Tale of a Hedonistic wizard

Chapter 369 A Cosmic Shift

The hall fell silent once more as the implications of this statement sank in. Yasmine had been keeper of this secret for decades, perhaps even longer.

"But why keep it a secret?" Someone from the back of the hall called out. "Why hide Angelina's daughter from us?"

Yasmine sighed, the weight of years of secrecy evident in her posture. "The reasons are complex, and many of them are not mine to share. What I can tell you is that Angelina's decision to keep Augusta's existence a secret was born out of love and a desire to protect. Both her daughter and the Spire."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd as the witches processed this information. The idea that their revered leader had been carrying such a weighty secret for so long was difficult to comprehend.

Yasmine looked at the all the ones present in the hall, and she thought for a moment and said, "I think you all deserved to know the truth."

Then she started explaining the past of Angelina Blackwood, their Matriarch.

***

While the witches in the grand hall grappled with the recent revelations and discussed their next steps, Angelina and Jaegar found themselves in the quiet sanctuary of the medical hall.

Jaegar sat on one of the beds, his body still recovering from the magical assault he had endured. A herbal potion for his internal injuries sat half-finished beside him. He had been fortunate; any later, and the damage could have been severe.

Angelina stood by the window, her silhouette framed by the soft light filtering through. The hall was located on the top floors of the spire, giving them a view of the whole city below.

The weight of years and secrets seemed to hang heavily on her shoulders. Jaegar watched her, his mind swirling with questions.

Finally, he broke the silence. "Master?" he began, then hesitated. "Ah- I don't know what I should call you now. What was that about in the hall? I thought you just treated my mother as your daughter. I think I deserve to know the truth."

Angelina sighed deeply, turning from the window to face her grandson. Her eyes, usually sharp and focused, now held a mixture of sadness and resolve. "It's a long story, Jaegar. One that begins long before you were born."

She moved to sit in a chair near Jaegar's bed, gathering her thoughts before she began her tale.

"It all started when I was sixteen," Angelina began, her voice soft with remembrance. "At that time, I still hadn't discovered my powers. My parents had arranged my marriage to someone in our village, as was the custom then."

Jaegar listened intently, trying to imagine Angelina as a young woman, before she became the powerful witch he knew.

"After the marriage, I gave birth to a girl—Augusta, your mother." A small smile played on Angelina's lips at the memory. "It was right after Augusta's birth that I started developing my powers."

"You weren't the only one to be born, bringing the colours to the sky."

Deducing her words, his mind quickly thought back to the relevation about his birth. Then he said, "You mean, like my birth?"

Angelina paused, her eyes taking on a distant look, as if seeing a distant horizon. "But Jaegar, there's something more about Augusta's birth. Something I didn't understand at the time, but which changed everything."

Jaegar leaned forward, intrigued. "What do you mean?"

"At the very moment Augusta was born," Angelina began, her voice lowering as if sharing a great secret, "there was a cosmic shift in our world. It was as if her very existence brought about a great change in the balance of magic and reality itself."

Jaegar's eyes widened. "A cosmic shift? How is that possible?"

Angelina shook her head, a wry smile on her lips. "I didn't understand it then. How could I? I was just a village girl who had given birth. But later, when I joined the spire, I learnt more about magic and the deeper mysteries of our world, and I began to piece it together."

She stood, pacing slowly as she continued her tale. "We learnt much later, that Augusta's birth was of great importance. She was a child born for a greater destiny, one that would reshape the very fabric of our magical world."

Jaegar listened, transfixed. This was far beyond anything he had imagined about his mother's origins.

"You see, Jaegar," Angelina said, turning to face him, "Augusta was the reason I developed powers in the first place. The chaos power she carried—this cosmic shift—influenced me in ways I couldn't comprehend at the time. I received a great amount of magic from it, almost as if the universe itself was preparing me to protect her."

Her expression darkened as she continued. "Word spread quickly through the village and reached the lord governing the land. But what should have been a wondrous discovery turned into a nightmare."

Angelina's hands clenched in her lap. "The village was raided by witch hunters. They were still active in those days. The lord, feeling that a peasant shouldn't have powers, hired them to... deal with me."

"I somehow knew that they were more at play at that time. They definitely came for me and my daughter."

Jaegar's eyes widened in horror as he began to understand the gravity of what had happened.

"When they came, I quickly gave the baby to my husband, telling them to run away. I couldn't think of anything at that time. I just knew that I had to protect them."

"They searched the whole village."

Angelina's voice wavered slightly. "Those witch hunters... they killed every woman and even children too, in the village. When they captured me, they dragged me to the Lord.

That's when the women from the Spire arrived. They killed the witch hunters and took me with them."

She paused, her eyes distant with the painful memories. "Watching with my own eyes, I was devastated to see what happened to the women of my village. I swore that I would take revenge against those responsible."