Chapter 103: Aiden’s True Identity Exposed
"Heh, what do you want to know?" Aiden asked with a smile on his face, and as of now they had walked a bit further to sit underneath the tree.
"For a start, I know you’re from Dragonhold, but why are you here in Xathia? Why leave the Kingdom’s capital?" Laela asked, rather curious as to how his life got to this point.
"I wanted to be able to lead my own life," Aiden said, shrugging afterwards. "In Dragonhold, I was absolutely nothing."
"You’re not worried you left people who matter behind? Family? A lover? Even companions?" Laela carried on with another question.
Aiden laughed for a brief moment and replied back, "My father has no use for me. Although I admit, I miss my step sister Lysandra, and my friend Grandal. They both looked out for me a lot. My step brother Lucas, on the other hand, is the definition of an arse..."
Laela chuckled at the last statement and Aiden laughed too, then added "and for lover, I’ve never had one till you."
Laela went red instantly and tried to turn her smiling face away.
"Well enough about me, what about you, Lae? How did you turn out to be the only elf in Rivendale with a human father?" Aiden said with a smile on his face, interested in knowing more about her too.
She then replied, "Truth be told, I don’t know of my true parents. The only parent I’ve ever known has been my father in Rivendale. He said that one day seventeen years ago, he opened his doors and saw a little baby elf placed in a basket, and that turned out to be me."
"I guess we both have parents that have no use for us," Aiden laughed out loud and so did she as well before she leaned into his arms.
Meanwhile, at Ravens Grave Balcony was Arianna, who stood and watched the Oak Tree from a distance.
Earlier, she had watched them both from that balcony as they walked towards the tree, up until sights of them had dimmed due to being under the tree.
"Arianna, what are you doing?’ she asked herself, slapping her palm on her forehead before deciding to walk back into the guild.
The rest of the night passed as normally as it should have.
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Lord Oberon and his envoy had ridden the whole night back to Xathia. On the way back, he had not only told Thamoryn of what had transpired inside the throne room of the King but also how he had finally remembered why Aiden’s face had always been familiar to him.
Coupled with the fact that the Grand Magus had also told him of her findings a few days back, when she discovered Aiden was originally from Dragonhold, it simply could not have been a coincidence. Aiden was Jarius’s bastard.
As of the early hours of the morning, Oberon and his envoy had arrived back in the main city.
Servants were sent to each guild wing in the early hours of that morning to summon the guild captains to the throne room.
The servant who went to Ravens Grave, however, had summoned not just the Captain, Katherine, but also Aiden.
It came as a surprise, and the entire guild wondered why the Lord would not just summon the Captain but also Aiden.
Kayden especially didn’t look happy about it, because to him it felt like Aiden had probably done something worth recognizing in the eyes of his father, which is why he was being summoned.
Together, both the captain and Aiden went ahead to the palace.
Now everyone was gathered within the palace, and at first Lord Oberon stared at Aiden for several long moments that it became very much noticeable.
Oberon didn’t care that it was obvious. He had continuous flashes of the face of the little boy from that day, and Aiden’s current face fit the memory perfectly.
Then he looked away and stood from his throne seat to address the captains who had gathered before him.
He began, "Cithron, Lord of Zahka, is dead."
The Captains had a shocked expression on their faces, and some of them had turned towards Katherine almost immediately.
She stood there like she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Lord Cithron was her uncle.
"How did he die?" Katherine asked in a low and somber tone.
"He was killed by King Jarius..." Oberon said, then turned his gaze towards Aiden, "Your father."
The captains looked at Aiden with instant surprise on their faces, even Katherine quickly turned towards him with the same reaction.
Aiden was entirely dumbfounded and couldn’t even believe what was going on right now. Even if he was going to be revealed as the son of Jarius someday, at least not like this.
Oberon smiled as he walked closer and said, "Bastard of Jarius, you’re going to tell me what it is exactly you’re doing in my Kingdom, and after that..." he then turned towards Thamoryn at this point and said, "you will use that mind invasion spell on him and find out the full extent of the truth behind his arrival here."
Thamoryn bowed slightly in acknowledgment of the order.
Oberon once again turned back to Aiden, and a devious grin appeared on his face when he said, "I hope the gods are on your side because if I discover that you’re by even the slightest chance an infiltrator being used by Jarius, I will have you executed right in this place."
The captains were somewhat still in amazement at everything they heard about Aiden.
Then Oberon took some steps back and gestured towards Aiden, "Now give me an answer, why are you in my Kingdom?"
Aiden stared back at Oberon and replied, "Because I ran away from Dragonhold."
"Why?" The straight question came from the Lord.
"Perhaps in Xathia, a bastard may be treated fairly, but in Dragonhold, a bastard, especially one belonging to the King is no more than a palace servant," Aiden replied with no expressions on his face, even though he knew he was in a dire situation.
"I refuse to believe these claims. Surely Jarius would have realized how strong your magic is. No King will ignore that potential merely because it is of a bastard," Oberon argued back with both arms folded.
"Your Lordship, it is as I have said, and nothing more. I carry no motive in favour of Dragonhold," Aiden replied.
Then Oberon looked at Thamoryn and nodded. This was the go ahead to use the psyche reveal spell on Aiden.
Aiden heard when the Lord had told Thamoryn she would use a mind invasion spell, and for a second that became a bother.
If there was anything he wanted to keep under wraps, it was about the Dragon King System.
He was certain that information regarding that would make things far too complicated.
Additionally, his life prior to the system was just as complicated. How could he possibly explain how he went from being barely able to make a spark of flames to releasing them in such large torrents, coupled with casting multiple magic spells?
Whichever way he looked at it, this psyche reveal was not a good idea.
That was when the system came to his rescue with a reply.
[The Host is advised not to worry. No existence, not even deities are able to read the minds or scry into the events of the Dragon King and his hosts]
"I never knew this," Aiden replied back with his thoughts.
[Thyrak’s consciousness lives within every host, equating the host to that of a Great Existence. It is impossible for lesser creatures to peer into the mind of a great existence]
However, a new worry just came into Aiden’s mind. It was good that the secrets of his past and the dragon king system would be protected, but that would also lead to a different type of complication.
For if the Lord was unable to get any information out of him, then there was a high chance that he would order his execution still.
Being the son of Lord Oberon’s number one enemy and having a protection over his mind. Yeah, that was most certainly going to be an execution on the most believed assumption that he was truly an infiltrator.
"Perhaps I should flee from here. With void step I’d be able to leave this room this instant," Aiden thought to himself. But then he thought about Laela.
The pretty elf who made his heart beat. If he decided to flee from Xathia, that would mean saying bye to her, and worse off, without an explanation or even getting to see her one more time.
At this point Thamoryn had drawn the magic circle required to cast the god level spell completely.
Then she turned towards Aiden and said, "Move into the circle."
"Fuckin hell!," Aiden exclaimed within himself. He hadn’t devised a proper plan to escape his predicament yet.
But he had no other choice than to do as he was told right now.
He took two steps to the side and stood within the magic circle, then Thamoryn said in a low tone to him, "I would hate to see someone of your potential turn into a waste."
Everyone else watched with eagerness and anticipation.
Then the Grand Magus cast the spell, "Psyche Reveal."
Her eyes took a glow, and so did Aiden’s at the same time.