Kael sat down slowly, the chair creaking slightly beneath him as he held the cup of water that was offered to him by Virelle. But he hadn't taken a sip — not yet. His hands were still, but his mind reeled.
He couldn't take his eyes off Virelle. She seemed like an entirely different person in this hidden chamber — not the patient, quiet guardian he'd grown up with, but a woman cloaked in layers of past power and secrets too heavy to carry in daylight.
"Space formation magic?" Kael finally repeated, his voice hushed, as if afraid to break the truth forming around him.
Virelle smiled — not warmly, but knowingly, almost like a mentor watching the gears finally turn in a pupil's head. She took a gentle sip of her own cup before setting it on the table with a soft clink.
"Yes," she said, tapping the surface with her fingers, "a branch of summoning magic that allows a pocket of reality to be folded and tucked away — hidden in plain sight. What you thought was farmland… was the illusion. This?" She spread her arms around the chamber. "This is reality layered underneath."
Kael looked down at the water in his hand. It shimmered faintly — not with magic, but clarity. He sipped once, slowly. Cool. Clean. Calming. Yet his thoughts were anything but.
"You said this is connected to summoning magic?"
"It is. Runes — when used correctly — are not just symbols of invocation. They are equations. Keys. Anchors for alternate spaces, bindings, protections… even gateways."
She leaned back slightly. "But all of that can wait. What matters now, Kael, is you."
Kael looked up sharply as Virelle's tone shifted — heavier now, laced with regret… and warning.
"While your father, King Valdrin Theron, delved into world-breaking magic, your mother… saw the consequences. She knew it would taint everything — politics, power, bloodlines. And when she became pregnant with you, she feared not only what you'd inherit, but what the world would try to take from you the moment it sensed what you carried."
Kael stared, stunned. "So I'm... I am the result of that magic?"
Virelle nodded slowly. "Not just the result — the proof. You were born with subtle but undeniable signs. Residual traces of something beyond ordinary mana. Your eyes would glow in your sleep, your temperature would shift with your emotions, your cries could shatter glass before you even spoke your first word."
She paused, watching Kael digest it all. His fingers tightened slightly around the cup.
"Your mother was terrified… but not of you. She was terrified of what others would do to you if they knew."
Kael's frown deepened. He glanced at his arms, clenching his fists as though trying to feel the truth inside him.
"So how did you… seal it?" he asked, voice low.
Virelle's expression turned bittersweet. She leaned forward and gestured to the glowing stones still faintly resonating on the nearby table.
"Rune-sealing. Forbidden and ancient — the kind that changes your mana signature at the foundational level. We didn't remove your power, Kael. We cloaked it. Buried it deep inside your blood until the world couldn't taste your scent in the aether."
Kael's breath caught in his throat.
Kael's gaze sharpened, his frown deepening as Virelle's words sank in.
"A Tier 5 runic seal," she said softly, "the most powerful kind of binding we could muster. We hoped—" her voice faltered for a fraction, "—that you'd never have to use your magic. That you could live an ordinary life."
Kael's mouth tightened, disbelief and frustration bubbling up.
"Ordinary?" His voice cracked, almost bitter. "Why would you or my mother think that I'd ever be satisfied with that? Magic is part of who I am — who I was born to be. To hide it away? That's not living, it's burying myself alive."
Virelle's eyes softened, shadows of regret darkening her face.
"We only wanted to protect you," she said quietly, "to keep you safe from those who would see you as a threat — not a boy, but a weapon to be hunted down."
Kael sprang up, fists clenched, voice rising with a harsh edge of rage.
"Cowards!" he spat. "To hunt a child like prey instead of waiting until he's strong enough to defend himself — they don't deserve mercy. If they think I'm a threat now, they haven't seen anything yet."
Virelle sighed, the weight of years heavy in her breath.
"That's exactly why I need to prepare you," she said, eyes locking onto his with fierce urgency. "So you don't walk into their traps unaware. So you don't fall before you've even had a chance."
The fire in Kael's eyes softened only slightly as he sank back into the chair, jaw clenched tight.
"If my magic was sealed," he asked quietly, "how was I able to manifest it at all?"
Virelle's lips pressed into a thin line before she answered, a hint of awe threading her voice.
"We underestimated the world-breaking magic — especially once it was infused into your bloodline. The seal binds, but as you grow, so does the magic within you. It needs only a spark — a trigger — to shatter the bond."
Kael's brows knit as he leaned forward, hungry for every detail.
"What kind of trigger?"
She looked away for a moment, recalling painful memories.
"Stress, rage, desperation… or something more primal. When you almost attacked Tilly, you created a resonance that broke the Tier 5 seal within an hour. I tried to stop you — I used a Tier 4 shield to block your strike. But even that wasn't enough. You nearly hurt me."
Virelle's voice trembled with a mixture of fear and admiration.
"That's when I understood how terrifying this world-breaking magic really is. It's volatile, uncontrollable… a fire that can consume the wielder."
Kael swallowed hard, the weight of that revelation pressing down on him.
"And if I lose control?"
Her gaze was steady and grave.
"Disaster. Those who lose the magic are lost — their minds shattered, their bodies destroyed, entire villages erased in the chaos. It's not just power. It's a curse."
The room felt colder, the glow from the runes dimmer under the heavy truth.
Kael's fists unclenched slowly, a storm of emotions swirling in his chest — defiance, fear, determination. His path was set, but the cost was clearer now than ever.