167 True or False
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He was broken out of his reverie when he sensed a familiar presence nearby.
Shifting his upper body around, Hadrian gazed down and saw Charles walking in his direction right below the magic carpet.
"Oiii! Master!" The cheeky retainer shouted with a grin, waving one hand at him.
After a quick scan at the wards and the bounded field, making sure they were working properly and not clashing with each other, Hadrian gently urged the magic carpet to descend as he gathered Ryu and Fou in his arms, bracing himself in his seat as the unique mystic object followed his command not a second after.
When the carpet slowly came into a halt, Hadrian opened his mouth to speak when his field of vision suddenly turned black.
He blinked and millions of images rushed through his mind within a span of seconds.
Images of faces, areas, and objects flashed through the eye of his mind, both unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time. It occurred so suddenly that it had disoriented Hadrian, which was a feat in itself seeing as he would rarely feel such things in the past.
Even when he had first used teleportation as a young child, Hadrian had felt nothing but a pleasant sensation, albeit briefly.
Some of his retainers, particularly Kieran and Yan, might protest to that claim, but that was their opinion, not his.
There were some that stood out to him the most, of which held an eerie similarity to the dream that he had dreamt some time ago.
The darkness that pervaded the room he was in, the cold, hissing voice of a man with a snake-like countenance, the beautiful red hair of a desperate woman that he saw from behind the wooden bars of his alternate self's crib, the maniacal laughter of a madman after he chanted a spell as a green light spat out his wand, and so on.
From there, Hadrian reviewed the next memories, and noticed certain irregularities.
Unlike the dream he had before, the snake-faced madman did not forced the red haired woman to the side. Here, he pointed his wand at her and casted a spell that seemed to have ended her life, given by the way she suddenly dropped to the floor in a heap and remained still.
The words that the arrogant wizard had uttered were different as well, causing Hadrian to wonder what he was really seeing.
At first, he thought that they were memories of Harry Potter, his alternate self.
But after reviewing the scenes over and over in his mind, doubt began to settle in, causing him to wonder whether they really were memories or figments of imagination conjured by the mind of his past self, remnant memories tainted by his past self's traumatic experience, which causes a distortion in the memories of his past self's short life, before he had taken over the body.
His internal musings came to a ground halt when he felt himself stirring awake.
With a soft groan, Hadrian slowly opened his eyes as his vision began to focus and clear.
The first thing he saw was the detailed mural painted ceiling of his private chambers in the Flamel estate. It slowly dawned on him that he was currently laid on his back, arms and hands on both of his sides as a deep blue bedsheet covered his lower body, from the waist down, to keep him warm.
His black jacket and shoes were discarded, leaving him in his white dress shirt and pants.
More importantly though, he was outside earlier, being carried by the magic carpet, but now he was inside the estate, on the bed and feeling as if something heavy knocked him out. Literally.
'My room… How…?' Bleary green eyes narrowing in thought as he tried to comb through his memories for any recollection in how he got to the current situation, only to find none.
Before he could continue further, a familiar voice broke him out of his reverie.
"Master, you awake?"
Slowly, Hadrian turned his head to look at the source of the voice, only to see Charles looking at him with mixed emotions, one of relief and the other of concern.
The cheeky retainer was not the only one present. With the exception of Yan Qing, the others were there as well, including King Hassan (who stood near the entrance of his chambers, arms crossed over his chest and currently in his astral form, of course) and the twin homunculi maids.
Kieran was standing nearby, arms also crossed over his chest. He appeared calm and nonchalant, but the worry was there.
Astolfo and Arash were looking at their young master with obvious concern in their eyes, just like Charles.
Nicolas and Penerelle Flamel were also there. The former was standing beside the chair that the latter was seated on near the bed that Hadrian was occupying.
Turning back to Charles, the young mage exhaled before answering.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
As soon as he did though, a familiar unpleasant headache came in, forcing Hadrian to close his eyes briefly in reflex as black spots and red lines conquered his line of vision for a few sudden moments.
His nose wrinkled slightly as he mentally counted one up to ten, waiting for the pain to subside before opening his eyes once more after it was over.
Judging by the wry smiles some of his retainers wore, they knew the true answer to Charles's inquiry.
"You don't seem fine, master." The cheeky retainer dryly pointed out.
