Chapter 50 - Umbra & White

"Ow, ow, ow…" Anna voiced in pain as Leopold held her feet up slightly while using his fingers to pull out shards of glass that had wedged themselves into the sole of her foot.

"Stay still dear" he said gently while focusing his attention on the much smaller shards that were insanely tiny.

Although Anna could've healed herself with her spell, or perhaps a low-tier healing potion when they finally got home, it wouldn't help to expel the shards that were stuck in the sole of her foot, an aftereffect of running barefooted when she thought Flynn was in danger.

Both of them, along with the three big noble families and the royal family along with their own sons and daughters, were now left at the venue of the event hall but to be more specific, they were all presently in the reception hall.

It wasn't particularly a surprising sight because asides from having to discuss what to do and how to take greater measures to prevent an incident like this from ever repeating itself, the royal family along with the big noble families had always been the last to arrive at events like these and also the last to leave.

Since they were usually the ones involved in hosting a lot of events like this, they had deemed it their responsibility to ensure that everyone leaves first before they could take their own leave.

"Done. You can heal yourself now Anna" Leopold said while gently placing his wife's foot away from his laps where it had previously been onto the cold marbled tiles of the ground.

"Thanks dear" she replied gratefully while activating her healing spell with an inward chant of the spell, a golden glow immediately covering the soles of her feet.

"I'll go check on our sons" Leopold spoke again while rising up slowly from the long ornate bench he had been sitting on with his wife.

"Please do" she responded with a thankful smile as she watched her husband walk towards the automatic glass doors.

After the golden glow had enveloped her feet for about a few seconds, Anna began to reach for her high heels.

As she did, she spotted Hela and Selena who were walking towards her, their faces unable to hide the chuckle that was threatening to leave their lips.

Anna herself chuckled softly at this sight, a wry smile spreading across her own face.

Upon getting over to her, Hela Adencia had been the first to speak.

"You haven't changed one bit, have you Anna? Still just as brave as ever and motherhood has only made you even braver" she said with a very warm smile.

"Are your feet alright?" Selena added with a lot of care in her voice.

Even though her face seemed to not really display the emotions that she was trying to convey, her ruby red eyes spoke volumes about how much she cared for her friend's well-being, even with an injury as minute as the one Anna incurred.

"I guess I haven't Hela… and Selena, I'm just dandy as you can see" Anna responded to both of her closest friends while wiggling her toes.

This caused them to all share a very small chuckle between themselves again.

"We really need to find time to catch up with each other. How does next month or the month after sound? My place?" Anna asked after chuckling.

"Sure Anna. I would love that. I should be able to squeeze about two or three free days so I'll be looking forward to it" Hela responded happily before continuing.

"And truth be told, I really need to take a few days off. Even Arthur has been clamoring for it since last year. I think it's about time I take him up on that offer"

"Count me in" Selena responded calmly, although her voice was slightly raised a few pitches higher, indicating that she was just as excited to have a few days off with her long-time friends.

After seemingly agreeing on an undecided arrangement that would either be next month or the month after and making a few more small talks about relatively mundane things, they all eventually gave their goodbyes while moving out of the halls into their respective vehicles with their family.

Selena upon stepping out of the reception hall's automatic doors, watched as her daughter kept staring into the distance.

After following her gaze, she was not surprised to see that she was gazing at the Belmonts, specifically Aiden Belmont who was slightly sitting and leaning on the bonnet of their limo while reading what seemed to be a small novel with a relaxed expression on his face, the pole light next to their car illuminating him and shining light on his surroundings too.

Flynn however seemed to just be waiting for his mum to arrive while having a conversation with his father, their backs resting on the sides of the limo.

If one squinted their eyes too, they could also see Butler Frank through the slightly tinted mirrors of the limo, sitting in the driver's seat.

Selena moved over to her daughter and nudged her gently, causing Caroline to tear her gaze away from Aiden while looking at her mother who now had a rare amused smile on her face.

"So, how was he?" Selena asked calmly.

"He was far better than I had expected him to be…" Caroline responded.

"Oh… So what do you plan to do now?" Selena prodded on.

"Nothing…" Caroline responded coolly.

"Really? You've had a crush on him for years you know?" Selena said to her daughter curiously.

