WROONG
William's mind fell into a trance as his consciousness slowly drifted into the pitch-black darkness.
'There's nothing to fear. I have experienced this before'. He comforted himself, recalling the past.
Minutes passed, but William remained adrift while meditating.
William slowly opened his eyes only to see the pitch-black darkness being enveloped by a white light. It did not make any sound or show any flashy movements; it just moved and covered the darkness.
FWOOSH
The white light covered the whole void in a few minutes, and cold began to spread from the white light that froze the void itself.
William observed the phenomenon calmly, gazing at the cold that was spreading through space.
'I can see it,' he muttered to himself while squinting his eyes.
There were little particles of blue light propagating through the cold wave.
William stretched out his hand and touched one of them. Immediately, as if it had a life of its own, the ice mana around William rushed towards him.
It then revolved around William's hand, just like the fire mana did earlier.
GIGGLE
William giggled at the ice mana, feeling tickled by its coldness.
'The cold doesn't hurt anymore!.' William exclaimed happily. He played with the ice mana for a while, poking them and trying to make them react.
But the ice mana did not sway or dance like the fire mana did; it just revolved around his palm like a moon revolving around its planet.
He stayed there until his consciousness was brought back to his body. He immediately opened his eyes and turned to Lyra.
Lyra was sitting near William, observing him. She was ready to go to his aid at a moment's notice.
"Sister!" William jumped on Lyra, tightly hugging her. He then started laughing with joy since he had completed his task way faster than he expected.
"William, did you see them?" Lyra asked, her eyes widening in astonishment as she couldn't believe the absurdity of her thought.
'He didn't, right? This is too fast! It was only 30 minutes!' She exclaimed inwardly.
"That's right, I can see them now!" William yelled in happiness with a grin plastered on his face, and his amethyst eyes shone in excitement.
"That's!" Lyra's eyes widened further after confirming her suspicion. Her hands trembled a little as she returned the hug.
"Congratulations, little brother." She muttered with genuine happiness blooming from her heart.
William giggled at her response. The siblings hugged for a few moments before William stepped away.
William then walked towards the ice pillar and stood in front of it and willed himself to see the ice mana.
WHOOSH
The world slowly lost its color, with the only remaining one being blue. Tiny blue-colored particles flowed in and out of the ice, like people going in and out of a city.
William watched with curiosity, his eyes glued to the mana coming in and out of the ice pillar.
'Wait, mother said that heat is everywhere in this world. Then..' William wondered.
'I wish to see fire mana too,' he thought.
DING DONG
A church bell-like sound reverberated in his mind as he willed to see fire mana as well.
Slowly, the world clad in blue began to dye in red. It slowly spread in the blue world like a parasite crawling through its host.
The blue world fought back, emitting a cold wave and resisting the red's insurgence . A fierce clash of heat and cold took place in William's mind, wanting to dominate his world's view.
'What's happening?! Why are they fighting?' William panicked. He could not understand how two ways of looking at the world could fight in the first place.
On the outside, fire mana began to appear out of nowhere and attacked William's body from his right. It slowly burned off his skin but did not emit any sound, smell, or smoke.
'It hurts!' William screamed inwardly; his face scrunched up as he gritted his teeth in pain.
He wanted to call his sister and ask for her help, but before he could do that,
FWOOSH
The ice mana in the air attacked him from his left, seeping the cold into his bones and freezing them whole.
The fire mana and the ice mana met in the middle near his core and attacked each other in a mad frenzy.
The ice mana tried to freeze the heat, and the fire mana tried to burn the cold. The aftermath produced by the clash was directed towards his core.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH"
...…..
Lyra observed William practicing and smiled. 'It is still shocking to see him succeed in being able to see ice mana in half an hour'.
She then closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts and relax a little.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH"
Lyra forced open her eyes and looked at William; her eyes bulged to see him covered in fire and ice.
'W-What happened?' For the first time in her life, Lyra panicked.
She rushed towards William and held him in her arms. "William, what happened?" Her voice trembling in fright.
"AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH"
But William did not respond and screamed even more due to the pain caused by the mana's outburst. He fell unconscious as he couldn't bear the pain.
Her eyes widened even more when she saw what was happening in William's body.
She immediately used 'Glacier' and controlled the ice mana trying to enter his body; and redirected the ice mana to the oncoming fire mana, blocking its path.
The incoming mana stopped on both sides, but the mana that was already inside his body raged on with even more ferocity.
'Wh-What's happening? Why are they acting more aggressively?!' Lyra began to panic; her breath turned rugged, and her heart was thumping like it wanted to burst open.
'What should I do?' Lyra thought, tears were flowing down her trembling eyes as she looked at her brother. His little body was half frozen and half burned to the bones.
'AH!' Lyra exclaimed inwardly as a thought appeared in her mind.
'If only I paid attention..' she lamented, blaming herself.
She swiftly took out the pouch beside her, grabbed a star-shaped artifact and sent her mana into it, which made the artifact shine brightly.
"Lyra, is it already finished?" Ophiscus' voice came from the other side.
"FATHER, COME FAST! SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO WILLIAM!" Lyra screamed in desperation. Tears and snot covered her face as she clung to her brother.
She threw the artifact to the ground and started casting healing spells on William over and over again.
'Please, please, please.' She begged; she didn't know who she was pleading to, and it didn't matter. 'All that matters is for you to be alright', Lyra mumbled as her hand glowed in blue light, casting a healing spell on him.
CRACK
The space behind Lyra tore, and Ophiscus rushed from it. He turned towards her, only to see Lyra holding an unconscious and heavily injured William.
"WILLIAM!" he shouted. He immediately grabbed William's burnt hand with his, his eyes trembled as he gazed at his son.
'What happened!?' Ophiscus exclaimed, and his mind raced through the possibilities of finding the reason for William's current state.
He turned to his daughter, who was still casting a healing spell over and over again. "Lyra, what happened?!"
But she didn't answer; she kept on casting healing spells on him like a mad woman.
"LYRA!" Ophiscus yelled.
"HUH!" Lyra trembled, shocked to see his father beside her. But she didn't come to her senses. "Waah! Father, I am sorry. I am sorry….."
Like a broken record, Lyra kept on apologizing to her father, and tears and snot kept sliding down her face as she cried in despair.
Ophiscus understood that his daughter was having a mental breakdown. His heart ached to see his children in pain like that.
His eyes moistened thinking of how much pain William must have felt.
'I'm sorry, son. I am the worst father alive'. Ophiscus thought as a single tear slipped down from his eye.
He took a deep breath, gathering himself. He turned towards his daughter, who was still pleading while bawling her eyes out.
THWACK
Ophiscus chopped on Lyra's neck, making her unconscious. He then wrapped his mana around her, making her float.
He then carried William in his arms and walked into the space tear.
...…
The Spade mansion,
Ophiscus walked into his office through the space tear.
"SEBASTIAN!" Ophiscus roared immediately after entering his office. The space tear closed after the unconscious Lyra floated in.
Ophiscus' roar echoed throughout the Spade's mansion, and Sebastian, sensing his master's urgency, came running down.
'I hope it's not something about the otherworlders.' He remarked.
He swiftly opened Ophiscus' office, but was shocked to see Lyra floating in the air unconsciously.
'What happened? Did someone attack the young lady?' Sebastian thought, perplexed by Lyra's state. He turned towards his master, only to get the shock of his life.
His eyes trembled, his hands shook, and his heart began to thump madly as his gaze fell on William.
"W-What happened-d?" He muttered.
But Ophiscus wasn't in the mood to answer him. As he was about to order his butler to call a healer,
"Husband, What happened? Why are you shouting?" A voice came from behind Sebastian.
Aquila, Ara, and Carina were chatting with each other about their children when they heard Ophiscus shout.
'Something must have happened.' The trio concluded. They rushed to Ophiscus's office to see what was going on.
Ara, who entered after Sebastian looked at her husband with a frown, pondered what could have happened. She walked past him along with her sisters.
She then lowered her gaze down to look at what her husband was carrying.
"WILLIAM!"