We have entered the part of the story where I start to fast-forward until we reach our desired destination, because I believe we have reached a solid middle-point when it comes to this point of the story and spending more time with our MC still being a child might be a little detrimental to the flow of the story I have planned.

The passage of time will be random, but I will be giving a few indications as to just how much time has passed in between whenever I can. I must also mention that this does not mean I will be going full steam ahead to the Civil War, we still have a significant amount of time until we reach that point of the story.

This middle period, which will cover Alaric's (re-)growth into adulthood is the first phase of this story where I really encourage Omake's. Since I will only be covering the important bits in that period, a few bits that you may want to see will inevitably have to be left behind. If you want to take some time and write a couple of paragraphs about the things you wanted to see, I would happily take that as a contribution to this story and even threadmark those that don't interfere too much with my plans as Canon for this story! (This only applies to the Questionable Questing and SpaceBattles forums, sorry FF)

Now, back to where we left the story off, Keep a close eye on this chapter, it may be subject to change soon. Why you might ask? Physics was not a subject I passed and I fear it may show in this chapter. Enjoy the read!

Beta Reader Search still ongoing, PM me if interested.

The Star Shaper

His mother was a good teacher.

It was something he could admit without pause, seeing as she had been supervising Alaric's training ever since he'd unlocked his Star Shaper, and as far away from his true potential as he was, and as stubborn as she had been in not starting his training in their shared inheritance earlier and delaying it as much as he could, he would be the last to deny the fruits of it.

She was brutal in his training, a far cry from the loving woman that he'd known to be doting over him since his birth due to a sickly infancy, something that he'd had a hard time getting used to at first. But that brutal training she employed did well to hammer in a lot of her lessons into his head by hook or by crook, it was a regular occurrence for him to from exhaustion and pain but with a feeling of pride at what he'd managed to accomplish, but knowing how far he still had to go simply because of her presence served as a stark reminder

But as great of a teacher as she was, the means in which Davinia Vassago taught her son had a distinct lack of quality, something he'd only noticed after his little impromptu field trip.

The instruments she had provided him was were one of the first things to come to mind, since he considered the tools provided to him as important to his development as his own drive to further his training. Tools, such as the various tomes he could draw inspiration from, teachers and trainers that would push him beyond his limits, weapons that could be added to his arsenal, artifacts that could boost his power and so forth.

He couldn't exactly confirm that the library had been emptied of books that could be useful to him, seeing as he didn't want to take the chance of getting caught while investigating the matter and further endanger his training by putting himself under the increased surveillance that would certainly follow. Weapons had been something he had been provided with in droves judging by the over-abundance of them in the training yard, but he didn't need to be and expert to see that they weren't exactly of the highest quality when they kept breaking as soon as he tried to use them on something tougher than straw.

He hadn't even seen anything that could be described as an 'artifact' outside of a display that looked like it had been smothered beneath a thousand seals and more than enough wards to fry a person alive on top of that. What he had been left with, whenever he asked for one had been nothing more than little trinkets that could do nothing more than spark ineptly for a few seconds as they failed to undertake the scale of the task he'd use them for. He wouldn't be lying when he said that it was a route he hadn't and would not be considering for a long time unless he got his hands on something that could actually be of use to him.

Where the lack of quality was more obvious however, just so happened to be Alaric's Instructors.

It had been simple enough to confirm, the first thing he'd done as soon as he'd been able to reach his mother was ask her to set up a sparring match between him and a bunch of trainers just so he could warm up before she started her lessons. His mother had acquiesced after telling him to slow down and tell him about the day he'd had, something he'd provided to her after leaving out the more... 'exciting' parts of that day.

He was certain that she suspected something given that he hadn't given her a very good reason as to just why he had immediately gone to bed upon returning, but she hadn't pried into it and he'd gotten his spar.

A no-holds-barred (for his Trainers at least, he was still barred from using Star Shaper) spar where he had proceeded to wipe the floor with a trio of Devils older than he by two decades at least as his mother watched and proceeded to berate him on the openings he'd deliberately left for his Trainers. Openings that had not been capitalized on in any shape or form, which should be a very strange considering he had been told they were experts on the field the first time he'd asked his mother just why she wasn't the one sparring with him.

