The morning sun cast a harsh, glaring light across the frosted windows of the Crescent Moon guest wing. Neo stood in the doorway of his assigned quarters, his body feeling like a hollowed-out husk. His muscles ached with the deep, throbbing fatigue of a mage running on empty reserves.
He had survived the banquet. He had navigated the political minefield of the northern aristocracy. He just needed a few hours of unbroken sleep before the carriages departed for the south.
He crossed the room and collapsed face-first onto the mattress.
He landed on something solid.
Neo froze, slowly lifting his head. Lying in the center of the bed, her dark blue dress contrasting sharply with the white linens, was Nora. Her silver hair spilled across the pillows. She lay perfectly still, staring up at the ceiling, her hands resting over her chest. Clutched in her pale fingers was the glass sphere he had crafted, its sapphire stars glowing with a faint, rhythmic pulse.
Neo exhaled a heavy breath and rolled onto his back beside her.
"The door was locked," he noted quietly, staring at the ceiling canopy.
"It was," Nora replied. Her raspy voice lacked its usual deadpan emptiness; it was calm, almost grounded.
He didn't ask how she had bypassed the heavy iron bolt. He already knew. "Does the glass help?"
Nora turned her head. Her violet eyes met his, clear and unclouded by the sensory agony that usually plagued her. "It's quiet," she murmured. "Like you."
'I'm a tether,' Neo thought, the reality of their dynamic settling firmly in his mind. He wasn't just surviving her presence; he was actively shaping it. Every minute he spent near her, his own core was adapting to the sheer, crushing density of her potential. It was a mutual parasitism.
Before he could respond, a frantic clamor erupted in the corridor.
Heavy boots pounded against the stone floor, accompanied by the panicked shouts of the household staff.
Neo sat up instantly. His fatigue vanished, overridden by a sharp spike of adrenaline. He fed a little mana to his eyes and ears.
The heavy oak door burst open. A pale, trembling maid stood in the threshold, clutching Lyra against her chest.
"Young Master," the maid gasped, her voice completely breathless.
"Lord Caelum… he's gone. His crib is empty. The windows were blown outward."
Neo was on his feet before she finished her sentence.
'An infant doesn't just vanish. And assassins don't blow windows outward.'
He didn't wait for the knights. He closed his eyes and forced his awareness outward, casting a wide, invisible net over the immediate vicinity of the estate. He felt the sharp, disciplined auras of the guards. He felt the massive, burning presence of his father tearing through the lower floors.
And then, he felt it.
It was a jagged, tearing sensation in the ambient mana, like a rusted blade dragging across silk. It was chaotic, violently unstable, and escalating by the second.
"He awakened," Neo breathed out, the realization hitting him like a physical blow.
He bolted past the maid. Nora fell into step right beside him, her dark dress whipping around her ankles. She didn't ask questions. She simply tracked the same violent magical disturbance he did.
They sprinted through the winding, frost-lined corridors of the estate, following the trail of shattered glass and deep, scoring gouges in the stone walls.
Neo rounded a corner and skidded to a halt outside the grand solarium.
The room was a disaster. The massive glass ceiling had been completely blown out, letting the freezing winter wind howl into the chamber. The heavy wooden furniture was splintered, swirling in a violent, localized cyclone of razor-sharp wind mana.
At the epicenter of the storm hovered Caelum.
The ten-month-old infant was suspended three feet in the air, caught in the grip of his own uncontrolled awakening. He was screaming, his face purple with strain. His fragile, unformed mana channels were tearing under the pressure of a core that had ignited years too early.
Near the entrance, Elara was bleeding from a deep gash on her forehead, struggling to push forward.
"I can't reach him!"
she yelled over the shrieking wind, her hands glowing with defensive magic.
"If I project my mana, the pressure clash will crush his core!"
She was right. A high-rank aura interacting with an unstable infant core would be lethal.
Neo gritted his teeth. He stepped forward, but the sheer velocity of the wind pushed him back, the invisible blades slicing shallow cuts into his cheeks. He wasn't heavy enough to breach the gale.
A hand grasped his shoulder and pulled him back.
Nora stepped past him.
She didn't hesitate. She didn't brace herself. She simply walked into the storm.
As the razor-sharp wind lashed at her, Nora squeezed her eyes shut. She forcefully compressed the immense, terrifying gravity of her mana into a microscopic point. The sheer density of her controlled presence parted the gale like a stone splitting a river.
She walked directly to the center of the room. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out the glowing glass sphere.
Nora held the artifact up, pressing it gently against Caelum's chest.
The chaotic, shrieking wind instantly hitched. The infant's erratic mana, desperate for an anchor, latched onto the perfectly refined, serene energy trapped within the glass.
The tempest died. The shattered remnants of the furniture crashed to the floor.
Caelum dropped, and Nora caught him effortlessly in her arms. The baby was gasping for air, but his erratic screaming had ceased, his dark eyes locked onto the glowing sapphire stars in the glass.
Nora turned, walking back through the debris, and placed the infant into Elara's trembling arms.
Neo stood by the doorway, his blood running cold as he processed how close his brother had just come to dying.
'I am too weak.'
The thought was a bitter, jagged pill. He had a massive mana capacity, but his physical vessel was pathetic. If Nora hadn't been there, he wouldn't have been able to breach the storm. His telekinesis lacked the raw, brute force required to stabilize a tearing core.
He needed an equalizer.
Two days later. The Draven Estate.
The journey south had been a tense, silent affair. Caelum was stable, but the violent awakening had left the entire family on edge. Cassian had doubled the guards and locked down the mansion.
For neo the determination to become strong has reached a tremendous level. He won't remain weak anymore. He have a family to Protect now.