Chapter 11: The Beginnings of a New Element (2)
"Arya, stay with me. Don't close your eyes." The muffled screams of his mother permeated into his ears, however, the searing pain that radiated from his chest drowned her voice.
"Go get Casandra, now!" shouted another voice, this one sounded like Argen's, the old man sounded flustered.
Arya felt as if cold sweat were dripping down his entire body, the chill numbing him so much that all he could feel was the pain in his chest.
His vision went blurry, the only thing he could make out clearly was his mother's face. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost, her eyes open wide in terror, her hands shaking as she held on to Arya.
{My spell didn't work?} Arya thought as the world around him slowly went dark.
"What happened to my baby?" screamed Lillian. Deep down she knew that panicking wouldn't help, but she couldn't keep calm when her youngest child was on the verge of death.
Arya's skin had gone deathly pale, and his body felt cold. As if he were already dead.
"He added extra runes to the rings. He tried casting a spell using a template that was way above its power limit. He tried casting a spell that's way above his mana core's power limit," Argen replied, his fingers moving deftly over the multiple potions he had on his table.
"I-I don't understand. How?" stuttered Lillian. She didn't understand a word of what Argen had just said, and her panicked state didn't help either.
"The boy tried making his own spell. But he did such a trash job at it that it blew up in his face. Though I have to admit, for a baby to use magic, what's more, to even have known about runes, he really was a genius," Argen murmured as he began mixing a few potions.
Lillian would've retorted about the stuff Argen had just said about her baby, however, she was too distressed. She was too confused to properly process what he had just said.
"W-What are you giving him," stuttered Lillian, holding Argen's hand before he could give Arya a black-colored elixir.
"It's a potion that reduces the rate of decay. Right now his body is shutting down because the disintegration of his mana core is throwing his organs out of balance," Argen replied, pulling his hand away to pour the potion into Arya's mouth.
"Disintegrated, mana core," murmured Lillian. She hadn't thought it would be that severe.
In this world, you had a higher chance of surviving without a heart than a without mana core. Healing magic could heal a lot of things, but it could not repair the mana core.
"Argen, you better have had a valid reason for sending this runt to my house," snorted an elderly woman as she walked into the house.
"Shut up and come here. The boy's about to die," shouted Argen, not even taking a moment to look at the old woman.
The lady had grey hair with deep green tips, indicating that she was blessed at healing magic. Her face seemed to be glued into a permanent scowl, making her look older than she already was.
However somehow beneath all that, you could tell that she must've been beautiful in her youth. Her face may have looked discouraging, but her hazel eyes still held their beauty.
"What's happened here," whispered Cassandra as she noticed Arya lying on the floor.
"The kid trying casting magic using a poor template," replied Argen, keeping his palm on Arya's chest.
"A poor template? You can't do that unless you're trying to create a new spell. And anyway, this child is too young to cast spells, he can't even talk," Cassandra assumed, touching Arya with her palm as well.
"Mother Vitra. His mana core is gone," she exclaimed, before chanting a spell.
"Reveria Sretia."
As soon as she chanted this, a series of massive green concentric rings -so massive in fact that they covered the entire house- appeared on top of her. Their rings turned at an astounding speed as a green glow engulfed the cottage, her hair flapping backward as if it were windy.
"What is she doing?" shouted Lillian, the spell gave out a humming sound, drowning every other sound in the vicinity.
"8th Tier healing, Reveria Sretia," shouted Argen over the humming sound.
After a few seconds, Arya was surrounded by a green glow as well, before the rings disappeared.
"This won't hold Argen. I've used most of my mana on that, if you don't think of a way fast, then this baby will die," warned Cassandra in a weak voice. Her already old face seemed to have grown older after using that spell.
"Please save my baby Argen," cried Lillian, caressing Arya's checks.
"T-There might be a way. But I'm not sure... It might work because he's a baby, it might," muttered Argen, before abruptly standing up to look at a shelf full of books.
This whole time Armin stood at the door in shock, his legs shivering so much that they felt like spaghetti.
{A-Arya,} he thought. He now saw magic in a new light, he could now see the dangers involved.
"Here it is."
"Serpus Nihil, the magic killer spell," muttered Argen as he looked at a page in an old musty book.
"Argen, you can't be serious. Forbidden magic?" asked Cassandra, her voice a whisper.
"The only reason why his body is going into shock is because his mana system is in disarray. If we get rid of it completely, then his body should return to normal," he said, a sort of hesitance in his voice.
"How many mages have died after the effects of that spell," asked Cassandra as she stood up.
"He's still baby. His body could grow accustomed to it," replied Argen.
"Please, just save my boy," cried Lillian, her voice was but a squeak as she buried her face in Arya's small chest.
"There's no other way," said Argen grimly.
"Do you have the necessary paraphernalia?" asked Cassandra, a faraway look in her eyes.
"Yes."
"Then let's prepare."
Chapter 12: A Third shot at life
After drawing several hexagrams on the ground using what looked like purple sand, Argen and Cassandra got into position.
"You two need to leave," ordered Cassandra, a determined look in her eyes.
"N-No, I'm not leaving my baby," whimpered Lillian, her face red from crying.
