The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Raven's magic surge lasted six weeks. While everyone else was thrilled about his magic potential, Raven himself was fairly annoyed by the end of it. He was tired of being ravenous all the time – he had eaten more in these six weeks than all the meals he ever had in his entire life put together. If he'd not been in the Emerald Kingdom where he had a new family that was all too happy to feed him, he'd probably have starved to death. He couldn't imagine anyone in the imperial palace of the Obsidian Kingdom bothering to get him the food he needed to get through his surge successfully.

"Six weeks!" Mana said happily. "Raven, you're going to be so powerful!"

Jules, too, was very proud, and insisted on Raven accompanying him for the special crown prince training that King Jaren had arranged for him. Raven had protested, but Jules had immediately written to King Jaren and received a response that Raven should learn everything needed to rule a kingdom properly.

What Raven didn't know was that Mana had pulled King Jaren and Jules aside and told them a little more about Raven's supposed future, and how he was supposed to unify the Pearl Kingdom and the Obsidian Kingdom and rule over both, conveniently laying the blame on the ancient master's shoulders. Neither of them had been too surprised at the revelation, though – which Mana had not expected at all.

"He's an extraordinary child," King Jaren had told her with a chuckle. "I have no doubt that he is meant for greatness."

Jules also agreed with his Papa. "Rave is smart, talented and powerful – but more importantly, he is a good person." He narrowed his eyes at Mana. "Had it been anyone else, do you think I'd so easily hand over my little sister's future to them?"

Mana rolled her eyes, but affection pooled in her heart, and her determination to change the course of this world became stronger.

Since then, Mana had been making daily attempts to read the 'corrected' version of 'The Legend of Mars' in her mind…but it was exactly as the ancient master had told her. She was unable to access all of it. The parts she was able to read so far only spoke of Raven's miserable childhood in the Obsidian Kingdom, the death of Princess Mana and the announcement of the engagement of Princess Astra of the Emerald Kingdom and Prince Mars of the Obsidian Kingdom. There was no mention of Jules – but there was a paragraph which spoke of a sudden volcanic eruption near Verdant Hills which had wiped out the entire town and destroyed the summer palace.

Mana suspected that Jules, Grandma and Grandpa had perished in this natural disaster in the original timeline.

And the date of occurrence of this event was fast approaching.

Mana racked her brains about what to do about it – but couldn't think of anything. Soon enough, there were only ten days left…and all Mana could think of was mass evacuation from the area. After all, wealth and property could be earned again…but lives were the most precious.

"You seem very worried," Raven remarked, observing Mana's pale face. "What's wrong? Is the Shadow Poison acting up?"

Mana shook her head. The removal of the Shadow Poison from her body was progressing even better than expected, thanks to the extra knowledge Raven picked up from the ancient master, and the completion of his dark magic. By the time Papa returned to Verdant Hills to pick them up, the Shadow Poison would be completely gone.

"Then what's gotten our little Mana so anxious?" Jules asked. He was stretched out lazily on the couch, but his beautiful, mismatched eyes were full of concern.

Mana decided that she could no longer delay the emergency measures. "Do you guys feel something is different in the air these days?" she asked. "Try sensing it with your fire ability."

Immediately, Raven and Jules focussed their fire element and sent out a magical probe.

"This smell…" Jules murmured, frowning.

"Is this sulphur?!" Raven cried out in alarm. "Are there any active volcanoes in the area?!"

The Obsidian Kingdom had several active volcanoes, Mana remembered, and Raven himself should already have experienced one volcanic eruption by now.

Jules frowned. "I don't think so," he said. "Let's ask Grandpa."

The three children rushed to the old Duke, who was playing chess with Physician Kale.

"Grandpa, is there a volcano in this area?" Jules asked in a rush.

"Not that I know of," Grandpa said. "Why?"

"Actually, there used to be one," Physician Kale told them. "But it's been dormant for over five hundred years now. I heard my great-grandfather talk about it once. Some of his ancestors had died in a volcanic eruption in this area hundreds of years ago."

