Ascension of the last Celestial

Aurelia was sitting in her office, looking at the fire burning in the fireplace. She was lost in thought about the conversation she had just had with Valerian and the promise he had made.

’I hope he keeps his promise.’

Enjoying the quiet and the crackling of the fire, she closed her eyes, ready to take a short nap, when suddenly her eyes snapped open. Coming from outside were screams and shouts from the children. Normally, she wouldn’t react that way when hearing the children shout, because the little ones were very vocal when playing. But this time it was different, because the shouts and screams weren’t from the little kids. It was the teenagers that were screaming.

’What is going on? Most of the time they keep to themselves.’

Getting a bad feeling about the noise, she stood up from the comfortable chair and moved to the window that was behind her, causing her old bones to crack and pop. When she reached the window and looked through it, she saw the teens gathered in a circle, shouting things she couldn’t make out from the distance.

’Haa, are some of them fighting again?’ ’Please don’t let it be about one of the girls again.’

Letting out a sigh at the hormone-loaded teens, she moved away from the window, ready to go downstairs to intervene. But as she moved away, she caught sight of a head of white hair that was lower than the other heads. Once she saw the hair, her heartbeat quickened and panic started to creep in.

’Why is he standing in the middle of them?!’ ’Don’t tell me he is going to fight one of them?!’

Knowing how that could end, she quickly moved with speed that wasn’t fit for a woman her age out of her office and down the stairs to reach the backyard as soon as possible.

The fear she felt wasn’t for the little Valerian; it was for the other children. She knew that Valerian was [Loved by Mana], so he was much stronger than any of his peers. She was sure that even if the one he was fighting had already awakened their mana core, they wouldn’t be able to beat someone that was [Loved by Mana].

Soon she reached the door leading to the yard and she saw the crowd that had formed to watch the fight. Before she could move any closer, some of the children moved away from the circle, holding their hands in front of their mouths and looking away in disgust and fear.

’Oh no...’

The bad feeling now made her feel sick to her stomach, so she moved closer and shouted: "What is going on here?!"

When the group of teens heard her voice, they turned to look at her, their faces immediately lighting up with relief. They all moved aside to reveal the ones that were fighting.

When Aurelia saw the scene in front of her, several emotions began to form in her heart: confusion, anger, disgust, and disappointment. Because the sight in front of her made her realize that the boy she had just lectured about the dangers of using mana with the other children had broken that same promise in just a few minutes.

Standing in front of her was the 5-year-old Valerian. His fists were balled and covered in blood that was still dripping down, dyeing the green grass a deep shade of red. His white hair, that she always thought was beautiful because it reminded her of the snow she used to play in as a kid, was smeared with crimson blood.

And his eyes.

His beautiful purple eyes, that looked like one was staring into the endless cosmos, endless and utterly beautiful, looked so cold. Even she, a battle-hardened Awakened who had lived for almost 300 years, felt fear just looking at them.

’Why are his eyes like that...?’

Aurelia had seen the bloodshed of wars and what this bloodshed could do to people’s minds, so seeing the same look she saw in veterans who had just returned from a gruesome battlefield in a 5-year-old boy left only confusion in her mind.

"Agh...."

The soft groan pulled her gaze away from Valerian to the youth he was fighting. And to her big surprise, it was Tristan.

Tristan looked bad, like really bad. His nose was bent at a disgusting angle with blood streaming out of it. His right eye was a deep shade of blue bordering on black and was already beginning to swell. His lip was split open, which caused only more blood to cover his face, and through his lips she could see gaps where his teeth were supposed to be.

’Just what happened here?!’

Not wanting to waste any more time, she called upon her mana. A soft green light began to cover her right hand, while a soft blue colored her left. Controlling both water and nature mana, which both had light healing abilities, with precision, Tristan’s worst injuries began to slowly mend.

’A shame life magic is so difficult, but I have to make use of what I’ve got.’

Tristan’s broken nose snapped back into place, which caused the boy to let out a scream of pain. His lip began to close and stopped bleeding.

’I can’t directly heal his teeth, but I can stimulate his body to regrow them. It will take time, but it’s better than without them.’

All the while, the crowd stared in amazement at the healing Aurelia was performing on their friend. Valerian during this time didn’t say a word or move a muscle. He just kept his head down and waited for Aurelia to finish.

After a few minutes, Aurelia let out a sigh and cleaned imaginary sweat off her forehead. With a flick of her hand, a stretcher made of wood came from the ground beneath Tristan.

"Ethan, can you take Tristan to his room, dear?"

Startled by her sudden request and still shook from what had happened, Ethan stammered slightly but agreed to take him away.

"Eric, come help me!" Ethan called out to one of the boys.

Eric quickly moved to the stretcher and took the other end. Together, they moved to the building and soon disappeared through the door. The silence that stayed in the air was suffocating.

"Everyone, can you please give us some privacy?"

After Aurelia’s request, the group moved away, not without stealing a few glances back at Valerian. After everyone left and it was only Aurelia and Valerian left, she looked again into his purple eyes. Now, the cold, detached eyes were gone, replaced by innocent ones that looked slightly guilty.

Not wanting to have this conversation here, Aurelia turned away and walked back to her office.

"Valerian.... follow me NOW."

And Valerian began to walk behind her.

The walk back to her office was silent, similar to the first walk they had done not even an hour ago, but this time it was different. The air felt heavier. When they reached her office, Aurelia pushed the doors open and, without saying a word, walked to her desk at the other end and sat on the chair behind it.

Valerian sat on one of the chairs opposite her, his eyes betraying his nervousness and what could be described as guilt. But deep down, Valerian wasn’t feeling guilty. Why would he feel guilty for showing these weaklings not to mess with him?

"Tell me the truth, why did you start the fight?"