《Throne Of Origin》 Prologue In a dark laboratory. A man wearing dark blue robes with magical runes flickering occasionally was creating a spell formation on the ground. It was made up of pure blue mana glowing brilliantly and causing strange shadows on the gloomy walls. The spell array was insanely complicated: 3-D runes smaller than an ant were constantly twisting changing into strange shapes. The man was completely focused on the spell formation while muttering weird incantations. Then the sound of a door opening broke the eerie silence. A tall man dressed in black robes with golden runes on it walked in. His face was charming in fact, it was too handsome, enough for an average girl to lose her head. His short black hair was neatly combed, an aura of nobility and power radiated from him. Occasionally one could see space around him distort. He slowly walked in. "Are you done yet?" the man in black robes spoke with a calm manner yet one could sense the chill his voice carried. "Just a bit more ", the other spoke, standing up and brushing his jet black hair. The other man furrowed his brows and said," You know that we can''t hold them for long." "C''mon you were the demon king, bet you have some more aces up your sleeve!", the other man laughed. "More like the fool king... Immortal of the time do you think he is capable ?" "Ah! I''m sure he will be able to fulfil his destiny... Now that we are gonna mess with the world timeline I can''t accurately determine his actions... After all, we both were different." "'' Were''? I guess you are pretty sure this spell is gonna work" "Ha ha even though I am an immortal I can''t easily violate the laws of the world! Especially the ones which origin laid out," the man in blue robes scratched his head with an awkward smile. "I trust you," the other snorted. "Wish you could have done it 112 years ago!" The former demon king frowned and waved his hand, "Get to work already!"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. "Fine," The immortal turn and got back to the spell formation. A few minutes passed by, and the man continued with his work deeply engrossed in it. He occasionally scratched his head and sighed. Boom! A deafening sound of explosion sounded in the vicinity of the lab. "Guess they are here..." The immortal smiled wryly. "YOU DAMN IMMORTAL I WILL SEAL YOU BODY FOREVER THIS TIME!" The shout of a woman sounded across the lab. "Hurry up!" Demon king''s voice carrying a hint of panic made the immortal sigh. The sound of the battle ensuing outside the lab was making the immortal worried about his friend. His dexterous fingers worked twice as quickly while his chanting speed increased. "It is done," he said after a minute. He lazily stretched his arms and hopped a few times. "Let''s begin..." His forefinger touched his temple and slowly drew out a silvery thread glowing with white light and place it in the centre of the spell array. He chanted in an ancient language, "O ye who flowed endlessly, the one who never stopped or turned, thee who hath corroded kingdoms, vanquished empires and annihilated civilizations. I beseech thee turn for once, change thy tides and bring back the old... Break free of laws which bounded ye and shackled your wild surges, with my knell open and send this to the gone... Time, I command you surge! Surge! Surge!" The spell formation glowed brightly enlightening the whole room, an even complicated spell array expanded and stretched endlessly encompassing the earth, then the solar system, then the galaxy and extended to the boundaries of the dimensions. "That immortal!" "What power!" "Is this it?!" Countless beings exclaimed across the cosmos some in awe, others in boundless fear. "Damn it," A woman emerged, destroying the wall of the lab. In her hand was a bloody body similar to that of the demon king. his robes were torn and blood dripped down his head. A faint laugh sounded from the body. "Damn, these women are ferocious," he said softly. The woman threw him aside and glared at the man in blue robes. A spell circle glowed in her hand. The woman lunged at the immortal, her purple gown glowed red from the friction caused by air, sonic booms sounded. But then she saw a smile on the man''s face, a chill went down her spine. Her purple hair glowed and violent tremors encompassed the planet. The planet whose vegetation was brunt, seas dried out and thunder clouds rumbled, a few inhabitants felt the great undulations and prayed, "Immortal of time you are our last hope".The purple-black spell formation in the woman''s hand grew more powerful the circles rotated creating a terrifying force. "God Sla-" But before she could cast her spell. The man softly spoke, "Rewind." The word was spoken lightly but it was heard in every creature''s mind present in the universe. The spell formation glowed with an incomparable light as humongous amounts of mana were sucked into it from the expanse of the universe. The formation enveloped the whole dimension, black holes, stars and pocket dimensions nothing was spared, it was even breaking out of the boundaries of the dimension. Bright light swallowed up everything. There was silence... one last sound was heard- "Its all up to you Damien..." Chapter 1- A Bolt Out Of The Blue "Are you up or should I barge in and wake you?", said a teenage boy with combedbrown hair yelled while knocking on the wooden door. "Alright alright, I am coming", replied Damien from inside the room, his eyes were still closed and his messed up brown hair told that he was still sleepy. "Good!" exclaimed Robert. He turned and left, heading into a long corridor. "Damn, it is still 4 o''clock, and we''re supposed to leave at 5", muttered Damien sliding off his bed. Damien''s room was huge. On one side there was a huge bookcase almost covering the entire wall, a ladder was kept beside it. His enormous bed was enough for 4 people to fit in and was covered with thick blankets and fluffy pillows with golden embroidery on them. On the other side were tall windows with their crimson curtains still drawn. It was dark in his room, and he stumbled as he reached his wardrobe which was made of ebony and was twice as big as him. These things clearly indicated that he was a son of a noble. He looked in the mirror: a pair of dark blue eyes stared back at him. He touched his triangular face that had smooth features, a sharp nose and thin pink lips that were slightly dry. He scratched his drool stained cheek and sighed. As Damien walked out of his room into the corridor he found Charles standing there waiting for him. "Good morning master Damien, the Lord wishes for your presence at the breakfast table" Charles was the head butler of the House of Wells, he had spent nearly 30 years watching his father serve the previous lord as he now served Earl Lawrence, Damien''s father. Charles was about 50 years old with black hair that was now on the verge of turning white, despite his age he had a sturdy built owing to his daily activities. He had brown eyes with average facial features, one might consider him to be a merchant if not for his butler outfit. "Good morning Charles, I shall be there in some time." As soon as Damien said that Charles bowed and left for the dining hall, Damien turned around and went to the baths to wash, after all, nobles should always stay clean and fresh. After changing into his clothes, Damien arrived in the dining hall, as he entered he found a long round table on which there were about 15 dishes and 3 people were seated. The hall had long banners printed with the house sigil and huge windows covered by purple silk curtains dim rays of the rising sun could be seen through the windows. The marble floor was shining as it reflected the light and the walls made of solid rock gave the ancient aura to the dining hall. At the head of the table sat a man with a long red cloak with a white tunic on which at the right breast was engraved the symbol of a black dragon this was the sigil of the Black Dragon Empire, under the sigil was the coat of arms of House Wells which consisted of a dragon and a lion holding a spears crossing them above the flag of the empire. The man also wore black leggings and huge boots, on his hands were 3 rings on, one from his wedding, the other was the storage ring and the last one was the royal ring of earl''s authority used to stamp all legal papers of the earldom. This man with a brown beard, neatly combed, was Damien and Robert''s father Lawrence Wells, the Earl of Triston - the third largest territory of the empire defending the entire eastern border. "Good morning father", said Damien. Lawrence just nodded his head he wasn''t prone to talking while eating. "Good morning mother", Damien addressed the calm and most graceful woman he had ever seen in the world sitting next to Lawrence, her blue eyes were as deep as the ocean mixed with her blonde hair they gave a certain appeal to any man looking at her. Whenever Damien looked into those eyes he felt a strangeness he had never felt before as if he had known those eyes for eternity, yet they were unknown to him. The lady who was dressed in a blue gown gently gestured Damien to come to sit next to her. Damien had always been close to his mother than his father and as soon as lady Katherine gestured Damien walked in a lightning-fast manner to approach her. After he sat next to her, Katherine filled Damien''s plate with all his favourite dishes. She loved the boy far too much to care if he gains weight or not but Damien had been made conscious of this by his father hence Damien exercised restraint and ate enough for his body to re-energize. Midway into the breakfast, an attendant came asking the Earl for entry. The Earl permitted him. The attendant approached and whispered something to Lawrence, he nodded his head and the attendant took his leave. After breakfast, Lawrence told Damien and Robert, "I will not be able to take you to the forest today I need to leave for the borderline there has been an incident among the soldiers. I shall return in 5 days until then work with the knight commander on your sword skills." "Yes, father", said Robert, while Damien nodded his head. At this Lady Katherine slightly frowned but Earl Lawrence gestured to her, and they walked out of the dining hall. After the Earl had left, Damien followed Robert to the stables, Damien turned and looked at the Earl''s mansion. Build from marble and stone this 3-storey tall building stood gleaming in the morning light, various attendants could be seen moving in the corridors through the huge glass windows. The gardener was taking care of the flower beds which surrounded the mansion and a fountain in between the clean paved roads with a few trees around them was a sight to behold, ''Indeed it should be only second to the mansion of the dukes'' thought Damien. Soon they arrived at the stables. The stables were made out of wood and the horses were eating straw in their sheds. Robert beckoned the servant managing the horses and said, "Bring out my Bucky and Damien''s Wooke" "Yes young master", the servant quickly went into one of these sheds and brought out two fine stallions one of them was white while the other was brown.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Ah! My good girl" Damien patted the brown stallion, the stallion neighed in response. "Quick now Damien, it is already 6 in my clock", said Robert as he quickly got up the saddle and used the reins to steer the horse to the exit. Shortly afterwards, Damien got up and rode off. Damien and Robert followed the brick road and arrived at a village next to a forest. The early birds were already out of their houses yet, there was not much hubbub in the village, everyone was minding their own business. Damien and Robert rode their horses till they arrived at a stable. They got off their horses and left them in the care of the groom saying that they will return later. This groom knew that these two nobles often ventured into the forest to hone their skills for it was imperative for those who held authority, may it be in the future, to have a certain amount of personal strength, thinking this the groom nodded to himself and proceeded with his work at hand. "Good morning," Robert said to the groom. He recognized the groom but did not know his name. "Morning sir." The groom helped the two men off their horses and knew they''d be back later than they''d done on previous occasions. He knew it was normal for nobles to go into the forest and practice. He waved goodbye as they left, and made sure their horses were taken care of while they were gone. Damien and Robert stopped at the blacksmith''s to get their weapon which they had left with the blacksmith to take care of the previous week. Soon they arrived at the edge of the forest. Only now Robert frowned and grumbled, "Ah! Father hasn''t got time for us, I thought we would go together this time" "Now now Robert, father had some urgent work, of course, he didn''t have time to play with us", laughed Damien. Robert snorted and walked into the forest, tall trees covered the sky while yellow dry leaves with dew on them crackled under the feet of the young men. Birds chirped and occasionally one could hear the hooting of an owl. Some shrubs had huge spiders, the size of one''s fist moved on the moist webs, the moss only added more green to this scene. The air was fresh and cool and by now the yellow-orange rays of the sun could be seen in clusters of bright spots. "That reminds me, we forgot to bring knight commander with us," said Damien. "Nevermind that, it would be too much of a hassle. He has been quite busy lately." "So what are we gonna hunt today ?", enquired Damien walking with his hands at back. "Let''s look for some rabbits or something along those lines", hummed Robert. *** "I SAID LOOK FOR A RABBIT!", snapped Robert, and he ran dodging past the branches, "GODS SAKE DAMIEN HOW THE HECK DID YOU ANGER A DOUBLE HORNED KANGAROO" "I thought it was a rabbit!", cried Damien with dirt on his face and tears rolling down his cheek he looked quite pitiful. "A RABBIT!? YOU COULDN''T SEE IT WAS FIVE! FIVE TIMES BIGGER THAN- THAN A RABBIT ?", Robert glared at Damien with eyes full of anger and annoyance. Not seeing where he was going, Robert slammed into a tree trunk, a few birds flew off the tree. Damien halted and helped Robert up, his pretty face was a mess and a few beads of blood appearing on his lips. Then a white furry animal with big strong legs that of a rabbit and a furry strong tail hopped over a shrub and looked at its preys. Two short grey horns were visible on its mouse-like forehead and his short cute paws hung to its body. It was indeed a cute animal but right now his red eyes held a malicious glint. ''It is actually six times bigger than a rabbit, brother Robert was wrong '' thought Damien. The Two-horned Kangaroo hopped forward and screeched. Damien went white in fear while clutching his brothers hand tightly. "Damien leave me... I am already injured and I have lived my 13 years of a life well, go Damien live on...", said Robert as he slowly closed his eyes. Little did Damien know, as he burst out crying, that his brother was playing a joke on him. Robert had sensed that this two-horned kangaroo was not much stronger than him and with some effort, he could kill it, but he felt it was important that he should teach Damien the consequences of provoking an unknown enemy, so he put up an act however, he felt quite painful realizing that he did not include crashing in the tree in his script. Then suddenly Damien got up and wiped his tears, his eyes were still welling up, "Robert, I will distract him and you call for help" with that he grabbed a stone threw it on the beast, which it dodged and dashed into the shrubs. The beast was provoked by his actions and followed him, not batting an eye to the now dumbstruck Robert. Then Robert got up and followed their trail shouting, "What the heck Damien?". Damien ran for his life crudely avoiding trees, branches and roots. He jumped over a stone and heard the twigs and leaves crackle in a regular rhythm, knowing that the Two-Horned Kangaroo was behind him. He soon reached a river bank the flow wasn''t too fast, Damien spaced out for a moment and slipped on the moss-covered pebbles and fell down. His hand was now hurt and his shin was bruised he saw a glimpse of a white blur, and he instinctively rolled to his side to avoid being crushed. As he tried to get up he stumbled on the pebbles and fell into the river. The enormous amount of water gushed over him as he tried to grasp for breath. He ended up flowing down the river. The Two-horned Kangaroo watched as Damien was washed away by the river. Soon the kangaroo lost its interest in Damien as it heard the bushes behind him rustle. It turned to see the blonde youth with dirt on his linen clothes, his face was brimming with anger and his eyes held an intent to kill within them. "Now now you filthy rat, where is my brother?", Robert drew his sword. ... Damien struggled as he rose from the shallow banks. He staggered as he walked near a rock and sighed with relief. ''Ah... that drained me'', he thought to himself as he wrung his clothes. ''I guess Robert should be safe by now, father would be so proud of me that I did something so valiant'', Damien lost himself while building castles in the air, however, a sudden piercing pain brought him back to his senses, "Ouch!" he shrieked as the pain in his head left him all dizzy and nauseous. He got up and walked away from the river "There are definitely some water spirits in the river which don''t like me", he said. It was said the water spirits or nymphs who lived in the river did not like humans in their waters and would occasionally play tricks on them to shoo them away hence, Damien drew this conclusion. He wasn''t looking where he was going, and then he stepped on something that looked like a tail of a rat. An ear-piercing shriek rang out in the forest as Damien widened his eyes and covered his ear. With a bitter smile, Damien said, "Hey there little mouse, umm... can''t we do this that I run away and you stay here?" A greenish-brown rat who was about half a yard long turned, his eyes were bloodshot with fury. Damien slowly stepped back only to realize that there was a tree behind his back, he looked around to find four of these creatures surrounding him, his only option was not to trade a limb for his life. But then the horrible pain again throbbed in his head and it slowly grew more painful as if something was trying to pierce into his mind. He screamed in pain but, the giant rats only closed in. Then space above him distorted, a black-blue portal opened up carrying an ancient aura so powerful that time seemed to stop, the rats momentarily stopped in their tracks, and then they turned and ran for their lives. Then an electric bolt shot out of the portal, even though it happened in a millionth of a second, it seemed as if the bolt was lazily flowing down like a liquid, turning and twisting it finally entered Damien''s mind. Damien''s pain reached its peak and his conscience started to fade, his life force flickered as if it was going to be extinguished any moment but then the bolt in his head slowly settled down in a deep corner of his conscience, with that Damien fainted. Chapter 2 - Returning Home Damien opened his eyes, the sensation of acute pain was still troubling his head. However, it slowly died down. It was then he noticed his surroundings, the beautiful blue sky expanded overhead with cumulus and great cumulonimbus clouds which stretched out till the horizon. He also noticed a certain peculiarity, he was standing on water! Surprised, he looked around only to find an endless sea of clear water on which the refection of the blue sky and white clouds could be vividly seen. There was no land in sight.He moved his feet - ripples were formed on the surface then he punched the surface of water out of curiosity only to find that his fist won''t break the surface but form large ripples. Then he noticed something from the corner of his eye. It was a grey silhouette of a man. Yes, that thing has the outline of a man, yes, he was totally grey but what scared Damien the most was this man had no features. He looked like a 2-D drawing in a 3-D picture; totally out of place. "Didn''t expect you to greet me so soon", a mature voice made Damien jump and turn back to see a man with handsome features and jet black hair, dressed in deep blue robes walking towards the silhouette. His Oxford blue eyes did not bother to give Damien a glance. "Creature of sin, I don''t laze around", a sound was emitted from the silhouette, his voice was that of a child, a man and a woman speaking together in harmony. The voice held weight, it was as if his every word was a decree passed by a wise imposing judge. "Yeah yeah, so why trouble meeting me", said the man now standing a few yards away from the silhouette. "Your actions give birth to a penalty thus, to impose it on you I have come." "Ah! That... to err is human to forgive divine," the man weakly laughed. "Consequences must be borne by the sinner." "Hey don''t label me as a scoundrel!" "Then a ludicrous being it is, expecting to fly too near to the sun and not get burned." The man coughed and said, "Let''s get back to the topic shall we?" With that the man walked further as the silhouette turned to face him. Damien could only hear them talk softly in a weird language. The man occasionally laughed while turning and walking a few paces around the silhouette, they seemed like distant friends who had met after some time. After who-knows-how-long, the man stopped walking, he turned and his gaze met Damien''s. His blue eyes seemed to pierce into Damien, making him look away, at this man who laughed and turned to the silhouette. "Alright", the man said and suddenly a brilliant white light filled Damien''s vision. It was so bright that it made looking at the sun as if you were seeing a lamp. Damien closed his eyes as he felt a falling sensation as the surrounding environment turned black like empty space. ... Damien woke up under a tree, drenched in sweat. As he looked around he found there to be no water around and the sky was as clear as it was on a fine summer morning. "Was that a dream? But it felt so real. Who was that man and that... ''thing'', its appearance was so scary," Damien still felt very abnormal after waking up. "I shouldn''t think about it any more, probably it was a water spirit playing with me... I need to find Robert," said Damien, as he got up and walked in the direction of the river bank. On reaching it Damien thought,''If I walk upstream I may be able to find Robert. Let''s hope I don''t encounter another beast or water spirits''. Damien steadily began his upstream journey, on his way he found no beasts for some peculiar reason. As Damien looked around he saw for the first time how dense the forest was, the trees although not extremely tall were very thick and deep-rooted. The river was shallow as it was nearing its mouth but it still had a lot of aquatic creatures. Damien kept on walking while looking at the scenery and inhaling the intoxicating smell of the silent forest after some time he found the point from where he had stumbled into the river. He walked for some time. A young boy standing near a rock drenched in blood with his sword stabbed into the corpse of a two-horned kangaroo, the same one that ran after Damien. "Take that you BASTARD! How dare you try to fight me!." This loud boy who used to be very calm and composed was, had lost all sanity at this point. As Robert took out his sword and turned around to look at the river in order to find clues to his brother''s whereabouts. Robert had heard a splashing sound while he went running in Damien''s and direction but, he had to kill a lot of ordinary beasts who kept attacking him on his way to the riverbank. They seemed to have been attracted by the ruckus. Robert was no fool or a weakling, he killed a lot of them to make the others realize not to attack him, which worked out just as he planned. On reaching the bank he found the kangaroo, angered that the beast had injured his brother, an intense killing intent emerged in Robert as he fought the kangaroo to death, in the end, he hacked the kangaroo''s body to pieces and kicked the decapitated head of the beast in the forest. All this while Damien had his adventure.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. After an hour or so, Damien finally reached Robert who was following the river downstream. As Robert was looking around he found Damien standing near the bank drenched not knowing if it was sweat or water Robert ran towards Damien shouting- "Danny you''re all right, thank god!" As he hugged him, Robert started apologizing to Damien telling him he was not there to protect him. "Umm... I don''t mind hugs but the blood on you doesn''t give me hug-ish feeling", laughed Damien. Robert humphed as he washed his face and clothes with the river water, "I am sorry I could have avoided this from happening" "Its alright Robert, I knew you would search for me and for that I am grateful. Come let us go home now, I think I ''ve had enough for one day," said Damien as he gestured Robert to follow him. Robert was too tired to say anything, so he followed Damien''s lead. ... As the boys entered the town they had left their horses in, Aligarth named after the forest of Aligarth into which Damien and Robert had previously ventured. "I think we should change our clothes if Mother sees us like this she would faint," said Robert as he looked in the direction of a clothing store. "Yeah, you''re probably right beside we are gathering attention as we speak," replied Damien looking at the surrounding people. They ran towards the store and entered it, as soon as the door was pushed it gave a bell chime to notify that customers had arrived. "Hello is anybody here?" said Robert as he looked at the counter and found no one. "Coming just give me a minute," replied a deep voice. From the sound of it, this voice belonged to a middle-aged man. As they looked around while waiting for the person to come to Damien and Robert noticed the charm this place held. The cloaks and tunics were neatly arranged for display in order of their shades with the leggings arranged right beneath them. The interior of the shop was made from the finely polished wood of the highest quality giving it a rich feel. On the ceiling was a beautiful tapestry at the centre of which there was a two-layered chandelier gleaming with gold and wax. There were two large couches placed next to a centre table behind the couch were the dressing rooms. Robert and Damien took each a pair of clothes to try on and quickly went in to change. By the time they had changed the sound of a man coming down from the staircase next to the counter reached their ears. A man dressed in only a plain tunic with white trousers came to the counter. He had a goatee with spectacles on his black bleak eyes, his face was wrinkled owing to his age. As he approached the duo on could see his frail body measuring tape around his neck and a pencil over his ear. "I see that the young gentlemen have already chosen their outfits. Then may I ask for my payment?" said the shopkeeper. He wasn''t bothered by the urgency the duo was in. "How much do I need to pay?" asked Robert as he took out a silver coin on which was inscribed a dragon the symbol of the empire. "That would be more than enough," said the shopkeeper taking the coin in his hand. After this Damien and Robert left the shop took their horses and raced them to the capital of Triston. *** By the time they arrived in the city gates, it was sundown and the guards too were surprised to see their young masters return so late. "Damien lets not tell mother about what happened today, as a matter of fact, let''s not tell anybody," said Robert while they rode through the city towards the palace. "Sure I have no issues besides it would only serve to worry others," replied Damien. Soon they reached the castle but as soon as they were about to enter the gates a sharp deafening roar greeted them."STOP RIGHT THERE." As they turned they fell in despair after seeing their mother in a carriage and a few knights riding towards them. "We''re gonna receive a good chiding" Robert bitterly smiled. Their mother got off the carriage red with fury, sometimes even noblewomen can lose their temper, after all, it concerned her children. "Would you two young gentlemen care to tell me which God gave you the permission to hunt all day, you know you two missed your arithmetic classes today moreover where are your original clothes? What in the world were you two thinking?... " After a while Lady Katherine calmed herself down, her demeanour and grace of a noble returned, and she said, "It was disappointing, you two go back to your room and wait over there, I and your father will decide the necessary punishment for you two when he returns... till then you two are not allowed to leave the mansion" with that she climbed back into the carriage and left with the knights. *** In Damien''s room. "Damien we need to get stronger, we can''t always spend so much time in the forest running from beasts looking for an easy target, remember Father is not with us so unlike our hunting trips with him, our recent trips are pretty long", said Robert with a serious glint in his eyes. "Okay, so how are we gonna do that?" "Umm... we train hard? Maybe", Robert scratched his head. "Yeah! That''s a great idea we can extensively hunt beasts that should be enough of a training, or we can wake up daily and practice the meditation technique that Father taught us!" exclaimed Damien. "Y-Yeah exactly", Robert nodded his head in agreement. "So let the get-stronger-while-hiding-from-mom operation begin!" "You are lame", snickered Robert. "You are a dork", said Damien as he threw a pillow on his brother. Robert dodged it and said, "Ah! a challenge?... I accept" "Remember I am still injured", laughed Damien. Robert jumped and started his spar with Damien as they both laughed the moon soon rose up. Somewhere far off, seeing this moon through his carriage''s window Earl Lawrence sighed, "Damn, this trip is gonna be a long one". Chapter 3 - "I see blue ants" A middle-aged man looked out on the beautiful twilight from his room, stars were still visible and two moons still rose high. The grey one was called Deus, the other was more of a planet than a moon it was termed by the researchers of Altair as Magna. The man sighed, "It already been a week." He drew the curtains and bright orange light emitted by the dwarves latest invention - the Lightbulb! was seen by the solider on night duty. The light from the mansion signalled the guards; the Earl was awake. "The Earl is awake, let''s inform him about the latest situation", said a guard, the other nodded. Earl Lawrence was glancing at a letter which was sent by his wife informing him of the recent incident with his children. He was relaxing on an armchair beside the window. His bedroom was a luxurious one. "She is too protective about them... especially Damien, guess that incident took a toll on her", the Earl muttered to himself before sitting down on a chair. He adjusted his loose robe and gazed outside the window and furrowed his brows, "Dealing with Night''s Hand is troublesome... James, what is going on in your mind?" and he peered into the endless sky. *** At the same time, capital of Triston, Earl Lawrence''s Mansion. Unlike many nobles who had built the main residence in their capital city''s core area, Earl Lawrence chose to build his mansion on the outskirts of the city. This gave his house a placid environment. In the serenity of dawn, two youths were sitting cross-legged in a balcony. The balcony was located on the second floor and had a few potted plants set at the borders. At the centre of the balcony, Roberts'' eyes were closed, and he was breathing in a peculiar manner, Damien was following him although he would occasionally open his eyes to see what Robert was doing. Robert didn''t sense the gaze of his brother and was deeply engrossed in the meditation, beads of sweat were already appearing on his forehead despite the cold morning. ''Indeed, Father was right, this meditation is an exercise for the mind as well as the body'', thought Robert. ''He is progressing way too fast for me to catch up. I wonder how far Robert will go if he were to become a mage'', Damien was busy with his own thoughts. Then suddenly Robert shrieked, "Yikes!" and jumped. Damien was brought back to reality and because of the sudden stimulus he jumped a foot in the air and fell on his butt. "Oww, what happened?" asked Damien. "I saw blue ants, they were really really minute, as thick as a hair, and they were constantly moving, a million- no billion of them were crawling everywhere!", Robert widened his eyes as he explained speaking very quickly. "Are you sure the kitchen maid didn''t drug you?" "Where do you get that nonsense from?" "Umm, I have been doing a lot of reading lately." "Jeez bookworm, then tell me what were those blue ants?" "Given the description, I had read an autobiography of Crusader-ranked mage, when he was about to step into the realm of ''Herald'' he sensed something similar and said it was mana" "You don''t say... Have I become a mage already?" "Stupid, even if you become a herald that''s nowhere near a real mage... didn''t you listen in the history class that Heralds are called pseudo-mages?" "Let''s not talk about the classes" At that moment a light knocking was heard on the balcony door. "Master Robert, may I enter", said Charles from the other side of the door. "You may", said Robert as he and Damien got up from the sparkling white marble floor. Charles entered, he was in his usual attire. He bowed and said, "Master Robert, Master Damien, the breakfast is ready, Lady Katherine is waiting for you downstairs and has asked me to inform you that your tutor would arrive at 6 o''clock sharp." "Okay, you may leave now", ordered Robert, Charles bowed once again and left after softly closing the door. "C''mon lets go Damien." *** At the breakfast table, Damien and Robert ate quietly without a word coming out of their mouths. Katherine, on the other hand, was completely focused on what the duo was doing, the whole time Damien and Robert were at the table they ate with their eyes on the plate while Katherine''s eyes were on them. When they were done eating it was already 5:40 am, "Your tutor scholar Marcus will arrive soon, go get dressed and treat him with respect he is respected by all the nobles he has taught. Do not disrespect him he is a Titan rank mage", said Katherine. Damien and Robert looked at each other and replied simultaneously, "We shall adhere to your will mother." After this short conversation, Robert and Damien went into the mansion''s library where they were supposed to meet the tutor. It has been imperative since the first days of the Black Dragon empire that every child from age 14 must attend mage academy or scholar academy until the age of 19. This was one of the first decrees of the first emperor Maximus Carinus Tyceon nearly 3500 years ago. The nobles chose to teach their children one or two years prior to the academy so that they can gain an edge.