Rain tapped against the windows.
Hitake sat across from his mother while the lights in the house remained dim.
Amara had been silent for almost a minute.
Finally, she spoke.
“Your father wasn't from Earth.”
“I know.”
“He wasn't even from our civilization.”
“I know that too.”
Amara looked surprised.
“Who told you?”
“Kael's system.”
She froze.
“Nefertiti?”
Hitake nodded.
Amara closed her eyes.
“So he really left it for you.”
“You know her?”
“I met her once.”
Hitake leaned forward.
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
That answer caught him off guard.
“You've met Nefertiti?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father asked me not to.”
Hitake leaned back.
“What else did he ask you not to tell me?”
Amara looked at the rain.
“Almost everything.”
“Mom.”
She sighed.
“Kael came to Earth because he was being hunted.”
“By the Coalition?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don't know.”
“You said he was a Higher Human.”
“He was.”
“What makes Higher Humans different?”
Amara smiled sadly.
“They weren't gods, Hitake. They were simply beings whose civilization had advanced far beyond ours.”
“Then why was Kael so powerful?”
“Because even among them, Kael was abnormal.”
Hitake's expression sharpened.
Amara continued.
“He could perceive things ordinary Higher Humans couldn't. Laws. Structures. Energy. The boundaries between concepts.”
Hitake thought about his Eyes of Truth.
“Like my eyes.”
“Yes.”
She looked directly at him.
“Your eyes are his greatest inheritance.”
“What about the Blank Canvas?”
Amara became silent.
“You know about it?”
“Only what Kael told me.”
“What did he say?”
“He didn't create it.”
Hitake's eyes widened.
“He said it existed before he found it.”
That confirmed what Nefertiti had told him.
“Where did he find it?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don't know.”
Hitake leaned back.
“For once, we're both saying the same thing.”
Amara smiled weakly.
“Your father wasn't afraid of the Blank Canvas.”
“Then what was he afraid of?”
Her smile vanished.
“The people who wanted it.”
The room became quiet.
“Who?”
“Kael called them the Demon Faction.”
Hitake's eyes narrowed.
“They serve the Annihilator?”
Amara hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Who is the Annihilator?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how can you know they serve it?”
“Because Kael fought them.”
She reached toward him.
“Your father believed the Annihilator wasn't simply a person. It was something much older.”
Hitake stared at her.
“Why did Kael disappear?”
Amara's eyes filled with tears.
“He didn't leave us.”
Hitake froze.
“He was taken.”
The words struck him.
“Nefertiti told me that.”
Amara looked at him.
“Then she finally decided you were ready.”
“Who took him?”
“We don't know.”
“Was it the Demon Faction?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
“We found evidence of a battle. His ship was destroyed. His body was never found.”
Hitake stared at her.
“Then he could still be alive.”
Amara nodded.
“Yes.”
For the first time, hope appeared in her eyes.
“But if he is...”
She looked toward the window.
“They'll eventually find him.”
“And me?”
“They already have.”
Silence.
Hitake looked down at his hands.
His father hadn't abandoned him.
He had been running.
Protecting him.
Preparing him.
And now the weapon had awakened.
His inheritance had begun.
Amara reached across the table.
“I wanted you to have a normal life.”
Hitake held her hand.
“I understand.”
“Do you hate me?”
He smiled.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you were trying to protect me.”
Amara began crying.
Hitake squeezed her hand.
“But from now on, don't protect me with lies.”
She nodded.
“I promise.”
Outside, thunder rolled.
Far away, someone opened a file containing Kael's name.
And beneath it was a new photograph.
Hitake.