[This Bonus Chapter is courtesy of tanllwyht01! Thanks a bunch!]
Valeria watched the disappointment wash over Ren's features and felt an unexpected pang of maternal sympathy pierce through her ancient composure.
The boy had no conception of what he truly was, no understanding of the forces awakening within him or the catastrophic consequences his very existence would inevitably bring to the world around him.
But that innocence was precisely what made him so dangerous.
Seven centuries of accumulated wisdom told her that the most destructive magical entities in history had always begun as promising young students whose exceptional abilities seemed like natural evolution rather than existential threats.
The corruption came later, as their power grew beyond their capacity to comprehend or control it.
