An instructor bade his students off, signaling the end of class.
Rina gathered her things, barely registering the chatter of her classmates.
Just as she turned to leave, the instructor approached her with a polite but unreadable expression.
"Rina, someone is here to see you," he said.
"She's waiting in the reception hall."
Confused, Rina nodded and followed his direction.
As she entered the reception area, her steps slowed...
Standing near the arched window, was a woman dressed in deep sapphire silks embroidered with golden vines—clearly tailored from coin and status.
Her chestnut-brown hair shimmered under the light, elegantly pinned, and her hazel eyes fixed on Rina with poised curiosity.
"You're Rina, I presume?" the woman asked.
"Yes... I am. Can I help you?" Rina replied cautiously.
"I was told you were a friend of Ray Bluemoon. I called for you to ask if you know where he is."
The mention of Ray's name hit Rina like a sudden gust of wind. Her lips parted in surprise.
"Ray? I—why are you looking for him?"
The woman stepped closer, her gaze firm but not unkind.
"I'm Evelyn Bluemoon, Ray's mother."
The world around Rina seemed to tilt. Her breath caught.
'Mother?! But… no. That couldn't be.' Her eyes widened in shock.
The twins—Ray's brothers—had told him his mother was dead. They mocked him with that lie.... She recalled their cruelty etched in her memory.
"I... thought his mother was dead," Rina said without thinking, her voice hollow with disbelief.
Evelyn's eyes narrowed slightly, suspicion flickering in them. "Is that what he told you?"
A silence settled between them.
Rina's expression immediately shifted—her face falling as sorrow welled in her eyes. She reached into her spatial pouch, her hands trembling, and pulled out a folded letter.
Quietly, she extended it to Evelyn.
The noblewoman took it with care, and as her eyes scanned the familiar handwriting, her elegant face turned pale. Her hands tightened slightly around the parchment.
The letter trembled in her fingers as she looked back at Rina.
"This… was from Ray?" she asked, her voice low.
"He left it for me and Mei. The day he disappeared. A week ago."
For a moment, Evelyn said nothing. She simply returned the letter, her hand gentle.
"Then you should keep it. It was clearly meant for you."
She turned away slightly, her gaze distant, and murmured, "He stopped replying to my letters three months ago. I didn't know why. I was worried, so I came here the first chance I got…" Her voice cracked ever so slightly.
"But I'm afraid it's already too late." Evelyn muttered more to herself than to Rina.
"I'm so sorry," Rina said quickly, guilt surging through her. "I should've—should've done something. I didn't think he would go—"
"No," Evelyn interrupted firmly, lifting her chin.
"You don't need to apologize. This isn't your fault."
Rina hesitated. But something in her refused to let the woman leave without knowing the full truth.
"Please wait—there's something you should know. The twins—his brothers—they told him you were dead. They poisoned his mind and crippled him!"
Evelyn froze, her back to Rina. Her shoulders sagged slightly at the revelation.
"So," she said after a moment, voice bitter and quiet, "they're the ones behind this."
She turned her head slightly, her expression unreadable. "There's nothing I can do now, even to them."
"In the world of princes, it's not uncommon for brothers to destroy each other for the throne. My son… he was just too naïve to believe them, and fall into their trap."
With that, she walked away, the swish of her gown echoing in the quiet corridor.
Rina stood alone, the letter clutched in her hand, tears slipping down her cheeks. Yet she had no words to cry out, no voice strong enough to break the silence.
What Rina didn't know, what she couldn't see, was that as after Evelyn stepped through the hall's arched exit, her hand went to her chest, clutching her heart as tears welled in her eyes.
She did not weep—not yet—but her soul had been pierced.
"Your grace, is something the matter?" A man dressed in elegant robes asked.
"Yes... my son no longer exists in this world."
"!!" His eyes widened in shock as he recalled his young master he had seen grow ever since he was a little toddler.
"..." He was so dumbstruck that his mind couldn't come up with words to soothe the Duchess before him, who he serves as royal guard and butler.
"Lets go... Gilbert." She said with a blank look.
"It might be a little late, but I need you to look for my son. Whether dead or not..."
"Yes my lady!" He agreed with a bow, as he vowed in his heart, 'I'll find you Ray. Please still be breathing!'
~
While within the stillness of the academy's corridor, Rina whispered in her heart...
'Ray… If you had just stayed for a week longer, you would have found out the truth. That your mother is alive and well…'
~PRESENT TIME~
Ray's mind spun, but amidst the haze and despair, a voice echoed—his mother's;
"That stone measures only the talent you're born with... not the talent you can become."
Then came the words of the Bluemoon clan;
"Blood tells, but effort endures."
And lastly, the soft, unwavering voice of his martial arts master, Kho;
"Besides, if you never try... you'll never know. And who said a Low-Tier talented individual can't cultivate?"
A flicker of light stirred behind his eyes. His sapphire gaze, dulled by pain and suppression, suddenly blazed to life.
"No," he breathed, defiantly. As Elanor's hands unbuckled his belt.
'I will not be a puppet!'
With a roar that rose from the very core of his soul, Ray's aura surged—a raw, chaotic tide breaking its chains.
His mana core, long dormant and barely holding together, flared to life with violent brilliance.
He could feel her—Gaela—the lingering trace of her otherworldly power, when she helped him rebuild his mana core!
'I'll bring my family back together... Davin, Gaela... wait for me.'
The fusion began—chaos mana, volatile and wild, clashing and blending with elemental essence.
The very air trembled.
And a shockwave exploded outward.
Eleanor was hurled across the room, her back slamming into the wall with a sickening crack. Blood spilled from her lips as she slumped to the floor, stunned and gasping.
Glass shattered.
Furniture splintered.
The entire room twisted into ruin.
And at the center of it all—ice.
Thick, crystalline ice, royal blue and gleaming with unnatural density, had frozen half the room solid.
At its core, encased like a sacred relic, lay Ray, unconscious but untouched—his final act of will sealing him away from her with an unbreakable cold wall.
Eleanor staggered to her feet, blood staining her chin.
"No…" she rasped. Her eyes widened, fury overtaking pain.
She threw herself at the ice, striking it with her fists, again and again, the sounds echoing. Her voice rose to a maniacal scream.
"No matter how long you stay in there—You'll always be mine!"
The door burst open.
Alaric stood there, breath catching at the devastation before him—frost crawling across the walls, glass glittering like stars on the floor, and Eleanor, bloodied and deranged, pounding her fists against the blue ice.
His gaze fell to Ray's still form within the frozen heart of the room.
And something in him shattered.
"He is also an Elementalist?!" He whispered to himself.