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. As Damien looked at the place he spent nearly all of his childhood in, the divine celestial realm as he would call it, the library. The greatest work of art in the entire mansion was this very hall, Damien''s grandfather Earl Julian Avitus Wells who like Damien was more concerned with knowledge than administration built this place as his paradise. The walls were made from brick which was then covered with marble, this marble was carved into designs by master sculptors. These designs were of the emperor with a dragon or simply dragons breathing fire but one thing was for certain every wall had sculptures in it which told a different story from different eras of the Black Dragon Empire starting with how Maximus created the country with a dragon and a dwarf named Orren. Then the large shelves housed thousands of books within them each shelf contained books in 250-year intervals, totalling 14 shelves with 3500 years worth of knowledge. The shelves were glass encased and airtight with the highest quality timber used. The servants shined them like glass every day, no book in the library was ever cobbed or dusty. The ceiling was white with beautiful round carvings under which hung the magnificent chandeliers which did not need candles but instead worked on the light bulbs created by the dwarves, all you had to do was just store some mana in it and it would last a year. While Damien was reading a book he had taken from the library Robert was busy meditating, Robert had been enthralled by the sight of those ''blue ants'', he wanted to tap into that energy as much as he could. As he sat there doing his breathing exercise he started emitting a faint blue light, so faint that one had to sit a foot away from Robert to notice it. This soft glow kept on flickering as if it was trying to stabilize itself. While Robert was trying to stabilize the energy he started getting irritated as he was just one step away from being able to influence its flow becoming a herald but what he did not realize is that this one step is the most difficult one for practitioners to take. After some time he gave up and looked around, as he was doing, so he saw Damien reading his book when suddenly the entrance door opened. A tall man with an average built, who looked to be in his 40s entered. He wore the official scholar''s uniform which was awarded to a person who had passed the scholar academy. It was a black robe with silver lines in its borders which showed that this man was a silver class scholar. There were a total of 4 types of scholar ranks - bronze, silver, gold and Ruby. Bronze was awarded to a person who had presented a proper thesis a topic to the academy, silver to a person who had produced at least 5 theses and had created or deciphered runes. Gold was given to the top students of the academy who were like a walking archive and Ruby, a realm far above gold... they were said to nearly omniscient, it was the legendary rank that only Orren has said to have reached in the history of the empire, while there have been said to be people who have reached Ruby their actual abilities are only of the quasi-Ruby realm. The man wore spectacles whose concave lenses were placed in a round metal frame, "Would you two gentlemen be Damien and Robert?", asked Marcus. "Indeed we are, my name is Robert and you must be our tutor Sir Marcus", replied Robert as he looked at Damien gesturing him to come to greet their tutor and for once getting his head out of the books. " Forgive me sir my name is Damien", said Damien as he hurried next to Robert. "Let us not delay any further, shall we begin", said Marcus as he sat down on the chair near the board under which was kept a chalk. He immediately took it up and started to draw a landmark this was the continent of Pandora. The Elven empire of the elves and humans, Blood Haven empire of the vampires and humans and the Black Dragon empire of humans and dwarves. "Today we shall start with the geography of Altair especially the continent we live on, Pandora", said Marcus as he used a stick to point at the eastern side of the map. "This is the Black Dragon empire It occupies nearly the entire eastern coast of the continent barring the extreme southern sides. It further extends into the central regions of the continent. Next to the empire is the land of the elves, of course with humans, starting from the west coast extending into the central area it is the largest empire of the continent. In the South we have the empire of the vampires and humans which occupies the entire southern area of the continent, all three empires are divided in the centre by the Holy Trinity barren expanse. It is said that this land has been burnt so badly by a fight between a Dragon and Angel that it is unfit for living and can only be used as war ground by the three empires", explained Marcus as he paused to drink some water. After this, he explained about the archipelago some 300 miles off the coast of the Bloodhaven empire. By the time he had ended his lesson, he taught Damien and Robert about the Dragon continent on the eastern side of the Black Dragon empire and that nobody other than the emperor was allowed to venture into that territory by strict orders from the first emperor. Then Marcus took their arithmetic and language test in order to gauge their skills, all these activities had taken nearly 6 hours. "We shall end class today, tomorrow we will learn about the history of the Black Dragon empire", said Marcus as he left the library. He was a person who liked to do his job, it could be seen from his way of teaching Damien and Robert he enjoyed it thoroughly, however, he did not express it to his students. Hence, he left as soon the class was over. "Damien I am retiring to my room, for now, I need to practice my breathing so that I can influence mana and become a Herald. See you at tea time, tell mother and the servants not to disturb me until then", announced Robert as he walked with Damien to his room. "I will make sure nobody disturbs you, best of luck in your quest", said Damien as he walked towards his mother''s quarters bidding Robert farewell. It was still 12 pm right now,''Professor sure had taken his time to teach us.'' *** Some hours later. Inside Robert''s Quarters. Robert was sitting cross-legged on the ground, sounds of deep inhalations could be heard. He breathed in an uncanny manner, his back was ramrod straight and his various muscles were tensed. In his head, Robert could sense tiny blue particles moving haphazardly. These particles seemed to cover the entire range of Roberts perception, there was not a spot which did not have these particles dancing on them. It was everywhere, Mana was everywhere. ''Move'', willed Robert, ''Move, flow with me, mana.'' ''Move on my command...'', Robert tried again but to no avail. It had already been 12 hours since Robert shut his door and started to meditate. ''Why? Why can''t I control mana, do I lack talent? Will I be a Low-Class mage ?'', thoughts swirled in Roberts'' head, his mind grew chaotic. '' Damn it, MANA MOVE, FOR GOD''S SAKE MOVE'', Robert shouted in his head. He felt helpless and weak that he could not control such tiny particles. Soon enough his will gave away, he sighed, and he was about to stop as his mind cleared. ''Huh?'', the mana moved in a certain way, though still, the particles were randomly moving, it seemed as though they were pushed by an external force. ''So was giving up the key? Wait, am I stupid? The key was probably the placidity of mind or something like that?'' "Robert!", Damien''s voice was heard outside Robert''s room. Suddenly Damien''s rapping on the door was heard finally breaking Robert''s train of thoughts. "Jeez Damien, what happened?", Robert opened the door and asked in agitation. "Look here Robert there is a letter from Father", Damien''s eyes were full of glee as he stretched out a smile. Robert took the letter from Damien''s hand and read it. As he read it, his face too broke into a cheerful smile. "Guess tomorrow is gonna be interesting", Robert laughed. Chapter 4 - Mages 101 "Good morning professor!", said, Damien, while Robert nodded on seeing Marcus enter the library. "Oh! It is good to see two knowledge-hungry individuals in the morning.", exclaimed Marcus with pleasure as he saw Damien and Robert''s face filled with eagerness. "We shall start with a history lesson of the Black Dragon empire.", said, Marcus, while passing two books to the duo. "The Black Dragon empire was formed 3500 years ago. The first emperor, Maximus, was a member of the Shamans on the dragon continent of A''pagorevminoz. It is said that in his early years Maximus met the Black Steel Dragon, who took Maximus under its wing as an apprentice and named him Maximus Carinus Tyceon. During Maximus'' training period the Black Steel Dragon contended for the title of the Dragon Emperor which he won by defeating ruthlessly and single-handedly five champion dragons and then the White Goldhorn Empress. After the Black Steel Dragon became the emperor, Maximus completed his training under him. Later, Maximus expressed his wish to go to the human occupied continent of Pandora; the dragon complied. Hence Maximus arrived on the continent riding on the back of the Dragon Emperor. On reaching the continent the dragon disguised himself as a commoner human and roamed around along with Maximus, in order to widen his knowledge of the human society.", explained Marcus in detail. He paused for a moment in order to see if the duo had any questions. Damien''s attention was concentrated on the book in his hands for a long time. While he was looking at the illustrations of Maximus'' travels, a question had come to his mind. (O : lets name dragon continent A''pagorevminoz . R: Aapagoo... wtf? O: Done!) "Professor, why is the name of the dragon not mentioned in any of the sources of history?", asked Damien while looking Marcus in the eye with curiosity. "Only Lord Maximus and Lord Orren knew his name", explained Marcus as he was intrigued by Damien''s question, "It is said that knowledge of a dragon''s name is one of the greatest forms of knowledge there is. A dragon''s name is extremely powerful and if one speaks the true name of a dragon, it is said that one could be the cause of the descent of a disastrous calamity. It is also said that the dragon had forbidden the lords from ever telling his name to anyone." "Anyways, we must continue." "After several months of travelling, Maximus and the dragon were introduced to a dwarven blacksmith unbeatable in his craftsmanship. Maximus was successful in convincing him to join his group on their travels. In the near future, they would form a bond of friendship unlike any other. This dwarf, as you may know, was lord Orren, the creator and the only Ruby ranked scholar of the Scholar''s academy. Several years after they had roamed the Elvan empire and the human lands, which were divided into several smaller duchies, Maximus comprehended the cause of the great misery of his people - this system - and was encouraged by the dragon and Orren to take over the human lands. Though reluctant at first, Maximus later agreed to the idea, realising that the only salvation was a complete change is a structure." "Maximus formed an advanced army consisting of rebels and bandits who were against the duchies and trained them in the ways of the draconic martial arts, which to this day is only taught to the strongest warriors of the kingdom. Orren, who brought nearly 500 dwarves under his wing, created state of the art weapons for the 15000 men army. Slowly and steadily, Maximus waged war on the Duchies. Starting from the North, in a span of 2 years he was able to reach the gates of the central Duchy of Duke Matthew, who refused to surrender and employed the help of the vampires from the Blood Haven empire to defeat Maximus. The vampires wreaked havoc on Maximus'' army and nearly killed him. This was the greatest mistake of the Duke for it angered the Dragon Emperor beyond measure." "Thus began the greatest massacre that has ever occurred in Pandora. The Emperor unleashed the Divine Dragon Flame on the entire Duchy and the borders of the Blood Haven Empire. Several million men were reduced to ashes in an instant. Nothing remained. The grounds were destroyed beyond repair and this land is now known as the Holy Trinity Barren Expanse. After this event, the remaining Southern Duchies signed a pact with Maximus, pledging their loyalty to him for retaining the control over their territories. Maximus, not wanting to cause any political unrest, changed the court system to that in which there would be only one Grand Duke, one Marquis and only one Earl, among whom the territory would be divided according to rank after the carving of the capital..." "Wait for a second Sir. Didn''t you tell us that ''Holy Trinity'' was formed because of a fight between a Dragon and an Angel?" "Ah! That? That is an old folklore from my hometown, it was just a joke in order to incite your curiosity," Marcus laughed. "Okay, that is enough history for today. We will take a break now, after which we will continue on with some arithmetic and start with the magic lessons.", paused Marcus while Damien stood up to get some water for his Professor. After the break, they studied for 2 hours while Marcus took notice of how well versed the duo were in their arithmetic skill.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. (R: why would you teach them maths? O: They have to suffer...) ... After their Arithmetic lesson, Marcus began explaining the two about Mage ranking and Mage skill test. "Now how much do you two know about Mages?", Marcus asked. "Sir, Mages are the beings who can control mana and cast magic", answered Damien. "Sir, I believe that Mages are those who understand the principle behind mana to cast spells and accomplish tasks", Robert said, looking at Damien from the corner of his eye and grinning within himself. "Both of you are partly correct, but the correct definition of a Mage would be- a being who seeks the truth behind the principles of the universe in order to exercise their control over the world". Damien began scribbling in a book while Robert repeated the sentence in his mind. "Now what do you know about mana and magic?" "Sir, mana is a special component of the world other than energy and matter. It can be converted into matter and energy and back again. It can be controlled by a Mage and the phenomenon caused by mana is called magic." "Indeed you are correct Damien, all mages harness the power of mana to cast magic.", Marcus nodded his head in delight. Robert, on the other hand, was slightly amazed. ''Damien is already so knowledgeable? Ahh! the bookworm also has his days'', thought Robert. "But sir, how do mages cast magic?", inquired Robert. "Mages use the power of their soul and phrases spoken in a definite order to influence mana. They then compress that mana via a medium like a wand or a staff, or they use spell formations inscribed on a medium, and with the detachment of mana formation formed by the medium, a spell is cast." "That sounds difficult!", exclaimed Damien with dismay. "That is exactly why not everyone has the ability to become a true mage!", said Marcus with a tinge of laughter. "Now, let me tell you about the Mage ranking system..." "Mages are divided into several ranks. The trainee stage, also known as the Herald, is when a human starts to sense and manipulate mana in minor amounts. After this stage is the first 4-ranks, namely - Neomage, Guardian, Crusader and Titan. With each rank, a significant power difference occurs. As an example, a Guardian would not be killed even with the combined efforts of several Neomages. I, a Crusader-ranked mage will be able to kill you two just by releasing my aura. ", he continued while the two faces opposite his went pale. "Do you two know that your father is even more powerful than me?", Marcus said, smiling. "Father is so strong? No wonder he is an Earl!", exclaimed Robert and the two brothers shared ecstatic glances. "Yes, according to our empire''s rules the noble positions are given by merit, which means that if you two fail to reach the power level of your father, then your family will have to descend to the rank of Count." "I will become stronger than father!", declared Damien. enthusiastically. "Sure, Damien, you will. Now, let me explain you the Mage assessment which takes place every year during the end of summers...", said Marcus as he started to describe the test. "So, the test is divided into 3 phases - Elemental affinity test, Spirit aptitude test and the Ability test. The Elemental affinity test will tell you about the two basic elements that you have an affinity with; the basic elements include- Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Lightning. The proportion of the affinity of the two elements differs from individual-to-individual. They are never exactly the same for two people. For example, Damien and you, Robert, may have an affinity for Fire and Water. However, Damien''s fire affinity may be 2.5 or something times more than his water affinity. While on the other hand, Robert may have his affinity for Fire 2.8 times more than his affinity for water. Any questions?". Robert and Damien shook their heads. Marcus continued, "Then there is the Soul aptitude test which determines the quality of your soul and the current mana capacity. Mana capacity is the amount of mana one can influence before exhausting oneself. The quality of your soul determines the speed at which you can increase the mana capacity and recover your spirit stamina. It also tells us about your advancement speed as a mage. Although, in recent times these two tests are taken together at once. I hope you two understand what I am saying." "Yes, sir!", confirmed the two with vigour, a fire burning in their eyes. Marcus, with an amused look on his face, said, "Good. Now the last test - the Ability test! As you would already know that the Mage assessment test is compulsory for all children who turn or are about to turn 14 that year. However, the 3rd part of the test has a condition-only Heralds are allowed to give their test. A Herald is also known as a pseudomage and can slightly influence or detect the movement of mana but cannot cast spells. Comparatively, it is easy to become one so you two should aim to become a Herald as soon as possible." Marcus looked at them with anticipation in his eyes and continued, "So the Ability test determines your ability. An ability is a unique spell which is embedded in the soul. Although similar effects can be produced by magic, the abilities are more versatile and powerful. Sometimes, magic cannot produce the same effect. For example, my ability is ''write''. I can draw anything or produce an image on any surface!" Marcus pulled out a sheet of paper and caressed his hand over it. A portrait of Robert and Damien together was produced on the sheet. The children''s eyes popped out as they saw magic. The portrait was lifelike as if the two had looked into a mirror. Marcus smiled at these two innocent creatures. He could feel in himself an uncommon liking towards the two. "Do you two know that Humans are very lucky in this aspect? While other species have their abilities determined by their bloodline, albeit with variations, we humans have different abilities! It is possible for two people to have the same abilities but all of mankind does not share the same one." "Sir, could you explain how the abilities of other species are same, but with variations?" "That is something you learn after becoming a Herald so pardon me... However, let me tell you about the ability ranking. Abilities are divided into groups, depending on several factors. It is possible to evolve one''s abilities although it is very rare. They are ranked as - D, C, C+, B, B+, A, A+, S, SS, SSS. While B class is the aggregate, A+ signifies very rarely. S class is for 1 person in a hundred million, while SSS class is something that has never been found. However, it is speculated that the first human emperor who brought peace in the chaotic age and ended the great war had an ability belonging to this class!" As Marcus finished the sentence, the Grandfather clock nearby struck 12. Marcus concluded the session by informing them that he will not be taking classes for the coming five days due to an important travel plan. "Danny, come to my room in the evening. I wish to talk to you about Father''s letter.", said Robert when they were left alone. Chapter 5 - Herald ¡°Bobby I am here, open the door¡±, said Damien as he knocked on Robert¡¯s door. ¡°Danny its unlocked come in¡±, replied Robert. As Damien entered the familiar room, he could feel that the air pressure was absurdly high around Robert. ¡°Did you become a Herald!¡±, exclaimed Damien as the possibility of that happening was present all around them. ¡°No, although I think I have reached a bottleneck... if I can somehow overcome it I might become a Herald¡±, Robert voiced his concerns to Damien while Damien was engrossed in understanding the density of aura around Robert. "What is this glow around you?" "It is mana", explained Robert. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe that just by becoming a Herald you can gather such heavy amount of mana. If I didn¡¯t know better this might be the total mana I have accumulated in my life, you did this in a matter of hours. This is amazing, brother¡±, concluded Damien as he finished analysing the room. ¡°Can we stop looking at what I have done and, focus on the problem ?¡± Damien looked at his brother and understood that Robert was more inclined to solve the bottleneck than entertaining Damien¡¯s curiosity. ¡°All right, what did you have in mind? ¡±, asked Damien looking Robert in the eye. This was a signal of sorts for the brothers to understand when either one of them was extremely serious. This showed that they were completely focussed on what the other was saying and will give their most honest opinion. ¡°I wish to enter the forest and fight a Herald ranked beast¡±, said Robert as he waited for Damien¡¯s opinion. ¡°I concur if you fight a beast stronger than you then it might bring out your potential and help you get through the bottleneck. It is a difficult task though, it requires extensive planning and near perfect execution¡±, Damien voiced his concerns while also supporting Robert¡¯s wishes. ¡°Leave the beast hunting plans to me, convince Mother to let us spend some nights in the forest. I know she won¡¯t listen to me but you are her most cherished child she will listen to whatever you say if worded properly, besides you know what Father''s letter said¡±, Robert pointed out the deep-seated love their mother had for Damien of which Robert had always been jealous of but not to the point that he starts hating Damien for it. (R: why the partiality? O: you never had a sibling did you?) ¡°Come now brother you can¡¯t be bringing up that old incident when we were 8 years old, its already been nearly 5 years since then¡±, taunted Damien as he gave Robert menacing glance. "Ah! That... I wasn''t referring to it", a hint of nostalgia and guilt twinkled in Roberts'' eyes. "Nevermind then...the dead past should remain buried" "Stop acting like a philosopher and help me out", complained Robert. "You need to keep a cool head Bobby", giggled Damien. *** "Good evening Damien, may I know why you were looking for me ?", Lady Katherine was sitting behind a table, on a luxurious armchair writing some documents. "Mother you know about Father''s letter-" at this Lady Katherine''s expressions turned grim, and she gestured Damien to stop, "Servants, leave!" all the attendants left obediently. "Yes, dear Damien what were you saying", a smile spread across her face, however, the atmosphere became heavy indicating her anger. "M-Mother, well...", Damien stammered. "Speak it out!", she snapped. "Mother, as stated in Father''s letter, he wants us to train harder and become stronger, he states that we should spend more time in the forest! A-And Robert has hit a bottleneck, so he wants me and him to spend some nights in the forest, so he can figure out a way to break through!", Damien quickly said it all and crossed his fingers. "Oh! So that''s the case... well tell me is our mansion, not a good place to practice your meditation techniques?", the air in the room turned even gloomier and Lady Katherine''s voice grew softer indicating that things were going downhill. "B-But Mother...", Damien''s mind was going blank, "We can''t get enough exposure in the Mansion" "Exposure to what?" "U-Umm, we want to learn how to survive in unfavourable conditions!" "Well, now you have said it, I believe henceforth the mansion will certainly come under ''Unfavourable conditions''", cold sweat appeared on Damien''s forehead, his Mother''s wrath wasn''t something he would like to incur, he knew that she had held herself back when they had returned late sometime ago. Damien gritted his teeth, "Mother... please, please try to understand that w-we want to grow up and face harsh conditions, we are not children any more!" ''Okay, I went too far...'', thought Damien, he closed his eyes as he waited for the ultimatum. After a minute of horrific silence, Lady Katherine pushed back her chair and got up, ''Here it comes'', though Damien. Lady Katherine slowly walked up to him. "Damien," her soft melodious voice sounded in Damien''s ear, "You know what?" Damien''s legs felt like jelly, but then Lady Katherine pulled him close in an embrace. (O: want some incest? R: Jesus no, Katherine is out of bounds for you)You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "You have grown so much!", she sobbed on his head with puffy eyes. Damien was indeed half a head shorter than her. ''Wh-What in the world?'', Damien''s face was flushed red as he suffocated in her bosom, Lady Katherine''s blonde hair fell on his shoulder as she hugged him even tighter, her sobbing stopped as she kissed his cheeks. "Mother", as that word left Damien''s lips Lady Katherine resumed her sobbing, "Y-You and Robert will leave me someday...", Damien tried to say something, but he realized that he could not speak any more as the words were not ready to leave his mouth. "Damien, will you leave your Mother?", she asked with red eyes. After sometime Damien finally let out the words he so dearly wanted his mother to hear, "N-Never Mother!" "You are such a good child!", she started crying again and pulled him in another embrace, "Okay Damien, promise me that no matter what challenge you will face, you will always come back home!", Lady Katherine wailed. "Y-Yes Mother!", stammered Damien. *** Later that night. Robert and Damien were walking in the familiar woods with big backpacks on their shoulders. Damien looked in deep thought. "Did we overpack Damien?" asked Robert as he stared at the sky filled with branches and stars. "W-What!?", Damien jumped back. "What''s with you looking so deep in thought", Robert stopped in his tracks and turned to face Damien. "I-It''s nothing!", Damien did not wish to tell what had occurred in his mother''s quarters as he thought that would only make Robert jealous. "Hmm, let me guess Mother said something when you went to convince her and its something I would not like so you''re thinking of a way to tell me ", sighed Robert. "W-What?! No! It is not that!", screamed Damien, "I-I am a bit s-scared" "Hahahaha", Robert burst out laughing while clutching his stomach. *** In Lady Katherine''s room. "My my what time is it?", Lady Katherine lay in bed, her nightgown whaphazard, butbut she paid it no heed, her white lustrous thighs were visible, with her back arched, her round bottom looked even more alluring. "They should have eaten their dinner by now..." she rolled on her back and stared at the stars, her chest was resting on her plentiful bosom as they changed shape under her weight, the light was reflected on her smooth skin making it glow "I hope the spell I left on Damien''s cheek would prove helpful to them..." Her round blue eyes glowed in the moonlight as she cupped her face and sighed, "I shouldn''t have been that emotional with him... He is probably all unsettled right now" "Guess I will spend my night alone." (O: could have done some fine work over there R: a pity that my delete key is still intact) *** Wake up you sleepyhead!", Robert nudged Damien. "Don''t wanna", muttered Damien. "Get up already" "No" "Get up or I will smack you" "No" "Get up or I will throw you in the river" "No" a vein popped up on Robert''s forehead but then an idea struck him, and he regained his calm "Your wife is here!" "N-My WHAT!", Damien jumped up and looked around with wide eyes only to see Robert rolling on the floor and laughing, "Old trick always works", he clutched his stomach and laughed. "C''mon get ready", Robert left the tent giggling. Damien was left with a red face he got up and washed his face, brushed his teeth, wore his leather armour and picked up his sheathed sword as he left the tent. "Ah man, I really wanna bathe", grumbled Damien, "Let''s go to the river" "Before that let''s hunt some rabbits", Robert smirked. *** "Is this what you meant by hunting a rabbit," Damien rolled sideways as he dodged a blow from the ''Giant Horse Squirrel''. Yes, it was a 3-metre tall squirrel, it had long thick arms with ape-like hands. You must be thinking about the ''Horse'' part? Well, it had the head of a horse, hence named ''Giant Horse squirrel''. (R: I cant always stop orion''s weird imagination...) "Well, yeah! I used my mana sensing abilities to seek it out, be careful, it is a herald rank creature", shouted Robert as he tried to stab the squirrel but his blow was blocked by the thick palms of the squirrel. "Then talk less and fight more!" Damien screamed as he threw a stone at the squirrel. The angry squirrel neighed and ran towards Damien. Robert blocked the squirrel''s way and swung his sword diagonally at the squirrel, the Squirrel neighed in anger and threw a fist at Robert. Damien circled around and attacked the squirrel from behind, but its bushy tail moved in response and blocked that blow. Damien repeatedly attacked the squirrel but to no avail, its tail blocked all of them. Robert dodged two fists and slid on his knees and slashed at the squirrel''s tummy. "NEEEEEE!", the Squirrel neighed even louder as beads of blood appeared in a horizontal line. At that moment Damien used this chance to stab the squirrel''s back. "My! it''s angry now", Robert''s face turned grim. Suddenly loads mana were drawn in the squirrel and the fervour in its eyes grew. Its every movement became quicker and stronger. "What drug did it take?!", asked Damien as he was pushed back by the tail. "Mana!" the Squirrel lunged at Robert. Robert dodged sideways but a fist came at him he defended with his sword and was pushed back as he fell. The squirrel regained its footing as smoke blew out of its nostrils. It turned and neighed at Robert who was trying to get up. However, its attention was drawn by Damien who ran crazily towards the squirrel as he screamed. (Orion: HEEE HAWW Should have given it wings and multiple heads too) "Damn it Damien! Don''t attack like this", snapped Robert. Damien didn''t heed Robert''s words and continued to charge. "Crap!", Robert got up and ran towards the Squirrel. The Squirrel''s large fist clashed with Damien''s sword and both flew back. Robert deflected the second fist which was going for Damien''s head, Damien jumped back as it brushed past his face. "You fool!", Robert scolded Damien but a resolute light gleamed in Damien''s eye. "Brother I think I know how you can become a Herald..." "What? How?" "Remember that you were about to give up and you lost all hope so you were able to move mana, and right now the Horsehead Squirrel was hit so it was able to draw in mana, I think-" Damien jumped back to dodge a fist. "What?", Robert ducked and slashed at the Squirrel. "I think only with a blank mind can you control mana!" "Eh?", Robert spaced out for a moment and was hit by a fist in his stomach. He flew back as saliva and last night''s dinner formed an arch in the air. "No!", Damien screamed and started attacking like a madman, his quick haphazard blows rained upon the Squirrel, it was able to block most of them, however, its fists were now bleeding and multiple wounds were visible on its body. Meanwhile, "Oww", Robert gasped for air. He was feeling nauseous and his tummy was a mess, his elbows were bleeding and his legs felt weak. ''Clear your mind'' Robert thought. ''Arrgh! How can this work!?'' he grew agitated each second. His brain ran at high speeds trying to figure out how can he influence mana and breakthrough to becoming a Herald. Finally, his mind gave up, ''Okay I give up damn it! Do what you want mana!'', he thought as he saw trillions of blue particles in the air moving hastily. His mind when blank, and he felt he should move in with the mana, ''But it''s all random! How can I move with mana?!'' Robert thought himself as stupid but then, He moved his body looking at a single particle as he moved large amounts of mana moved with his body. ''What? No don''t think'' he felt his grip at mana loosen when he tried to concentrate on something. "Hey Squirrel", A large amount of mana flowed in Robert''s direction as it was absorbed in his body, he felt as if his body had broken through a glass container, every cell in his body was being filled with energy. He felt his strength grow. At this moment Damien fell down from exhaustion. Robert got up and brushed his clothes, the squirrel turned its horse head towards him. Robert picked up his sword and held it up as mana roared around Robert, he said, "I am your opponent!" (Behind the scenes: R: wtf is a horse-headed squirrel? O: Google it R: excuse me w- O: trust me it will be hilarious ) Chapter 6 - Half Time Robert stood there in an imposing manner, with his silver sword in his hand, he moved his other hand in a strange pattern as mana continued to flow into his body. ''My body is at its limits now... so much mana inside my body, I guess I can release it at will too'' an evil grin spread out on Robert''s face. Robert and the squirrel charged at each other, the former roared while that latter neighed. Robert vertically slashed and dodged the squirrel''s punch, a clear line of blood appeared on its chest. The squirrel felt angry and scared at the same time, the pain made it neigh and this moment of spacing out cost it its arm. Robert smirked as he served the squirrel''s arm, blood flew into the air and dyed Robert''s hair red, a few drops of blood trickled down his forehead drawing red lines on his glowing face. The horse head squirrel neighed as it rolled about in pain. Robert approached the squirrel as it struggled to get up and run. Robert flung his sword, it spun and impaled the squirrel''s leg, almost cutting it off. The squirrel helplessly fell down as its eyes grew dim and its voice grew weaker. Robert walked up and looked into the eyes of the creature which were begging for a plea. "Die", Robert released all his mana in his arm and willed it to release in his fist''s direction, a powerful force cased the squirrel''s ribs to cave in and its heart to be crushed, it died with one last neigh. (O: see it lived niegh more. R: Wtf) *** "Oww, my arm still feels a bit numb," groaned Robert as he massaged his arm while sitting under the shade of a tree. "Haha Bobby, who knew there would be a backlash?", laughed Damien as he got up from his meditating position, Damien was now very close to where Robert was before the battle with the Giant horse squirrel. "Yeah, but I am a herald now!", Robert got up with his chest puffed out. "I am quite surprised too," said Damien, "Now brother what should we do of the meat we salvaged?" "I am not really fond of squirrel meat especially the one with a horse''s head but I suggest that we eat it", Damien nodded at his brother''s decision. "So who is gonna cook?" asked Damien. "I am too tired to do it, so you are the cook now" "Lazy bastard", murmured Damien. "I heard that", said Robert as he curled up and closed his eyes. *** "Hmm it tastes like beef, only the meat is firmer, you sure you cooked it properly ?", asked Robert as he bit into the fried meat. "Yeah, I forgot that there was a kitchen in the middle of a forest," sneered Damien as he took a bite, suddenly an intense wave of mana went down Damien''s throat as he gulped down the meat. "W-What is this?" "Oh yeah, since it is the meat of a herald ranked creature it will, of course, be imbued with mana," said Robert nonchalantly as he took another bite. "Whew, that scared me", Damien continued to eat, "What happened you look a bit troubled" "Well... it was a herald ranked creature so it should have had the same abilities as me, such as that mana punch," Robert furrowed his brows, "But it did not happen, not even when I gravely injured it." "Then there can be only one possibility- it didn''t know how to use these abilities" "Yes, in that case, it can be assumed that it was a newly advanced Herald creature," "So what''s troubling you is-", Damien widened his eyes. "It was an infant! Thus, its parents must be-" "Here?", Damien bitterly smiled as he pointed in a certain direction. Robert felt a giant mass of mana heading towards them. (O: mommy squirrel! R: ....Horse head?) "Ah, I still don''t know how to deal with the backlash now another trouble," Robert got up and unsheathed his sword. "Don''t worry, Danny here will protect you!" Damien brandished his sword. "Meh, you probably won''t last a minute" "Cant we ambush it or something ?" "Can we hide the mana radiating from us?" "So we face it head-on?" "Seems like the only choice", humped Robert. The trees swayed and the ground rumbled as a five-metre long monster made its way through the forest. It had brown fur which matched with the wood of deciduous trees in the background. Two eyes brimming with bloodlust were embedded in its horse-like head which constantly neighed. Its two strong arms pulled apart the shrubs and bushes while its powerful hind legs sent dirt flying as it made its way towards a clearing. Other animals avoided this beast, as for who was unable to, they were torn to shreds or crushed by its hands. An adult Giant horse Squirrel was indeed a killing machine!Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Soon enough it arrived where the duo was. Seeing its kin''s bones littered around it neighed in angry, its eyes flashed with fury and it pounced at Robert who was still holding a bone. A great amount of mana was sucked in by the squirrel as it opened its mouth and a terrifying amount of force burst out wanting to crush Robert. "See what I meant Danny?", Robert narrowly dodged the blow, a tree behind him were blown to smithereens. "So can I leave?", Damien laughed weakly, Robert glared at him and said, "After we kill this Squirrel", Robert charged at the squirrel as he thrust his sword. The squirrel was a step faster and countered Roberts attack with two powerful punches, its tail swept the ground. Robert avoided being blown away by its tail by jumping about 5 meters high. While he was airborne the squirrel turned and launched another punch. ''A combo attack?!'', Robert was alarmed by squirrels actions ''the only way to avoid a critical injury is to block it but that would send me flying away that way the squirrel may follow up with an attack''. At that moment a sword came flying towards Robert, he understood the signal and used the flying sword as a platform to jump even higher, on the other hand, the sword was shot forth with Robert''s legs, with an impressive force it banged into squirrel''s arms and broke its defence. Robert took this chance and released the mana in his forefinger, a powerful ray was shot forth and pierced the squirrel''s shoulder. Robert quickly seized Damien''s sword and threw it back to him. Damien dodged the flying sword and complained, "Are you trying kill me ?!" "Quit blabbering we need to kill it quickly", Robert readied his stance, while Damien hid behind a tree. The squirrel neighed as it felt the sharp pain from its bone-deep wound, it marked Damien as a threat and rushed to him. "Bobby get it away from me!", Damien screamed as a fist tore apart the tree''s trunk, wood splinter flew in the air and the tree swayed and fell down. Damien ran away from the squirrel, but he sensed a fluctuation in mana. The squirrel opened its mouth and another translucent beam was released from its mouth, Damien trusted his instincts and ducked. The tree in front of him was blown apart, cold sweat appeared on Damien''s forehead, he heard a neigh. He turned back to see that Robert had stabbed one of the squirrel''s arms. The squirrel neighed, fury was evident in its eyes. Robert back flipped and dodged the squirrel''s tail. ''I have got much more agile after infusion of mana... but how was this squirrel able to release mana twice and not suffer a backlash?'' Robert pondered over it. "Careful!", shouted Damien. Robert gracefully landed and blocked the squirrel''s uppercut, at that moment a terrifying force was felt by Robert. The squirrel had released the mana in its arm! ''Damn it'' Robert countered this by doing the same. Boom! The ground below the point where the forces collided was blown away, revealing a 2-foot crater. A strong gale pushed Robert back. "No wonder Heralds are a league above normal beings... If this is the power of a false-mage, I wonder what a real one can do!", Damien said to himself. ''I need to breakthrough! Or else I will never be able to catch up with Robert'', a fire of determination burned in Damien''s eyes. ''He is gonna do something stupid again'', Robert shook his head as he saw the expression on Damien''s face. Crash! Robert fended off the squirrel''s arms. Robert paled when he felt his right arm go numb. "The backlash!", he cursed under his breath. Robert was left-handed so his strength didn''t drop down too much but the inability to use an arm could yield nasty results. The squirrel didn''t seem have suffered any backlash and continued to use both its arms. Robert was being pushed back. The Squirrel neighed. A huge wave of mana was sucked into its body and once again it prepared to launch a mana attack, Robert widened his eyes. At this moment Damien ran towards the squirrel with his eyes closed, he waved his arms in a certain pattern and some mana was absorbed into his body. ''What is he doing? Don''t tell me-'', Robert gasped. The squirrel turned and saw Damien dancing his way to it. Damien, on the other hand, was trying to ease his mind and follow the particles. ''Why are there so many...'', Damien furrowed his brows as he saw a billion mana particles flying about. ''Let''s see,'' Damien saw a large mana particle, "I choose you!" (R: you guys feel the pokemon reference? O: weeb) Damien followed its complex trajectory with his right hand and an enormous amount of mana followed his body, it absorbed by him. "Arrgh" Damien moaned as he felt his body fill up with energy. It was as if he broke through a container. Damien''s body continued to absorb mana as it moved. The squirrel neighed and tried to crush Damien with its attack, a powerful beam was released from its mouth, heading towards Damien. However, Damien''s body was done absorbing mana, and he gracefully twirled and dodged that attack. Damien''s hair had strangely got darker and his face glowed, he slowly opened his eyes, "It is my turn!" With his arms in front of him and palms facing the squirrel, Damien released all the mana stored up in them. Boom! The wind howled as the Squirrel was sent flying. With blood and fur in the air, the squirrel neighed as it landed. Damien followed the squirrel, whose arms were twisted and its torso had turned into a bloody mess. However, it was still alive and tried to use mana to fire one last blow. Damien, on the other hand, moved like the wind accumulating mana on the way. Damien once again released the stored mana and the two palms fired translucent beams. The beams merged into one and smashed the squirrel. The Squirrel was squashed flat. "Haha Danny, you finally became a herald!", Robert limped as he walked towards Damien, "But you didn''t reach the bottleneck then how?" "Ah! Was all thanks to that squirrel", Damien moved once again ad absorbed some mana, "You see unlike you, I wasn''t able to slow down mana particles around me and thus, follow the flow and absorb them", Damien scratched his nose as he laughed, "After witnessing that whenever a herald absorbs mana, the particles follow a general direction so when the third time the Giant Horse Squirrel tried to attack with mana, I ran towards it and managed to absorb mana and break through!" "You damn cheater!", Robert humped and then asked, "But how were you able to use that mana attack twice?" "You didn''t notice? Whenever you use a mana attack, the part which releases mana is emptied of it. The contrast between that part and the other parts creates a pressure on the junction. Hence, that part feels numb. So all you need to do to equalize both parts by absorbing more mana, by exhausting both or by making the stored mana flow into that part." "..." Robert frowned. Damien smirked, "Hehe I told you that Danny would protect yo- oww, what was that for?" Damien massaged his head which had been punched by Robert. "COULDN''T YOU HAVE TOLD ME BEFORE!", Robert bellowed. "That way I would have not got the spotlight," Damien pouted. (R: +f Robert O: if you guys don''t know it, pressing ''f'' key is a way of paying respect in gaming culture) Robert''s shoulders drooped down as he said, "Fine! You are better than me" "Yay!", Damien rejoiced. "So what should we do now? We still have 2 days at hand" "Hmm, I guess we should hunt more. So we can get used to the powers of a herald" "Fine with me", Robert nodded his head. The Duo went ahead to salvage the squirrel''s meat, however, they failed to notice a woman in a green luxurious gown hiding behind a tree, her golden hair was tied into a bun and her eyes were hidden by a circular hat. She smiled and whispered, "Guess they didn''t need my help after all" with that Lady Katherine twirled and disappeared into thin air. Chapter 7 - Revenir Boom! A rock was blown apart by a translucent beam of mana. Robert looked at his palm- it didn''t feel numb. However, Robert could sense that the junction between his arm which was full of mana and his palm which was devoid of it, was already putting a strain on his nerves and slowly a feeling of numbness spread through his palm. "Hmm, note the time Danny", said Robert. "Yep! About 13.7 seconds", replied Damien as he checked his watch, "It takes about 11.8 seconds in my case, do you know the reason, Bobby?" "No, I don''t", Robert moved his hands as they absorbed mana and the numbness disappeared. "I tried to release mana through my tongue- apparently it is not much better than releasing mana through your feet." "I guess it is most effective to release mana through your limbs", Damien said thoughtfully. Robert crossed his arms and asked, "Why did you try releasing it through your feet?" "I wanted to see if I could launch myself that way..." "We already tested that mana blasts violate the laws of motion, there is no reaction force produced that will propel you", Robert said with a hint of disgust on his face. "Oh yeah, we did that my bad," Damien scratched his head in embarrassment. "Today is our last day... Let''s hunt for one last time." "Fine with me!" *** Damien and Robert decided it was time to leave the forest since they had accomplished their task. "Danny let us return I believe we have spent too much time in here. Mother must be worried sick", said Robert as he picked up his sword. "I believe so too, let us depart then." The duo advanced towards their home. Two days went by in a blink. "Ugggh, I''m tired can we stop for now. I don''t have much stamina", chided Damien as he called for Robert who kept on walking ignoring his brother. "Alright, we''ll rest for now but only for half an hour. We must reach home before sundown!" *** Somewhere far away in the Earl''s territorial borders, there was a carriage stationed next to a tent. Many people surrounded the tent. The people seemed to be restless. "God please save the Lord..." "Spirit of the Dragon Emperor save our lord!" Many such requests to the Gods and holy spirits were being made around the tent by the soldiers. Inside the tent was a bed not too luxurious but comfortable beside which stood a man in a long cloak which was silver. The silver cloak gleamed in the candlelight indicating that the man was a scholar from the academy- a silver rank scholar! This person was a doctor of Triston hired by Lawrence for his travel to the borders. He checked on the man laying on the bed before he stood up to go and mix some herbs. As he stood up, one could see that the man lying in bed was Lawrence. While the doctor was concocting some medicine for Lawrence; one could see how injured he was. There was a bloody cut on his chest which stretched from his shoulder till his abdomen. As one looked closer, one could see that the wound was radiating purple light. The purple light had a soft glow with the blood frothing now and then- it was ''Chaotic Stroke''. A technique used by top-notch assassins. "The Lord is suffering from a death blow... we must hurry to the capital! He needs the abilities of a gold rank doctor to save him. I can only prolong the magic attack from completely taking effect", explained to the doctor as he came out of the tent to inform the soldiers. Lawrence had gone to the border in order to ambush an enemy hideout. However, his encampment was ambushed instead by some mysterious forces. Lawrence chased after them deep into the forest after which he did not return for a long time. The soldiers searched for hours and found him in the morning under a tree with a long wound on his chest. Nobody knows what occurred in the forest during the time Lawrence was missing. "Doctor how long will he survive before we reach the capital", asked a loyal soldier as he gazed at his lord. "Not more than a day since we are still far from the capital we must hurry!" "Come on men hurry up we must transport the lord within half a day to the capital." "Aye!" "Aye!", soon all the 80 soldiers that had survived last night''s sneak attack were all riled up for their lord. Lawrence who lay inside was unknown to the changes outside. He was sweating profusely as if still fighting. His fingers twitched from time to time as his expression grew grim. It seemed he was annoyed by something. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. *** It was evening now. The sun had come low and would set soon. Damien and Robert were 2 miles from the city gates- they were nearly home now. "Whew, we are almost there now!", Damien wiped the sweat off his brow. "Keep walking", Robert waved his hand as he continued to walk down the hill. A vast expanse of plains spreads out before them. A stone paved road snaked across these plains heading towards a village and branching into many from there. A few carriages were moving on this road. At regular intervals, tall poles with wires attaching them stood beside the road. "Hmm, what are those poles?", asked Robert. "Ah! The dwarves made those I think they are called Telegraph poles!", Damien said with a thoughtful expression. "So what are those for?" "I have read that they can be used to send messages to form one point to another, umm... by electric signals, I guess that they are 20 times faster than speed post!" "Jeez, these dwarves build strange things, albeit that steam engine was pretty impressive," Robert looked at the purple sky. "Yeah, they are also gonna try to reduce its size and replace horse carts, at least that''s what the scholar society says." "Where do you learn of these things?" "You should read the newspaper more Bobby," Damien snickered. "Oh! Look at that!" "What?" "The village", Robert pointed at the village which looked as if it was on fire. The orange-yellow light brightened its surroundings: it looked like a star amid the darkening background. "Haha looks like those lightbulbs made their way into this village," Damien rubbed his nose. "How can you be sure of it?" "Well, there are no screams or burning people running around!" "Your logic...", Robert sighed. "Let''s race to home!" "W-What?!" "The last one will hand over their pocket money to the winner", with that Damien rushed off as he absorbed mana, enhancing his speed. "Damn you!" Robert followed behind. *** In the Earl''s mansion. Lady Katherine walked to and fro in a corridor, her expressions were of worry and pain. She was wearing a silver dress which matched with her blonde hair which went down till her waist. She bit her red lips and crossed her arms in frustration. Finally, a door opened, a man in golden robes walked out. He had a clean bald head, a hawk-like nose in between two sunken eyes. His white brows and wrinkled forehead indicated that he was quite old. A golden badge showing a black dragon with a hammer and book in the background showed his authenticity as a Gold-ranked scholar. He slowly walked towards Lady Katherine. "How is he, Doctor Le Bonn?", she asked with worried eyes. "Ahem," the scholar cleared his throat and said, "No need to worry Lady Katherine, he will be back in shape after two weeks of rest. However, I am afraid that during this period he would be no stronger than a child and will not be able to use mana." "Ah! That''s good enough Doctor Le Bonn. I will arrange for people to guard his bedroom", Lady Katherine thanked the doctor once more as she sent him off. After a while, Damien and Robert arrived. "Your pocket money is now mine," chuckled Robert. "D-Damn", Damien''s breathing was rough as he held on to Robert for support. "You two are home now?", Lady Katherine gracefully walked behind the steel gate. "M-Mother?!", Robert and Damien were startled seeing their mother at the gate. "Come in quick your father is injured, you must see him," she turned and stopped for a moment and exclaimed, "You two are Heralds already!" The duo bitterly smiled as they walked in, however, their hearts shivered,''Father is injured?'' ''What happened to Father?'' As Damien and Robert entered the room they saw the figure of a strong man who was now pale to his former self: Lawrence lay on his bed covered in herbs and bandages. "Father!", shouted both the boys as they ran towards the bed. "Mother what happened how did he get that purple wound on him".asked Damien as he looked at Lawrence''s gaping wound. "It is nothing, my sweetheart. He was injured in battle and requires rest. He will be in perfect form within two weeks, you need not worry" "But Mother that does not seem to be an ordinary wound... I can faintly sense mana leaking out of it", said Robert as he expressed his concerns. Katherine sighed, "Come with me you too we''ll discuss this in my room, let your father rest" *** Inside Katherine''s quarters. "Sit down, I shall tell you everything", said lady Katherine as she sat on her armchair. "Your father has suffered from a technique called ''Chaotic Stroke''" "What do you mean mother?" "I don''t understand", said Damien and Robert simultaneously. "It is an assassin''s spell it grants certain death most people who are affected in a matter of seconds but your father had somehow stopped it from taking effect. Truly assassins are troublesome, each of their attacks can cause several deaths... However, your father stopped the spell in taking. As a result, he is now comatose. Although he has evaded death the scar shall always remain and will hinder his potential for a very long time. Your father will have to face great perils in magic from now on. You will make your father proud; you two becoming Heralds is a very welcoming surprise in these troubled times. Practice and work hard." "We will mother", said Damien indicating his intent. Robert nodded as well but there was a strange glow in his eyes as if something deep inside him had changed and will never be the same again. *** Midnight. In Lawrence''s quarters. Lawrence laid in his king-sized bed occasionally moaning and taking in deep breaths. His torso was wrapped up by white bandages. A red quilt covered his legs as he lay there. An orange lightbulb dimly glowed, adding some light to his dark room. Then a woman walked in and smacked Lawrence on his head. "Oww", he moaned. "Quit acting now," said Lady Katherine. "Yeah, I was bored acting sick," said Lawrence as he sighed and sat up upright. "So what happened?" Lady Katherine asked as he sat down on the edge of her bed, her white gown pulled up to reveal her porcelain-like shins. "I already sent you that letter. I wrote with mana if you didn''t notice," Lawrence said with some annoyance, "Arrgh, that damn James. That blow didn''t kill me but it hurt!" "That ''Chaotic Stroke'', James really wished to kill you this time... or he was playing with you. You must be careful now" Lady Katherine softly laughed, "Honey, what do you intend to do to that bastard if you catch him in the future" "That''s a difficult question... I think killing him will be doing him a favour", Lawrence stood up and suddenly black mana covered him as he jumped from the window and left towards the unknown. "I''ll be gone for a while do not let anybody know that I am not in my quarters", a telepathic mana message was sent to Katherine as she saw Lawrence disappear into the darkness. ''Jeez, this man, no wonder I love him.'' *** Inside Robert''s room. ''What kind of spell is the ''Chaotic Stroke'' that injured such a powerful person that he cannot even speak for a week. That is only because it was my father what if it was me, I would have died in an instant'', as Robert spoke these words in his mind a dark thought took birth in his mind. ''What if I had that power I could bring the peace my father always talks about in this world. If I can have such strength I could force the people to do what is right instead of being selfish'' "I have decided I shall become the greatest assassin there is and bend the world to my will", proclaimed Robert as he stood in his room talking to himself. On his heart, a firm resolution carved itself. This was the start of the Nightmare assassin. Chapter 8 - Reise "Damien. Get up, we need to leave." It had been two weeks since Damien and Robert returned. It was finally time for their ranking test. Katherine had organised for them to leave for the citadel, and it was the day of departure. "Robert, wake your brother up or both of you will be late." "Yes, mother.", Robert entered Damien''s room with great force and shook him with all his might to wake him up. "Danny! Get up! It''s about time for us to leave. You do have half an hour to prepare." Robert and Damien had had a party with the knight''s children last night on the occasion of them becoming Heralds. They had slept late at night, but the determined slothfulness that Damien displayed at the time was indeed extraordinary. "Give me 5 more minutes!" "No! Wake up right now! Or I am going to pour cold water on you!" Robert told the servant nearby to get a bucket of water. After the arrived, Robert said, "Danny, I shall count till 3 if you don''t wake up, don''t blame me for what comes next." Alas! Damien was fated to bathe on his bed. "WOAAAAAA ITS COLD! WHO THE HELL DID THIS !" (O: Rhagnar did it tbh) "Shut your mouth and get ready. We leave in half an hour.", said Robert with a grin on his face, as he marched out of Damien''s quarters. Half an hour, later Damien was running towards the carriage in much haste with his clothes in a mess. Robert and Katherine were already inside. Damien''s condition amused them, but both chose silence over Damien''s wrath. It is indeed true that children are, at times, capable of scaring even the strictest of mothers. "I hate you, Bobby, I think I might get a cold..." "Your fault. I gave a fair warning before taking actions!" "You!" "Enough, you two. I need to tell you something more important: how the ranking test works." No sooner had Katherine said these words than the boys were silent and eager to listen. This day would decide their future in this world. "Listen carefully now... Your teacher must have explained to you the basic procedure of the mage exams." Damien and Robert nodded. "Every year, during the first day of fall, mage exams are conducted all over the continent, usually in the business capitals of every noble''s territory. Thus, we will be heading to the citadel of your father''s territory, which is about 15,000 km south-west of here." (R: well it is a big continent) "Isn''t that a bit too far away?" asked, Damien. "We will go by train and reach there in a week. Anyway, after your testing is done, you will receive a certificate which will list down your basic element attributes, mana capacity and, since you two are heralds, your innate ''Skill''. Now here is the important part- the certificate is the proof of your identity and will contain your personal information, so don''t lose them. Moreover, there will be different academies over there that will offer you a course based on that certificate. A good academy will give you plenty of benefits, like better instructors, better battlegrounds, experiment labs, more resources, and if you are lucky, you may be able to represent your school next year in the ''Annual Academy Fest!" (D; kinda cliche but it will be fun I guess O: I guarantee it) "W-What''s that?" Robert enquired. "All the schools make a team of their bests and engage them into different competitions. This provides a stimulus to the students to work harder for glory and benefits; you will be explained more when you get into one." "Okay." "And since you two are Heralds, let me disclose some more information about Neomages. There are in total 3 main elemental affinities- two being basic elemental affinities and one being divine elemental affinity. Same as the basic elements - Earth, Water, Wind, Fire and Lightning - there are divine elements. The divine elements are - Light, Darkness, Order, Chaos, Space and Time. However, only when you become a Neomage, will you be able to take the divine element test and know which affinity you have." (R: there are exceptions tho) "So why are these affinities important?" "I was getting to that. You see, you can choose your ''class'' according to your mana capacity and ''skill''. However, there are 2 classes which require a specific divine element affinity- Paladin and Warlock." Damien and Robert widened their eyes. "These classes are very powerful. Those in these are no less than one man armies!" "Umm... Mother, I have read that Necromancers are very powerful too," said Damien. "Oh! They? Well, they are banned probably everywhere. Angels kill them as soon as they appear, so... No...Becoming a Necromancer is forbidden to you both, as they are regarded as evil and hunted down. However, when the great purge was announced by the Angels, the Transcendents protested about the loss of such glorious heritage, so all the beings modified the spells and ways of Necromancers and a new class was born- Warlock." "W-Wait what are Angels and Transcendents? I thought they were only in folktales?!" "Hmm? they are other races you will learn about in the school, anyways if you get your Divine affinity stronger than others and meet the requirements, then don''t think twice and change your class before advancing to the Guardian rank... Okay, that was all, choose your class carefully when you get the results."If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "We will, Mother." Both the boys had satisfied expressions etched on their faces, but what Katherine failed to realise was that Robert was not merely listening to her, he was taking in every word. ''Mother did not talk about an assassin. I shall ask father about it,'' he thought to himself. By then, they had reached ''The Wells Terminal'', named after the nobles of this territory - the Wells. The railway network was fairly new, invented only 4 years ago, and thus only connected the capital with the other political capitals and the business capitals of all territories. The grand engineer of the emperor - the dwarf Lord Jojen - had invented the steam engine 6 years ago, but it took time for it to be replicated into 30 trains - 15 for regular people; 2 personally at the royal family''s beck and call; 5 for the military; 4 for the nobles; and 4 for the economics division of the country to carry out trade. In a similar way was the division in railway tracks - there was one set for all the nobles and the Royals, another for military and commerce, and the last one for the masses. Damien and party were going to travel in grand imperial railways on the nobles'' path. "Now, remember you two, we are nobles. When we get out of this carriage, you two must act accordingly in front of the people, and treat them well." Katherine had heard that the boys'' conduct in the last few days was frowned upon by the people, so she wanted them to retain their respect among the people. "Yes, Mother.", replied Robert as he opened the door of the carriage to move out. Damien was silent. His silence was his agreement. Stepping out, the three walked straight to the huge building in front - the entrance to the terminal. Made of solid iron and painted blue, the top of the building had the sigil of the House of Wells. The building had two towers on its sides which were used by the employees to maintain the railway network. Its floor was decorated with marble and the long corridor to the platform adorned with pictures of the First Train and the grand opening ceremony of the railways. The white marble platform itself was sparkling to the eyes. A few commoners were sitting on the metallic benches, waiting for the train. The Wells slowly walked through the corridor, and anyone who stood in their way moved to the sides and bowed respectfully. Lady Katherine walked with her head held high; Damien and Robert followed her, and behind them, marched the guards. ''Arrgh, that Lawrence! I don''t know why he bears with the formalities. I hope his conduct won''t get these two bullied by other nobles'' kids'', thought Katherine. An attendant who was standing near a pillar approached Lady Katherine and bowed: "Lady Katherine, will you please follow me to the platform where your train shall arrive." "Lead the way.", said Katherine with great authority. The boys were wondering how their mother kept up with being so variant in her behaviour in the presence of different types of people. They followed the attendant to platform 9. Platform 9 was much more lavishly decorated, with ivory and blackwood tiles. The benches were made up of ebony and had cotton cushions on them. A faint aroma of sandalwood lingered in the air. Katherine sat down on the bench, while Damien and Robert sat on either side of her. The guards, in their steel armour, continued standing. After twenty long and arduous minutes, the train arrived. The Train was a monument in itself. The coaches were nearly 25m in length with a width of 4m. This was a special train designed for the nobles which gave as much importance on comfort as on speed. While the public trains were made for speed, the military trains were slow but had a huge capacity for military goods. The economic trains were the most special: they were the longest, fastest and had space magic installed in them for containing goods. Although the space magic was not present on its construction, after the trains were handed to the Chamber of Economics, they had added it to increase capacity. When Katherine was about to enter the Train, the station master arrived to greet them. "Good day to you Ma''am!" "Good day to you as well, Station Master." "Damien, Robert you two go ahead and explore the second coach. It is yours to use. I shall have a talk about our journey with the station master." "Yes, Mother", replied Damien as he scurried along with Robert to enter the next coach. They saw the true beauty of the Royal trains when they entered this coach. The walls of the coach were made of teakwood, with carvings of beautiful fairy-like people watering the gardens. The seats were made from the finest leather of the gold black lions, giving the seats a shining aura; the design of flowers on them shined everytime light was cast on them. The table was made completely of Blackwood - so hard that sometimes even fine swords cannot break through it. There was no division of seats; the whole coach was one big room, with 4 beds, one large table, a seating area with 3 couches and a washroom at the end of the coach, just between the division of coaches. "Just look how beautiful it is... I was too young to remember it from the last time", said Damien, as he walked around exploring. Robert was still standing, mesmerized, but, he wasn''t interested in it as much as Damien. From the outside, the train was a black monster with a gold dragon, signifying the national flag of the country. The train was made from the strongest metal in the country - Dracotherm - almost impossible to break. The Train started to move after a huge horn was blown by the station master. Robert sighed, "Our country is too obsessed with black and dragons..." (O: Rhagnar is the one obsessed with dragons and black R: Love them<3 D: These people smh) "What happened?" "Nothing, doofus. Let''s make ourselves comfortable over here.", Robert laughed and plunked down on the largest of the couches. "Hey Danny, wanna check out the other compartments?", asked Robert. "Arrgh, it is three in the morning. Let me sleep or I will blast you!", Damien moaned and turned away. "Fine, sleepyhead." Robert walked to the rear end of their coach and opened the gate. The junction between the coaches was trembling and making unheard noises. The air whistled in his ear and Robert gulped. He could see the tracks continuously change underneath the train. "Well...", Robert considered going back, but, "Oh wait! I am a Herald!" He jumped over to the other side. "Meh", he thought, and opened the gate and entered. He noticed that this coach and his coach were quite similar. He slowly walked forward examining the room. (R: we had added some fanservice over here but then we decided to scrap it off) "Wait a second!" he exclaimed to himself. "Did I just barge into someone else''s room?!" As if to answer his question a voice came from a door beside him. "Emily! did something happen?", a young girl''s voice startled Robert. "Emily! where are you? Bring me my bathrobes or I will have to come out naked!" ''Damn it!'' Robert thought, and jumped to hide under one of the four beds. "Fine then..." The door opened, and a petite young walked out. Her brown hair was wet and stuck to her white, thin neck. As she walked, water drops splashed on the floor. Robert could see her from under the bed, and with every second that passed, his heartbeat grew quicker. The smell of jasmine tickled his nose. ''What the heck? No one walks naked like that!'' Robert took a deep breath. ''Calm down; not so hard; not so hard.'' Robert thought that his lungs might burst if his heart beat so hard. He tried to control his body, but it was extremely hard. He was sweaty and his face was pink. The girl stood there and looked around with her hand on her round hips. ''MY NOSE WILL START BLEEDING LIKE THIS!'' Robert screamed in his head. The walk towards the Almirah and took out some clothes. She tried them on and looked at herself in the mirror. With a frown of dissatisfaction, she undressed again. Robert''s wild imagination made his blood boil. His 13-year-old body had already betrayed him. The girl tried on many different outfits while Robert secretly watched her from under the bed. Some twenty attires later the girl approached the bed under which Robert was hiding. Robert''s heartbeat quickened. The girl hummed as she lay there imagining some fantasy. After an hour or so when the girl was asleep Robert came out from under the bed. He saw that the girl was fully clothed so his young heart didn''t lurch anymore. and he sneaked his way back to his coach. He took a hot shower. After checking that there was no one under his bed, he jumped into his bed. "That girl gave me a hard time...", he sighed as he relaxed his weakened body and went into a deep sleep. Chapter 9 - Ankunft Three days since the train departed from the capital, Qrist, and Robert did not leave his compartment even for a moment after the...*ahem*. "What''s wrong with you? You haven''t left the compartment in ages!", Damien inquired of Robert, who was trying his best to meditate. His face turned as red as a ruby. "Bobby, are you all right? Your face is getting redder by the second!", a concerned Damien asked. It was fuel to the fire. "Shut it !!! Leave me be! You go do some work of your own; good for nothing idiot!" "Okay, okay. I''ll leave. Crazy guy, shouting unnecessarily. Hmph!" Robert struggled yet again to focus for his thoughts flowed freely to embarrassing corners and crevices. The result of the interruption was that now his body twitched from head to toe, rather uncontrollably. In her compartment, Katherine was looking out of the window and enjoying the beauty of the forest outside. It reminded her of her mighty husband and she felt the feeling of sorrow take over. (O: lonely mommy lol R: kys) "Oh, Lawrence. Why must you test my patience all the time..." There was a knock on the door. "Mother, it is Damien. May I enter?" "Come in, my love." The door slid open to reveal a boy dressed in blue overalls. His hair was ruffled, and it seemed that he had just woken up from a satisfying sleep. The appearance of this young boy was medicine to Katherine''s pierced heart. As she looked at him, she was overcome with motherly love. "Good evening mother!" "Good evening Damien, did you sleep well last night ?" "I did, although I think Robert is not... He seems to be worried about something." "Don''t worry. Had it been something that pestered him, he would have told me already. Nevertheless, we shall arrive at the Citadel in 4 days'' time. Until then, you may roam around and explore the train as much as you like." "I did, Mother. In fact, there is a Count''s daughter in the compartment next to mine. Emily told me that her father serves the Marquis of Arenhal, and she is visiting her grandmother who lives in the Citadel. She also said that she wishes to become a scholar." "My little boy is making friends already! If you require anything, just ask me and I shall get it arranged." "Yes, mother!" *** A day later in Damien''s coach. "Robert! What are you doing in the washroom? Emily and her sister have come to meet us!" Damien knocked again at the washroom''s door. "Umm, I have a bad stomach. I will stay here for a while.", Robert replied from the washroom. "So that''s what you were hiding!", Damien said, laughing. "Will Master Damien join us now?", asked Emily while looking in Damien''s direction. "Oh, sure..." Damien sat down with two girls. "Hmm? Erza are you a Herald?" Damien looked at the taller of the two. The sisters looked quite alike, except that Erza was a few inches taller and had long hair that went down to her waist. "Y-Yeah I just advanced recently... it has been a week to be exact," Erza said and looked towards Damien. Her cheeks revealed a light blush in them. (O: Damien has got some class R: which you don''t) "Ah! I could feel a higher concentration of mana from you.", Damien said, unknowingly. He picked up his cup of tea. "So are you going to give the mage exams?" asked Damien. "Yes, indeed, I wish to become a battle mage one day," Erza replied. "I am sure that you will serve under Master Damien, won''t you Erza?", Emily said, teasing. "No need for ''Master''. Just call me by my name. And yes, I too wish to enlist in the army and serve my country!" "I see. And what about Master Robert? Is he unwell?" "He... H-He is taking a bath.", stammered Damien. "But, I thought that the bathroom was over there." Emily pointed at the door in front of the washroom in which Robert was hiding. "Yeah- I mean no, that door is umm... It is that-", Damien flustered. The two sisters looked at Damien with a suspicious eye. Damien had never been a man of the moment. He was thinking to himself... ''What should I say to them?! What?!..... What?!?!'' Suddenly, a light bulb flickered open in his head... "Let me check. He was feeling sleepy today, so I guess he slept in the washroom!" Damien smiled, and gave a sigh of relief, while Emily burst out laughing, and Erza giggled. ''Was that too stupid of an explanation? Mother is gonna kill me when she hears about this.'', Damien thought, scratching his head as he stood up. (D: Damien...smh) "I am not sleeping!" The door opened, and out came Robert, smiling his widest. ''This Damien will drown my reputation in their tears of laughter.'', Robert had thought to himself and it was on an impulse that he had barged out of the washroom.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Oh, Robert you are out! Well, I- oww!" "Forgive my Brother; he is a little eccentric at times.", Robert said, and smacked Damien on his head. "Sorry for keeping you ladies waiting!" "It is nothing, Master Robert.", chuckled Emily. Robert looked at Erza and his mind went blank. Scenes from that fateful night replayed in his head. ''ROBERT CONTROL!'', he bellowed in his heart. Emily and Erza excused themselves after some time. Robert, whose face was still coloured faint red, looked outside the window and noticed that the night sky was filled with the cosmic entities. He began to feel sleepy. "Danny I''m going to sleep now, good night." "Okay, good night. I''ll sleep sometime later." Damien sat on the couch and picked up the book he had been gifted by Katherine, which described the Citadel and the mage exams. It said that the Citadel was the largest territory in Triston, which was also the capital for commerce. The mage exams took place in the Holy Draconic Association of Magical Arts, the primary institution of the empire and it was a necessity for young mages to be certified by the association. The association was created by Emperor Maximus'' wife to show respect and build a pseudo-church for the Dragon Emperor, which later transformed into an organization which acted as the legislature of the empire, working under the King. The leader of the sect is the Supreme Pontiff, currently held by His Holiness Jaden ¨¤midari, who resides in the empire''s capital Eden. The other priests - Hallowmen - are the supreme pontiffs of the territorial capitals. They are second in the hierarchy. Under them are the priests, service mages and the rest of the clergy. Damien closed his eyes to take it all in and slept then and there. The last few days passed by in a similar manner. Damien finished reading the book, and Robert was hesitant to talk to Emily and avoided her as much as he could. When they finally reached Citadel, Robert was the first to leave for their residence. On Damien''s insistence, Katherine took him to see the association grounds. "Now remember, we are to only see and then we shall return. Your exam isn''t until the day after, so we will rest after this. Tomorrow you can roam around the city." Damien nodded in agreement. The carriage arrived at the sect and Damien walked out to see the majestic site. In front of him stood one of the oldest monuments in the empire - the great Aestas Exedra - which literally translated to the great summer hall. The names of all the association grounds in the country were the same, except for the one in the capital, which was known as the Ecclesia Draconis. Damien saw the holy sanctum, made from black iron and bricks. It was a black beauty, but the oddity was that it had no dragon sculptures. On it, instead, was something written in the ancient draconic language, which nobody except the emperor had the ability to translate. It was said that the church formed by the association''s members did not have an image of their God, but of this draconic inscription, which was the Dragon Emperor''s will. High above Damien in the sanctum, was a black pagoda with golden poles over it, signifying communication with the heavens. As Damien entered the Church, he saw that there were candles everywhere, lighting up the section. The stained glass windows allowed only faint rays to light up the long corridor, at the end of which was a stone, carrying words that made Damien''s head swirl. He averted his gaze and slowly went to the first floor. The room appeared old and archaic, filled with antiques on display. Here, Damien found were the artefacts of the great heroes of Triston, including his father''s gauntlet. As a token of respect to the sect, all great personalities had given one of their weapons. It told everyone that they stood united. In one corner of the room, a stage had been constructed. On the pedestal right in its centre, a circular magic formation was craved about 2 feet in diameter. Above the magic formation, a black ball floated. Occasionally, ripples were formed on the ball, making it look like a floating blob of dark liquid. "Mother, what is that?", asked Damien. She had been following Damien at a leisurely pace, taking pleasure in watching Damien''s reactions. "That is the place where your elemental affinity test and spirit aptitude will take place and your innate ability test will take place on the second floor, where only Heralds are allowed.", said Katherine. "However, right now, the Hallowmen are arranging the apparatus for ability testing; we can not go there." Damien, the ever obedient child, nodded. He, with Katherine, returned to their residence after some more inspection of the grounds. After a while, Katherine said, "And also, nowadays they have combined the elemental affinity test and sprit aptitude test. I don''t how but that is what I have been told." Two days later. "So the day is finally here, eh?" "Yeah, Danny. We are going to be certified Heralds now!" "You two, do not make noises. No chitchat; be more poised, and, for the sake of heavens, act like noble-borns." An hour later, the troop reached the association grounds. Damien had told Robert all about his visit, so Robert''s blue eyes were darting all around; narration and first-hand experience always had their differences. "Nice..." Robert seemed to be amazed by the architecture. Unaware to Katherine, what Robert was thinking was, ''Woah! Assassins will have a hard time hiding over here. And there, there is the blind spot!'' As for Damien, he was too nervous to say anything. A lot of people were gathered here, but all stepped aside when they saw the royal family come forward; the guards did not come since they were forbidden on the association grounds. (D: Robert finding more places to hide lol) "Good Morning, Lady Katherine.", a man in white silk robes said and bowed as he moved in front of Lady Katherine. "Good Morning, Hallowman Gregor!" Katherine readdressed the man. "Would you mind leading us to the first floor?" "Not at all milady. I see young masters are already Heralds! They must surely have some talent. However, if my memory does not fail me, they are thirteen years old, aren''t they?", he asked. "Indeed, but this year in the month of Nix, they turn fourteen.", Katherine smiled. "Ho! Then there is no problem.", assured, the hallowman smiled, and turned. The Royals were led to the very same hall which Damien had discovered the first time he had come to the grounds. On seeing Katherine enter, all present bowed in respect. Despite the infamous Earl Lawrence''s absolute disregard for formalities and traditions, he was quite popular among his subjects. Needless to say, his kin were to receive the same respect. "So, Master Damien, Master Robert, which one of you would like to present first?" Gregor asked. "I think Robert you should try it first.", Damien said, with a tremor in his voice. He was trying his best to sound as casual as possible, resulting in a moment evidently awkward for everyone present around. Robert broke through it with overconfidence. "Fine then. Hallowman Gregor, please instruct me towards my actions," said Robert. He could be the most formal if he wanted to. "Ho ho! What a bold young child!", Gregor exclaimed with surprise. He gestured Robert to follow him to the pedestal. A white flame burned in the air above the magic formation. The flame, about the size of one''s fist, flickered irregularly. The magic formation glowed and emitted blue light, while the black ball floated over the flame in a leisurely manner. "Now, Master Robert, what you have to do is: touch the magic formation with your hand, and release all the mana in your body," Gregor said, pointing towards the circle on the stage. Robert nodded and bent down. When, after taking a deep breath, Robert touched the formation with the tips of his fingers, he felt a slight suction force. He took another deep breath and forced all the mana in his body into the formation. The formation released intense light while the floating white flame turned golden yellow, with brown and green hues twinkling in it. The flames grew higher and licked the black ball. The black ball distorted and twisted with huge ripples continuously changing its shape. Its top-half tuned golden, while the bottom changed to brown; a thick green strip occupied the middle. "By God! His divine elemental affinity! The order of its ratio is greater than his both of his basic affinities combined! He can become a Paladin!", exclaimed Gregor with amazement. The entire hall went abuzz with gasps and murmurs. Katherine''s eyes were shining as they had never before; she was thinking, ''I knew it, Robert! My son! You would make your parents proud one day!'' She noticed the awe and admiration that radiated from Damien''s face; she smiled, and asked him in her thoughts, ''Will you follow your father''s footsteps too?'' "A Paladin, eh?", Robert said as he got up. The ball was still shining. ''Sounds boring'', he thought. Chapter 10 - Sicarius The black ball, the flame and the magic formation all returned to their original state. "Mhmm." Gregor approached two priests who had a scroll each in their hands. They folded up the scrolls and handed them to Gregor. Gregor nodded and neared Robert. "Here are the certificates for the Elemental affinity test and the Mana pool test." He passed on the scrolls to Robert. Robert opened up the scroll; on the top was the symbol of the black dragon empire and under it was the motto of the empire -"In Dracones Nobis Confidimus". Under it, in a beautiful hand, was written-
''By the authority granted by the Supreme Emperor of the Holy Black Dragon Empire, I, Hallowman Gregor Madal, officially pronounce Robert Wells as a Herald. Hereon, he shall have the rights to enter a magic academy and study magic, including the rights to buy/sell/trade magical items/potions/materials. This certificate, awarded to Robert Wells, shall not be allowed to be used by any other being.''
