Helga

After the <Lord’s Eye> had begun to be <Acclimated>, Crown Prince Nil’s body went limp. Grand Archmagus Solomon was launched across the room. Crown Prince Nil’s soul appeared to have completely left his body. It was something completely unprecedented. <Rejection> took many forms, but this was something I certainly didn’t understand. Whenever one of us got close to Nil, a <Spell> way beyond his ability propelled us back. Whatever it was, Grand Archmagus Solomon ordered us to not try again and that was not something to be tested.

Emperor Azzeck and Empress Senna were understandably quite distraught. Grand Archmagus Solomon ordered as many available <Theoretical Scholar’s> and <Deconstructors> to the room as soon as possible. It took less than fifteen minutes to scramble an impressive array of <Mages>. It took them another five to set up an incredible array of barriers, investigative spells, and protection for the room as well as to see what was happening to Crown Prince Nil. Then Crown Prince Nil took a breath.

We all felt it. The <Mana> in the room just seemed to bend to his will. Then came the second breath, and the light returned to his fierce amber eyes. The air seemed to leave the room. We all were feeling it. What is happening? Is this the power of his <Lord’s Eye>? Crown Prince Nil’s third breath brought me to my knees. All the previous effects were amplified, and the <Mana> in the room contained traces of his. That wasn’t right. The ambient <Mana> in the air felt like it was kneeling down before his. It was serving his bidding. We were entities that were simply in its way. This power was absolutely suffocating.

“Nil!” Empress Senna called out. His eyes snapped to her, and he used a <Warp> much faster and cleaner than his previous ones to go in front of her.

The sensation stopped. There was a stunned silence in the room. You could hear a cotton ball drop it was so quiet. What finally broke the silence was a loud growl from Nil’s stomach. He was motioning at his mom like he was hungry. Emperor Azzeck just started to laugh. Grand Archmagus Solomon joined in. The rest of us did not want to move or make a sound. How on Tenebrae did a baby do that?

“I will feed you in a second Nil. I am just glad you are okay.” Empress Senna cried as she hugged her baby close. Emperor Azzeck was next to her, petting his son’s head.

“Your Imperial Highnesses, I am not sure what happened, but as you can clearly see, he has successfully <Acclimated> the <Arcane Eye>. I believe that has been enough excitement for today. I will be expecting the payment as we discussed.” Grand Archmagus announced.

“Grand Archmagus Solomon, I know as a supporter of the Mage Freedom Act I cannot order these Mages to forget what they just witnessed, or compel them to keep it a secret. Can I ask for you to please use your discretion to keep this under wraps.” Emperor Azzeck asked. A few of the Mages in the room looked surprised at the announcement.

“I understand your concerns Emperor Azzeck, for such a promising talent should be carefully hidden and protected. As he is to become my apprentice, I order all Mages in this room to forget what they have just witnessed, make no official reports, and not to breathe or record a word of what has happened here even in private. Anyone who disobeys this order, or the intents of this order, shall be punished to the highest degree.” Grand Archmagus Solomon declared.

“Thank you Grand Archmagus Solomon. Come, Cesar, Helga, Magus Erli, it is time for us to leave.” Empress Senna ordered.

I quickly followed the Imperial Highnesses along with my brother and Magus Erli back to the carriage. We quickly left the Institution of Mages. Once inside, Empress Senna began to feed Crown Prince Nil. She and Emperor Azzeck were beaming with pride as they looked after their son. Lords of Tenebrae I pity any siblings he may have. How do you compete with that? I got the distinct feeling my time watching Nil was going to become much more challenging. Just wait till he can walk and talk. He is already sitting upright. Once he is more mobile this is going to be hell. The oddest part was, despite all that had transpired, Crown Prince Nil looked exactly the same. His eyes were the same shade of amber as Empress Senna, his skin was still that bone white of his father’s. His face seemed to take after Emperor Azzeck, but he had his mother’s pitch black hair. Crown Prince Nil’s horns were still little stubs so it was hard to tell which parent’s they would look like.

Out of nowhere, the <Mana> in the carriage became tense again. Crown Prince Nil’s eyes appeared to be glowing slightly. It was nowhere near as terrifying as before. It was more of an awkward pressure than the kneel before your supreme ruler presence from before. Why is it different? I am not too familiar with <Arcane Eyes> so I am not sure if this is normal.

“Do not worry your Imperial Highnesses, it is normal for an <Arcane Eye> to emit closer to its full effect upon being <Acclimated> and further use depends on the Mage’s skill and familiarity with the <Arcane Eye>.” Magus Erli quickly explained.

