They were both small and scrawny, but more differences between them had now become evident. The skin of the one on the left had become a dark shade of grey to the point that it was hard to spot his features.
Only his eyes were clear. Eyes filled with fear, pain, and sadness.
The one on the right, instead, had pink skin and a cold stare. Whenever he looked around, he seemed to gauge his enemies. Whenever he moved, the blue flame followed him.
‘Flames aside, the one on the right is Lith.’ Raaz sighed in relief. ‘I’ll never forget his glare or how confident he was even from a young age. Whoever the other one is, he can’t be my son.
‘No matter what life threw at him, Lith has never been scared. I’ve seen him sad and hurting, but even then, there was strength in his eyes. I’ve never seen him desperate or broken. Who is he and why is Leegaain showing him to me?’
Time shifted, moving faster for the boy on the left and making him grow older while the one on the right remained a boy. Raaz flinched and almost turned his head more than once when he finally understood what was happening to the child on the left.
‘By the gods! The blackness wasn’t just shadows. It was bruises that instead of healing and disappearing turned into indelible marks. Who can be so cruel to a child?’
Grey had already turned into pitch black and the eyes of the now teen boy were dull and lifeless. The pupil was gone, leaving only white holes on his face. Tears as thick and pristine as milk streamed down his face as he hugged his knees, crying.
The vision had no sound, but Raaz could see the small and scrawny body quivering with each sob. Raaz felt pity for the boy and thanked the gods for sparing his children from suffering such a cruel fate.
He had yet to finish his prayer that something happened.
The boy on the left stood up, the pain was still there but despair was being replaced by anger. Teeth turned into fangs, nails into claws, and a blue flame crept through the blackness of his skin.
Once the metamorphosis was complete, it was impossible to miss that despite their different size, the eyes of the two boys were the same. Cold, indifferent, cruel.
Raaz feared that the two might become one, that all of his fears might come true but as time kept moving forward, he was proven wrong time and time again.
The boy on the left grew into something less than a man, developing bestial features as the blue flames burned higher. Raaz witnessed the moment when Lith had found Solus’ stone and the blue flames subsided as his eyes became kinder.
Raaz watched Lith take care of the young and ill Tista, holding her to his chest gently and the flames subsided even more.
The man on the left, now a monster, had blood dripping from his hands and the crimson line dripping from his face was the only clue to where his mouth was. Everything else was a black slate.
His eyes now expressed only cold indifference, it was impossible to say if he was happy or angry. Even the flames were gone, making the blackness of his body stand out even more in the white background
As for Lith, he was now wearing his White Griffon academy uniform. He still looked around with his usual glare and the blue flames enveloped him, but they were barely visible from under his clothes.
Time flashed forward again, projecting in Raaz’s eyes images that were different yet disturbingly similar. In his right eye, there was Lith on the final night of Balkor’s attack.
He was hugging the massive figure of Protector’s dying body, clinging hard to him as if Lith was trying to keep life from abandoning his friend. Even though Lith had no wings back then, he saw something feathered unfurl from his back.
It wrapped around Protector’s body as Lith poured his life inside the Skoll to perform a miracle.
In Raaz’s left eye, the black monster was hugging a broken human body. The corpse was resting on some kind of metal table and even from the faint details of the vision it was clear there was nothing that could be done.
In the background, a handsome youth wearing lavish clothes scoffed at the scene, finding it hilarious.
The monster emitted a silent howl, revealing white rows of fangs. He cried from the depths of his heart, showing that there was more than cruelty inside of him. At least until two membranous wings erupted from his back, enveloping him like a cocoon.
The blue flames returned, burning higher and higher until the shell opened. The monster was no more and the wings were now attached to a dying beast. There were no wounds visible, yet Raaz could tell by how it dragged its feet that its end was near.
The blue flames were the only thing keeping it alive, the hatred burning everything that was left of the human child for the sake of revenge.
While Lith grew older and stronger, the beast grew weaker and more tired. The blue flames that seemed to have plagued Lith from birth dwindled as he met Yurial and the others, became a Ranger, and then met Faluel.
Those of the beast became higher and more violent as its life neared the end. Raaz witnessed an absurd fight, the beast pouring what was left of its strength against the noble youth while he was riding a weird chariot that reminded Raaz of the DoLorean.
The beast was as swift as merciless, dragging the youth into its cave before playing cat and mouse. The beast took its time, mangling and ripping through the youth’s body until it was identical to the corpse on the table.
Satisfied, the beast ceased its struggle. It lay on a side, smiling with a joy that dazzled and saddened Raaz at the same time. Despite the beast’s cruel actions, Raaz was happy for it because he knew that it was no beast, it was a small boy.
Raaz was dazzled by the smile because it was the first time since the vision had started that he had seen the boy happy, yet he was also saddened because that first smile was also his last.
The blue fire engulfed the beast and died with it. At the same time, Raaz could see in his right eye Lith marrying Kamila, killing Jormun, and then holding his baby just like he was doing in the real world.
The blue flame was gone and Lith was at peace. Raaz felt with clarity that whatever it was, it wouldn’t trouble his son any longer. Then, the corpse of the dead beast turned into a shining sphere that darted toward the sky, the blue flames igniting once again.
The vision from the left and the right eye merged into one and so did the figures in them. Lith was still wearing his Supreme Magus white and golden robe while holding Elysia, but the shadow he cast was not his own.