"Mom, we have to go. They're the only ones who can help," whispered Armin, his shaky hand tugging on his mother's shirt.
{I can't believe I forgot about Armin,} Lillian realized, before turning to hug him.
Armin was merely 5, and seeing something like this must've been traumatizing for him as well.
"Please take care of my boy," said Lillian, wiping the tears off her face before walking out with Armin.
"Are you ready?" asked Argen.
"Let's just get it over with."
"Serpus Nihil," they chanted in unison, before a massive black hexagram appeared on the floor, causing streaks of black light to seep from the ground.
The hexagram slowly changed shape, from a hexagram to a pentagram, until eventually, it became a circle.
The circle then projected itself into the air, disassembling into several rings -the rings were so massive that the entire house was shrouded in black-.
A chilling purple smoke spread across the house, before seeping into Arya's chest.
"What's going on?" asked Cassandra as she watched the purple smoke being repelled by a glowing golden light.
"His mana core, it's rejecting the spell," whispered Argen, his mind elsewhere.
"Even if his mana core were still intact, you can't reject Servus class spells," retorted Cassandra, before trying to approach Arya.
"You old hag, have you forgotten that the Nihil spell is still in effect. Or are you looking to leave Merrum so soon?" scolded Argen.
"L-Look," stuttered Cassandra, as the two forces began mixing with each other, before entering his body.
"Did it work?" asked Argen as the black rings disappeared, signifying that the spell's effect was over.
"H-He's stable," confirmed Cassandra as she used her palms to inspect his internal organs.
"W-Wait," she muttered right after, before placing her palm in a different area, as if something was disturbing about her readings.
"What's going on?" asked Argen, touching Arya to see for himself.
"His magic system, it merged with his blood system," exclaimed Argen in utter disbelief.
His inner workings seemed like that of a normal human, except that now his blood had mana mixed into it. But what was most unbelievable were the millions of nodes located in the blood vessels all over his body.
They seemed to act like miniature mana cores, constantly spinning on themselves, restructuring the very blood system itself to meet its new requirements.
"This is a miracle, a breakthrough. We have to report this to the mage tower," shouted Argen in joy.
"And say what? That two former Arch Magi performed the Nihil curse on an infant? This is why I could never stand you, Argen. Your hunger for recognition always got in the way of your rational thinking," snorted Cassandra as she picked Arya off the ground.
"You truly are a lucky child. Mother Vitra seems to have plans for you," she murmured to herself.
"H-His hair," stuttered Cassandra once more as she noticed the thin strands of hair that sat on Arya's head turn silver, with some strands turning a deep purple.
"He's just full of surprises, isn't he," smiled Argen, a bitter look on his face as he stared at Cassandra longingly.
The image of a younger, prettier Cassandra overlapped with the image he was now seeing.
'My hunger for recognition huh?' thought Argen bitterly.
"I-Is he okay?" asked Lillian, barging into the room.
"Your boy is safe. It might just take some time for his body to... to get used to the changes though," said Cassandra, a warm smile on her face as Lillian grabbed Arya from her arms, her tears dripping to the floor.
She hadn't heard any of what Cassandra had said after she confirmed that Arya was safe. All that mattered was that he was okay.
***
That night Lillian had not slept, she stayed up all night waiting for Arya to wake up, but nothing.
Streya and Gray wanted to know what had happened during their visit, the people in the district had reported seeing massive spell rings, but they got no answers.
Armin was too traumatized to speak about it, and whenever they asked Lillian, she would break into tears.
Gray was forced to take over all of Lillian's duties. To make sure that everyone was well fed, and to take care that his younger siblings didn't begin despising their mother because of this.
"She just gave birth, and now Arya is sick. Of course she's going to shut down, just give her some time," he would often comfort his younger siblings when they began crying.
Gray was just a kid too, so he couldn't avoid feeling envious that Arya got all their mother's attention. He felt sorry for his sick brother, but at the same time, he hated him.
Everything seemed to have gotten worse ever since he was born, he couldn't help but feel that Arya was a curse to their already cursed family.
***
A week passed and Arya finally opened his eyes, the abyss he had once been surrounded by now replaced by the image of his sleeping mother.
"I'm sorry mom," he whispered, the image of his mother on earth overlapping with the one here.
{Huh?}
Something was odd about his vision. Everything seemed to be painted in a golden hue, and streams of blue dust seemed to be flowing in the air.
"Arya, you're awake," she shouted abruptly once she had opened her eyes, a mixture of emotions in her voice as she hugged him.
{What is that?} wondered Arya as he made contact with his mother.
It was as if he could see a strange, highly complex ball, orbiting on its own axis within his mother's core.
The strange thing was, that he wasn't certain if what he was seeing was real or not. A network of what seemed to be blood vessels carrying blue blood pumped into and out of it, as if it were a heart.
"Hello," echoed a voice suddenly.
It sounded as if it were coming from inside Arya, rather than outside. The voice didn't seem to have a particular gender, it just sounded like a voice.
"Who are you?" asked Arya.
His mother stopped hugging him and looked at him with a worried expression.
"I don't know, who am I?" asked the voice back.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
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