"Anomaly."
The word hung heavily in the air. Raymond's heart sank as the possibility he had desperately hoped was wrong was confirmed. His eyes drifted toward Leon before returning to his father.
"You know what it is?"
Arthur remained silent for several moments, his gaze fixed upon the crystal protruding from Leon's forehead. Finally he spoke.
"Only what I've heard."
Raymond frowned. "You mean those stories?"
Arthur nodded. "They are called Anomalies."
The room fell silent. As a child, Raymond had heard the stories countless times—strange individuals whose awakenings did not follow the conventional paths. Neither warrior nor mage. Something else. Something unknown.
"What exactly are they?" Raymond asked.
Arthur let out a slow breath. "I don't know."
The answer surprised him. "You don't know?"
"No." Arthur shook his head. "That's what makes them so troublesome." His eyes remained fixed on Leon. "No two stories are alike. Some speak of strange powers, others of unusual mutations, and a few describe abilities that seem to defy common sense altogether. Most accounts contradict one another."
Raymond's expression darkened. "So nobody knows?"
Arthur gave a humorless smile. "People fear what they don't understand."
The room grew quiet. After a moment he continued. "The Mage Association has spent centuries gathering information on such individuals, and their official stance is clear." Raymond already disliked where this was heading. Arthur's voice grew colder. "They consider Anomalies dangerous."
"Dangerous enough to hunt?"
"Dangerous enough that they offer rewards for reporting sightings."
Raymond cursed under his breath. He knew better than most how resourceful mages could be when they set their minds on something, and the thought of the Mage Association becoming involved made his stomach churn.
Arthur rubbed his temples. "This is the last thing we need." The city had barely survived the recent invasion. Thousands were dead, defenses needed rebuilding, supplies needed replenishing. Now this. "We cannot allow anyone outside this room to learn of Leon's condition."
Raymond immediately nodded. "I understand."
"We already have one enemy at our gates," Arthur said, his expression grim. "The last thing we need is another."
Suddenly a groan interrupted the conversation. Both men froze.
The figure on the bed shifted. Leon stirred, his eyelids fluttering, then slowly opening.
"Ah..." A pained groan escaped his lips. "My head..." He pressed a hand against his forehead. "It hurts."
Raymond moved to his side immediately. "Easy." Supporting him by the shoulder, he helped Leon sit upright against the headboard. Leon blinked several times, his vision blurry, his throat feeling as though he had swallowed sand.
"Water." His voice came out hoarse. "Give me water."
Arthur immediately poured a glass and handed it over. Leon practically snatched it and emptied the entire thing within seconds. Only then did some color return to his face.
"Better?" Raymond asked.
"A little."
Arthur studied him carefully. "How are you feeling, son?"
Leon frowned as fragments of memory returned. The city. The corpses. The panic. The visions. His eyes widened. "I saw something."
Arthur and Raymond exchanged glances. "What did you see?" Arthur asked.
Leon struggled to find the words. "There were creatures," he said, his voice slowly gaining strength. "Thousands of them. A wolf with silver fur. A serpent larger than a mountain. Birds whose wings covered the sky. There were so many—some looked like animals, others like nothing I've ever seen before." His eyes lit up slightly. "They were incredible. They felt..." He paused, searching for the right words. "Powerful. Not powerful like warriors." His eyes brightened. "Powerful like the mages from the legends."
Neither Arthur nor Raymond interrupted, both listening carefully and trying to commit every detail to memory.
After a moment Leon rubbed his forehead. A strange warmth lingered there. "That's odd."
Arthur immediately tensed. "What is?"
"My forehead." Leon frowned. "It feels warm." Instinctively he reached up, and his fingers brushed against something hard. He froze. "Huh?" His hand moved again. The object remained. His fingers explored the surface—smooth, hard, cold. He grabbed it and pulled. Nothing happened. He pulled harder. Still nothing.
