Part II

About twenty to thirty minutes have passed since the antibiotics have been taking effect, “how are you feeling dear?” Asked Lady Millguard while grabbing my hand. “I’m fine, for now.” I responded, taking into account that I knew the answer to the questions that were raised. Lady Millguard gave me a knowing type of expression before speaking, “I take it that you know the reason why you are like this?”

“Yes but I had always thought that Abeyance would only take a toll on my body but this much was a miscalculation on my part making it uncalled for.” I then faced the ceiling, thinking of ways how this ability that was given to me affected me the most instead of the previous owner. When I noticed, my appearance was changing. My long white hair turned into my original hair, the long black curly hair.

“So that is your true form. For a second I thought you already had Onyx’s full appearance. Hhmm, it's probably because you can’t get a grasp of divine magic.” Said the dragon queen, holding her chin with her hand, then her hand touched my check and added on, “Alter, even if you get a way to use divine magic, you shouldn’t change your appearance. You should be yourself, don’t let power influence you. Because if you do the things that you hold dear to, will be lost, taken from you.”

I didn’t have words for her, all I could do was to stay quiet and absorb her words. A moment of silence was brought, which made it easier for me to organize my plans for this war, but before I could get to half of it, the nurses that went out earlier had come back with someone that I had seen before… It appeared to me like it was just yesterday. I let out a scoff just thinking where I have gotten my answer.

The woman who walked behind the nurses give a quick glance at her surrounding before her eyes landed on Lady Millguard, she then kneeled, “Your majesty was brings you here?” She asked, Lady Millguard then gestured to the woman to stand. “I’m here to accompany my son.” The yellow haired woman widened her blue eyes, “Prince Onyx is back?!” her voice sounded like she was relieved of something big, something that neither I or Lady Millguard could understand. Lady Millguard put her hand on the blue eyed woman shoulder, “It’s better if you ask him yourself.”

The yellow haired came up to the bed I was resting on, I gave her a small smile. “A-are you the prince Onyx?” She asked as if she was scared of the answer I was going to give her, “Yes and no…” I answered, “It’s complicated in certain ways, when it comes to magical abilities then yes I am but person wise… No. But it feels like I’m wrong when it comes to that, sure I see him in some of my dreams and we talk. Other than that I don’t know.” I faced the woman, she had a disappointed and sad expression. “Hannah, you already knew the answer you were going to get when Moth- Lady Millguard told you I was here… After all, you told Onyx that he would meet me and pass me his powers knowing he would die.”

Her expression darkened at my words. “H-How did you know?” I glazed at Lady Millguard but she seemed less emotionally stable than Hannah, “When Onyx gave me his powers not only were his appearance given to me too but so were his memories.” Hannah fell to the floor grabbing my hand and pleaded, “I-I told him that if he left to that war he would die… I begged him to not go but he still went alone nonetheless. He probably even hates me for not wanting him to go” Even though my dragonic-form was not activated I could still feel the emotions of both people in the room, many emotions were concentrated in the air that I couldn’t tell which was which. I held Hannah’s hand which made her look up to me, “Hannah, one thing is for sure, I know that Onyx does not hate you but appreciates you.”

Then Hannah let out a cry that made me give her sympathy for what she has gone through without telling anyone. I felt the sadness leave her like a dam releasing water from a tunnel, hugging her I told her, “Let it out, let all that sadness out, it doesn’t suit you at all…”

“Are you feeling better, Hannah?” said Lady Millguard in the background, bringing in some tea. Hannah’s check reddened at the queen’s words, “Y-yes and I’m sorry for my actions just moments ago.” She said while bowing continuously, “Don’t worry, it is pretty refreshing witnessing something with my own eyes than by Onyx’s memories.” I said smiling, knowing that telling Hannah that while smiling would be a tease to her. Lady Millguard had handed us tea, “Now then shall we go back to the main topic, the reason why the doctors have brought Hannah here.” Said the purple haired woman, “yes the reason why I was called here was to check the reason why the prince had his mana level unstable. And to be honest I already know what you have going on Alter.” The queen and I looked at each other and then looked at Hannah, she gave me a serious look, something that had popped up somewhere in Onyx’s memories. “Alter, the reason why your mana levels are unstable is not because you have used prince Onyx’s abilities or ‘her’ abilities either… The reason why your mana levels are unstable is because you used a divine ability that requires divine mana which your body can not handle.”