So either he was being told a lie, or they were deliberately holding back.

He supposed it didn't matter either way.

Because therein lay his problem, because talented as a teacher his mother may be, as skilled as she was in furthering Alaric's training while still handicapping herself to such an extent by using such low quality tools, it would be nothing compared to what she, or more correctly, he could achieve if his mother was training him using all of the means at her disposal.

He supposed he could see her point of view, her doting on him because of his sickly infancy was a thing he'd known well before he'd gained her as a teacher, and before he'd even realized she was crippling his training this much he'd considered it to be a hindrance at best and an outright obstacle at worst whenever her anxieties flared up in the rare moments he'd been dealt an injury. He understood it, but he refused to even consider that she might be right in doing so, not when the cost of her negligence could be his life and future.

Thankfully, he had found it out before the damage became irreparable, and was thinking of ways to counteract it before more could be done, with fruitful results might he add as well. As things stood, the only remaining thing he could learn from his mother was Star Shaper, or rather, whatever tidbits of it she deemed 'safe' enough to consider teaching him.

Which he supposed was the final nail in a coffin he'd delayed in striking for too long.

"With a power such as ours... It is easy to lose control and give in to your destructive urges. The writings of the Original Orias, my Grandfather, explain the effects of such a mistake by detailing just what happened to his spawn that humored this side of themselves." Why wasn't he surprised that his mother had started his lessons by detailing just how dangerous their bloodline was even though she'd already been telling him about it for more than five years? "It should tell you all you need to know when you see that it was Marin the Spark that went on to become the Marquess instead of her elder brothers, Lucigon the Comet-Eater or Ventin Starbane."

He was aware of both of those names, seeing as it was a part of his extensive research into the Great War and the shared family name between theirs and his mother interested him enough to spend some time researching what happened to them.

Not pretty, as one might have guessed.

Lucigon had perished after getting himself into an engagement, where the collateral damage that resulted from the reckless use of his power had caused more casualties to his own allies than against his own enemies, something he'd paid dearly for when those allies decided to test out just how he could live up to his self-given moniker. Ventin on the other hand, had perished while leading his own Warband in the Balkans, at the hand of one Kokaibel 'the Star of God' who apparently also wanted to see him live up to that name after hearing the fate of his elder brother Lucigon and had burnt him to ashes by turning Ventin's very own Star Shaper against him.

Note to self, don't give yourself a pretentious title.

"The Power we wield is akin to the Power of the Gods themselves. To be able to form and control what makes a Star, a force of nature so completely beyond the comprehension of most beings, to be able to shape this enigmatic energy to your will when most cannot even look upon it without being blinded... It is not something to be underestimated, it is not something to be done frivolously."

He ran a hand through his lengthening hair as he adjusted his position on the stool he was sitting on, his mother standing right in front of him as she demonstrated the very basic form of their power. Her hand was completely enveloped by an ever-shifting stream of golden energy, a volatile one that kept trying to lash out and would have been much more dangerous had his mother not had such a stranglehold on it.

It could become so much more of course, his mother's understanding of the matter was limited by how she had been thought it was nothing more than a 'volatile energy that constituted a star' for the better part of a millennia. This had some measure of truth into it, but that truth had never been expanded on ever since the Original Orias got himself killed at the Gates of Rome and left behind only an unfinished manuscript that was taken as gospel by his descendants who refrained from being as experimental with their power as he was due to his strong emphasis on caution.

His grandmother had only made a token effort in furthering their understanding of that 'enigmatic energy', which would be laughable to any proper scholar who read through the rambling addition to a manuscript that was shaky enough already. This meant that no one else had the advantage he had in discovering how easily the near perfect manipulation of plasma translated to fields that involved that same state of matter...

It was an advantage Alaric had no intention of relinquishing.

The hand which was not being used to wield an energy field gestured him to rise to his feet, which he did so promptly. "Now... I want you to call on that power, do as I am doing." The golden energy enveloping her other hand shrunk until it was only hugging her hand instead of covering her whole arm. "Keep it shackled to yourself, and do not let it escape."

She didn't seem to expect much, which was particularly infuriating seeing as she was the reason for any perceived weakness he had. The look on her face was leaning more towards a mix of worry and alert caution, and he would be a fool to miss the tenseness in her stance, looking like she might jump in any minute if something happened to go wrong...

