The small house looked desolate as it was surrounded by the dense forest, Animals both small and big with weird looking structures could be sighted occasionally passing by it, but weirdly, none of these animals came close to the trimmed grass around the house's premises. There was a little fluctuation in front of the shaded kitchen and Mason suddenly appeared there holding Chase by his collar.
"Grrr..." Mason looked down at the source of the sound, Chase, and remembered that the kid looked abnormally skinny and should be hungry. "Brat sit down here and wait a little... I'm gonna find something for us to eat....In the mean time, try locating the direction the wind is coming from and give me the answer when I get back...I will be back within 2minutes."
Chase was confused at first then he obediently sat cross legged at the spot Mason had left him. His eyes were looking forward without any fluctuation of life in them. There was no need for him to close them to concentrate since he could not see anything either way. He remained silent and strained his ears to capture the sound of the wind. He suddenly remembered his past when he was around 8years. He was playing tag with his father while being blind folded and depended on his ears to locate his father's position.
Mason suddenly appeared in front of Chase who was still immersed in his memories. He was now holding a dead rabbit that looked quite plumb. He stayed silent for few seconds and then said, "Brat, do you have the answer?". Chase looked in the direction of the usual crooked voice and answered, "It's coming from the west and it will change direction to the north in about 2hours time."
Mason was surprised by the answer. He just wanted the direction of the wind but Chase gave him extra info too. He smiled but he did not compliment the kid. He went ahead to set up a fire close to Chase and soon, a refreshing aroma assorted the air around. He then cut off a part of the roasted rabbit and waved it towards Chase. Chase's hand followed the aroma as he tried to sniff out the direction. After few seconds, he grabbed the meat from Mason. He immediately bit a large chunk from the meat. After tasting it, he felt that if he could die now, it will be worth it. He then hurriedly wolfed down the rest and stretched his hands for more. Mason cut another chunk and handed it to Chase who then wolfed it down again. After the rabbit was no more, Chase rubbed his stomach in satisfaction with a smile on his face. Mason couldn't help but admire the kid's innocent smile.
"Brat, how the hell did you end up in my house by the way?" asked Mason as he looked at Chase who was still drunk by the lingering taste of the meat. Tears started pouring out of Chase's eyes after hearing the question. He then told Mason what happened to him.
Apparently he was the first son of the newly appointed patriarch of the Cloud family. The Cloud family was one of the 4 big families in the East state. There are 5 states in the kingdom of Alcaria; East state, North state, West state, South state and the Central state which is the biggest and residence of the ruling dynasty. The kingdom of Alcaria is one of the many kingdoms on the Tynorus Continent. The Tynorus continent is a continent where everything is decided by strength and cultivation level. The cultivation is ranked from rank 1 to the legendary rank 12 elementalist (well nobody knows if there is any other rank above rank 12), and each rank is divided into initial, middle and late stage. Chase was born with a high affinity for the fire element and he started his cultivation as early as 7 years. One can be a cultivator only if he/she has an affinity for an element which include; water, air, fire and earth. Normally when a child is 7years, the child is brought to contact with these elements and the element that responds to the the child will have a reaction. The affinity of a child towards an element depends on the intensity of the reaction of the element. Some people cause the reaction of more than one element and these people are rarer geniuses.
When a lump of fire was brought close to Chase, the fire exploded causing the surrounding to become scorching hot. This showed that his affinity with the fire element was at the genius level. From there, he showed tremendous progress in his cultivation with the fire element and reached rank 2 late stage when he was just 12. A normal rank 2 late stage cultivator is meant to be around 14 to 15 years. Chase got used to people fawning over him and his parents were always being greeted with people trying to seek engagement. We could say that he was living the life. But obviously, there has to be someone that will lead to his downfall.
Though his thinking capability far outclass his age group, he was still 12 by heart. He woke up on a morning only to find himself naked on top of his uncle's daughter Clara who was 14 years with the same cultivation level as him. She was a slim beauty with snow white skin and brown short hair that stopped on her neck. Her clothes were disheveled exposing some parts of her skin in areas that could make a man's nose bleed. Her face looked pale with tear drops gathered around her eyes. Her hands and legs were tied to the four ends of the king sized bed in a way that gave a man open access to the lips between her legs. It looked as if she was drugged and tied up waiting to be raped. Chase was laying on top of her with only his underwear on his body. He was surprised by the weird situation he was in and his pitch and innocent looking black eyes looked at his cousin curiously. He then looked around and saw that he was not in his room but in Clara's room. Before he could figure out his situation, the door was blasted open with the door pieces flying every where and his uncle, Richard who looked to be in his 50s and had no hair on his head, a short brown beard and a scar at the left side of his face came running into his room with an angry look on his face. Behind his angry looking uncle were the family's guards.
"You cold hearted bastard!...How dare you think of doing such a thing to my daughter, your cousin!...you deserve death!" Before Chase could think of anything, his uncle, Richard who was a rank 7 middle stage earth elementalist sent an earth palm from the ground flying towards Chase. The attack was to fast and sudden so Chase could only wait for his death. Just then, a fire ball came crashing on the earth palm before it could reach chase. Chase was blown away by the after shock from the bed and landed on the wall while spitting out blood. Surprisingly, Clara was ok but no one had the time to notice that.
"Richard, how could you go straight for the kill without even trying to analyze the situation. Don't I deserve some face?" The voice came from a middle aged man who looked quite handsome. He had Black hair and black pupils he was 6' feet in height and his body did not look too muscular or too slim. He had the demeanour of a leader all over him. When the man walked into the room, the guards and maids immediately greeted with respect, "Patriarch!"
Richard looked at Lim and said in anger, "What analysis are you talking about? isn't it obvious that Chase was trying to rape my Clara?" Lim frowned when he heard Richard's words and looked on the bed where Clara was still lying with her hands and legs tied and tears flowing down her eyes. He then looked at his son, Chase who was still on the ground with blood at the side of his mouth. He knew that accusing a 12years old child for rape was absurd but the problem here was that the 12year old child in question is a genius with the thinking ability of an adult. But Lim trusted Chase. He knew that his son could do no such thing and all this was a plot by someone. But at the same time, he trusted his senior brother too and wouldn't expect him to plot such a thing either.
Richard walked to the bed that Clara was tied on and loosened the ropes. He looked at his daughter with love and said to her, "Don't worry, I will definitely make sure that that bastard is punished." Clara cried loudly on her father's shoulders as she hugged him. Lim was in a dilemma and he turned to look at his son whose brain was still replaying the events that just occurred continuously.
Lim closed his eyes and suddenly said to one of the guards, "Call the family elders for a meeting." That guard immediately ran out of the room to fulfill his duty. Lim then looked at Chase again and told another guard, "keep him detained in his room."