The entity was finally defeated.
Yet Aiden didn't celebrate.
He couldn't.
As Alaric was surrounded by the scorching steam, cocooned by the white, boiling mist.
He turned to it, his newborn's fate unknown.
Mirroring his emotion, his black and blue flames fluctuated, as he feared the worst.
He flew closer, his hands slightly trembling.
Hesitant, reluctant, but he had to see.
Crack!!
But before he could touch the cocoon of steam, blue cracks formed on its surface, and with a distinct sound, it shattered, a blinding blue light momentarily illuminating the room, everyone bathed in the gentle luminance.
Aiden's eyes widened as he saw through the light, more specifically the source of the light, his son's hair.
Blue like the ocean, a trait of those blessed by water.
But he is supposed to be his son, the son of the Hellflame and Thunder Princess.
His originally bright red hair, proving his lineage, now bright blue.
Why?
His expression turned to that of confusion.
How could this happen?
Then to questioning, the series of incidents already enough to give a how?
But then who?
And then to understanding and rage.
Someone had orchestrated all of this.
He didn't need years to come to that conclusion.
The blinding blue light which had obscured everyone's vision dimmed, fading to reveal black and blue flames enveloping the father and son.
Aiden deliberately blocking the prying eyes of those present.
"What's going on up there..." a few inquired, curious as to what had just transpired.
They turned to their surroundings.
The entity defeated, the aftermath proof of the miniature chaos it had caused.
The ceiling broken, its magnificence lost, the giant blue moon shining down on the hall.
The polished tiles cracked, like the floors of ruins, stone pillars lined with numerous fissures that seemed ready to give out at any time.
Furniture lay littered and broken, gifts for the present unrecognizable.
The only upside was that no one was dead, and even those who had been injured by Raika's lightning were miraculously healed, surely from the high potency water mana.
As pure water element had some degree of healing properties, not that most water mages could use it.
Everyone was in top condition physically, even their clothes dry, the water already evaporated by Aiden's power, but their mental conditions...
Let's say they wanted answers.
Their curious, anxious gazes swept across everything and finally landed on the giant wisp of black and blue flames enveloping the father and son.
Meanwhile, the father and son were locked into each other's gazes, one curious, the other tearful, his eyes staring at the hair of his son.
"Hey, Aiden, what's the hold up... Let's see your boy." Valentin's mocking voice echoed in the hall, everyone curious as to the condition of Alaric.
"EVERYONE LEAVE, THE CELEBRATION IS OVER!" Aiden's voice boomed, thunderous and enraged.
"Hey, you can't be like..." His words were caught in his throat as blue and black tendrils of flame shot towards him.
He instinctively raised his arm to block, yet found himself tumbling to the ground, and with a loud thud, he fell, lying on his back, the arms he had used to block earlier stinging, burnt marks marring them.
He was a fire mage, burnt by fire magic.
Most, noticing this, quickly bolted out.
Who were they to stay when the Hellflame said they should leave?
They had never known him to be angry, and now he, the strongest fifth resonance mage, was angry.
They didn't need to find out how deep his anger ran, though they were curious.
But it seemed someone didn't care.
"Hey, how dare you hit me..." Valentin exclaimed, fuming as it went against courtly etiquette.
He stood to his feet with the intention to confront Aiden, but then...
Another tendril, shaped into a spear, shot down at lightning speed.
A firewall quickly materialized to intercept it.
The black and blue spear exploding upon contact with the firewall, collapsing the gaseous defense.
And before another could be put up, another tendril, shaped like a spear, hovered inches away from Valentin's throat.
"LEAVE." Aiden's voice echoed once more, this time cold, without a single ounce of emotion.
Those who had remained, didn't need to hesitate, quickly rushing out.
Begrudgingly, Valentin tucked his tail between his legs and walked out, everyone already gone except for the hosts.
"This is just the beginning." Valentin's mouth twisted into something akin to a grin as he left the hall.
Leaving behind Aiden, Zariah, Elena, and Raika.
Raika knelt on the cracked floor, her confused and panicked gaze watching her open hands, clenching and relaxing them, seemingly looking for a feel for something.
Her magic.
She had been in this state for a while now, her thoughts running, trying to figure out what had happened.
"The two of you leave as well." Aiden's voice sounded again, a bit softer, yet the anger was very much there.
Zariah opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but Elena shook her head softly.
Aiden wasn't in the mood to hear anything from anyone.
The two left, Aiden, Alaric, and Raika the only ones remaining.
Aiden retracted his power, the two now in full view.
Brownish red hair, glistening under the blue moon, completely overshadowed by the bright, almost silvery blue hair of the infant in his arms, his red eyes mirroring his father as they looked back at him with calm curiosity.
The two descended, Raika raising her head, her confused, panicked gaze meeting the tear-filled gaze of her husband.
The lock-in was but a moment, as her gaze was quickly pulled toward Alaric's blue hair.
She rushed to her child, her hands trembling as she touched his hair, this time softly, gently.
"What happened? Why is his hair like this? How..." She looked at her husband, expecting answers.
Her earlier worry for her magic overshadowed by her care for her day-old infant.
"I am sorry." Aiden drooped his head.
He was a patriarch, a duke.
Someone intelligent enough to put two and two together, and he knew they were targeted.
And this was their goal.
Changing the elemental affinity of his heir into a different element.
Something that should have been impossible, yet Alaric was proof.
"I promise I will fix this..."
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This is the end of the first arc of volume one, ( Celebration of Birth )
Hope you loved it.
If so, my support, where are they? ( ಠ_ಠ )
A/N
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