Which was why Alaric would take immense pleasure in seeing the shocked look on his mother's face when his hand suddenly flared up with the same energy that hers had, nearly identical to the same one he'd used when he'd come face to face with that Dragon. It was an overpowering feeling that surpassed even that moment of naive pride he'd had when his mother had told Alaric that she would take over his training...

That wasn't to say that there wasn't any suspicion of course, he had just accomplished something that may have taken her entire weeks to do properly without even breaking a sweat, it was very much impossible for her not to suspicious even with him being labeled as a prodigy. One might think that he was an idiot for drawing that suspicion in the first place, seeing as making her underestimate his abilities was something he was very much capable of, but there was a method to this madness...

Mostly, it banked on the notion that his mother attribute his sudden jump in competence in the power she had forbidden the usage of, to him breaking that restriction and going against her wishes entirely. Seeing as the actual truth of the matter was him 'somehow' knowing the fundamental basics of their power despite having only used it in exceptionally rare moments until that very day he took an invitation to the Gremory Estate, and using that knowledge to suddenly bypass several years of training in it, was a very rational thing for him to rely on this fact to get what he wanted out of this, even if it might delay some of his plans by inviting greater attention to himself.

It was hard to tell if he'd succeeded by the scowl on her face though, even if he was thankful that his mother wore her emotions on her sleeve when it concerned him, it made things much easier.

"You seem to have grasped the basics of it rather quickly," He knew he was in for a lot of pain the moment those words left her. "We'll be proceeding then, though you should disabuse yourself of the notion that you will be accomplish the rest as easily as this," He was fortunate that he'd thought to let the plasma gathered up in his hand dissipate as his mother's hand clamped on his shoulder with an iron grip, her fears of him losing a hand would be a reality in that case. "I will make sure of it."

Well, that confirmed that he'd been successful.

He had confirmed that his mother would be taking his training seriously, even if that was because she wanted to punish Alaric for having the audacity to 'Train Star Shaper' without her giving him permission, her usual protectiveness would likely come in to play since she surely wouldn't want to see her son get hurt from 'improvised, shoddy and dangerous techniques' he'd been no doubt teaching himself out of her sight.

He still believed that the 'Star' aspect of his inheritance would be taking somewhat of a backseat with him putting a greater emphasis on his knowledge of Plasma instead of solely the former, but he'd always believed that it wouldn't hurt to be trained by someone with centuries more experience than he, even if she watered down her training out of some misplaced worry.

So he just smiled, and prepared his body for the upcoming hard time.

"I am looking forward to it."

Personal Protection

"You are sure, little lord?"

"Yes, but it will require you to keep the materials with you until I can acquire them."

The somehow fat, slimy looking Devil in front of Alaric nodded rapidly before mentioning toward a group of slaves who somehow managed to look more decrepit than he and his 'General Store'. "You three! Move your useless rears and get this to the Midget!" He warbled as he practically threw the formerly organized roll of paper which held the materials Alaric had requested from him toward them. "Don't you ever think about losing it, or I'll use your hide to make myself a new cape!"

It was a sign of how far he'd gotten that he didn't let his feelings show on his face when faced with such a pathetic specimen of his race, watching as the trio of wretches scampered off of the building, "They looked like they would collapse any minute, will they get the job done? I don't have to tell you how displeased I will be if I have to compile such a list again."

The different kind of Wretch that stood across from him certainly didn't like how he was being threatened by a child, but kept his mouth shut simply because that child could erase his existence by simple virtue his higher blood. "Of course they will, little lordship!" He simpered, "They might not like much, but I bought those three straight from the Pens of Styx!" Its stock is famed for their endurance!"

"They are indeed..." He said as he remembered the nightmarish things he'd read on that subject. His next words were accompanied by a carefully cast field that made sure no one could eavesdrop on his next words. "Rest assured that you will be rewarded accordingly to your service, especially if you keep quiet about any additional purchases, present or future." He kept his eyes straight on the watery ones of the man known as 'Grobe the Red Merchant' someone who thoroughly lived up to the bloated images that one envisioned whenever they spoke his name, but someone who Alaric had to deal with if he wanted to get the things he needed. "Are we in agreement?"

