Chapter 01

The Black family was but one out of the dozens of servant houses beneath the Silver Aristocratic clan. As a commoner house the Black family consisted of a total of five members. The father and husband Charles, the mother and wife Emma, their first born son, their second born daughter and the newest addition to their family, the white haired baby boy, Nero.

The Black family's oldest child was a young boy called Caden. Caden, whose age was but four years older than Nero, inherented his father's raven black hair which was apparently a common trait in the Black family. Similar to his father however, Caden's spirit was that of a cute gray wolf puppy, a Regular.

The second born child of the family was a young baby girl barely a month old, her name was recently decided to be Rina. Her spirit however, was that of a strange black kitten with two snake-like tails, a Chosen.

Thanks to just having given birth to Rina, Nero could continue being breastfed and naturally became a part of the family.

...

Six years later...

...

On a small green hill on the outskirts of Aspel sat a young boy with a head full of soft looking white hair. The young boy's eyes were wide open revealing two beautiful blue gems as he faced the object in his hands. Looking at his calm and innocent expression, the young boy almost seemed a bit dignified... or well.. as dignified as a six year old could seem at least.

In his hands, the young boy held onto the small wooden sculpture of a rabbit. The work was not a masterpiece, with edgy and sharp borders, however it wasn't something you'd expect a six year old to do, much less a blind one.

Suddenly the young boy stopped carving the sculpture and his eyes smiled. With an excited screech a bird descending at an incredible speed could be seen diving towards the boy.

When the bird finally reached its master its feathered body suddenly stopped descending mid air and its gaze changed from a cold predatory green to a loving warm.

"Haux you're back."

The blind young boy surmised with a pure smile on his face.

The previous white baby spirit changed drastically during its first six years of life. Its snow white feathers had almost completely faded away, leaving only the tips of its feathers in their original colour. The rest of the bird's feathered body had been replaced by feathers so dark blue that they would need to be under direct sunlight to not be confused with black.

The size of the small bird had grown to a length of over half a meter long with a wing span of approximately one and a half meter. He, the blue bird Haux, had already turned into what would be defined as a 'big scary bird' by the citizens of Aspel. Its cold, calculating hawk-like eyes were the trademark definiton of a predator's. Causing even the bravest of guards to feel reluctant to approach it.

The bird called Haux was what would be defined as a Mysterious Spirit.

A mysterious spirit is an entity completely unheard of before, their legends either forgotten or simply in the making. However to be classified as a mysterious spirit it also has to grant its Master with an ability. How could it otherwise be a spirit of a Chosen?

Haux's species was named Thunderbird, by the young boy and his father, Charles. But how could they, two commoners uneducated in the forms of spirits, know that the bird type soul beast Haux with an attribute towards lightning and thunder was unheard of? There are after all, thousands of bird type spirits with the lightning or the thunder attribute. Some common ones can even be found in Aspel, for example the Thunderbolt Eagle or the Flash Hawk, heck there is even a spirit in the shape of an electrifying song bird.

What made Charles certain of Haux's identity as a mysterious spirit was that it didn't only "control" lightning. But seemed to have an innate sovereignty over it. And everyone, even commoners, know the defining characterstic of a heaven rank spirit.

The uncontested control over an element or law.

A heaven ranked spirits are the royals of their respective element. Imagine a newborn phoenix fighting a mature fire salamander. Even if they belong to two completely different tiers of might, the newborn phoenix could still easily defeat the fire salamander by taking control over its innate flames. This is the fundamental difference between a heaven rank spirit, and the rest of them.

However the amount of heaven rank spirits are extremely few and incredibly rare. Out of a thousand Chosens, you would be lucky if you found even single heaven rank spirit.

The fact that a mysterious heaven rank spirit has been birthed would surely throw the high officials of the empire in a frenzy. As new kinds of heaven rank spirits are rarely discovered. Not to speak about the potential profit as well as danger it could cause.

But even after six years the world remained oblivious. The four empires are still fighting a never ending war in the shadows, all while posing as "competitive" in public. As for the reason why they are reluctant to go into war completely, it is greatly related to the fifth major power on the continent.

The Spirit Guild.

Or more informally, the Spirit Academy. The Spirit Academy is a large institute located in the centre of the continent, bordering to each of the four empires. The Spirit Academy is the number one academy for Spirit Masters or in other words, trained Chosens.

Furthermore due to the large amount of Chosens choosing to stay in the Spirit Academy after graduating, its true power is absolutely comparable to any of the four empires, if not stronger.

And due to the rivalry between the empires as well as their lack of high grade spirit teachers, they would never join forces to deal with a neutral and peaceful entity such as the Spirit Academy.

