#ascendency

A large tropical storm had hit Gatol, so powerful that even the walls of the castle shuddered almost as if in fear of its power. Rain fell from the sky in walls, strong enough to knock anyone over if unfortunate enough to get caught up in it. The winds were just as strong.

There was not much that young Xavier Cane feared, not spiders, not monsters under the bed, not the dark, not snakes- nearly nothing. In fact, there were only three things he feared most. His father, the High Priest, and storms. It was a typical fear for any child, one that made the violent and antisocial fourteen-year-old seem almost normal.

His older sisters had almost outgrown the fear, bravely but stupidly sneaking peeks through the storm shutters on the windows of the castle until the guards would shoo them away. Xavier didn’t dare go by the windows though, far too scared by the rattling of the shutters. One window had already broken open in the castle from the strong gusts of wind.

The Cane children were sent off to bed as normal that night, the girls to their hall, Xavier, and an even younger Isaac to their respective rooms. Just as quickly as he could change into his nightclothes, Xavier ran to hide under his blankets. He kept them pulled up over his ears as he did his best to try and sleep, eyes screwed tightly shut. The storm had picked up a lot more though, and just before Xavier had any small semblance of hope of drifting off into sleep, an even larger gust of wind hit the wall of the castle. His window burst open, glass, rain, and splinters of wood showering across his room.

Xavier was quick to get to his feet, looking on at the mess with fear before hightailing it out his room. There were some small pieces of glass stuck to the soles of his feet, but that was really the least of his worries as he ran down the hallway. He ran past the guards on their way to check out the sound, past the doors to his father and brother’s rooms, out into the main hall, and finally towards his final destination.

He knocked frantically on the door, sweat and water beaded on his forehead as he panted heavily.

His mother opened the door not too late after, squinting out into the dim candlelight of the hallway and to her son.

“Xavier-? What on Earth is going on? Why are you so wet?” she asked, voice weak from having just woken up.

“My window broke open- I-I got really scared, mother.” He replied, shifting from one foot to the other.

“Oh goodness me… What a mess that will be to clean. What do you expect me to do about it though?”

“I-- I just wanted to stay in here with you.” “What?”

“Please? I don’t wanna sleep by myself tonight.” He sounded almost pathetic as he begged.

“Xavier you’re fourteen- Fine, fine. Come in.”

Aideen stepped aside, allowing her boy to walk in before she shut the door. She walked back over to crawl back into her bed, just about to get comfortable before Xavier essentially lept into bed next to her, latching onto her.

It was the first time she had ever felt her son shake in fear, and this was probably the first time she had ever seen him scared. Since the first moment the boy had beaten his brother half to death, Aideen couldn’t help but fear him. He was dangerous, everyone knew that. Yet here was that dangerous boy, shaking like a leaf and held onto his mother.

Aideen sighed, shaking her head before reaching to grab him by his legs to pull him up and cradle him in her lap. Even at fourteen Xavier was much taller than his mother, but even despite this, she held him there as she had when he was a baby.

Xavier’s breathing finally calmed as he was held by his mother, curled up and resting his head on her collarbone. Though the storm raged on ever strong, in those moments cradled in his mother’s arms, Xavier finally felt safe and content. He would never speak of that moment to anyone- of course. But for the two of them, it truly was special.

For Aideen, it was seeing her son like any other human again. Finally seeing that her boy had flaws just as anyone else; and that he was not all that much like his father.

And for Xavier, it was the few moments of feeling safe and secure. Knowing once again the protection that a mother’s arms can lend to her children. And all though they both knew that moments like this would never happen between the two of them again, they savored it by sitting silently, as any words would only serve to make time pass for the moment to end.