Grobe looked to be hesitating, "You say that I will be watched?"

Alaric just sighed, "Yes, comes with the territory when dealing with Pillar Children." He didn't elaborate on that further, but he did make a show of dismissing the subtle seal that made sure his escort couldn't listen in, something the Greasy Merchant had no doubt noticed. It was a natural, if a little annoying addition that had came with him acquiring permission to tour the city whenever he wished, since his parents obviously could not allow him to go around Lucifaad without someone to guard him.

He was still trying to find someone loyal enough to not report his every move to them, but he had a feeling that the search was coming to an end...

That didn't seem to bring any comfort to Grobe however, how fortunate for his health that he had thought to apply the silencing barrier he'd dismissed a moments prior before raising his concerns, "With all due respect, little lord-" I was waiting for him to say that, "I am taking a big enough risk by giving you those Tomes, if anything goes wrong, it will be my neck on the block."

He wished that were so, but that would also mean he would not be able to get what he needed and would be in serious trouble with his family... "As far as everyone is concerned, I'm just making a purchase from someone who has access to rare materials." He quietly got up and dusted the coat he'd gone through great pains to have made and looked at the still seated Grobe with a smile that did not reach his eyes. "I understand that you have spent a lot of time cultivating your... 'Reliable' reputation, you can be certain that I would be the last person to compromise that."

"As long as I do what you want, am I right?"

"Quite so..." He said as he grabbed the bag that carried the Tomes that held some interesting knowledge, before sending a small look to his disgusting provider. "Good Day." He nodded before turning on his heel and leaving, ignoring the muttered cursing from Grobe ('It's always the same, I swear...') and mentally checking a list he'd complied about things that might help with his survival as he stepped outside. He took a moment to take in the breathtaking view of Lucifaad before finally turning to the tall man who approached him.

"I trust you have found what you were looking for, Sire?" Tharn, a 'silent but deadly' type that his parents had chosen to accompany him to the City, he had learned some things about the tall, black haired man from similar ventures to the one he had now, the most important of those being that the Guard was very willing to let his silence work for Alaric's needs, much more so than his other fellows.

"Yes, I must thank you for your recommendation Tharn, he had all that I required and more."

"I was merely performing my duties, Sire."

Alaric nodded with satisfaction as the man immediately fell into step after saying that, his silence doing wonders for his mood that had taken a small downturn dealing with that slime Grobe as he began the trek toward the Vassago Estate.

Not a word had been said about just what was inside the bag he certainly didn't have when he'd entered that store.

The Path to Success

Alaric sat up in his bed.

It was a particularly late hour, a designated one that ensured that essentially no one in the Estate other than the Guards were awake.

He quickly threw the covers off of him and made for his wardrobe, quickly dressing himself in a functional set of clothes as silently as he could. It didn't take long for him to tie the final knot on his clothes, after which he immediately made for the door and rested his ear on it, closing his eyes and extending his senses forward to make sure no one was particularly close to his room.

Satisfied, he quickly retreated on both accounts and took a deep breath.

I'm way more excited about this than I should be...

He took a moment to calm his nerves, before raising his hand and casting a barrier around the room that would make sure no one would hear the commotion he was going to cause in a moment.

That done, he quickly straightened up and made his posture as straight as possible.

He closed his eyes.

Destination, Determination, Deliberation.

It was nothing more than a faint memory these days, a passage from a book he'd enjoyed during his first childhood that he wasn't even sure would even exist during this one... But it had popped into his head one day, and had refused to leave his head until he'd finally given up and decided to give it a try at the heat of the moment, something he would be regretting a few seconds later.

How could he not? When he felt himself being compressed by a great force, taking his breath away and not allowing him to take any more. It was a thoroughly unpleasant that fully made him believe that he had just gotten himself killed.

Then... It stopped.

He opened his eyes, and found himself in a familiar looking clearing.

In front of him was a similarly familiar Dragon Corpse.

I did it.

He couldn't restrain himself, a joy filled "FUCK YES!" emerging from him as he indulged his childish side.

I just fucking apparated!

It took him a while to calm himself down, but he did manage it.

He had business to attend to after all...

Well? How was it?