Chapter 9: Departure

It's been five days since Zayer's return. His parents were quite worried about him. Oswin himself wanted to check on him but was denied by Verona. She insisted it was an extremely important stage of his training and no one was to disturb him. The Lightning Divine Energy was indeed worth the concern. It had completely transformed Zayer's control over the Lightning element. Though he did not gain power, he did gain control. With this if he gained enough power, he would be nearly invincible. Only Verona knew the importance of his training. But after witnessing his results, she was dumbstruck. She thought whatever knowledge she had about the Lightning Divine Energy was only the the tip of the ice berg. Aside from Verona and Zayer, no one else knew what kind of training Zayer had undergone. It was meant to be kept as a secret as it would attract quite a lot of attention from everywhere around the Empire if the news were to leak.

Zayer began his training once again. He decided it was time to seriously start his training. He wanted to try the Forbidden Arts. He had all the knowledge regarding these techniques. It was passed on to him by Krezul. The Forbidden Arts was a name given by the experts who had witnessed these techniques. These techniques were despised by everyone in the Gaspra Realm. This was because The Forbidden Arts was practiced by martial experts who had the affinity to darkness element. These techniques were mainly used to increase one's cultivation by killing other people. If a martial expert used Forbidden Arts then he could gain power without having the trouble to train and could just kill other martial artists and steal their cultivation. The use of Forbidden Arts was banned throughout the Gaspra Realm. Any martial artist practicing such methods was to be sentenced to death. Such laws existed in all the Empires of the Gaspra Realm. The Forbidden Arts wasn't just limited to stealing cultivation. It also had methods to perform a Devil's Contract. Through this contract a martial artist could provide assistance to any one in exchange for something. The biggest advantage of this contract was that the person who signed it could never cheat as once he would sign it, his soul would be under the eyes of the Mourning Souls of the Under World. Once he would break the the terms of the contract, his soul would be extracted by the Mourning Souls of the Underworld and be handed over to the martial artist who wrote the contract. Once the soul was handed over, the martial artist could use it for his gains. If he were to keep the soul or destroy it then the soul would not go through the cycles of rebirth and it would be forever lost. As to what the Mourning Souls of the Underworld were, no one had a clue. Also, the person who signed it could never break the contract but the same rule never applied to the person who wrote it. Hence, most of the practitioners who wrote the contract would intentionally break the contract by tearing the parchment of paper on which the contract was written. No matter who broke the contract, the person who signed it would die. So, the practitioners who wrote it would gain a soul with ease and use it for practicing the Forbidden Arts. If a practitioner collected enough souls he could use the Forbidden Arts to create magic spells way beyond their power. The Devil's Contract peaked Zayer's interest. He intended to use this method to perform some experiments as he could get souls. But the use of Forbidden Arts was another secret he had to keep. Twelve years old and his life was full of secrets.

Two months passed in a blink of an eye. It was now time for Zayer to leave home and go on to study in the Academy. His brothers had graduated last year and had long gone adventuring to get a grasp of the outside world. Oswin gave Zayer a spatial ring. Inside it was a space of hundred cubic meters. He stored all his belongings and all the things he required in the ring. It was Dawn. The family had gathered outside the clan compound. Kladus and his two wives, Oswin and Lavisa and Verona were present with Zayer.

"Zayer you must be careful in the academy! Don't go venturing outside alone. You shouldn't get hurt. If you don't like it there just come back home! Aunt will take care of your training" Angeline said.

"Aunt Angeline, don't worry. I'll be just fine" Zayer replied.

"You won't forget this miserable Aunt of yours right? At least come give me a hug!"

"Don't make this too difficult for him!" Annis shouted. Kladus held her arm and gave an indication to not interfere.

Zayer nevertheless went and hugged her. He felt pity for her. Kladus had married the two sisters Annis and Angeline. Annis had two children with Kladus but Angeline wasn't fortunate. She had no children. From when Zayer first came to the Demonte Clan she always showered him with so much love. She felt she finally had a son. Zayer understood this and never once said anything about it. Naturally, seeing this even Lavisa couldn't help but feel sad. She knew she would have behaved the same way if she was Angeline. Annis had two daughters who studied in the Star Fire Academy. The air was filled with awkwardness and so Zayer broke the silence.

"Grand Ma why aren't we with Lucius and Serene? Aren't we all going to the same destination?"

"Actually I know the Head Master of the Star Fire Academy. We go way back. I talked to him and thought we could get a back door entry"

"Why should we do that?"

"That's none of your concern. Just follow me. That is all"

"Hmph. Okay"

"But won't the clans men feel neglected. I mean I'm getting special treatment and all"

Kladus began to laugh out loud.

"Don't worry Zayer. I have already made arrangements for them. They will be escorted by a hundred guards and will lavishly enter the Academy and also if you have any problems adjusting to the Academy life, your to sisters are already there. So go ask them to help you" Kladus said.

"Okay Uncle. By the looks of it, those two have it good and here I am stuck with her" Zayer replied looking at Verona.

Once again everyone were silent. No one dared to utter a word. Unexpectedly, Angeline began to giggle but she soon stopped when she saw Verona's gaze was on her.

"You talk big even though you're so weak. Enough talk! Let's leave!" Verona held Zayer as she rose up in the air.

"Bye Zayer!! Write to Mom occasionally okay?!!"

"Okay Mom! Bye Dad! Bye Everyone"

Everyone bid their farewells and looked up in the sky as Verona and Zayer flew away towards the Sky Fire Academy.