It was obvious from the lackluster response of Empress Senna and Emperor Azzeck they clearly already knew that. They did seem to appreciate her trying to inform them just in case so they didn’t panic. I did find his innate strength and talent quite comforting. Emperor Azzeck will be succeeded by someone just as if not stronger. That is good for all of Speranza.

On the other hand, I did pity my brother. He and Cleo had just had a healthy baby boy. It obviously distressed him on whether or not to allow his son near Crown Prince Nil. I can only imagine parents wanting their child to grow up strong and successful, and believe their child is truly gifted. I can only imagine what Cesar is feeling, especially given he has seen Crown Prince Nil and what he already has achieved. I had no idea how Cesar balanced it, or kept it from eating him up inside.

*

Nil

BOW BEFORE MY SUPREME POWER! KNEEL IN FRONT OF MY UNPARALLELED STRENGTH! YOUR DAYS OF PEACE ARE OVER FOOLISH MORTALS! I thought internally as I finally got this baby body to take a step. I am walking finally! Nine months and I can finally walk! Well technically ten months in Tenebrae.

I had learned a bit more about Tenebrae in the time that had passed. First, it used a thirteen month calendar, where each month was exactly twenty eight days. But the length of time is the same on Tenebrae, which is convenient to not have to relearn. It was also interesting as there was a Day of Reflections. It didn’t belong to any month, and it was after my birthday but before the new year. I still don’t know all the months.

Another thing I learned was the written language was completely different. So do I have something converting what they are saying for me or is the spoken language the same? Because of <Magic> there was no way for me to tell.

I also learned Cesar has a son that’s slightly younger than me. So far I was not able to figure out what his name was. I wasn’t sure what to think about him. Maybe meeting a new person won’t be so bad? That was to be decided later. Whenever Cesar wanted to slip away and spend some time with his son, my dad loved giving him grief about responsibilities and how he must keep doing his duties. Cesar usually retorted about a certain night in Rockhaven and how Empress Senna would be most keen to learn the details. It took seconds for my dad to cave after that threat. It usually ended up with my dad slacking and spending more time with me, which I wasn’t going to complain about. My mom would join us once she knew Cesar was gone. Cesar was out of luck if he wanted to slip away with my mom though. She is definitely holding a grudge for the times he pulled her away from me. He had nothing to hold over her head.

My dad swept me off the ground, spinning around while holding me above his head, excited I had just taken my first few steps. Just you wait, I can finally start exploring this castle. The last six months had been a cycle of me <Tempering>, practicing with my <Arcane Eye>, and improving my <Magic> in my free (alone) time while doing a little of each and trying to move my body when adults were around.

For the longest while I could not tell what the <Tempering> was doing. I did it out of the not wanting to choke to death on my own <Mana> instinct I developed. About a month ago I tried stabbing myself with a small sliver of wood I found to see if my body was changing in a way I just didn’t know. To my pleasant surprise no matter how hard I tried, the wood couldn’t pierce my skin. It also can be because I am a demon, but for now I am assuming <Tempering> made my body a bit stronger. Another reason I thought that was I didn’t get as tired after depleting my <Mana>; the physical toll just was not as severe. I could now <Warp> around a bit, but if I couldn’t get back to my crib my parents would definitely increase their surveillance of me. Now that I think about it, there is no way my room is unguarded at night. Who watches me at night?

As for my <Arcane Eye>, it was a <Mana> sink as far as I could tell. It did nothing. No matter how hard I tried to use it, there was just this sensation of exertion from my eyes. There was no visible effect of whatever it was doing. Even when I first used it, nothing. Kron was the Lord of Fate so I thought it would do something cool. All it does is eat my <Mana>. The best I had gotten recently from it was the vague sensation that sometime in the next month I might see a bird. I’m not honestly sure it even was from using the <Arcane Eye> or how I thought it was weird I hadn’t really seen any birds. I was not going to neglect it though, as it had to do something.

But now, now was the time for walking. I made some slightly better noises using my throat. It almost resembled words now. My dad set me down, and I took a few more steps. Slow and steady. I shall soon have mobility. Currently it was step, step, fall. My crawling was good, so alternating between the two gave me some nice mobility. Hopefully I would get the coordination down of this baby body and be able to speak. Not speak so well my parents get suspicious. That is going to be a pain to try and get the balance right.

Best part was the falls were like I could feel the impact happening, but that was it. There was no pain. <Tempering> is quite convenient if this is what it does. Logically speaking it would make sense, but I had no way of knowing for sure. These adults aren’t exactly explaining this stuff to me.

At least in a few nights I would finally be able to explore the castle a bit more. Maybe figure out who watches me at night. I haven’t detected anyone with <Magic Sense> but there is probably a way to hide from it. I smiled and made some syllables for my parents. When they seemed delighted it made me quite happy for some reason. I have got to stop zoning out sometimes.