Chapter 2: Chapter 2: an unexpected fate.
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'Where am I? What's going on?' I questioned myself as I continued to stare at my surroundings with great confusion.
I managed to stand up, though I was feeling disoriented. Why am I feeling dizzy? I thought, until I had almost collapsed on the floor, though I managed to stop myself by placing my arms in front of me to cushion my fall as I fell forward. I was shocked to have seen what was in front of my eyes. The floor felt like glass, or should I say more like a mirror? I stared at my reflection for a while. Until I started to notice that the mirror-like floor was actually kind of transparent... But as I continued to stare into the cold, the dark depths of the ground,
"W-what... T-the...!" I jumped out in fear as I kept my eyes on what I saw. From the look of it, I was staring at a very colossal-sized red eyeball as it kept its gaze on me. And apparently, it seemed that I had been paralyzed by it. The amount of fear I could feel was overwhelming.
"I can't move." I continued to stare at it until I forced myself to force my gaze somewhere else. But by the time I had opened my eyes, I was met with a familiar scene. One that I can never forget, as the void realm started to change into that very scene.
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"You're not my son!" I heard the roar from my father, as he had pushed past my mother and was ready to stab me. But just like what had transpired before... My mother decided to block me from the attack as the glass shard came closer to her heart.
"NOOOOO! STOP IT!!" I was very hurt to see this scene replayed right in front of me again... I couldn't do anything; I could only watch. I started to force myself to move towards the scene to help her and stop her from risking her life for me. But the more I pushed, the more weight I felt in my very being. I was then forced to the ground, only to look up and see that the shard had penetrated her heart and that her blood had spilled everywhere.
"A...AAAHHH !!!... <sobbing>... HOW COULD YOU?" I shouted out in pain, with tears flowing out of my eyes. "I HATE YOU!!"
I was furious as I glared at the scene. But then, before I knew it, my father had turned to me with a crazy grin on his face. But something was happening, his skin was burning purple. The smoke became more violent, and the flames grew in intensity.
"YoU DemOn cHiLd... I sHaLl DisPose of yOu lIkE yoUr mOTheR!" I heard the distorted voice from my father, and as his skin kept burning and the scene started to burn down in purple flame, I could even feel the heat from it. "YOU KILLED Her... DantE!"
I brought my head down as I tried to stop my tears from coming down again, but I was so raged. "How dare you? How dare you blame this on me?"
I jotted my head up, with my eyes red and glowing furiously as the void started to shake. "YOU BASTARD!!! You killed her! You took her away!"
The marks around my right hand started to glow white as I started to force myself up from the ground.
I started to walk towards him, and the void started to burn even hotter than before and rumble with every step I took.
But before I could reach him, he gazed at me and simply shouted.
"DANTE!!"
And with that, a beam of purple light struck us, and everything around me had turned white.
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"TOBI! WAKE UP!" I heard Sister Trinity's voice echo out as I started to open my eyes. Only to be met with a sad and worried expression by Trinity. The light bounced off her glowing golden hair and made her skin shudder. "Please, Tobi, wake up!"
"Trinity, what's going on?" I grunted out in pain while holding on to my right arm, as the seal was reaching towards my neck.
"Your seal has been triggered again." Trinity calmed me down as she placed her palm on my right arm, and a bright blue light was emitted from it. The burning sensation I felt in my arm started to seize, and the mark also started to reside. For Now, "Tobi, you had a nightmare again, didn't you?"
She asked me with concern written all over her face, and it really hurts me to see her hurting.
"Yes, Sister Trinity, but it's really fine."
"No, it's not Tobi," sister Trinity countered, as the mark finally resided; she held onto my right hand, over the seal mark, and stared at me with a concerned look. "Tobi, you know it's not fine at all... These dreams you have are starting to get out of hand; it's making your emotions overcome you, and with the large amount of dark mana within you, one day, I'm afraid you might...
"Get corrupted... I know Sister Trinity... The dreams might be getting worse, but I'm still holding strong." I said, trying to cheer her up. I placed my left hand on hers and gave her a very goofy smile since it helps her calm down most times. "So don't need to worry, sister Trinity, there's nothing that's going to make me go corrupt."
She stared at me for a while with a somewhat surprised expression on her face, until she just chuckled and gave me a big smile of her own. She then stood up and headed towards the door, but just before she was about to walk out, she turned her head back at me.
"Oh, and before I forget, make sure to go n' meet Father Alfred to check up on the seal mark... Just to make sure, okay?" She said it with a little concerned look on her face, but then gave me a soft smile.
"No problem, sister Trinity; I'll meet him right away!" I exclaimed in an enthusiastic manner, and with that, she waved and walked away to help around the monastery. "You stupid seal..."
I grumbled while glaring at the seal mark.
I stood up from my bed and started to get ready for school. Though it's not just a normal school. The school is basically an academy run by the monastery.
Time-Skip after 30 minutes …
I walked out of my room, dressed in my normal training gear, which consisted of a dark grey robe that had the monastery brand at the back of the robe, a black long sleeve undershirt that was very elastic to allow free movement, a pair of trousers of the same fabric with the sleeve undershirt, and of course, my usual underweights in the form of jewelry, consisting of ankle bracelets for each of my legs, a pair of wrist bracelets on each arm, and the buttons on my robes which are also the same weight with the bracelets. As I made my way down the hallway, towards the learning hall, I passed by some portraits of some of the best graduates of the academic program, students that excelled in their various fields: the aurora attribute, the weaponry attribute, and finally the magic attribute, the hardest attribute to learn, but then I set my eyes on one of the most disturbing portraits in the monastery's' main hall... And that was the portrait of one of the overall best students ever, if not the best, the first to ever come close to attaining the title of sage... Being able to perform the three attributes of mana, even apart from that, he was a master of magic attributes and not just like anyone out there. He was a space user and an elemental user. He was so strong that even after the academy, he was chosen by the dragon guild and rose in rank. I admired his strength as I stopped my walk and faced his portrait. But for some reason, my very being rejects the very sight of this picture... It's as if I have this undying anger towards it, or maybe it's just me envying the very fact that he got the highest honor from the monarch himself. He became a force of authority above even the dragon guild, the so-called army of the monarch. He became the most general of generals. He became...
