Chapter 29 - An ominous Purple Aura appears

Meanwhile, back in the Kingdom of Eregard (the capital city of Efidel), Evan had gone through a full recovery with the exception that his Gift had not reverted to what it had once been. And as it were now, the boy was in between the trimmed hedges of the courtyard, practicing to use his newly awakened power.

From what he noticed, he still retained the Free Nature of the Gift so just like his mother, he was able to bend and twist the barrier into whatever shape he desired.

First, he formed the shape of cylinder, and then cube, then a rabbit that hopped around in the air and finally a dragon that soared through the skies.

After that, Evan made a sphere-like barrier that surrounded and encapsulated him as if to mimic his grandfather's power. But when he tried to have the ball bounce, he found that his own barrier could not do that. So, next he made tens of shards that spiraled around him which he aimed towards the ground. But to his surprise, unlike his granduncle's, those shards were not sharp enough to pierce the concrete walkway.

As it would seem, even though Evan could mimic the shape of his granduncle's and grandfather's power, he could not duplicate their properties.

But still, as interesting as this was, Evan couldn't help but wonder why it had happened. He supposed that it made more sense for him to have a power like this rather than the power of clouds he once controlled. Perhaps this was God's way of fixing a small error in the grand scheme of things.

Though, if Evan could have chosen a power, he would have much preferred the strength of a Stronghold. If that were the case, then his father would have no choice but to accept Evan as his son.

Evan stared at the floating sheet of red that hovered within his hand. He looked profusely at the thing he had created and waited for a bit of time to pass by.

Nothing happened. It would seem that Evan couldn't simply 'will' another power to become his. So if that were not the condition, then what was?

The boy remembered the voice that spoke within his mind when he had been sleeping. All those colors that had once spiraled around in the blackness of his thoughts were no longer there when he slept.

What had happened to cause this? The first occurrence of the matter was when the seven Gifted and Silva, had ventured into the vortex of shadows along with the Demon Lord Ronin.

Could it have been the work of that dark mass of shadows that had spoken to Evan through his thoughts?

Perhaps so, or perhaps it was a result of meeting the Overlord.

There wasn't any way for him to know this at the present time. As things were now, the demons and Gifted were on terrible terms after Lady Natura claimed that it was the Overlord who helped the shadowy creature to come into our world.

And so, the King had ordered another seven Gifted to act as representatives to discuss that matter with Lord Agnus himself.

Right about now, Evan supposed, that those Gifted would have reached the Overlord's castle. Whether they would survive to return home or not was not something the boy would know.

~

Seven faces stood before the Overlord, each wearing a hooded cape representative of their individual families. Amongst them were three of the seven family leaders – Marie Aerite, Riot Electura and Eris Natura. The remaining four Gifted were also of noteworthy names as well. They were as follows: Marcus Regelia, Maya Aerite, Melisa Aquaron - a pretty girl of average stature with light blue hair that was cut short above her shoulders, and whom was also the eldest child of Arrone Aquaron, and Lias Stronghold, whom while his father opposed greatly, had been forced to come here on orders of the King.

Marcus took the lead and stared at the Overlord with fierce eyes.

"Do you know why we are here?" he asked.

"Oh, who knows, maybe you really missed me." Arnos mocked as he laid laterally in his throne while eating some exotic fruit that resembled the shape of an apple.

Marcus barred his teeth. "Lady Natura, may you please tell the esteemed Overlord of what you saw."

And at that, Eris Natura recalled her sighting of the Overlord in the mass of shadows, while placing emphasis on the fact that it was the Overlord who had compressed the being to the point where it was able to come into the human world via the Rift.

"Are you sure that was me?" Arnos asked while he took a bite of his apple.

"I would not mistake you for anyone else." Eris replied sternly.

"You say that but…" the Overlord batted two of his four brows. "I don't believe that we've ever met, have we?"

"No, I'm afraid not but your kind are depicted as pictures that we, Gifted, are educated upon. Your six eyes and anther-like horns are not something that I could have mistaken for anyone else." Lady Natura said as she furrowed her own set of brows, which were thick and luscious at the start but thinned as they went along the corners of her eye.

"Oh, but even so, that alone cannot stand grounds for such an accusation." The Overlord spoke as he hovered himself upright and took a final bight of his apple before he threw it in a bin beside his throne. "Now, unless you have any definitive proof," the Overlord's eyes began to glow red as they narrowed to a fierce glare. "Then I will suggest that you leave my palace and Kingdom at once. You have disrespected me enough today. Anymore and I will not be able to ascertain your safe return."

