"A blessing…" Henry murmured, his Adam's apple jumping up and down from his throat after a deep resounding gulp.
This would be his third blessing in this lifetime. Does his talent also extend to his luck? Henry is not sure whether anyone in the world has more than one blessing.
Heck, from what he knows, having a single blessing is already considered a great rarity that only one in a million people in the world could have.
And here he is, standing in front of a figure almost akin to a god—ready to receive the said person's blessing. Many questions were asked in his heart such as—what benefits would he get out of the blessing? What kind of blessing would it be? Is it going to be an offensive type? Defensive? Supportive?
So far, his previous two blessings belong to the latter two.
First, the Fairy Body belongs to a slight combination of defensive and supportive types of blessings, though from Henry's perspective, it leans more toward the defensive type, since the blessing makes him immune to all sorts of illnesses.
The second blessing is the Authority of Truth, bestowed by Master Pabbie from the Valley of the Living Rock. The blessing not only makes him able to distinguish between lies and truth, but it also gives him some resistance to illusions.
Though according to Master Pabbie, he might be able to improve this blessing in some sort of way and if he does, he'd be able to force the truth out of someone.
As a matter of fact, Henry has been trying to train this blessing for a while, around a week ago. Although he's clueless as to where to start his training or even how to train it, Henry felt like he made progress by getting more exposed to lies.
That's right, although it's a bit weird but it's effective so Henry doesn't care.
As for the process itself, he just asked Ariel, Ser Liam, or any other companions to tell a lie in front of him. Every single time he felt the goosebumps, it became more prominent the more he faced the lies.
Not only that, but for the first few lies, the goosebumps felt a bit delayed, not necessarily too much but noticeable however by the end of the week of practice, they show up faster.
It may not matter that much but there's at least progress—useless or not.
Speaking of Ra's blessing, Henry wondered if this was still part of Master Elias's plan. Could the man's magic to see the future also includes godlike-entities such as the Sun?
"May I ask what the blessing is about?"
Instead of answering, the sunlight behind Ra seemed to speak for him. Before Henry knew it, the entire top of the mountain was bathed in a very bright sunlight where even a sliver of shadow could not be seen.
In the distance, when Master Elias saw this scene, he rubbed his chin, "Weird, it wasn't as bright as this when I first saw it a few days ago…"
Back on the mountain, Henry started to feel something churn inside him. It was warm and he felt like a hot liquid was running through his veins.
'Am I feeling my blood flow now? But that's impossible…' He murmured under his breath.
When he looked down, he was surprised at what he saw.
It was his own bones and blood vessels. More accurately, he's seeing them inside his reddish flesh. It's like he's staring at an x-ray but not exactly one. It's hard to describe.
"What's happening?" He muttered, confused and amazement flickering in his pupils as he flipped and waved his hand around.
The voice of Ra echoed in front of him, "This is my blessing for you. Sun's Nourishment. From now on, as long as you're exposed to my essence or what you humans refer to as sunlight, you will no longer need to sustain yourself by digesting food or water. Not only that, under my light, your strength will be enhanced, your physical body's energy will recover faster, and lastly, all your external and non-life-threatening wounds will be healed quicker than normal."
Hearing the explanation of the new blessing he got, Henry's eyes widened in surprise. A single name appeared in his mind, 'I basically turned into a watered-down Superman…'
"This should be enough as a blessing for you." After saying those words, the sunlight behind Ra started to dim, whereas the shadows finally slid back on the ground.
All of a sudden, Henry found a question biting through the back of his head, "Wait!"
"Hm? What is it?"
"If you exist, the Sun himself. Does that mean that the Moon is…"
There seemed to be an understanding flashing on Ra before he nodded his head in response, "You're talking about my sister. Don't think too much about her, Henry. She's not like me, as far as I can tell you, she isn't exactly fond of you humans."
"If that's all, then I'll go on my way now. My stay here has been prolonged longer than necessary." With that being said, Ra hurriedly whisked to the sky, bringing the entire bright light along with him.
'Jeez, relax. I'm not the type of person to drag a person down with me for hours just to chat…I know how to read a room.' Henry curtly murmured inside his mind after seeing the hurried pace of Ra.
Footsteps were suddenly heard behind him but Henry didn't panic or rather, he bore an irritated smile on his face as he turned around and faced Master Elias, still clutching his staff and using it as a support for walking.
There is no particular reason for the old man to use it when he can lift hundreds of kilograms just fine and without breaking a sweat. In the end, Henry just wrote it off as one of the old master's eccentricities.
"So, the last stage in mastering Fire Magic huh?" Henry gave a vexed chuckle as he crossed his arms.
In response, Master Elias even had the audacity to whistle and look around as if to ignore him, "The night skies look greater today…"
Facing Henry's silent and judging face, the old man finally dropped the act, "Alright fine. I knew all along. Happy? Don't worry, I've foreseen everything, so nothing bad will happen. So, how was your meeting with her? She's the kind of person who can kill you with a mere flick of her finger, no matter how much talent you have."
"First of all, it's not exactly a she. Ra only appears based on whoever sees him imagine what he looks like. So the fact that you see him as a woman tells me a lot about you. Second and the last, you're right, he's stronger than me and could probably destroy our entire planet with a sneeze if he wanted." There was then a confused look on his face.
