While they walked through the grand hall Faith clutched onto his mother hand quite tightly. Part of him was still taken aback by the strange and scarily real delusion while the other part was Nervous. He'd been preparing for this day for two years, constantly asking mainly Ervis who had become his life coach for tips and help.
It wasn't just swordsmanship and showing off, he was about to meet for the first time people on the same scale of prestige and power as himself. With those barriers gone it cleared the path to forming meaningful friendships and Faith intended to make full use of the opportunity.
'Problem is I don't want to come off as overbearing, or like I'm approaching for political interest' Faith thought, while they walked.
'What was up with that thing earlier, what happened?' Luna asked finding a chance to inquire about the strange reaction Faith had to the spatial gate.
'Honestly, I have no clue. It emptied almost all my mana then boom, I was in a strange trance-like delusion' Faith replied as him, Eshir and the royal knight captains following behind entered the main gathering room of this giant and recently built peace ground.
The entire room was filled to the brim with lights, music and drinks as the highest echelons of society mingled with each other amid the flourishing time of peace. There was still an evident massive divide between the twelve races, specifically between Light-dark and Dark-light but the mere fact that they were all present in the same room was an amazing feat of its own.
"This is incredible," Faith said in naive and blissful amazing, fully enthralled by the gathering of so many different and unique races he'd never seen nor experienced before.
"If you think so then it was worth coming," Eshir replied, smiling while guiding Faith too their allocated seating.
The Grand feast had yet to start but it was still best for them to get acquainted with their seating arrangements. The schedule was set for them to mingle and get acquainted with each other before dinner in hopes that afterwards when the proper discussion between leaders would take place in the conference hall situated above them, it wouldn't be a political blood bath.
'I get them trying to make us more amicable with each other… but I seriously doubt any proper ties can be made across a divide maintained for thousands of years' Eshir thought while taking her seat, ignoring the prying eyes of the royal family who were clearly surprised by the royal knights in her company.
The whispers quickly spread not just to the demons present but to the other races in attendance as well.
"Are those the royal knights of exodus?"
"I thought they never left the castle?"
"They look strong, look there is the oh so famous shadow prince demons rave on about"
"Really where?"
"There, the one with the white hair and the sword at his waist"
"Didn't he tame a Rexel"
"I heard he beat the king of the forest himself into submission and forced its child into a contract"
"Really but he's just a child"
"he's also a demon, wouldn't surprise me if he enslaved the entire forest while he was at it"
"What a little monster"
"I told you we shouldn't underestimate demons cruelty, especially not that one's"
Whispers like this paraded around the entire hall with the entrance of the Queen of demons and her children, all of it privy to Faith thanks to his shadow sense which for the first time he was starting to regret having.
Faith's hands griped together so tight his knuckles started to turn white and his complexion visibly stiffened as something he only dreaded started to happen. He was being stereotyped again, being put in a box he didn't belong to by people who didn't know him and didn't intend to give him a chance to explain himself. "It" was happening again.
'It's alright Faith, people like that aren't worth your time anyway' Luna said, popping her head out of his vest to give him some assurance.
His grip loosened a little but Luna could still spot a trance of fear on his face. It confused her why a demon like himself was so afraid of being feared to the point of reacting instinctually to it but in the end, she just chalked it up as a symptom of his loneliness.
Faith kept seated with his mother, the sudden increase in popularity among the residents of the hall made him deathly afraid of leaving the comfort of his loved ones. It was still early in the night and his mana was recovering faster thanks to the abundant darkness that night brought. He spent ten straight minutes just chatting with Eshir and playing with his sisters, who cheered him up a lot.
Faith was just getting back into his good mood when he was suddenly hoisted out of his seat.
"How's my little one doing?" Alzeor asked embracing Faith and earning the interested gaze of all those in the hall again, particularly a certain prime spirit that saw the dragon as a rival.
"I'm good" Faith replied with a smile, which was just a little bit forced.
"Did something happen?" Alzeor asked Eshir, noticing that his son seemed to have lied even if just a little.
Eshir was in the middle of pulling back Amethyst who'd decided the candle on their table was her arch-rival while Ruby giggled at her sister, cheering her on. It should've been enough to brighten her mood but instead, it visibly soured when she heard Alzeor question.
"He had a delusion when he walked out of the spatial gate" She answered, her sour expression suggesting it wasn't a good thing.
"A delusion, huh?" Alzeor spoke, putting Faith down while looking absentmindedly at the floor.
"Do you have any clue what it could've been?" Eshir asked slightly frustrated a little by his lack of a proper answer.
"Well spatial gates are magic, so they obey magic's most fundamental rule that to get something you have to give something in return. Most people think of mana as a power source but it could just as easily be seen as a currency used to pay for the ability to exert your will over nature and its elements" Alzeor said relaying the wisdom of Ancient dragons as if it were nothing.
"Spatial gates function off of space runes and space's counterpart is time so when you use a spatial gate you give a tiny bit of your own time in exchange for transport across space. It's generally substituted with mana stones mostly but all space travel still requires a little bit of time" Alzeor added, horrifying Eshir.
"You're saying spatial gates… shorten your life span," Eshir asked regretting not using carriages more often more than she ever thought she would.
"Yes but not nearly as much as you think. Time is by far more valued then space in nature so at most you'll have lost a few minutes of your life accumulated and that's not including the mana stones which would narrow it down to maybe a few seconds at best" Alzeor replied back, much quieter than before remembering that not everyone was functionally immortal like himself.
The price you paid for spatial travel was such common knowledge among true dragons and prime spirits that Alzeor had forgotten the main reason that those who knew choose not to share it with others. Paranoia was the best thing that could set in when you found out your main source of transport was effectively shortening your maximum life span however the reaction Eshir had was light and many would immediately call for the complete destruction of spatial gates If they knew.
realistically it wasn't dangerous at all and you'd get back the time yourself considering the distance you'd have to travel otherwise but the words "It shortens your life span" could very easily start riots among the more mortal races.
"I still don't see how this leads to Faith being stuck into a delusion," Eshir said, bringing the topic back to Faith who was equally as horrified that years were coming off his families life just from using the prospect.
"Well, the value of your time is dependant on how long you live. True dragons who have gained their heart and Prime spirits who connect themselves to the world can't pay with time since their's has no value. As such we pay a ridiculous amount of mana and our time connects together for a few seconds as compensation." Alzeor said noticing immediately that Eshir was about to enter her mama bear mode again.
"Wait! Wait!! It shouldn't apply to Faith. Even with a dragon heart, he's still a half breed, being part demon means his time is limited and thus there's no way that should've happened" Alzeor added backing up a little as Eshir stood up, glaring daggers at him.
The room's temperature got a little colder as the onlookers of different races witnessed for the first time Faith's family arguments. Most of them backed away cowering a little before the violent aura, only those standing at the absolute top of their respective hierarchies staying calm.
"Are you saying my son is less than you because he's a half breed?" Eshir asked in an icy tone.
"Don't twist my words you psychopath, I'm just stating facts. Half breeds have a dominant side and we know Faith's is a dragon but that doesn't mean Faith suddenly becomes a full-blooded dragon. It makes no sense for him to have a time connection because he's only a half breed" Alzeor spat out, calming Eshir only a little.
'Dammit, if this lizard thinks he can get away with looking down on my son I'll skin him alive. I can't argue though that he's at least a little right' Eshir thought, backing off a little more second by second.
She had researched half breeds between different races extensively and found the same conclusion herself. While they would inherit some abilities from both sides in most cases when it came to royal blood of Dragons and demons it was so thick that the child would always lean more towards one side. Prime examples were Ruby and Amethyst who clearly had their dominant sides displayed with their looks.
Even with a dragon heart Alzeor still assumed that Faith was under the rules normally governing half breeds. Faith may have had abilities like a full-blooded dragon but he wasn't one the same way he wasn't a full-blooded demon.