A strange sound echoed in Maximus's head, making him frown. His mind felt clouded with confusion. The ringing in his ears was persistent, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
His right eye throbbed slightly had something hit his head? He wasn't sure. But what disturbed him more was the numbers floating above the two men standing before him.
An old man with gray eyes, dressed in fantasy-like robes unlike anything Maximus had ever seen, had a glowing +100 above his head. Meanwhile, a green-haired man beside him bore a +1000 in bright white text.
"What the hell is happening?" Maximus shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Maybe I got hit too hard... hallucinating? Either way, this wasn't the time to think about it.
The older man, his expression weary yet calm, let out a small sigh before speaking.
"What's your name, boy?" he asked, his voice gentle but firm.
His body trembled. His mind still stormed with emotion. The only words that came, screamed silently in his head, were:
"Leave us alone. Leave."
Headmaster Fledrock sighed softly, not in disappointment, but something older. Wearier.
Raising his hand from his cane, he slowly extended a single finger and pointed it toward Maximus. His lips moved.
A whisper. An incantation.
Mindstillous
Professor Endeved who had remained like a frozen storm at his sidebsuddenly stiffened, his body tensing like a bow drawn taut.
But he didn't stop it.
Instead, as he recognized the spell being cast, he let out a breath… and relaxed.
No danger.
Just… stillness.
The moment the spell touched him, Maximus felt it a wave of calm washing over his body, like warm mist after ice. His breathing steadied. His trembling slowed.
Even the pain in his right eye dulled into quiet numbness.
It was almost addictive.
The rage, fear, pain, confusion gone in a heartbeat.
Replaced with peace and calmness.
Fledrock lowered his hand, kneeling just slightly so his tired eyes could meet the boy's.
"Don't worry, kid," he said with a soft smile, one that curled his face into crescent moons.
"We won't hurt you. I swear, on every particle of mana I command I will not harm you."
His words weren't just a comfort to Maximus.
But
They were also a message.
One that drifted sideways to Endeved, who had been watching in silence. At the sound of the oath, Endeved's stiff posture finally eased.
He accepted it.
Maximus looked into the old man's eyes.
And for some reason, despite everything
the destruction, the fear, the unknown
He felt it.
Trust.
Just a flicker.
Just enough to breathe again.
His chest rose, then fell with a slow, shaky breath. And when he finally spoke, his voice was quiet but steady.
"My name"
Another breath. His eyes flicked between the two men. His right eye flinched again, but he ignored it.
"My name is Maximus."
The old man let out an exaggerated sigh like he'd been holding it for years. His eyes, though, didn't match the drama. They looked as if he had expected this answer all along.
But it was Professor Endeved who finally spoke, his voice no longer calm.
There was anxiety in it.
Urgency.
"Your full name~What's your full name?"
Maximus frowned.
The question offended him not because of what it was, but how it was asked.
Like he was supposed to know something forbidden.
He narrowed his eyes, lips pressed tightly, but didn't speak back.
He couldn't.
They were strong. Too strong.
One word out of place and he knew it could all turn sideways.
So instead, he turned his gaze downward
to the woman in his arms.
His mother.
She had stopped crying. Her tears had dried, but not the fear. Her eyes still shimmered with terror, wide and distant.
He looked at her for just a moment longer
and breathed out gently, relieved to see her breathing steady again.
Then he looked back up.
"We don't have surnames," he said simply.
"Or 'full names' or whatever you call that."
For a second, silence.
Then
"No. You do." Endeved's voice came sharp. Sudden.
Almost like a lash.
Maximus blinked. "Huh?"
Endeved looked like he wanted to explain.
His mouth opened but he paused. His green eyes flicked sideways toward Fledrock.
There was hesitation there. Conflict.
But before anything else could be said
his mother moved.
Suddenly, violently.
She sat up so fast she nearly knocked Maximus off balance.
Without speaking, she grabbed his arm, yanking him to his feet.
"Son, we have to run." Her voice cracked, wild with panic.
"These people these things they're not good people. We have to go. Now."
Her voice was trembling.
Not from anger. Not from pain.
But from the kind of fear that eats away at sanity.
The kind of fear that whispered: "If we stay... we die."
Max staggered with her pull, two steps toward the shattered door.
But then he stopped.
"Wait Mother, what's wrong?" He looked at her. Truly looked.
Her face was pale, eyes glassy, but her hand on his wrist was strong.
Desperate.
Fledrock took a step forward, his voice soft, trying to bridge the panic.
"Stop. Please. We mean you no harm." His cane tapped the floor lightly. "We only want to speak. We know who this boy is. We know… his origin "
"MAX!"
Her voice pierced the air like a blade.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! RUN!!"
Max flinched.
He stared at her not in shock, but heartbreak.
She was crying again. Not from sadness. This was something else.
Something deeper. Something worse than death.
"Mother…" he murmured, struggling to speak through the tightness in his chest.
"What origin?" he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.
But he saw it in her eyes the flinch. The look of someone caught too close to the truth.
He knew. He'd lived with her for sixteen years.
He could read her even when she said nothing.
She was hiding something. And it was tearing her apart.
"What are you doing…?" she sobbed, voice cracking. "Are you coming with me or not?!"
Maximus didn't move. He couldn't.
His body said yes but something inside said no.
"I… I don't think we could run. Even if we wanted to."
His words were quiet. Gentle.
The air shifted.
Even Fledrock said nothing.
Then Endeved His voice was low, but his words struck like thunder.
"You're not really her son."
Silence.
It fell so heavy the walls could have crumbled again and no one would've noticed.
Maximus turned his head slowly, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.
His mother didn't deny it.
She said nothing.
Just stopd there, silently sobbing. As if she'd always known this day would come.
Maximus's voice cracked with confused defiance.
"What are you talking about? She's my mother. I know that for sure. I've been with her my whole life!"
His words were pure.
Still clinging to that thread of innocent truth.
Fledrock's eyes softened with a sigh long, knowing, almost bitter.
"Believe me, child I wish it more than you do." His voice was gentle. Almost regretful. "If only you truly were her son."
Then, slowly, he turned toward the old woman toward the one Max had always called "Mother."
"Forgive this old man for speaking plainly," Fledrock continued, "but this woman by all sacred signs and ancient truths, remains untouched by man."
Max's eyes narrowed
Fledrock didn't hesitate. "A virgin still. I do not say this to cast doubt upon her love or devotion but to make it clear: you do not share her blood."
There was no shame in his face.
No mocking.
Just truth, laid bare.
Maximus blinked.
His brows furrowed, heart pounding. "I don't… understand. How does that make her not my mother?"
Endeved stepped forward, lips parting to speak
"No, boy. You might not know since you're still young. What I mean is"
"I SAID HOW DOES THAT MAKE HER NOT MY MOTHER?!"
The floor seemed to quake with his voice.
His right eye flared bright crimson red, glowing like embers beneath storm clouds.
Uncontrolled emotion surged through him like a wave.
Endeved's mouth moved quickly, whispering an incantation under his breath. A faint shimmer of magic passed unseen cooling Maximus's burning veins.
His body stilled.
His heartbeat slowed.
Even the pain behind his right eye began to fade.
A soft breath of chill passed through him, like winter calming a raging storm.
Fledrock only raised an eyebrow.
"My sincerest apologies, young wizard of the Golden Age Arcanum," he said with a light smile.
"I did not intend to hurt or offend. I wasn't aware you already knew."
"Wait you knew? But when? How?!" His mother's grip on his hand tightened suddenly, her body stiffening.
She looked up, horror dawning across her pale face.
"What are you talking about Mother?" He turned to her. "I was always your son. And I always will be."
He smiled at her, that crooked, innocent grin she knew too well.
And he knew.
Of course he knew.
She never spoke of his father.
Never had a lover.
No visitors. No letters. No name. Just him.
He had suspected for years.
She never confirmed it.
But she didn't need to.
Still, her sobs broke into a laugh.
"Of course you're mine, you idiot." She reached out and smacked him lovingly on the head.
"Ouch! What'd I do now?!"
"My idiot is growing up…" she sniffled through her smile, wiping tears from her cheeks. "Now you can marry and give me a beautiful daughter-in-law."
Max chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
"You're becoming mature, Max" She said it under her breath. Quiet.
So soft, even he couldn't hear it.
But Fledrock and Endeved did.
They both smiled.
Then
Endeved took a slow breath.
"Your real name and your parents… they"
"I don't want to know."
Maximus cut him off.
His voice wasn't loud.
It was calm.
Too calm.
"Please, and" he added, gently. "Let them remain as they are. I already have a mother. I don't need any others."
He looked straight at Endeved, eyes clear, steady. "If you meet them again… tell them I openly despise them. And that I never want them to contact me."
The words were sharp like steel wrapped in silk.
Cruel. Final.
But they came from a face still carrying the softness of youth.
Endeved flinched.
He took a step forward, eyes wide, breath catching like a snapped thread.
"But… they… how could you say that?! Do you even"
"Professor Endeved."
Fledrock's voice sliced through the tension.
Not loud. Not angry.
Just a look.
Endeved stopped.
Fledrock gave the faintest shake of his head. The kind that says not now.
The professor exhaled harshly, struggling to calm the chaos in his chest.
He tried again, gentler this time.
"I think you should at least know, boy"
But Maximus wasn't listening.
"I don't think I need any explanation."
His tone was quieter now but full of something far heavier. "I was discarded at birth. And honestly, I think that was for the best."
He turned to look at the woman beside him her hand still trembling in his.
"Because I found my real mother."
He turned back.
"Maybe my famed parents didn't want me. And if they didn't… I don't want them either."
His gaze locked with Endeved's. Unblinking.
"There's no point in searching for people I utterly hate."
For a moment, the room felt frozen.
Endeved stared into those mismatched eyes one ocean blue, one burning red and something inside him cracked.
"You say discarded?" He let out a laugh, bitter and boiling.
"You think you were discarded?"
His rage built fast, rising like a storm.
"Professor" Fledrock almost Yelled this time
Endeved clenched his fists, knuckles white beneath his sleeves.
His voice broke through clenched teeth.
"Whatever, kid. But you should at least know your real surname."
Fledrock's smile vanished.
His cane tapped the floor, once.
"Endeved you dare"
His voice turned cold. Icy.
A fury not raised often but when it came, it left scars.
Max raised his voice again, firm.
"I don't want it."
But Endeved ignored him.
The words dropped like thunder.
"Your name is Maximus Stormhart."
Silence.
Max froze.
Fledrock's face twisted with rage a moment ago suddenly softened.
His shoulders lowered.
He wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
A long sigh followed.
"At least…" he muttered under his breath, "…at least he still knows what's best for the boy."
Then, quieter: "It would've been a problem if he told him the rest"
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