"That's Impossible!!" Alexandros Shouted again.
Alexandros quickly took the locket away from Eladreas' hands to examine it further. "This information is to never leave between us. Do you understand?!" Directing his question towards Eladreas.
"No, I don't understand what's going on? What's happening right now?" Eladreas was utterly shocked by the changes in behavior from the Head Priest and that of even the Emperor of the Crownsman empire, Alexandros Crownsman, the strongest man in the empire was standing before him.
"Who is this woman? Who is her child? What is going on to cause such concern?..." Eladreas immediately began to think of different scenarios in his mind as to what could upset even the emperor. Before he could ask another question, the head priest began to speak.
"The issue isn't that she's dead, the issue is of who she was and the fate that this boy will now have to face." The head priest looked at the Dragonite gem surrounded by the intricate Pheonix's silver before saying, "she's of the dragon's kin, an ancient clan that has been revered in old tales that go back as old as history. She seems to have been from the ancient clan that doesn't meddle in human affairs-"
"WHAT!?!?" Eladreas quickly yelled out in shock, dragon's kin was only mentioned in fairy tales, stories told to children as bedtime stories. They were feared as the people descendant of the dragons, those who have been blessed and cursed by the dragons of the past. The last of which was only ever seen in literature from over 3,000 years ago.
The dragons possessed formidable strength and wisdom, if not for their tendencies to be sloth, they would have ruled over Alterra. The fact that they mixed with humans thousands of years ago was already just a fable, an old wive's tale.
The fact that this woman had been a supposed descendant of the dragon's kin destroyed Eladreas' worldview, and he began to think of all the past fairy tales he heard as a child. He was utterly baffled by this revelation.
"She's indeed of the dragon's kin, the faint traces of mana left in her body along with this locket prove that she comes from a dragon's bloodline. But you said something was odd Gomo, what is it?" Alexandros laid out a blanket explanation that agreed with the head priest but didn't offer any more information for Eladreas' chaotic mind.
"Runaan seems to have a seal placed on him, I noticed it when I was removing the corruption from him. There was something that resisted the compulsion of holy magic to remove any manner of foreign influence on his body. It suggests that it has bound itself to his soul and we have no way of knowing what will happen to him until after he finds a way to rid himself of this seal." Father Gomo laid out a rather roundabout answer to Alexandros' question.
"What do you mean it resisted holy magic? You have access to holy magic of the sage level, how can something in this world resist such a force?" Alexandros asked out loud, not really seeking a response, only to hear the answer that he feared would come about.
"It means that someone of a higher level could cast the seal, judging from the mana that has been fortified into this woman's body, it was cast by her. She had to have been a significant member of the dragon's kin clan, but that brings up the question, why would such a person need to give birth to her child beneath a krosis tree that would surely poison her during labor? She would be considerably weakened." Father Gomo stated simply as he looked back at Eladreas.
Asking Eladreas again, "where did you find these two in the forbidden woodlands?" as he directed his question towards Eladreas, he pulled out a map from his own spatial ring indicating for Eladreas to show where he found them.
"It was here beneath a krosis pine, the tree had a hollow under it that had barely enough space for her to give birth to Runaan." Eladreas pointed at the incomplete map that only showed a portion of the forbidden woodlands. He indicated that he found her at the border where adolescent and sapling krosis pines grew in the woodlands. Adding the remark, "there were also tracks that lead deeper into the woodlands, but I didn't dare enter that area."
After discussing the events leading up to finding Runaan and Saris, Elardeas took out the krosis branches that he kept in a bag that reduced the infectious mana radiating from the branches from his spatial ring.
Eladreas handed them to the head priest, "there should be enough krosis branches in there to make a hundred wands or a few staffs." Only to be shocked again when he saw that Father Gomo turned to the emperor with the bag in hand.
"These were what you had requested earlier correct? They should be of great use to your mages at the mage's tower." Father Gomo handed Alexandros the bag taking Alexandros out of his train of thought.
"Ah, yes, this was originally why I had come here, turns out there might be an even bigger headache to come in the future." Alexandros began to signal his farewells as he added, "be sure to give this woman a dignified burial befitting that of even myself. We don't know what might happen should the dragon's kin find her to have been just thrown aside."
Alexandros then turned towards Eladreas, "be sure to never reveal any of this information to anyone, don't even bring it up to us unless we are in a sealed place such as this!" Alexandros quickly looked for a sign of understanding that Eladreas gave immediately.
Eladreas still didn't quite know the significance of the dragon's kin, but he knew he would be a dead man should he refuse the orders of the emperor himself. "I vow to never reveal what has been discovered here today with anyone other than who is here now," Eladreas quickly affirmed that he would never reveal anything.
Vows held special significance in this world, whenever a vow was made, it formed a kind of contract with the gods, that if one would ever break their vows, there would be heavenly punishment. Alexandros smiled at Eladreas only to remove his seal from the room and left from the orphanage.
Saris was then picked up by the head priest where he then brought her to the mortuary in the bowels of the cathedral's basement. Eladreas followed behind the head priest holding the now sleeping Runaan.
In the mortuary, the head priest then cleansed and purified the body of Saris, and dressed her in burial garments. Gomo then cast a seal of holy magic upon Saris' body to allow her to rest in peace and allow her to be whisked along the path of reincarnation to another world.
Nobody knew if the seal allowed for those to be reincarnated to another life, but they did know that it prevented such people from turning into undead demons that could destroy almost anything in their wake, especially demons of those who were of Saris' presumed level.
The hear priest then opened an empty crypt door that was reserved for those of important statuses and even of royal lineage in the Crownsman Empire and laid Saris to rest.
The fact that Saris was receiving such a burial shocked Eladreas as he blurted out without thinking, "does she really deserve a service such as this?" After he said that, he immediately regretted it as he was slapped across the face by the head priest which subsequently woke Runaan up.
"Did you not hear the emperor? She was to receive a burial befitting a member of the royal family! You have no idea the repercussions of earning the ire of the royal family, let alone that of an ancient clan such as the dragon's kin." Father Gomo, suddenly became angrier and angrier at Eladreas for bringing him such trouble.
Father Gomo only began to quell his anger as he looked at Runaan, "poor child, you'll never know the love of your mother, but I feel you may already know she would give you the world if she could."
Father Gomo then grabbed Runaan out of Eladreas' arms and brought him out of the cathedral's catacombs back up towards the orphanage. "We will take the utmost care for you to grow up strong."