Chapter 10: Concern 2

*DORIAN*

After saying goodbye to the children, Altea went back to sleep since everything bad had already passed. After Therius fell into bed due to the backlash, we didn't notify anyone that he would return a few days late until he began with the 2 weeks of torture. 

Days turned into weeks and then into a month until the next morning we woke up calmer and more rested, though we still had some bags under our eyes. We went down to have breakfast, caught up with everyone in the guild, which gave us a bit more calmness, until the day turned late and the evening turned into night.

We were finishing dinner with Atheria when we heard Nora's excited voice, so we went to see what was happening and saw Therius next to Nora, who was getting up and turning around when he saw us. He quickly shouted, "Therius, you finally woke up!" Worried, he began to ask him, "Does your body hurt? Your head? Anything?".

He said everything was fine, so I told him to sit down and eat something. As we were approaching, Elowen dashed towards Therius, "Brother Ther, you finally woke up, I was scared." I looked at her confused but still told Elowen, "I'm fine, Wen," as I hugged her and patted her back. She looked at us worriedly and asked, "What happened? Why did Wen cry as soon as she saw me?".

Atheria replied, "Darling, you were asleep for almost a month." Atheria finally said and then looked at his head, knowing what she was looking at, his lock of hair, asking again, "What do you mean a month? I just depleted my mana, that could be replenished with a few hours of sleep," he looked at us with concern, towards me and Altea still with Elowen in her arms. I said, "Well, son, at first that's how it was, after about 6 hours you replenished your mana, but 3 days later for some reason your body seemed to be on fire, you had a fever for almost 2 weeks, your mother took care of you during that time, relieving your fever until it finally subsided."

Still confused, I put Elowen down and her mother quickly put her hands on him to check for any extra damage to his body, "Dorian, bring a mirror," she asked me.

"Son, look at yourself," Altea said after I handed him the mirror. Therius looked confused. From what I could guess, he was wondering about the large patch of pure white hair almost competing with his ash-gray and pale blonde hair. Even more confused, he asked us, "What happened?" Waiting for someone to respond.

"I don't know, son, during that month that you didn't wake up, Fredic came to observe you and see how you were, but they found nothing," Altea replied, "two days ago you had some sort of convulsion attack and then the white lock appeared," his mother seemed pale, even Elowen didn't leave her side, "darling, are you sure you're okay?" Atheria asked him, "Yes, I don't feel anything, I'm not dizzy or tired, that should be a good thing, right?" he said, expecting some confirmation, "Yes, I suppose so," his mother finally said.

Then we told him that his brothers were here after almost a month to see him, until the day he suffered the convulsions. Then I told him to rest with his sister to comfort her until the scare passed and tomorrow afternoon we return to Shira. He asked us if we had contacted the Cheron family about our postponed return and I replied that yes.

Then Elowen spoke, "Brother Ther, let me heal you so you don't get sick again," and a golden light came out of her hand, which seemed to be her mother's healing magic, and I was astonished by the concern and fear she must have felt. Then Therius spoke again, but to Atheria, "Master Atheria, thank you for your concern and as you can see, I'm fine now, so you can rest easy," he dedicated a grateful smile to her, "of course you're fine and strong, otherwise you wouldn't be my fiancé, Therius," she ruffled his hair in response, "go, I'll take care of sending the letter to your brothers and the other four to let them know that you're okay and awake," and he thanked Atheria again, "Thanks again," Atheria replied, "once is enough, after all, your family is my family too." And so we all went to sleep peacefully knowing that Therius had awakened and was well.

*****

*ALTEA*

It was all very sudden, Ther was training with Otto and simply depleted his mana, so after he fell asleep his body was in backlash, and we thought it would only take him a few hours to recover since we were returning to Shira that same day, but a day passed and he didn't wake up even though his mana had been replenished, so we decided to wait another day, and he still didn't wake up. That night I asked Dorian, "Will our boy be okay, Dorian?" He sweetly replied, "Of course, dear, it's just the backlash from overexerting his mana, since he just entered the stable stage he hasn't stabilized his core yet," he tried to reassure me with that and then we went to sleep.

