Chapter 4: A Strange Family
"When will the gods smile down on us and bless us with a child? I have so many things I hope to teach my son or daughter someday." A feminine voice sighed wistfully.
"How do you want to take care of a child with a debt hanging over our heads?" Her husband responded grimly, searching the seashore with a hanging lamp for some clams or pearls he could sell for money.
"Silly husband. Don't you know children are blessings? When they come, providence follows them. You'll see, when we get a child, we will no longer have any debts to pay! You wouldn't have to search for clams at ungodly hours of the morning to survive. Just you wait and see." She smiled and clapped her hand at a vision only she could see.
The husband shook his head at his delusional wife, "Tell that to the children who beg at the streets. I wonder where Providence went when they were born?"
She frowned, "that is because their parents abandoned them..." The husband stopped listening to her nonsense at this point.
His light caught a figure floating on the water. Something circular, like air seemed to be swirling around it. He blinked his eye and squinted at the darkness, raising the lamp he was holding to be sure he was actually seeing something.
The figure drifted towards him and he poked at it. The air bubble dissolved with a poof and he fell on his butt.
"Honey, what's wrong? Why did you suddenly fall?" His wife who was rambling away stopped when she saw her husband suddenly fall on his butt.
She came closer and together, they saw the figure of a young girl, drenched from head to toe, clad in the finest silk they had ever laid their eyes on.
The lady smiled brightly, "Oh my! Have the gods finally smiled down on me? They heard my earnest cries just now and sent me a beautiful girl! Wow, she's simply breathtaking! I just want to..." She approached the girl and her husband dragged her back by the wrist.
"Are you missing a few screws in your head? You see a drifting body and you suddenly think you've been given a child by so-called gods? This is an omen. We should leave leave this place at once!"
The lady yanked her hand out of her husband's grip. "Even if she was not sent to me by the gods as my child, can you not see she needs help? Since when did we become heartless people who ignore those in need?"
"Honey, I don't think that child is alive. Where did she drift from? If she fell from that cliff, what makes you think she survived such a high fall? That is cliff is almost the size of a mountain!"
"I don't care what you have to say. I'll see for myself personally whether she's dead or alive."
She took the stick her husband was holding and dragged Velexa to the shore. "She's alive! She's breathing! But oh, poor child, she looks terribly sick. She needs a Healer!" She carried Velexa in her arms, walking away speedily.
"I have no hand in whatever comes out of this honey." Her husband sighed resignedly.
"Oh you do honey. My worries are your worries remember? And no buts, we're helping this child."
She carried Velexa home, changed her wet clothes and called a Healer over.
"Hailen, I have looked at the child and I don't know how to say this..." The Healer hesitated.
"What's wrong Semona? Is her condition critical? Can she be saved?"
Semona the Healer looked at Velexa again and back at Hailen and her husband, Freman who was eavesdropping by the door.
"I don't know how a young child has this much potent energy inside her but you must be careful. If she shows signs of exploding, put a distance of ten meters between you and her. She's dangerous."
Hailen trembled at the Healers words.
"I told you this girl looked like trouble. Seems I was right." Freman remarked, earning him a glare from Hailen.
"What do you mean Semona? Explain it to me clearly." Hailen wanted to hold on to every bit of hope that them meeting Velexa was a blessing.
"To put it simply, she's overflowing with power. So much power that her young body cannot bear it, and it keeps increasing by the second. She needs a Mage who is skilled at power control to help her surpress it. I gave her a temporary remedy but it won't last a day, and it is by no way a solution... More like barely delaying the inevitable."
"Are you saying she would burst? Like burst? Spilling flesh and bones everywhere kind of burst?" Freman asked and Hailen elbowed him hard!
Semona continued, "When it's noon, make sure you give her this medicine again. While she's still unconscious, find a control mage. It's good she's unconscious, there's no telling what she's capable of whe she wakes up. I also treated some of her external injuries. She should be fine for a while. Call me if anything happens. I shall take my leave."
"Thank you very much Healer Semona! We will do something about her condition."
Semona put a hand on Hailen's shoulder, "Be careful Hailen. If you notice she's past saving, it's not a crime to abandon her." With that, the Healer left the couple to their fate.
"What other sign are you looking for honey? Let's return the girl to the seashore where we found her. Or if that is too cruel, leave her with the mage association's of Beautamix. I'm sure the mages or the royal family will know what to do with her. We're just commoners struggling to survive."
"No. Let's watch her for one day. Just one day is all I ask, then I'll follow whatever you say." Hailen pleaded.
Before Freman could respond, a loud banging was heard on their front door.
"Where is that wretched lovey-dovey couple?! Time to pay up! I'm here for my money!" The banging on the door intensified.
Freman glanced at his wife, then at Velexa. He sighed tiredly and went to answer the door.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone