Blessing of Magus

II - Coming Home & Family

-- Devin PoV --

It has been just 15 minutes since I leave General Atalanta’s office, and I am just sitting on the bus. It has been a long time for me to be in the Northern Alliance's capital city, Moskva. The last time I have been here was when I got the promotion to captain in the military. After that, I spent almost all my time with my squad, either training or going to the battlefield.  This time, however, I decided to ask for a break from the military.

I didn’t have a plan to spend my rare holiday in this city. Instead, it is Khimki, a small city in the north of Moskva that I will go to right now. While Khimki is just a small city without anything interesting to attract visitors, this city is my hometown, the place where I grew up and honed myself to be the strong person I became right now.

After the bus reached the nearest stop in the city, I walked for about 10 minutes before reaching a small old house. The house itself is just an ordinary building without anything fancy. The only thing that makes it different from the other building is the old plat name in front of the door.

‘Sky Orphanage’

This used to be the orphanage where I grew up before I was recruited to the military. There are a lot of orphans living here in the past. However, as time goes by, the orphanage was closed due to a lack of finances. Because of the orphanage’s policy to not send orphans to the military, we didn’t receive any government aid. So, the orphanage decided to not receive more orphans. As far as I remember, only 4 children lived here before I left, including me.

There are several times when the orphanage almost closed down due to a lack of money. That is why me and my brother, Andra, decided to work to solve the money problem.

At first, we decided that nobody will go into the military. We consider ourselves a family, so we didn’t want anyone to go to the war and die meaninglessly on the battlefield. 

However, the money that came from the military is not small, so that will definitely help the orphanage. Moreover, Father explained to us the importance of the information that comes from the military. So, when I was 10 years old, I volunteered to be the person who will go into the military, not Andra.

And now, after almost five years since I left, this will be the first time I come back to my home.

I knocked on the door and waited. After a few minutes, I can hear a step from the inside. When the door opened, I smile at the one who is in front of me right now.

“Hello, Mama. I am home.” The one who I called Mama widened her eyes and cover her mouth in shock. There are small tears in her eyes. And before I can react, she already threw her arms around mine and hugged me tightly as if she is afraid that I will be gone.

“Oh my god, Devin! You are finally back! How are you? Did the military treat you well? Did you eat three times a day? Did you –” I just smile as she didn't stop babbling. She is our mama, Isabella, a 30-year-old widow that has been raising me since I was 8 years old.

The Sky Orphanage was built by her husband, a lieutenant in the military who died on the battlefield. While on paper she was just a matron, in our eyes, she is our mother by all but blood, and we will always be her children no matter what we say. That is why, seeing one of her lost children come back, she cannot help but burst into tears.

“I am okay, Mama. I am home now. Can we go inside? It is already dark now.” I muttered softly. She released her hug and wiped her tears,

“Yeah, of course! Come in! Sorry for my outburst before.” I chuckled at what she said and enter the building. The building itself doesn’t change a lot since I left 5 years ago. Only a kitchen, a dining room, two small bedrooms for the children and one bedroom for Mama, and a small spare room for the guest. The only change that I can notice is a stack of books in the dining room.

“Sorry if the house is a mess. Andra had been trying to teach Cosma and Nina about science, and both of them are really addicted to it. They have been reading about it everywhere, and they didn’t even bother to clean their mess. Honestly, those two are very different compared to both you and Andra.” She keeps grumbling about the child’s behavior. I just smile wryly at her, remembering the mess that I created was worse than this.

“It’s okay, Ma. Let me help you. Where are the other, by the way?” I sent a curious glance at the children’s room that is unusually silent. Mama looked at the clock before giving me an answer.

“They went shopping to Moskva this morning. Apparently, there is a book about Astronomy that Cosma and Nina want to learn, so Andra decided to take a day off and take the children with them. They said that they will come back before dinner, so they will probably arrive in 15 minutes.”

I just nodded at her explanation and continue cleaning the dining room. Mama has already left me and go to the kitchen. It seems like she has been making dinner before I arrived here. We continue doing our work and making a small chat for about 10 minutes before I heard a small voice from the door.

“We are home!!”

“Mama! Look at what we have here!”

Mama and I share a glance before we smile mischievously. I quickly go to the front to surprise them. There, I saw two adorable little girls with blonde hair and blue eyes running excitedly.

