As the sun rose and morning fully arrived. Auren heard a knock by the door.
"Come in."
Han, his butler, stepped into the room. When he saw his young master awake and the headset placed aside he knew that he can no longer hide things.
"Find me everything you can about Zevaros Mantil." Auren ordered, the wind blowing softly against his hair.
The butler blinked but bowed with absolute obedience. "At once young master." [It seems it cannot be hidden any more]
Auren watched him leave and took a shower. He put on his training gear and departed for the training grounds. His fists clenched and unclenched as he moved through his morning routine.
The weight of the game sat in his chest like iron. Zevaros, the man with eyes of gold and a presence like the breath of death itself. The memory of the fight lingered in Auren's mind replaying again and again.
By the time Auren completed his drills, sweat slick across his back, Han had returned. His expression told Auren everything before he even spoke.
"I regret to say, young master... The trail is almost non-existent. Every record about Zevaros Mantil is sealed and whispers vanish before they even form."
Auren wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel, lips pressing thin. "Nothing?" Han hesitated, he wasn't sure if he should continue keeping this information from his young master or tell him.
"Han. Say it." Auren ordered.
"One thing. The name 'Mantil' is tied to the Seydra Royal Clan. But any attempt to trace further was ... discouraged." The butler explained.
That word, discouraged. In the butler's mouth, it meant danger, warning and an unspoken threat. Auren knew who could issue search warning so he went straight to his father's office.
Fenvaros was in the office reviewing documents and signing more. As a king he was running a kingdom like one would a company. His presence filled the chamber like the weight of mountains.
When Auren arrived, he didn't offer any pleasantries and his voice was steady,
"Father, what do you know about Zevaros Mantil?"
The silence that followed was sharp enough to slice skin. Fenvaros' quill stilled mid word. Slowly and deliberately, as his eyes were fixed on Auren, he place it down.
"You will never," Fenvaros said, voice like cold thunder, "speak that name again."
Auren blinked, but before he could speak, the storm broke.
"Do you understand me Auren? Never. That name carries poison. It drags filth into this house and I forbid you from touching it."
The rebuke struck harder than any blow. Auren, proud and cold by nature, rarely flinched but now....his throat tightened. His father's fury was not the kind that protected out of love. It was fury of memory, of wounds carved into bone.
And yet being forbidden only deepend his hunger. The afternoon came and passed and that evening, after their meal, he sought out his mother.
Seraphina was reclining in the Moon Garden, hair spiling like silk over her shoulder. She looked up when Auren approached and her sternness softened immediately at his expression.
"Mother." Auren tilted his head, silver strands catching the moonlight. "Tell me... Who is Zevaros and am I really am Omega?"
Seraphina should have turned him away. She should have berated him for even speaking his name. But when Auren looked at her with those cerulean eyes the same as her's.
The eyes that had once looked at her as a newborn, that still melted her heart when he smiled. Her resolved wavered.
"What answer do you want first?" She asked calmly.
"About Zevaros." Seraphina exhaled. [So he chose this first.] She looked at her son who stood there, no longer a child and began,
"Your father rages because the man you seen is tied to a name he despises greatly. Vezkar."
The word dripped lie venom from her mouth. Anger filled her eyes. Auren saw all this but still pressed on, "Vezkar?"
"The current King of Seydra Dominion." She said, gaze darkening. "A cruel man. He once tried to..."
Seraphina took a breath, "That man...tried to take me by force. When I resisted and overpowered him, he turned his spite on others. He defiled one of his maids and when the child was born."
Auren saw the tears glistening in her eyes, "When the child was born he gave him a name echoing your father's just to wound him. This is because your father was able to claim me as his mate."
Seraphina's hands tightened against her gown, "That child is Zevaros Mantil."
The truth pressed against Auren's chest until he could barely breathe. He thought of the tall figure with the golden eyes, eyes that didn't belong to a monster but a survivor.
"So father hates the son for the sins of the father."
Seraphina's eyes flicked to him. "Do not mistake me. I loath Vezkar more than words can carry. But the child," she paused, her voice softening.
"The child has known a life of fire and chains. Vezkar has more than fifty wives and over twenty children. Some are Omegas others are Alphas.
Can you imagine what it means to be born in such a pit? Especially as an Alpha? I do not blame Zevaros. In truth, I pity him."
Auren's throat tightened again. Pity was not in his nature but something about those words cut him. As though to distract himself from his feelings he asked his mother again.
"Am I really am Omega?"
"Yes. You are." Seraphina answered.
"Why did you hide it from me?" Auren asked , voice wavering from his emotions.
"I didn't hide anything. You knew this." She was puzzled why Auren brought up this topic.
"No, I didn't!"
"Yes, Auren." Her tone softened upib realizing what was happening. "This is something you learned when you were in middle academy. You simply forgot or rather you weren't ready to remember."
"That doesn't make any sense." Auren's hands trembled slightly as he forced himself to calm down.
"Auren. When your Omega traits came to view, you were sick. You weren't whole and your bloodlines had not awakened yet."
The words hung there, heavy and true.
"Son," Seraphina rose gracefully from her seat, walking towards Auren. The moonlight shone over her like a halo.
" When a Therion is born, they are born to this two legged vessel. Your birth was... filled with trials and so was your upbringing.
When your Omega traits showed it was fractured and so your Father and I decided to let your nature sleep until it was ready to surface." She paused her eyes softening. "Now that it has, you remember even though you don't realize it yet."
Auren swallowed hard. His thoughts were spinning too fast to keep up. [So it was before my soul woke up. So I knew all along?]
"I see. So I am normal?" He let out a shaky laugh, sharp and humourless.
"It is normal,Auren. Our kind follows a balance. Alpha and Omega, two halves of the same creation. One protects, the other continues. That is how the divine Threads structured our species."
"Continues?" Auren repeated, his tone darkening. "You mean...to birth future generations?"
"Yes." Seraphina answered calmly.
Auren felt his emotions becoming numb. "So that's what I am. A breeding vessel for the future of Therions?"
Seraphina's eyes widened slightly, "Auren!"
"Don't tell me it's something sacred or beautiful. You expect me to just bear children for some...some Alpha?!" Auren was now unhinged. His emotions overtook his rationality.
Seraphina exhaled, sadness etching faint lines around her mouth, "Then am I like that? Is your brother Vorren like that? Wanting to prove yourself, training and becoming stronger is innate to all Therions. Are we weaker just because we're Omegas?"
Auren swallowed, his heart aching for hurting his mother, "No." The two of them stood there in silence. The moon a witness to the test of familial bond.
Seraphina sighed, breaking the silence, "Auren be careful of Zevaros. He is not....safe for you. And don't worry about your traits, being Alpha or Omega doesn't define a Therions strength."
Auren throat tightened as his mother's hands wrapped around him in a hug. He didn't want to believe any of what he heard today but the truth was laid bare to him.
"I'm sorry, Mother." Auren hugged back tightly.
"It's okay. You're my son and I love you just as you are." Seraphina smiled happy to have cleared the air.
Later, when Auren logged into the VR game, his determination to find Zevaros again sharpened to steel.
Even if his mother says Zevaros is not safe for him, the spark had arrived and his curiosity alive.
As though in response to his will of pursuit the Thread knot in his soul stirred faintly.