"Yeah… I just really enjoy the feeling he gives me… Makes me feel like I can be myself around him without having to put on a constant façade. I think wanting anything more is just me being greedy…" Caroline responded lengthily to her mother.

"I see…" Selena replied without pushing her questions any further.

She had come to completely respected her daughter's decisions over the years and so, if this was what she wanted to do this time, then so be it.

After a while, Anna who had already been walking over to them from the moment Selena herself had stepped out of the reception hall, finally got to them and without wasting a single second, all of the Belmont's got into their limo and just like that, their limo left the event hall in a few seconds.

"Caroline, let's head home too" Selena spoke endearingly to her daughter.

"Yes mother" she responded with a slight smile.

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White...

Infinite, boundless and expansive white void as far as the eye could see…

In this enigmatic and mysterious boundless expanse of an infinite white void, the figure of a lone man could be seen sitting in a cross legged position with his eyes closed while propping his head with one of his hands.

The man who sat in this infinite white void, exuded an air of timeless wisdom and his hair was just as white as the boundless void that surrounded him.

His presence seemingly embodied a lot of secrets that was held by the universe, inviting a sense of transcendence and mystery to whomever could dare to step foot into this realm.

And yet, after millenniums upon millenniums, none had yet to step foot into this space except the very man who had been here from the very day this mysterious realm had come to be.

Just above and slightly behind the enigmatic figure's head was a hovering large orb that was almost the size of the earth and was completely black, like an immensely dark starry night, making the enigmatic figure look infinitesimally small in comparison to its sheer scale and size.

The orb casted an eerie glow across the white space along with a gigantic circular shadow upon the lone figure sitting in the white void with it.

Adding even more to the mystery of this space were two very small floating orbs which were hovering directly in front and around the white-haired man slowly, both with small cracks on their surfaces and pulsing with a soft golden glow.

A few small silver-like strings, like those of a spider webs' silky thread extended from the body of the enigmatic figure and into the small cracks of the small floating orbs, seemingly transferring something into them.

Suddenly, the seamless expanse of the white space slowly began to crack apart, like a rupture in the fabric of time and space to reveal a reddish dark hue that revealed glimpses into an unknown and unsettling realm beyond.

This unsettling reddish-dark tear in the fabric of reality itself, had edges that shimmered with an ominous energy and seemed to want to forcefully break into the white realm and completely consume it.

However, the white-haired enigmatic man gently raised his other arm up, and without even so much as even opening his eyes, waved his hand as if to repel the ominous sense of threat and trepidation that the disquieting tear brought.

That was all it took for the unsettling rupture in the seamlessly expansive white void to slowly mend itself with a whitish green hue surrounding it, like a needle and thread sewing two pieces of ripped fabric apart and completely returning everything back to the tranquil and pristine white void.

A faint ripple of energy then spread through the expansive white space, indicating that the fabric of reality had been subtly fixed and realigned as the enigmatic figure slowly lowered his hands back onto his lap, a sense of calm returning to the void.

However, as if to add to the sudden oddity that had just occurred, the eerie dark gigantic orb that was floating behind him, suddenly began to emit a strong beam of illuminated golden light on a specific small round spot that kept pulsing on its vast and expansive surface.

The enigmatic white-haired man who had his eyes shut the entire time, suddenly opened them to reveal a pair of deep blue eyes that also immediately began to transition and shine with golden light along with the spot on the large orb that was beaming.

The enigmatic male figure now had an unreadable expression on his face as his eyes shone with golden light but after a while, the glow in his eyes subsided and returned back to its shade of blue.

The golden beam of light that had shone from a specific spot on the gigantic dark orb itself had now subsided but in place of a beam of light, the small spot on the giant orb was now completely white, preventing the eerie darkness of the rest of the orb from encroaching upon it.

The white-haired figure whose face previously contained an unreadable expression, suddenly had a small smile tug on the corners of his lips as a string of thoughts began to make its way into his head.

'This iteration it is then…'

'Morrigan also seems to be doing as I've instructed…'

'I should also return Chrono's memories too but more than that…'

'This iteration seems like it's going to be a successful one…'

'…'

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'…'

The white-haired man kept having so many other thoughts running through his mind like a torrential surge of information but after a while, his thoughts finally settled down while thinking of one singular thing in his head.

"I guess I really did make the right decision…" Amael finally spoke up, his voice carrying a calm yet enigmatic allure.