Chapter 12: His eyes, they are scary.

Three winters passed and it was now spring, the season of Beginning. Two years passed quite quickly. The pair of houses had experienced some major changes. First was a slight expansion of size. The houses themselves had evolved from wooden barns to stone-walled farmhouses. Some flower vines had ground along its exterior. The yard which usually only had vegetables growing was making room for some flowers. Its neat arrangement brought about a subtle beauty. It gave the homes a warm welcoming feeling. 

Inside a room, Lucien was seated cross-legged in front of a mirror. The room itself was plain with just the essentials like a bed, a mirror, a cloth rack, and a floor mat. The toys were stuffed in a box in the corner while the room was in the theme blue. It was his newly assigned room, just as he had requested. 

Lucien stared at the reflection in the mirror, a carbon copy of himself. He would get close to it but stop and stare again. There was no way of knowing what went on in his mind. His unimpressed face had more and more begun to resemble Merlin. One barely knew what he was feeling unless he made an expression or Lucien said so himself. 

His crystal blue eyes like topaz shimmered like the ocean depths at the sun's rays' refraction. His face had smooth edges with gentle features so he never gave off a cold atmosphere despite his emotionless face. His smooth untied platinum blond hair had grown to his shoulders.

In his silent trance of staring in the mirror, the door opened and another boy his age ran in and sat beside him.

"What are you doing, Lu?" he excitedly asked. 

"Nothing," said Lucien while looking at Mikaela who had just budged in without knocking. 

It had become a common occurrence that he had got tired of making comments about. That didn't mean he wasn't annoyed. 

"Liar! You are looking at the mirror. Let me see!" said Mikaela.

Mikaela shoved his way beside Lucien in an attempt to see himself within the limited space of the mirror surface. The mirror reflected a young toddler with raven black hair tied up his back and blood-red eyes staring back. 

"Mom always puts this on me. Ah! I can't take it off coz she will be mad," grumbled Mikaela. 

He touched his hair uncomfortably but dared not to take off the red band.

'At least you don't get bows on your hair and cute clothes for your wardrobe,' thought Lucien inwardly.

Mikaela skimmed the rest of his body. Mikaela's chubby cheeks hadn't changed much since he was young. He was a cute chubby baby with a bulged belly. Mikaela didn't seem to mind that instead, he looked at Lucien's image. 

Lucien's unimpressed expression was looking at him in the mirror.

"What, Lu?" he asked.

Mikaela tilted his head. He was completely oblivious to how rude he was being right then. 

"Nothing," replied Lucien.

This time he sounded tired. He stood up, walked to his bed, and lay down staring at the ceiling. The sunlight fell on him, embracing him in warmth. Lucien could not help but relax. He closed his eyes in an attempt to ignore the disturbance in his room. Soon he realized it was quiet. Way too quiet for a reckless child like Mikaela to be in his room. He opened his eyes and looked around not willing to leave the comfort of the bed. 

What he saw sent shivers down his spine. Mikaela had his back on him so he couldn't see his face but he could see the face in the mirror. Mikaela's eyes which were normally unusual were now scary. They glowed neon red with black strings weaving in an endless bundle. 

Lucien didn't know a lot, but he knew that this was definitely, NOT normal. His first reaction was obvious.

"MOM!" screamed Lucien.

It didn't take more than a few seconds before Bianca rushed into the room. Her panic-filled face surveyed the entire room before landing on Lucien's horror-stricken figure. 

"What is it, baby?" she asked. 

"M-mom. Kaela is- his eyes are n-not red. I don't know. They are scary, Mom," explained Lucien as best as he could with his shaky voice. 

He was still frozen in place.

Bianca took out a pendant and infused it with mana. Then she cast a barrier in the house. Her eyes glowed azure blue nearing luminous white. She stared at Mikaela who was in a trance-like state staring into the mirror. He didn't seem to perceive the presence of anyone else in the room. 

He clearly, wasn't seeing the reflection in the room but something beyond that. The question arose; what is he seeing?

Bianca noticed the anomaly in his eyes. Unlike what Lucien had observed, she saw his ruby had taken a shade deeper to that of concentrated blood as they glowed brightly. Worm-like projections were wiggling and intertwining within his eyes endlessly. His sclera was fine but the boundary between his pupils and iris had ceased to exist. 

She wasn't surprised by that image, what caught her off guard was the aura in his body. It didn't leave his skin so no one would notice if they didn't have an ability like hers. 

The power in him was colliding in an attempt to break free his body but his body consciously prevented this from happening since his three-year-old body would not handle the pressure. It could even lead to instant death. She was confused about how this was possible so she increased the intensity of her vision. Her eyes burned completely luminous white. 

A golden thread existed within his soul rather than his body and it kept all other powers from going out of hand. It extended towards Lucien and formed a loop back to him. 

'What is this…? Ah! Goodness gracious, so the ritual works this way too?' she was amazed she could not help but cup her mouth in amazement. 

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