Under this paragraph, the symbol of the Holy Draconic Association and Gregor''s signature was present. Below it, Robert''s name, weight, height and photograph were engraved. ''When did they start creating coloured photographs?'' His Elemental affinities were stated-
NAME Robert Avitus Wells -
ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES Wind Earth Order -
AFFINITY RATIO 2 1 3 -
MANA POOL - - - 190 Herald Units
ABILITY - - - NOT ASSESSED
"Nice," said Robert. "Master Damien, would you please ascend the stage?", said Gregor. "Y-Yeah," replied Damien. He walked upon the platform and he could feel his heart beating faster than usual. His arms felt heavy and his knees were weak. He was not used to being the centre of attention. ''Will I be able to keep up with Robert and surprise everyone too?'' He turned his head to see all the people in the hall staring at him. ''too many people... my stage fright is kicking in...'' "Ah! Master Damien, I hope you know what to do; you look quite tensed.", said Gregor. "N-No I am alright.", Damien replied. He bent and touched the magic formation. He took a deep breath and poured all his mana in. The flames grew and the magic formation shined; the black ball started rotating as ripples disfigured its shape. The flames turned cyan and electric blue. They touched the black now-not-a-ball and the top turned cyan while the bottom was glowing blue. The cyan part occupied a little more than half of the distorted ball. "It seems you will have to wait till you become a neomage, Master Damien. Divine Elemental affinities only display themselves when they are either equal to or more than your basic elemental affinities.", Gregor said. ''Damn'', Damien sighed. He saw some shake their heads and embarrassment reddened his cheeks as he stepped down from the platform. "Ah, Damien don''t let it make you feel so sad.", said Katherine. "Remember, your ability test is still left." "Yeah, I think that your ability would be something amazing," Robert added. He was feeling bad for his brother. "Here is your scroll, Master Damien." Gregor walked up to them and handed the scroll to Damien. It was the same as Roberts'', except for-
NAME Damien Avitus Wells -
ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES Water Lightening DIVINE ELEMENT NOT ASSESSED -
AFFINITY RATIO 6 4 NA -
MANA POOL - - - 110 Herald Units
ABILITY - - - NOT ASSESSED
(O: haha Damien and I have something in common- we''re disappointing) "Let''s go to the second floor.", Damien said. The second floor was empty, with large windows through which the sun''s rays made visible to the naked eye even the most minute dust particles circulating in the air. As Damien and Robert entered the second floor with Hallowman Gregor, they saw at the end of the hall the apparatus for ability testing. It was a stone basin kept on a pedestal. They approached it, they could feel the mana grow denser. "What is that?", asked Robert. "That is the skill archive''s access point.", answered Gregor. "Wh-What?" "Over the years, we have collected data about skills and an enormous library has formed, which has the data about the abilities we have been exposed to in the past 3400 years." Gregor smiled and said, "There are always minor variations in the abilities of individuals of races. Combined with the fact that humans have unique abilities, albeit many of them have similar effects and may seem same- wait, sometimes they are pretty much the same... Anyway, so much information caused the library to explode." "Woah.", exclaimed Damien. "Yeah, so for convenience we formed a large network with the ability library as the hub. This network, built by our dwarves, has great computing power so it could analyze abilities, thus saving us a great lot of trouble. We used this network for testing abilities and-" he came closer to the duo and whispered, " we also shared this network with the Blood haven empire and the Demius Archipelago, although those nature freaks- the Elv empire refused it, we gained immense benefits by trading with the formers."This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. "Awesome!" said Robert, "So Hallowman Gregor will you please tell us how this works." Gregor turned, coughed and cleared his throat. "So, moving on, this is a skill archive access point; ''skill archive'' was the name given by Lord Orren." Gregor approached the pedestal and peered into the clear, blue-tinted liquid in it. "What you need to do is drop a bead of your blood into this liquid.", he said. "You see the abilities are technically present in your genes, and when you pour a certain type of mana in a special way, your genome acts like a spell model or a spell formation. Thus, your unique ability activates... though there are passive abilities too." "I see.", Damien nodded while Robert stood as confused as ever. Gregor looked at Robert and said, "You will understand it once you are a neomage. Right now, just go drop a small amount of your blood in the basin." Robert nodded and walked up to the pedestal. He peered into the basin, and to his surprise the liquid in it was extremely clear, having a blue tint. He gave his hand to the priestess standing beside the pedestal. She was slightly taller than him and her black hair was tied in a complex mesh, much like a spider web. Her soft small hands held a sharp needle. ''She is kinda cute'', thought Robert. The priestess glared at him as if she knew what he was thinking. Robert lowered his gaze. ''Scary!'', he shivered inside. As she pricked Robert''s finger, a bead of blood trickled down his finger and fell into the basin. The drop of blood immediately diffused into the liquid, the liquid glowed green. Dark green light flowed out of the basin. In a darker shade, the following words appeared on the surface-
ABILITY CLASS
WEAKEN A+
(O: I hate robert now R: pathetic) "Oh my! An A+ ability! It has the rarity of one in five thousand!", exclaimed Gregor. This boy had surprised him quite a few times now. "Master Robert, you are a prodigy. Such innate talent is very rare!", Gregor said. "Well done Robert!", Katherine said and smiled. Seeing his brother''s luck, Damien''s heart crumbled- ''I should just go and hide somewhere'', he thought. "Great!" laughed Robert as he patted Damien''s back and said, "Your turn." Damien took a deep breath and marched up to the pedestal, ''I want to disappear.'' He clenched his teeth as the priestess pricked his finger, and droplets of blood fell into the basin. The basin radiated with orange-yellow light. ''Oh great! Guess my ability also sucks.'' he thought as he sighed. However, instead of the expected, what appeared on the surface was-
ABILITY CLASS
POTENTIA SS
''Umm, that D looks like two Ss.'' Damien furrowed his brow. He did not notice the tense silence around him. He turned and asked the priestess, who was stupefied and looking at the basin with wide eyes that Damien had never thought she could have possessed, "What kind of a lame ability is potentia?" "I-It is a-an SS r-rank ability." she stammered. "OH MY GOD!!!" blurted out Gregor, "AN SS-RANK!" He could not believe his ears. He rushed to the basin to confirm. "Amazing Damien!", exclaimed Robert as he clapped. "N-No way." Nobody could notice the tears welling up in Katherine''s eyes; an intense feeling of deja vu and nostalgia made her heart quiver. "The chance to have an SS rank ability is almost one in a billion!" Gregor was overcome with excitement. ''So, will history repeat itself? Like begets like. He would be happy to know this, wherever he is, but I am afraid...'', thought Katherine and seemed to remember some fond memories of the past, as she looked at Damien and Robert. "Congratulations, Damien!", said Katherine as she hugged Damien. ''I guess I am not a failure after all... Still, it feels unreal.'', thought Damien, and beamed with delight. "Master Damien, Master Robert, this is an auspicious day indeed. You are both blessed with unimaginable fortune. The future of Triston is very bright indeed.", proclaimed Gregor as he walked towards the two young lords to congratulate them. After the discussions, they parted and left for their residence, while Gregor was left to conduct the exams for others. "Mother, can we roam around in the city for today? As it is we will leave tomorrow morning for Qrist.", Damien asked Katherine with dog eyes. They had the chance to roam about the day before but Robert and Damien had chosen not to leave because of the tests. Now they were in a perfect mood to enjoy. "Alright, but do return before nightfall." The boys nodded and ran off into the distant marketplace. As they entered, they found many shops full of food, clothing and magic, but the one they had their eyes on was the magic weapons shop. ''I may find assassination weapons in there.'', thought Robert as he dragged Damien by the arm into the shop. They entered to see an array of weapons lined up on showcases all around and a small counter bit farther from the door of the shop. There also seemed to be a workshop behind the store, out of which came a small dwarf with a hammer in his hand and a face blackened due to working in the fire for long. He had a long, auburn beard burnt on one side and they could see the sparks that still glowed in the dense thickness of this dwarf''s beard. "Ah-Ha young ''ads! what can I do for ye.", the dwarf said in a weird accent. "Ummm," Robert took some moments to understand what he had said. "We dunt ''erve any ''Ummm'' here", he said. "No! we want um- arrgh weapons." Robert hurriedly said. "Blimey! me thought that ye come here fer ''ingerie!", he said in a sardonic tone. "Gee Bobby, let me handle it.", said, Damien, as he pushed Robert back. "Mr.umm- what was your name again?", Damien weakly laughed. Robert facepalmed in embarrassment. "Sir, we are looking for some daggers and such would you mind presenting them to us?" Robert calmed himself and spoke. "Ha! daggers and ''ssassination ''quipment?", he said as his face broke into a grin. "Me has got what yer lookin'' fer!" The dwarf turned and rushed inside his workshop. "Bobby, why are we buying equipment again?", asked Damien. "Well, we need to have some pieces of equipment for our training in the academy," Robert said. "Yeah, but, I don''t think Paladins use a dagger." "Who said I am going to be a Paladin?" "Eh? Well, they are one of the special classes which are in high demand." "Pffft", Robert grabbed his stomach and laughed. "Did I say something wrong?" "No, dummy. Why should I care about demands? I am someone who will follow his own path. When I have my eyes on a goal I will follow it until the end... Even if I fail I will have no regrets for I would have made my own choice and would not have walked the path others set for me!" Robert puffed out his chest. "Woah! So you are going to become a philosopher now? Great!", Damien said and clapped. Robert made a poker face and said, "Are you stupid or was my speech too good?" "Your speech was too good." Damien folded his arms and pouted. "Just... Just don''t pout. It looks really weird on you." Robert held back his urge to smack him. "Fine! What is that you wish to become?" "Still couldn''t figure it out?" Robert began to ask himself, ''Should I really talk to him? I should stop lest my intelligence lowers to his level'' "Umm, a bard maybe?" "You should hang yourself!" "Ha! What a lovely verse!" exclaimed Damien. "I want to become an assassin.", said Robert dejectedly. "After hearing your replies, I want to kill myself." "Woah! but, why though?" "...", Robert looked in Damien''s eyes. Damien stared back. He peered into his brother''s eyes and "Oww! What was that for?" Damien massaged his head. "Oof," Robert exhaled in relief after smacking Damien. "Here me am ''ads!", said the dwarf as he came back with a crate of weapons in his hands. After shopping for a while and spending loads of gold, Robert and Damien returned to their residence. It was almost evening. "You two are back?" Katherine asked. "Yes, Mother!" "What''s in those crates?" "Some of our equipment we bought for our usual training during our time at our academies," Robert explained. "You know we are rich, but you must not let money burn that easily." Katherine sighed. Damien stepped back and gestured, ''I didn''t buy anything. It was all Robert''s idea.'' Seeing this, Katherine smiled. "That reminds me: a lot of offers have come for you two from different academies.", she said. "Cool!" "We will board the train back to Qrist tomorrow. When you reach home you, your father and I can discuss the academy you wish to go in and what class you will choose." "Okay, Mother!" The duo carried the crates into Robert''s room. ''They are not going to use any of those and yet they bought it. What a waste.'' Katherine shook her head. ''But at least they look happy'', she thought and smiled. (D: Orion was literary like ''Let''s give Damien an insane power up!'') Chapter 11 - Arbitrium The following day the boys left with their mother for the train station in the Citadel. They boarded the train, and Robert consciously refrained to leave his leave his room except for matters needing compulsory attention - the fear of having another encounter still troubled his mind. The train, as usual, took seven days to reach Qrist. Damien spent the days reading his books and thinking about universities. He wanted to know how many offers he might get. Katherine too was looking through the list of academies her boys could enter to have the best possible education but chose not to discuss them with the boys in the absence of their father. A few days later. The nobles finally reached Qrist and they only wished to put themselves to sleep; though the train was comfortable, nothing could beat the comfort of one''s own home. As the carriage pulled out of the station, Damien noticed that the city had been beautified, as if to announce the arrival of a festival; the festival, indeed, was Lawrence. He had been told of the boys'' feats and was anxious to congratulate them personally. The carriage parked itself in front of the Earl''s mansion and there stood at the door the backbone of Triston - its lord Earl Lawrence. "Welcome home boys! I have missed you these past few days." "Father you are healthy again. What a relief!", said Damien as he hugged Lawrence. Robert, on the other hand, approached Lawrence and said, "It''s good to see you, Father." "It is good to see you too my boy. I have been told that you two have performed well in your tests. I am proud of both of you. Go and have something; it is already nightfall. We have a grand dinner for you tomorrow night. Also, all the people in the city wish to see you two." As the brothers left for the dining hall, Katherine approached Lawrence and he swiftly kissed her. "I know it has been hard upon you dear. But now you are home; have a good rest." "I will, my love.", replied Katherine and entered the mansion. After dinner, Lawrence, the sole being awake in the house, went through Damien and Robert''s certificates. He seemed to be worried for some reason. "These two really have amazing abilities... but Damien... something is wrong; it is too much of a coincidence." The boys slept till afternoon. Apparently, they were too tired to wake up. On Lawrence''s orders, nobody bothered them. Lawrence was busy conducting the political and economic affairs of Triston. "I want the boys'' celebration to be grand, so I am handing over its preparation to you Charles. I know you won''t disappoint me." "Rest assured my lord; the grand dinner shall be greater than the royal coronation!" "That is the enthusiasm I wish to see from you people!" Katherine, in another section of the house, had received the letters from the academies wanting to admit Damien and Robert. She thought, ''We will talk about this tomorrow; for now let them enjoy their day.'' *** As night approached, everyone gathered for the celebrations. Once everyone had arrived, Lawrence addressed the crowd, "I welcome you all for this celebration of my children becoming Heralds, and passing the mage exams with flying colours!" Somebody from the crowd erupted at this moment, "All hail the young lords!", which was accompanied by everyone shouting together, "All hail the young lords!" The celebration progressed and several of Lawrence''s vassals present with their family congratulated the boys. "Congratulations young lords!" "Congratulations!" The grand dinner was attended by all the nobles, it seemed, and extravagant dishes were presented before all. Food was distributed to all commoners. Finally, Robert and Damien, free from the formalities, rushed to the buffet to stuff their gnarling stomachs. ''No wonder Father avoids formalities.'', thought Damien while Robert was thinking on similar lines. The party continued till midnight and several citizens were hopelessly drunk by the time they went home. (O: I hate formalities too R: nah you are just an antisocial emo goth girl) *** The next evening. Damien, with brown hair ruffled indignantly, was walking through the corridor with his brother. His ocean blue eyes radiated sleepiness, and with it, annoyance. Both of them were had the same height, but one was slouching while the other walked upright. "Jeez, Danny you are still sleepy.", said, Robert. "You know I can''t help it! The afternoon nap was going on beautifully until you barged in.", said Damien. He yawned as he followed behind. They went to the drawing room on the second floor. The room had two large sofas and a chair by the fireplace. It also had several books lying around in disarray. This was the family common room and near the fireplace, the brothers could see their Father relaxing. "How are you, boys?" Lawrence was sitting on a large armchair, reading the newspaper. He folded the newspaper and kept it aside. "Good, Father," the two replied and sat on the sofa. "Your Mother will be arriving with the letters anytime now - oh! there she is!" "Good evening everyone." Katherine walked in through the door. She was wearing a purple nightdress and her golden hair was tied into a bun. Behind her entered Charles with a neatly stacked pile of letters. "Good evening Master Lawrence. Good evening Master Damien, Master Robert." Charles greeted them and kept the letters on the table. He bowed and said, "I will take leave now, sir." He turned and left. "Now let us see which academies you have been called by." Lawrence clapped his hands and picked up a letter. "Do you realize that that bundle is more than 10-inch thick?", asked Katherine. "Well, yeah-" "Over 400 academies want them." sighed Katherine. "Wow! That''s great boys!", Lawrence exclaimed with joy. Damien and Robert sat there smiling. ''Why are men...such knuckleheads?'' Katherine shook her head. *** After a few hours. "Okay, so, as far as I know, the Hydra Academy of Mages and Magical Research have offered you two a course - the academy which is rated the best school by the Royal Community of Academics. That''s great, right?", asked Lawrence. "The St. Carter Magus School - which was ranked second - has also offered you a course." "So I think you should choose between these two since there is not much of a difference," Lawrence shrugged his shoulder. "The Hydra School is offering you a course of Weaponmage; you can decide which Weaponmage you want to be.", said Katherine. "However, the St.Carter is offering you the course of a knight." "What''s the difference?", asked Damien. "A Weaponmage wields a specific melee weapon like a spear, hammer, sword and such, while a knight always wields a one-handed weapon and a shield with full body armour. There are different types of knights depending on what magic the knight uses... Also, a knight may or may not have a mount."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. "Hmm." Damien thoughtfully said, "I want to be a Sword Weaponmage!" "Ho! Why is that?" asked Lawrence. "Firstly, in all the stories I have read, the hero wields a sword. Moreover, I have used a sword - ahem - a wooden sword at least from the age of seven.", said Damien. "Secondly, Hydra sounds much cooler than St. Carter''s." Lawrence burst out laughing and Robert facepalmed, while Katherine sighed. (D: we are gonna introduce many classes tho; they will be like professions in games but less rigid and believable) "What about me Mother?", asked Robert. "Oh! It should be obvious. All academies are offering you a Paladin course." "What?" "Is there a problem?" Katherine looked at Robert. "I don''t want to be a Paladin.", said, Robert. "Oh! That''s great Robert! Decide your own future." Lawrence encouraged his son and sipped some tea. Katherine raised an eyebrow and asked, "Tell me, Robert, what do you want to be?" "I want to be an Assassin!" "Pffft", Lawrence spat out tea as he coughed. "WHAT?!" Katherine sat upright and her fists clenched. "Why do you want to be an assassin, Robert?", asked Lawrence as he wiped his face. Robert was alarmed by the change in the environment so he cautiously chose his next words. "You see Mother, Father, I have always wanted to be a man who does not have to show himself to get his work done. Why must a man be cursed upon even after doing good, when his motives were always unselfish? Throughout history, we have seen that people have been wrongly judged for their good deeds and yet those that cannot be seen get away with no matter what they do. As an assassin, I can do all those things away from the people''s knowledge and I can bring to the world the peace father holds so dearly!" Katherine, who was now standing, looked at her son, who had just said the boldest words in his life, and was shocked to her core. Certain instances and moments in her life replayed in front of her eyes. The silhouette of a man and a woman entered her vision and at this moment she knew that she could not let Robert walk the path of an assassin. She had seen far too much to let her little boy walk into the mouth of a dragon. "Robert, listen to this loud and clear. You will never be allowed to pursue the path of an assassin. If you choose to follow it, then never face me again, FOR YOU WILL BE NO CHILD OF MINE!" Her chest heaved up and down as she bellowed. "Dear, they are kids. You must not be so harsh on them-" "No Lawrence. How far do you think this childishness will take them? They must now begin to understand the reality of life." "Do you know how many of my beloved I have lost because of an assassin''s path? I shall never lose my son to an assassin''s life! EVER!" Katherine stormed out of the room after finishing her words. As she ran, one could see two tiny streams of tears falling from her face. Robert was stupefied, while Damien was in a trance. They had never seen their beautiful and caring mother become so angry. Lawrence knew that he had to talk to Katherine and ran behind her after saying, "Robert, meet me in my office in the evening." *** In Katherine and Lawrence''s room. Katherine entered the room and at that instant, all that filled her was the rage. Rage on the fact that her son wanted to follow the path of an assassin; rage that she might lose her son; rage that the events of her past had come to haunt her after a decade and she could do nothing to stop history from retracing its steps again. As all this rage filled her, she picked up a vase from a table nearby and threw it on the floor. Soon, every delicate commodity in Katherine''s room was turned to nothing more than pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The beautiful velvet curtains that once adorned her windows were now just cleaning clothes on the floor. All of Katherine''s dresses were on the floor and her cabinet now contained only one tiny bronze box. This box had a golden lining on its corners and could attract the most beings for it had no keyhole. As Katherine sat on her soft bed, tears rolled down her cheeks. Lawerence entered the room and knew the state Katherine was in - that he had to do something. He sighed and said, "Honey, history does not repeat itself. You need to understand that I won''t let anything like that happen again. I won''t let anyone hurt our family ever again. What happened then was beyond our control; we were weak and powerless then but now we are infinitely stronger and capable!" "You expect me to believe that Lawrence? What James did is unforgivable, and we still haven''t punished him for it. What saddens me is that the same things are happening again! You saw Damien''s ability! What consequences Robert''s decision might have? He is walking on the same path as James... And there will come a day when they meet. Don''t you see what''s happening? Damien''s ability was out of our control! But... But can''t we try to save Robert at least? When Robert and James meet, they will do their best to kill each other... They are the opposites! Order and Chaos! And you know how powerful James is! Both of them will not rest until one dies!" "But James isn''t Robert''s to kill... Moreover, Damien might have that ability, but, he has chosen a different path!" Katherine could not speak anymore. She just looked into Lawrence''s eyes. A new rush of tears rolled down her red cheeks. "I know! But, what will happen to Robert! I know him. He is your son; his will bends to no one." "I think I may have an idea." *** At night in Lawrence''s office. *Knock knock* "Yes?" "Father, it''s me, Robert." "Come in." Robert opened the door and entered. He quietly closed the door behind him. Lawrence was sitting on the armchair near the fireplace. The fireplace had glowing embers in it but no flame. Lawrence was absentmindedly staring at the lightbulb whose yellow light illuminated the room. A desk, a chair, a bookshelf; it looked like a normal office, but for the fact that it was quite wide - even accommodating a sofa and a fireplace. "Come, sit down, Robert." Lawrence gestured him to sit on the sofa. "Yes, Father." Robert was obedient. A nervous heart throbbed in his chest. "Robert, you know... Your Mother''s past involves encounters with an assassin, which are too crude to be forgotten." Lawrence took a deep breath and said, "Did you ever wonder why you have no relatives? It was because almost all of them walked the path of an assassin, and, died because of certain reasons. Those reasons destroyed their families. That''s why your Mother does not want you to become an assassin, lest you end up with the same fate." "I understand father." "So will you change your mind?" "Father, I have already come to a conclusion. I am determined to stand firm." Lawrence laughed meekly. "You are my son! Fine then, you may become an assassin." "Thank you, Father." Robert''s heart beat with excitement. "However, there is no academy offering you such a course.", said Lawrence. Robert''s excitement quickly died down. "But fear not! I have made the necessary preparations." Lawrence patted Robert''s head. "Ho! speak of the devil, you are here already." "W-Who is here Father?" "I am.", said a man sitting beside Robert. Robert jumped up, "What?!" He looked like a young man who had recently matured into adulthood. He had smooth features and his long, dark hair was neatly combed. It fell down to his shoulders. On his porcelain-like face were two dark, almond-shaped eyes. He wore a black tailcoat and a grey-black striped tie. Black trousers and black shoes ensured his monotonous image. The man looked like he could melt in the darkness. "Oliver! It has been some time.", said Lawrence as he shook hands with him. "Yes, Lawrence if it wasn''t for your message on the MagiNet, then I am afraid I would have not come to Triston." "Those SNS are finally coming into use.", laughed Lawrence. "Anyway, is this your son?" "To the bones, yes!" "Hmm." Oliver examined Robert from top to bottom. "Umm, Father?" Robert was scared silly...A person appearing out of nowhere and sitting beside him without him noticing! If this man wanted to kill him, Robert doubted if he would even be able to say ''Ouch!'' "He is a former comrade and a good friend of mine.", said Lawrence as he pulled out a bottle of wine from the shelf. "On my request, he has agreed to take you as an apprentice and train you to be an assassin-" "Is that the 200-year-old grape wine?", Oliver asked. "Yeah!" "You still know me well Lawrence." "How can I forget those adventures with you, Katherine, Ka- ", Lawrence stopped himself and coughed. "Ahem, so, Robert from now on you will tag along with Oliver and train with him." "Understood Father." "Oliver will be taking you on a journey around the continent to make you learn all the aspects of being an assassin. From this day forth, he will be your teacher." "You better pack up and say farewell to your family, boy. We will be leaving tomorrow before dawn.", said Oliver and before Robert could look at him, he was gone. "Don''t worry, he is an expert. I would have nobody other than him teach and protect you. Now go talk to your mother and brother." "Yes, Father." *** In Katherine''s painting room. "Mother, can we talk?", asked Robert as he entered the room. "What is there left to talk about Robert? You''ve made your choices and I have chosen to respect them..." said Katherine. She was staring outside at the stars. The soft silvery moonlight fell, making her eyes glow. "It isn''t like that at all, Mother; I wanted to be an assassin since the day I saw the injury on father. Father is the greatest man in my life and when I saw that even he could be injured, I wanted to have that power. I don''t wish to bring world peace. That was only a ruse to convince you...What I want to actually be, Mother is strong enough so that no one can threaten me. I wish only to command power so great that the world may bend to my will. The way I see it, people only listen to you when they fear you or respect you. I have chosen fear over respect. Being an assassin, people will fear me. I wish to live a life like that; please bless my life ahead, Mother." "My child, the truth you have told me today shall comfort me till death. But, don''t forget that if you die, the person that would be devastated the most shall be your mother. Now go, I know that you will leave tomorrow; you must bid farewell to your brother. He won''t take it well, I know, but you must convince him to join one of the academies and do his part as the Earl''s son." "I will talk to him... Mommy." Katherine hugged her son tight. She knew that this could well even be their last embrace. Her eyes now gleamed once again; this time by tears. "We won''t be seeing each other for a long time now. Stay safe, son." Katherine kissed Robert on the forehead and turned away towards the window. Robert quietly left the quarters. Katherine looked at the moon, and then towards the unfinished canvas on the easel. It was a sketch of all of her family together, but, only her face was finished completely. "At last, this day has come... Your nephew has chosen the path of an assassin to take forward the unforgiving fate of our family. Are you satisfied, now that your harsh words from 15 years ago have taken from me my most valuable possession?" Chapter 12 - We part
"Wait wait wait,", Damien said hurriedly. "So you are saying that you are going to roam around the continent with an unknown man learning the arts of an assassin?" "Yes.", Robert replied as he flung his bag on his shoulders. "That''s stupid even by your standards!" "Excuse me?" "I mean why can''t you join an academy?" "Because no academy is offering that course to me," Robert sighed. "Umm..." "Listen here, Damien. I intended to tell you this last night-" "Well, it is 3 in the morning; it is still dark," Damien shrugged his shoulders. "What I am trying to say is that I have made my decision-" "You use that phrase way too much," interjected Damien. "FOR GODS SAKE STOP INTERRUPTING ME!" Robert smacked Damien''s head. "Owww..." "I am going and THAT is final. I just wanted to inform you that face-to-face." Robert turned away. "Jeez. Would it hurt you to say that you are worried about me?" Damien rubbed his head. "Hmm?" Robert turned his head and raised an eyebrow. "Give your brother a hug," Damien spread his arms. "Oh shut it! It is exactly this kind of attitude that will get you bullied in school," Robert said and twisted Damien''s arm to make him understand how foolish his actions were. "Ow ow ow you know you shouldn''t do that to your brother just before saying goodbye to him!" "I don''t want my departure to be sad, but you, on the other hand, want it to be exactly that!" There was an awkward pause. "That''s because I''ll miss you when you are not by my side anymore," Damien said after a long dreary silence. "So this is it I guess. We might not see each other for years huh?" said Robert, as finally, some emotions started to paint his face. "I honestly don''t want you to go, but I know that this is the best chance you have of accomplishing your dream," said Damien and a calm yet beautifully gentle smile appeared on his face. Robert also smiled and tried to memorise the face of this brother of his whom he would not be able to see for a long time. "Goodbye, Danny," said Robert as he finally hugged Damien. Although Damien was startled for a second, he came to realise how much Robert loved him and cared for him; a smile appeared on Damien''s face. "See you soon brother," Damien said these words and Robert finally let go. A faint teardrop could be seen on his face. Robert turned and started to walk out of the mansion gates. "So, he went..." said Damien as he rubbed his eyes. He saw a black spot slowly disappearing in the horizon. "Damien..." Lawrence stroked his son''s hair. "Yes, Father I will prepare for my departure too." Damien retraced his steps towards the mansion. Katherine sighed. The two of them were standing aside all this time, watching the brothers part. "Have you ordered everything for Damien?" "Yeah, all the pieces of equipment will arrive tomorrow evening," Lawrence stretched his body. "Lawrence, please act like a noble while you are outside," said Katherine. The plea was evident in her eyes. "Well, I don''t give a f*ck about formalities... so f*ck it," Lawrence laughed. "LANGUAGE!", snapped Katherine as she punched Lawrence in the stomach. "AHHHH!" Lawrence flew a few meters and crashed into the wall. The wall collapsed. "Hmph." Katherine walked into the mansion as if nothing happened. "Ahem ahem ahem." Lawrence got up from the rubble. Some blood was oozing out of his nose. He dusted his clothes and whispered, "What a brute." "I heard that!", an angry voice sounded from the mansion. (O: same R: Choose your next few words very carefully) *** "Damien, are you alright?", asked Katherine as she entered Damien''s room. It was afternoon, but the room was dark since the curtains weren''t drawn. "Y-Yeah!" Damien jumped out of his bed. "Then tell me why you were hugging your pillow and crying?" "I-I was not crying!", exclaimed Damien. Katherine smiled at the innocence of her child and sat down on the bed. "Come, sit here." Damien obediently sat down beside her. Katherine stroked his hair. "My sweet Damien, I know you are sad because of your brother''s departure..." "I-Its not-" "Listen, Damien. You see, there always comes a time when someone or something parts from us, and there is nothing we can do about it. It surely makes us sorrowful to say goodbye to the thing we hold close to our heart, but remember, such moments are not the occasions to be sad. During such times, we must look forward to the time we reunite again! This is what makes life worth living," Katherine embraced her son, "The will to reunite again is what will make you live through perilous times! So Damien, do not be disheartened, you will surely meet Robert soon." "Mo-Mother," Damien sobbed. *** A few days later at the Wells terminal. "It is like a chain reaction... now I have to leave you too.", said Damien with a bitter smile. A servant nearby held the suitcase on which was engraved- ''Damien Wells''. "Son, don''t you worry. We will meet every holiday season!", said Lawrence as he hugged Damien.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. "Yes, Damien, don''t worry. We will telegraph you every week, and if you become a Guardian then you can access the ManaNet!" Katherine kissed him on the forehead. "So I will stay in the Marquis'' territory for a week and a half. Then with them, I will go to the academy which is on an island in an archipelago which is 75,000 miles east of the continent?" (D: as stated before it is a big continent) "Yeah." "That''s messed up!", exclaimed Damien. "Alas! Our continent is very big, so it will take you half a month to reach the Marquis''s territory; I guess they will use space magic to teleport you to the academy." "Woah! Then its worth it!" Damien smiled and said, "I will miss you all." "We will too, Damien. We will too." Katherine brushed his hair. "Oh! And the Marquis'' fifth daughter? Yeah, she has enrolled in Hydra Academy too. I believe you have met her; her name is Erina.", said Lawrence. "Erina has enrolled too? Umm, I know her, but she gives me a cold shoulder, mostly," Damien shrugged his shoulder. "Ho! the train is about to leave! Damien get on!" Lawrence spoke hurriedly as he escorted Damien into his coach. "Your luggage will be sent to the academy before you, so don''t worry!" Katherine waved goodbye to Damien as he looked out of the window. With a high pitched whistle, the train started moving. Damien saw his parents waving at him; he waved back. Slowly, they were left behind and all Damien could see was the terminal, which too turned into a black spot as the train sped away. "Jeez. They could have come with me to the Marquis'' territory, but it is too far away..." Damien sighed as he relaxed on the couch. He seized an apple from the fruit basket and took a bite. "A fortnight in the train... God, this is messed up!", he said with a bitter smile. *** Damien sat in the train looking at nature''s painting outside the window, bored beyond measure. It had been 8 days since his journey started. He had hoped to find a lot of people on the train, but to his dismay, it turned out to be totally empty. He tried to read the books he had brought along with him, but they too proved to be of no interest. ''Ugh. This is so boring. Nobody to talk to. Nothing to do. I miss those times when Robert and I used to be the best companions to each other. I miss him.'' Damien looked up through the window into the clouds, feeling the cool breeze of Nix softly touching his face as it moved away from him. Another 3 days passed in idling and looking to cure his boredom. Suddenly, Damien remembered that he needed to meditate to increase his mana quality and that it had been more than 2 weeks after his tests. Apparently, after your mage tests, you are not allowed to perform magic exercises for two weeks, and Damien had followed this for quite some time. It was now time to unleash his potential. As Damien was about to begin meditating, a thought struck him in the head. "Ah! I totally forgot about that letter!" Damien jumped out of the bed and rummaged through his bag. A certain letter had arrived from the Association on the day of his departure, but he had been too busy so he had stuffed it in his bag without a detailed inspection. Given his tension about departing to the Marquis'' territory, he had forgotten about it. He pulled out a creased silver envelope. Drawings of slender golden dragons decorated the front. In beautiful cursive writing, written in black, was: To Damien Wells; Son of Earl Lawrence Wells. He tore open the envelope. A white sheet of parchment appeared. Damien read:
