Chapter 4: Past and Encounters

-Father, I have a request. Would it be possible for you to fulfill it?

Everyone at the table and even the servant froze—an expected reaction. I never asked my father for anything when I was young; you could call it pride since I didn't want anything from the man that never gave me any attention when my mother died, or you could call it fear since I was scared of what could happen if I brought any kind of attention towards me.

-Go ahead and ask; there are very few of your demands or requests that I wouldn't have the power to fulfill.

-It's nothing too complicated; I would like you to let me skip school and make my coming-of-age ceremony the last one so that I would undergo my ceremony at the end of school.

For the first time in my life, I looked at the man I called father straight in the eye. I can feel the stares of everyone in the room. They must be thinking I've gone crazy since I keep doing things that I would never be doing. I never looked anybody in the eye. Whenever I conversed with the servants, I would stare at their noses or mouths. I never dared to lift my head when it was with someone in the family except for Yoan.

I could see it in his eyes. My father's eyes were full of questions. I understand; after all, children start school at eight in the kingdom of Fayrak. Before that, it is completely up to the parents and family to provide education. That's why nobles end up having advantages when school starts over the commoners.

-If it's only that, then it's doable. I'll talk to the principal as well as the king.

-What is it? Yoan starts. Could you be nervous, my Lil NoNo, he says with a giant smile.

Jynn looks at me and says

- I hope you understand what you are asking. By making such a request to father, you'll have the attention of every noble and even the king's. I'm trying to say that you'll be the center of attention.

-I know.

I answer while staring at his face; he then answers with

-You better not tarnish the Arcadios reputation then.

-Don't worry, and do your best. My stepmother says

I look at her and think.

"Are her words sincere or sarcastic? You can never know; her facial expression rarely changes. It's impossible to know what she's thinking."

-There is no need to worry; Jynn, I only requested this to bring a new achievement to our family.

I get up, put my chair back and head upstairs. I enter my room, and I close it.

-Hey Bright, Dull, do you hear me?

No answer

I was going to ask them about my constitution, but I guess I'll have to ask them another time. What's important now is to recreate the energy I will create and wield in the future.

In the future, after my failure at the coming-of-age ceremony. I ended up being the target of a total of 4 assassination attempts in 6 years. After the fourth one, I stayed holed up in my room for a total of two years.

I couldn't bring myself to trust anybody, and because of that constant fear and distrust toward those around me, I ran away. I left everything, ran away, and explored the world; it wasn't easy. Since I didn't have the means to defend myself, one day, I encountered something that would change my life, Ruins. Ruins of a past, so distant that it wasn't recorded in any of the four great kingdom history books, and with them, the Guardians of the ruins, a tribe unknown to the world, Wrethers. They possessed another way to handle Energicules; in other words, they were using another energy altogether that energy was called Rether. That's when I understood something, maybe what the kingdoms knew wasn't everything, maybe other energies existed, and maybe just maybe, there was a way for me to break the balance without risk or maybe not even to touch the balance. With that in mind, I decide the learn Rether.

Rether was different than Mana, Prana, or Ki. To wield Rether was something that was decided at birth because, unlike the other energy, Rether wielders were born with, instead of a dantian, a Rether Vein. The Rether Vein is a different vein that is in the body shaped in a circle; it is a big vein that ran near the heart and through the dantian; basically, if you possessed it, it was impossible to wield mana or Ki. and to my surprise, it was there! In my body, there was a Rether Vein! They said that it was their first time seeing this. My Rether Vein was so thin that it was as if it wasn't there. To compare my vein and a usual vein, they said that mine was like a strand of hair while a normal one was as big as a pen. There was another difference that Rether had which was the way to wield it. Rether is an energy that uses enchants to bend the rule of an object or a target, and those who wield it will later in history be called Enchanters. Enchanters were divided into two categories those with the ability to enchant objects, they are called Vidents, and those that are capable of enchanting themself or others are called Midents. Those that can do both are Gidents. Just like all the other energy, it is possible to gather Rether with cultivation. To grow stronger and use stronger enchants, you needed to make a full circle within the Rether Vein, and once that's done, the completed circle is then expulsed, creating another Vein, but this time made of energy, made of Rether. However, my nightmare started once again. After completing my first circle it happened something that had never happened before happened, the four energies started resonating, and a power struggle started inside my body; for four months, the energies went rampant inside my body, and after that. During these four months, I went through an indescribable amount of pain, almost comparable to the Causality trial that I underwent in my Inner realm. When I woke up, the balance was there; this time, Rether was there too.

I started despairing again, "Does that mean that no matter what I do, the balance will persist and triumph?" I couldn't accept it, so I went to the Tribe elder, the one that inherited the knowledge of those before him, and he told me a few stories and I realized I had one more chance. There was one more energy that existed, an energy that was wielded by a mysterious entity, and no one other than him could wield it. No one knew what he was. He wasn't a human, nor was he a Demon, Angel, Beast, or a God; however, he was strong stronger than most of them. The seven Kings of each of the five realms never dared to mess with him because they knew his power was abnormal. They weren't sure they could handle him even if they joined hands, and there was a possibility of betrayal from anyone and everyone. Therefore, they all agreed to give him a title and not bother him as long as he doesn't bother them. The one who wanders the lands alone, the one who doesn't have others to call family or fellow brethren: the Lone King, and he called the energy that he wielded Aether. Aether was my last chance.