#advent star chapter

Though something the boy couldn't understand was why he looked different from the other kids. More specially why did his eyes look different?

He knows he got his eyes from his dad. Then again, he looks exactly like his father with the only difference being that he was a 7 year old boy while his father was well, a full grown 30 year old man.

His father was a handsome man. Hair as black as a raven's feather, his hair too was spiky yet soft to the touch, long lashes, a delicate yet masculine completion, and a beauty mark faintly could be seen on his bottom lip.

Although his most notable feature was his eyes. They were as crimson as newly drawn blood with a small tint of violet. But the abnormal part of his eyes were that his scleras, they were a midnight black.

The boy too inherited those same eyes.

He doesn't however resemble his mother at all. Funny how genetics can be like that sometimes. Though to be fair, his mom also had black hair. And the boy also has black hair. Yet also the father does too. Black hair do be a dominant trait.

The woman also had silver grey eyes with a hint of orange in them. The boy believes his mom too had pretty eyes.

Other than that, she was a beautiful woman, she had smooth clear skin, fluttery long lashes, and lips red as a rose.

It didn't matter to the boy on who he looked more like, all that mattered to him was being with his loving parents.

He knew his mother was essentially a witch who helps others with her magic. And sometimes uses the medicinal herbs grown in their home to make potions for those who seek her help. He'd sometimes help his mother with those jobs and she was more than happy to teach her son.

Both her and her husband agreed to let their son learn more about magic from the both of them and let him choose if he'd like to pursue it or not.

As far as the boy knows, his father was an ordinary man who delved in alchemy and simple everyday magic use.

Though what the child didn't know was that his father had an affinity with dark arts. Both he and his wife agreed to not introduce their son to such magic at a young age since it could lead to terrible consequences when handled incorrectly. To an extent even the boy's own mother is selective and careful with what witchcraft magic her son could learn for similar reasons.

The boy was still getting a hang of magic. He did grasp the few witchcraft spells that his mother taught him but struggled to understand alchemy from his father. Which required a lot of knowing different chemical compounds and math that he wasn't familiar with yet.

He understood some of the basics and was still interested in learning, so his father took it upon himself to teach his son math that kids his age wouldn't be taught yet.

The child would understand alchemy better, but wasn't confident with his skills without his father double checking if he did everything correctly. Over time he would improve, just not as rapidly in comparison to his mother's witchcraft.

Life for him was blissful and always listened to his parents.

The little boy would never forget the words his father told him, "Remember little one, you can't let others see your eyes. Ah, well not just yet I mean"

"Why daddy?" The boy said as he was sitting on the stack of wheat bags they harvested earlier.

The raven haired man took a moment to figure out how to tell his son in a more understandable manner.

"Well... Let's just say that people aren't very nice to people who look too different from them. Though this doesn't mean you should feel ashamed for looking the way you do. Always be proud of yourself regardless of how you look. We just unfortunately need to blend in a little."

The boy looked at his dad's eyes, "Is that why you can change your eyes?"

The man softly laughed, "Yes this is why your old man goes from having red eyes to any color of the rainbow that he feels like having!"

The boy pouted, "I wanna be able to change my eyes like daddy can someday! It's hard using magic to do it!"

The raven haired father couldn't help but softly smile at his son, "Little one, don't worry. You'll get the hang of it, I believe you can do it." He said while he ruffled his son's soft spiky hair.

The boy couldn't help but grin.

Sometimes he didn't want his father to cast an illusion enchantment on him just so that people couldn't see how different his eyes were. But he knew that his dad was doing it to protect him. Sometimes he'd forget that his dad even put an enchantment on him.

Both his parents were outcasts for reasons they haven't told their son yet about, but they made sure to educate their son on being accepting and open minded of others who might be a bit different from what is deemed "normal". Which was a thought process their son will fully abide by.

Something that the boy had the most fun with his parents after a long day in the fields, was playing card games.

It vary from poker to black jack and other tcgs that they all would come across. His mom was very competitive in these card games. Saying that she must do it in order for her son to become more intelligent both intuitively and emotionally. For those two skills are rooted in accelerating in magic abilities.

In the beginning it was mostly a battle of whits between wife and husband but as time kept going, even their son started to catch up to them. Which resulted in close games where he'd almost win. He's only ever won a single game against both his parents.

The day the little boy won a game of poker, it was the happiest week for his parents.

They showered him in even more affection and have for once taken him out of the village to experience an amusement park that his parents went to on their first date 10 years ago.

