Ashen was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling of his room. Tension weighed on him—it's understandable, given the Ranthanh Festival. The upcoming Ranthanh Festival brings him shivers each time he thinks about it.
"Still...why did King Harlow want to conduct a duel on Ranthanh Festival?" he thought.
He got up and left the room. He knew he had to ask this person to clarify his doubts, and it was none other than his butler, Maxwell. Butler Maxwell has an extraordinary history, and he is an intelligent one.
He saw Maxwell cleaning the dinner table, so he raised his voice enough to distract him.
"Maxwell, I have a question."
Maxwell smiled and said, "Yes, master, please ask." "What's your question?"
Ashen replied while rubbing his head, "Uhm...you know..I feel like King Harlow and my gramps are planning something. "
Maxwell well smirked as if he knew something.
"Indeed, I, too, feel like they are planning something. If you don't know, The Elite Imperial Academy is opening its admissions in just 4 months."
Ashen gulped after hearing "The Elite Imperial Academy".
It is one of the top academies, managed and funded by the Imperial Three. It has produced over 50,000 powerful Vix users over the last 80 years, many serving as knights for the royals, mages, ministers, etc.. They carefully select the students themselves by sending offer letters.
Ashen was being washed in thoughts; he solved the puzzle of thoughts, like each thought as a piece of a jigsaw in his mind.
"I see. So that's what they are planning."
He sat down on the chair, and Maxwell served a plate in front of him. Maxwell kept his hands on Ashen's shoulder.
"Don't overthink. I will try to collect as much information as I can if you would like me to."
Ashen replied,
"No, I got what they are planning. King Harlow belongs to the Harlos family, which is one of the Imperial Three. He plans to conduct the duel to choose the best students himself from each family. "
Maxwell, while serving the mid-fire grilled chicken (cooked with a special fire for cooking known as mid-fire, with natural herbal seasonings known for their healing properties ) on his plate, said
"That's an interesting observation. Isn't it a good thing?"
Ashen's eyes turned cold,
"Well, it's a good thing for the Lucifers but not for me. They plan to use me as a stepping stone for Lucas. Since Lucas and I are the only ones of the age who can now join the academy. I have a weak Vix compared to Lucas, so it's natural for Lucas to outshine me and get into the academy. They can send me to a lower academy if they want. But what they wanted me to have was to experience a feeling of being weak. Hah. Typical Lucifers."
Maxwell's grip tightened on the plate. What could he say?
He only saw a weak child who was being played with by his family's hands because of the reason for being untalented and unlucky.
*****
Ashen knew he had to get stronger to defy the plans. But he was unsure how to do that.
He went to his office room, to simply check the corn field plantation's documents. It was given to Ashen by Jaden to have a source of income on his own, as you know, he was not talented in Vix.
He pulled out his table's drawer, and he raised the document files. He saw a diary that was red with a golden dragon's pattern. It was a gift given to him by his mother before she remarried after the divorce from his father. He used to write in that diary until he was 10 years old.
He took it. And turned the pages of the diary, reading everything swiftly, and he reached the end page. It was about the day of the Destiny ceremony. He read through it.
He began to recall the mockery, everyone's laughter, and the disappointment on his father's and grandfather's faces as the destiny ball glowed white, indicating he was untalented.
He read the final line of the page.
"I'm not sure what happened during the ceremony, but I saw another person who looked like me. It felt like I was in a dream."
"A dream? What dream did I see at that time?"
Then A memory of his hit him. The one he saw when he was testing his Vix in the destiny ball at the ceremony. A man looked similar to him, not just similar, he looked exactly like him.
He had a smile that stayed in his mind for years in his childhood, but was slowly forgotten.
It came back.
The same smile, the same person.
Slowly, the memory started becoming a reality in his mind.
His eyes started to blur, and he gripped his fingers to his chair while his hands were shaking.
"F*ck. W-What's happening....I have seen this person on that day, it's h-him." he muttered.
Then, Ashen found himself in a place made of nothing but darkness.
"What's this place..."
He looked around in confusion. All he saw was something like stars starting to blink all around, like white spots in the night. Maybe it can even be the sky.
He started walking forward, then he slowly started to run.
After running for a few minutes, he started to lose his balance.
"Huff huff... I can't keep running like this…"
Sweat rolled across his brow, almost reaching his eyes.
Panting, Ashen collapsed to his knees.
"Where the hell am I?"
The void stretched infinitely—no walls, no sky, just mocking stars. Running was pointless.
Then,
Suddenly, a golden light started to shine in front of him few meters away.
"What's that?" He whispered.
He slowly got up again and started to walk towards it.
He knew whatever it was, it was meant for him.