The Baptism (Part 2)

"Now, let us hope that the fire does not burn him to ashes.", he said.

"Burn him to ashes? What the hell did you to him?", Raphael raged. He got out of his chair and was holding Arthur's collar.

"I did what had to be done. Now, all that's left is up to god, and maybe Flamel's claims. Let us just hope that his theory is true."

"You based all of this on a theory of a deranged idiot?"

"Deranged idiot? He successfully created the philosopher's stone. You should be lucky that he lent a few drops of the Elixir of life. We will be needing that in a few moments as well, so remove your hands.", he said, in the same monotonous voice. He rearranged his shirt, and went to the locker on the other side of the room. He opened it by turning a few dials, and took out a vial. It had a transparent liquid within it, and it shined in the light.

Meanwhile, Will was going through literal hell. The temperature of his body rose by hundreds of degrees, and he was almost burning up into flames. His body turned red, and any sweat formed turned into vapour almost immediately. Will did not understand what was happening. Finally, after some time, he felt a sudden increase in heat. He screamed out louder, and then, flame burst out. His entire body, which was quite small, burst up, and Raphael was aghast. He wanted to rush there, but he was stopped by his father.

"Are you an idiot? That is phoenix flame. It will burn you as well if you want to touch it."

"Phoenix flame? Why did you bring the phoenix into this?"

"Hehe... Did you know that your wife is not who she seems she is? Or maybe she just doesn't know and she was a descendant of a squib of the Merry Weather family. She had phoenix blood within her. Since I found out, I was planning for this. A union between two mythical fire beasts in one body. Truly magnificent. Majestic."

Raphael punched Arthur in the face. A loud voice came as blood flew out of Arthur's nose.

"You monster! To think you would do something so reckless to your own grand child.", he raged.

"Do you think that I wanted to do this? I am making the sacrifice I need to. This is something that needs to be done."

The both of them looked at Will, who was completely consumed in the flame. Slowly, his body had crumbled into ash. Seeing this, tears streamed out of Raphael's eyes. He fell onto the ground, on his knees, wailing in sorrow.

"What have I done! I killed my own son. I never should have trusted you.", he wailed.

The flame also subsided, and it revealed ashes, and ashes alone. Arthur sighed. "That is too bad. It seems that I will have to wait till you get another son, or I'll compromise for a daughter as well.", he said to Raphael.

"Crucio!", Raphael yelled out, directing his wand at Arthur. Arthur screamed out in pain.

"Stop you idiot! What do you think you are doing?"

"You killed my son. I think it is quite fair that you accompany him there."

But, Raphael was suddenly distracted by movement near the ashes of Will. He dropped his wand and looked at the desk. Arthur, who fell onto the ground, also looked at the desk. Slowly, from the ashes, a small head started coming out.

Arthur, who saw this, immediately fetched the vial of Elixir from his pocket, and rushed towards Will. He immediately dropped a few drops onto the rudimentarily formed mouth. The moment Will swallowed the drops, he could feel energy coursing through his veins. His ashen face got color, and the ashes all gathered into the baby that he once was.

Raphael rushed to Will and embraced him.

"I am sorry. I am sorry. I will never put you in harm again.". He sobbed.

"Move out of the way. I just gave him a few drops. He will need to finish the whole bottle here, or he will become something of a monster, and won't be your son anymore.", Arthur said, and snatched Will from Raphael's hands. Raphael did not retort, and Arthur started emptying the vial drop by drop into Will's mouth.

After hearing Arthur's words, Will readily drank all the drops of blood. After he emptied the bottle, he slowly felt that the energy that he had felt while drinking the Elixir was slowly fading. Extremely tired and exhausted, he drifted into sleep.

"Take him back to his room, and maybe bathe him. I will check on him tomorrow.", Arthur said to Raphael, handing Will back to him.

"No one can know about today. Especially Daphne. The moment she does, the three of us are out of here.", Raphael scowled. Arthur nodded, and Raphael left the room with Will in hand.