Chapter 46: Chapter 45: A Poisonous Woman (10)

The Gods are divided into ranks.

Below the Supreme deities, are the Major Gods and the Minor Gods. Unlike the Supreme Gods, their names were unknown to those living in the human realm. This was because their power was too low to pass on their blessings and names to humans.

Amongst the Minor Gods, there was one known as the God of Destiny.

While his power was on par with the Supreme Gods, he refused to bless any human living on the land with his name. He would always say that "it wasn't meant to be". That it wasn't his 'destiny'.

Aurora was one who never believed in things like fate and destiny. She believed that people were alive to just do that, live.

But her Mother thought differently.

She'd always tell her that there was no such thing as coincidence. That while the laws of cause and effect were a guide, everything that occurs is destined to happen.

'Destiny? Is it the God of Destiny who gives us our destiny?'

When Aurora asked her mother this, she shook her head said that destiny is subjected to the passage of time and the law of karma.

'Karma?'

Her mother's expression turned grave at this. 'That's right,' she said. 'Never forget that destiny is created from our past deeds. You see, the God of Destiny himself is at the whim of destiny as well. He is only a vessel.'

Aurora could never understand that. She didn't think much about such a vague theory...at least until she met Lucius Rizar.

Two people who should have never crossed paths met in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. 

One was the daughter of a Witch that caused the death of many. That same daughter was then abadoned by her family, betrayed by someone she thought of as family and hunted down by the Empire. While the other still suffered due to that Witch's curse even one thousand years later. She just couldn’t understand the meaning of their meeting.

And ever since then, the two already shared a life and death crisis twice.

"If this is what 'destiny' planned, then he sure has a mean streak."

This was what Aurora thought as she watched over the unconscious Duke as he laid on the sheets underneath.

Just after the Duke collapsed, Sia and a little boy she didn’t know came running to his side. To her confusion, the boy started examining Lucius.

Sia explained how the boy was Doctor Jarvik’s 14 years old grandson, Vale Kenward. He was usually studying at the academy, but since they were on break now, Jarvik decided to give his grandson a chance to gain experience. According to the Vice Captain, Lucius had him come with them in case Aurora was injured.

The boy had brown eyes and hair. His middle-length hair was tied back using a band. While he was considered somewhat pretty right now, she knew he'd become quite the handsome man when he matured.

Vale pinched the Duke’s eyes open to check his pupils. “His pupils are dilated.” A few seconds later he moved his fingers over his wrist to check his pulse. He frowned. “Breathing is shallow. His pulse is irregular and fading.”

“What? What does that mean?” Aurora asked anxiously. She wanted to rush to the boy and shake him back and forth, but Sia stopped her.

The boy called for Sia to help move the Duke to his side and take his shirt off. When Sia followed his directions, Aurora gasped in terror when she saw his shoulder. It was wrapped, and he was bleeding through it. The black lines she saw on One’s body also covered his entire shoulder and reached halfway down his back.

“The poison is spreading. He’s trying to keep it at bay by freezing his body. But while his temperature continues to drop, he will be at risk for organ failure. If he doesn’t completely purge the poison soon, he’ll either end up encasing himself entirely in ice or his heart will give out first.”

Aurora started shivering as if she was the one who was being frozen over. “T-then how can he get rid of the poison faster?”

“We have to get him back to the mansion quickly.” Sia stepped towards Lucius, intending to pick him up until the boy’s next words made him stop.

“If you move him, he’ll die.” He said as a matter-of-factly.

“Then you want me to just wait until he dies??!!!” Sia yelled at the top of his lungs. It was the first time he showed such a fierce expression, with the man who was always playfully laughing nowhere to be seen.

“I didn’t say that. But the cold weather outside will only speed up his death. He should stay here.”

Since Aurora was unconscious during their trip here, she had no idea that the mountains were actually covered in snow all year long. The reason it was somewhat warm inside the cave was because of a rune One plastered on the outside wall of the cave to shield the cave from the cold.

Sia scowled at Vale. The two stared at each other without saying anything, sparks flying between them.

Vale sighed and moved his hand over Lucius. He placed it on the Duke’s chest.

