Wisdom and Peace

Crystal was standing beside the very window from which she could see the vast forest surrounding the village, and her mind kept wandering around the word of that feegestas Custos.

It would be a lie if she said she was not shocked to learn the reality, since it had been too obvious for her all along. She was not a normal human child, and her parents were almost numb and emotionless every time. It turned out they were not even real beings; humanity was not supposed to be in them in the first place. But it did not mean that it hurt any less than it would to anyone else.

If she decides to stay as Crystal Smith, the not-so-human-yet-among-human girl, her fake parents would vanish, and she would continue living among humans as if nothing had happened, which sounded like the most ideal condition for her situation.

But there was just too much at stake, too much that needed to be uncovered which she would never be able to discover. She would not know about her origin, her real parents, and who planted those icons to protect her on earth. There was just too much to uncover, and her mind was haphazard with all the new information and stress.

...

Crystal's heart pounded as she stared at her parents, or at least the icons that had always posed as her parents. The silence in the living room was suffocating, and she struggled to steady her breathing.

"I want to ask something--" Crystal's voice wavered as she spoke, her eyes darting from her father's stoic face to her mother's blank expression. She had always suspected that something was off about her parents, but she had never imagined that they were anything other than human. "Do you guys know what a feegestas is?"

Her parents exchanged a glance, their expressions inscrutable. Crystal could feel her stomach churning with anxiety. Was she crazy? Was this all in her head? It was all a hard-to-swallow truth that she had always been prepared for, but it still hurt too much. She dropped her head, not wanting to look at those faces that had been her parents for all her life.

"Did you receive your acceptance letter from the academy?" Mr. Smith asked. Crystal nodded her head, still looking down at her lap.

"We were expecting that to happen. Now you will find out about everything that you have been asking about all this time," Mrs. Smith said. Crystal couldn't help her tears from falling, wailing in despair. The silence had never felt that stabbing to her as it did then.

Crystal's mind was racing with questions, and she couldn't hold back her emotions any longer. "Why did you do this?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Why did you pretend to be my parents when you knew you were going to leave me like this one day? I never complained, even if you were always so stoic, even if you were not able to love me. I never once demanded otherwise. But even after all the torture I went through, growing up thinking that my parents must have gone through something, and even if they weren't my real parents, it was fine, at least they wanted me. At least they chose me to be with them. But even that hope is gone now. I can't even hope that things might change one day because you two will just disappear into thin air."

Crystal finally looked up, darting a red, glaring gaze at the icons. As expected, there was no single emotion on their faces, making her grip on the truth nothing but further stronger.

"I have nothing to say about your heartaches," Mr. Smith said gravely. "We might not understand how you are feeling now, but there is one thing that your parents wanted to relay to you when you find out the truth." He stood up from his chair and walked up to Crystal, followed by Mrs. Smith. Both of them wrapped their arms around her in a tight embrace, offering a comfort she had never known.

A hug from her parents was something that she had always craved, and she could not believe what was happening. Not to mention the revelation that it was indeed her real parents who had planted these icons on Earth to protect her; that must be why those icons had a message to relay to her from them.

"My little darling, even if mother is not beside you, know that you are the most precious thing that has happened to me," Mrs. Smith said, her voice thick with emotion. "Not physically, but I will always be there for you, protecting you from evil. You will have to just look inside."

Crystal felt a lump rise in her throat. Her mother's words were both comforting and confusing. What did she mean, 'look inside'? And what evil did she need protection from?

"I am sorry, love, that I was not able to spend as much time with you as you deserved in the shadow of my duties, but I did not love you any less," Mr. Smith said, his voice low and gravelly. "Times are very difficult, and I can not help but keep it short. Just know that once you have gotten to the academy, you must hide your powers from everyone. You will eventually meet an old companion and will soon get every memory back. Just know that whatever we did was for your best. You should be strong and make the right decisions going forward. We believe in you, and we love you."

Crystal was now crying louder than ever as she inhaled each and every word from her parents. Mrs. Smith rubbed her back, consoling her for the first time as if Crystal's mother had suddenly taken over her, transferring her emotions. It was true to some extent.

"You must adhere to your father's words," the icons suddenly spoke up, their voices solemn and deep. "He was a great man, and no one could reach his level of knowledge. You must hide your real self and everything you know about your powers from every single being at that place you are going to. We are only allowed to tell you certain things and no more than that, but you must walk down the path your father chose: the path of wisdom and peace."

Crystal's questions were still unanswered. After passing the message to her, the icons had gone back to their real selves with their stoic faces. The only thing she could make out of all the current information was that the creature and her father were advising her the same thing, but the reason behind it was still unknown.