Damien Wells, You have been tested of your ability. Since currently, you do not hold any information about your ability, the Holy Dragon Association sends you the information of your ability through this letter.
ABILITY: POTENTIA CLASS: SS
TYPE: PASSIVE
DESCRIPTION: Increases the pure attributes of the person by 1.39% per day.
KNOWN DERIVED SPELLS: -Godspeed -God''s Strength -Almighty Strike
(R: abilities can be active, passive, toggled, conditional and so on along these lines, they can be a combination too) "Hmm," Damien said with a thoughtful look, "Sounds cool, but it went over my head. However, if my pure stats increase by 1.4% every day, then I would become 4 times stronger each year!" Damien was joyous. But he then remembered his mage training. He put away his letter and made arrangements for his meditation. Damien sat on the floor with legs crossed and went into a deep meditative state. Here, he felt mana rushing through his arteries along with his blood. He tried, with much difficulty, to control its circulation. He saturated his body with mana. ''Isn''t this very hard? I wonder how Robert did it.'' As Damien continued circulating mana, he found that the control of his was condensing with each circulation from his heart to his organs, and the mana was refining itself. Another day passed in such activity, and Damien rose with a much more refined mana pool than before. Several days passed like this and finally, he was about to reach Arenhal. The train had covered more distance in the same time due to the scarcity of passengers. *** "Oof." Damien stretched his body. "It has been 12 days already?!" Damien picked up his suitcase and hopped off the train. He was at the Draco-Pitch Station. As its name suggested, the station was made up of pitch black marble and black wood, with pictures of dragons carved on the walls. Except for these two aspects, it was similar to the Wells Terminal. "So this is Titos - the capital of Marquis Alexander''s territory!" "Excuse me, Sir, but would you be Damien Wells, the son of Earl Lawrence?", a person in an attendant''s attire approached Damien and asked. A silver badge was glittering on his breast pocket. It was the symbol of the Marquis - a shining silver turtle, above which stood the Black Dragon flag. "Yes," replied Damien. "Young Master Damien, I am Carl - a servant of the house of Evans. My lord - the Marquis - has instructed me to receive you." "I see," nodded Damien as he recognized the badge. "If you will please follow me to the Marquis'' castle," requested Carl. "Sure, lead the way." Damien followed Carl; outside the station, a carriage was waiting for them. The all-black carriage went through the great city swiftly. Damien didn''t get to see much. It reached the estate of the Marquis, the gates of which were made from steel and had the territorial symbol of the turtle on them. A long road led towards the mighty castle Ironstorm. The castle was said to be one of the oldest castles in the empire, constructed 3400 years ago by the first marquis. It had four watch towers on the vertices, and at the centre stood the main body of the castle - a grey giant with iron plating on its walls. The castle had two gates on opposite ends. Made from black iron, they were said to be unbreachable. The walls of the castle stood at 80 feet in height and the towers at 120 feet. This castle was said to be capable of holding against an army of a hundred thousand men for more than 8 months at a time. "The lord is in seclusion, Master Damien, but gives you his regards in passing the mage exams. He asks for your forgiveness for not being able to welcome you personally," said Carl as he took Damien inside the castle. Guards were stationed at every corner in silver armour, holding spears made from steel. "I am thankful for his lordship''s courtesy.", replied Damien. Damien was shown into his room by Carl. His room was not much different than his own in the Earls mansion, except that it had a grey-black colour design and his personal belongings were not there. Carl told him of where the dining hall was, that he should rest, and also that the dinner will be served in 5 hours. Carl took his leave, after which, Damien left to explore the legendary castle. Tall walls made from black and grey stone with an arched ceiling made a maze. All the walls had some kind of decoration on them. Some were draped with banners of the Evans family or had paintings on them. Suits of armour could be seen at long but regular intervals. Red carpets were laid in the corridors and ran at lengths. The walls near the periphery had clear glass windows draped with golden embroidered red curtains. Occasionally one could see an attendant walking through these passages. Damien walked out of his room. "This castle is huge!", he cried out. He walked the hallways and as he was roaming around, he spotted the figure of someone he immediately recognized. "Oh! Hey Erina!", shouted Damien. "Who?" A girl walked back around the corner and asked. She was the same age as Damien was and as tall as him. Her crown of long, brown, silk-like hair dropped till her round hips; a red bow fluttered on her head. She had a cute round face, with hazel eyes embedded into it, which occasionally sparkled. Currently, she wore a white shirt over a black skirt, with long white stockings covering her legs and a golden bracelet glittering on her wrist. "Hey, Erina! Long time no see!", Damien chuckled as he walked toward her. "Hmm. Why are you here?", Erina asked stone-faced. Although she spoke in an adorable voice, a tone of disgust was evident in it. "Yeah, I will be staying here for a week and a half. You see I have enrolled in Hydra Academy too." Damien brought forth his hand for a handshake. "We will have fun!" "Don''t act like you are my equal." Erina looked at Damien with eyes of contempt. "Haha..." Damien awkwardly withdrew his hand. "Why don''t you just leave? Your uncultured blood doesn''t belong here." She tilted her head. "You must have been really lucky to be able to take the mage test. So what if you have enrolled in Hydra Academy? You will probably get expelled soon. If you must be here, then please don''t disgrace this castle." Erina turned and walked away. ''Jeez, Father. How infamous are you for your complete lack of regards? This is why I hated noble banquets. Everyone thought of us as brutes even if they didn''t show it.'', Damien thought with bitterness. He sighed and started walking towards his room. Chapter 13 - An Assassins Resolve The sun was rising slowly from the east. Rays of dawn illuminated the vast green expanse. Tall green grass waved and sparkled with dew as a breeze went by. In the distant horizon, one could see the emerald hills. Among the grass one could see the figure of a boy running. His white shirt and black shorts had been moistened by sweat. His brown hair bounced up and down, while he lunged for air. "G-God no... no more," He collapsed. "Get up. You''re not even half the way." A man dressed in black appeared out of thin air and poked the boy''s head with a black walking stick. "Th-This is hellish!... 50 miles!... Every day!" exclaimed the boy in short bursts. "You chose this path. Thus, you must follow it to your grave." "Please! Just one minute... give me one minute of break." "You said the same thing yesterday, and the day before. My answer, too, remains the same - NO." The man picked the boy up and tossed him into the air. "Aaaaaahhhh!" the boy screamed as he completed two flips in the air. He crashed into the ground with a thump. "It is hard to believe you are Lawrence''s son," the man sighed. Robert could only twitch in reply. "Get up Robert," said Oliver and kicked him in the ribs. Robert spat out as he slid on the ground. "Run, or I will kill you," An eerie glint flashed in Oliver''s eyes. It made Robert''s hair stand up. Robert put all his strength in getting up and staggered as he tried to run. Oliver smiled as he was amused by Robert''s suffering "Ha! Lawrence was right! It will be fun for me.", said the man as he disappeared into thin air. *** "Arrgh!" Robert expelled his stomach''s contents near a tree. "My My! Wasn''t that your lunch?", laughed Oliver as he watched Robert from a distance. "So let''s see: 50-mile morning run - Done; 200 push-ups - Done; 300 sit-ups - Done; 150 squats - Done; 200 pull-ups - Done; and your 100-mile evening run is done!" Oliver leaned on a tree. "D-Damn it!" Robert collapsed. "You can''t collapse now! You have your evening lessons, and night hunting left!" Oliver smiled with evident amusement. Oliver approached Robert. Robert''s body was as still as a corpse; one could not be sure of his breathing. Oliver bent to pick him up. Suddenly, Robert jumped and thrust a dagger towards Oliver. Oliver simply smiled, as he stopped the dagger in the air with the movement of a finger. Robert launched a kick at Oliver''s legs. A painful crunch was heard. Robert felt as if he had kicked a block of steel. But Robert''s gaze was firm. He dropped the dagger and used his other hand to catch it. He punched and stabbed simultaneously. However, Oliver deflected those blows with a sweep of his hand. Robert staggered backwards. "You have learned to conceal yourself well, and your attacks were not bad either!" Oliver said with a smile, "But, it is useless against me." "I will kill you!" Robert''s eyes burned with fervour. "By all means. However, as of now, you don''t have the power to kill another herald, much less me." Robert screamed and rushed towards Oliver, but his broken leg staggered, and he fell down. He dragged himself, sweeping leaves and dirt. "I... will kill... you!" His tired hands and feet felt numb, but with mere willpower, he continued to drag himself. With madness in his eyes, he moved until his body gave up, and he collapsed at Oliver''s feet. Seeing that he was powerless, tears welled up in his eyes. He cried. "Ah! Emotional drama, one of my favourites!" Oliver squatted and looked into Robert''s eyes. "First, let''s fix your body," Oliver took out a red vial from his pocket. He shook it a little as he grabbed Robert by the hair and lifted his head. Robert let out a groan. Oliver popped out the stopper and dumped the contents of the vial into Robert''s mouth. "Your body will heal in some seconds. Stop acting dead." With a wave of Oliver''s hand, a tent appeared in mid-air. With another wave, the tent set itself on the ground. "Come inside when you are able to walk and don''t even think of running away, else I will kill you," said Oliver as he disappeared into the tent. ''Damn it, you bastard. I will kill you'' thought Robert as he got up. Numerous bruises and wounds hidden under his clothes had healed up. Robert unwillingly walked inside the tent. The tent seemed small from the outside, but it was quite spacious inside. A light bulb floated in the air, illuminating the tent with its yellow light. The floor was made of wood; some clothes and a sleeping bag lay on a side in the most unremarkable fashion. In the centre was a wooden table with two wooden chairs. On one of the chairs was Oliver, sitting with his eyes closed. His hands supported his head and his elbow rested on the table. "Sit Robert, sit," Oliver said as he sat up straight and opened his eyes. Robert involuntarily sat down on the chair. "There is something I wish to ask you, Robert, so I will be cancelling today''s lessons." Oliver beamed. "Huh?" Robert was surprised. In the half-month of his journey, he had to follow a rigid timetable- there had been no exceptions. "Now, Robert tell me why do you want to be an assassin?" "Eh? It has been two weeks and you are asking this now?" "That was general training." Oliver folded his arms and rocked his chair.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "GENERAL TRAINING MY ASS! I ALMOST DIED!" "The fact that you have survived until now qualifies you to receive my teaching; this is the final test- tell me why do you wish to be an assassin?" "Y-You!" Robert clenched his teeth. He arrogantly spoke "It is the path I chose. I wish to be a shadow which will cleanse this world. I wish to wield such power that no one judges me for my actions. I will cleanse this world of evil, and I will adopt any method to achieve it. Thus, I want to become an assassin." "Hmm... Strong words, yet your resolve is weak. Cleanse the world of evil? Not be judged for your action?" Oliver laughed. Suddenly, Oliver stood up and in a flash, a dagger stood a micrometre away from Robert''s carotid artery. The sensation of oncoming death sent chills down Robert''s spine. "Tell me the truth boy, or you shall know death." "I-I-" Robert''s mouth was dry, his senses told him that it was not a trick, "Rea- Damn it," "Tell me the truth," Oliver had a merciless look in his eyes. Robert cursed under his breath. "I don''t want to bring world peace or anything like that. That was just a ruse to convince you... What I want to do is be strong enough that no one can threaten me. I only wish to command power so great that the world may bend to my will. The way I see it, people only listen to you when they fear you or respect you. I have chosen fear over respect. When I''ll an assassin, people will fear me and won''t be able to hunt me down. Even if they wish to kill me, they would have the power only to bow down before me. I wish to live a life like that." "A prodigal son! You really don''t believe in your father''s ideas, do you?" "What do you mean?" "Do you know your own father? Do you have a heart as strong?" "What kind of question is that? Of course, I know him. I am his son!" "Do you know how he became an Earl?" "Th-That well, he earned it through his own merit!" "Haha! I knew it; Lawrence would never tell his innocent sons about that." "What are you saying?" "You see, this country follows a simple rule: the strong occupy the top. Normally, if one wishes to become one of the core administration, which includes the Marquis and the Earl, one must prove that he is worthy of that position. Something of equal value must be presented to the rank holder." Oliver sighed and continued, "However, your father did something special- He challenged the former Earl, your grandfather, and his entire army." "Wh-What?" "Yes, the Earl''s army. It has several Titan-ranked commanders. The Earl himself was breaking through to the next rank." Oliver smiled and said, "Your father made them all submit without killing anyone." "Th-That..." Robert was at a loss for words. "Let me show it to you." Oliver leaned forward and gently tapped Robert''s forehead. Robert felt his surroundings melt and change. Suddenly, he was standing in the middle of a grassy plain. On one side stood a huge army. The soldiers, standing in neat rows, wore metallic armour, like that of a knight, which glowed with mana. One man stood in front of the army in a remarkable blue and white armour; a golden cape fluttered behind him. His helmet covered his features. A golden lance glowed in his hands. The man shouted, "Lawrence! This is your last chance; flee and I will forgive your life!" His voice boomed across the plain, accompanied by angry growls of the army. The man, on seeing this, held up a hand and there was silence. Robert tried to move his body but realized that he could only move his field of vision. He looked to where the leader was facing. Robert spotted a familiar figure - Lawrence! His father was standing there, dressed in brown leather armour, and holding nothing but a rusted sword. Robert wanted to facepalm, but he didn''t have hands to do so. Lawrence laughed, and said, "I will defeat your army first. Then I will sit on the throne of Triston. I will make you proud by doing this father." A chill went down Robert''s non-existent spine. Was this person really his father? His body, his face, his hands, all seemed too vicious to be his Father''s! "You idiot! You were told to bring something of equal value for Triston, not fight your father''s BLOODY ARMY!" Earl Julian lost his patience, "CHARGE!" he bellowed. A hundred thousand men marched forward. Mana roiled around as numerous spells were prepared. Lawrence only stood there laughing. Robert wanted to shut his eyes and run away, but he couldn''t. Robert couldn''t bear to watch this, but suddenly he realized - isn''t father the earl? At this moment, Lawrence stretched out his arm, a golden red spell formation was formed in front of his palm. Numerous runes floated in it. Lawrence muttered an incantation. With a smirk, he said, "Bind!" Golden chains sprouted out from the ground and wrapped themselves around the soldiers. All soldiers, without exceptions, were rooted in their places. The ''grand'' march had been halted by one spell! All of them struggled to break free, but for nought. Slowly, the chains started tightening. The noise of breaking bones and cracking armour echoed across the battlefield. Now they could not even struggle! These golden chains restricted all their movement; they were barely able to breathe! Lawrence just stood there, laughing. "That ended quickly." He scratched his nose. "I might as well wrap this up now," Lawrence muttered another chant, and this time a red spell formation opened up in front of his palm. Runes shaped like flames revolved in it. Lawrence whispered, "Reign of fire." A similar looking spell formation opened up in the sky directly above the immobile army. The only difference was that it was enormous. It encompassed the whole army. The concentric circles in it rotated as huge amounts of mana were sucked in. This amount was incomparable to the mana Robert had absorbed in all his life till now. Boom! The air exploded! Hot dry gales wrecked the green environment. Great balls of fire descended like rain on the battlefield. Fire flooded the ground. Nothing was spared. The cries of the soldiers were muffled by the roaring flames. All except the soldiers were turned to ash. No chariots, no spears, no swords, no armour and no clothes... only ash. The soldiers looked like the day they were born. Their skin was unscathed. Robert was perplexed. ''Is that really Father? Why would he do such a shameless thing to his own army? So ruthless.'' The space wrapped around Robert, and suddenly he was back in the tent sitting on the chair. He blinked twice. "Lawrence did everything according to the state laws.", said Oliver. "He was charged with no crime, thus no penalty was imposed on him. He defeated a hundred thousand people, and officially became Earl of Triston. Your grandfather Julian was extremely proud that your father had earned his right without harming anyone; a feat very hard to achieve. Apparently, your father had left for Blood Haven empire, before he became an Earl, in order to find power. In his search, he had slaughtered a hundred thousand men and vampires. He became an SS-class criminal there. However, his contributions to the war against the Elven empire were many. His criminal status was cleared by Black Dragon''s ally Bloodhaven at that time. Maybe after killing so many, he realized how meaningless killing is. He atones by not killing a single person in his battles; no matter how harsh or unfair the battle is. Since the last war, he hasn''t killed anyone. Albeit, he beats his enemies up and drags them in chains to the court." Robert was too shocked to say anything. "There is no good or evil in this world. A person is but a person, and taking someone''s life is a sin no matter how you put it. Your own hands would be painted by the blood of millions if you choose to change this world. You will have painful experiences, tragedies and such if you walk this path. But if you do choose it after all, then walk it till the end. You will have to climb mountains of corpses just so you can sit on an empty throne and change this desolate, insipid world. Tell me. Are your resolve and heart strong enough?" Robert clenched his teeth. Too much had happened today. He had realized that his father was a mass murderer, and his own house was built upon the graves of countless people. In the deadly silence, Robert thought, again and again, and again, trying to find reason in his path. After a few minutes, Robert spoke. "No, I am not strong enough to bear the guilt of killing people. I am a naive boy, who thought that this world was painted in black and white. I am powerless. There is so much that I haven''t seen. I know not what evil might there be, but I am sure many people live in pain, and inhumane monsters trouble them. So, with a clear conscience, I want to walk this path. I will get myself stained with mud, but someday that mud will dry up and fall off. My heart tells me that it is the right thing to do. I wish to believe in the path I take, Master Oliver." Robert''s eyes shined as he looked towards Oliver. "The reason doesn''t matter. I see hope at the end of my journey, and that is all that values. Thus, I beseech you to teach me how to bear this burden and guide me on my tragic path, so that one day, when this is all over, I can disappear amidst the ones I helped." Oliver smiled. "Good words. Well pronounced. One last question: Are you prepared to kill another person?" Robert''s face darkened, and he muttered, "Yes." O liver chuckled and got up from the chair. He stretched out a hand towards Robert. "Let''s begin your journey." Chapter 14 - A Broken Arm Damien woke up in his bed. He still didn''t feel comfortable in this palace. There was the unwelcoming behaviour of Erina coupled with no one to accompany him during his days. Erina''s elder most brother and her second eldest brother were often in seclusion. They were born sixty years ago from Marquis'' first wife. Marquis''s second wife gave birth to his third son. He is a twenty-eight-year-old man who graduated from scholar academy and is inclined more towards ruling Arenhal than the practice of magical arts. His name was Louis and he was the only other relative of Erina that Damien had physically seen. Erina is the daughter of the Marquis'' third wife thus, his youngest child. Her mother died of complications after Erina was born, she only lived to see Erina grow to seven years of age. In honour of her memory, the Marquis'' had built a beautiful fountain surrounded by a pond from pure white marble. The fountain was the statue of a noble lady waving a wand in her hands. Water sprouted out of her wand made a beautiful arc and splashed down into the pond. Damien loved this fountain; he would often stay there for a few hours looking and admiring its practical beauty. When Damien looked at this fountain his heart yearned for a familial figure and looking at this figure reminded him of a certain someone''s blue eyes. The very deep eyes like the invincible ocean yet forever calm reminded him of tranquillity. "Oh, mother! How I much I have missed you in the past few days." Damien grew homesick. He was accustomed to roaming around away from home for days, but those times were different, then he had Robert to accompany him now he had no one. The thought of being alone in an unknown place finally caught up to Damien he was concerned that he would lose himself if he did not divert his attention towards something productive. "I am about to leave for the academy in a matter of days, how about I practice some magic and hone my skills until then?" As Damien was rejuvenated by this thought he stood up from his bench he gave one last glance to the statue and with an innocent smile went into the woods next to the garden. ''This seems like a perfect place for practice lets start'' Damien began collecting mana in his body as he waved his arms. His oceanic blue eyes glowed with a dim light. He took a deep breath and slowly released the mana he had accumulated through the ends of his limbs. He tried to control the outflow but, it was too hard. All the mana suddenly gushed out of his limbs. *Thump* Depressions were formed on the ground and on the barks of the trees. He started to feel a familiar numbness spreading through his body. He frantically collected more mana to prevent fainting. His body was once again brimming with mana. ''Ah, the numbness is gone, but fatigue remains'' Damien thought. Damien once again tried to release his mana slowly and steadily. It was immensely difficult. He failed once again. ''I need to master this to practice mana breath- the technique widely used to reach Neomage rank!'' Damien frowned and filled his body with mana once again. He tried this twice but to no avail. Fatigue built up in his body, and he decided it was time to rest in his room. He accumulated mana for the last time and lazily walked back. He was swinging his arms while singing a melody when suddenly, due to his tired body, mana in his arm gushed out and hit the stone wand that the statue in the garden beheld. "Nooooooooooo!" a shout rushed out of Damien''s mouth as he saw the wand snap and fall into the pond along with it went the entire hand holding the wand. ''What have I done if anybody from the Marquis'' household sees this I am totally screwed. They might just ask me to pack my things and leave. I still have to spend a few days in this dreaded place'', just the thought of Erina finding out sent shivers down Damien''s spine. ''I need to do something... but what? There is no way I can fix the statue and getting it made will take ages. Ughhhhh what should I do'', Damien was in a tense situation he was afraid of losing what little respect he had and guilty of not being able to control himself. In some sense, he too had grown fond of the statue and found it to be pleasant to the heart. ''I think I should go and confess to Erina''s brother and tell him the truth its better than covering my tracks... I guess'', as Damien came to this decision he turned around and left for the castle. While Damien was entering the castle, someone was leaving it from the other side. "Your Grace we must hurry for the market or it shall be too late to buy anything," said a maid to a young lady standing in front of her. "Oh don''t worry I am the Marquis'' daughter they will definitely have some special ones hidden away just for me," said Erina as she boarded the carriage. Suddenly Erina remembered something and the carriage door was swung open. "Your Grace where are you going?" "I must bid farewell to mother without her blessing I wouldn''t dream about doing anything. Erina walked towards the garden, after her mother''s death the statue had been her constant companion in times of joy and despair. She would talk to it for hours believing it to be her mother, sharing her thoughts and secrets with the statue.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Erina finally entered the garden gates she walked towards the pond. To her shock and dismay, her mother was handicapped. The water gushing out of the broken stone hand like blood was enough to cause tears to flow down Erina''s eyes. "Wh..wh..who did this?" Erina looked around for someone anyone she could find but no one was around. "WHO DID THIIIISSS!!!" shouted Erina as she fell on the ground weeping. "Your Grace we shou.." as the maid entered hearing the loud shout they too were shocked to behold the site before them. After this, the words just didn''t leave their mouths. "Call the guards I want the culprit arrested right now... RUUNNN!!" screamed Erina, the maids ran towards the castle to call the gate guards. Sometime later the guards arrived they too were shocked to see the statue broken. "Who was the last person to enter the garden?" asked Erina by now she was determined to find the culprit and had therefore suppressed her emotions. "Your Grace the last person to enter the garden was..." the guard seemed a bit hesitant. "SAY IT!!" shrilled Erina the guard then lost all the hesitant feelings in him. "It was Lord Damien, ma''am." Erina''s hatred for Damien went up several notches. "That uncultured swine! I will kill him!" Erina shivered with fury. She ran into the castle, her long hair waved behind her. Damien did not know of what disaster was storming in the castle looking for him. He was walking towards Louis- the Marquis''s third son who managed the affairs of this territory''s office. Damien was walking slowly, his head was buzzing with excuses. ''Umm... apologize for first then-'' Damien''s thought process was broken because of a scream. He tried to turn towards the source of the sound, but before he could, he was sent flying. *Thump* He rolled on the ground, his eyes unfocused. "W-what in the world?" Damien shook his head and saw Erina holding up her hand towards him. "You despicable maggot! I will end your life you here!" Erina widened her eyes in anger. She waved her hand and mana gathered in her body. "Crap," Damien rolled on his back as he dodged a mana attack. He got up and collected mana by waving his arms. His body was tired but, the adrenaline and his will to live compensated for that. *Whoosh!