She sees it. The truth. The monster lurking behind the porcelain mask of a child. I know what comes next: loathing, followed by betrayal. She will cast me aside, just like all the others.
Driven by a desperate survival instinct, I lunge at Maelis. The blood-slicked sword in my hand feels heavier than lead as I aim for her center—a single, killing blow. I have to do it before she turns on me, before she lets go of the bond we share.
But Maelis doesn't flinch. She doesn't even raise her hands to ward off the strike. Instead, she opens her arms wide in an embrace of total surrender.
"Kael... my son," she whispers.
She is smiling—a look of pure, radiating warmth that isn't a mask or a grimace of pain. I am already committed to the strike, my momentum irreversible.
The steel bites deep, tearing through her. A spray of crimson paints the air, and my breath hitches in my throat as my body suddenly refuses to obey. I freeze, paralyzed by what I have done.
Maelis looks down at me, and there isn't a trace of resentment in her gaze—only a bottomless well of affection.
"Kael... I will always love you," she breathes, her voice a fragile thread. "No matter what you do. No matter how dark it gets. You are a part of me".
She reaches out, cupping the back of my head with a trembling hand and pulling me in until our foreheads touched. Her eyes aren't glistening with agony, but with a terrifyingly beautiful love.
"You only need to know one thing, Kael," she whispers. "No matter what happens, no matter where life takes you... I will always be with you. I will be your shield".
A single tear tracks through the blood on her cheek. "You only have to let me into your heart".
"Mother..." My voice shatters. "Don't... please".
For the first time in two lives, the word Mother carries weight. It feels real.
"It's alright, my son".
She has seen the void inside me—the true 'me'—and she chooses me anyway. She is the only one. Her eyelids flutter, then slowly drift shut.
"No—" Panic, raw and jagged, explodes in my chest. "Stay awake! Mama, please!".
The world begins to tilt into blackness. I collapse beside her, my limbs turning to lead, my mana core utterly depleted. But I don't care about the cost.
I roll over, staring upward at the uncaring sky.
"I'll do anything," I wheeze, before letting out a scream that tears through the night. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! I'LL DO ANYTHING! TAKE MY MANA! TAKE MY LIFE! YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL! JUST PLEASE, LET HER LIVE!".
Hot tears flood my face. "DID YOU HEAR ME, GOD?!".
Strength drains from my marrow. Maelis lies still beside me, her blood staining the earth. With the last spark of my consciousness, I grip her cold hand. In the crushing depths of my mind, a single, desperate command takes form.
>> BLESSING OF REGENERATION <<
"Kael... Kael, wake up, damn it!".
A voice echoes through the fog in my head. A harsh, blinding light stabs at my eyes as I blink. The world is a blurred mess of colors until a face finally snaps into focus.
Aurora.
She pulls me into a hug so fierce my ribs groan under the pressure. "Thank the gods, you're alive!".
"Aah..." The sound escapes me like a wheeze. "I feel like I've been run over by a car".
"Oops, sorry," she mutters, letting me go.
I look around, disoriented. Eamon stands a few paces away, watching me with wide, searching eyes. "Are you okay, brother? You look so... sad. I've never seen you look like that".
I lower my head, the memory of the sword piercing Maelis's flesh burning like a brand in my mind. "Mother... she's—".
"Yeah, what is the deal with Mother?" Aurora cuts in. "The servants won't tell me why she fainted".
I go still. "Fainted?".
I look past Eamon to the spot where her body should be. She is there. But she is breathing.
I scramble to my feet, accidentally shoving Aurora aside. I move toward Maelis with leaden steps. Elara sits beside her, cradling the baby.
I stare at Maelis's stomach. There is nothing. No wound. No hole. Just a jagged, blood-soaked ruin of fabric.
"Who healed her?" I ask, my voice a raspy whisper.
"We don't know," Elara says, bewilderment etched on her face. "Her clothes are drenched in blood, but there isn't a scratch on her. By rights, that much blood loss should have killed her".
A servant hovers nearby, watching me with a look of pure dread, as if I were a demon in a child's skin. I meet her gaze with a coldness that made her flinch.
