Father's regret [Private]

Leila was once more spending her time in Magnolia, town that was home to one of the biggest mage guilds in Fiore. Despite that, hotels in this place were surprisingly cheap, which is why she liked it here so much. At this point, she was a pro at finding the cheapest lodgings. Experience from travelling all over the place sure paid off nicely. Though it also drew Leila into thinking how it would be like if she actually owned a proper house. Someplace she could call home, regardless of her situation or standing. Thinking about something like this always made her smile. Sure, she was a travelling mage... but one day, she will have to settle down somewhere and grow old. Or at least she was hoping that something like that would happen. But there was a fact that she wasn't a human. She looked like one, acted like one and even lived like one until now. But in reality, her origin was obscured and unknown. A child that was born from Eden's tree, that was what her father told her. Can someone like that really die from old age? She did grow up over years, sure, but all immortal villains and heroes in books are always around her age too. And her father wasn't aging either, as far as she recalled. Father that took her when no one else wanted. With him, she traveled through the world of humans and it was him who raised her to be like a normal girl. It was a while since she saw him last. But she had no right to complain, it was her who left him after all. When she grew old enough, a seed of curiosity had planted itself within Leila. It was then when she wanted to start a new life as a travelling mage. Her father didn't exactly like the idea, but eventually allowed it. It was then that they got separated, few years back from today. With a sigh, Leila sat down on her bed and looked out of the window that was next to her. Evening was approaching but birds were still singing and flying outside happily. Not having a care in the world, she wished that she could become like those birds. With a yawn, she stretched and accidentally knocked few books from the bed to the ground. Her whole room was a bit of a mess right now with books everywhere. To Leila's pleasure, rooms in this specific hotel came with a bookshelf that was always filled with newest titles. With this, she didn't have to buy those books herself, she simply had to book a room for a night or few and read between contracts.

Standing back up, she made her way to the desk where several papers were laying. They were mostly flyers and notices about new contract and jobs for mages. Though most of them required the mage to fight with something. Not exactly something that Leila was too thrilled about. Even though she was a mage, she wasn't very good at fighting which was putting her into a slight disadvantage. Trying not to think about it too much, she moved all those papers to the side, revealing few parchments with doodles on them. Rather poor attempts at drawing something. Leila started working on these after her little one-day job in the cosplay café where she noticed that her ketchup-drawing skills were rather bad. Sighing, she looked to the wardrobe on her left. it was sadly empty, but the outfits that were inside were quite spectacular. A maid outfit and a lovely purple dress. Blushing a little, she pulled out those fake cat ears and tried them on. Some people apparently found something like this adorable. Leila literally jumped when she heard a sudden knock on the door. She quickly threw those ears back into the closet, closing it and trying to recover from the small shock. Thinking that it was a room service, she lazily moved towards the wooden door to open up. However, it was not who she expected. Instead, a messenger was standing in front of her, letter inside of a black envelope in hand. "Miss Vergious, yes? I have an urgent letter to deliver." Confused about how he found her, she picked the envelope from his hand. He noticed her confusion and tried to explain. "The sire who wanted this letter delivered to you paid a good sum, you see. because he had no idea where you would be, he wanted us to search whole Fiore. With how much he was offering us, we were in no position to refuse. And now our duty is fulfilled." With his explanation over, he bowed respectfully and left. Even more confused, Leila closed the door and sat back down, holding the envelope in her hands. It was black with elegant golden edges, looking like something that a king would send to a queen as a marriage proposal. But there was a certain thing that she recognized! The seal keeping the envelope closed had a symbol of a withered tree on it. The very same symbol that her father used many times. Now knowing who it was from, she quickly tore it open to read the letter that was hidden within.

Dear Leila, my adopted daughter. I am writing you now, because I will not have another chance. I am writing you, because I need you to know just how much I loved you. Many people who meet my kind think ill of us. That we are not capable of emotions. However, opposite could not be closer to the truth. We, machias, are a race of sentient robots. But we can still feel and love. That was why I was not capable of leaving you when I first met you. You were but a small child without a mother or father, left to the world's mercy. You were born from a leaf on Eden's tree, an attempt to create artificial human by Earth itself. You are the child of Earth, and that is why I knew that you would not survive where you were born. In the rocky plains of Stella, a small child would certainly perish. I took you with me, raised you to be a fine women and human. At first, I simply wanted to leave the nation with you and find a family that yearned for a child. But I simply grew too attached to you and kept you at my side. Until you learned magic, that is. You were clearly special, that much I knew from the beginning. But when you learned the magic of Eden, I knew that you were one of the kind. You see, many have tried to harness the powers of an ancient garden known as Eden. A place where gods are said to reside. But no one ever succeeded to completely control it. Eventually, the mortal touch corrupted portion of the garden. This corrupted half of the godly land was much closer to humans, and thus some were finally capable of summoning parts of it. I have a strong suspicion that you might be a by product of someone's attempt to summon the garden. After all, you were found under a strange tree, something that you simply not see in the land of Stella. I wanted to uncover the mystery of your origin, to give you the knowledge of your birthplace and purpose in life. But I am afraid that my time is up. We machias are very peculiar creatures. We do not age, but when our time comes, we simply seize to be. At least my lineage, if not all of us. I was actually glad that you decided to become a mage. I knew that my life was close to it's end, yet I said naught. Probably because I did not want to see you sad. If you want to say one last goodbye, I traveled to the edge of Joya, land of my birth. You know the place, as we visited it together many times in the past. But once that everything is done, I want you to continue among the humans. Make new friends, you rivals and life a fulfilling life that you wanted.

I will always love you like my own, father.

With tears in her eyes, Leila tightened the grip on the piece of paper. She understood everything perfectly, yet she wished she wouldn't have. These news were simply too sudden for her, too sad and negative. It must have been some kind of joke, surely! Trying to convince herself that it was only that and nothing more, she threw the partially crumpled piece of paper on the table. All of her memories with the golem that raised her started flooding into her mind, clogging up her consciousness. They spend so many years together, it was impossible for her to imagine a world without him. He taught her how to speak, read and write. He taught her proper manners in and outside of society. He taught her about cultures of lands that they traveled through. And mainly, he taught her how to survive in this world. He was there for all of her birthdays, all of her achievements and even when she learned that she's capable of using magic. Even though he didn't like it, he still helped her develop it to some extend, posing as her mentor and teacher. With all that they lived through together, why would he not tell her that he was going to die soon? Why would he choose to perish alone, far away from his family? She didn't understand any of it. Which was why she simply grabbed her bag that was ready for a new mission and ran out of her room. Ori, who was sleeping in a little basket with blankets looked up for a moment before returning to sleep, trusting that his companion just left for an evening stroll. Even if this was nothing but a cruel joke, she still had to confirm it all. She had to see the machias who had raised her, the golem that claimed he had no name at all. She just had to see him, no matter what. With the port set as her target, she quickly ran through the streets of Magnolia, tears still blurring her vision. She ran as quickly as she possibly could, not caring about getting tired or hurting herself. When she finally arrived at the edge of the town, she started running towards the nearest stable. Not saying a single word, she simply shoved pouch of jewels to the man who was lending out horses as she hopped on the back of one. Paying him more that the ride cost, she quickly kicked with her boots and forced the horse to gallop at full speed towards the nearest shipyard. She didn't care for anything or anyone but getting to Joya as fast as she possibly could.