Author's note:

Chapter 28 is up. Apologies for the slow releases, I was very busy with other work lately. Anyways, enjoy the chapter.

Penguin

Ps: If you see no spacing, wait a few minutes please. I fix them a few minutes after posting chapter. My chapters lose the spacing when pasted from MS Word. Anyone knows a work around for this? It's very annoying!

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Chapter 28 – The Awakening

One of the first things us humans understand shortly after we are born, is that we are on a journey; a journey that we call life. To some extent, the course of this journey is predestined by the strength of our physical body, our intellect, and the social status that our primary family holds. It will be an easy road for the lucky few, whilst it might feel like a bumpy road for the less fortunate.

But in the end, what is it that drives the life of us human beings? What is it that inspires humans to resist and fight the various struggles that this very life throws at us?

Some people would suggest it is the will to survive and our instinctive desire for power. Wiser individuals would definitely vow it is love and relationships, whilst older experts would say it is obtaining immortality. But in reality, there is only one thing that motivates us humans to challenge, to face all currents blowing against us, to seek, strive and succeed. And that`s being able to dream.

Who doesn’t dream of a better life? We dream of achieving our goals. We dream of becoming successful and popular despite the limitations of our physical bodies. We dream that one day we find the people that take care of us; our friends, our loved ones and all those who emotionally support us. And the few of us who have lost all hope of this life, we dream of a better next life.

Spirited young fighters; filled with bundles of energy, their minds flourishing with dreams. But if there is a dream that these young fighters yearn for, it would be none other than attending one of the great academies. Located in every habitable galactic sector, the six great academies of the human empire are the unquestionable pride of the galaxy. Testimony of this, any fighters that left their mark on the course of human history, always hailed from one of these six academies.

The Royal Academy is the great academy of the Eastern Galactic Sector. It is directly governed by the Rector, Professor Philip Socret; although he still has to report to the Eastern Sectorial Patriarch. The academy stands isolated from the other cities, no different than an independent town. It is divided into four different areas: Emerald Park, The Dormitory, The Commercial Area and the Main Academic Area.

A large long tubular tower protruded out from the centre of the Main Academic Area, surrounded by six adjacent buildings, one for each faculty. Inside the tower, circulating around the internal offices of the tower, there was a lengthy six metre wide passageway, precisely in a form of a slope spiralling upwards. Several weapons could be seen attached on both sides of the brown painted walls, separated by large gilt-edged portraits, which depicted the previous Rectors of the University. On the floor, there was a carpet, and drawn on it there were the pictures of mythological beasts and mighty dragons.

“This is terrible!” A panicked man whined in despair, whilst he ran up the passageway. He was a dwarf, who was dressed in a red academic attire. He had curly grey hair and was rather muscular for his size. He was struggling to run as fast as he could, but was held back by his size, long dress and massive bulk of books and papers held under his right arm. At one point, he lost balance and fell flat on his face, as the countless amount of papers and books spread out on the floor.

“The Legends! The Legends were true after all!!” He stuttered as he tried to pick up back the documents. It was a simple task, yet his frenzied state made it much harder for him. His hands shivered along the papers he held, amidst his mental confusion.

“This is awful! The Rector… I need to find him! I need to inform him!!!”

It was at that moment that another man appeared flying down the passageway. He stopped before the dwarf. “Arkos!! Have you felt the tremor?!”

Arkos eyes shone in hope and replied, “Thank Goodness, it’s you Professor Socret!!” He then changed his tone, like he was about to announce the end of the universe. “Of course I did! It came from the underground pit! After 3 million years, the accurst temple of the Eternal Wraiths is showing signs of activity!!!!”

The Rector’s face showed hints of uneasiness. “As I feared the most…” He remained static, pondering, whilst Arkos stared at him in suspense. “Distressing indeed, but there is no cause for any alarm. The temple is sealed behind a very powerful dimensional technique. What is worrying me is that according to the records we have, every time the temple showed signs of activity, it was always followed by a series of horrifying events!”

Arkos nodded. “Should we inform the Sectorial Patriarch?”

“Better not Arkos, that would just unnecessary complicate…”

The Rector stopped midway, interrupted by an incoming communication. He checked his communication devices, and much to his surprise, he noticed that it was a call from the Sectorial Patriarch. He quickly made a hand gesture for Arkos to keep quiet, then answered with a self-depreciation tone. “Lord Patriarch, Philip Socret awaiting for your command.”

