Chapter 111 - The Special Eyes Awaken

  Sifu:

  We were in a room at the vilge chief’s house. We had cleared the pce to use it as a base while the men worked outside.

  "5 DAYS! IT’S BEEN 5 DAYS, SIFU!" Lady Katherine shouted as roots began to grow from the ground around her.

  "It’s been 5 days since my son disappeared! You failed as a protector!" she excimed.

  I lowered my head, aowledging the truth in her words.

  I failed the lord… I failed to protect his grandson… I murmured in my thoughts, remembering the man who once saved me.

  In the room were only myself, Lady Katherine, Lady Margaery, and Hugo. When I realized the young master had gone missing, I panicked. I started t the ttured soldiers. The oh the wounded belly kept repeating the same story, but the one I pursued and captured revealed something new. He mentiohat he had been hired by someone likely to be a noble from our territory. This noble had provided hideouts and transport through nds that required permits to pass. The soldier was smuggled in a caravan that departed from a ate, but he didn’t know much as he had been blindfolded. His job was to serve as a liweeeam that attacked the vilge and someoh whom he was to make tact.

  I was desperate when I couldn’t find young Nathan. I tied up the two men and broke their arms so they wouldn’t try anything while I scoured the area, to no avail. I immediately activated the unication devid sent a message to Lady Margaery because time was of the essence, and I needed help.

  Lady Margaery sent 200 more soldiers to search for the young master. While waiting for them, I tinued searg the forest fns of horses, trying to figure out if he had been taken by a team. I found nothing. sidering various possibilities, I could only clude that Nathan had been captured by someone skilled enough to incapacitate a thunder user and cover their tracks.

  My only lead was the invading fire mage, who was likely sent to elimio the vilge attack. What I learned from the two soldiers was that they po tiheir attacks as they moved through the region. Perhaps the fact that the farmers immediately came to us prompted them to act, eliminating any witnesses.

  Lady Katherine had only just learned of Nathan’s disappearance when Lady Margaery decided to personally e to the vilge to join the seard bring reinforts. We o act quickly, and they had even brought some maids to extract more information from the two soldiers.

  Lady Margaery sat in a er, her head lowered, deep in thought.

  "I warned you years ago! I didn’t want my little one involved with nobility, and look what you did, Margaery! You killed my son!" Lady Katherine shouted.

  "We don’t know what happened, it may not be that," Hugo tried to calm the situation.

  The ground trembled slightly as the roots attempted to break through.

  "Of course it’s that! Some unknown noble plots to sabotage the vilge eies, and now my son goes missing! We hahem exactly what they wanted, and now they have my child!" Katherine excimed.

  "They wouldn’t harm Nathan, Katie. In the past, he was nobody to the kingdom, but now they wouldn’t dare touch a hair on his head. They only act diplomatically against a higher noble," Lady Margaery tried to expin.

  "THEY HAVE MY BABY! I don’t give a damn about pns, diplomacy, or disputes. Give me trol of all these men, and I’ll kick down their damn door myself!" Lady Katherine demanded.

  Lady Margaery bit her lip and stood up.

  "Hugo! Mobilize everyone. Diplomacy is over... the good Duchess is gone. I’m going there personally, and fuck the kingdom!" decred the queen.

  'KABOOM!' A thunderous sound echoed, and everything shook, even the walls of the house.

  "We're utack!" someone shouted from outside.

  We looked at each other.

  "There's only one person with suagic," Hugo said.

  "My baby!" Lady Katherine screamed, running towards the sound.

  We rushed outside, anxious and worried. Part of me was hopeful, but another part feared it might truly be an attack.

  Please let it just be the young master causing trouble, like always...

  We found a crowd of soldiers gathered.

  "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Lady Margaery shouted.

  At that moment, Lady Katherine had disappeared from my sight, and the soldiers began to move aside.

  Katherine Evenhart:

  Margaery had arrived that m from the castle and asked to speak with me. There was something odd about her demeanor, but when I learhe reason, my heart shattered. With guilt in her eyes, she apologized. She had sent people in search of Nathan, but he had disappeared along with a soldier. The most w theory was that he had been captured by a dangerous fire mage, seen in the area.

  My heart tightened upon hearing those words. The st time I saw Nathan was in the vilge, when I let him go with Sifu on a reaissance mission. Fear ed me, and the worst sarios raced through my mind... Nathan was dead. Images of his death, torture, or even his abdu spiraled untrolbly. He was a thunder mage, but even that couldn’t calm the despair growing inside me. Noble kidnappings were on, and I feared everything from my son being sold to criminals to him being killed.

