The Shapeshifter - Chapter 21 New Beginning 1

It was late in the evening when Arthur woke up. He struggled out of bed with his aching body and later sat on it.

Looking at the boundless dark sky filled with glimmering stars, sadness washed through him. His eyes turned blurry and tears fell down his face.

He stared at the night sky for ten whole minutes and the serenity was broken by the sound of faint weeping. Even though it was barely perceptible, it still entered the ears of Arthur.

Arthur wiped the tears off his face. He quietly opened the door of his room by a tiny bit, just enough for his eyes to see outside the room.

The orange light emanated by the flickering flames of the candle light entered his vision. Arthur saw his mother sitting on a chair by the table, quietly wiping her tears.

Her mother seemed to have noticed the slight movement of the door, as she pulled out another chair and waved at him, beckoning him to sit with her.

Arthur walked towards her mother and sat on the chair with a guilty look on his face. He wanted to talk but nothing’s coming out of his slightly opened mouth. Only the faint sound of breathing could be heard.

Just when a word barely came out, his voice cracked, and his eyes started watering again, he cannot stop them from falling off. Now that he was with his mother, he bawled saying, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I wasn’t able to protect him.”

“Shhhh. Shhhh. It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay. It’s not your fault.” Her mother consoled him, put him to her embrace and patted the back of his head. There were tears too, forming on her mother’s eyes but he was incapable to see it.

“But, but—” Arthur tried to explain everything to her mother but forming a word was already proving to be difficult for him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Take a deep breath and tell me the whole story.” As a mother, it pained her seeing her son like this. She didn’t want for guilt to devour her son, she didn’t want him to go down the wrong path.

Arthur took a deep breath and looked at his mother. Her mother was a beauty, ever since he was young, she was praised as the most beautiful in the village. The villagers respected her for raising her children by herself when she became a widow.

However that all changed when he awakened as prodigy. He worked hard at school and often went out to kill some beasts and sell its body to those that needed it.

Arthur looked into his mother’s eyes. They were black, just like his, but it was now watery due to tearing up. It broke his heart when he saw his mother’s tears. He swore in his heart that there wouldn’t be any tears falling off of those eyes.

So he took another deep breath and told her what had happened.

“So he disappeared right when you started battling the fierce beast?” his mother asked.

“Yes. I guess it was those beasts that took him. Maybe under the order of a dire beast or even a void beast.”

“That’s unusual. Beasts mostly kill humans, unless they have some use to them. Good thing is, Alex should still be alive.”

Arthur’s mind was in a mess. He thought that Alex might’ve been used as a sacrificial or a nourishment to their youngling just like what they said when he was still a kid. But now he knew, that it was only to scare children like him.

“Hey mom, what happened earlier at the village? There was like a storm just above the village. The beasts were maddened by its appearance.”

“Oh right, I forgot to tell you. That kid, Kael, evolved his fire element into lightning; that was why there was that storm-like scene.”

Arthur knew that talented kids like that would probably be taught by an Archmage of their element. Archmages were next in line to become a King.

As for Kael, he would definitely be sent to the city of Ember to study. Fortune really fell on the lap of the gifted.

He was neither jealous nor bitter by that fact; he also had his own fortune, so he decided to train very hard starting right now. He stood up from his seat and his eyes glinted a strange light.

“Don’t train tonight. Your body’s still recovering from exhaustion.” Her mother knew what he was up to, so she quickly advised him. She wasn’t sure about the gleam in Arthur’s eyes and attributed it to the candlelight.

“Okay. Goodnight mom.” Arthur went back to his room and sat on the bed. He recalled the spells he used and how he felt when he used them. He closed his eyes and felt the mana coursing through his body.

He imagined the Domain he emitted and willed for it to come out, yet he failed. He pondered what he was missing, it was the emotion. He was very angry at that time and thought that he was a higher being than those animals.

He mimicked those emotions, even his expressions turned frosty. There was like a rumbling that set off on his body and a huge amount of mana was used. He was successful on using his Domain.

Then he got off his bed and knelt on one knee. He closed his eyes and thought of the stone sword. He conjured it pretty easily however, he felt like something was missing in it. He should probably visit the library or the smith shop for inspiration.

Unknown to him, his mother who was preparing to sleep opened her eyes for a second and closed it again.

The old man inside the village had just finished helping Von use the elemental crystal and on his way back when he felt a domineering aura. He jumped on a nearby house and landed quietly on its roof.

He surveyed the whole village and searched for the aura but he was too late he only knew its general direction.

‘Hmmmm. Maybe the madam unintentionally released her domain.’

On another part of the village, a silver-haired young man was currently packing his belongings.

“Tomorrow, I would be on my way to the city of Ember. Escorted by high mages and will be the taught by the Archmage of Fire himself. Let’s see if you could defeat me by then Alex.”

…

On a distant desert. Where only beasts capable of surviving the extreme hot during the day and cold during the night. There was a huge palace, hidden beneath the sands.

The palace that should’ve looked grand and majestic was now devoid of life. It was unable to escape the passage of time and was buried by the sand. However it wasn’t really filled with sand, there was like an invisible force that was keeping them away from it.

Inside the palace, it was filled with lots of scorpions. There was a 10-foot humanoid scorpion, slouching on a throne. Before him, was a human boy draped with a tattered maroon cape.

The boy started twitching like he was about to wake up from a nightmare. He jolted to a sitting position, his head was filled with beads of sweat and his back was soaked by sweat as well.

He lifted his head and saw a 10-foot tall humanoid scorpion looking at him in the eye.

‘What kind of monstrosity is this?!’