"There may be some activity in it," Raven said. "There's sulphur in the air – and from what I can feel, the eruption is very, very close. Perhaps only a week or so away."

Mana was amazed at Raven's perception.

Grandpa looked at Raven thoughtfully. "Right," he said. "You'd know more about this stuff…there was a volcanic eruption in the Obsidian Kingdom a few years ago, wasn't there?"

Raven nodded. "Mana just asked us to sense the air with our fire magic – and Jules and I both felt it," he said.

Grandpa, too, had fire magic. He immediately closed his eyes and spread his magic out. Mana was quite surprised by the rippling magic that flowed out from him. Grandpa was much more powerful than she had expected!

Grandpa's face turned very serious as he opened his glowing amber eyes. "It is as close as Raven gauged," he said. "And there is a cloaking ward on it – someone was deliberately trying to keep us from sensing the impending disaster!" He turned to Jules and Raven. "Did you two feel a resistance when you sent out a magical probe earlier?"

The two boys nodded.

"And you simply pushed through it?" Grandpa pressed.

Jules and Raven nodded again.

Grandpa smiled slightly. "You two damaged the cloaking ward and broke through it," he said proudly. "Little Mana, your intuition is great!"

Seeing that no one was panicking yet, Mana was relieved. The plot was deeper than she originally believed – the natural disaster destroying the Verdant Hills was no accident, it seemed. Someone had planned it…

"What do we do now, Grandpa?" she asked. "Is there a way to suppress the volcano? Or…do we need to evacuate?"

"There is a way to stop it, certainly," Grandpa replied. "However, I'm afraid that this may not be an ordinary volcano at all. If someone went through the trouble to put a cloaking ward around it…it is also possible that the volcano itself has been artificially stimulated."

The three children were shocked.

"Volcanoes can be…artificially made to erupt?" Mana asked in a daze. Was it this world's version of a nuclear bomb?!

Grandpa nodded. "It is," he said with a heavy sigh. "You need powerful earth and fire magicians for it, though, and information on forbidden techniques. If there was already a dormant volcano in the area…it would not be impossible to trigger it."

"Perhaps certain forces in the capital city are more disturbed by the news of our lost Crown Prince Jules and a healthy Princess Mana," Physician Kale murmured. "And removing Prince Raven along with them would be an unexpected bonus."

Grandpa rubbed his temples wearily. "You're probably right," he said. "This is why Dora had insisted on hiding Jules away all these years…"

Physician Kale nodded. "Princess Mana was nearly killed, too. It really is a miracle that she survived from the drowning…when I was called in, she was not breathing and her heartbeat had stopped. Perhaps it was a power beyond our reach that sent her back to us…"

Mana tried her best to maintain a calm face. Physician Kale had almost hit upon the truth…if it wasn't so unbelievable that Mana was someone from another world, and a new soul had flown into the dead princess…her secret would be out.

Raven watched Mana with a strange look on his face.

"But Mana survived the drowning and has been here all these weeks…no one tried to attack her here," Jules commented. "Why is that?"

"Because the Shadow Poison would have killed me anyway," Mana observed. "And if I'm not wrong, Papa deliberately suppressed the news that a cure for the Shadow Poison had been found."

"But now that your betrothal with Raven is revealed, these enemies guessed that he has removed the Shadow Poison from you?" Jules asked.

"Probably," Mana replied.

Grandpa and Physician Kale agreed with that analysis as well.

Everyone fell silent, their moods sombre. Internal enemies were always more dangerous than external foes…and for them, it seemed like these traitors were collaborating with outsiders to harm the royal family.

"Should I inform Papa?" Jules asked finally.

Grandpa nodded. "Also tell him to send in the disaster management troops and prepare for an emergency evacuation in case we're unable to stop the eruption," he suggested.. "Meanwhile, we will try and find out exactly what is going on."