Night of the Meteor

It was a clear night with no clouds.

An elderly man in his eighties stood on the balcony of the top floor of a Western-style mansion, gazing at the star-filled night sky.

Normally, such a spectacular display of starlight would be impossible to see without long-exposure photography. However, in the old man's eyes, no faint starlight could escape his gaze.

A blue meteor appeared from the direction of Spica in Virgo, streaking across the night sky and emitting a brilliance that was incredibly dazzling to those in the Magus community.

The meteor grew brighter and brighter, but ordinary people didn't notice. The old man stared at it in silence, his cloak rustling in the night wind. If the blue meteor followed its predetermined trajectory, it would surely fall upon this small town.

If it's a disaster, then I'll eliminate it, the old man thought. After all, he didn't want his homeland to become another South America. At his age, he didn't want to run around cleaning up messes for others like that guy who played with stones.

How ironic, the old man scoffed to himself. Mages are supposed to be enemies of the world, yet I'm asked to protect it.

The meteor drew closer, its blue light intensifying. The tall old man, who had seemed ordinary before, now exuded a completely different presence.

No, rather than an old man, he had seemingly regained the appearance of his youth. His graying hair had turned blood-red, emitting a dazzling glow.

The surroundings of the young man warped due to the overwhelmingly powerful magic. Even the plants in the garden were growing, blooming, and withering at an impossible speed.

If one were to look at the sky from the young man's perspective, they would see day and night rapidly alternating, with fragments of time shifting in an impossible order and at an impossible speed.

However, the blue meteor continued on its original trajectory and speed toward the town, and the young man's aura was about to reach its peak.

In the instant before the meteor was about to affect the town, its light began to rapidly diminish, eventually dissipating into nothing.

The young man raised an eyebrow and waited for a moment, but ultimately, no other strange phenomena occurred.

His hair turned gray again, his skin became loose, and wrinkles spread across his cheeks like growing roots.

The old man cast one last glance at the night sky, which had returned to its peaceful state, and then walked down the stairs without looking back, intending to return to his workshop to continue his work. However, a sudden, piercing telephone ring echoed through the quiet mansion.

The old man frowned, walked over to the phone, and picked up the receiver.

"It's me," the old man said coldly. "What is it?"

"...Father," a slightly weak, middle-aged male voice sounded from the receiver. "The second child has been born, also a girl. Do you want to come see her?"

"...Never mind," the old man replied after a moment's hesitation. "It would be too disappointing for her to see this old face so soon after she's born."

"...You jest," the middle-aged man said. "Please give this child a name, just like her older sister."

The old man tilted his head back, staring at the patterns on the ceiling as he pondered for a moment.

"Father?" the middle-aged man on the phone asked. "Are you still there?"

"...Just call her Aoko," the old man said, recalling the light of the meteor. "Aoko Aozaki."