Elowen and I were asleep in the room next door, I didn't feel anything, I just felt Dorian getting up hurriedly so I thought he must have gone to the bathroom, so I didn't pay much attention to it, then I heard Dorian's shout and saw Atheria passing by and going to Therius's room, until Atheria quickly lifted me up saying that something was wrong with Therius and she went to leave Elowen with Nora, as she entered the room I saw Therius in Dorian's arms, thinking that everything was fine until I saw his panicked face and knew something was wrong, I touched his body and he seemed to be on fire, so when Atheria returned I shouted for her to bring Fredic since being an ice mage he could help me lower Therius's high temperature, as soon as I said his name Atheria went to fetch Fredic, even Dorian went to get him, knowing he wasn't usually in the guild, Atheria must have gone to get him using her speed, minutes later Fredic arrived.

I heard Dorian explaining the situation to Fredic and he quickly came up and sat next to me channeling an excessive amount of ice to not harm him and help at the same time to lower Therius's body temperature, it took us 3 full hours to stabilize my son's temperature and stop when his temperature was in a situation where it was just a simple fever and we could manage it from there, but that didn't even work.

During the next 14 or 15 days, with Fredic's continuous help, we managed to stabilize Therius's body every time his temperature rose excessively. One day, his temperature rose again, and like the past few days, Fredic was there finishing stabilizing him. But at that moment, I heard a voice, Elowen's voice. "Daddy, mommy, what's wrong with Brother Ther?" My heart broke when I looked at her with tears in her eyes and her voice about to break as well.

I watched as Elowen approached Therius, saying, "Brother Ther, I'm here, let me help you, okay?" My heart was breaking as I heard her voice, almost crying, while trying to help her brother with the healing magic she inherited from me. Her hands began to glow. Dorian pulled her away from her brother and hugged her. After we finished stabilizing him, we left.

Fredic and I fell asleep, while Dorian stayed on guard in Therius's room in case his temperature rose again. I only knew that Sara or Valentina had visited.

Two days later, we managed to fully stabilize him, so for the last 12 days, we treated him like a common fever. I knew that Atheria would arrive tomorrow with the children from the academy since they had finally managed to get permission, as we had only informed her of the situation through letters.

So, in the meantime, while I slept with Elowen, Sara or Valentina helped us take turns watching over Therius so that Dorian and I could get some sleep. The next morning, I received the children, and Dorian, upon learning that the children had returned, went to sleep a little more, while I took a bath. It was about 3 or 4 hours later when I heard a scream from the second floor. I recognized the voice, so I knew it was Layra. I ran quickly towards the stairs, then I saw Trevor coming down with Layra and Elowen from the second floor, telling me to hurry to Therius's room. After I entered and saw Therius convulsing, I quickly began to try to calm him with my magic, my voice trembling behind me were Otto, Sara, Nora, Atheria, Valentina, and Fredic.

"Aetherius, son, it's mom, please calm down, stop shaking, okay? Please, I'm here." After several of my pleas and the magic taking effect, Therius stopped convulsing, and Dorian was again arranging him in bed. Suddenly, he called me to show me how a strand of his hair started turning white. It surprised me, although neither I nor Dorian could understand what that change in his hair meant.

We simply felt relieved as his body stopped being hot and returned to its normal temperature. Finally, Dorian, everyone else, and I could finally relax. Trevor and Layra were still downstairs with Elowen; in a few hours, they would have to return to the academy, so I asked Nora to call them and told them that everything was fine and that Therius's body had returned to normal except for the strand of his hair.

It was time for the children to return to the academy, but before they left, Trevor and Layra told us, "There are many things in the school library, we'll see if we can find something 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 us. "Okay, thank you, you'll help your brother a lot in the future if this happens again, although we hope it doesn't."

We smiled proudly at both of them, and they finally returned to the academy. After checking many times that he was fine, we finally went to sleep, waking up with bags under our eyes but more rested than before.

Two days later, Therius woke up at night after we finished dinner. We fed him, and Elowen comforted him, saying, "Brother Ther, let me heal you so you don't get sick again." We explained his situation to him, even showing him the change in his hair.

We told him that his siblings had been here, even about his convulsive attack and the state his body was in. Since Elowen was afraid Therius wouldn't wake up, we had them sleep together. Therius thanked her several times for the support they showed him. Atheria responded, "That's enough, once is enough, after all, your family is my family too." Each went to their rooms, and we all went to sleep peacefully knowing that Therius had awakened and was well.