"Which made me wonder. How did you meet him? In what manner of circumstances did you know about him?"
The old master's lips thinned, making a clicking sound with his lips first before answering, "Well, you could say that when it comes to the path of magic and sorcery, you tend to acknowledge their existence and when you do, you'll never be able to resist the urge to come in contact with them."
'Just like how my previous students came in contact with one without my knowledge…' Master Elias murmured inside his mind, a part of his past that he wanted so much to forget.
When his eyes landed back on Henry, a resolved look flashed within his eyes, 'The past is the past. What matters is that I learned my lesson from them.'
"Anyways, let's leave it at that. It's past midnight, you need to get as much wink as possible for your journey later."
Speechless, Henry decided to pursue the matter in the future. So much happened in a single day and he just got back, he needed a well-deserved rest to process all of it.
———
Inside a lone tall tower, built with aged bricks and covered by vines, Rapunzel sat just outside the window, her hand pressed against her cheeks as she used it to rest the entire weight of her head while she stared at the starry night sky.
Her eyes were filled with longing but uncertainty.
"The moon is beautiful tonight…" She murmured to herself, a few strands of her hair falling off right past her vibrant green eyes.
With a release of a deep breath that pushed the fallen strands forward, she extended her hand forward as if trying to reach the stars.
"It's my birthday today…Would you greet me?" She muttered, her voice filled with hope as she stared at the stars, especially the rounded moon that seemed brighter than usual.
"Happy birthday…to me."
———
The next day arrived, despite sleeping late, as soon as a single beam of sunlight that passed through the gaps in the curtain touched his cheek, his eyes suddenly snapped wide open.
All of a sudden, he felt energetic, no grogginess, no disorientation, and no other sleep inertia symptoms. It's as if he's been awake all this time.
"Damn. I don't even feel that five-more-minutes thing." He pushed himself out of the bed and rubbed his eyes.
Now that he's awake like a man high on coffee, he doesn't even feel like stretching his limbs. He just felt…better. And stronger of course.
"Sun's blessing for the win. I'm not the kind that always compares but this blessing is many times better than the previous two." He murmured to himself.
As soon as he jumped out of the bed, he approached the curtains and right as he was within arm's reach, his arms launched forward and pulled the curtains sideways—giving way for the sunlight to bathe him in his entire glory.
Right exactly as the sunlight hit him, his eyes widened in surprise, pupils contracted in an instant as the surging strength inside him exploded.
He's not sure of what his body is currently going through but he could feel his sleeping outfit getting tight all of a sudden, especially around the shoulders and arms.
"I feel strong! Like I can lift an entire tree from its roots…" Henry couldn't help but look at his appearance in a mirror.
At first glance, nothing seemed to have changed but if one were to look closely, his build was slightly bigger than yesterday.
He flexed around a few times, doing various muscle poses before eventually settling in with a Front Double Biceps pose.
"Looking good Henry…" He muttered under his breath before deciding he was done flexing. He was tempted to remove his entire outfit and see exactly what his body looks like but unfortunately, he had to leave early and besides, his door is not exactly locked.
It's not like a locked door is enough to stop an assassin from entering his room at night if they ever wanted to.
Well, that is if they could pass through several defensive wards and runes that Master Elias set up all over the royal castle first.
He gave himself one last look at the mirror before venturing to the bathroom to clean himself and do all his morning routines.
"Too bad I could only look like this every morning and afternoon."
———
As soon as Henry entered the dining room, he was met with an explosive voice.
"You don't have the right to treat my son like that! He's a royal prince of this Kingdom!" He found the voice familiar.
When he scanned his eyes around, only then did he conclude as to what had just happened.
First, his recently imprisoned/juvenile brother, Timothy was sitting on the ground while eating on his plate using his hands. No forks or anything and just by looking at his tattered clothes and sunken eyes, it seems like Henry's mother didn't show him mercy while under her supervision.
'Serves you right, brother.' When Henry caught Timothy's eyes glancing at him, he immediately gave him a condescending smirk before sticking his tongue out.
The boy's hands curled into fists and before he could go in a fit of rage, a loud explosive voice interrupted him.
"Shut up you whore! I am the Queen of this Kingdom, I have the right to do whatever I want with my subjects especially this one!" The way Queen Olivia gestured for Timothy on the ground looks as if she were referring to Timothy as an animal.
"What does a mere side chick have to raise her voice against her Queen, hm?" She finished with crossed arms and a sly smirk.
'What a lovely morning. Only in Lioncrest Kingdom.' Henry chuckled when he watched as Timothy's mother turned silent, along with the two other concubines behind her that has been supporting her back since the start of the fight.
As for the King himself? He was calmly eating at the table, barely showing a care about the fight between his wife and concubines.
It is as if he has full trust on her wife that she'll be able to handle herself just fine.
———————————
[Apologies if the new blessing is not up to your standard. It's the only blessing I can come up with that wouldn't instantly make Henry too OP. And before any of you he's already OP with his absolute master over flame magic. Well think again, cause having mastery over one element is nothing when it comes to true wizards in Disney films that could literally manipulate the reality around with a flick of their fingers. Trust me, Disney Wizards are godlike.]