* Another mana attack came from Erina, Damien jumped to his side and the window pane behind him shattered. "YOU DARE DAMAGE MY HOUSE AGAIN!" Erina screeched as more mana attacks were directed towards Damien. "Sorry I forgot you are a damage enough to this house," Damien dashed around avoiding mana attacks. "SHUT YOUR ILL-BRED MOUTH!" It was becoming more difficult for Damien to keep dodging these attacks. ''What kind of mad mana pool has she got?!'' Damien got grazed by an attack and his shirt was torn. The hallway was a mess by now. There were pieces of wood and glass lying on the ragged carpet, the paintings were smashed, metal armours rested disfigured on the ground. However, the walls were perfectly fine. ''Arrrgh I can no longer evade these'' Damien stopped in his track and stared at Erina, she was just like the day he saw her last except for the expression of unfathomable fury on her face. Erina saw this as a provocation and amassed more mana. She shot a powerful blast of mana at Damien. Damien, who had gathered mana all this time, shot a blast of mana too. He expected the mana attacks to colloid and cause an explosion. That did not happen, his blast of mana simply disappeared while Erina''s blast was weakened. "Huh?" Damien was perplexed, "But that should have caused mana to produce an explosion of force in outward direction! But- wait, mana has a particle like natur-" *Thud* He was hit with a blast of mana in the face. He rolled half-conscious, it was as if someone had hit him with a hammer. His broken nose bled as he groaned in pain. The jerk had caused his spine to be shaken thus, his body felt numb. Erina walked up to him and held up a hand to finish things. "Before you kill him, remember Father won''t mind handing you over to the Earl," A man of twenty walked out of the shadows in a leisurely pace and spoke in a hoarse voice, "The Earl is a powerful Paladin. He was infamously known as the ''Demonic Chain Sovereign''. Although I would love to see you being tortured in chains till death, it would cause bad rumours about our family to sprout out. So I would like you to retire to your bedroom at once before I have to do it forcefully." The man was wearing a brown formal aristocratic attire. He had a shrewd clean shaved face. His short curly blond hair was disorganized and lay in stark contrast with his get up. His green eyes glinted as he placed a hand on Erina''s shoulder. A chill went down her spine. "B-Brother Louis-" "I said retire to your bedroom at once," a sinister smile spread across his face. "Yes brother," Erina quietly left. Louis looked around and sighed. He walked towards Damien who was lying on the floor; he looked pathetic with blood running down his nose and a black bruise swelling up his cheek. He lifted up Damien using one hand. Damien groaned as Louis carried him to his office. A few moments later some servants arrived at the disordered hall and began cleaning up. *** In Louis'' office. His office was a large grey room. The walls were hidden with bookshelves and cupboards made of brown polished wood. Two windows were placed opposite to the entrance. A workstation was placed along the windows, it had a pile of documents on it. A golden chandelier hung letting out an aroma of resins. Louis placed Damien on a chair and approached a cupboard. He opened it and took out a green bottle. He opened the bottle and drained the contents down the slouching Damien''s throat. Damien''s injuries started to heal at a visible pace. His broken nose cracked and went back to normal. His swollen cheek returned to its pale complexion and deflated. "I apologize for the inhospitable behaviour of my sister", Louis stored the green bottle back in the cupboard. "Aha Aha Aha," Damien coughed and sat up properly on the chair, "what was that?" "A healing portion, in general..." "Argh," Damien felt like vomiting by held himself back, the portion was extremely bitter and the aftertaste was even worse. "Now that you are all fine I believe you should return to your room, but please remember that we will leave for your academy four days from today. So remember to make presentations till then." "But what about the broken statue? How can I compensate for that?" "It will be fixed in time besides this will help Erina get closure over her mother''s death and if she doesn''t there are other ways as well" "Umm..." "Is there anything else?" "Y-yeah, please don''t punish Erina, it was me who made her angry and all this happened thus, I think it was justified for her to beat me up." Louis started laughing. "I-is something wrong?" Damien was startled by his laughter. "You are interesting, too kind for Demonic Chain Sovereign''s son. Very well then," Louis smiled, "Erina will receive no punishment." With their meeting concluded, Damien thanked Louis and left for his bedroom. Damien avoided the corridor in which the quarrel had taken place and arrived in his bedroom. The spacious bedroom felt incredibly lonely to him. A feeling of guilt and loneliness made him want to cry, but he held himself back. He quietly lay on the bed, still thinking of the aftermath of his actions *** In his office, Louis sat on his chair. In the complete silence. He spoke to himself, "Naive boy, I wonder how long will goodwill and honesty take you?" Chapter 15 - Dream It was a dark rainy night. Thunderclouds covered the sky. The gale was strong. Occasionally, lightning fell on the ground. Inside the white marble mansion, a woman sat on an armchair next to the fireplace. The fire crackled in the hearth as it lit the dark room with a fiery light. She had blonde hair and wore a blue nightgown which matched with her ocean blue eyes. In her lap lay a boy of eight. Other than the brown hair, his complete torso resembled that of the girl, thin and frail, and eerily so. However, his face was pale. In his white nightdress, he looked much like an angel drowned in fatigue. His arms enveloped a book. "Mother, will you tell me that story again?" Damien asked with a glint in his voice. "Which one my son?" "The one about the first human hero" "Well isn''t that your favourite," Katherine laughed. "Please Mother," Damien looked at her with a plea in his big round eyes. "Fine." "Yay!" Damien clapped his hands; his face filled with glee. Katherine turned the pages of the book in her son''s hand and stopped on the page. An illustration of a man in a thick metallic armour which covered his entire being. Electric sparks decorated his armour. He had a great sword in his only arm. A red cape fluttered behind him. He was standing on a cliff amidst a storm. Above this illustration was written - The Great Hero Daniel. "Okay, here it is," said Katherine as she began reading the text on the following page, "Once upon a time the earth we know today was ravaged by chaos and destruction. Beings called "demons" tread the surface of Altair. They rode in packs and plundered everything in their path - cities, villages, old, young; nobody was spared. In order to remove all fear and regain their freedom, a small group of brave men and women initiated a revolution, the fire of which soon spread all over. Angels, Dragons, Elves, Dwarves, Transcendents, Elementals, Vampires - all species of beast and human waged war against these demons. But the demons were strong and clever; they knew of the friction between these races. They conspired with the greedy and the corrupt and caused a massive battle among the races. Mountains were burnt down to ashes; forests turned to barren lands; the sky rained with the blood of the innocent. In the midst of all this, the human race was reduced to a mere one thousand. Humanity''s survival was endangered." "But, little did anyone know that a human boy would change this world. He was a plain, simple boy with a mediocre magic talent. However, he had a power that no one else could hold so marvellously as he did. He had the power of goodness. Just plain simple goodness. A virtue extremely rare and unheard-of due to the decades of war." "One day, he was out in the woods to collect some firewood which would keep his family warm. Wandering from one place to the next in search of dry wood, for it had rained the night before, he thought of the homes and forests the war would have destroyed; he felt sadness gripping him tighter every moment. While he was lost in the labyrinth of despair, out of nowhere, he heard a cry. It was a cry for help. He was scared, but he did not run away. He, instead, rushed into the woods towards the source of the sound." "When he reached, he was taken aback by the sight before him - an angel lay on the ground, injured. One of her two white wings had been cut and looked broken. Injuries were visible all over her body. She was writhing in pain, sobbing, and letting out cries, hoping that her kin would find her." "The boy walked towards the angel with soundless footsteps. She noticed him. Presently, her sobbing ceased. Everyone knew how weak humans were. It would be a disgrace for her to be rescued by someone of the powerless, menial race. So, in spite of her pain, she asked him to go away." "The boy did not leave. He wanted to, yes, but he knew that if he left her alone, she would die, for after nightfall it was usual for vicious beasts to come in this forest to hunt. Thus, he refused. The angel was angry and hit him with magic. The boy cried out in pain. His arm had been severed. He had enough magic within him to heal his wound, but he endured for he wanted to help the angel that hurt him. The angel was surprised. For her, this was an example of the dumbness of humans. The boy dragged himself near the angel. She wanted to shoot him again, but her mana was exhausted." "The boy realized that there wasn''t power in him to cure her injury. She asked him his reason for choosing to help her even after what she did. The boy smiled, the pain he was going through evident in his eyes, and said, ''I might be weak...and useless... but... someday I will change this world and become a hero... and no hero... abandons another person...'' The angel was speechless. She had thought that such individuals had long been killed by the war."Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. "The boy cast a healing spell, which failed. He tried again, and again, and again, and failed each time. He was exhausted, and the blood loss was pushing him towards his death with every passing moment. Seeing his persistence, the stone in the angel''s heart melted. She knew he was amazingly stupid, but there was something about that stupidity which gave him a special charm." "The boy fell down due to the fatigue. He was about to die, but then the angel did something which changed the course of history. She used her life force and healed the boy. The boy asked her why she had helped him. The angel smiled, and, as she dissipated in particles of light, said, "I was just helping the hero who will save this world!" "That boy cried and cried. He had failed to save the angel. He cursed himself for being weak. But then he remembered the angel''s dying words, and then he swore... he swore to the world that he will end the war." "The world filled with chaos while he hoped to carry out his dream and fulfil the angel''s dying wish. Time made him strong, he fought a lot. But in his mind, he knew that it wasn''t enough. As long as the leaders were not smacked sense into, his efforts were in vain. Thus, he decided on an alternate path." "The boy began his quest for strength that surpassed average imagination. He started to enter near-death situations where his will was tempered, and he grew exponentially to the point of becoming one of the elites. Despite all this, he was much weaker than the leaders." "A few years passed by. Due to his virtues, he made lots of friends. One day, when he was adventuring, he found a map. It was a map that led to an ancient relic. He thought that this was his chance. With the power of an ancient relic, he could save the world. So he gathered up all his comrades and led a party to where the relic was hidden. The king of demons got the wind of this as did all the leaders of all the races. It was a long hard battle. Through struggle and sacrifice, the boy reached the relic. By now all his friends were dead, they had given up their lives to protect the boy. However, the demon king slipped past and reached where the boy was! Facing overwhelming power the boy managed to stay alive. The demon king asked that why does he keep going? What has he left to protect? The boy smiled and said, "It is because I carry the wishes and feelings of those who have passed, it is their sacrifice that has pushed me all this way. I wish to protect this world so that one day we meet again, I can smile and say to them that I fulfilled my promise- I became the hero that saved the world!" With that, he grabbed the relic and gained unimaginable power. He had boundless strength flowing through him. With one word, that he uttered, the entire universe fell silent. He realized that those with power will not be able to understand the weak ones. He wished for peace thus, he sent the leaders to another world where their powers won''t work, somewhere they could learn to be humble. With a wave of his hand, he sealed away the chaotic demon king so that he may repent and realize his mistake. He knew that due to their sins the demon race would not be accepted by this world thus, he sent them to another one where they may live in peace. The war ended and peace was restored in this world. Happiness and serenity revitalized the arid world. Thus, the world was saved by the hero- Daniel." "When I grow up I will be a hero too!" Damien smiled. "Yes Damien, no matter what you become, I will always love you," Katherine kissed Damien on his forehead. Damien smiled brightly. The sweet innocence of his eyes only made this cosy room even more comfortable. "Mother I promise you when I will become a hero I will build you a castle! And that castle will have lots of sweets but," Damien frowned. "But what Damien?" "I am afraid that all those sweets will be tasteless in front of Mother," Damien quickly buried his head in Katherine''s bosom. Katherine was slightly surprised by his words, but she smiled and hugged him even tighter. A wave of motherly love spread through her heart. Indifferent to this scene, at the doorway, stood a boy. He was slightly taller than Damien. He had the same brown hair but, his complexion was warmer and his eyes were sky blue. That boy said in his heart, ''No matter what you become, eh?'' Robert woke up in his tent. ''Ah! That memory, it still troubles me'' Robert shook his head. "What''s the matter boy?" asked Oliver as he appeared in front of Robert. "Why do you have to appear out of nowhere?" "So no one can find me, I am an Assassin," He shrugged his shoulders. Robert could only sigh at this. "You know my Mother, right?" "Katherine? Yes, I know her." "Do you think she loves me more or Damien?" "It is you of course, however," Oliver paused and looked him in the eye, "She is more afraid to lose Damien." "And why is that?" "There are things that you should not pry into for you will only find pain and suffering in them. As such, it will only serve to distract you from your objective. Remember Robert, you will experience tragedies but that does not mean you should call them upon yourself. Hence, as I have told you before be Stoic and if possible completely emotionless." "Emotionless? Sounds difficult, but I think I will be able to do it." "Hahaha," Oliver started laughing, "Good luck then." With that, he disappeared. Robert was left alone in the silence wondering, ''The only thing about your objective. To not waver. To be content with self and this world. To have no regrets and be prepared to be hurt. Is this the path I chose? Will I be able to temper my heart?'' While Robert was reflecting, Oliver was laughing to himself, "Very soon, very soon you will realize that there is no way to make your heart invulnerable. It will have to bear the wounds and continue to beat. That''s why I had asked you why you want to be an Assassin. So when you lose your sight you can always think back and hear those words. And they will never let you falter." Chapter 16 - Goblins Somewhere in the western plains of the Holy Black Dragon Empire. "Now tell me, Robert, should we go to the Elven empire or the Bloodhaven empire?" A man in a black cloak appeared out of thin air. Robert stood in ragged clothes admiring the grassy meadows. A grey taichi was strapped to his left. "How long have we travelled?" He asked in an indifferent tone. "Approximately 30,000 kilometres," Oliver said indifferently. "And it has only been a month," Robert sighed, "Which one will be the nearest?" "Elven is 50,000 kilometres away while Bloodhaven is 35,000 kilometres away." "Why do they have to be so far apart?!" "Relax, one more month, and we will arrive there. However, we will be visiting the barren expanse before that." "You mean the Holy Trinity Barren expanse? Why are we going there?" "Because the security over there is relatively lax so it can serve for training purposes too." "Wait! We are going to illegally barge into other countries?!" "Wasn''t it obvious? Sometimes I doubt that you are Lawrence''s son. He never cared about rules and laws." ''Father how bad is your reputation?'' Robert could only sigh to himself. "Hmm?" Oliver turned his head. "What is it?" "There is a goblin nearby," Oliver looked at Robert, "You are going to kill it. It will serve as practice." "Eh? But-" Robert said, "Nevermind, I will do it. Even if I refuse you will find some way to make me do it, right?" "Yes," Oliver clapped his hand, "Let''s run till there, I will give you a lecture on goblins on the way." Oliver pointed towards a bunch of trees some hundred metres away, "It is over there." Robert began running without a second thought. He waved his hands and gathered mana in his body. Oliver, however, flew beside him without making a sound just like a ghost. "Goblins are short humanoid creatures with green skin, pointed ears and yellow eyes. They have a very low intelligence level: barely enough for them to use primitive tools, weapons and such techniques. They are weaker than humans however, they move in large hoards thus posing a danger to a normal human." Robert continued running. He was quietly assimilating the information that Oliver was giving him. "But that is not why Heralds are advised not to battle them. It is because of their abnormal breeding powers that often mutations take place and a goblin with higher attributes is born usually of Neomage level- You can understand the fate of a herald who meets such a goblin." "What rank is mine?" Robert finally spoke. "Not telling. You should learn to judge the level of your opponent by looking at them. Ah yes, after you kill it, you can leave the corpse, they have no useful products except for the bones." Robert reached the patch of trees. He bent low and slowly made his way through. He carefully avoided twigs and tree leaves by jumping on the roots or the clear ground. His ears were open to notice the slightest disturbances in the air while he often sniffed to find the smell of blood or such. His breathing was calm yet, his heart beat fast. He was on the edge. He suddenly caught the sound of some weird grumbling. He turned and made his way to the source. His nose caught the whiff of blood. He moved quickly and steadily. Soon enough he reached a clearing, he hid in a bush. He saw a little green goblin a few metres away from him in the clearing. He was naked except for the ragged loincloth. That goblin looked like a malnutritioned child with an abnormally big nose. He was holding a small dagger and stabbing it in a corpse. When Robert looked carefully, he saw that this corpse belonged to an old woman. Her clothes were similar to that of a peasant. These clothes were, however, drenched in blood. Multiple stab wounds had destroyed her body. She was nothing more than a mutilated carcass. "You know what," Oliver''s voice whispered in his ear, "There is a little boy behind that tree trunk, he is too afraid to move and has hidden there. I guess the woman was her mother, and they came here to collect woods or so but met this goblin. The woman held back the goblin unarmed and met her end while buying her son enough time to run." He paused and asked, "Tell me what will you do?" Robert said, "Let my actions tell you." With that, Robert slithered out of the bush like a snake. He swiftly drew his sword and served the goblin''s arm. "GEWKGEWKGEWK!" The goblin screamed in a weird way. Green blood spewed out of his wounds. Without a second thought, Robert served its other arm. The goblin rolled around in pain, spoiling the ground with green blood. Robert waited for the goblin to bleed and die. He heard a rustling of leaves from behind a tree nearby. The child must have been alarmed by the cries. After a few minutes of screaming the goblin died. "If I were you I would have done is quickly and neatly. You see this is the power of emotions- your anger clouded your judgement." "It is an open environment, right?" "Yes." "His screaming must have attracted his fellowmen, I am aiming for them thus, I didn''t kill him at once." "Good judgement. But you know your own strength, right?" "Maybe." *** Goowok. That''s the name he prefers to be called as. This prodigious goblin was only three months old yet, he had already taken over its clan with its abnormal cunningness and intelligence. He had recently learned how to use mana. With sheer strength, he had subdued eight goblin hoards and created an army of a hundred goblins. Currently, he was sitting on a palanquin made of wood and animal skin, lazily eating fruits. Four stronger goblins were holding up the palanquin. A hundred goblins marched behind. They had broken pitchforks, swords and axes are their weapons. Some were even wearing crudely made leather clothes and carrying bows. These were the relatively smarter goblins. In the centre of this green army were fifteen women being dragged in ropes. These village girls were stripped of their clothing. Numerous bruises, cuts and bite marks were visible on their frail bodies. There had been other women too but, they had died because of the constant abuse. Their bodies served no other purpose except for being food for the goblins.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Goblins were, after all, a humanoid race. They had a similar anatomy to that of humans thus, they kidnapped human girls for they found them more pleasurable than their own kin. Tears rolled down their listless eyes. Even breathing hurt. The wounds had dried up, but when the moon rose tonight, they would only suffer more. They were being dragged in ropes. The humiliation of being treated like cattle had already shaken their mind and sanity. They would never again be the same. This was the fate of someone living in a village ambushed by goblins. "GEWK GAWK GEWK!" a faint scream stopped Goowok''s thoughts becoming the king of this world. He ordered the goblins to halt. He turned his head in the direction of a distant patch of trees. The meadows were very placid to being with, a loud sound could be easily heard across these plains. Goowok suspected that one of his goblin soldiers had ventured into those woods while they were passing by it. That goblin had met an unexpected enemy and was going to be killed very soon. Normally Goowok won''t bother about another goblin''s life, but it was afraid that this goblin would cause humans to gang up against him. Yes, the one who slew this goblin would tell other humans about his army! Wait, his army would be discovered! Now he would be hunted, his army was not large enough to battle against a lot of humans, albeit an ambush in the middle of the night was a totally different story. Suspicion haunts a guilty mind. Streams of thoughts flowed in his brain. It was, first and foremost, a goblin. Such creatures had absolutely no self-control. Anger and fear clouded the goblin''s already low reason. Paranoia eventually surfaced. ''That thing must be killed'' He decided. With his roar, the entire army turned around and marched towards the patch of trees. *** Goowok''s palanquin arrived shortly afterwards the army. The women were dragged there last and were tied to trees at the periphery of the patch while the goblins looked around. Goowok stood up and examined his surroundings. This patch of trees was quite big, something around a hundred metres in width and length. His yellow eyes shined as he noticed an abnormality. The number of goblins was fewer than he had known, or was is because they had spread out? Goowok''s trusted forty was still by his side hence, he did not worry. *Whizz* A goblin''s head fell down. Goowok turned to see that ten of his goblins were dead already. Their lifeless bodies fell down in the puddle of greenish-yellow blood as their served heads rolled. ''Who is it!?'' Goowok was starting to panic. *Swoosh* Goowok turned to see a dark shadow disappear in the trees as another fifteen of his goblins dropped dead. The only sound that could be heard was of gushing out of blood from the bodies of dead goblins. However, he felt slight fluctuations in the surrounding mana. *Crunch* Someone stepped on a dry leaf. That sound was the spark that set ablaze the fright amongst goblins. The goblins screamed as they rushed in all directions. Goowok was their leader and seeing his ''army'' disassemble like this made him furious. Goowok gathered mana in his body. He shouted that no one should leave in goblin language. A few listened. The air whistled as the mana attacks blasted the heads of those who tried to get away. Seeing this the other goblins who tried to flee stopped in their tracks. Goowok ordered all of them to assemble. They did as he said. Goowok tried to boost the morale of these dimwits by saying that the enemy is weak, so he does not attack head on. *Swish* Another five goblins died. However, this time the culprit was standing right there. A boy in ragged clothes, wearing a pair of worn-out slippers and holding up a sharp taichi sword in his hands. He would have been mistaken for a beggar if not for his clean face and his sword. Goowok realized that he was someone with near equal power. It had been some time since Goowok had fought. Goowok smiled like a madman, his eyes glowing with insanity and a want to kill. ''So he was the one who killed my kinsmen? You puny human, I will rip out your gust and bathe in your blood.'' He ordered his underling to not interfere. Goowok hopped out of his Palanquin and grabbed a double-edged sword. He refilled his body with mana. Robert, on the other hand, stood there with an expressionless face. Just when Goowok was done preparing, Robert readied his stance and made a provoking gesture towards the goblin. The already irate Goowok lost his reason as he charged at Robert. Robert fired a mana attack on the ground causing dirt and leave to fly. To avoid his vision being blocked, Goowok jumped in the air only to see Robert rush into the cloud of dirt. ''Dumb human'' he thought. Robert, on the other hand, stopped in the dirt cloud and jumped towards the goblin, thrusting his sword. Goowok parried the attack but, was pushed back. He slid on the ground and stood up. Robert fired a mana attack towards the Goblin. Goowok countered the attack by firing his own attack on Robert. The attacks met in mid-air and caused a blast. A foot deep crater was produced. Dust and stones flew in the air. Goowok couldn''t see Robert because of the dust clouds. A sword came flying towards Goowok. Goowok readied himself to parry. Suddenly a mana attack followed the sword. Goowok widened his eyes and tried to dodge however another mana attack was directed to where Goowok was about to jump. Cornered, Goowok released all the mana in his body. A frail tree nearby was broken into splinters. *Boom! Boom!* The mana attacks blasted in mid-air because of the interference. The ground under Goowok lay bare. Leaves, pebbles and soil rained down. A clanging sound was heard. Goowok frantically gathered up more mana. Something came whizzing towards him. Goowok fired a mana attack in the surrounding dust. Something soft had been squished. ''Did I hit him?'' Goowok asked himself. However, he sensed multiple things heading towards him. He frantically attacked them all with mana. *Squish squish squish* ''What is that!?'' Goowok was utterly confused. The dust cleared. Goowok was horrified to see what he had hit. Mutilated corpses of his remaining kin slid on the ground. He was in a state of shock, ''Where is he?!''. Robert did not miss this opportunity and struck from behind. He focused all his mana. Goowok turned and his head was grabbed by Robert. At point-blank range, all of Robert''s mana was released. *Boom* A weird crunching sound was made as the Goblin''s head burst apart like a watermelon. Skull fragments, brain matter and blood splattered on the ground. Robert eased himself. Not a single drop of blood had touched him: he was all set to be an assassin. He looked at his palm. Apparently, entirely emptying yourself of mana produces much fatigue in the body. "A clean job," Oliver made his usual entrance, "You are learning." Robert sighed, "It was a pain to set up those smokescreens." "It was a much-flawed plan. You should never count on a being''s emotions, they must be kept as variables." Robert made a poker face. "That reminds me, an assassin should be able to wield all weapons. Now that your physical attributes have reached the base level, we will begin with weapon practice. A for your magic training, it can wait, you have already learned to accumulate less mana and become hard to detect by Heralds. So weapon training for now." "So what are you striking off the schedule?" "You will sleep for 2 hours only and," Oliver smiled, "We will do twice the training." "Waaaaah," Robert thought he might become a masochist because of all thins. "And here is your mask. An assassin''s face is his biggest weakness," Oliver handed him a mask. It was a black and blue masquerade mask made of an unknown material. The substance looked like metal but had a wood-like touch to it. It covered half of his face and his eyes. It was essentially shaped like a crescent. The mask only revealed his left forehead and the area around his left cheekbone. Beautiful patterns made of silver decorated the mask and made its surface glitter. Looking at it made one feel the one was gazing at a starry sky. "Is this a party mask?!" "Nope, I had a friend made it and it is designed for assassins." "Do they all wear something like this?" "Yes, although they have a bit less glamour." "..." "Let''s move," Oliver disappeared. "Wait, what about that child and people captured by goblins?!" "Huh? You can take the child and leave him at the city gate of the nearest city that is 200 km North or leave him or kill him. As for the women, ask them whether they want to live or die. They will probably choose to die and be freed from the curse of life. However, none of these concerns me, so it is entirely up to you what you choose to do. But, none of this should compromise your training: you are free to use your sleeping hour for this purpose though." His words were light as if nothing of this matters but, how could Robert leave others so easily. He was caught in a dilemma: whether to leave these people and continue his training or compromise on his precious resting hours and carry them all to the nearest city. Being stuck at a crossroad, he cursed his fate. What he chooses now, he will choose the same in the future under similar circumstances: to help others at the cost of his loss or to abandon them. Such was the path he chose. An Assassin''s path. Chapter 17 - Invite The Imperial Palace Of Eden. The hall was dimly lit. The windows were covered with thick black curtains embroidered with gold. They allowed no more than a faint luminescence. Hence, except for the beautiful golden-black carpet, features of this room could not be seen. Humans and dwarves sat around a long, crescent-shaped, blackwood table placed in the centre of this circular hall. They were dressed in formal attire. Their books and papers were placed in neat piles across the table. A few candles floated around. The table faced the massive throne - The Sacred Draconic Throne. On the Draconic Throne sat a man whose dimensions exceeded the average man''s: he was six feet tall man with muscles so large that a cat could be fit in his biceps. This man was covered in darkness from his head to his chest but one could see his most defining characteristic - the glowing green eyes; the eyes his family had inherited from its first matriarch. The most charming yet devilish eyes, they could make the soul of a person churn and quiver. The man wore a black armour, at the centre of which was a gold dragon. A sword was placed right next to his arm, of which only a small portion could be seen through the sheath. The most distinct irregularity was the sword''s colour: it was red as fire itself and had a dim glow to it. This was the imperial sword Magna, a hereditary object passed down by the first emperor to his successor. "Primus, how are the preparations for the crown prince trials going?" "They are on full throttle, your majesty. The imperial generals have decided that Holy Trinity will be the grounds of the exam this time," a man sitting in the centre of the table spoke after standing up. His visage was not visible because of the darkness "Good. So when are they to be conducted?" every word of this man carried the will of the empire. Although the Prime minister, or Primus, was used to this, the rest of the courtiers were not: they rarely saw the emperor''s face much rather listen to him speak, but today was a special occasion. The emperor attended court every month, but his opinions were conveyed by the Primus. For the first time in the past fifty years had he finally spoken to the court. "Your majesty, they will start the next summer and will continue for an estimated time of nine months according to the generals," said the Primus. The courtiers sat there in silence. None dared to look into those eyes. The trial of the crown prince was to begin in two months'' time. The emperor had four sons among whom only one would be selected, on merit, to keep the lineage of the empire strong. Thus, the trials were set to find the optimum successor. The throne of the emperor was placed ten feet above the ground of the court and only his lower body was visible at all times. The Empress had a seat two feet below the emperor, on the right and on the left was the throne of the crown prince, two feet below the imperial throne. Both of them were empty. While the crown prince was yet to be chosen, the empress did not wish to attend the court out of love for her children. "Very well, Primus. I heard that Lawrence had been in a coma recently?" "You are right, Your Majesty, his Lordship the Earl of Triston was injured severely by the terrorist organization - Night''s Hand. This organization had been spotted in his territory. Numerous reports of such an organization have come from all over the continent. However, the Earl has recovered significantly." "Tell Lawrence I wish to meet him. I haven''t seen him in ten years after that incident," the emperor paused," Lawrence is to be the Chief Guest of the trial. Send down this decree!" "Yes, Your Majesty." "Alright, then today''s meeting is over. As for the rest of the matters, I think you can handle them for me, Primus. I have some urgent matters to tend to," the emperor said as he stood up from his throne. People could finally see this towering muscular figure wearing the black armour from chest to toe. Everybody present stood up and bowed. "All hail THE HOLY DRACONIC EMPEROR, VIKTOR ARCADIUS TYCEON!" yelled the gatekeeper. "ALL HAIL THE HOLY DRACONIC EMPEROR, VIKTOR ARCADIUS TYCEON!" everyone said in unison. The emperor walked of the courtroom through the door behind his throne. Five seconds later, everyone crashed into their seats, finally letting out a deep breath. Beads of sweat started to fall from their heads as if a dam had just been opened. "The draconic pressure the emperor exerts is unbearable. If he had stayed any longer I would have fainted," said a courtier as he looked at the imperial throne. As the court settled down again, the Primus ushered them into silence and started to continue the regular administrative business of the government. He had not imagined that the emperor would make Lawrence, the man infamous for his manners, the chief guest of the crown prince trial. This trial was a very important event in the empire''s history. The crown prince trial was a four-stage event of selecting the crown prince. The first stage, known as Res Animo, is where the princes are mentally tested and challenged to find the sharpest, the most cunning. The second stage of the crown prince trial is the Battaglia, where the princes display their military prowess by commanding specific battalions of the imperial army and show their military strategic arts. The third stage of the trial is the personal battle stage where the princes fight each other to the last man standing. This proves the personal power and strategy of the princes individually.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The fourth stage of the trial is the administrative battle. The princes are made to govern respective cities and the change in the economic condition of the city after six months decides the rank of the prince. The winner of the majority of the events is then be named crown prince. In case of a tie, the events are reconducted to choose the crown prince. This is the process of eliminating the weakness any emperor might pose. It is difficult to conduct, but it is worth the effort - the might of the emperor is preserved. The other princes are given important imperial posts. If a prince scored high in personal battle, then he would be the commander of the royal guard. If a prince scored high in Battaglia, he would become a military general. If a prince scored high in the administrative battle of the trial, he is made a minister in court. *** Triston. In Lawrence''s room. A letter is kept on the Earl''s desk; it has the royal seal of the emperor. Lawrence is carefully contemplating the letter by looking at it. Beside him stands Katherine. "Will you open it already?" asked Katherine. "It''s a trap honey," said Lawrence as he rubbed his chin. "We all know it''s a trap, Lawrence. Anything sent by the emperor is a trap to lure you to his side, but that is no reason for you to stare at it and not open it at all!" "All right I''ll open it," Lawrence reluctantly broke open the imperial seal and took out the letter. He started reading its contents. As he read it, Lawrence''s expression kept on changing: at first a frown, soon followed by a smile, and then finally a sigh. "What does it say?" "The emperor wants me to attend the crown prince trial... as the chief guest," Lawrence said. He was significantly troubled by this invitation. A man of his attitude was not suited to be with the imperial court. He knew it; the imperial court knew it, but the emperor chose to pay no heed to it. "Well then make an excuse, he has a soft spot for you," Katherine said and shrugged her shoulders. Lawrence burst into laughter. He grabbed his stomach, and then his laughter turned to sorrow. "What is it?" "Read the letter, you will know," Lawrence gave a bitter laugh. Katherine opened the letter. It stated:
This is an Imperial Decree Of The Highest Order - The Holy Draconian Emperor, Viktor Arcadius Tyceon has cordially invited The Earl Of Triston, Lawrence Julian Wells, to the imperial court as the Chief Guest of the VII Crown Prince Trials.
