CLITTER CLITTER CLITTER
While the faint crackle of fire reached his ears, Theo tried opening his eyes.
Everyone before his eyes felt blurry, and even his eyelids felt heavy and hard to open.
It took him a mont to actually see the world around him clearly.
When he turned his head slightly to the side, Theo realized he was really close to the campfire.
"Fuck..." he muttered under his breath, trying to get up.
By the ti he reached halfway, Theo felt as if he had lost all the strength from his body and was going to collapse on the ground.
But a gentle but big hand caught the back of his head, stopping him from falling and hitting the ground.
Theo glanced sideways at the baron and gave a faint nod of acknowledgent. His body seed to have been completely drained of energy.
"...Don’t sully your mouth like that," the baron said after a brief pause.
It sounded like he had wanted to say many things, but this seed to be a priority as a father. Theo wanted to chuckle, but he had no energy.
"How long...?" Theo asked, his voice barely more than a whisper; even speaking felt hard.
"How long have you been sleeping?" the baron finished for him. "About twelve hours. Maybe more."
He glanced to the side and continued, "You have had them all worried, Theo."
Following his gaze, Theo saw Clara and Elias staring at him, relief and happiness evident on their faces.
"We didn’t want to overwhelm you, young master," Clara said softly.
"Do you still have the headache?" she asked right away, not giving Elias a chance to speak.
Theo just shook his head lightly. But when he rembered the headache, fragnts of mory rushed back.
He opened his status window, only to look at the changes with his eyes wide open.
The baron, who could always tell what he was doing, smiled knowingly.
"My... stats increased..." Theo wanted to shout in excitent, yet all everyone around could hear was a faint, excited voice that sounded more like a murmur.
"Look a bit higher, my son," the baron urged, impatience creeping into his voice.
*****
[Type: Foundation Human]
*****
When Theo read that, it felt as if everything he had wanted to accomplish in this gate was finally complete. A long sigh of relief escaped him, letting everyone understand what it ant.
But beyond that relief, when Theo looked at his ability sections, he couldn’t help but feel an excited shiver run through his chest.
He had three abilities now.
And among them, Theo saw the one he had just obtained.
_____
"I-I have a new ability too!" Theo shouted this ti, making the baron step closer at once.
"Is it the sa one, Theo? The spatial one?" the baron asked, urgency flickering in his eyes.
"Yes," Theo replied, still reading the skill description.
The baron seed unable to contain it anymore.
"Theo, listen to carefully," he said, his tone serious, making Theo look at him with confusion.
"I entered your partial taming, son," the barons said with a serious face.
At first Theo couldn’t help but remain silent, taking ti to process the words, but when it sank in, he frowned.
"Son, I... I entered that hive link, that web of minds connected altogether," the baron continued, his expression still serious.
But Theo saw beyond that; he saw the baron’s eyes.
"To bear so much pain..." the baron began, then paused midway as if thinking for the right words.
"I just want to say that... I didn’t expect the pain that you were feeling in your head to be that severe, my son..."
Just when Theo was about to respond, Clara spoke softly.
"When you were unconscious, young master... my lord’s eyes turned golden for a mont. He collapsed as well. And then when he woke up, he had to distance himself from us in order to protect us." Clara spoke slowly.
The baron exhaled slowly. "It felt like the pain would make destroy everything around the gate... it was that unbearable... like sothing was scratching inside my head, but I couldn’t reach it. I couldn’t scratch it..."
He said in horror.
Theo had never seen his father like that before.
"And for you to endure that much pain for so long..." the baron continued. "I know I am spiralling and saying the sa thing again and again, but I want you to understand this, Theo."
His voice lowered.
"That I felt what you were feeling all this ti."
Then, he went silent.
Theo didn’t know what to say. It felt... really good and comforting to know that soone else was able to take the burden of such pain, even for a mont, and understand what he had been going through.
But all Theo could think of was what was around the baron at the mont.
"Father... I can see the sa energy around you..." Theo said, studying him carefully.
He reached out and touched one of the faint strands coming out of the baron’s body. The mont they connected, Theo felt it enter into his own.
He looked at his father with a serious face and asked.
"Father... please tell what happened, in detail."
Upon hearing his son’s words, all the baron could do was sigh.
"Not much happened. I just entered that hive of yours for a short while. Sothing pulled deeper inside, and before I could understand what was happening... I was in your mind, son."
A chill ran down Theo’s spine.
’What does he an he was in my mind?’ Theo asked himself.
’Does... he know I am from a different world?’ Theo couldn’t help but feel panic creeping in.
The baron’s enhanced hearing imdiately caught the change in Theo’s heartbeat.
"I felt the ’evolution’ happening inside your body, son," he said calmly. "It was only for a brief mont, but I recognized that weird feeling I got from your heart when you were unconscious."
He paused.
"I got enlightened as well... in that mont."
That was the last thing the baron said before Theo aggressively reached for the Ant Queen’s bond, wanting answers.
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