Ascension of the last Celestial

Both of them lost track of time, fully engrossed in the other’s embrace. Seraphine felt weird; she had only met Valerian today, and in this short time, he managed to make her feel a way she only felt around her parents: relaxed.

While she never cared about the opinion of others, that didn’t mean that the stares of the servants and the nervous, reluctant behavior of the maids never bothered her. The heavy gazes of jealousy and expectation weighed down on her shoulders every time she left her room. So she shut herself in, choosing to rather spend her time alone in her room and dedicating herself to her magical research.

But now there seemed to be a light at the end of this crushing corridor of stares: him.

Valerian felt similar, though his burden came from the ever-present guilt he still felt for the children of the orphanage. He puts up a confident and proud front, but inside, he is eaten alive every second by the screams of the burning children. Yet with her, he could laugh, actually laugh, not some polite or fake, confident laugh, a genuine one, one that makes the cries and screams just a tiny bit quieter.

They stayed like that, taking in the other’s touch and presence for a time that was way too long for a hug one would give a friend, and they didn’t seem interested in breaking it up. Unfortunately for them, they were interrupted by their families who walked into the garden.

"Oh my, what is going on here?" Seraphine’s mother said with shock at the sight of her cold and eccentric daughter sharing a deep embrace with the Solarian prince.

Hearing the elven empress, Valerian and Seraphine stiffened in their position. They opened their eyes and slowly separated. Both of them went beet red and couldn’t look the other in the face.

"M- m- mother, why is everyone h- here?" Seraphine said with a nervous stutter.

Beside Avelia were not just Seraphine’s father and brother, but also Valerian’s family. Helias looked at him with a knowing smirk that made Valerian want to punch him in the face. Freya just smiled with her hand in front of her mouth, but her eyes betrayed the happiness she felt right now. Elena was standing beside Freya and wasn’t paying much attention to the situation between these two; she was too mesmerized by the garden and the beautiful colors.

Alderon, Seraphine’s father, answered her question with a slight confusion at whatever they were doing before. "Princess Elena wanted to see the garden. We didn’t know you two were ’busy’ here. We’re sorry we interrupted your moment."

"There was no moment! It was just a normal, innocent hug between friends! Right, Valerian?!" She turned to him, and he could see in her golden eyes that she wanted their parents to tell them the same she just told them. But instead, a wicked smile appeared on his face.

"Oh no! This princess just went ahead and took advantage of me! I was too surprised to shake her off!" Valerian said with too much emotion in his voice and putting on an acting performance that didn’t fool anyone; the only thing it did was annoy Seraphine.

"Shut up! I didn’t take advantage of anyone! You could have just pushed me away! But instead, you hugged me back!"

"But who am I if not just the adopted son of a different kingdom? How could I push away a princess? I was scared that would lead to war!" Valerian continued his act, now wiping away non-existent tears.

"War? Over a hug?! As if I had such a big ego!" Seraphine hissed in irritation, her core starting to heat up in anger.

As they continued their "fight", both royal families non-verbally decided to leave them alone, and they moved away to a different part of the castle.

As Valerian watched them leave from the side of his eyes, he stopped his acting and had a gentle, comforting smile on his face. "See, they are gone."

Seraphine looked at him with still slightly annoyed eyes. "Your acting is horrible. Any toddler would be better than you," she said, blowing a strand of her hair that went loose in her rapid movements to the side.

Valerian moved closer and gently placed the strand behind her ear. "But it worked, did it not? They left us alone again."

After their families interrupted them during the hug, Seraphine became conscious of all the small touches, so the sudden action of moving the hair strand made her blush in a soft pink color.

"You really shouldn’t be so touchy with any girl you come across. It could come off as creepy."

"But you are not just any girl, are you?"

Seraphine’s eyes widened at the retaliation. A soft realization came to her mind: ’So he wouldn’t do that with anyone, only me.’ It made her happy knowing that these moments he only shared with her.

With that sudden realization, her heart skipped a beat. Before she could even control it, a small pulse of raw mana shot out from her core. It wasn’t dangerous or anything, but the air around them suddenly became freezing cold. Within seconds, the dew on the grass around their feet turned into shimmering ice.