"Sir Alexander Sparde, Asura the First Executioner." I spoke while heading back on my way towards the academy hall. On approaching the door, I was shoved at my right shoulder by a green-haired boy, around my age and height; he has cyan blue eyes, seems a little bit skinny compared to me, and is dressed in the same outfit as mine.
"Watch where you're going, dirt!" he insulted me while entering the hall. I sent a glare towards him, obviously angry at him.
"He just doesn't know when to stop, huh?" I opened the door to reveal a large hall with a descending chair arrangement to the center and about 100+ students, all from different parts of the world, and it seems that most of them are either orphans or recommended recruits. I went towards the front line to get closer to the teacher, Father Alfred himself, and as expected, a dark blue-haired girl, about two years older than me but almost my height, had dark blue eyes and was dressed in a nun outfit; sister Rin was at the father's right side on the stage.
"Well, someone woke up late today." I heard Rin snicker beside Father Alfred, as I just shot her a tongue-out raspberry, to which she returned.
"Good morning, Dante. How are you feeling?" Father Alfred turned his head towards me with his usual soft smile. "I hope Trinity attended to you for me."
"Yes, Father Alfred... Though she told me to meet you afterward... just in case." I said to him as he made his way towards the center of the stage, nodding in acknowledgement of the dilemma.
"I see," he finally said as he made his stop at the center of the stage. "alright then."
"Good morning, students." He called as everyone rose to their feet and bowed in respect.
"Good morning, Father Alfred!" we responded. Father Alfred nodded his head, and we all took our seats.
"So, there have been lots of improvements from everyone in all fields during this very year, and I'm happy to announce that today will be the chronicle test, "
He mentioned it as he signaled to Rin with a nod, with Rin returning it on her own. She then summoned her chronicle, which looked like an astral projection of a book and was dark blue. It had a symbol on the front cover resembling that of a star constellation forming a four-sided star:
".. the very indication of your absolute progression... and it showcases your strength attribute... Whether it's magic, aurora, or weaponry, the chronicle belonging to sister Rin shows her exceptional ability in the magic attribute, a very hard attribute to learn, though it's still only one attribute. But who knows? Maybe this time someone will end up with two attributes or even three. I have high hopes for certain people who have shown that they are exceptions. Students like Trinity Hashima, Rin Kamado, Bao Matthew, and Dante Sarutobi"
Father Alfred smiled at the last part and eyed me. He knows how much I want to become stronger, and I'm so happy he always acknowledges me.
"So without further ado, on to the training field for the assessment... But before that, a special announcement We're going on a field trip to the base of the dragon guild HQ for the new recruits' selection from our academic So remember to be on your best behavior, and who knows? Maybe some of you will be chosen and rise in ranks, just like your predecessors." The hall erupted with cheers, as everyone was now excited for the trip, even me. Though I already knew that, "so without any other further delays, to the training grounds, everyone."
I stood up from my seat and started to head towards the door, but then I was stopped by the green-haired boy once again, as he drew me back and glared at me as I returned it back at him.
"Dante dirt," he growled.
"Bao grass," I growled back, as right now we were in each other's faces.
"Don't count yourself special, dirt. Just because Father Alfred mentioned your name, just because you bear his surname, doesn't mean you surmount anything. You're down the scale of the class at best, you can't even perform any attribute, you're just a waste of existence." He said this to me as I was being jumped from the back and held down by three of his goon friends.
"Stay down, dirt."
"Who are you compared to Bao?"
"You're nothing"
I struggled in an attempt to break free, but it seemed I was pinned down. I raised my head in awe as Bao summoned an astral projection with a green color to it. It resembled that of a chronicle.
"surprised? Ha-ha, there's a reason I'm third on the scale, dirt, so don't feel special." Bao was cut off from his speech as he and his goons were forced off me by a flaming aura hand that seemed all too familiar.
Bao, still as sour as ever, "you better control yourself before you go corrupt, and I'll personally be the one to free you from your torment." I heard Rin's voice from the entrance, as she had her chronicle out, forcing out the air in the room and making it feel heavy from the massive scale of mana presence released from her. "The next time any of you bother Dante again, Father Alfred will hear of this, but before that, I'll burn you all to the ground. Now go to the training ground. Now!".
Rin threatened, as Bao huffed and made his way out the door, with his friends high tailing out with him, and with that, sister Rin unsummoned her chronicle and helped me up.
"Well, I guess I'll be expecting a thank you now, ha-ha." She made fun of me, but then changed her expression to a sad one when she saw the expression on my face. "Did they hurt you, Dante, or... is it the seal?"
"No, it's fine, hehe. Thanks for having my back, Rin." I forced a smile on my face and thanked Rin for looking out for me, and it seems that she bought it. I hope so.
" You're welcome, Dante, so let's head towards the training grounds; the last one there is a hamji." She ran out before me with a cheerful smile, which really lightened up my mood.
"hey! That's not fair, you've got a head start!" I roared and ran after her, but I was unaware of the green boy behind the doors as he came out and glared at me.
"I'll make sure the training grounds become your very grave grounds, Dante. I swear on it." He cursed as he started to make his way towards the training grounds.
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