Supreme Magus

Chapter 4488: Life Score (Part 2)

"Ral just called her name." He replied, letting emotion transpire from his voice. "Li is how he can say Ely at the moment. It’s his third word and the reason Ely is crying with joy."

"Oh, gods, you should have told me sooner." Kamila tried to record the moment with her amulet, but she fumbled it and wept as silently as she could so she wouldn’t ruin it.

"Don’t cry, Mom." Valeron didn’t understand what was happening, and seeing so many members of his family tearing up scared him.

"It’s okay, baby." Kamila sniffled. "I’m fine. I swear."

Yet Valeron could tell she wasn’t fine. Everybody seemed sad, and their eyes were moist.

"Don’t cry. Please." Valeron felt something stirring inside of him, an intense desire to protect those around him.

His life force and mana core surged, his mind growing attuned to the Garden’s immense energy. It was a subtle feeling; the baby boy was too young and weak to manifest the full scope of his powers, but Lith felt it.

He called upon Solus, and the tower appeared in a nearby glade a split second later.

Valeron didn’t notice it. He was too focused on trying to make the pain and sadness of his loved ones go away. His fingers dug into the ground as he listened to the melody of the world energy around him and added a few notes of his own making.

Valeron was the son of Jormun, the Emerald Dragon, and Thrud, the Golden Griffon. The powers he inherited from his father allowed him to naturally understand and interact with all forms of life, while his mother’s Life Maelstrom was meant to nurture.

The young Bahamut answered the call of a dying seed, too weak to bloom on its own due to a congenital defect. The seed wanted to live, and Valeron needed help. The boy extended his aura, wrapping it around the seed’s life force to examine its symphony.

It was akin to a torn, crumpled musical score. The melody was punctuated with faded and missing notes, making it impossible for the seed to thrive even in the fertile soil of Mogar’s Garden.

The little Bahamut used his Emerald Dragon side to restore the faded notes and guess half the missing notes by studying the flow of the tunes preceding and following them.

The other half of the missing notes, however, was beyond even an Emerald Dragon. Yet not beyond a Bahamut.

Valeron the Second opened his life force to the dying seed and let them interact. New notes that perfectly suited the incomplete melodies came to his mind, and he engraved them in the Life Score.

The symphony of the seed’s life force was now complete, opening a path toward life in the dark corner where death awaited. Alas, one problem remained.

The seed was already withering after depleting the nutrients in its coat and couldn’t absorb more from its surroundings. Valeron injected a tiny spark of his Emerald Energy and another of Life Maelstrom into the seed.

Life nurtured life, and the silver lightning gave the dying seed the strength to sate its hunger. All that Lith and Kamila saw, however, was a seedling sprouting in the middle of a small pillar of light between Valeron’s hands.

The seedling grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, its stem stretching until it was centimeters away from the young boy’s face. A bud emerged from the stem and bloomed a heartbeat later into a beautiful flower like no other.

The stem had no thorns, and like its leaves, it shone with the vibrant emerald of a precious gemstone. It was crowned with a rose comprised of Indech-red petals alternating with silver ones that reflected the cave’s mystical lights like polished metal.

"Don’t cry, Mom." Valeron dug out the flower along with enough soil to preserve its roots and offered it to Kamila with shuffling steps, trying not to stumble and fall. "Please. Don’t be sad."

The young boy felt tired. More tired than after flying with his siblings in the morning, but something inside of him told him what he had done was worth the effort. That everything would be okay.

"I’m not sad." Kamila sniffled. "Not anymore. Thank you, sweetie. It’s a beautiful flower. What is it?"

"It’s for you." Valeron stared at her with his big round eyes in a silent plea to accept and like his gift.

"I know that, silly boy." She chuckled, kissing his forehead before taking the soil and flower from his hands. "I was asking you what its name is."

"I don’t know." Valeron smiled. "But it’s pretty, right?"

"The prettiest flower I’ve ever seen." Kamila gently caressed his hair. "I’m so sorry, sweetie. I didn’t mean to make you worry."

"It’s okay, Mom." Valeron saw her smile and sighed in relief.

He hugged Kamila tight and fell asleep with a peaceful expression on his face.

"Wha!" Elysia bolted to him as soon as the pretty lights stopped distracting her, quickly followed by Raldarak.

She sniffed her brother, relaxing as soon as she sensed that he was well and happy via the Dragon Scales. Raldarak squeaked loudly to wake Valeron, and when that failed, he joined him in their mother’s arms.

"Okay, let’s stay calm." Kamila took deep breaths to keep her voice low and steady. "What in the gods’ names just happened?"

"I have no idea, but it’s something related to Val’s bloodline." Lith replied. "I called Solus here because between the Mana Injector, the Watchtower, and the Greenhouse, we should have a recording of what he did and how.

"We need to know if it’s just some simple trick or something that might endanger his life if used on something bigger than a flower."

"Good thinking." Kamila nodded. "Unlike Ely and Ral, there’s nobody who can teach Val how to use his powers. He needs all the help we can give him."

"Please, be okay. Please!" Solus emerged from the tower and sprinted to reach Valeron.

She had checked the Infirmary’s readings thrice, and knew the little boy was fine, but her heart refused to believe it until her own Invigoration confirmed it.

"Thank the gods Val’s okay." Solus sighed in relief.

"Ack!" Elysia dropped to the ground in a silly impression of a stroke to receive some attention as well.

The fact that she let herself fall slowly and kept an eye open to check her audience’s reaction ruined her performance.

"I’m sorry, baby girl. Are you okay?" Lith picked her up in mock worry.

"Yah!" Elysia sprang back to life, nodding excitedly.

"Good girl." Lith ruffled her hair. "What happened, Solus? What did Val just do?"

"Oh." It took her a couple of seconds to snap out of her worry and remember the reason she had rushed to the Garden of Mogar in the first place. "You won’t believe it, guys."

"What’s not to believe?" Lith asked. "Making a flower bloom is nothing much. I can do that as well. I’m asking you why he got so tired just from doing that."

"I know, and you won’t believe my answer." Solus replied. "Valeron didn’t make the flower bloom."

"Are you sure about that?" Kamila looked at the flower, and then at Solus as if she had gone insane. "Seems bloomed to me."