Chapter 1053: A Hidden Side

The group kept going about their time however they wanted until the refuelling truck arrived. Since the truck needed most of the remaining hangar room to park next to the plane, the playing time for the younger ones was cut short, and the adults of the group herded them back into the plane so they wouldn’t get in the way.

It was a good thing, too, since the Major had also called out a maintenance crew to double- check over her inspection for good measure.

Even though she was confident in her eyes and skills, having an expert do a final check was always better.

Time flitted by much slower in the plane for the young ones who couldn’t run and splash themselves anymore. Instead, they started discussing their powers and the skills they used during the dungeon, trying to bounce ideas off each other.

Kary and Alex listened to the ruckus with a mix of curiosity, amazement, and bafflement. Some of these ideas they were throwing around were great on paper but sounded like too much of a hassle to apply with mana.

Then, some spell ideas were just outright crazy.

Jonathan suggested that Violette create a spell that caused a tsunami to rush in and drown everything around. He didn’t even consider if she had allies close, caring only about the rule of cool and little about collateral damage or casualties.

Violette only considered his idea for a few seconds, her mind a little more focused on things that could be done without killing her nearby allies. But it wasn’t to say she didn’t keep the idea in mind for if she ever needed to fight alone.

She vowed to herself to practice when they had free time, generating massive amounts of water simultaneously.

Violette knew from inside New Eden that it was feasible, as she had done something similar once, during the siege of Bastion City. But what worked in New Eden didn’t necessarily work on this side of the veil.

The problem with spells on this side of the veil was often the same for everyone using magic at all-the scarcity of mana in the air.

Mages and sorcerers in New Eden were all taught to complement their casting with ambient mana in their training to boost the effect of any spell cast. This was nigh impossible on Earth, as the mana in the air was almost non-existent.

Some places had mana in the air, and it would make it easier, but it was still far from enough to cast something on the scale of a tidal wave. She would need training, and for the mana in the air to grow exponentially before that was an option.

‘Maybe someday,’ she mused, thinking about a day when Earth was bountiful with mana.

Of course, that came with the risk of monsters in their ecosystems. But Violette wasn’t afraid of those.

She barely considered the people who didn’t become stronger with mana, as those people would either be in shelters, protected by those who could, or long dead.

Thinking about how a large population of the world might be dead in a few years made a shiver run down Violette’s spine, but not at the thought of death. She realized how close they were to a possible extinction, and her only thought was toward how many would survive.

She quickly shook the thoughts away, focusing back on Jonathan, Winston, and Cory’s rambling on spell ideas, plastering a smile on her face. Violette had done this act often, and her smile barely felt practised anymore, fooling most of those close to her.

But Kary and Alex weren’t fooled, and neither were the other ones who had been through painful lives. Killian, in particular, was well in tune with fake smiles and practised joy.

He walked over to Violette, trying not to interrupt the others as they kept talking, and whispered in her ear.

“I looked up your family, and feel like we might be more alike than we thought. If you ever need to talk, I’ll gladly listen, little princess,” he said, giving her shoulder a light, comforting squeeze.

Violette looked at him, her eyes widening for a second before returning to her smiling facade. “I’m okay. Just a stray thought,” she replied, hiding her astonishment.

She had surmised Killian came from a strange family background from the talks when he had come onto the plane. But the thought that he came from a broken family like hers never even brushed her mind.

She wouldn’t wish for anyone to come from such a background, as her mind sometimes relived the nights of her father and mother screaming at each other while tears flowed down her little cheeks.

Of course, Killian’s upbringing wasn’t quite the same as hers, as he only ever had one parent, and his father remained a mystery. He had never met the man, or at least not to his knowledge.

But with the hellish training that the Merlineans put their children through, nights with tear- filled eyes were just as familiar to him as they were to Violette.

“Don’t hesitate if you do, little princess. I’ll always be an ear for your woes,” he said, knowing she didn’t want to talk about it yet.

Alex watched the interaction with curiosity from his seat. He had thought Killian to be many things, but a doting man wasn’t one of them.

At thirty-two years old, we had assumed Killian was either too busy for children or had never had an interest in them. To see him treat Violette like a loving father was never even in his

thoughts.

Violette nodded back to Killian, her smile a little more genuine as she felt she was surrounded by people who cared for her, which warmed her heart. But with how her family had been recently, changes had already started happening.

Her father stopped drinking, making sure he was home as often as he could, and that was already a massive change. He was still distant with her most times, but at least he was now back to being present in her life, and that was as much as she could ask for.

With the arguments between him and her mother ending, her nights were finally restful, and her eyes were no longer constantly filled with tears.

She shut down the stray thoughts from her mind once again and went back to enjoying their spell ideas, if only as an act to convince herself everything would be okay.

Killian returned to his seat across the walkway from Alex and Kary and sat down, grabbing his tablet as he focused on his earlier things.

Flipping incessantly through news pages and blogs, Killian tried to get a feel of the worldly climate and the changes happening. It was part of his training to become a Merlinean to stay appraised of the news worldwide, and he had become mechanical in those duties.

Alex lightly nudged him on the shoulder, catching his attention.

“I’m busy,” Killian replied.

“Yeah, busy being a noble knight or some shit,” Alex mocked.

Killian lifted his gaze off the tablet, looking at Violette for a second before turning his head

toward Alex.

“Trying to help a child who is going through shit isn’t knightly. It’s the only right thing to do,” he admonished.

But Alex was only yanking his chain.

“I know. Just teasing you. I am curious about what prompted that attitude, though. I thought that since you came from a wealthy family and had no siblings, your upbringing would have at

least been peaceful.

“Sure, the fact that you are part of a cult to Merlin is a bit of a wrench in those thoughts, but I assumed the training wouldn’t be too harsh on children. Was I wrong to assume so?”

Killian glared at him.

“Assumptions are the enemy of fact, Alexander. Merlinean teachings beat that into us at a very young age; no pun intended. The training isn’t harsh, if you make no mistake. But that

wasn’t my case,” he explained, putting his tablet down.

His gaze wandered to Winston, and he sighed heavily.

“I somewhat resent that Winston was the only one ever to escape the traditional ways, since his body was too frail to go through them. I heard through the grapevine that Merlin once ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

asked to be put into the boy in hopes of strengthening his body.

“But the idea was shot down by my brother with such intensity that Merlin was forced to back down. It was a first in centuries of history that a straight descendant was denied his succession because of a rebuttal to Merlin’s will,” Killian explained.

Alex’s attention instantly became razor sharp as he started getting bribes of information on

Killian’s past.

But Killian wasn’t about to delve too deep into the matter. “Regardless, you shouldn’t assume people had peachy lives simply because they came from old wealth. The difference between the rich and the poor isn’t the degree of happiness, Alexander. It is the ease with which they hide their pain.

“Money may not buy happiness, but it buys the next best thing,” he said, his gaze becoming

distant.

“And what is that?” Alex asked curiously.

“A working smokescreen,” Killian replied.

Alex frowned at the answer, unsure how money could buy a smokescreen. Sure, money could

buy you whatever, but something as intangible as a smokescreen?

That made little sense to him.

Killian could see the cogs turning inside Alexander’s mind and smirked. He picked his tablet

back up and ignored the confused man, focusing back on catching up on worldwide news.

In the meantime, Alex tried to understand what Killian meant, but kept falling flat. ‘The hell does that mean, a working smokescreen? That makes no sense…’