“Philip, may I ask you a question?” A calm voice from the device asked.

The anxious Philip replied, “Modest Patriarch, there is no need to lower yourself by asking for my permission, just tell me, how may I assist you?”

“Are you aware that I am very busy person?”

“Of course I am Lord Patriarch.”

“And, are you also aware that I rarely have free time to spare?”

“Of course I am Lord Patriarch.”

“Please tell me, do you know what I like to do during my free time?”

Philip felt confused. “I don’t know my Lord.”

“I enjoy doing bets against the other Sectorial Patriarchs! And today, I so happened to make a bet of two million Piras against the Northern Sectorial Patriarch! And it was a simple one! All I had to do was building a twenty storey tower of cards in one try!!”

Philip felt even more confused. “That’s a fascinating idea my Lord.”

“Now try to guess Philip. How you think I felt when my tower collapsed on the 19th storey?!”

“That’s very upsetting my Lord. I can imagine that it takes a lot of patience and dedication to construct such a tower. I wonder what kind of evil thing brought down your tower, was it the wind Lord?”

What replied back, was a raging voice, similar to fifty demons screaming all at once. “It was a fucking earthquake!! One that originated from your academy!!! What the fuck is happening in there?!!!”

Philip opened his eyes wide in terror, completely stunned, then stuttered, “Lord… I…”

“Stop it! Just answer this question Philip, even though I fear that I already know the answer. The earthquake… was it triggered by the underground temple?”

“Yes Lord Patriarch.”

“I see…” A pensive Pietro replied back.

Philip waited for a few seconds, then asked, “What are your orders Lord Patriarch?”

After a long pause, Pietro enunciated, “After three million years, something or someone must have aroused the attention of the guardian spirit of the temple. I am now too interested to know who this someone or something is... Bide to my orders, I want you to investigate this issue!”

“Yes Lord Patriarch!” Philip replied.

“Make sure you keep me informed!” Pietro said before terminating his connection.

Philip then removed the sweat from his forehead and heaved a sigh of relief. “Arkos, take action to conceal the entrance to the underground pit. Meanwhile I’ll go meet with the Dean of History, I need to obtain more information about this matter!”

Arkos and Philip nodded to each other, then parted ways.

Back at the Registration Centre, the humiliated registrar was doing his best to avoid eye contact with the people present under the tent. He brought out a piece of wood, which he inserted into the machine. Then with a soft voice uttered, “Name?”

“Kane Barker,” Kane replied with a grin.

The registrar frowned, then pressed some keystrokes that were on the machine. The machine started humming, followed by striking sounds. The crystals of the machine glowed during the entire process. Then, when it was ready, the registrar took out an object from the machine. “Here, take this, it’s your collar. Bind it with your blood and don’t lose it,” murmured the registrar.

Kane took hold of the collar, his scrutinising eyes inspecting it. It had a very small green crystal engraved in the middle of it, and after stressing his eyes with effort, he could read the following faint glowing words: ‘Kane Barker, Royal Academy Identification Tag.’ He felt satisfied by the appearance of the collar, then he bonded its crystal with his blood.

The registrar then stretched his hand towards Kane, holding a small cup. “Give me some droplets of your blood, we need to verify your real identity with the Blood Registry.”

Kane felt disquieted by the possible future implications of giving his blood away, but he had no other choice.

Once he obtained Kane’s blood, the registrar turned to his right, and yelled in mortification. “Pippo! Please guide this fellow student.”

Kane conveyed one final sardonic smile in the direction of the registrar, then turned to his left and moved forward victoriously towards Pippo, amidst the puzzlement of everyone present.

The eyes of the registrar twitched, then whispered, “Enjoy all you want this victory of yours, you little bastard! Because very soon, you are going to be meeting with the devil himself!!!!”

Kane followed after Pippo, until they arrived before a teleportation portal, which they entered. They emerged from another portal, on the other side of the Emerald Park. Here the ground was barren, with several large boulders and numerical wooden stands scattered around.

“Your number is 72. Go find your stand, and wait for your invigilator. It shouldn’t take long for your group to gather.” Pippo said, preparing to leave back to the registration centre.