After an hour of flying, they had crossed the borders of the Zoroark Empire and were now flying over an ocean. In every direction the twilight blue ocean met the gray clouds on the horizon. The ocean was as still as a millpond, the surface was barely a placid ripple, breaking the sunlight into a mosaic of reflected colors. Zayer started to feel a little dizzy because of the monstrous speed they were flying at. After a few minutes, they were flying over a land. They crossed crossed towns, villages and forests. Finally, they appeared before a grand set of buildings. The walls outside were high and inside there were a set of multi-storey buildings. The buildings were of fine architecture. Zayer thought he had once again had entered a new world. The place was grand and looked majestic.

There was a huge crowd outside the walls. Zayer saw many carriages and people dropping off children. There was a huge line to just enter the premises.

"Grand Ma is this?"

"Yes. This the Star Fire Academy! How is it?"

"It's much more than I had expected it to be"

"Haha"

They flew past the walls. Zayer was once again dumbstruck. There was again another huge line. He thought this was the line for taking the test. He sighed in relief thinking it was good to have Verona by his side. Suddenly, two black silhouettes appeared.

"Who are you? What is your purpose of entering?"

"I'm Verona Demonte"

"Apologies for not recognizing you Madam. The Vice-Principal is waiting for you. Please follow us"

They followed the silhouettes as Zayer was mesmerized when he saw the buildings while passing through them. They finally reached a small building. It was only three floors high.

This was the Principals Office. They landed on the ground and were escorted to the Vice-Principals room. A guard opened the door to the room and both of them entered.

There was man in a white robe sitting on a chair. He had a desk in front of him. He looked to be around forty five years of age. He had short brown hair and black colored eyes. He had a calm expression on his face. He looked like a scholar. As Verona and Zayer entered the room his expression changed into a smile.

"Well, look who it is! It's been so long since we met the last time Miss Verona!"

"Caesar you brat! You haven't changed one bit"

"Welcome to Star fire Academy! And this must be Zayer right?"

"Yes I am Zayer Mr.Caesar"

"Oh don't need to be so stiff. Just call me Vice principal! No pressure"

"Okay"

"Caesar where is George?"

"The principle is out on some important work. No need to worry I have made all necessary arrangements for Zayer."

"Hmmm. That's good. When will George be back?"

"As the entrance ceremony is in five days, he will be back in two days. Will you wait for his return?"

"No, I'll go back. There isn't much to take with that old fart anyway"

"..................."

"Zayer I'll take my leave now. Be good. Don't let Grand Ma down. Enjoy you're time here"

"Bye Grand Ma" Zayer said as he hugged her.

"Caesar I've left him in your care"

"No need t worry. He is in good hands"

"Zayer, if I have time I've visit you in the future"

"Okay"

Verona then left the room. Now only Zayer and Caesar remained in the room.

"She's quite the monster isn't she?" Caesar asked.

"You don't say" Zayer replied.

"Well, that's that and now, I officially welcome you to the Sky Fire Academy!"

"Thank You Vice Principal"

Caesar snapped his fingers. A set of uniforms and a badge appeared.

"Zayer take this badge, it indicates that you belong to this academy"

Zayer took the badge.

"And this will be your set of uniforms. This uniform which is blue in color indicates you are learning in the first year"

Zayer nodded and took the uniforms.

"Okay now I'll give you some information on the courses here. Here in our academy we accept mages and warriors. For warriors the requirements are at least three low level affinities and for mages there is a strict requirement of at least one medium level affinity. The advantages of being a mage here is that you can train in both the ways but for warriors we do not give this opportunity. But the warriors can train in the fusion arts. By the way don't underestimate the warriors that we produce. That are the best in the whole of Gaspra Realm. So what affinities do you have? I haven't heard about it from the principal"

"Vice principal, I have exceptional affinity to Lightning, high level affinity to Wind and a low level affinity to darkness"

"Excellent. You look like a good prospect. You also have low level affinity to darkness. That's good. I'm guessing you know that affinity to light or dark elements are rare but here we have around 1500 students who have affinity to darkness"

"1500 students?"

"Yes. As you know students come here from all over the Gaspra Realm so definitely we'll have that amount of students"

"Oh"

"Now let me tell you some important things. You will never fight with commoners or anyone else who is not from the four empires"

"What?"

"Zayer, here we have strict rules and you must follow them. We won't turn a blind eye even if it's you. The Star Fire Academy belongs to the Star Island. Here, the island is governed by the Merchant Guild. For the four empires to sustain their economy, they need the help of Merchant Guild. So, none of the empires dare make a move against them. So, by the rule set by the Merchant Guild, no commoner is to be hurt by a noble and the same rule applies to anyone from the Western Domain. Hence, if you fight anyone from the four empires, we don't mind. Also, if anyone kills someone or cripples someone, they will be immediately be kicked out of the academy and will be sent to trail here in the Star Island"

"I'll keep that in mind Vice Principal"

"You don't have to worry. A commoner's basic instinct is to stay away from a noble. So, unless you take the initiative there won't be any problems"

"Nothing to worry Vice Principal, I'll be very disciplined during my stay here"

"All the information regarding your courses and schedule will be given to you during the Entrance Ceremony"

"Okay Vice Principal"

"Good. I'll be hoping to hear good news about your improvement. A lot of people have great expectations from you so don't let them down"

"Yes, Vice principal"

"Okay, now take this key. It's the key to your room. You can roam around the campus in these five days if you want. There's a library here, you can also read. You can eat food in the Dinner Hall. Lastly, don't get lost because the campus is really big"

"Yes, Vice principal"

"Good. Now off you go" said Caesar as he snapped his fingers.

"Huh?" Zayer was surprised.

Zayer disappeared like a flash from the room.

*Swoosh*

"Huh?" Zayer was standing in front of a room.

'Room 578'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note:

Hey guys!

I'm thinking of writing something new together with this.

I have named it "Shameless Immortal"

It's still in the works. Looking forward to it.

Once again, Thank You for reading! Hope you liked this chapter.