Chapter 9: Concern 1

*DORIAN*

Two days have passed since Aetherius fell ill and hasn't gotten up despite having replenished his mana. Altea comes to see him whenever he calms down and takes Elowen with her. Atheria knocks on the bedroom door, and I tell her to come in. "Hi Dorian, how's everything going? You must remain calm; sometimes there's a setback due to excessive mana usage. Besides, he exerted himself a lot fighting with Otto. Don't blame him either; he's already feeling guilty for causing Aetherius to fall ill," Atheria says to calm me down. I'm familiar with setbacks since we all go through that stage, even myself, as I'm currently in the stable yellow stage.

I can't blame Otto for something I know he didn't do. Also, what Atheria says is true; Otto feels guilty about Aetherius being in this state because he thinks their duel caused it. Altea returned again and started checking on Ther to assess his condition, but for the moment, he remains the same. We went to sleep in the adjacent room. "Will our boy be okay, Dorian?" Altea asked me, and being sure it was due to the setback, I reassured her, "Of course, dear, it's just a setback from overusing his mana. He barely entered the stable stage and hasn't stabilized his core yet," I comforted her with that, and we went to sleep.

On the morning of the third day, I heard a loud noise and a strong mana accumulation in Therius' room. I quickly got out of bed, startling Elowen and Altea. I rushed into Therius' room and saw him writhing in pain. I tried to calm him down, but his body was on fire, hotter than it should be.

Before I could scream for help, Atheria appeared, having felt the mana surge herself. "What happened?! I felt a mana surge and rushed here," Atheria exclaimed, almost shouting out of panic from what I could see in her eyes. "I don't know. Call Altea and tell Nora to take care of Elowen," I immediately instructed Atheria. She brought Altea, who began healing Therius. Her hands trembled because she knew that temperature wasn't normal.

"Try to get Fredic; we need his ice magic to see if it can stabilize his temperature," Altea ordered, quickly rushing downstairs to find him. After a few minutes, he came running with Atheria. Apparently, Atheria had briefed Fredic on the situation, thinking his ice magic could lower Therius' body temperature.

"Altea is trying to stabilize him with her healing magic," as soon as he heard this, he hurried into the room. It took them about three hours to bring his temperature down to a manageable level, akin to a normal fever.

But apparently, even that wasn't enough. For 15 days, Fredic stayed with us, helping Altea stabilize Therius. One day, when his temperature spiked again and they tried to stabilize him once more, Elowen entered, "Dad, mom, what's happening to brother Ther?" Elowen stepped into the room and quickly ran to Therius, placing her hands on him, which began to glow golden, her inherited healing ability from Altea.

"Brother Ther, I'm here. Let me help you, okay?" My heart broke hearing her voice, almost crying as she futilely tried to help her brother. I gently pulled her away and held her in my arms. After they finished stabilizing him and left, Sara and Valentina, who were out on a mission, arrived. "Dorian, we just heard what happened. How's Therius?" they asked, fearing the worst upon hearing about his unusually high temperature.

"Altea and Fredic have been stabilizing his abnormal temperature for the past 15 days. Initially, we all thought it was just a setback from depleting his core, but it escalated from bad to worse," I said with frustration. "We've also asked Atheria to send a letter to Trevor and Layra to inform them of the situation, but the academy won't grant them permission to leave since they just returned to classes."

"Just a few minutes ago, Altea and Fredic were here, now they're resting. It took them almost three hours to stabilize him, which drains them a lot of mana despite their core levels. I'm staying here on guard in case his temperature rises again," Sara and Valentina looked at me, touching my shoulder and reassuring me that everything would be alright.

By the 16th day, they had fully stabilized Therius' temperature, and for the last 12 days, things were calmer. We treated his temperature like a normal fever. Atheria is returning tomorrow with Trevor and Layra since the school finally granted them permission to leave. Altea is sleeping with Elowen as it's midnight, and I'm still on guard. I sleep occasionally when Sara or Valentina insist, then return to my post.

The next morning, Atheria arrived with Trevor and Layra. Altea welcomed the kids while I remained in the room. After they met with Therius, they ordered me to get some more sleep. I barely touched the bed before falling asleep, only to be awakened by Layra's scream. It seemed she and Trevor stayed with Therius.

I rushed out of my room again to see Therius convulsing. "Oh god, no! He was stable! What happened? Call his mother now!" Trevor hesitated for a moment, shocked, but as soon as I repeated the order, he ushered Layra and Elowen out of the room and called Altea, who arrived with Nora, Sara, Valentina, Otto, Fredic, and Atheria. Though they didn't enter the room, they stayed in the hallway, giving us company.

"Aetherius, son, it's mom. Please calm down, stop shaking, okay? Please, I'm here," after several pleas and Altea's magic taking effect, Therius stopped convulsing. As they settled him back into bed, a strand of his hair started turning white. I called Altea over to look, and she was surprised. Though I couldn't discern the significance of this change in his hair, we felt relieved as his body cooled down, returning to its normal temperature.

Altea, I, and everyone else could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Trevor and Layra were still downstairs with Elowen. In a few hours, they would have to return to the academy, so we called them and assured them everything was fine, except for Therius' hair. Trevor and Layra told us, "There are many resources in the school library. We'll see if we can find anything about what could have caused all this to Ther. Just be patient and wait to see if we can find something, okay?" They both looked at me. "Alright, thank you. You'll help your brother a lot in the future if this happens again, though we hope it doesn't," I said with a smile to both of them, and they finally returned to the academy.