It was a tad bit of an expense to do it, but they couldn't be happier to let their son experience a place they used to frequent on dates.

Since they use magic, the witch mother made a magic circle that would teleport them all to the amusement park. Which thankfully made it easier for the small family to save money on travel.

Many things were new to the boy when they arrived.

Sure he knew the concept of theme parks and amusement parks through what was on TV and in books, but they were always too expensive to go to. At least that's what the other kids at the village say. So he's never asked his parents to take him to one.

But now he fully understood why they're so fun.

The rides that he was allowed to go on were really fun to him. And they all varied. Some required him to pair up with his mom or dad, and some he got to go on all alone. With his parents still being able to see him of course. His parents always had a sort of clairvoyance when they monitor their child, and this was no exception.

The only rides he wasn't allowed on were the ones meant for older people. Though luckily his parents were able to explain to him why he couldn't ride those rides yet.

The boy finally experienced cotton candy for the first time and really enjoyed it.

Both his parents couldn't help but laugh seeing their son be a bit messy with eating cotton candy that some of it stuck to his small face.

There were a few brief times where someone would come up to the family to either hit on the husband or wife. It would either be when either of then had to go to the restroom or went to buy something.

Though it was something that hasn't happened to them in a long while, they would try to clear it up for strangers and politely decline their advances.

One instance left the boy confused yet peeved.

There was a group of teenage girls who mistook the family for a group of siblings!

"Are they dummies?! Mama and papa look like my mama and papa!" The boy pouted

"Now now my little witch, don't let it bother you that those girls thought we were all brothers and sisters. Sometimes people will make wrong assumptions about you and it's okay that it happened." His mom chuckled.

The father meanwhile carried his son into his arms to kiss him on the cheek, "Let's go buy some candy, little one. You can pick whatever you'd like before we leave."

The little boy puffed his cheeks out and hid his face in the crook of his father's neck.

"O-okay daddy..." the child said while his voice was muffled.

While they were on their way to the candy store, the boy's dad walked passed a window display of toys and such from a nervy store.

Since he was carrying his son on his shoulders, he removed his son from there and placed him in his wife's arms.

"My beloved, you two go on ahead, I saw something that I'm gonna buy. I won't be long."

His wife kiss him in the lips, "Alright, make sure to not take too long. Or my little witch over here will cry that his daddy has been gone."

The boy whined in defense, "No I won't! I'm a big kid! Big kids don't cry!"

His father laughed and booped his son's nose. Using his magic it made small sparkles pop out then he lightly tapped his son's small nose.

"Aw little guy, it's okay do cry sometimes. Don't worry, papa will be back soon enough."

The boy puffed his cheeks, "Okay papa."

They went their separate ways and the raven haired man walked inside the store. There were many people in the store, some were other families just like him, some were just groups of friends hanging out, and there were groups of school kids in the shop.

Although he paid no attention to that, he already knew what he was going to buy. He looked around the store till he found the same item that was advertised on the display case.

He picked up a pack of playing cards that were fantasy themed. Something about the design of the cards felt right to buy for his son. His son has mostly been playing with his playing card deck that it was time for his son to have a deck of his own.

The tall man went to purchase the cards and quickly made his way back to the candy store.

He did debate on just teleporting but remembered that there's detectors in case people try to break in by using teleportation magic. And since he plans on living the rest of his life on a low profile, he would just rather walk.

When he got there he used his clairvoyance to locate where his wife and son were and made his way there.

He saw his son pointing at candies that he wanted while his wife placed a few into the basket.

He casually walked up to his wife just to play his head on her shoulder from behind.

"I'm back darling." He softly said.

His wife smiled and rolled her eyes, "I knew by the time you stepped foot into the shop."

"Aww I guess ____ over there wasn't the only one missing me huh?"

His wife jokingly scoffed away, "I merely wanted to know if you would take too long. Which you live to see another day, you didn't take too long."

This made the man grin, "Wouldn't mind dying by your hands."

The boy grabbed his dad's leg, "Papa you took too long!"

The man kneeled down to see his son, "Daddy went to buy you a present, as long as you keep being a good boy today, I'll give you your present when we get home."

The boy's eyes widened in surprised, "Really?!"

"Yes, now behave yourself now. It's starting to get dark so after we're done here, we're leaving." His dad instructed.

"Aww already? But I didn't get to see everything! Will we come back here again?" The boy whined.

His mom kneeled down too, "Next time when he have some money."

