Chapter 21 : Family Tragedy!

Three pairs of eyes snapped their attention to the old man who was still standing on the entrance of the room. It was really an unexpected question that was thrown by him.

Halilintar frowned at him, "Never heard of it."

The old man shut his lips as fast as a lightning struck down to the earth. He didn't mean to suddenly blurted out those question. Well, rice has become porridge, he couldn't take it back into his mouth.

"Grandpa! I thought that we would keep it as a secret from the outsiders!" Rama shouted.

The old man glared at him, telling Rama to stop shouting. He diverted his attention back to the two elementals.

"It was a really famous story to every aliens living here. If you are ever wondering about how can such an advanced planet like Umbra turned into a dying planet, this story will explain everything."

Spark of interest bloomed in Gempa's eyes as he beckoned the old man to continue.

"Long time ago..."

FLASHBACK~

"Papa!" A little girl ran excitedly while spreading her arms wide to the lone male standing on a wide grassy field.

"Careful, my little princess." The father caught his daughter and rose her up to the air. The girl giggled happily as she flapped her hands as if she was flying.

The sun shone down on them at an angel that made her arms were really looked like one pair of wings flapping behind her. Her eyes brightened immediately when she caught two people walking to them from distance.

"Mama! Brother! Look! Rona is flying!" She yelled as she spread her arms wider.

The father laughed at his daughter cheery voice. His eyes glinted with happines as he stared at his daughter smiling face. Seeing that sweet, innocent, and adorable face smiling without any burden caused his shoulders to relaxed slightly and a grin of his own to stretched on his lips.

"Father! Me too! I wanna fly high like Rona too!" Ronien rose his arms up in the air, a silent gesture for the father to also pick him up.

The father looked down and huffed an amused laugh. He put Rona on his shoulders and bent down to pick his eldest child to the sky.

Ronien giggled, "Woahaha! It's so high! I can see our village from here! Hahaha, I'm a superhero!"

"Yes, yes you are." The father said as they laughed together under the orange sky casted by the setting sun.

Watching such a sweet scene, the mother looked at their happy figures with unreadable gaze before smiling enigmatically.

But, like what people said, happines won't last long.

The siblings stood next to each other. Not caring to their surrounding as their only focused was to the figure covered in blanket from head to toes.

They were playing together in their room when they received such news from their neighbour.

"Ma'am! Mr.Redrick was found dead in the forest!" He shouted with despair clearly written on his face.

The mother only stood frozen on her place with straight face. Apparently, she was too surprised by the man sudden appearance on her house door rather than the news. She faintly heard the door to her children bedroom open and little footsteps ran to the entrance.

"Father.. is what...?" Ronien choked out.

The mother realized that her children heard the news brought by the man, so she quickly acted as if she was surprised. She widened her eyes as she covered her mouth with her hand. She purposedly made her legs looked numb and staggering as if it couldn't keep up with her weight and finally fell to the floor.

"No.. no! Please my husband..! He's not dead! He can't be! You lied!" She screamed while pointing accusing finger at the man.

The man looked surprised at her sudden hystherical screamed. He came near her and anxiously tried to calmed her down. He patted her back as she cried on the floor.

Ronien stood still on his place. His face was emotionless due to the unstable emotions flashing on his mind.

His father is dead? No, that's impossible. His father was fine before he walked out from this house. All smiling and patting him and Rona's head before going out to do his job as a technician.

"Brother? What happens to papa?" Rona tugged her older brother's sleeved and asked.

She saw how the man suddenly shouted about her papa. Saw how her mother tumbled to the floor as if her legs couldn't support her weight. Saw how her brother just stood beside her with emotionless face as if he was a puppet, waiting for its master to control it.

Ronien snapped out from his though and looked down to stare at his little sister big innocent eyes. Immediately, he felt a pang on his heart. How should he explain that their father was dead and he won't come home to play with them anymore?

Ronien crouched down. And after a few seconds of contemplating, he choosed to wrapped his arms around his little sister figure, and hold her tight.

And then, he felt his sister's small arms also wrapped around him to hold him tight. His eyes burnt and his eyesight became blurry. Ronien clenched his jaw tightly to suppresed any noise from his mouth.

"There, there, brother..."

Rona patted his brother's back upon feeling his shoulders trembled. Faintly, she also heard a choked noise coming out from her brother mouth beside her ear.

Ronien tightened his hug once he felt his little sister patted his back in a calming manner. He couldn't help but to muttered 'I'm sorry' countless time.

Rona was really confused with her brother sudden apologies, yet she kept shushing him as she pat his back. Their mother and the man were long forgotten as the siblings focused on comforting the other.