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“Abeyance,” I muttered loud enough so that they could hear. “And what does that ability let you do?” asked the queen, “Abeyance is an ancient ability that was used by the Ancient Walkers, it allowed them to stop time, letting them or someone they wanted to move while time was stopped. Instead of a ‘divine’ ability it was more of a curse to them, making them use life force instead since their bodies turned into mortal humans.” added Hannah looking into the blankets I was wrapped in, “That’s not all, Abeyance gives the user a side effect that was not put in their history.” Both of the women in the room faced me as I continued, “This side effect makes them lose themselves in power or should I say drown themselves in it without them realizing it until their mana has been depleted. They turned into bloodthirsty killers, monsters whose only objective is to satisfy their thirst for blood. They don’t care about who they kill or what, the only pleasure they get is to kill.” I could feel my face pinched, my mouth twisted into a snarl.

Then again, Lady Millguard had snapped me out of those emotions by touching my hand and bringing me into the present. “A-Alter then that means that you’re a…” Hannah’s words stopped but I continued, “An Ancient Walker.” This is probably the reason why I couldn’t let them know in the first place, after all Ancient Walkers are supposed to be extinct but somehow I’m one of them. “It doesn’t matter what you are, remember what I told you… you will always be my son.” Said the queen in a comforting voice, Now I could see why Onyx’s request of saving them from the war came from. It wasn’t any pity towards them but affection, care, love…

“But that still doesn’t change the fact that you can’t use that ability any more. No matter how dire the circumstances are, you must not use it.” Hannah said quickly after. Her facial expression showed seriousness which gave me a chill, I just nodded to them repeatedly until she both chuckled at my face. The feeling of relief filled my face upon seeing them laugh like nothing else mattered. Then I came to a sudden realization, if there was a welcome party then that means that those two know I’m here.

“Lady Millguard I have a question.” I asked gazing at the blanket then slowly turned my gaze to her, “Alter I already told you to call me ‘Mother’.” She replied looking mad. “M-Mother, who else knows that I came back?” It appeared like she knew what I was going to ask since she replied to my question quickly. “If you are talking about them, then yes, they know you came home.”

‘Then that means that they are not home or in Ezar but somewhere far away for now,’ is what I had thought until now. “*sigh* Alright you two, you may come out already I know you are there.” I said releasing some mana into the air making them jolt out into our vision. Their appearances brought me a feeling of joy noticing how much they have grown, matured, changed even with the dirty clothes they had on. Both of them seemed younger than they looked.

Eugene Millguard, the oldest one out of the three dragon siblings. His purple hair resembled a purple pearl, his black eyes resembled a black widow. Eugene had always tried to be the best child out of the three in any way possible, magic, swordsmanship, knowledge…

Pearl Millguard, the middle child out of the dragon siblings. She had white hair that resembled the snow, her blue eyes resembled the sky. Pearl was always the scared one when there were dire situations, she would always get nervous or sometimes even cry mid crisis. Her understanding of magic always was above her brothers, swordsmanship was her favorite thing to learn, knowledge was something that was always with her…

Mother and Hannah had turned to the door. Hannah stood up and bowed to the siblings while Mother gave an unfazed expression. Both siblings came walking forward until they had reached the bed I was on, “May I ask why are you both here and not in the battlefield?” Mother said pouring tea into some extra cups that were brought. Eugene opened his mouth but Pearl stopped him by speaking first, “We heard that brother Onyx had come home, so we decided to come back to the castle and welcome him.” Her voice was louder than usual which surprised me. Pearl then sat down on the right of the bed that I was ‘resting’ on.

She grabbed my hand and continued to say, “How are you feeling brother?” I gave her a small smile before answering, “I’m good at the moment… but you do know that I’m not Onyx right?” I studied her facial expression to see how shocked she would be but to my surprise she wasn’t. Not a single but did it change. She shaked her head to my words, “Onyx… Alter… they are just names, what matters is what you have. What you feel.” She said, putting her hand on my chest.

“She’s right you know,” said Eugene, “you’re our brother, our blood is running down your veins. Nothing changes, you have memories of the three of us growing up together. Sure you might of had a different body but you are still you.” Eugene’s words seem to have brought me joy, as a result I let out a little laugh making everyone smile but Eugene was startled. “You know I would have never thought that the younger Eugene would have said that.” I said making Pearl and the others laugh while Eugene was like a tomato.

The older brother had his mouth open about to say something but I raised my hand and said, “but thank you guys for accepting me like this.” Before I could even begin to look up, Pearl, Eugene, Hannah, and Lady Millguard had embraced me with a hug.