Chapter 3

After the evil Vanica attacked, a really sad and gloomy feeling hung over the whole Silva noble family's home. Lady Acier, the mom, was getting weaker and weaker from the curse Vanica put on her. No doctor or healer could help or stop the curse from making her more and more sick. It was like life was draining out of her bit by bit.

Little baby Nico and his twin sister Noelle spent lots of time by their dying mom's bedside. Even though they were too little to totally understand what was happening, they could tell how big and tragic it all was. Their mom, who had cuddled them so lovingly since the day they were born, needed them near her now to keep her going.

Lady Acier's hands were all skin and bones as she gently touched her babies' faces, trying to etch every little detail into her memory. She gave them a sad smile as she gazed into their bright blue eyes.

"My precious little angels," she rasped, her voice thin and papery. Every breath was hard for her. "I'm afraid...my time is almost up in this life. But I'll leave this world so proud of you two."

Tears rolled down Acier's sunken cheeks as she kissed their foreheads with trembling lips. "You're proof that our family line will stay strong after I'm gone. Be good to your dad and brothers. Know that no matter where you go, I'll always be watching over you both with endless motherly love."

It was so heartbreaking to see a mom having to say goodbye to her brand new baby twins like this. Though they were just infants, it was like Nico and Noelle could sense how heavy and significant this farewell was.

Noelle whimpered and grabbed at her mom, not wanting to let go. Nico just stared wide-eyed, a storm of emotions - love, fear, anger - churning behind his bright blue gaze. Those feelings would later fuel his incredible drive for power.

Tragically, Acier never opened her eyes again after the twins' first birthday a few days later. The Silva family did their best to celebrate, but the parties were clouded by sadness over losing Acier.

Her final memory was pressing the babies' tiny hands to her cracked lips one last time. "Happy...birthday...my little ones," she whispered, before the light went out behind her eyes forever.

A hush fell over the lavish birthday festivities like a funeral. Everyone knew this marked the first birthday without the warm light their mother had brought into the world when the twins were born.

Acier's grieving husband, Lord Ryn, could barely look at the newborns in those traumatic first days. Less than a week later, the family gathered to send the mighty Steel Maiden warrior to join her ancestors. Her casket was consumed by towering flames at her grand funeral pyre.

But Acier's death wound never really healed over for House Silva. It left an empty void that slowly started cracking the family's foundations over the years to come.

After losing his wife, Lord Ryn basically shut himself away in brooding solitude. Only Nozel stepping up as the responsible heir kept the noble household from crumbling entirely.Nozel hid his own trauma, taking on lordly duties with stony poise well beyond his years. But those closest could sense the toll it took in his wearied eyes behind closed doors.

The younger Silva siblings, Nebra and Solid, expressed their grief in angrier, more unhinged ways. The bitterness inside them kept lashing out, targeting defenseless little Noelle and Nico to unleash pent-up cruelty and pain.

While the full truth stayed shadowed, whisperings spread that the twins' births had directly led to Lady Acier's demise. As Noelle and Nico grew older, Nebra would constantly mock her sister for "stealing" their mother's magic and vitality. Though less cruel to Nico, she and Solid still deeply resented the strange, preternatural aura he gave off as a small child.

For even as a young boy, Nico exuded an eerie sense of soulful wisdom and maturity far beyond his age. He soaked up knowledge and experiences like an old prodigy, unsettling his elder siblings. Those striking blue eyes of his hinted at vast depths churning inside the little boy in ways no child should possess.

So while Nozel remained their lifeline as protector, the distance only widened between Nico, Noelle and the rest of their family. The twins clung tighter to each other, the only place left to find unconditional comfort and belonging. Noelle was meek while Nico was her pillar of resilience and self-worth.

And as the years passed, rumblings began about Nico's blossoming magical talents possibly being shockingly limitless for one his age...