"The young Lord Kael... he saved her," she stammers, refusing to meet my eyes. "The moment he took her hand, the wounds just... vanished. When we pulled the sword out, the gash closed instantly".
I go quiet, my mind racing. I look into my soul, into the place where the Blessings are stored. The Blessing of Regeneration is gone from my immediate inventory.
No. Not gone.
I can still feel it—a faint thread of power humming nearby. It leads straight to Maelis; it is anchored in her soul. I realize then that I can transfer my Blessings to others. But even then, they act like parasites, gorging themselves on my mana to maintain the effect. I can feel her draining me like a thirsty vampire.
I reach out mentally, grip the thread, and yank the Blessing back into my own soul.
Maelis takes a sharp, gasping breath and her eyes flutter open. Eamon and Aurora rush to her side.
"Mother! You're awake!".
"What happened?" she asks, her gaze hazy. "Are you safe? Did you defeat the demon?".
"We're fine," Aurora says. "But what about you? Who hurt you so badly?".
Maelis looks at me. My heart skips a beat, panic clawing at my throat again. Does she remember me stabbing her?.
"Kael... saved me?" she asks softly, her eyes searching mine for an answer. "Kael, are you hurt? Are you okay?".
Tears bite at my eyes again, and I can't stop them this time. "I'm fine," I sob.
"Wow. I've never seen you this worked up," Aurora says with a small smile.
"No kidding," Eamon adds with a grimace. "You're crying like you've never done it before. It looks weird on you".
I turn away, my face burning with shame.
"That's all well and good," Elara interrupts, her voice cracking. "But my husband is still out there. We have to find him".
We don't waste another second. We scramble onto the horses and ride back toward the spot where we had left Valerius. The landscape is unrecognizable; massive stone spikes erupt from the earth like the teeth of a dead god.
"There!" Aurora shouted.
Valerius is slumped in a thicket, a canvas of cuts and bruises. One arm is missing entirely, the stump wrapped in a blood-soaked rag. I kneel beside him, checking for a pulse.
"He's breathing, but barely. If he doesn't get help right now, he won't make it".
"Heal him!" Elara pleads. "Kael, I beg of you!".
"I... I don't know if I can..." I murmur, not wanting to expose my full power in front of everyone.
Maelis places a hand on mine. "Please, Kael. Elara needs him. You wouldn't let him slip away, would you?".
I take a deep breath and take his hand. I focus on the seal within my soul, detach it, and ease it into his fading life force.
Immediately, the drain begins. It feels like a starving beast is gnawing at my very core.
Slowly, the flesh begins to knit together. A new arm swells from the stump, bone and sinew weaving themselves back into existence. I funnel more mana into the process, forcing it to accelerate.
Suddenly, I slump forward, gasping as a wave of dizziness hits me.
"Kael!" Mother catches me before I could hit the dirt.
"I'm okay..." I wheeze. "Just... drained".
"Look at that!" Eamon calls out from a ridge ahead.
We join him, and the breath is stolen from my lungs. The land that had been green is now a scorched, blackened waste.
Knights with fluttering banners begin to ride toward us. Maelis recognizes the crest. "Aeloria".
At the head of the formation rides a giant of a man, nearly seven feet tall. He wears magnificent plate armor, but when he removes his helm, we see long white hair, sharp fangs, and emerald skin.
A goblin.
He drops to one knee before us. "I am General Malgor. We came to turn the tide, and we have succeeded. The day is won". He looks up at us. "Thanks to the letters sent by King Daemon, we arrived in the nick of time. Morhenhall would have fallen without him".
"King Daemon?" Aurora and Eamon shout in unison.
General Malgor gives a grim smile. "A wise ruler always plans ahead".
Aurora's face turns bright red. "Does that mean... I'm really a princess? And Eamon's a prince?".
"And you, Kael!".
"Cool," I say flatly.
"And he's back," Aurora mutters with a non-committal shrug. "The same old Kael. Every answer a neutral wall".
"I hate to interrupt the princess's celebration," the general says. "But I have an urgent matter for King Daemon. Where is he?".
"We don't know," Mother says, her voice dropping. "Isn't he on the battlefield?".