Chapter 2199 My Father

My father sighed deeply and gave a quiet nod. "I have indeed changed. And... heh."

He smiled lightly, clearing the remaining traces of tears from his eyes as he looked at Flamie with a bit more confidence returning to his expression. "Would you stop calling me a crybaby already? I just cried once and you immediately start mocking me that way."

"Boohooo, Flamie don’t goooooo! I am such a crybaby I need my pet dragooonnn, boohoooo!" Flamie mocked him childishly, putting on an exaggerated pout and waving his small claws in the air. The playful taunt made my father laugh in an annoyed yet affectionate way.

"You damn little brat, you’re still the same as I remember!" my father laughed heartily and tried to chase after him. He ran around with surprising energy while Flamie chuckled and flew just barely out of his grasping hands, darting left and right with quick, playful flaps of his tiny wings.

As they ran and flew in circles, the world around us began to shift in a strange and gentle way. For a brief moment it felt as if we had been pulled back in time. A vivid memory resurfaced in this volatile place and became a small, living recreation of the past that everyone present could see.

My father appeared as he had looked when he was much younger. He looked a little similar to how my brother appears now, but without any of the elven traits. He had tanned skin back then, short messy red hair, and a few thin scars here and there across his arms and cheek. His frame was skinny yet full of restless energy. He wore simple leather armor that was a bit too large for him and carried a wooden practice sword at his side.

"Come here, you little lizard!" the younger version of my father called out with bright laughter.

"Heheheh, you can’t catch meeeeee!" little Flamie replied, zooming through the air and leaving faint trails of warm orange light behind him.

It was not only I who witnessed this scene. Everyone else present saw it as well. Their eyes widened in quiet surprise at this faint but powerful moment of the past being replayed before us. The younger father finally caught the small dragon spirit, still treating him exactly as if he were a child. He laughed and began tickling little Flamie’s soft stomach with careful fingers, making the tiny dragon chuckle in the most adorable way.

"I finally got you, brat! Get ready!"

"Heheheh, nooo! Hahahaha!"

It really felt as though a precious fragment of the past had been recreated in that moment. Yet eventually the vision began to fade, the colors softening and the figures growing transparent. It was the past after all, no longer with us and no longer the present.

We can never change the past because it is only called the past once it has already happened. The future is what we have yet to see, but it is, technically, something we can never fully reach because the present is all we ever truly experience and all we ever truly have.

And it is what we choose to do with the present that truly matters in the end, while still holding onto the hope of a better future that might or might never arrive.

It is sad to think about those we could have saved, about those we loved but lost too soon. I found myself thinking about my old life, my previous life, the family I once had there, and everything I lost when the bandits attacked the village. The memories of that distant time still carried a quiet ache.

And now here in my second life so much has already happened and so much has changed. I cannot return to where I once was. I cannot go back to those simpler good times. But I can still try to live an honest and good life here with all the strength I possess.

Because at the end it does not matter whether we fully achieve everything we set out to do. What matters is that we put everything imaginable and possible into the attempt. Then, once we have done so, we can feel a quiet sense of relief.

Even if the final result is never exactly what we wanted, even if the future turns out to be something else entirely, we can still feel at peace knowing we did everything that was within our power.

I suppose in the end life is simply like that.

It is all about what we choose to do with the time given to us, and also what we manage to accomplish along the way.

But the past... the past does still have a purpose.

"Ouch! Stop hitting my face with your tail!" my father laughed as the real Flamie playfully smacked him again.

"Hehehehe!" the little dragon spirit giggled without a hint of apology.

The purpose of the past is to remind us of what we have done and of who we are. Without the past we would not know ourselves. Without these memories of everything that has shaped us, the very foundation of our beings, we would not be the people we are today.

The past cannot be changed, yet it endlessly shapes us with every single second that passes, every minute, every hour. Our very selves continue to change and evolve, becoming better... or in some cases growing worse.

My father is the kind and steady man he is today thanks to all the memories he carries, including the parts of his past that I may never be able to see or experience myself. And Flamie is a permanent part of him. A living memory that will never fade. In many ways Flamie is his heart itself. He is the flame that burns in my father’s chest, the source of his relentless bravery and strength, his unwavering determination, and his deep kindness.

He already experienced what it meant to take care of a small, defenseless little creature long ago. No wonder he became such a good father. Looking at him now only made me smile.

Although it’s sad to think about it, I can see now how Flamie’s sacrifice shaped my father into the man he is today.

-----