Caelith started his training. A few months later, he became a 2nd Circle Mage just one day before his birthday. His father wanted to congratulate him, but since the next day was his birthday, he planned a surprise for him.
The next day in the morning, everyone congratulated him on his ascension and birthday. Everyone knew how great it was to be a 2nd Circle Mage at the age of four. He got letters from his friends and the royal families. The day passed quickly, as time seemed to move fast.
At night, the Emperor decided to host a party for everyone in the kingdom, so everything was free again. The Emperor was happy and proud of his son. At the dining table, which was filled with different kinds of food items, the Emperor said with a happy voice, "Cael, I have two surprises for you."
Cael was surprised that he was going to get two gifts. The Emperor said, "Okay, my first gift for you is a news: you're going to have a sister in three months."
Cael was shocked and couldn't express his happiness, forgetting about the other gift.
While Cael was still shocked, he heard his father's voice again, "Cael, my second gift for you is...." But before the Emperor could finish his words,
Boom! A loud sound of a blast occurred that could be heard throughout the entire continent.
The Emperor went on high alert. He got up from the table and used Blink to travel to the place of the sound. The sound was from one of his military grounds.
The next thing the Emperor saw was indescribable. The Emperor had only one feeling: "This thing is either on my level or on a completely different one."
What he saw was a large body of a devil, a monster whose head was in its hand and in the other was a large bucket of blood. It was too terrifying to watch. The mages and soldiers who were fighting the devil died one by one. The devil started walking towards the castle, and the city was in its way.
The voices of death cries were too loud. The Emperor couldn't hold back and used all his power to teleport himself and the devil to a different location, far away from the city.
Meanwhile, in the castle, the Empress was protecting her child, Caelith, in the throne room.
The Empress tried to run towards the teleportation portal, but due to some external force, it was blocked. The Empress and Caelith were chased by several dark mages.
Swoosh, a rock wall appeared in front of the Empress. All paths were blocked. Caelith and the Empress tried their best but still couldn't break the wall. The Empress understood that the caster was a 5th Circle Mage. The Empress became extremely alert and decided to ensure at least Caelith escaped. The Empress was on the last stage of the 4th Circle. She tried to use Blink, but it was useless; the stronger force was blocking every path of escape.
The Empress, with sad emotions, turned towards Caelith and said, "Cael, you have to use that artifact given by the Emperor of Valthera to escape. It can only teleport one person and can only be used once. This is the time for it."
Caelith, crying, said to his mother, "Mom, you escape, please. I want you to live on. Father might be on his way back here; I'll try to hold until then."
The Empress, with a proud yet sad expression, said, "Cael, you're not strong enough to hold them back. You won't be able to hurt them. You're our last hope. If you live on, the House of Ardynveil might have a chance to carry its legacy."
With that, the Empress took out a key and gave it to Caelith, and with her magic, she activated the artifact forcefully to send Caelith to a safe location.
Caelith was teleported to the castle of Valenor. With a large bang sound, everyone in the castle was alerted.
Meanwhile, his father was fighting the devil. He tried his best but could only injure the devil by a little bit.
With that, the King decided in his mind, "I, being the Emperor, have my duties, but I hope I could convey my last message to my family..." But before he could finish his line, he saw a bright light coming from the castle. He understood Caelith had used the artifact. The Emperor's expression darkened. He wanted to run towards the castle but couldn't, due to the rules that the Council of Thrones made in the past that stated: "A true Emperor shall put his nation before his family. Once you're Emperor, you can't deny the duty."
While the Emperor thought of his wife, he decided to put everything on the line to kill this devil. He used his family's hidden skill, passed down throughout the ages—a spell capable of injuring even gods, let alone a devil like him. This spell used both life force and mana simultaneously. While Artenious was charging this spell with his life force and mana, he said a few words, "Cael, I hope you live on. The light which I cannot pass to the world now, you shall be the Light Bearer. The Arcanis is your home, and the people of Arcanis be your family. Take care, my child."
With that, he charged his spell and launched it towards the devil. The area was covered in a very huge blast; everything melted within the area of the blast, and the sound could be heard across the entire world. This alerted the whole world.
The lifeless body of Artenious, which was also burned a bit, fell towards the ground.
In the castle of Ardynveil, the Empress took a deep breath and tried her best but was killed by that 5th Circle Mage. While falling, the Empress thought, "Live on... my child.... be the Light Be...ar..er....." Then she fell to the ground and heard the 'nuke' in her last breath.
With the fall of the Empress, the 5th Circle Dark Mage escaped. Although he wanted to kill Caelith too, the artifact saved him.
The 5th Circle Mage was summoned to a dark house, where a man, who was hard to see due to the darkness, said, "What's the report?"
The Mage replied, "The Emperor and Empress fell, but... the child escaped..."
The man said, "Useless, couldn't even kill a child. Since time is still left, we'll just lay low for now." With a flicker of his finger, he killed the mage.
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In the castle of Valenor, soldiers surrounded Caelith and said, "Who are you, intruder?"
In the meantime, a voice came loud, "Wait... he's Caelith, the Prince of Ardynveil."
The voice belonged to Draen Valenor, and the Emperor entered the room too and verified his identity.
Caelith was crying awfully. He was covered in a few wounds. He said in a broken voice, "My... mom... Ahhh hahhhh, my... mom... she got... chased... by the..." With that, he fainted, but before he could fall to the ground, the Emperor caught him and told a General, "General, check the status of Arcanis, check for teleportation...." Before he could finish the line, bang, he heard a very loud sound of a blast.
He was confirmed now that something had happened to Arcanis since this loud voice came from the direction of Arcanis. He had a few hints about the reason for this sound but wanted them to be a lie.
He rushed towards the teleportation portal and tried to teleport but couldn't. The mages said, "There's a power interrupting the portal from Arcanis."
The Emperor said, "General, prepare the skyboat; we shall head right away."
The General replied, "As you command, Your Majesty."
The King left for Arcanis...
Meanwhile, Caelith was taken to a room where he was being treated by the Royal Doctor of Valthera. Draen didn't leave his side, and his mother only left when Astrein needed her.
The Doctor said, "His condition is fine now, but he's most probably traumatized. Make sure to let him rest. He'll be asleep for a few days."
Everyone was relieved. Two days passed by, and Caelith opened his eyes and shouted, "Mom!"
The maid got scared. Draen heard his voice and suddenly came running.
Draen said, "Calm down, Cael. You're in Valthera now; you're safe."
Caelith, with a sad yet confused reaction, said, "What about my mother and father?"
Draen said, "My father has gone to Arcanis, don't worry. Let's hope everything is fine." Even though he said that, he wasn't sure about the condition of Arcanis since no news from his father had come, and by the look of it, the situation seemed to be more serious.
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The Emperor, Theron Valenor, reached Arcanis...
The Condition of Arcanis was not looking good, specially the castle. The emperor enters the castle and saw the blooded bodies or mages and knights. As he enters the main hall...