Wisteria’s eyes misted over as she heard the original circumstances between Gwydion and Titania Chrysanthemum. The look on her face turned from one of sadness to one of disgust as she threw the scroll that she had hard against the ground. To think that she had looked up to the royal family in the past.
Her family was actually not blood-bound by the royals during the first generation’s time. They then used the Oberon’s illegitimate children to tie the families together after a generation. Braiten had explained that a few days after impregnating and binding his soul to the future Faerie queen, he was chased away by the angry soon-to-be Oberon. Then, the future Oberon tried to force Chrysanthemum into giving up the baby. Even if he could not undo the soul bind, he wanted to at least sever whatever past relations that “his” Titania had with Gwydion.
However, the soul binding ceremony’s after effects had made Chrysanthemum too strong. Not only did their souls mingle, merge and then separate into their own bodies, there were other effects as well. Titania had gained Gwydion’s gleaming silver hair, and her potential in magic had combined with Gwydion’s. It turned out that Gwydion’s talent in magic far surpassed Chrysanthemum’s own. Her understanding of runes and her perception of mana increased by more than three-fold. With her already towering talent over her future husband growing further, the few days before she was found to already be soul-bound and pregnant was all it took for her slightly weaker powers to grow much stronger than her Faerie husband, who was ten years older than her.
The jump in potential and talent of the Faeries’ new Titania was all that needed for the Faerie elders to change their mind about forcing Chrysanthemum to abort the baby. They began to plot on how to use the baby for the good of the Faerie race instead. Helpless against too many powers against him, the new Oberon could only give up.
Braiten squatted down and picked up the scroll that Wisteria had thrown. He brushed the dirt off the scroll lightly with loving hands. Although the scroll contained false knowledge, it was still personally given by Titania Chrysanthemum.
Just as he used several magic spells to clean the scroll, the object lit up. Several runes interacted with the runes that Braiten was using. The words on the scroll started to change.
It read,
“My dear, sweet Dion,
If this scroll ever falls into your hands by some god-sent chance, know that our family is safe. I have done all I can to keep them from harm by having them train for only the direst of situations. They are only to be mobilized when the Faeries are on the brink of despair. However, if this scroll falls into your hands, it also means that I am unable to be with you in reunion with our family.
The Oberon does not dare touch me easily. I am much stronger than him with both of our talents. It is also against Faerie laws to make a move against someone else’s soulmate.
Did you know? After we bound both in body and spirit, my race had changed. I was no longer a high Faerie. I became a Leanan Sidhe. This is a legendary race among my people that comes about from the coupling of an extremely magically superior Human and a magically superior high Faerie through genuine love. In one view, I seemed to have gained more than I lost. However, to me, my greatest loss can never be recovered.
I wish that I could spend more time with you as a wife with our family. Day after monotonous day passes and I miss you dearly. The whole world seemed to have stilled after seeing you chased away. Every night, I dream sweet dreams of the two of us together. With you and your fascinating ideas towards magic, and me accompanying you all the way to the peak. I dream of the passionate night that we had shared and the possibility of raising our family together. I dream of your voice… resounding throughout my very soul, stealing my breath away and making me weak in your arms.
I miss you dearly, my Dion.
Yours and only yours,
Chrys”
Tears fell upon the scroll as Braiten read through. The mana signature-recognizing rune seemed to have registered that Braiten had finished the letter. The scroll reverted back to the history of the changeling Faerie denomination. However, this time, the history was written in its entire truth. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Wisteria noticed the difference as she was reading over Braiten’s shoulder. Tears fell from her eyes too, but only in sympathy of the couple, so she was able to keep her wits as she glanced over the scroll’s history once more.
Gently taking the scroll out of Braiten’s hands, Wisteria embraced Braiten and lent him a crying shoulder. Instinctively, Wisteria began to sing. It was a traditional song full of love, popularized by Titania Chrysanthemum as she often sang it when she thought she was alone.
Upon hearing the song, Braiten cried even harder. It was the very song that Chrys had sung to him over and over during the few days before their parting. It was a song that Chrys used to profess her love to Braiten, carrying all the emotions that she could bare before him.
By the time the song had finished, Braiten’s crying had reduced to sobs. He gradually regained his composure and a resolute look filled his tear-stained face. He silently determined in his heart that he would look after Wisteria the same way he would look after his own child. He wanted to make up for all the lost time that he could have had with his family after he had gained the necessary strength to return but did not do so in fear of disrupting the Faeries’ peace.
***
After that episode, Braiten and Wisteria travelled in silence. Braiten did not bring up the past anymore and Wisteria was busy reading what Titania Chrysanthemum had left behind for her family.
The duo headed not towards the inner forest, but headed to the nearby Ravines beside the deep regions of the outer forest. As the danger levels there were higher than the outer forest but lower than the inner forest, Braiten wanted to head there to temper himself.
Wisteria had also revealed to Braiten that her cultivation was in the late levels of the advanced cultivation tier as Braiten spoke of his plans before telling of his past. Therefore, Wisteria was actually able to deal with the monsters at the periphery of the inner forest. However, she would not be able to handle those that were deeper within. Heading to the ravines to train would help her temper her battle prowess and make the future journey smoother.
When the two neared the entrance to the ravines, Braiten suddenly stopped and frowned. His mana perception indicated that there was something heading towards them at high speed. Wisteria stopped and turned as well. However, she seemed to have been expecting this unexpected visitor and had her guard down.
