That was not the first time Asad hit my mother, but that was the first time my father had reacted in that manner. I think that part of the reason he had been so rigid with me for all those years was because of that. Part of him loved me, and part of him saw me as the cause of Rima's suffering.
"Wh-what was that, brother?!! I asked turning my face in fear and agitation toward Alar.
"Father..." Commented Alar.
"Father…?" I asked "What do you mean, I do not understand. Was it father that caused this earthquake? Do you think everyone is alright?"
"You go and check around the academia if everyone is alright," Asked Alar as an excuse to make me busy and stay away from the dean tower "in the meantime I'll go check father."
I nodded and started running throughout the hallways and courtyards of the academy, checking the classrooms and the various training ground, especially those of the junior students, as I knew that senior students would not be hurt by the earthquake, even if that violent.
"Leaf!" It was Elemir "I already checked this half of the academia while Shimun is checking the other half."
"Elemir! Brother said it was father...! What is going on?" I asked looking into Elemir's eyes and hoping for more information.
"Father? Who told you this?" Asked Elemir.
"It was Alar, he went to the tower." I answered.
"Alar? That explains it, he must have felt father's Ba'sar signature."
I was trembling, a bit for the fear and a bit for the confusion. The shock was extremely violent and if it had happened in any other place unprotected by Ba'sar the whole area would have crumbled. Elemir looked at me and smiled while patting on my shoulder trying to encourage me.
"Leaf, go to the tower. I know that mother has returned so you can go check on her." Elemir had no idea that my mother was in part the cause of that chaos, something that only herself, Alar, my father, Heylen, Faruk and Baruk were aware of. Elemir just wanted me to go to mother so that I might have felt safe, but he also knew that I would not coward away. He gave me an excuse and I took it. I nodded and ran to where my mother was, my eyes wet, my heart racing.
Hearing me describe those moments now might not convey what I felt but you should not forget that despite being quite courageous for my age, I was still only a ten-year old boy. So, I ran to my mother. When I reached the tower Faruk and Baruk were there.
"Little lord. You should go to your rooms, it's safer there." Faruk said.
"I-I'm looking for my mother, where is she? Is she alright?" Faruk looked at Baruk.
"Yes, little lord. She is," He said gently smiling "She is meeting lord Elegon right now and Alar is there. She told us that she will come to you soon in your rooms, so you should hasten."
I nodded and ran to my room. I closed the door and sat on one of room's corner hoping that my mother would knock soon, hoping that nothing bad would happen to her while with my father, fearing that the earthquake was because of my father's wrath against my mother for whatever reason. Crying I hugged my knees while on the ground, I lowered my head and taken by the mental and physical exhaustion of the training and the chaos that happened, I fell asleep.
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As Elegon was walking up and down in the room waiting for Rima to reach him, Alar entered the room and found a terrified and shaking Heylen.
"Lord Alar! You're here" Said Heylen recovering a bit of relief and slightly tranquilizing himself. He trusted that Alar could manage the dean much better than him.
"Thank you for all that you did, you can leave now." Said Alar.
Alar looked at Elegon as if to confirm that he had indeed permission to leave but Elegon ignored the two and kept walking up and down in the room.
"Don't worry," Said Alar "You can leave."
"Yes, my lord" Heylen went toward the door, bowed to the two and then left.
While leaving he met Rima
"Milady…!"
"It's fine. I'll speak with him." Said Rima gently, her injury completely healed thanks to Ba'sar healing. It worked by connecting a bandage to a Dar'el curative herb, one of the best. The bandage would replicate the properties of the herb without consuming it and hence being usable virtually an infinite number of times, that was the power of Ba'sar when using properly. One could have just one Dar'el herb, whose incredible curative power was balanced out by its extremely short quantity. In fact, a Dar'el curative root could completely heal serious injuries, but if the injury occupied a vast area of the body a large number of roots had to be used and they were not easily to get by. By using Ba'sar and connecting a large number of bandages to the same root...the effects were astounding.
Rima entered the room and Elegon rushed to her walking rapidly. He held her hands and she smiled trying to tranquilize him. Her smile in reality almost had the opposite effect if not for Alar speaking and distracting his father from his anger.
"Father, we need to find a solution. Even if Leaf doesn't have Ba'sar yet he's extremely talented. In fact, I find it strange that he still didn't activate it. Not even Elemir had to wait ten years old, he activated his Ba'sar at 6, and that is late compared to Shimun and me. With the resources at our disposal..." Something struck Alar, a terrible thought which he had to confirm even at the risk of provoking his father's anger even further "Did you perhaps...block Leaf's Ba'sar on purpose father?".
Elegon left Rima's hands and stood there, silent, like a statue. The meaning of that silence was obvious. He had blocked Leaf's Ba'sar on purpose with the idea of unblocking it after the ceremony.
"How could you do it? Don't you know how dangerous it is? When you would decide to unseal it, his body would not be used to the Ba'sar and it would likely collapse under the accumulated energy!" Said Alar punching one the libraries nearby and tightening his fist until blood started to drip.
Ba'sar cannot work against living beings, let alone humans. But Elegon was not someone to be trifled with, nor was his experience and deep knowledge. One could use hypnosis to let the victim constantly use his Ba'sar on an object. That would allow the Ba'sar's reserves to be always depleted. The problem in doing this derived from the fact that the user would be constantly using Ba'sar and strengthening it like a muscle, with the risk of being crippled.
Imagine if a child would to be put under extremely fine-tuned muscular stress since birth every second. His muscles would most likely tear, but if you had good resources and an extremely capable trainer you could - in theory - constantly monitor the child and adapt with extreme care the stress output decreasing it when needed to avoid injuries and increasing it when needed to avoid the muscles to get used to the same exercise once the they were developed.
It was virtually impossible to achieve this feat with Ba'sar ensuring that not one drop of it would be detected, but Elegon managed to do it hypnotizing Leaf into connecting his Ba'sar to various objects, every second Leaf had been depleting and replenishing his Ba'sar since his first year of life. He was a prodigy for it was never heard that one could develop Ba'sar from that age, but perhaps because of the stress of the situation of ten years ago he did. Every minute, every second since the day Alar called the Plumed One and Rima killed Asad's wife, Elegon had always watched over Leaf's Ba'sar, ensuring that it would remain undetectable by Asad.
Alar was shocked. Not even he could detect the slighted drop of Ba'sar, that meant that the leakage was zero. He understood that despite being powerful, if he had to fight Elegon and his experience he might not stand a chance. The risk for Leaf was obvious, once the moment to unseal Leaf's Ba'sar came, he would have to deal with an enormous amount of Ba'sar and if his mind was not ready to do with it, which was not, he would collapse under the enormous amount of Ba'sar developed during the years. Elegon though was confident that he could gradually unseal Leaf's Ba'sar allowing him to gradually get used to it after the ceremony, but the risk was still great and even Elegon knew it.