“Well Nina, Cosma, what is it that you have here?” Both girls didn’t realize my presence and answered my question.

“Look here Devin, we have a book about—, EH?!” Nina’s eyes widened as she realized my presence. It looks like she is the first one who noticed me. 

“Devin, you are back!” The two children have already thrown themselves onto my arm and hugged me excitedly. Nina and Cosma are the twin orphans who mama’s late husband took in the battlefield.

They both are 10 years old right now, the age of the usual orphan to go to the military. However, Mama, Andra, and I have already decided to hide them so they will not go anywhere near the military. They will get permission to go wherever they want when the war is over or when they are 14 years old, so for now, they still have to be patient.

“How are you? When did you come back? Did you become a hero and save the city from the bad people? Tell us your story! We miss you soooo much!!” I laughed at their antics.

“Hahaha.. I miss you too.. I will tell you a story when you are ready to sleep. For now, we have to help Mama prepare dinner, okay?”

“Aye, Captain!” They give me a mock salute and run, giggling all around the way to the kitchen. Mama just smiles, amused at our interaction.

After a warm and lively dinner, I ask the twins a question that bugged me since their arrival.

“So, where is your brother hiding?” For as long as I remember, Andra has never missed a dinner except when he meets something that could make him excited. The twins groaned at my question and gave me an exasperated look

“Uuughh.. Andra found a foreign book when we went to the flea market today. The seller didn’t know what language the book is written in, but looking at Andra’s shining eyes, I bet it is something old and boring.”

“Yeah, he has been shutting himself up in his room, trying to read the book itself. You know him and archeology. When he meets old historical stuff, he will forget everything. I bet he didn’t realize that you are here.” I just smile hearing the rants that coming from the twins. That is one of the quirks that Andra has. He loves to collect unknown stuff from the past and always tries to understand it.

“Well, I will meet him later. Do you have anything you want to do right now?” Their eyes gleamed at my question, and they shouted,

“Teach us science!”

“Yes! We have a book about astrophysics here. Andra promised us yesterday that he will teach us today.”

“Yeah! But it seems like he forgot his promise now.” Both girls pouted remembering their brother’s promise.

“Well, where is the book? Let’s see what I can do about it.” While I am not as proficient in science as Andra, growing up with a nerd like Andra have its benefit. I can say that I am decent enough in science and technology.

After spending almost two hours teaching Nina and Cosma, I can see that they try to hide their yawn in front of me. I chuckle, amused at their effort to spend their time with me as long as possible.

“Well, it looks like both of you are tired now. Why don’t we stop this lesson today and continue tomorrow?” They groaned.

“We are not tired!”

“Yeah! We can do this for one more hour!”

“Come on Devin! Don’t be stingy!” They plead with their puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately for them, Mama has already reacted first before me.

“Don’t give your brother that eyes, ladies. You cannot hide your tired eyes from me. Your brother also needs a rest. You can continue your study tomorrow, okay?” Mama gives the twins a stern glare. They just slumped after hearing what Mama said.

“Yes, Mama.”

“Good girls. Don’t forget to brush your teeth before sleep.”

“Okay. Good night, Mama. Good Night Devin. We love you.”

“Good children, they are.” I muttered after the twins left the room. Mama just nodded, agreeing with what I said.

“So Devin, what is your plan now?” Mama looked at me curiously.

“I don’t know. The military is not in a good condition, so I will probably be here only for 2-3 days. I have no plan for the next few days. Maybe I will just spend the day with the twins, Andra, and you. Like the old days, right?” I smile at Mama. Her eyes softened a bit after I mentioned our old days together.

“Well, speaking of Andra, have you already seen him?”

“The twins said that he found a good old book to decipher. You know him, Mama. He will not rest until he solves it.” Mama just chuckled at that.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go to your room and meet him. I swear that boy is getting worse every time he found a good mystery. Just remind him to sleep, okay.”

“Okay, Mama. I will go now. Good night, I love you.”

“I love you too.” I smile and go to Andra’s room. Well, technically, it is my room too, considering we slept together for almost 5 years before I joined the military. I opened the door slowly, afraid of disturbing Andra’s work.

However, I didn’t see him working at all. Instead, he just sitting in a lotus position with his eyes closed. It seems like he is meditating right now, I thought. After a minute of silence, he opened his eyes and smile at me softly,

“Welcome home, Brother.”