“What are you doing??” Sia asked, seething with anger.

“For him to survive he needs to wake up and completely expel the poison from inside by awakening his mana.” As he continued talking, the rune on his arm started to glow a gold, beautiful light. “I heard from my grandfather that during his beast-like state, his mana becomes at least 10x times overwhelming. This will increase the rate at which he can get rid of the poison.”

“What does that have to do with what you’re doing?” The Vice Captain asked, unconvinced. 

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'Even if the brat was the Doctor’s grandson, what can he do?' He didn't trust him with his Master.

“I have superior affinity for light. My sigil is…a healing rune.”

Sia stopped in place. He blinked his eyes. “What?”

“Is that rare?” Aurora asked.

The Vice-Captain raised his eyebrows. "You can say that. Does His Grace know about this?" He turned and asked the boy.

Vale shook his head no.

He put his hand on his forehead. "No wonder the Old Doc said you'd be useful. I get why he kept this from us though."

When Aurora looked at Sia questioningly, he started to explain. "This kid is claiming to have superior affinity for light! Having an affinity for either the light or darkness element is already rare. You know this, right?" He asked this with his hand slightly raised in a gesture.

"Somewhat." Both light and darkness elements were even rare back then. This was why her Father was immediately chosen to become the Emperor even though he was the youngest candidate in line for the throne. 

It seems like it was still that way after a thousand years. 

To think she'd meet two people on the same day, with the same affinity for the elements her parents had. 

For sure, the ability that mysterious man from earlier used was...very similar to her Mother......

Was this another coincidence? Or was it 'destiny' playing a fool of her again.

"On top of that...." Sia continued, interrupting her thoughts. "He, himself, has a healing rune, which should nearly be impossible."

Aurora's eyebrows scrunched. "What's so remarkable about that? I thought that all the Priests from the Holy Temple can use healing runes?"

He shook his head. "The healing rune they use is man-made inscribed on special parchments. It was created through research and experiments. There's a limit to what man-made runes can do. For example, the healing runes that the Holy Temple use can only heal superficial injuries, restore mana, and increase a person's vital to speed up their self-healing ability. I won't go into it now, but keep in mind that there are different types and ranks of runes."

Aurora nodded her head. 

"A sigil inscribed on a person that matches their affinity has a higher ability....aggggghhhh...." Sia ruffled his hair in frustration. "I'm not good at explaining this, but you just need to know sigils tap into a person's true potential, while runes written on parchments uses the symbols to gather power! Okay?" He pointed at Aurora, while steaming red.

He can actually be cute at times...

If Aurora saw the scene of him dragging a bloody body across the room earlier, she wouldn't have thought like that at all.

"With practice, a healing sigil using the light affinity can eventually heal all kinds of ailments as long as the person is still breathing. To put it bluntly, those man-made healing runes on parchments made by the Holy Temple can't come close to a genuine healing sigil."

“Right." Vale agreed proudly. "That's why my grandfather wanted me to keep this a secret. Besides him, only the one who gave me my sigil and the Chairman of the academy I attend knows about this. Unfortunately, I'm still learning and can only do the very basic healing like the runes the Priests use. It would have been better if we had someone with an affinity for fire."

"Would that make a difference?" Sia asked him.

"Of course. They would be able to warm the Duke up from the inside. Still, this should be enough to give him enough energy to wake up.” Vale sat back in exhaustion when he finished.

“Now what?” The Vice Captain asked.

Vale glanced at Sia. “Now we wait and pray that he wakes up before he kills himself.” Vale stood up and started walking towards the entrance of the cave.

“Where are you going?”

“To get the blankets from the horses. We need to keep him warm to get his blood flowing. Make a fire as well.”

Sia quickly walked towards him. “I’ll come help.”

Aurora watched as the left her alone with the Duke. She sat by his side and watched him as he lay there vulnerable.

“It would have been better if we had someone with an affinity for fire.”

She grabbed a fistful of her dress and hung her head low as she thought about the boy’s words.

In the end, the only thing her fire was useful for was to protect her from the rain and keeping her from being cold.