Son of the Earth

“Sir, please wait!” Emi shouted down the hallway, running after Sterling.

He stopped but didn’t turn around at first. The faintest sigh escaped him, subtle enough she might’ve missed it. When he finally looked over his shoulder, the expression on his face wasn’t surprised – rather a jolly warm radiance, like he knew she would follow.

“Miss Emi,” he greeted, hands folding behind his back. “Is this about the homework I haven’t assigned?”

Emi slowed to a halt in front of him, catching her breath.

“No. Well… yes, kind of. Not that homework.” She blinked, then frowned. “You know what I mean.”

Sterling tilted his head, amused.

“Yes, I think I do.”

“You’ve been teaching here for… months. I’ve sat in your classes. You talked about literature, about mythology, you joked about Shakespeare memes… and never once did you mention anything about… well, any of this.”

He raised an eyebrow, saying:

“I’m actually quite surprised you even met him at all. How did that even happen?”

“It’s… a long story. But there’s this… book. And he kind of just… came out of it.”

“Really now?” Sterling stroked his beard, contemplating. “Fascinating. It’s not easy to travel between worlds. How I did it was… much more complicated, let’s just say. And I don’t think I can repeat it either. But now that he’s here…”

“So you really are his… mentor then? Like that old wizard trope?”

“I must say I find that a little reductive,” he laughed, “I’m more than a cliché, you know.”

With his smile now slowly fading, as he got lost in his memories, the lines on his face deepened, bringing forth old nostalgia even he could hardly explain.

“But it’s true, I trained him… once – long ago.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

He glanced past her, down the empty corridor. “Because the past doesn’t always want to be remembered, Miss Emi. Especially when it’s staring at you in the face, wielding purple lightning. It’s… hard for me to even recognize him now.”

“What… what happened between you two?”

Sterling’s smile returned, faint and crooked. “Many things. Some I’ve forgotten, others I’d rather not remember.”

“This is… a bit too much for me,” Emi wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“We’ll have much to talk about then. But in the meantime, it’s probably best for you to get back to class now. The world goes on, don’t let us slow you down.”

“Okay… okay, sir.”

But before she could turn around to leave, Sterling gave a light tap on her shoulder, wearing a somber expression on his face, he gave her this warning:

“Tread carefully. There are parts of Orion you still haven’t seen. Parts even he might not have faced yet. Whatever brought him to Earth… it didn’t change who he is.”

A few hours later…

The sun had dipped low by the time they walked home together, casting long shadows across the usual quiet sidewalks. Emi held her bag against her side, occasionally glancing at Orion as he frowned down at the glowing rectangle in his hands, puzzling over it like a Rubik’s cube.

“So what are these things called… fee-les?” he asked, tilting the screen.

“It’s called ‘files’ actually. They store information. You don’t need to know much about the technobabble, to be honest. Nobody does.”

“And this… compass… is not a real compass?”

“Nope, but it is real. Just not like, physically spinning. It uses magnet… actually, never mind. Look, it just tells you where north is.”

She leaned over to show him, tapping the screen and rotating it. Orion’s eyes narrowed like he was about to interrogate a spy.

“I… see… hmm…”

“Welcome to Earth.”

Orion scrolled further, his thumb moving with unexpected precision.

“Tell me about this then,” he said, holding the screen toward her. “It’s a board. Or… a gathering of minds?”

Looking down, Emi’s expression instantly dropped. Her eyeballs practically popping out of her head.

“4chan – no, no, no, give me that!” She snatched the phone with a speed that startled him. “How on earth did you even get here? I looked away for just a second…”

“I clicked the green symbol,” Orion said simply, unbothered. “Someone was speaking about frogs, and gods, and… cursed fruit?”

Emi visibly paled, shaking her head:

“No. Nope. You are not ready for this level of chaos.”

She quickly backed out of the browser and shoved the phone into her own bag.

“From now on, I’m setting up parental controls on your phone,” she snapped, laughing at the same time. “You're getting the wholesome internet experience, got it?”

Raising an eyebrow, Orion asked:

“Are you my keeper now?”

“Yes,” crossing her arm, she replied, “we don’t want you to be more corrupted than you already are.”

“Call me corrupted all you want, I am enlightened.”

“Ha-ha… sure… yeah,” Emi’s eyes disappeared into a thoughtful somberness, still trying her best to dwell on the brighter side of things.

“Very well then,” Orion said softly. “I accept these terms. But only if you explain the frog cult later.”

“No promises.”

Now the air had shifted the moment they turned the corner. A group of loud delinquents were once again swaggering all over the place. Looking like the kind of role-playing punks that learned more from YouTube tutorials than any actual lived experience.

“Ay, look-y what we have here.”

These guys weren’t exactly threatening, but they were loud, laughing and jostling as they surrounded a figure in the middle – someone much taller, more graceful, hair like golden fire pulled back behind distinct pointed ears.

Upon seeing this, Orion instantly froze.

Emi blinked. “Wait… is that…”

Terran.

The elf moved like a storm wrapped in silk – controlled fury in motion. His eyes locked on Orion with immediate recognition. His hand moved faster than thought.

Drawing forth his blade.

Orion barely had time to duck as the sword screamed through the air, slicing a few strands of his white hair. He stumbled back just as Terran pressed forward, strikes falling like judgment. The delinquent posse stood in the back, cheering Terran on.

“Get ‘im, boss!”

“Yeah, show ‘im whassup!”

Orion raised his arms in defense, only now defending himself with his bare flesh and muscle as he himself was still too weak to wield his heavy weapons, the ones he left back at Emi’s house.

The next blow cracked against his forearm, a kick that sent him tumbling to the ground. Dust kicked up. His lip split open on the pavement.

Terran launched himself toward him, hand on his throat, the other still holding onto his sword. His eyes gleamed, wild and angry.

Orion coughed, looking up through his bloodied lips.

“Are you ready for the consequences?” Orion barely let out a breath. “You’re weaker here, son of the earth. Go ahead. See what happens. See if the cosmos will hold with my death.”

Digging his hand deeper around his throat, Terran snapped back:

“Don’t test me. You forget, I have no magick. Only my steel.”

But something flickered in his eyes. A sudden hesitation. Brought forth by an aura that felt like a stalemate of some kind, as if Orion was somehow still holding Terran hostage with some secret bargaining chip.

“STOP! You’re going to kill him!” Emi jumped in, trying to pull Terran away. Gripping his hand with all her might, but in the end, it all felt like she was tugging at the roots of a thousand-year-old tree.

Terran didn’t release Orion right away. His blade still hovered, trembling slightly. His eyes darted to Emi, filled with wrath. Not toward her, but perhaps thinking she had been deceived by this Devil.

“Leave this place at once, girl,” Terran ordered. “You do not know who this – thing is.”

“I know enough! It’s no excuse for murder. I won’t let you!”

Terran scoffed, finally releasing his grip and stepping back a pace, while still holding tight onto his sword.

“Maybe I really should just kill the both of you,” swiftly pointing the steel forward, “I can live with blood on my hands if it means salvation for the cosmos.”

Chuckling, Orion fired back:

“It’d be the same as getting rid of numbers, or colors, or atoms – concepts. You do that, poof, the house of cards fall.”

Finally putting his weapon down, loosening his grip. For what reason, it was difficult for Emi to tell. Was it because he was convinced of what Orion said? Or was it because of this subtle exhaustion that Emi could barely see rippling beneath his sturdy pose? Maybe it was a combination of both.

“You are here…” Orion rasped. “Why? How?”

Terran’s jaw clenched. He looked away for the briefest moment, toward the delinquents behind him, still cheering half-heartedly before falling into awkward silence.

Terran sheathed his sword in a sharp motion. “I don’t owe you answers.”

“Actually, I think you do,” Emi snapped. “You’re on my planet now. Is this how you act as a guest in someone else’s house?”

A breath passed. Terran didn’t quite look at her – his pride and fury still clawing at him – but he answered anyway.

“There was a break. A fracture. Like the sky itself split in two.” His voice softened just a notch, like it surprised even him. “I followed the trail. I wanted to stop him before he burned another world. I didn’t expect to find… this.”

He gestured to the quiet street, the smear of blood on the pavement.

“This world is weak,” Terran muttered. “And so are you, Orion.”

“Then why am I still breathing?” Orion murmured.

Terran’s eyes flicked to him, then to Emi again. His silence said more than words.

Turning back around, ready to leave, the elf simply told the two of them:

“This isn’t over.”