Kane nodded thankfully, then started searching for the No.72 wooden stand. However, it turned out to be a much tougher task. “The hell! Couldn’t they have made them next to each other?! Why complicate things?!”

After thirty minutes of running around in circles, he noticed a far off stand with the number 72 on it, next to a large boulder. “Finally!” He said, sprinting towards the stand.

He then sat down not that far off from the stand, in what was a perfect opportunity for him to take a respite. He laid on the ground, observing the sky, whilst wondering how his Master and the Zafisi clan were doing. He tried to stay awake, but his mind was too jaded, and he ended up sleeping.

…

…

Kane suddenly opened his eyes in surprise, awakened by the sound of approaching footsteps. He appeared annoyed for allowing himself to fall asleep. He pulled himself up in a sitting position, as he turned his head to get a better view of the person approaching him.

This person was a young male student, around Kane’s age. He had disorganised brown hair, almost touching his shoulders. His attentive eyes were yellowish-brown, and he was rather baby-faced. He was wearing simple shirt and shorts, and around his right arm he had an armband with a picture of an eagle.

Without any hurry, he walked with both hands in the pockets of his shorts, until arriving before Kane. Then he asked, “Hey man! My name is Jefferson! Is this stand no.72?”

Kane nodded to him in agreement.

“Hmm…” Jefferson observed his surroundings. “I see no signs of the invigilator yet! I hope he doesn’t arrive late, as I hate waiting!”

He rested his back against a nearby vertical bolder, taking out his green storage device, then started searching within it. Shortly after, Jefferson’s eyes glowed with excitement. “Wuhuuu, this one seems so long and big…”

When Kane heard this, he stared at Jefferson, seemingly trying to guess the item Jefferson was going to bring out.

It was then that Jefferson brought out a large shiny carrot. His expression was one of adoration, like he was holding a precious treasure. He then took a bite and moaned in pleasure. “Hmmm… so freaking good…”

Kane raised his eyebrows and looked at Jefferson, slightly dumbfounded. When Jefferson noticed this, he extended his hand and offered. “Want a bite?”

Kane was surprised at first, but then he smiled and replied, “No thanks, carrots aren’t my thing...”

Jefferson retracted his hand and said, “Your loss! You don’t know what you’re missing man!” He then took another bite, as he kept enjoying crunching the carrot.

“Hello! Nice meeting you, I’m Kiona Winters.” An adorable soft voice took both Jefferson and Kane by surprise.

A young blue haired female student appeared before them. She smiled whilst closing her charming blue eyes, then she sat down a few metres away for them. She was wearing a blue uniform, which suited well with her delicate body. She was a little flat-chested, but had voluptuous legs.

“Hi there Kiona, I am Jefferson. And this one is… hey! You haven’t told me your name!!” Jefferson shouted towards Kane.

“My name is Kane,” Kane said.

“Ok! His name is Kane!” Jefferson replied back to Fiona.

Kane frowned comically, “Was there really the need to repeat it again?”

Jefferson ignored him, his face now full of irritation. “Stupid invigilator, he’s so late! Considering my luck, I bet he will be some random old freak!”

PLAK~~ PLAK~~~

The sound of landing footsteps was heard, followed by the voice of a man, “Brat, did your parents ever teach you that you should always respect your superiors?”

Jefferson pressed his lips together in embarrassment, because he knew he had fucked up.

Meanwhile, around 200 km north of the Royal Academy, stood the great city of Gloria, the Capital City of Moon Gazayo II. In the middle of the city, there was a colossal gold and white coloured palace, which was the residence of the Sectorial Patriarch.

In one of the rooms, there was a man reading a book. He sat on a chair, legs cross-legged on a table.

The door of the room burst out, as another man entered the room and asked, “Hey Germo! How is Pietro’s mood today?!”

Germo lowered his head, and looked towards the other man from above his glasses. “He's pissed off because he lost a bet of 2 million Piras.”

“Great! Just great! Can it become any worse than this?!!”

“What happened then?” Germo asked.

“I have to deliver two messages to him. Once he hears them, I am sure his going to explode in fury!” He then barged out of the room and yelled, “Wish me luck, because I am going to need it!”

Germo paused to think for a while, then shrugged his shoulders and continued reading his book.