"Okay!" He happily said

Once they got home they told their son go get ready for bed. The raven haired boy complained but was very quick to stop when his dad brought up that he will get his present if he puts on his pajamas.

The small boy quickly put on his pastel red pajamas and jumped into his bed waiting for his dad to walk into his room.

Once the man does, he made quiet the entrance for his son.

Bubbles descended in front of the child and as all the bubbles popped, his father suddenly appeared and plopped right onto the bed. And immediately tickled his son.

"Ha ha papa! That tickles." he said as he was laughing.

The raven haired man smiled, "That was the point little one."

He stopped tickling his son and showed his son what was in his hand, "Here you go little one. Here's your present."

In his hand was a rock with googly eyes.

"A rock?" the child questioned.

The rock caught flame and the fire was immediately put out which then emerged a pack of cards.

"Look again child."

"Cards? My own cards?" the boy said in amazement. He gently reached out for the pack of cards.

A smile came upon the boy, "Thank you papa. I love it!"

"Have fun with your cards! You earned it." The said as he turned the lights off in the room.

Before he left, he properly tucked in his son to bed and gave him a good night kiss on the forehead, "Sweet dreams ____."

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The male walked down the stairs and saw his wife sitting at the kitchen table, "Is he asleep?"

He put his hand in his pocket and scratched the back of his head, "I gave him a light sleeping spell just to be safe." he nonchalantly said.

"You sense it too don't you, Astrie?" his wife said referring to her husband by a nickname.

"Yes. Though it may be far from the village, we should still do something, Neoma." The man said.

Neoma stood up from her chair, "I'll set up the barriers around the village and his house." The raven haired woman said as she walked out the house.

She closed her eyes to concentrate on setting up the barriers. Wind started to blow around her and a purple light stared illuminating. Seconds later a sigl appeared under her and the two barriers were formed. They were hard to see at night but upon closer inspection the barriers were formed in translucent hexagons.

Astrie wasted no time heading towards the outskirts of the village.

The man let his eyes revert back to normal to conserve mana. He then proceeded to use his eyes to sense any dark forces in the area.

He stood there for a brief moment. He frowned and summoned his battle axe to immediately throw it towards a tree trunk. Which turned out to be a Basilisk.

"A basilisk!" He said out loud.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance and closed his eyes to track the serpent.

"Neoma, it's a basilisk! Make sure not to look into its eyes." He said into his earpiece.

"Understood! I'll work on making a substance to kill it off. Just make sure to restrain it."

The serpent spat poison in retaliation, Astrie's instinct was to dodge and attempt to create some stone pillars around the serpent.

The serpent broke free and some of the pillars went flying off the ground.

The raven haired man used the sound of the wind to determine where the pillars were flying. Then encased his huge axe in a dark substance to hit the pillars towards the serpent like a bat to a baseball.

The pillars made an impact with the basilisk and fell to the ground. Though it was still alive.

Astrie was about to dash towards the serpent until an explosion happened towards the basilisk.

"Hope I wasn't too late." Neoma announced herself.

She was wearing a blindfold that help prevent her from seeing the basilisk's deadly gaze.

"Quick, the odor!" His husband urgently said.

Neoma headed towards the serpent and released a mist on the serpent.

The basilisk cried out in pain and in a last effort to defend itself, it attempted to attack with its claws. Neoma wasn't quick enough to react on time, which made her husband dash in there to save her.

He was able to get in front of her and push them both out the way.

The serpent shortly died after that.

"Are you unhurt?" He asked worryingly.

"No I'm unharmed, thank you."

The couple both got up from the ground, "I'm going to look around this area to see if there's any more or, if there were any unfortunate victims from that basilisk. You should look on the other side of the barrier to see if there's any more."

She nodded and ran off.

Astrie started walking around looking for anything remaining until he felt that he was loosing consciousness. As he was, a dark figure started approaching him.

"W-who?"

He fell unconscious, not realizing that he had a light scrape of poison from the basilisk earlier.

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Astrie woke up with a bandage covered on his ankle.

"Where...?"

"Sweetie you had me worried sick! Luckily there wasn't much poison so it was easy for me to treat." Neoma hugged her husband.

The man was at a loss for words. He wasn't sure what exactly he saw before he passed out.

"I think there was a person around somewhere." He said as he got up from the bed.

"I'll look around again later in the day. For now rest up." His wife said with concern.

All he could do was nod.

He'll use this time to come up with an excuse to give to ____ in the morning.

Oh boy, that'll be fun to come up with.

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