Day passed filled with cries of the siblings and the hystherical cries from the mother until the father was buried.

Days passed, their mother left them to find another man and get married for money.

Month passed, Rona was always sick. Her body was really thin and fragile. Sometimes, Ronien was too afraid to hold her because of how fragile she looked. However, she always maintained her sweet smile whenever she looked up at her brother.

Another months passed and the sister died from malnourishment. Her immunity was too weak to keep holding on in such a cold weather. That day, rain heavily poured down, muffling the broken cries from the older brother.

Day after that, the older brother was nowhere to be found. Some people speculated that he decided to commit suicide at a cliff not far from the village, some said that he decided to leave Planet Umbra in hope for revenge.

Many thought arosed within the people, but no one knew if it's true or not and the matter quickly died down. People started to live normally, leaving the dark past behind until the tragedy happened.

FLASHBACK END~

When the old man finished, silent ensued in the room. Everyone was too engrossed at the story that they didn't sense another person listening to them.

"So, you believed that the perpetrator behind the tragedy was him?" Solar put his chin in his fingers in a thinking posture.

Gempa turned around, "Ah! Solar, you're awake! Why didn't you told us earlier?"

"Hehe, Sorry, Gempa. The story really took my interest and I forgot to tell you that I already awoke." Solar scratched his cheek while laughing sheepishly.

"What a bookworm.." Halilintar sighed and no. He was definitely not worried to the lightpole at all, he huffed before turning back to gazed at the old man.

"Yes, we, indeed, believed that Ronien was behind all of those event. I remember that day when a group of criminals attacked our home. One of them said 'How is it? How is it to see your family died one by one in front of you? Look at how your families all ran away in fright in order to survived!' with crazed looked in his eyes." The old man shuddered when he recalled the young boy appearanced with alien's blood smeared on his face while laughing.

Gempa looked thoughtful, "But, why are you telling us this? We're just strangers who came to carry out our mission. We didn't want to get involved in your situation."

The old man went silent. He actually didn't knew it himself the reason why would he told the youngmen these informations. However, he certain one thing.

"You, teenagers, are the warriors choosen by the universe. I have feelings of you will put an end in every war and seek for justice. I know that there's reason why you have to carry out your mission in this planet." The old man firmly said.

Upon listening to the old man statement, Gempa narrowed his eyes. His golden yellow eyes seemed to glow brighly as he questioned.

"Oh? What make you so sure?"

"Raka told me about your earth gloved hands. It was the famous elemental power, no?" The old man rose his eyebrow, "Many aliens, good or evil, tried to possessed that power and plan on using it for their own selfish deed, but they failed in the end. I believe such power can only be used by someone who has pure heart and strong will from their heart. It's been hundreds years since the last time that power fell into the hands of the previous owner. Hearing how your elemental power came out to protect you on its own when Raka threw daggers to you, you must be have a deep connection with your elemental power."

'...It's almost accurate!' Gempa cleared his throat. Well, he couldn't tell them that they are the so called elemental power itself.

Solar ignored the old man almost in point statement and asked, "However, it could be not Ronien. What if it's another person with the same family background?"

"I knew you would ask that young man–"

"It's Solar." Gempa smacked Solar's mouth when he blurted out his name in the middle of the old man's speech.

"...I see all of you have weird names, like elements." The old man muttered.

Gempa laughed while waving his hand. Halilintar sent a sharp look at Solar direction and the latter only huffed while holding his hurt mouth.

"Well Solar, do you know that Planet Umbra became a haunted planet because of a little girl spirit that couldn't rest in peace?"

Solar felt chill crawling on his spine when the old man mentioned about the little ghost and he couldn't help but to shudder with blood drained from his face, making his face look pale.

___________________________________________

Me : Hey guys! I'm sorry for I've been absent without any notice for almost 2 months __( :3」∠)__

Me : I need to prepare for final exam of first semester and I had to make sure that I did all my assignments for the school report *sigh*

Shiro : I'll be fine if I don't enter big 10 in the class OwO. At least I already did my best in class hmph!!

Narusyan : Damn it! I forgot to do the assignment teacher Sri told me! IT'S BEEN 2 WEEKS AAAAHHH! What crafts should I make?!

Kuro : Stop shouting and do it right now! The school won't give you the school report today if you don't complete all your assignments!

Me, realizing what Kuro said : Wait, today?!

Kuro : YES! At 10.30 a.m!

Me, glance to the clock.

09.28

Me, quickly grab my towel : SEE YA ON THE CHAPTER! Oh, and Happy New Year 2022, guys! I'm hoping for the better year :)