"Yes, my dear brother. I have found the source of an Adna's power." Cloud said boastfully, maintaining a certain smile on his chocolate face. "HAUUAHAHAHAHA"
He laughed in a particular and dramatic way.
"What is it, please?"
Moonlight begged.
Cloud covered his mouth with his left hand. "Do you seriously think I'm going to tell you? HAAHAHHAUAUAH"
"Oh my dear brother, what will I gain from this?"
Cloud added once more.
Moonlight thoughts raced. He had nothing to trade for this and he just can't leave a question without an answer hanging in the air.
"But don't worry, peasant. I will tell you delicate soul the answer as you so wish. The answer to the question what is an Adna's true strength is…"
Moonlight face brightened. His ear pulled closer.
"…desire."
"Huh."
He was not expecting that.
Moonlight tilted his head to the left, "Just desire."
"Yeah," Cloud brought forth his hand and placed it on Moonlight shoulders.
"Do you remember what Great Uncle told you to do during…when...learning about Elro?"
"He told me to envision a wasteland."
"Correct and what happened next." Cloud added.
"Febia came in running after I seemingly caused some destruction at the field to the left, mmm…."
Cloud covered Moonlight lips. "Skip that first part, now did you ever wonder why or how you did that?"
"mmmm…"
Moonlight could not form words as it was been covered by Cloud.
"I know what you're trying to say, but I'll say it before you. It's desire. The Adna's powers come from desire. You see, you only do what you wanted to do. At that time, that amount of damage was what you wanted to do so…"
He continued, "…you did it. That was not strength; that was your own desire to do it. Everything you've done up till now was your own desire to do so."
Moonlight was stunned. He could not speak. His mind at this time, recalled to the monsters he fought and he was filled with, 'I wanted to do this.'
"…picking up that rowl and everything…"
As Cloud spoke, Moonlight grew uneasy and experienced a flashback to when he was called a monster by that creature. He stared at his palm blindly and was on the countdown to complete breakdown.
Until, "But, I don't blame for the monsters you killed."
"Huh."
"You probably desired for the speed and the strength to take your foes down and unfortunately, they were not strong enough to react and lost. Besides, this is a dog eat dog world."
Cloud paused and looked away from Moonlight. "Only the strong survives." He said in new tone that showed experience.
This calmed Moonlight down and this raised the bar of respect he has for Cloud.
"And for my reward…"
"Reward?!" asked Moonlight.
"Yeah, did you think I was telling you for free?"
"But you said you pitied me."
"That's what they always say. Fun fact, 'Always expect a price from someone even if he or she says they don't need one."
"That's not fair." Moonlight cried.
"Life's not fair, kid."
Cloud continued. "For my reward, I will be able to pet that rowl any time I want."
"Huh. It's not like it's a pet or anything but accepted."
"Thank you and let's be on our way."
Moonlight did not think much of that and was happy to learn something. Moreover, his curiosity was piqued once more as he wanted to find out if what Cloud is saying is true or not?
DUMM!!
The ground shook.
Moonlight and Cloud turned, Moonlight was secretly happy.
The sound grew louder and louder, covering the entirety of the forest and the land around. From afar, they began to sense a great change that completely restructured the foundation of the entire area.
The trees and land turned brown, and was swallowed into the ground. A wave that came did this and with this wave the ground shook once more.
The duo could sense something moving directly towards their direction and they steeled themselves with no fear in their eyes.
As it grew closer, Moonlight could finally see it, Elro in the perfect sense. All the creatures, monsters he encountered all had a particular scent to them but it was mostly small that one may not notice.
However, what is approaching is giving a very strong, thick and wide sense of Elro.
'So this is it, Elro the source of everything.' He formed a smile internally though his face did not show it.
Cloud however, just stared, waited, his eyes completely switched to a cold-blooded individual. He tightened and freed his hands, a gesture saying 'Come out already.'
Slowly, he moved. He drew nearer to the source. As of now, no one can say this was an eight-year-old. Cloud looked more like a hunter than a child. The perfect way to describe this was 'Wolf in sheep clothing.'