章 43: He the Father They never had
Claude Madrigal looked at the man that was starting to become like a father to them.
He and his younger sister, Nicole, where at this huge castle near the lake where he nearly died. He shuddered, remembering the cold sensation as the cold water started to seep into his clothes. How the lake or loch as they call it here was pulling him.
His thoughts were on his mommy and his sister. Even if the two of them were always fighting, he was sure that Nicole would dive in the water to save him. He was right, the irony was that both cannot swim.
Claude knew that he was done with his current call when he leaned back on his office chair and closed his eyes. Next was to massage the base of this neck and let out a loud sigh. The person his uncle must have talked to must have been stubborn.
Claude looked around the place where they are.
The ceiling was so tall that he could not see its design. He couldn't really describe how big the room was. But there was a chandelier was in the middle of the room and when it lights up, the whole office looked magical.
The desk where Uncle Duncan worked had a tall window behind it. It was the only window of the room, and when he looked out, he had a clear view of the lake. The door was directly in front of the desk.
There was also a fireplace on the left side of the room. On the right, was a big comfy sofa that Nicole was currently playing at with plushies that Uncle Duncan had. And the books.
There were so many books!
Uncle Duncan had floor to mid ceiling shelves. The four walls of the room were filled with so many books. The only parts of the room with no books were the place where the fireplace was and the corners of the room. There was even a ladder to help him get books from high places.
On the floor was a carpet that looked weird to him. Claude knew it was the map of the UK, but there were some kind of weird creatures drawn on them. He could identify some of the things there, what made it look weird to him were the letters. It was not even written in rune.
"Someday, son, you will be able to read them," said Duncan the first time he asked about them.
"Will you teach me?" he remembered asking. Uncle Duncan smiled at him and nodded.
He made that promised three months ago, till now; they have yet to 'study' the writings on the carpet. Was he like his dad? Claude thought.
He remembered those empty promises his father had told them so long ago. He had been trying to understand why he was like that, why he neglected them. In his young mind, he had always blamed himself.
Now that he was a bit older, he kinda understood why. His father grew up in a culture different from his mommy.
While his mommy knew how marriages worked, his father thought that it meant someone to take care of his needs and their needs, kids, too. What his father did not understand, was his mommy had too much, and no one to help.
"Claude, a mhic, a bheil rudeigin ceàrr?" Duncan asked.
"I am okay, uncle. I was thinking of my father," Claude replied. "I…" he stopped mid sentences and looked at his uncle with eyes wide as saucers, "How did I?"
Duncan stood up and sat beside him on the carpet. Claude did not know what was happening. This was the first time that he had understood his uncle.
He always used that language when they were around. And he often wondered what it was, but was too embarrassed to ask him. Looking at Uncle Duncan's eyes, he could see something that he had never seen in his father's eyes.
He was proud of him.
"You have a knack to understanding languages that you have never learned, Claude," Duncan began, "I saw how you answered me the first time we met. I was already speaking in Scot Gaelic, not everything, but more on the curses, yet you reprimanded me." He said rubbing Claude's head in affection.
Claude remembered. Uncle Duncan was still doing CPR on him, when he heard him saying "be alive, be alive" in a language he knew nothing off. He remembered his words: I am alive.
"I..."
"You have no reason to be embarrassed, my son. It was not your fault, nor was it Nicole. I have to take that blame," Duncan said.
Claude looked at Uncle Duncan oddly. He was to blame? How? He was not the one to push me to the lake. He was not even the one to lure him there. Why was he to blame?
"There are some people that hated me that much, they were willing to kill others to see me suffer. I cannot let that happen," Duncan began.
"You were on the verge of death, Claude. Your sister was too. Both of you nearly died."
His eyes widened and he quickly looked at his sister that was soundly sleeping with her plushies. "Die?"
"Yes."
Duncan then drew Claude in his arms. The young boy was stunned at first, but after a few minutes, his arms came around him too. That was when he felt him cry, Claude's tears was slowly soaking his shirt, not long after, he was sobbing.
Duncan could only comfort him. It took time for his essences to be fully absorbed by the kids.
Three months, it took three months for the kids' DNA to adjust to the life essences of a god.
Claude needed to understand the sudden changes that had been happening to him the past few days. The sudden knowledge of languages that he knew nothing about was horrifying.
As for Nicole, Duncan have hunch that this little pumpkin got something more than just languages though. His hunch was more on animals and nature sensitivity.
Giving the essence of a god was forbidden. It was one of those few things that each god decided to be equal, it was one rule at all of them must abide.
Yet he did not.
And Duncan would gladly break them again for these kids. His queen's kids, they may not be of the same blood, but they were hers. To him that was enough.
Besides, Fall had taken care of Julie. He still cannot believe that his own dog had marked his queen. Then again, he cannot be with her twenty-four seven, it was a blessing that Thor decided to visit.
"Listen to me, Claude." Duncan said when he noticed that he had stopped crying. "What I am about to say is important. Nicole is too young to realize what is happening, as her brother, you should be able to tell her."
"I am not human, I am more than human. What happened when the two of you almost died, I have to give a part of me to save you both." Duncan could see the confusion in his eyes. Claude was just a boy after all and there were things in this world that would be hard for him to understand.
Claude was not speaking, and it made Duncan anxious. "Maybe I should not have told him," he thought. He was about to erase their part of the memory but the answer he gave even made Duncan more amazed.
"It was you," Claude said. "You were the one who we kept on dreaming about. The man who was called, Chief Ollam, master of all skills. You looked different, but just now, your eyes. They glow."
A dream. These kids have been having dreams about him. He took off his contact lenses, showing the true glow of his eyes that only their mother had noticed. Duncan was expecting him to be frightened by him. To recoil.
Like his mother, Claude reached up and pinched his cheeks. Duncan's loud "OUCH!" made the young man smile.
"You should be doing that to yourself not to me," Duncan complained. There was no heat in his words thought. Only affection.
He had come to love these kids as they were his own. The thought of them being in pain tears him apart. So he was glad that he was the one Claude had pinched.
But.
"What kind of dreams did you have?"
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