Darkness' Touch

Chapter 41: Chaos avoided

"Young Master!" 

The running footsteps of the people that quickly surrounded them pulled out Avy from her thoughts and the next thing she knew, she was being thoroughly inspected by Mariel who was holding both of her shoulders, sporting a worried expression. 

"Why would you do that, My Lady?! You could've hurt yourself!" the maid clamored apprehensively, her usually soft tone fading into something way scarier until Clerivan gestured for her to stop.

"You are raising your voice, Miss Mariel," he pointed out. 

Mariel looked like she realized what she had just done and quickly erased the frown on her face and said, "I'm sorry, My lady. I was just overwhelmed by emotions." 

She just ignored her statement and looked at her side, where she found Clion now in the care of the servants, one of them checking his pulse. It was the butler earlier, apparently, he was still able to stand up after being kicked so hard that he flew away. His clothes had a couple of leaves sticking on them as he was decorated with dirt, his maroon-colored hair was a mess, brown eyes focused on the child.

"Oh no... Did the manifestation not take place?" 

Avy saw the servants except for the one checking Clion looked shocked, some of them covered their mouths. They stared at their young master with pity, others even had tears in their eyes while doing so. For a moment, Avy felt a pang of guilt stabbing her from the inside since it might be her fault that Clion's manifestation was sabotaged, the reason being some incidents where young children's manifestation was stopped, they could no longer make it happen again, that or the child will suffer before finally opening up his core where the magic comes from. 

Both paths would make their life a living hell in a world where people get measured by the amount of talent they have in controlling and using one's magic. That was why the original Avy did not have any friends. Her inferiority complex killed her painfully on the inside masking it with a nasty attitude as a defense mechanism to protect her fragile self. 

She didn't want the poor child to experience the same taunting and pitying gazes that Avy in the novel received from people. She didn't want him to turn out to be like her and meet a horrible end. 

"No. It's the opposite." all of them went silent as the servant holding Clion spoke.

"Young Master Clion's mana is stable. The manifestation is successful, and it was not a rampant awakening," he stated, voice relieved but full of wonder. 

Avy slumped her shoulders with ease,  she was still sitting on the grass ground and as if the tension made her numb, it was just then she felt the itch on her hands. She lifted them up and brushed the dirt off when some kind of liquid dropped on her arm. It was red, and she felt it coming from her nose.

"My lady..." Mariel stared at her in horror, and then at the Harrington duchy's servants who were pre-occupied tending to their young master. 

"Revie, cover," she commanded in a whispering tone. Clerivan discreetly shielded her from everyone's view using his cape before flames burst from the small droplets of blood on her arm and on the grass. She was not burned by her own flames, but the ground was left with a trace of it when the fire died, something she had no control over. 

"I'm tired. Let's leave," she said, standing up from where she was sitting before leaving the scene, her right hand was covering her nose while her knight stood behind her, preventing the others from seeing her face. She did not spare the servants one last glance and just walked out, Mariel following behind.

And as she was leaving the scene, a small girl that looked exactly like Clion run past her, a couple of maids tailing behind her.

"Clion!!" the little girl shouted.