and saw one of her feather pens slightly slanted. Unhurriedly, strode to her table and fixed the pen in its perfect position. Waddled back to the door, looked around for the last time. It was perfect. She briefly smiled before turning the light off. 

Sauntered to the living room, she saw Marcus sitting on his seat where she saw him every morning. It was a vintage wooden single divan with no cushions, he was sitting comfortably, cross legs, hand above his knees, and one resting at his jaw, elbow on the armrest. Head straight, eyes fixated on the door. Like a king waiting for someone's arrival. Yanarym is late? Lena thought. I heard she is having entertaining things happening to her these days; she turned to Marcus. Yanarym was the only reason why he would sit there and gawk at the door so patiently. If not, he would be in his room at this hour. 

"I'm going to sleep, are you still waiting for Rym to come home? You can let her be, maybe she's with friends." Lena said after turning off all the lights on the house. He didn't budge from his spot and remained to stare at the door. "Good night."

"It's not like you don't know your daughter," he replied late enough, Lena wasn't there to hear his response, even though he proceeded. "She doesn't have friends," his voice was austere, his eyes were stoic. 

Matteo. The first son of God. It was him. 

He came to this world with the main purpose of searching for her sister's soul that was constrained to a human body. After a few centuries, she was finally able to gather her spirit in a single mortal. All there was left to do was to release her, someone had to kill through piercing her heart with Attan's dagger—a blade made from solidified holy water—Azkin's human reincarnation. 

Azkin could not ascend if she was not killed before reaching thirty in human age. Her body had to die for her soul to be freed, for her to be reborn and come back to their home, to heaven. 

Before he descended, it was twenty years ago, heaven rejoiced when a prophecy came claiming that in two decades, Azkin would be awakened and would ascend home. God immediately called everyone to prepare for the comeback of his daughter, Azkin. 

Matteo, the eldest son, insisted on being the one who would deliver his sister. He knew that he wouldn't be able to find her unless she was awakened—her mortal reincarnation had to acknowledge she was Azkin, the goddess—nevertheless, Matteo descended to try searching.

In three months, Matteo had explored the entire town, met every single newborn baby. It was hopeless, he could not sense Azkin's soul from any of those weans. He suspected she was born somewhere else than the town, so in five years, he had been in exploration but he still wasn't able to pinpoint her location. 

The actuality was Matteo did not have to travel, nor be on an expedition to look for Azkin. The truth was after his search attempt he could return home as soon as was done. He could wait in heaven until her awakening, but he chose to remain in the human world. Because of one reason, one person, and that was Yanarym. 

The moment he arrived in Xleyl—when he was about to begin seeking Azkin's reincarnation. He found an abandoned infant instead, he thought that the newborn girl was his sister so he tried to detect Azkin's soul from her but there was nothing. He was about to leave her but the baby would begin crying whenever he attempted to leave her sight. Maybe, because he was the one who took care of Azkin from the moment she was born to the time when she already grew up to be such a fine lady. He saw that little human child as Azkin, he had grown empathy for the child. 

It had been a long time since the last time he held a small fragile thing in his arms, so he was terrified by the thought of carrying such a delicate creature as her. He remained just staring at her. After some mulling, he had decided that he could not leave her, but he could not bring her with him either. In the end, he gave her his protection. 

Then, he left her to search for Azkin all over the globe but he came back to where he started with nothing but disappointment. That was when five years later, he felt the protection he gave to the newborn girl he met upon arriving at Xleyl was fading. Unconsciously, he looked for that wean, and to his surprise, she was already old enough to walk, talk, and laugh. She was beautiful and dazzling. 

She was taken under the care of a woman, who was pretending to be a witch. They were living an average life as any human did. Unfortunately, like her adoptive mother, the infant who became an adorable child was one of those types of people who didn't have enough mana in them. She could not perform magic, she was a very ordinary girl with exceptional beauty. 

Matteo was watching her sleep, eat, and play. He was undeniably fond of the little girl, to the point that he stayed for weeks around her. Observing, adoring, and contemplating if he should renew his protection and bless her to alleviate her life as a human or leave her be with her fate. However, If he decided to bless her with his divine powers, when she died after living her life, her soul would find him. She would be marked as his person, her soul would be his. 

His brothers, especially Gilo, had many souls that had been endowed. Gilo told him that it would not harm anyone, the soul would simply become faithful to him. 

Months had passed, and she found him lurking around her. She was able to see him because she was still under his prowess. Although when she saw him, she ran away and was very frightened by his divine form. Out of curiosity, he made a human shell for him to utilize and approached the girl once again. Surprisingly, she became attached to him so quickly. Matteo was very pleased and feely adored her. He found himself coming back the next day to play with her, and that became a week, a month, then a year. 

The protection vanished after exactly six years of her birth, without his protection or blessing, he found out, her life would be miserable, she would die in tragedy. She would suffer from betrayal and deception of her loved ones, she would be isolated from her peers and the only person who took care of her would die because of her. 

Foreseeing her future, he was tormented. She was such an adorable child, why did she have to suffer such a thing? Again, he saw Azkin's through her. Despite not having Azkin's soul, Matteo cherished her. He gave her stronger protection and his blessing but felt that wasn't enough to counter her ill fate. He decided, instead of ascending back to heaven, he would rather stay and wait for Azkin's awakening and secure Yanarym's soul once she died. 

He discussed those facts with her adoptive mother, he also revealed his true identity and gave Lena some real leverage to be able to perform witchcraft and make a living for Yanarym. Matteo did not dawdle, he built his human form not to decay, and not age for thirty years. He lived under the same roof as her. Time went fast and the second decade hits the calendar. 

Matteo was known as Marcus and he travels around the world every two years for five months attempting to search for Azkin. He had been living a human life and taking care of Yanarym since then. But there were elements of life or death that even he couldn't handle. Her fate was transpiring, what he foresaw back when she was a child was commencing. 

Things would keep on unfolding the similar path he had in his vision.. That disheartened Matteo, he had fallen in love with her, the last thing he wanted to occur to his very eyes was her tedious fate.