A soft silver glow appeared right under her skin, shining in her wide golden eyes.

Valerian looked down at the frost on his boots, then looked back up at her with a teasing smirk. "Careful, Princess. If your magic explodes like that every time I compliment you, people might think I actually put a spell on you."

Seraphine snapped out of it, her cheeks turning even redder as she forced the mana back down, making the silver glow disappear. "It’s not- ! My core is just... sensitive to sudden emotional spikes. It’s an unstable variable in my current research," she lied quickly, crossing her arms to hide her trembling hands. "Speaking of research, there is something I want to try out. Care to accompany me?"

The sudden switch between flustered girl and obsessed researcher left Valerian in a slight daze, but he nodded nonetheless, interested in how she spends her time.

Seeing the nod, Seraphine’s face bloomed into a beautiful smile that made Valerian’s heart skip a beat. "Then let’s go to my room!"

"What?" The sudden invitation left him slightly stunned.

"What’s the problem? Getting nervous about entering my room? So cute." Valerian’s ears turned red, and he turned to look to the side. "Let’s just go."

Seemingly happy with her win over him this time, she practically began skipping to her room with a smile of pure satisfaction.

Once they reached her room and she pushed open the door, the first thing Valerian saw were books, a lot of books. They were lying everywhere in the room; some were on the floor or on a large desk, but most were just lying open in the room like she lost interest in them the second she found what she was looking for.

There were also orbs made from light mana hovering in the air, giving the room a soft lighting. The blinds were sealed shut, like the pure thought of sunlight entering her domain was blasphemy. The walls were filled with posters of runic symbols and formulas; even her bed wasn’t spared, it had open books lying on it that she probably read before falling asleep mid-sentence.

Seraphine turned around and looked at him with slightly uncertain eyes. "And, how is it?" It was a simple question, but it had a different meaning. She had shown him that she loved magic, but this was different. This was the place she spent almost all her time at, the place she was truly herself. It felt strangely intimate to her.

"It’s so... you. If I’m being honest, that is exactly how I imagined your room to be."

That answer made her feel relieved, but she didn’t miss the opportunity to tease him. "Haa? So you imagined my room before?" she said with a giggle, enjoying the view of Valerian’s impossibly handsome face turn red, getting caught by her.

"Come here, I want to try something."

Even though he was still flustered, he walked up to her without complaint. She put out her hand with her palm facing upward and looked at him with expecting eyes. Valerian, getting her message, put his hand on hers. It was the same warm and soft hand he held half an hour ago.

"I want you to channel your space affinity and create a separate dimension above our hands."

Normally, creating a small dimension was a high-level space spell, but she had full confidence that he had the skill to do it. Valerian nodded and did exactly that, making a small cube barely 15 cm big.

Not waiting any longer, Seraphine channeled her mana and called upon all her eight affinities. The cube that was barely visible and just looked like a distortion in space began to glow in eight different colors, flooding the dark room in a display of color.

"It’s like I thought."

Hearing Seraphine talk again, Valerian looked into her eyes with confusion. "What do you mean?"

Seraphine looked at him with burning golden eyes, like she looked at a complicated problem that she needs to solve. "It’s your mana; it is extremely weird. I first noticed it when you showed me the spells. If I had to put it into simple words, I would describe it as the purest mana I have ever seen. Not even natural treasures that have been soaking in mana-rich environments are like yours. It is not just pure; it is also incredibly dense, making even the smallest amount more powerful than regular mana."

Hearing that his mana is different wasn’t a surprise to him; he already noticed it a few years ago, but he never thought much of it.

"As an official researcher that discovered it, I will take the liberty to choose a name. And no, you don’t have a say in this."

Valerian looked at her with a blank expression. "But it’s my mana..."

"I can’t hear anything!" Seraphine quickly shut down all the complaints he had and began to think about a name that would fit his unnatural mana. With a proud expression and a smirk that looked way too cute for the groundbreaking context of the situation, she said: "I will name it... Primordial Origin Aether, or short: Aether!"