Upon feeling the malicious intent of the Overlord, each Gifted subconsciously took a few steps back.

"Very well, I apologize for the intrusion." Marcus said as he struggled to keep his hands from trembling. The man took a slight bow and then turned around to leave the palace as the six others followed behind.

~

Meanwhile, far west of the capital at the small village of Rustal was Eon, who was sitting along a wooden dock that was built at the edge the lake. Beside him was an old man with a fishing rod that had been there all day but so far had failed to catch even a single fish.

"Hey pops, don't you think its about time you give up? Nothing's biting." Eon asked as he turned towards the small, weakly man whose mustache was much too big and bushy for his wrinkly, old face.

"Maybe I should." The old man replied. "But what else do I have to do than try to catch fish with no bait?"

"No bait?" Eon asked with a raised eyebrow.

The old man laughed, which soon turned into a cough as the old man knocked at his chest for breath. But soon enough, he caught his composure.

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard, old man." Eon said with a smile. "But why don't you use bait?"

The old man smiled as well. "Well, that's because I don't want to catch anything. I'm only here for a bit of peace."

Eon couldn't argue with that. Here, in this small village that overlooked the wide lake that stretched towards the snow covered mountains in the South, he felt at peace. None of that prestige and power followed him here. Though, it was a bit strange that he was here and not his mother and Evan.

But no matter, he supposed. The man then lied down along the dock as he braced his neck with his arms. He watched the blue skies above as clouds sailed along with the wind.

He then closed his eyes and drifted into a peaceful sleep.

"Sir Eon!" shouted the voice of a soldier behind.

Eon sprung up and looked behind at the soldier who was panting heavily. The man also heard the sound of screams coming from the village up on the hill, that overlooked the lake.

"There's an enemy! Sir Silva is fighting him as we speak but without you there, I'm afraid that he won't be able to win." The soldier spoke as sweat dripped along his face.

At that, Eon wasted no time and walked away from the dock. When he reached on to solid land, he launched himself into the air but not before looking to the soldier and saying. "You stay here and look after the old man." And with that said and done, Eon flew into the air to land in the nearby village as he pressed into the dirt road that blasted dust in every direction.

Then Eon looked to Silva who was baring his sword against an unknown enemy as blood dripped along his forehead. That boy had been fighting a tanned man who wore an armless shirt and a pair of trousers that stopped right under his knees.

"Silva!" Eon shouted to the boy. "That's enough, I'll handle him." But the boy didn't listen. He continued to slice with his sword as the man effortlessly dodged and kicked him into the dirt below.

With a foot pressing Silva to the ground, the man looked to Eon with a horrible smile on his face. "Oi, you here to fight me as well." He said as he kicked Silva to the side and continued towards Eon. "I hope you can give me a better show than that one."

Eon gritted his teeth as he clenched his fist. "I'll make you regret that." The man said as he launched himself forward with a fist of steel to meet the man's face.

But surprisingly, the man caught Eon's hand as a purple aura engulfed his hand and then threw Eon into a nearby house.

Purple aura then engulfed the man entirely as it then surged with power that caused a mighty wind to spiral outwards from the man's body. "Hey, common now, you can do better than that, can't ya?" the man asked as he held a purple coated fist in front of him.

Eon rose from the rubble as red marks glowed along his skin. He fixed himself in a fighting stance, with a fist in front and a leg placed behind to keep him balanced, and narrowed his eyes into a focused stare.

Whoever this man was, he was quite strong. Eon recognized that immediately when the man stopped his blow. So if his strength didn't give him an advantage, then he'd have to find another way to win.

The man smiled as he approached and he too narrowed his eyes to a glare. "Well, well, seems like we're going to be quite a match up. Though…" the man paused and then asked. "Say, what's your name?"

"My name?" Eon replied, a bit off putted by the question. "What does that matter?"

"Well, if you're someone strong, I'd like to remember it. I'll start…" the man then pointed an inwards thumb towards his chest. "The name's Rouge. Just Rouge, I'm afraid. Got no parents, you see."

"Eon Stronghold." Eon replied bluntly.

And with that said and done, the two launched themselves forward and as fist met fist, a calamity of a wind surged around the two men as rubble and dirt were sprung chaotically around in all directions.