With the rustling of foliage, a peri flew out in front of the two. He had features that were similar to Wisteria’s but seemed more regal-looking at the same time. The Faerie in question, seeing Wisteria in her changeling form, transformed into his original changeling form as well.
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“Cal, I was waiting for you,” Wisteria whispered lovingly which contrasted greatly with her emotionless face as she reached out to embrace the silver-haired man.
“I came as soon as I could after Hibiscus passed on your message,” the man replied as he cupped Wisteria’s cheek and gave her a peck on the lips.
“Ah, Cal, let me introduce you. Braiten, this is Calla, my fiancé and brother. Inbreeding seems to be considered as taboo amongst other races but due to the royal oath, we think it’s normal within our family. I hope you understand that,” Wisteria faced Braiten as she introduced the man beside her and glued herself to Calla’s side.
Wisteria continued her introduction with a hint of mirth in her voice, “Cal, this here is Braiten. Successor to the Celestine family and also the reincarnation of our foremost ancestor, Gwydion.”
Calla’s eyes bulged as he heard the last sentence of Braiten’s introduction. He knew the man was a Celestine, but finding out that he was an ancestor from the serious-about-family-history Wisteria shocked him to the core. His mouth opened and closed seemingly wanting to say something but continuously stopping himself short. Wisteria slowly took the family scroll out of her belongings with a mischievous light in her eyes. She opened it out in front of Calla.
“T-this…” Calla managed as he read through the scroll and heard Wisteria whisper something softly in his ear.
He started looking at the scroll with brows furrowed and kept gazing back and forth between Braiten and the scroll. The family scroll radiated even more of its familiar power than it did before, confirming its authenticity. What threw Calla for a loop was that Wisteria had whispered into his ears that this was the true history of their family and Braiten was the one who unlocked it due to his use of the ancient rulers’ origin of power – mana runes, as Braiten called it.
When Calla regained his composure, he turned his full attention to Braiten.
“M-may I see it? The ancie-… the mana runes…?” Calla voiced out nervously unsure of whether to be polite upon seeing an ancestor or informal because Braiten looked younger than the two.
Braiten merely chuckled and nodded.
Basic mana runes of the four basic elements, fire, water, air, and earth formed and floated in front of Calla. The runes also activated, causing each element to circle around their respective runes. Wisps of flame circled the fire rune. Thin streams of water flowed around the water rune. Although invisible, air swirled around the air rune causing wind to buffet against Calla and Wisteria. Small clumps of earth spun around the earth rune.
Calla and Wisteria were entranced by the spectacle before their very eyes.
“Calla, you can talk to me informally if you wish. After all, we are family in a sense,” Braiten said which shook Calla from his trance from staring hard at the runes and their effects in front of him.
Along with that, Braiten’s next words stumped the couple.
“Would the two of you like to learn how to do this?” Braiten voiced out offhandedly.
***
The trio set up camp at the entrance of the ravines. They wanted to be fully rested before going into it. Braiten had said that he was going to use several attention-diverting mind manipulation magic to keep them safe so that they could rest without worrying about night watch.
Following that, Braiten sat down in front of the two and began his lecture on magic.
“Magic is the untapped potential that all living beings are capable of accessing. While talent and potential may differ, hard work over a long period of time might just overcome any lack of the former attribute. Potential is much more important to people who wield magic.
Talent comes from how fast you can learn magic. Potential comes in two different forms. During my time as Gwydion, potential referred to the amount of mana you can amass per strength and endurance of your body. The more mana you have, the greater the amount of spells that you can cast without having to wait for it to replenish. It also means that you have the necessary amount of mana to cast stronger spells.
Presently, after practicing magic in this life, I think that potential has a second form. Due to the limits of amassing mana in this new world due to cultivation constraints, potential can also be seen as your creativity with your spells. Even weak magic, when used at the most opportune of moments, would command devastating results when compared to strong magic used inappropriately.
Furthermore, being creative with your spells also means that you learn how to conserve the mana you use per spell use. This would also increase the number of spells that you can cast without having wait for mana to recover.
However, this cannot extend to magic that are beyond your mana capacity. You can’t cast what is beyond your reach, and you can’t modify it because you are unable to do it in the first place.”
Following the explanation, Braiten outlined what the two needed to learn step by step to learn magic. Starting from perceiving mana with mana sense and not mana sight, they were then to proceed onto controlling it. Control was followed by saturation and increasing mana capacity. Then spell formulation, visualization and its incantations. Voiceless incantations came after that, and lastly rune formulas and rune casting.
With that, Braiten had the two start learning to perceive mana as they meditated with their martial cultivation method. Qi and mana seemed to come together, but are absorbed differently, so the increased mana density in the air should help the two learn how perceive mana after a few days.
The night deepened as the trio immersed themselves in their training. Soon, the two Faeries grew tired and fell asleep, leaving a meditating Braiten who had just finished connecting more laws to what he had learned in the last sanctuary he went to.
===
Author’s notes:
A new character, more world building and the likes. Introduced Wisteria’s betrothed. I’m wondering if you guys want an info compilation chapter. It will contain things like character description up to this point, or additional character descriptions. However, it will not contain spoilers.
I told my friend about this fiction. She thinks I am a goody two shoes and some of the things in this fiction are not exactly morally right/not something an “innocent” person would write, so… I am sweating buckets over here if she decides to read it.
On another note, thank you guys for the continued support. The pace for this fiction is finally slowing down (I hope). Hopefully, I would get in more details and be able to fully flesh out the world and the characters in future chapters.