A few paragraphs followed, stating how and where it was to take place. Katherine noticed that there was another page in the envelope. It was handwritten by the emperor.
Dear Lawrence, I have heard of the near-death incident you experienced some time ago at the hands of James. I am regretful of the fact that we were not able to kill him all those years ago, but I have decided to set an elite intelligence group on his trail. Do not fret, the chance to kill him shall soon be presented to your house. Yours truly, Viktor Arcadius Tyceon
"You have also been requested at the behest of the emperor to stay at the imperial court until the crowning ceremony of the victorious prince. Only, this letter is truly the emperor''s. The rest is a royal decree. Honey, it is impossible for you to reject. Rejecting a royal decree is treason." "You think I don''t know that? Alas! This dreaded day has come when I must leave my home and spend time with the uptight imperials. Ughhh! Why must God be so cruel?" "And he says he will catch James." "It is a formality. He has said this plenty of times." "That is true, sadly. Who told him about James though?" "Oh! That! I posted a picture of me injured on ManaNet. Primus sent me a personal message asking when his family can come for a holiday in Triston since I am injured and can''t show them around. I told him that James and his Night''s hand were messing up my territory so it would not be suitable for a holiday destination for now." Katherine facepalmed. Her husband was horrible at using social networks. "I know from where Damien caught that dumb attitude." "From where?" "Nevermind, by the way, how is Damien doing?" "Oh! I got a few texts from Alexander saying that he was having fun, but he broke the statue of his third wife, and his daughter had a quarrel with Damien. Apparently, she broke his nose and beat him up." Katherine sighed, "I knew he would get bullied in school, but this is way beyond my expectations." "Talking about bullying, I got several videos from Oliv- I mean nothing," Lawrence quickly covered his mouth "What is that bastard doing with my son? Tell me now!" Katherine glared at Lawrence. "Fine, Oliver banged up Robert quite a bit in the past few weeks-" "WHAT THE HECK!?" "I mean Robert was beaten up quite a bit by Oliver, my bad, I have to revise my vocabulary. Anyway talking about that, Robert has made his resolve and is fit to be an assassin." "God," Katherine said bitterly, "So he will become an assassin too. I was hoping he would fail and Oliver would send him back." "He has your blood after all." "What a pity." "And he fought with a hundred goblins too! Aren''t you proud of him?!" "I am, Lawrence, I am- wait, did you say a hundred goblins?!" "Well, he is with Oliver," Lawrence laughed weakly. "Wait till I meet him again! I will surely knock some sense into him next time." "How mannerless," said Lawrence in a sarcastic tone. A vein bulged on Katherine''s forehead. "It is because of YOUR influence!" "It was simple sarcasm, honey!" Lawrence felt he had dragged himself amidst a hurricane. "You know what? I just think it is funny that..." Lawrence was down for one big lecture. Chapter 18 - Through the portal ''Were you even real?'' Erina sat on a chair in her bedroom. The blue curtains were drawn, and yellow sunlight lighted up her room. It was no different from Damien''s, save for the blue and pink theme. In her hands was a broken stone hand, the wand that it used to hold was not there. A cavity was visible on the chipped hand through which water used to flow. "I-I am so sorry," a tear rolled down her cheek, "it is just that sometimes I get very lonesome. And I remember our time together how we used to laugh with each other, how you taught me to read. I miss those days. B-but recently I-I can''t even remember your voice. I have to look at paintings and at your statue to remember your face. My childhood, those happy days and you- they all feel like an illusion now. Tell me, Mother, tell me you were real... tell me that you used to love me!" In her room, Erina sat in solitude. Clinging to her mother''s memory and crying to herself. Who could she stick to? Who could be the shoulder on which she could cry? Her father? He barely showed himself, much less talk to her. Her siblings? Most of them were on expeditions or in an academy, moreover, in their eyes, she was a little better than a pest. No one. No one was by her side, this is how she grew up- devoid of comfort and love. The only thing she was valued for was her talent. She had the ability to become a fire extremist: Similar to Warlocks and Paladins but, much rarer. They focused on one element only and trained it to the peak. They were important assets for the country: they had high mana capacity and high affinity for their main element. Deadly and powerful, they could, sometimes, prove to be much more dangerous than Warlocks and Paladins. She was a girl of fourteen, such responsibilities were unconsciously imposed on her by the surrounding ones. So she could only become what the world saw her be- A living weapon. Such an attitude only acted as a catalyst to her desire, the desire to become the best of the best. ''Damien Wells, I swear I will crush you and rise to the top!'' she secretly swore in her heart. *** The city of Titos was a grand city. It had wide well-built roads made of black asphalt which were spread in the whole city like a web. There were big wooden houses and brick houses: both kinds were well maintained, you could hardly see a shabby house. There were public parks and trees were planted on the sides of the roads. Trade and commerce flourished in this humongous city which had a population of eighteen hundred million people. Although this city had an area of 4000 square kilometres, it was densely populated. The city, however, was not revered for its huge area, its population or the majestic Tenebrees Castle, the thing that made it stand apart from other cities were the tall skyscrapers. These skyscrapers were, by magic, made to camouflage with the surroundings so one could not spot them until they stood close enough to their base. These skyscrapers reached up to 600 metres in the sky. They covered a large area. Their purpose? They acted as magical research facilities for graduated scholars, as residing facilities for the army and their family and most importantly- a hub for adventures, explorers and such. "Are we going to go there?" asked Damien as he looked through the windows of his carriage which was passing by a massive sky blue skyscraper. "No, we are going over to the Alexandro Teleportation point," replied Louis. The third passenger of the carriage, Erina, remained silent. Today was the day that they would be teleported to their academies. And that was exactly the reason Earl Lawrence had sent his son to the Marquis. There were four major teleportation points in the entire of Black Dragon Empire. One was in the Royal Capital, one in the Duke''s territory, one in the Marquis''s territory and the last in the southern duchies. Every year, these teleportation points would activate on the last day of the month of Minis. They would teleport all these students to a common point- the Island of De Initium. It is an Island 60,000 miles east offshore of the Greater Aligarth Forest. This island is a centre for all the students who go to the offshore academies. Of course, there are academies on the land of Black Dragon Empire but, they are for the less talented people and are funded by the Empire''s charity funds in order to ensure that everyone becomes a Herald before the age of 20. The better academies are located offshore in order to provide an isolated environment for studies. Coming back to the topic, students are supposed to board the ships that will carry them off to their respective institutions. Needless to say, these institutions have a massive campus, some bigger schools occupy two whole islands and have the area equivalent to the smallest duchy of the Black Dragon Empire. Actually speaking, this custom of having better institutes in a remote area was a trend followed throughout the continent of Pandora. "So where was this Alexandro Teleportation Point again?" asked Damien, the atmosphere inside the carriage was dreadfully silent. "We will be arriving over there very soon you can see it for yourself then," said Louis nonchalantly. Erina continued to stare out of the window. The uncomfortable silence came into being once again. ''Argh! Why does the noise cancellation system work so good!? This environment is awkward as hell,'' Damien could only sit there hiding how he felt inside. Louis, sitting opposite to Damien, had his eyes closed possibly thinking about the political affairs of his father''s territory. Erina was sitting on the other end of the seat not giving a damn about anything. Damien was sitting alone on his seat. ''Awkward'' he thought. After a few uncomfortable minutes, they arrived at their destination. "We are here," said Louis. The doors of the carriage opened, and they got out in a sophisticated manner- as all nobles should. What stood before Damien, made his jaw drop. It was a massive dome-like structure. It was made of hexagonal pieces of reflective blue glass which glimmered in the sunlight. Metallic strips criss-crossed on its surface to enforce the dome. A lot of people were heading into this dome just like ants near an anthill. Three-metre tall gates were opened at regular intervals enabling entry. Around the dome, green tall trees were planted on the flat grassy field, even though it was almost autumn, there was no yellow. From the sky, it would look like a massive bubble with a ring of green around it. All kinds of people were there, some were in cloaks, some were wearing pointy hats, some were in sleeping gowns- well, Damien didn''t mind them. Only one thing was common amongst them: they all had one or more children of fourteen with them. Damien could sense that eighty per cent of these children were heralds.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ''Guess being a herald is no biggy'' he thought. Louis gestured Damien and Erina to follow him. Slowly moving through the crowd, they reached the gates. "Good morning, Master Louis," the guard at the gate bowed. Louis nodded in reply. Some people looked at Louis and whispered to their colleagues, "I am sorry for the inconvenience, but we need the ID of the people who are to be teleported," the guard said with an apologetic expression. "I understand," said Louis, "Erina, Damien please show him you Identification." Damien and Erina showed him their scrolls that they had received from the Holy Draconic Association along with the letters of invite of their academy, although the letters of the mage test we kept securely with them. After all, the information of your abilities must be kept a secret. The guard confirmed the identities and let them pass. Much to Damien''s disappointment, the entire dome was empty- there was no furniture or anything of that sort in here. However, there was a huge semi-circular arch about fifteen metres in radius, placed vertically at one end of the dome. It was made of two feet thick silver metal which had blue coloured mana runes engraved on it. It was affixed on its place by several cable-like structures possibly made of the same material. The smooth dark blue marble floor produced a reflection of this arch. "Umm," Damien was confused what should he do. He looked over at Erina who was standing there with her arms crossed under her breasts- slightly emphasizing them. ''Come to think of it, Erina is kind voluptuous- wait no she is slender, but she has well-developed features. Let me guess she should be 32-20-30 wait why the hell am I thinking this?!'' Damien shook his head as he tore his eyes away from her. ''Why is she taller than me'' Damien made a grim face. He dejectedly strolled to a corner. ''Last I checked I was 5 feet and 3 inches. Alas, shorter than average...'' However, Damien''s train of thoughts was broken by an announcement. "Ahem- The Teleportation Point will activate in one minute and remain open for two hours. Only students are allowed to pass through," The voice of a man boomed across the dome as nearly fifty thousand children moved their heads towards the Arch. After a minute two tall men approached the two ends of the Arch and placed their palms on it. "The Teleportation point will activate now," another announcement was made. *Boom!* The air exploded. The children standing near were flung back as a blinding white light wrapped the interior of the dome. *Wizzz* Damien opened his eyes. A thin membrane of a transparent glowing material covered its interior. Damien looked through the arch to see that there was a completely different scenery on the other side. "You all may enter now," another announcement was made. The more daring of students approached the arch, with a gulp they jumped at the membrane and arrived at the other side. Seeing their example everyone else followed. Damien moved with the crowd, he could now hear the sounds of zoop whenever someone passed through it. Soon enough, Damien was standing in front of the membrane. He touched it with his hand, the membrane felt like a viscous cool fluid. Before he could be done admiring the beauty of this membrane someone nudged him, and he fell through it. *WOOOOZ* Damien felt like he was thrown with a very high velocity, numerous images passed by his eyes in a millisecond. Passing through the membrane felt like moving in a powerful static field. *Thump* He was on the other side now. He felt nauseous and bent his body. He looked around to see that he was now on a port. The floor was cemented and there were several stores selling magical items in the near vicinity. Several wooden ships were docked at the port. Suddenly someone appeared from behind him and pushed him forward. "Why are you standing there like a fool? Get moving!" said the person who had pushed him. Damien stumbled to the side. Slowly, his nausea was starting to disappear. He had already been told by Louis that after reaching De Initium, one has to board the ship which will take you to your respective schools. He looked around once more to see that all the ships had the symbol of their schools painted on them. It did not take Damien time to locate the enormous ship of Hydra Academy. Its symbol of a nine-headed serpentine creature radiating out of a point and turning to glare at the viewer was quite remarkable. He moved through the crowd and reached on the right side of the ship. A few people were standing there. Damien approached the person who was wearing the badge of this school. He wore a long emerald-coloured cloak which dropped down to his heels. He had a handsome oval face. Under his combed nape-length black hair was a pair of resolute grey eyes. He saw Damien approach. "Why young man, are you lost?" he spoke in a melodious voice. "N-no I am actually here to board this ship, you see I have enrolled in Hydra Academy," blurted Damien. "I believe you are lost since the entry to this ship is on the other side," the man said, he was going to turn around when he though that why should he trouble a child on his first day. "Can I see your proof of identity?" he stopped and asked. "Sure," Damien gave his ID scroll to him with his admission letter. "Okay young man- Damien that is," the man handed back the scrolls, "I will talk to Kristy and let you board this ship." Suddenly the man''s image blurred, and he disappeared, Damien was left there wondering, ''What the heck?''. Then a moment later a gale blew and the man was standing right there. "Good news young Damien, you are allowed to enter," he spoke with a smile. "Uh-" Damien could not utter a word as the world around blurred and before he knew it, he was already on the ship. The ship was enormous. It was 350 metres in length and 49 meters in width. Its hull was coated with silver and black paints making different patterns. It had a twenty-metre tall main mast, its the foremast was about a metre shorter, while the mizzen was even shorter. The sail was painted golden and black. The figurehead was of a nine-headed Hydra with all its serpent heads bearing fangs in the forward direction. All in all, it did not differ much from an 18th-century ship. Damien looked around to see children of his age scattered around the deck. They all were in groups chatting with each other. In all this, Damien was standing alone. ''Awkward but okay'' From a distance, he spotted Erina with another girl. They were laughing at some joke when Erina noticed Damien''s gaze. She sneered at him with bloodlust in her eyes. Then she grabbed her colleague''s hand and marched off. Damien could only shrug at this. He looked around once more in order to find a good spot to hide his ''outstanding tactlessness''. His eyes caught the glimpse of someone familiar. "Erza!" he approached the girl whom he had met on the train the other day. "Eh?" Erza turned to see Damien but did not recognize him immediately. ''This silence is killing me,'' Damien wanted to cry. "Oh! Is it not Sir Damien," Erza gave him a wry smile. "You enrolled in Hydra too?" Damien was slightly surprised to see her here. "Um yeah. You see I have a very high mana pool and an A class ability, so I got this offer and I immediately accepted." "Cool," Damien felt that his slightly above average mana pool could not get him in this academy at all. The only reason he got in was of his SS class ability. "What about you?" "Umm... I have a slightly above average mana pool and an SS class ability-" "WHAT? YOU ARE THE ONE WHO HAS THE SS CLASS ABILITY" Erza shrieked as she took a step back. Everyone turned their heads to look at him. ''I wanna die,'' Damien''s eyes moistened, and he dumbly smiled as he was assaulted with gazes of curiosity. He felt like an animal at a zoo. People started whispering to each other. "So he is the one?" "He looks weak..." "SS class? So what?" "He looks like an airhead..." Numerous murmurs about Damien made the atmosphere even weirder for him. ''What should I do?'' Damien broke out cold sweat. "The Ship will set sail in one hour!" the voice of a woman boomed across the ship. The usual buzz began again as people''s attention turned elsewhere. Damien took his chance to slip away and sat on a seat in a corner. He was cursing himself for being ''gaucherie: materialized''. It was already noon by the time the ships began moving. Damien wondered if the swaying would cause him seasickness. But, to his surprise, the swinging stopped after the ship was out of the port. The ship started accelerating. "Huh?" The ship''s acceleration increased with every passing moment. "BRACE YOURSELVES!" the man whom Damien had met was standing at the quarterdeck shouting. The ship was literally tearing through the waves as it continued to speed up at an unnatural rate. Damien was holding the railing, so he would not be flung away. "Aaaaahhhhh!" Strong winds slapped him in the face, but the ship was still accelerating. Some children slipped and slammed into the quarterdeck. Screams and shouts were muffled by the noise of waves crashing and wind howling. This is how the academy''s ships covered those unnaturally long distances in one day. Chapter 19 - Beginning As the sword and spear clashed on the battlefield time and time again, there appeared cracks in the fabric of space. Lightning crashed onto the plains every once in a while. Then suddenly the earth churned and a let loose a huge boulder that flew towards a one-armed man standing rigidly on the plains. Damien used his spear to crush the boulder into pieces. He did not do it consciously, his body moved on its own. ''Where am I?'' he asked himself. The place felt familiar, but he did not know where he was. Rather, he could not make out his surroundings which looked fuzzy like a water painting. A man in tattered armour was floating in front of him. ''Jordan? Wait who is Jordan?!'' Damien was surprised to know that man''s name. Jordan was finally tired of these little displays of strength. He wanted to show the entire Tempus army the strength of an Aryan. Jordan stopped in his tracks and stood there: seemingly one with the environment. After a second or two, something changed around the battlefield. A massive blue-green spell circle opened up in some distance. As the constituents of the Army started to look around they could hear loud noises, but it was only till late that they recognized what it actually was. *Rumble* The Jade River had been summoned to the battlefield. The titanic wave of water raced towards the battlefield it only had one target- that one-armed man. (R: Did you get the pun?! Like that man has one arm and is ''armed'' with one weapon) ''Whaaat no!'' Damien screamed but this body was not his own. He was just a spectator in this man''s body. The pressure the water carried was enough to scare the entire Tempus army who were running around breaking their formation to save their lives. Other than a few stronger warriors the entire Tempus army had, by now, broken formation and was in utter chaos. Amidst all this one man was standing still, his spear still pointing at the heavens. This man had not lost his calm even in the face of such godly power. Only he had the strength to face the power of a demigod head on. This man was something of a god himself- the one who controlled the Tempus Army and called himself Chronos Imperium. As the titanic wave rushed towards the demon army it had one primary target, Chronos. Chronos, on the other hand, used the full power of his body strengthening to face the pressure of heaven and earth that was about to be released on him. ''Aaaaah! No! Move!'' Damien felt that pain was about to arrive soon. Within the next few seconds, everything stopped for Damien and only the tsunami was visible to his eyes. The wave rapidly approached Damien and in a split consumed him. It did not stop there it continued to move towards the Tempus army and as it crashed unto them it finally calmed. When all the water was cleared the entire Tempus army was now drowned and a large lake had formed where the water had hit the army. Then slowly and steadily the beings started to come out of the water. The two hundred thousand strong humanoid creatures were now merely a quarter of their previous numbers. The rest had either drowned or crushed into pieces. While the entire Jordan''s backers would be happy to see the Tempus army destroyed, Jordan was still very alert for he had not seen Chronos or his body. Jordan started to elevate from the battlefield to have an Ariel look. As he checked on the battlefield, he saw it. Chronos was very much alive and standing in the middle of the battlefield as if this was a park. After he brushed his dark hair, Chronos looked up at Jordan. He had finally come to understand the demigod''s powers, Chronos knew that if Jordan displayed such heaven-defying strength one more time the entire Tempus army would be annihilated. Even he, Chronos, would not be able to bear such loses. The last attack had injured Chronos internally. Since he faced the brute force of the wave head on his ribs had cracked, and he had spit out a lot of blood. He had to end this fight very quick or the repercussions would be enormous on his body. Damien knew all this, it was as if he was the one thinking, but he knew for a fact that his opinions would not reach the man who shared his perspective with him. Chronos steadied his spear and taunted Jordan to attack him. Jordan was now content with what he had done even if he could not defeat Chronos he had severely injured him. The Tempus army was reduced to nearly fifty thousand which his backers could easily destroy. Jordan still had some strength to spare, and he finally dedicated his complete and unhindered attention to defeating if not killing Chronos. Jordan flew straight towards Chronos his longsword in hand. Chronos, too, stomped his spear on the ground to signal of an ensuing battle. *Ching* Metal clashed and the duel had finally reached its last stage. "You are a strong boy, what is your name?" "What''s in the name? Call a rose by any other name and it would smell just as sweet," said Jordan. "Sad, killing such nameless bastards leaves a bland aftertaste." Chronos had been now going to end this battle. He let go of the spear and summoned lightning. As the thunderclouds raged, he forced body strengthening to its very limit. Lightning crashed down and coursed through Damien and an electric aura surrounded him. His eyes glowed as lightning emanated from his body. His falchion was covered in electricity. This was the last stage of a lightning affiliated spell- Blitzer. Jordan, on the other hand, transformed into his elemental form. Slowly all the elements of water and earth surrounded Jordan and with a loud sound. The earth was now silent. A being made from Earth with water coursing through its cracks stood on the plains opposite to whom stood a lightning being. Then there was another change in Jordan as divine light started to course through his body. Jordan had finally decided to end his life using the remaining life-force in him. The divine light concentrated on Jason''s eyes as they become complete spheres of glowing gold. "Let''s end this!" Damien suddenly felt his conscience fade away as darkness enveloped his vision. "Aaaaagh," Damien jolted up in his bed profoundly sweating. He looked around his small cabin, it was dark. He hurriedly switched on a lamp and stared at his watch. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ''Oh! It is four in the morning,'' he sighed. His recent dream was way too weird. He has had weird dreams but, this one just took the top spot. ''Flying in the sky, summoning calamities, destroying armies with a single spell... was I kidnapped by aliens? I have read those stories in which a nasty alien kidnaps children and takes them to another world to fight against ophidiophobic old men and keeps them in eternal captivity...'' Damien sat in the dark contemplating when he had been kidnapped. (O: For those who did not get it that story is of peter pan) ''Okay, so first the boat started moving really fast until we reached the terminal velocity. I barely managed to not be blown away and slam into the quarter-deck like swatted flies. Then that announcement was made that we will continue on at this speed and reach the academy in 24 hours. Then lunch was served. Hmmm, I still wonder how they managed to make that long table suddenly appear on the deck. However, the steak was delicious. Could that steak have been drugged, so they could kidnap me? I guess no; I shared mine with Erza who came back to apologize to me. The good thing was very few people saw my face and remembered it- that''s why no one was looking at me suspiciously. Anyway, we spent something like six hours idle. That reminds me I won that card game that I played with Erza''s friends. Could they be the aliens in disguise? Nah, I like those people. Surely aliens would have a robotic voice and an unnatural behaviour. Then by nine in the evening, we were sent below deck. The below-deck area was expanded via spacial magic, and we were sent to our cabins. My cabin number was the same as my roll number- 457. And the total number of children in my batch is around 600. Then I spent my time here sleeping.'' Damien scratched his head. The dream had already turned obscure in his memory. He sighed after knowing that he could not properly recall its details. Shaking his head he decided it was no use pondering over it. "Now that I have woken up, I might as well try my mana breath." After practising for hours following his defeat against Erina, Damien trained harder. He concentrated and did not let anything distract him, and the result was- he succeeded in mana breath the day before yesterday. Mana Breath was a technique commonly used to increase one''s mana pool and mana concentration. It involved literally inhaling and exhaling mana. One would slowly inhale mana and fill themselves up to the brim. After holding on for some time they would inhale a bit more mana. This would cause the mana concentration in their body to exceed their mana capacity. This was called the unstable state. Any disturbance in their attention would cause the mana to go wild in one''s body and explode out hence, harming the practitioner. After a short time, the practitioner would slowly exhale out the mana and repeat the process. This technique had three benefits- one: that it increases the concentration and purity of mana that is collected in one''s body. Two: it increases the mana pool. Three: it strengthens the body. Damien had read that Heralds needed to increase their base mana pool by fifty points, learn to separate the basic element''s mana particles and learn to activate their innate spells in order to become a Neomage. Apparently, after becoming a Neomage, his mana pool will be assessed in basic mana units. The bigger the base mana pool size the faster in the increase in mana through the breathing technique. He had also read that once a Neomage, his school will provide him with another meditation/training technique that would aid him till Titan rank. All he knew about ranks were that these were awarded to one after a specific set of exams. He also got to know that Hydra Academy was a place for nothing less than geniuses. A lot of Nobles had graduated from here and were incredibly strong. The people who joined the army from here also held high posts. Moreover, the adventures and scholar that graduated from here were also top-notch. What surprised him was that Hydra Academy''s course required one to become a Neomage in their first year by the Quarterly Exams. So he had to become a Neomage by New Year. A Neomage was a Herald''s doom. A Herald''s mana attack would only replenish a Neomage''s mana pool. Damien had read that the difference between a Herald and Neomage was that a Neomage could invoke his innate spell. They had a much larger mana pool than a Herald which could be replenished quickly if someone was dumb enough to shoot mana attacks at them. And last but not the least- a Neomage could only passively recover mana that means their mana would recover with time. This rate was directly proportional to one''s spiritual aptitude. Although the recovered mana at an instant was small, it was much better than waving one''s arms to tell one''s enemy that they have no mana. In spite of the fact that there was such disparity between a Herald and a Neomage, it did not seem that the same power difference could be found in the ranks succeeding Neomage. Damien could only give a sigh of thanks at that. If such rank disparity existed then fighting an unknown person would be more or less like swimming in the open ocean, hoping that some dangerous creature would not attack. Damien then folded his legs and sat on the floor in a meditative position. He continued to practice his mana breath until he was exhausted. It must be understood that Mana Breath did not only train the mind but the body too. Damien laid on this back looking at the wooden ceiling. The window was still covered by the curtains, so he did not know what time was it now. After all, he had absolutely no record of time once he started Mana Breathing; he thought it was because he concentrated too much. Initially, Damien had thought that his competitions would be with these 600 children only. But, then he got to know that De Initium was, in fact, a very big island and that there were several ports on it. Since one could not build teleportation gates too close to each other lest they interfere with each other or the area becomes too crowded, the four teleportation gates transferred the students to four different ports. All academies had at least one ship in each of these ports. Thus, it was safe to assume that there would be three more ships carrying the same quantity of students to Hydra Academy. After daydreaming for a while, he suddenly felt the boat deaccelerate. The retardation was subtle, but he could feel it. "WE WILL ARRIVE AT THE ALEIDAR ISLAND IN TWO HOURS, MAKE SURE TO NOT LEAVE ANY BELONGINGS BEHIND!" the voice of a woman boomed across the ship. "So we are finally here?" Damien smiled as he stretched his body, "No matter what my job, I will receive the title- no I will become a Hero!" The journey of a hero had just begun. Chapter 20 - The Welcoming Exam "Where is the school?" Damien said as he leaned over the rail of the ship. What he saw was not a luxurious school, but a wooden dock with a rickety old shack beside it. The dock was big yet, deserted. Behind the dock was a lush forest painted yellow and dull green. The rest of the obviously vast island was hidden by an unnatural screen of fog. The huge ship had, by now, considerably slowed down and was slowly drifting towards the dock. A minute later the ship was docked. The gangplank was lowered on the wooden pier. "Everyone! Assemble near the shack!" A woman in her late teens was standing at the quarterdeck issuing orders. She wore the same clothes as that man Damien had met prior to boarding the ship. Damien deduced that she was probably Kristy whom that man had talked about. She had jet black hair that fell down to her shoulders. On her oval face was a set of almond-shaped eyes. There was an air of indifference around her. ''She looks quite cute'', Damien thought. As if she could hear thoughts, she turned a hostile gaze towards him. Damien quickly turned away and followed others down the ship. After everyone had assembled Kristy and the other man walked towards them and stood in front of the door of the shack. "Mellow morning everyone!" The man said in a cheerful tone. Kristy, on the other hand, rolled her eyes, ''Here he goes again'' she said to herself. "As you know you all have enrolled in the Hydra Academy of Mages and Magical Research: commonly known as the Hydra Academy." There was unrest in the crowd. Slowly the whispers were getting louder. "Who the heck is this person?" "What a waste of time." "I would appreciate if you all would remain silent," A terrifying wave of Mana washed over the group of