  Even though he was a high noble, my heart found no peace. The situation worsened when we learhat corrupt nobles were involved, and only one person came to mind. It felt like my world colpsed in that instant. I had allowed my baby to leave, and now he was in danger.

  'KABOOM!' Suddenly, a deafening thunder echoed through the air.

  "We're utack!" one of the soldiers shouted from outside.

  Margaery and I exged looks, fear taking over us.

  "There's only one person with suagic," Hugo said.

  "My baby!" The words escaped my lips before I could tain them.

  Without hesitation, Margaery and I ran with all ht, shoving aside anyone in our path.

  My son! It has to be my Nathan!

  "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Margaery yelled, her voice cutting through the chaos.

  The soldiers were on high alert, swords drawn. Some stared fusedly at the horizon.

  "Did you feel that?" one of them asked, his voice trembling.

  "My whole body shivered, a sign of danger," another responded, equally uled.

  When they realized Margaery and I were approag, they began clearing a path. Everyone was frozen, staring at the edge of the forest.

  "What’s happening?" Margaery asked, visibly irritated.

  "We don’t know. There was a loud crash, and a light appeared betweerees," a soldier expined, not moving a muscle.

  "And why haven’t you goo iigate!?" Margaery snapped, furious.

  They exged nervous gnces.

  "Something... wouldn’t let us advance," one of them replied, his voice filled with fear.

  "What are you talking about?" Hugo asked, fused.

  "Nathan!" I screamed as I saw my son emerging from the forest.

  "Mom!" He ran towards me, his arms wide open, and I held him tightly, my heart rag.

  Nathan was soaked, but I couldn’t think of anything else other than cheg every inch of his body, making sure he was okay.

  "What happened, Nathan!? Where have you been?" I asked, looking at that small person who had the power to make me feel immense happiness but also deep sorrow if anything ever happeo him.

  "I’m never going to lose anyone again," he said, hugging me, his eyes welling up with tears.

  I uood that in that moment, I should just hold him because that was all I wao do in the world.

  Hugo Riverclimb:

  "Nate, you gave me a huge scare, you know that? I thought... I thought I’d lost my nephew," said Lady Margaery, hugging both Katherine and Nathan.

  I looked at Sifu, who let out a sigh of relief. Some soldiers were around us, equally relieved.

  "Nate! What happened?" Lady Katherine held his fa her hands, visibly worried.

  "It ’t be..." Margaery murmured, her eyes fixed on Nathan.

  "What is it?" Sifu asked, notig her sudden .

  Lady Margaery turo face the soldiers, her expression hardening.

  "Leave! Return to your posts!" she shouted, and suddenly, ice began to form, surrounding us in a frozen dome.

  "What’s going on?" I asked, activating a bit of fire mana to warm myself against the sudden chill.

  Margaery then approached Nathan, log eyes with him.

  "Blue... your eyes are a beautiful shade of blue," she said to him.

  "My son... your eyes have awakened."

  So it happened... and to think it was real. The young master is the first to have one of these in decades.

  "What do we do? By the kingdom’s w, we should notify the royal family. Do we tell them about Nathan’s Special Eyes?" Sifu asked, his voice heavy with .

  "No!" the queen excimed firmly. "This must remain a secret within our family. No one know he has one of these."

  We agreed without hesitation. It was far too dangerous to expose this information.

  "Are you okay, Nate?" Katherine asked. " you see properly?"

  Nathan scratched his head, a bit hesitant.

  "There was... another problem when these eyes awakened."

  "roblem? Are you in pain? Are you hurt?" Katherine asked, the tension rising again.

  "No, mom... it’s better if I show you."

  He stepped back a little, and the air around him began to pulse. Suddenly, a sphere of blue, chaotic sparks appeared, floating around him.

  "This is my Thunder element..." he expined.

  Then, another sphere formed, this time in shades of gray.

  "And this is my Wind element..."

  His eyes glowed a light blue, and suddenly, more mana spheres appeared around him: a blue one of water, a brown one of earth, a red one of fire, a yellow one of light, and a green one of pnts.

  "My Special Eyes... have givehe power to trol all the elements," he said.

  "HOLY SHIT!" we all excimed in unison.