The next day was brutal.
Needless to say, the village guards didn't sit by idly after 4 of their men were murdered in the middle of the night. Even more so considering one of them was even brutally dismembered.
Starting their investigation immediately, they went around interrogating anyone who was capable of such an attack. Focusing on the people who bore grudges against those murdered.
Stuart of course, seemed an obvious suspect at first glance.
However, Saivas had no doubt he and his father would never even be considered.
The reasons were simple.
For Saivas, nobody that had seen him was alive to tell the tale. Even if they were, the idea that a toddler could kill 4 grown men was a ridiculous thought in the first place.
If somebody were to think of accusing him, they'd immediately become a laughing stock.
As for Stuart, that was even more simple.
All 4 of the victims were killed by stone magic, and it was common knowledge that Stuart could not cast a single spell.
Sure he could have been working with a mage, but Stuart was watched more closely than any other villager. If he managed to contact anyone unusual, they would have known.
That, and unbeknownst to to Saivas, his father was forced to wear a magical trinket. It's purpose was simply to inform the village guards if he ever approached their hq.
So, both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, they remained unbothered.
The real issue was with Jason and Saivas.
They had set their own innocence aside to create an opportunity for their father to provide food for the family. However, even if his assailants were now gone, they couldn't tell him.
This meant they had not only sacrificed their mental well-being, but for the time being, it was all for nothing!
'The plan was for dad to hunt after the baby was born, the plan-' Saivas kept chanting this in his head over and over again like a mantra, but it didn't do much to help him from feeling like everything he had done was useless.
Jason, while holding out better than Saivas, still wasn't unaffected. Sure, he had lost a lot of his humanity upon dying.
But murder and war crimes have a way of getting to you even still.
At least Jason didn't have to pretend everything was ok, allowing his existential crisis to go off without interruption.
Saivas on the other hand, had to repress with all his strength.
His only real reprieve was at night. Now that he had decided to practice magic after hours, he waited until his parents were asleep and headed to an isolated clearing in a field. He was going to explore the more dangerous types of magic for the first time.
However, unlike before, he was neglecting to bear his safety in mind.
Shortly after arriving, Jason erected a sound nullifying barrier.
It was a clear night, only slightly above room temperature. There was a light northward wind, as it was the end of spring. The evening was calm otherwise. Everyone was asleep, and the guards were busy searching for the perpetrator of the prior night's attacks.
Since they were searching the town and the forest. This left this clearing completely unbothered.
Saivas took a deep breath and what followed was brutal.
He was full of frustration, regret, animosity towards himself, and most of all, hatred of "God". All of this was vented into what might have otherwise been a beautiful display of magic power.
He didn't practice light and dark magic. Despite having many plants to practice light magic, and a bunch of disposable surroundings to practice dark magic, those things were slow.
He didn't need unremarkable marvels of magic now. He needed things to flash freeze. He needed destruction. He needed things to explode.
And explode they did.
Starting off, he gathered mana around himself as far out as he could. Since his mana was a shining red at this point, this amounted to about 50 ft.
Slowly the air around him became significantly more humid, leaving only a small path for himself. The moisture increased until at one point, he could almost swim through air. Once he was satisfied, he completely halted his mana. Locking the molecules in place.
The temperature immediately dropped sharply, causing the moisture around him to flash freeze.
Looking around, thick pillars of ice of varying sizes rose up, averaging about 15 ft. This created what looked like an ice forest, curling inwardly towards Saivas.
Satisfied with this result, he immediately closed his eyes. Sending out his mana, he began to feel for the ambient patterns of electrons. He had practiced this a few times at home, albeit sparingly, so after a few moments he managed to track it down.
Using his mana, he forcibly caused a fast flow of electrons from atom to atom. Aiming to arc to each of the peaks of the icicles.
The result was several snaking chains of lightning connecting to the ice. They were small at first, but by slowly expanding the affected area, Saivas ramped them up until they reached a destructive enough level to shatter the ice pillars.
This caused them to crumble and fall, leaving rubble and falling snow behind.
Finally, he looked to fire.
Circulating air near his fingers, he condensed it to create a small pocket of air, containing trace amounts of methane. After that, he willed the molecules around the area to thrash violently, generating a large amount heat. This ended up igniting the air, creating a flame.
Continuing to nurture the flame by feeding it oxygen, he sent it away about 30 feet.
While maintaining the flame, Saivas started condensing methane near his hands, compressing it to a large degree. Once the composition had reached about 15% methane, he condensed it until it became a liquid.
When he was happy with the size, he sent it flying toward the flame.
After the methane filled liquid hit the now blue flame, a large explosion ensued
*BOOM*
The night air shook violently, threatening to break the anti vibration field Jason was maintaining. Still, noticing it held. Saivas repeated the process.
Again
And again
And again
Each time the process took just a little bit shorter. And, not even 15 minutes later, he was surrounded by consecutive chain explosions.
*Boom*
*Boom*
*BOOM*
Saivas was recklessly firing off explosion after explosion. Each one seeming bigger than the last, devastating the landscape around him. They charred his clothes, coved his face with mud and soot, and sent strong gust of air flying past him. Still he continued.
He just wanted the world to feel the frustration and powerlessness he felt. Sure he was strong enough to kill the guards, but he wasn't strong enough to spare them.
Lamenting how he was too weak to protect his newfound innocence, the demolition of the area surrounding him continued with increasing fervor.
This went on for about 10 minutes.
The landscape was now in ruins.
What once was an open field, was now a series of large craters, with only one small untouched part of land at it's center. Saivas had been screaming like an unleashed beast, taking sanctuary in the feeling of power causing such destruction provided.
Until eventually, he got too low on mana and passed out before he ran out entirely.
If anyone had been around to see it, the sight would have left them speechless.
Savias was now in the middle of a crater about 15 ft deep with a radius of about 50 ft.
The air was charred black with smoke, putting a haze over the destruction that lay underneath. Directly outside of the crater, crops were knocked flat, blown over by the resulting shockwaves.
And at the center of it all, lay a young boy, no older than 3, completely unconscious.
He didn't know how long he had been out, all he knew was that when he awoke, he was in a stranger's house, with another child staring at him inquisitively.