teens, scaring them and causing the buzz to die down immediately. Everyone standing there understood that this man was no joke. With a smile, he continued. "Continuing from where we left off; This academy is praised as the best academy in the Black Dragon Empire. You all should be honoured that you all were invited here on this island. To clear your doubts we are, right now, standing on the soil on which this academy is built. As for where the Academy is? It is on the other side of this forest," he pointed to his left at the autumn affected forest. "If you were obsessed enough to do some research about The Hydra Academy, you would have found out that on an average about 100 people graduate from this Academy. Now here we have," the man spread his arms, "Umm... Around 600 enrolments. And not forgetting other ships we have almost 2300 enrolments. By now you should have realized that with less than 5% graduation rate, Hydra Academy has a knack for expelling students." The man gave a small chuckle at the fearful faces of the soon-to-be-expelled students. "I am a third-year student here tasked to oversee your first exam- that is to reach the school gates by tomorrow morning. You have to go through this forest which is infested by herald rank monsters. You will reach a yellow bricked road which will lead you to the school gates which will close tomorrow at 10 o''clock. Failure to do so will result in immediate expulsion. You can fight amongst yourselves and/or make your own groups. Killing each other is not allowed. Also, you will have to use-" the man opened the door of the shack to reveal a pile of different weapons, "- these weapons." Kristy walked up and said, "No one cares how you do it, but you have to pass the school gates in order to actually enrol in the academy. The catch is you can''t have any external help so hand in all your magical enchantments, potions and objects." A few people unwillingly handed over potions and miscellaneous items. "I said all!" And over half the people parted with their magical items. Damien stood there. ''Okay, what the heck?! Over half the people had their hands on magical potions and items! What do I have?'' Damien looked at his bag which had a few sets of clothes and some paperwork in it. "So go ahead choose your weapons, your first exam will begin in 30 minutes," said the man as he disappeared with Kristy. Immediately like a horde of beasts, everybody ran towards the shack. The loss of their enchantments and potions had created a void of insecurity which could only be filled by these weapons. Damien was pushed forward by the crowd''s momentum. Inside the shack, there were a lot of weapons piled up. Damien immediately found a sword of his liking but before he could reach it another youth grabbed it before him. "Move it maggot!! This is mine", shouted another boy who had a spear in his hand. By this time Damien knew that the weapons here would barely suffice for the large group. By his estimate, there were only 600 weapons and armours. Damien found another sword with a gold hilt and a small mana engraving on it. As he grabbed it, Damien felt it be unnaturally light. He assumed that it was made of special material. He failed to realize that his passive ability potentia had boosted his pure attributes by almost 40% over the past month. Damien found chainmail and immediately put it on. Then he managed to get out of the cramped shack that, strangely, did not topple. ''We can form our own teams, that''s a pretty big advantage but who will form a team with me? Who do I know? Erina? She will right out kill me if I approach her, say nothing about teaming up. Erza? I guess she will do...'' Damien, after some searching, found Erza. She had already formed a group and since he didn''t have the time or luxury to choose anyone else, he approached her. "Hey, Erza! Can I join you?" he addressed her with a smile. "Oh! Damien," Erza, "Sure, In fact, I was looking for you." "Is that so?" Damien laughed but inward he breathed a sigh of relief. "Damien come here let me introduce you to our members", Erza took Damien towards a red-headed girl with red eyes and very pale skin. Her long light red hair went down to her waist with split bangs that reach her chest. She had a round face and thin blood-red lips. Her small nose made her look all the more adorable. She had a slender yet well-endowed body whose height rivalled that of Damien. She was wearing a grey long skirt with a black blouse. In her frail looking hands were two bronze daggers with mana engraving. Damien from just one glance knew she was a vampire. He had read a lot about them. And this one had a threatening atmosphere around her. "This is Maria Alfonsi she is from the Bloodhaven empire but her father is a Count working under Marquis Alexander," after being introduced Maria gave a slight nod to Damien whilst he introduced himself. "Nice to meet you black hair boy," she said with an expressionless face while her eyes examined Damien''s neck. "Likewise," he replied. Damien thought, ''I should make a mental note to not sleep anywhere within a radius of 30 metres around her.'' "Next we have Julie Eastwood she is from Black Dragon Empire as well her father is a knight in the imperial army", introduced Erza. Julie was a merry black haired girl. She had sparkling eyes and a cheerful smile on an oval face. She was, to Damien''s relief, shorter than him. Julie wore a green shirt with a shorter brown skirt. Dark brown stockings covered her legs. As for defensive equipment, Damien noticed the petite girl was wearing just a leather armour on her chest, then he noticed the bow and quiver in her hands, ''she is an archer''. Her arrows also had the same mana engraving. "Finally we have Eric, he is our heavy hitter as you can see from his axe and combined with you Damien we have a pretty solid offence!" He was a tall handsome teen with short spiked black hair and dark blue eyes. He had rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. Damien could see that he was wearing chainmail underneath his shirt. He wore blue trousers with a brown belt that had a dagger strapped to it. Eric was swinging his double-headed battleaxe around to get accustomed to it. He didn''t even bat an eye towards him. However, he gave Damien the same feeling his father did which was quite relaxing. "Everyone this is Damien, he is the one with the SS class ability," these words caused the trio to stop what they were doing and turn their attention towards Damien. Their faces meant business. They inspected him with curious eyes. "Woah Man! What does your ability do?" asked Eric as he leaned in towards Damien. "Interesting," whispered Maria as she scanned him once again. "Uh, it kinda strengths me over time," Damien took a step back hiding his discomfort. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Ah, a passive one it is? Sadly mine is an active one which I can only use when I become a Neomage," he made a thoughtful expression. After greeting everybody, he noticed that all weapons had the same engraving. He did not know why it was so. It probably was a locator spell? Well, it was just a guess, right now he had to focus on the exam. "All right we gave you your 30 minutes now get to work," Kristy''s voice seemed to come from nowhere but, everyone could hear it. "THE ENROLMENT EXAMS ARE NOW DECLARED OPEN!" With that announcement, everyone ran into the forest. *** "Another one!?" Damien cursed. This was their sixth encounter with a herald ranked beast. This time it was a Dual-Headed Claw Serpent. Claw Serpents were a species of snakes which had one to three pairs of claws present under their belly. They were quick, venomous and were expert at an ambush. Their sharp steel like claws could rip leather armour to shreds. And this one had two heads which made things even worse. Why had this 5 meters long, yellow-green predator which had one pair of sharp claws and two long necks splitting out on the same end, not ambushed them? Well, it was because of a stray arrow from Julie hit this one in the eye. So that arrow was still sticking out of one of its eye, while its heads thrashed around in pain. Damien dodged the sprays of neon green blood which would make anyone think- ''This thing is totally corrosive.'' "Julie fire more arrows! Eric come with me for a follow-up attack! Erza, Maria take the sides," Damien lunged at the serpent as he issued orders. Unsociable as he was, dire situations tend to change people. Everyone followed Damien''s lead. Two arrows flew in the air and hit the snake at the base of its necks. The other head hissed and bared its long fangs against approaching Damien. Damien jumped and slashed vertically. One of the serpents heads bent low and struck from underneath. Damien had predicted this, so he used his sword to block the one coming from below by swinging it downwards while he used his other hand to grab the arrow lodged in the other''s eye socket. He yanked it off resulting in a splash of neon blood on his metal chainmail. The snake''s head which was blinded roared in pain as it lashed out at Damien. The other head of the snake tried to catch off guard but failed to notice that Eric was about to strike with this axe. Ezra took this chance and aimed at that head with her spear. A moment later, one head of that snake fell down with a thump. Not to forget the miraculous amount of blood that formed a small puddle on the ground was still gushing out of the served neck. The other one-eyed head could not help but go berserk due to the pain. It randomly released Mana attacks which were easily dodged by Damien and co. "Be kind, kill him," muttered Maria. "Stay wary of the blood," said Julie. "I have a feeling it isn''t neon for nothing." "You are-" Damien dodged a Mana attack "-quite right." Damien took off his shirt and chainmail which had started to hiss and threw it away. "I guess it is kinda acidic," said Damien as he wiped his body with a clean part of his shirt. His trousers and belt, however, had but one stain of that blood which he hastily wiped off. He could not help but sigh at the fact that his pocket was burned through. He realized that he was standing shirtless and exposing his pale skinny body to everyone. "Gotta say, Damien, those muscles are shaping up," laughed Eric. "Umm, I guess I can cover myself with that snake''s hide," said Damien "Eric dodge!" screamed Julie. Eric managed to defend against the blow but that dual-headed claw serpent''s momentum was enough to send him flying. He landed two metres back and rolled once before getting back on foot. "Crap," Damien cursed under his breath as he was forced to back off against the continuous assault of the snake. "Julie arrows!" Shouted Erza as she tried to help Damien before he succumbed to the vicious strikes. "I am running out of them," she replied. "I told you all to end it''s suffering quickly," said Maria from the side. "We will have to resort to Mana attacks if it continues on!" Said Julie. "No, not until the end game, we still have a mile to cover," retorted Damien as he struggled to keep up with the monster. This was a beast that was driven to the corner. It was at a point where it did not care for its own life but only lived to hurt or kill it''s enemy- to say it was something short of a mindless monster would be an understatement. "Eric strike now!" Damien cried out as he leapt back with Erza. Both of the crouched down. "Arrrrrrgh!" Eric bellowed as he threw his axe with full power. The Serpent was unable to see Eric because an arrow had pieced that eye. When it heard the sound and leaned back to see what was coming to it. Whether by luck or by calculation, because the serpent leaned back, it came in the path of the axe''s trajectory. That being said, it was obvious that it was the final nail on the serpent''s hypothetical coffin. The ''nail'' however did not kill it immediately but was stuck in the snake''s neck offering it yet more suffering. "Kill it already," sighed Maria. Damien jumped and sliced the snake''s neck this time killing it. "Too many monsters," Damien used his shirt that was lying at distance to wipe his sword. It was unfortunate that the sword was slightly eaten up by its corrosive blood. "Hey Damien, can you lend me your shirt? I need to clean my axe," said Eric. "I need to clean my spear." "I need to clean my arrows." Damien made a poker face, "Seriously?" "Yes!" the three said in unison. He sighed and threw the shirt to Eric. Damien was reminded of the season of autumn when a chilly wind made him shiver. He hurriedly picked up the corpse of that snake and tried to speed up the draining of blood. He then took out a short knife and started dismantling the corpse. After an hour of dismantling, the end products were- four thin makeshift daggers constructed from the fangs of the snake, eight thicker daggers made from its claws and one Damien wrapped in snakeskin. "Kinda weird but will do for now," he gave a dejected sigh. That is all he could do- cut out two sides of a shirt from the corpse and tie them with the sleeves of his former shirt. "Let''s keep moving then," said Damien. *** It was night, the moon was absent from the sky so the eerie forest bathed in starlight. In a certain part of this forest, two boys and three girls were sitting around a bonfire. A thick slice of meat was being roasted above it. "I am thirsty," groaned Erza. "Aren''t we all," Damien stretched his body. "There are no water resources around here," said Eric, "I had scouted in a radius of 200 metres." "Let''s eat and keep moving, we can not afford to sleep lest we show up late," said Maria. After twenty minutes or so the group resumed their journey. A little more than a quarter mile was left. They would have easily transversed it in a few minutes had it not been for the thick vegetation and a beast showing up every thirty metres. "Fellas, I think something is wrong," said Eric as he moved through the thick tree trunks. "What''s the matter?" "We have already travelled about two hundred and fifty metres, yet we did not meet any beast." "You all should see this," came Damien''s voice from the front as he stopped in his tracks. The ones following behind leaned over his shoulder to see a wide clearing, devoid of grass. In the centre of this clearing lay a black giant snake several dozen metres long and as thick as the tree trunks beside Damien. "E-Everyone," came Julie''s shaking voice, "I think we are surrounded." They looked up to see smaller yet similar black snakes coiling on the tree branches and while some were dropping down. Softs hisses surrounded them. "Okay people," said Damien as he drew his sword and makeshift dagger."I am sorry, I can''t find a cool line..." "How about, ''Who is down for some snake leather''?" said Eric. "L.A.M.E.," said Maria. "Oh! I know ''This is it''!" exclaimed Erza which made snakes direct more hostility to their group. "''Who wants snake kebabs?''" "Eww, not me." "Do they exist?" "Guys, GUYS! Let''s focus on this scaly issue first," said Damien. "Lame line," snapped Maria, "You should feel bad for making it." "Uh yeah never mind," said Damien while the snakes got dangerously close. The bigger snake raised its head to see the intruders. It hissed towards them. "Let''s go hacky-slashy with their leader first," said Damien as his troupe rushed towards the Big Black Snake. Chapter 21 - Those Who Pass "I and Eric will take the Vanguard and attack that greater one, Julie will support us with arrows," Damien rushed towards the large coiled snake in the clearing. "Maria you will protect Julie, Erza will keep the smaller ones from interfering." The snake raised its head and revealed its shiny metallic fangs; it hissed loudly. Moonlight bounced off its smooth scales. Its yellow eyes gleamed with hostility and malice. Damien, albeit afraid, could not feel help but feel excited about this confrontation. Something about this constant bloodshed had changed something, temporarily, inside him. With a maniacal grin, he jumped. The Snake, on the other tail, swatted Damien aside in mid-air. Damien fell on the ground and rolled sideways as he tasted blood in his mouth. He coughed. He felt the pain, but this only increased his bloodlust. Insanity was slowly consuming him. "Damien, are you okay?" shouted Eric as he fended off an attack. A black viper attacked him but, Eric blew it off with a swing of his axe. "Never been better," Damien got up and beamed like a lunatic. His left arm was dangling and the other gripped the sword tightly. He ran towards the snake. The snake, convinced that this moron should be better dead for his own good, opened its wide jaws threatening to swallow Damien whole. As the snake''s fangs neared, Damien drew his arm back and swung it forward with full force. *Thud* To everyone''s surprise, the over a hundred kilograms of a monster''s head was rebuked back, Damien stood there smiling. Unyielding. Imposing. Strong. These words popped up in everyone''s head. But, Damien was not quite done yet: he moved his arms to collect mana and jumped two metres high delivering another blow to the snake. The snake pulled back its head and snarled at Damien who landed on its body. His mad grin had not disappeared. He lunged once more at the snake while the snake once again bared its fangs and attacked. Damien''s eyes gleamed with soft blue light as he moved in the dark. Eric was caught up with several of these snakes, one among them was particularly nasty. Julie was supporting Eric, her ammunition was diminishing. "Gee," she wiped her brow, "Eric impale it!" Eric swiftly brought down his axe and severed a snake into two. "How am I supposed to impale something with a damn axe?!" he angrily said. Erza was having a difficult time at her end. Two large snakes with formidable battle power held her back. Maria was nevertheless calmly dealing with the situation at hand. She used quick slashes of her knife to kill a few snakes hence, the rest approached her more carefully. It could be said that she had an exceptional perception for she was able to dodge the repeated attacks of those big snakes. Her movements were precise. With formidable dexterity, she spun her daggers and attacked a snake injuring it fatally. On the edge of this battleground, Damien was single-handedly dealing with the gigantic snake. Strikes after strikes. Occasional sparks flew out from the metal sword confronting the metallic fangs and sharp tail. The snake was seriously pissed off by now. Damien''s attacks were made without any care or pattern behind them with, but with the sole purpose of killing the victim. This left the snake with a few wounds. But, what angered it was that he was using that fang-cum-daggers which he made from its kin to stab it repeatedly. By now the snake already had eight fangs punched into its body. Although it did not damage it much, it still hurt like hell. Damien, realizing that the snake was irate, hastened his attacks with a mocking smile. He repeatedly slashed and the snake was forced to use its tail as well as its fangs to defend. With a powerful blow, Damien fell on the ground. He hastily got up and defended against the powerful attack of the snake''s tail. Damien''s arms screamed in pain to keep up with the unjust demand of brute force. The snake found an opening and tried to headbutt Damien. Damien saw this and flexed his muscles of his unarmed arm. With all his power he hit the snake''s jaw with a powerful uppercut. The snake''s head propelled upwards and Damien used this opportunity to use a mana attack to deflect its tail. With nothing to block his way, Damien stabbed the snake''s underside. He could have pierced it further had not the snake rolled sideways. The snake realized that this one was not a simple lunatic, but a loony that threatened his life. In a beast''s dictionary, these were very different terms. Thus, this marked the end of the first phase of the battle. "Resort to mana attacks now!" shouted Damien. While the great snake hissed the same thing. Soon the battlefield was bombarded with mana attacks. The non-slither-ish side was having trouble due to the overwhelming difference in numbers. But these snakes were on the defensive, waiting for their boss to finish and deal with the rest. This made it annoyingly hard to kill them. Out of the original fifty or so snakes had dropped down to thirty-one. However, Damien felt more excited at this. He fired a mana attack which collided with the snake''s to produce a blast which pushed to two combatants back. But, Damien wanted a more interesting fight. To the snake''s surprise, Damien turned on his heel and sprinted. But to its horror, he was not running away, but killing off its kin! Damien swiftly reaped the lives of the preoccupied snakes and put an end to the stalemate. The snakes, because of the sudden attacks, were either fatally wounded or incapacitated to the degree where Eric and co could finish them off with ease. The black snake chased after Damien who ran around the battlefield. Soon it became a fight of five versus six. Only the strongest five of the smaller snakes survived. They were older than their peers and much more experienced when it came to battle. The rest had to fill this gap in experience with their life. The giant black snake was angered to a terrifying degree. It hoarded up outrageous amounts of mana and fired them towards Damien. His lesser ones aided him in this practice. Damien laughed as he dodged and ran. Eric and Erza tried to fend off the snake but Damien roared, "Back off he is mine." Damien jumped and twirled in the air to land a devastating blow on the snake''s body. A deep gash which bled dark blood was created. The snake hissed in pain and fired a powerful mana attack at Damien. He jumped to avoid it but, the snake''s tail intercepted him. Damien''s snake hide armour was cut through. He suffered a cut under his arm. Damien staggered on his feet as blood oozed out of his wound. "DAMIEN NO!" screamed Erza. The snake opened his mouth wide. But it was too late for Damien, he was swallowed whole by the snake. "Mgmgmgm!" Damien''s muffled yells were heard as his team watch in utter horror. The snake looked up at the sky as Damien was inverted and went down its throat. The struggle in its throat died down in a few seconds. Erza screamed and ran to rescue him but, was blocked by a snake. Eric, in anger, fired mana attacks like a maniac. Julie was busy fighting snakes with a disgusting expression on her face. Maria was as Stoic as ever. Having eaten the problem child, the snake turned its head towards the remaining people. With malice and blood oozing out of his body the snake slithered towards another prey. Erza watched in horror as the Great snake neared. The snake she was keeping busy, snapped at her, and she fell back as her spear fell aside. Eric screamed as he recklessly flung himself forward forcing his opponent to dodge. Through this opening, he ran to rescue Erza. Erza looked at the snake''s gleaming yellow eyes and broke out in cold sweat. Her bladder was already empty. She froze in absolute terror. He was about to open its maw to eat Erza, but suddenly felt a wave of intense pain. Something pulsed inside it. The Snake rolled and hissed. *Boom!* The snake''s body was burst open spewing bits of flesh and blood all around. The snake withered in pain and lashed around. Other combatants stopped to look at what was happening. Like a freak, in a very gross manner, Damien emerged covered in blood and snake saliva. "ARRRRGGGGGHHH," Damien tore through the hide as he gasped for air. He held up his bloody sword which gleamed in the moonlight. The snake rolled in pain as blood sprouted out from the hole in its belly. It eventually succumbed to its injury. Everyone was frozen still by this development. Damien swung down his sword and splattered the snake''s blood on the ground signifying his victory. "Damn it," his chest heaved up and down. The snake had been stupid enough to swallow him- a herald. If it had been a normal prey then it would have suffocated in its stomach or gastric acids would have killed it. Damien was, however, a Herald and was wearing snake hide armour. This armour blocked much the initial sprays of acid while Damien absorbed mana using his free arm. When he was saturated, he set off three consecutive waves of mana. Each one was stronger than the previous one. The sudden pulses ravaged the internals and thus, concluding in Damien, with some acid burns, bursting out of its stomach like an alien. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Damien had been knocked sense into by this incident and now could understand his berserk bloodlust. He had let his emotions eat up his reason. He had honestly never been drowned in the desire to kill. He took a few deep breaths to calm down, internally swearing that he will never go wild again like this. Damien pacified down, the sleep deprivation and thirst had really got him but, now he was alright. "Let''s wind this up quick," said Damien with a tired expression, his muscles were sore. *** The sky was bright blue with the sun illuminating the Earth below. Cool autumn winds were blowing. On a yellow bricked road, a group of five teens was walking in broken equipment. To be accurate, they tugged themselves forward while covering their injured body with different materials: for their clothes were long since shredded by their rough night. Their equipment was chipped and covered in different kinds of fluids ranging from the blood of the great night wandering serpent to the poison of the green tri-horned snake. All of them smelled strongly of gore. "The brick road... we''re finally here", Damien''s group had finally reached the point from where only a few steps meant enrolment while none meant doom. They had reached the edge of the forest and found the yellow bricked road. They followed it for something like five hundred metres before arriving here. It was about 9:30 AM according to Maria''s estimation. "Just a few steps and we are enrolled, let''s do this", Damien tried to encourage his compatriots but to no avail. They were far too exhausted to do anything at this conjecture. "Just... Hang on man, I am tired," groaned Eric. "Come on. Look how magnificent the entire academy looks from here," as Damien finally caught hold of the group''s attention which he directed towards the landscape right in front of them. There it stood with majesty unparalleled under the sky. The majestic black gate had the symbol H etched in gold on it. This was the northern gate of Hydra Academy. They were open. Great brown walls stood on its either sides. Not a speck of dust was visible on them. They shimmered as if they had been recently polished From the distance, one could catch most majestic features of the city behind; the bell tower almost as if touching the sky stood the tallest. It is said that its hourly chimes are heard throughout the city of Hydra. After a lot of dragging, lifting and pushing, the group reached the open gates. They hardly had the time to look around when a voice spoke in their heads, "Congratulations! You are the 171st group to enter the academy. Please drink the potions kept at the table, there are also a few sets of clothes. You can take a shower in the restroom over there. After you have freshened up I will escort you to the assembly grounds for the opening speech of the principal." Damien looked around to find a long wooden table with blue flasks and two piles of clothes kept on it. In the near distance was a small yet wide brick building on which, in golden letters, was promptly written - ''Restrooms'' What Damien was standing on was a grey paved road which leads towards the school campus. Damien had heard everything the manly voice had said, but the rest had lost him at potion and shower part. They were all gobbling down on the potions like wolves. Afterwards even Damien went to have some. A man appeared before them. However, they were not startled since they were too exhausted to let out gasps of surprise. The man had black hair with blue streaks on them. He had brown hazelnut like eyes which were radiating vigour. His cheerful smile went hand in hand with his fair skin making him look much friendly. Much of his body was hidden by the black cloak which dropped down till his knees. The ends of his black trousers were visible. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Mark. I am a third-year student at Hydra and your guide for the day," Damien finally looked carefully at the man he was wearing a black cloak which covered him entirely. On the cloak was a badge bearing the symbol of nine hydras radiating out of a point. There were three golden horizontal lines under that badge indicating his position as a third-year student. ''Obsessed with black,'' thought Damien. ''I guess its natural since the principal grew up in the empire.'' After a few minutes two more teams arrived, they were greeted in the same way by Mark. And ten minutes later when the clocks struck ten, an ear-splitting roar boomed across the entire island. "ENTRANCE EXAM IS NOW OVER! THOSE WHO HAVE FAILED TO ARRIVE AT THE SCHOOL GATES IN TIME WILL BE SHORTLY EXPELLED!" There was no hint of mercy in that voice. Everyone who was struck in the forest found themselves standing at the very docks from where they had started. Cries of hopelessness and dejected looks were common to all over there. The third-year escorts which had been assigned to the ships appeared in front of the defeated. They explained the process of expulsion and how they would be transferred to St. Carter''s school. They were, after all, talented individuals with potential. The Hydra academy and St Carter''s had formed a pact where Hydra dumped its students into St. Carter''s for a second chance. Of course, Damien had no way of knowing this. He could only sigh and pray for the ones who did not make it. He felt a bit at loss thinking how many had not made it, but his train of thought was disturbed by his senior Mark. "All right I see that everyone is ready. Very well then, Ladies and gentlemen, I, Mark Tennyson, a third-year student of the prestigious Hydra school welcome to CITY OF HYDRA: ALEIDAR!" *** Aleidar was, for an analogy, the biggest university campus-cum-city one could imagine. Built atop an island by the empire''s most powerful and influential people, Aleidar did not lose to the royal capital in its size and glory. The tall complexes, superstores, restaurants, clubs, swimming pools, grass plains and ''sports'' grounds, parks, gyms, a small forest, stone mansions and castles built on small mountains, century-old laboratories, a giant library, this city had literally everything one could imagine of. That was not even considering the giant school in the eastern part of the city. And yes, all of this was in the city of Aleidar, that is excluding the rest of the island. "We''re finally here, this is the community centre of the city and it contains all the general information one might require traversing. Let me tell you, the city follows a different currency it is called talons. 1 talon is equivalent to 2 draconic coins of the empire. A talon is only worth inside the city and all students must register to the currency exchange department to get their native money exchanged," explained Mark to the curious batch of teens which followed behind him. "Though I think you all should do that later, lest we get late," he said with a thoughtful expression. The group of newcomers stood out in the moderately populated streets. They were met with the gazers of some eager onlookers. But, Damien could hardly mind that. He looked at the magnificent community centre it was designed with absolute craftsmanship. Four huge marble pillars held up its entrance with a huge opening door in the middle above it on the triangular ceiling were etched the words, ''Civitas Autem Scientiam '' which meant community for knowledge. Mark was very informative and didn''t leave any stone unturned in order to quell the group''s curiosity. As Damien looked around he found other groups with their guides in the vicinity, they too were being explained rules and regulations as students. Mark continued, "All of you can take maps of the city from the reception, and then we shall depart on our quarter-hour tour. Or wait I should have them over here." Mark took out a small pouch and after a moment, fished out a number of big maps. On yellow parchment was a detailed map of the island. He handed out one to each student. They entered the centre for sightseeing. Then Mark guided them to skim through the city explaining the basic rules and regulations. "The next building we approach will be the last for today as we have spent a lot of time registering you guys as citizens of the city. But with this, all formalities are done and tomorrow we shall begin the actual sightseeing" As Damien and group continued to follow Mark they reached what could only be described as the creation of God. It was not exactly a building or wait, it was. It was something like an enormous open-air auditorium expect it was not curved downwards but was flat. There was a fancy, wooden, violet and black stage. In the background was a white screen draped in pink curtains and flowers. Albeit the stage was not stupidly big like everything else. But, if one happened to raise their heads a few more degrees they would notice a senselessly big black-golden pagoda that reached a height of 500ish metres. It looked so bizarre that Damien thought it had been made to cover for the small-sized stage. Damien regained his focus and looked around to see that the area was now crowded by ''newly enrolled'' students. "This is Deus est Domi the only place of religion you will find on this island. It is, however, not the religion you have in mind. This is the seat of all power in Aleidar City. This is where the principal and the administration carry out their duty. The principal is about to give a speech in some time to all new enrolments. So this is farewell dear friends," said Mark as he left the group at the gates. Damien stared at the stage, "Who can wield such power..."