"It'll pass, eventually." Hadrian deadpanned, causing most occupants in the room to laugh.
"Sure, sure." Charles shook his head, a fond smile on his lips.
"What happened?" The young mage asked, brows furrowing in thought.
"You blacked out suddenly. Good thing I was there in time." Charles smiled as he relayed what happened to his master earlier.
"And the carpet? Did you leave it outside?"
"No, your 'friend' from the other side took it, so it's back in there. Safe and sound." Charles said, giving the young mage a knowing smile.
The lighthearted mood in the air soon became somber as the Flamel couple joined in the conversation.
"How are you feeling, child? Do you need anything?" Penerelle asked, her comely face contorted into a concerned expression.
"Do be honest, lad. Anything you feel, you can relay to Penny. My wife here is a talented medi-witch, a healer in a layman terms, so she could treat anything bad you might be feeling right now." Nicolas said with a fond smile that he directed at his wife, who glanced back at him to return the loving smile.
Ignoring the pink world that briefly came into existence beside him, Hadrian closed his eyes for a few seconds, exhaling through his nose as he weighed the options in his mind.
He could lie to them about his condition to prevent the ancient couple from worrying about him any further than necessary.
Or, he could tell them the truth and run the risk of having them doubt him of being capable enough to go along with their plans for the future.
Worst case scenario, the Flamel might even consider speaking to his grandfather and ask the latter to replace him with someone more stable in condition.
In the end, Hadrian had decided on giving them half-truths, considering as neither options were appealing to him.
"Just had a migraine. I remembered it happened almost right after I finished setting up the bounded field and double checking the wards there. Perhaps it's just fatigue. This will fade in time." Hadrian said as soon as he opened his eyes to look at the ancient couple.
Pursing her lips, Penerelle scooted forward in her seat, wand in her delicate hand.
"So you say, but I will need to examine you, just to be sure." She added with a raise brow, as if challenging him to protest.
When Hadrian merely pushed himself into a semi-sitting positon, leaning against the headboard of his bed with a resigned expression, the Flamel matriarch smiled to herself in satisfaction, causing the others in the room to laugh their interaction.
Some of his retainers looked particularly entertained by the scene before them, much to Hadrian's mild annoyance.
It faded away when he got distracted by the sudden arrival of his familiars, who happily jumped on his bed and unto his lap, elated that he was awake now.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Penerelle then pointed her wand at Hadrian's forehead, her bright amber eyes narrowed as she focused.
While the woman did nothing, merely sitting still in her seat, Hadrian felt a small surge of magical energy forming on the tip of the wand that was in her hand.
To the naked eye, the magical energy formed into a small, white glow that appeared on the tip of her wand.
Curiously though, the presence of magical energy materializing had disappeared as soon as it had tried to make contact with him.
Not a second later, Penerelle's eyes turned wide, blinking rapidly as a mixed expression of surprise and confusion appeared on her comely face.
"Hm?"
Shrugging to herself, as if to convince herself that it was a mild fluke, Penerelle tried to cast the diagnostic spell again.
Again, again and again.
As it went on for nearly a whole minute, the focus expression eventually morphed into a surprised, disbelieving gaze, to which she directed at the young mage, who merely watched her with a curious façade as she slowly dropped the hand holding her hand.
Noticing the oddity in her reaction, Nicolas slowly leaned his head down and asked his wife in a whisper.
"Is there something wrong, chère (dear)?" The ancient alchemist asked, startling his wife out of her reverie.
Turning to her husband with a wide-eyed look, Penerelle slowly let out a disbelieving laugh that caused the other occupants in the room to raise their brows.
"The charm doesn't work on him." She said in wonder.
More than one pair of eyes blinked at her strange answer.
"What do you mean, lady?" Kieran asked with a small frown, speaking for the first time since Hadrian had awakened.
"It's exactly what I said. The diagnostic spell does not work on him." Penerelle repeated, eyes closing briefly as she pinched the bridge of her nose to relieve a mild headache.
Her words, and the implication behind them, were not lost on Nicolas and certainly not to Hadrian, who can only absorb the true meaning with a blank expression.
The retainers, on the other hand, could only look at each other with bemused expression before one of them spoke.
"Well… that's fucking new."
For some reason, Hadrian could not find it in himself to admonish Kieran for his choice of words.
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