Chapter 4: Climbing a Mountain
The cloying scent of incense stirred Kellen from his slumber. He woke up with a sneeze, and blearily he looked around to find he was in his bed back in his apartment.
"Oh, he's finally awake." The familiar voice roused him further from his sleep as he opened his eyes fully and glanced around. The smell was a comforting one, even if it tickled his nose and caused him to sneeze, but he was surprised as well. They weren't supposed to be home yet.
"Kellen sweetheart, breakfast is ready." He sat up at those soft words, moving his gaze to the right, and passed the screen he used to separate the small dining and kitchen space from his bedroom.
There, sitting at the small two seater table, were his parents. Each was smiling at him, with a cup of tea in front of them. There was a third chair pulled up to the smaller table, with a plate of breakfast and another cup of tea waiting. His Mom had lit the incense holder she'd gotten him when he'd moved into this space, and he watched as the trail of smoke curled in the air lazily. It gave the surreal scene a sense of normalcy.
His parents had been gone for about two weeks on what they called a 'vacation'. That was their way of saying the government had asked them to take care of something. Kellen knew this since his parents had been taking 'vacations' for quite some time since they had settled down, stepped down as active members of a Guild or government organizations.
His mom had gone into law and while she wasn't an active duty Esper anymore, her knowhow and knowledge as a veteran Esper made her in high demand. Especially since she worked with Espers so they didn't get fucked over by greedy people or organizations.
His Father had taken on the role to raise him and his sister while his Mother flew all over the globe. It had been a great trade off in his opinion, and had also given the general public a break.
The reason why it was so crazy that Kellen's parents had retired and formed a semi-normal life after all their work was because Espers and Guides rarely did so. It was almost as if there was a block preventing them from stopping and growing happy and old.
Most died in gates or other terrible circumstances. But his Mom and Dad were Imprinted, if one died, so would the other, and as some of the first publicly accepted and advertised Imprinted couples, they hadn't wanted to go down the normal route. They wanted to live long enough to see if they were going to get any grandchildren from either of their kids.
So, they retired, and every once in a while took on a couple of 'vacations' when Kellen's Mom wanted to stretch her legs so she didn't get rusty. Kellen couldn't believe there would ever come a time when that was true. After all, she was the one who took over his and his sister's training when they were kids. He'd also never been able to beat her in a fight. She had teased him that if he had ever been able to beat her, she'd tell him where they went for 'vacations'. So, he didn't ask where they went anymore, since his father just smiled and played along with her whims.
Exhaling slowly, Kellen ran his hand through his hair, before glancing down at himself. He was in a black t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Given what he had been wearing before, he had a feeling his Father had something to do with this. Taylor had probably called him and told him what had happened, which would explain why they were back so soon, but he wanted to hear why from their mouths.