As for why no one knows about Haux, the answer is quite simple. The young, blind boy obviously didn't get much chance to speak with anyone except his family. And the spirit in question's arrogance and pride as a sovereign spirit naturally wouldn't allow it to bother itself with lesser creatures such as humans, with the exception of Nero of course.

Haux, now contently perched on the Nero's slim shoulder, looked at the wooden sculpture in the boy's hand in curiousity.

The boy, ignoring the odd bird's behaviour, continued his carving...

As his hands touched the wooden rabbit white sparks of electricity jumped from the boy's fingers before entering the sculpture. After a fraction of a second the sparks left the wooden rabbit before once again entering the boy's fingers...

This was the ability the heaven rank mysterious spirit Thunderbird had granted its Master.

Supreme Voltage Authority.

The major difference between his ability and that of another lightning type Chosen's ability is that he does not only possess absolute authority over all kinds of electricity and lightning, but he can also 'sense' active charge carriers (electrical currents) no matter how weak they might seem.

By sending a minimal amount of lightning into an object capable of leading electricity he can activate their inactive charge carriers and thereby sense the electrical current created. As a result he can 'sense' the shape of the said object.

This of course has its fair share of flaws and problems, however for a boy without sight it can serve as a way to not only 'see' but to sense everything he touches in a view without blindspots. Furthermore as the scholars of the world of Tariel is extremely limited in their knowledge about electricity and its conduct no one really knows how his 'sight' truly works.

But being as young as he is the boy clearly hasn't perfected the art of sensing through electricity. Therefore the area he can sense is limited to barely 20 square meters. Furthermore any objects not connected to the ground instantly becomes invisible.

If the target is airborne he'll have to rely on charge carriers which are already active to sense it (such as the Thunderbird who has small sparks constantly zapping their way through its feathers).

The boy Nero, finished with his carving put the rabbit in his pocket. Under the weight of his companion Haux he pushed his way up to a standing position, his legs almost bending under the weight of the large bird. Haux however, seemed to enjoy its personal vehicle as it raised its beak to look arrogantly at the ground beneath them.

Feeling the town walls 20 meters behind him Nero closed his eyes before casually picking up the stick on the grass beside him. With a deep breath of air, Nero headed back into his home town, Aspel.

*****

(Nero's perspective)

Sensing the approaching town gates along with the two stationary guards I couldn't help but to frown in annoyance. Sighing I poked Haux with my stick.

Understanding my meaning Haux immediately stops acting hostile, revealing a fake weak demeanour..

Closing in on the gates I secretly lowered my head.

'Not again, please don'-...'

"Oh! Isn't it our very own little Chosen! Where you out practicing your ability again? Did you check it was trees and not people you were zapping with those sparks of yours?"

The left guard suddenly exclaimed before snickering in sarcasm, disgust and a trace of envy barely clear in his voice. Beside him I sensed the shape of a full grown badger, brandishing its sharp teeth while hissing towards me.

'C-can't they just leave me alone?' I complained inwardly '... i-it's alright just keep your head down you're doing good.' I tried to strengthen my resolve.

"You know I really hate your attitude! Why do you always try to act so calm? Do you think you're better than us just because your little birdie has some sparks in its feathers? Huh? ANSWER ME YOU BLIND BRAT!!"

Stopping in my tracks I once again felt a familiar lump expanding in my throat. Turning my body towards the guard I felt badger come closer.

"I-I'm sor..."

SHRIIIIIEEEEK!

Before being able to finish my sentence Haux on my shoulder couldn't take it any longer. With a loud shriek I sensed its sharp eyes starting to glow in a much brighter intensity.

Focusing my ability on him I sensed his predatory eyes starting to flicker with violent sparks. It was the first time I had sensed him this angry, hate and disgust seemed to ooze out of his bones. Though I know my spirit can't speak, I have never questioned that Haux is really intelligent. He always listens to what I say and sometimes he even answers in his own way.

Noticing that I was the reason why Haux got angry, I instantly felt the lump in my throat tighten. Fortunately my eyes seems to lack the function of crying.

However this, I'm actually happy for. Otherwise, if the guards could see how much their actions and words hurt me, they would surely find pleasure in finally getting to me.

The guards and the badger seemed almost frozen in place. With their complete and full attention on Haux they eventually snorted simultaneously before silently backing away. The duo of Regular guards knew that they weren't a match for Haux if he got serious. Furthermore aware of my family's connecting with the local ruler they knew what they could, and couldn't do.

Raising my arm I softly put my hand on Haux's feathery head. Petting him slowly I sensed the brightness in his eyes lessening. Once I was sure he had calmed down I once again lowered my head before entering Aspel, the lump in my throat was suddenly much smaller.

Here's an idea of how Haux looks like: