Valerian, The Legendary

241 Happy Birthday.

Valerian looked calmly at the man struggling to breathe on the ground in front of him. Fragrantia said, “Val, enough.”

The boy cast her a gaze and his indifferent expression softened a bit as he cast a healing spell on Libra. He turned around and walked towards Fortuna with a calm pace as he said, “You want to know why I did not ask my beast companion to apologize to you, right? Well, here is the reason.”

He nodded to Fortuna and the tigress rushed towards an empty space then her body glowed with a gentle light and her figure morphed into that of a dragon. A silver dragon that looked like grand work of jewelry. The eyes of the four people almost fell out. They never expected Fortuna to turn into the form of a dragon.

Although Azula was also aware of her truth, even she did not expect her to be so glorious. This was something so shocking that the people all were shocked and silent. Valerian replied, “This is Fortuna, the queen of dragons.”

Fortuna snorted and a gentle gust set off in the area. Valerian stood in front of Libra and asked, “Do you think she must apologize for her action earlier?”

The emperor shook his head and the Empress said, “Since it has come to your knowledge then allow me to tell you all that Valerian is not completely unrelated to me, he is my nephew. Son of my sister, Flos Divinus. His father was called the Gentle Mage, Divinus Magnus. That is all I know about him.”

Valerian stood in front of the whole family with a silver dragon behind him. The boy had a calm face, but his eyes were flickering, none of them knew what he was thinking about. Fragrantia looked at him and then with a faint smile she walked over to his side and said, “Your cousin is blessed with the skills to use all seven elements, however, he paid the price with his ability to speak and then to cry.”

She was standing one meter away from him and with a smile, she said, “No matter what problems you have to face, no matter what happens. You are my fourth child, my youngest and most beloved one.”

Then she embraced Valerian, who was thinking about how the situation will change in the family if they all knew his truth. It was an obvious thought to have at the moment, after all, a dragon was seen as an asset that could change the face of the world if used correctly.

.....

Libra said, “I do not wish for Your Majesty to be worried, your secret is safe with us. Lumen does not seek to exploit you.”

Fortuna nodded and her ethereal voice sounded, “I appreciate your honesty, Emperor Libra, however, you cannot exploit me even if you wish to. If you tried to betray me or Valerian, then the result will be much more severe than death.”

Dragons were known for their haughty temper, and they looked down on humans. Valerian looked at the faces of his cousins in distance and said, “Fortuna, you turn back to any other form, and turn down those walls.”

Fortuna nodded and turned back into a silver tigress before taking down the stone walls. Vertex looked at his father, who walked away after bowing to Fortuna in greeting, and asked, “Valerian, how did you take down my father in one blow?”

Valerian raised his right hand and a few elemental runes appeared floating over his palm. Then he raised his left hand and a few wisps of battle aura appeared squirming over his palm. He said, “When you can assimilate the two gifts together, that is when the true power of a battlemage comes out.”

Vertex was surprised and then asked, “This is possible?”

Valerian nodded and said, “You will need to focus on how to merge them. The process is very dangerous and can leave you with injuries and wounds.”

Vertex nodded and said, “I will try to learn it in the coming few months. Also, big brother, it is about time you get back to your training. We have things to deal with.”

Valerian did not ask what those things were, and he began to train Ignis, as the rest of the people left the place.

...

Azula and Fragrantia sat in the Empress’s study when the princess said, “To think Fortuna will be that intimidating.”

The empress shook her head and said, “You have no idea what she is capable of. Her innate skill is shape-shifting, as for her innate dragon magic attribute, I have no idea what it might be.”

Azula shook her head and said, “It is not for us to think about it. I am still surprised this brat managed to form a magical bond with a dragon.”

Fragrantia nodded in a daze but did not say much. Azula found her lost in thought and did not disturb her. A few minutes later, the empress said, “I will leave the arrangements for the banquet tomorrow for you to handle. I need to talk to your father for a bit. He might be down after the battle.”

Azula nodded and then she left the study to deal with the person, while Fragrantia made her way to the Emperor’s study. She found Libra sitting blankly on his chair with the documents spread over his table. She did not have to knock on the door or have the guard announce her arrival. At least for the day, she hopped over all the protocols.

She came and sat in front of him. She smiled and asked, “Thinking of the last blow?”

Libra woke up from his stupor and with a bitter smile, he nodded as he said, “This blow is very similar to what I received from that old man Fallax a few years ago.”

Fortuna nodded and said, “Indeed, Valerian learned his trick to mixing mana and Battleaura.”

Libra nodded, “Mana seeped inside the body of a warrior is poison, if he had not cast the healing spell, I would have passed out for sure.”

Fragrantia nodded and said, “It is fine, you are strong in your own right, and the books have always taught us, that the younger generation will leave the older generation behind. So, do not worry about all this.”

Libra nodded and asked, “What is going on with the preparation? Have you invited anyone?”

Fragrantia nodded and said, “I have, I wanted us to use this gathering to reach some sort of alliance. Valerian can do it. We do not have to worry about Sapientia, but Centaur will be sending in the prime minister herself. She is someone I have never dealt with.”

Libra nodded and said, “It is fine, you can deal with her. I need to discuss something with Alm.”

Fragrantia nodded, and then two people left to attend to their different tasks. The preparations were all in high gear, and the people in the palace were moving stealthily.

...

Ignis looked at Valerian with a bitter look and the boy nodded. He said, “Finally you got one thing right.”

The eldest prince heaved a sigh of relief and then he knelt on the ground as exhaustion washed over him. His legs were on fire, however, he was able to move very quickly. He had only taken three steps but in these three steps, he covered twenty meters.

Valerian said, “Recall this feeling as much as you can and we will try again tomorrow.”

Ignis sprawled on the ground and Valerian shook his head. He looked at the sky and found that the two moons were shining brightly over his head. He scooped up the prince in his arms and then he took the guy to his room. He had told Adele to get some herbs prepared and dropped Ignis in the medicinal bath.

He was about to leave when Adele said, “Val.”

Her voice was very soft and gentle.

The prince turned around and the young lady walked over to him and embraced him in her arms. Valerian was left surprised, and Adele said, “I never had a younger brother, so you are the younger brother that I have found, and I wish you stay the same.”

Valerian was surprised and asked, “Sister-in-law, is everything alright? What happened?”

Adele broke the embrace and said, “Come with me.”

She held his hand and led him through the palace. Valerian felt that for some reason the palace was lit dimmer than usual. He was surprised and asked, “What is happening here, why is the palace so dim?”

Adele smiled but she did not say anything. Soon, the two arrived in a dark place. Valerian reacted and a blob of light appeared above him. Then slowly, more and more blobs of light appeared and the picture became clear.

He was surprised when he found a lot of smiling faces surrounding him and they all said, “Happy birthday, Your Highness Valerian.”