Fate of The Blue Phoenix

Chapter Two: The Phoenix's Deep Slumber

Lord Normandy sighed as he watched his son who was still lying unconscious on a spacious bed. His son, Alex, was continuously trembling, and a blue, icy veil of mist was still covering him, and thus, it seemed to keep him from experiencing the torture that the spells of the magicians had inflicted on him.

It was still a huge surprise to him to have discovered that his son could do magic, but it was more of a shock to him to learn that the men who attacked his son were royal magicians of the Empire of Castillenes.

He didn't know where to go after seeing his son very much damaged after he had murdered the magicians and so, he didn't know who to ask for help until he met two potioneers bearing an eagle symbol tattooed on their right hands. He didn't send him to the hospital but instead to the resistance tower. It was also at the time he realized that the tower was also converted into a hospital for the kids who were attacked by magicians.

He was told by them that they're sent by his father who's the Earl of Vales to take them to the Resistance's Black Tower to try their best to heal Alex quickly before more warriors of the emperor arrived in his house to kill them.

They introduced themselves as Jane and Glen when they appeared to take them to the only place they could be safe from any warrior or magicians of the empire.

Currently, they've been examining his son but they were troubled and pity had filled them after their thorough investigation. They used several spells to break the mist from covering Alex but nothing seemed to happen.

Lord Normandy chose to hold his son's hand but it startled him when a surge of electricity struck his fingers even before his hands go close to him. He heard his son moan and cry within the blue mist but he didn't know what to do as he cannot even touch his own son after several hours that they had arrived and placed him in one of the recovery rooms of the tower.

Jane gripped her pale hands and after that, turned herself in front of Lord Normandy who was anxiously waiting for what she will tell him. Her dark blue eyes were teary but he can also tell that she's genuine to help his son recover. "Your son's case is very complicated. It was very rare for magicians to do what your son can do and most creatures who has the ability are High Elves living in the Elven Realm."

"Elves?" he asked him. "What is going on? I don't really know why my son is in this situation!"

Glen's huge build and dark stature scared him a lot. He may be a healer but he's also a warrior of the Castillene Empire's Resistance Forces. He stepped closer to him and gazed at his eyes directly if he can trust him. "I'm sure you saw what's going on outside this room, am I correct?"

"Yes, I've seen children with their parents coming to hide and they did seek sanctuary here like us since their son or daughter had injuries as if they were attacked," he replied. "Would you explain to me what is going on? My father sent you to take us here and I'm still waiting for him to come."

Jane gulped her saliva hard while Glen's eyes widened in amazement. It astonished him how much he doesn't know about the empire and its misdeeds to many of its people.

"Are you really Lord Geralt's son?" Glen eyed him. "Why was it that you're like a hatchling who don't know Queen Josephine's atrocities?"

Lord Normandy tried to touch his son's hands again but to no avail since a surge of electricity kept anyone to come into contact with him. "My father always told me that I am too unobservant and too apathetic. He probably told me about the resistance against the empress and he's one of them but it wasn't a future that I wanted but without my father who's in the Inner Circle of the Resistance, I won't know where to go!"

Glen gave him some water to drink. "Your son... As long as he's in hibernation, we cannot touch him. We don't know how long he'll shield himself from anyone and from the pain surrounding his body. If we won't be able to remove it, he will die."

Alex's tears kept on cascading down his eyes inside the mist and it seemed, a dark hole on his chest began to emerge which worried the three people surrounding him. He's getting worse by every second and if he wasn't helped, the potioneers knew that the boy might die. Normandy and the potioneers were also surprised when the child's mouth was then covered by a sour foam.

"He was cursed!" Glen shouted. "Only an elf or a more powerful healer can help him!"

Jane closed his eyes and walked closer to him as he realized that the torture done to him was only something she knew was used to the empire's enemies. "There is a war brewing and as far as our own warriors who helped us get near your home, the Empire attacked every child who had an affinity to magic but they've actually been doing it as they had been looking for a child who has a phoenix birthmark at his back."

Normandy looked away in more astonishment when he discovered that the Empire was searching for a child with a birthmark at the back shaped like a Phoenix. He didn't know if he had to tell them something personal about his son but it may also be a reason why his son was kept tortured to the point that they were killing him already.

"My child has that birthmark," he confessed. "What does she want from my son?"

"No one knows," replied someone with a very deep voice. "I was at a loss for words when a servant had informed me that your son was attacked."

Glen and Jane bowed their heads before Lord Geralt. He has that air of an authority and someone with total control of his abilities.

After the potioneers had exited Alex's private room, he fixed his blue eyes straight at his son's weary eyes.

"They will call an elf healer who's helping us cure children," he said to him. He sighed in disbelief at how much damage was done to his grandson after he turned to take a look at him.

"I already told Jane and Glen but I think I have to say it to you," Normandy cried out. He sat on the chair next to his son's bed and held on to the chair's handles. "Is it true that the empire was looking for a child with a birthmark shaped like a phoenix?"

"Yes," he replied to him. "I joined the resistance fifteen years ago because of your son."

It made him glare at his father and at the same time, scream. "Do you know something that you never told me about? I never wanted to fight the empire as I see it a foolish desire!"

Lord Geralt glowered and collared him as he turned him to look clearer to Alex. "Why don't you open your eyes and see what your son truly is? Blame your wife for keeping the truth from you!"

Normandy slowly observed Alex within the blue mist filled with electricity and as he scanned his son, tears began to grow deeper when he saw that his son's ears were pointed, his lips were cherry red, and the skin's fairer than any human. Deep within the mist, his son's scars from his mother's constant whipping vanished. "He's... My son... He's..."

"He's a half-elf." Geralt sighed deeply. "I know about it but your wife didn't want to tell you so she concealed your son's true appearance."

"Is it the reason why my son was targeted by the empire? Was it because he's an elf?"

"No, Norman!" Geralt stepped back out and stood near a window with black curtains. He opened the lamp post first that was placed at the right side of the bed before he turned off the lights. He also muttered a few words before he replied to his son, again. "He bears the symbol of the Blue Phoenix. The Empress believes that the child who has it would end her reign and thus, she would kill him. He's my grandson and I will do my best to protect him. Now that I failed at that, the only thing I can do was to hope that he will be cured!"

Normandy's mouth fell agape and once again, he was buried in his tears. "The empire wanted to kill him for that reason? If that is the case, that meant I cannot stay blind anymore!"

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