His confusion rapidly transformed into alarm. "What?" Befuddled, he turned toward his father and brother, but the expressions on their faces only worsened his anxiety. A knot formed in his stomach.
"What happened?"
Neither spoke, and for the first time genuine fear crept into Leon's heart. Slowly he swung his legs off the bed.
"Leon—" Raymond reached out, but Leon ignored him.
There was a mirror standing against the far wall. He crossed the room as quickly as his unsteady legs allowed, then looked into it and froze.
For several seconds he simply stared as the reflection stared back. The first thing that drew his attention was his eyes—golden, not hazel, not brown, but a deep unnatural gold brighter than molten metal. The second thing was even more shocking. Between his brows rested a crystal no larger than a fingernail, its surface shimmering brilliantly as golden light flowed through it like molten metal trapped inside glass. The gem appeared impossibly beautiful. And impossibly wrong.
Leon slowly raised a trembling hand, and the reflection did the same. His fingers touched the crystal. It did not move. It felt less like an object attached to him and more like a part of him—like it had always belonged there.
"No..." The whisper escaped his lips. His breathing quickened. "What is this thing?" He touched it again. No matter how hard he pushed or pulled, the crystal remained firmly embedded between his brows, as though it had become part of his very existence.
"What happened to me?" The question came out as a whisper. No answer came, and his anxiety rose further. "What happened to me?" His voice was louder this time. Still neither Arthur nor Raymond spoke. Fear crept into his chest and he turned toward them. "What happened to me?!"
His voice reverberated throughout the room. Arthur and Raymond exchanged a glance, both knowing they could no longer avoid the conversation. Leon deserved answers.
Arthur stepped forward, and to Leon's surprise, instead of speaking immediately, his father pulled him into a hug—warm and gentle, the same kind he had received countless times as a child after a nightmare. For a moment Leon simply stood there frozen.
Then Arthur spoke. "Before I tell you anything, there is something you need to understand." His voice was calm, steady, warm. "You are my son. No matter what the world says. No matter what names people call you. No matter what stories they tell about you. That will never change." He pulled back slightly and looked directly into Leon's eyes. "You are my son, and I will always love you."
A hand landed on Leon's shoulder. Raymond. The older warrior gave him a reassuring squeeze that carried the same meaning as their father's words—you are family, and nothing changes that.
Leon felt his body tremble. The seriousness in their expressions frightened him more than any answer could, but still he nodded, preparing himself.
Arthur took a deep breath. "Leon." His voice was gentle. "You have awakened a power." The room fell silent as Leon stared at him. "A power that will likely change the course of your life. We don't yet know what it does. We don't even know why it happened. But I am certain that in time, you will discover the truth yourself."
For a moment Leon simply stared as the words registered.
A power. He had awakened a power.
The anxiety consuming him vanished instantly. Then excitement exploded within him—a power, an actual power. His heart began to pound. Ever since he was a child he had dreamed of this moment, dreamed of awakening something extraordinary, dreamed of wielding powers like the great mages from the stories. The legendary figures who could command storms, split mountains, and alter the course of wars with a single spell. The very people he had admired for as long as he could remember. Despite everything that had happened today, a smile began to form on his face. Wasn't this exactly what he had always wanted? Wasn't this the dream he had chased his entire life?
Then Arthur spoke again.
"Leon." Something in his father's tone made the smile falter. "You are what people call an Anomaly."
The smile disappeared. Leon froze, his heartbeat seeming to stop entirely.
Anomaly. The word echoed inside his mind. Being someone who had spent most of his life buried in books, he knew exactly what that word meant—or rather, he knew the stories. The warnings. The rumors. The fear attached to that name. Anomalies were things people whispered about in dark corners, the subjects of cautionary tales, the beings blamed whenever the unexplainable occurred. And worst of all, they were hated by the very people Leon had admired his entire life.
The mages.
The room suddenly felt colder as a bitter realization settled over him. He had spent years dreaming of becoming one of them. Yet now he had become the very thing they feared.