The 21st century happens to be quite a scientific one where science is all that proves things true. On the flip side, the world simply does not see the evil, hear the evil or speak the evil that their 'science' cannot comprehend. Lathen is the name of a certain city in Europe which houses the Ancient Houses of Supreme Mages. The name itself is relatively new, only acknowledged and widespread in the last few centuries. The Ancient Houses of Supreme Mages was more widely known as the hidden families of the Magic World. Their power was unimaginable but it was their bloodline and strong magic inheritance which brought endless envy and praises. Their influence spread into the deepest and most wondrous of places in the world, and they famously lived on an unknown and unimaginably beautiful place in the world. It was only recently that the name Lathen was known.

In Lathen, the Houses had separate regions with the House of Kinoyoshi on the east, the House of Stellare on the west, the House of Illvyen on the north and the House of Xeon on the south. In the middle of it all is the House of Selvano. Each house has legends and bloodlines dating back to hundreds if not thousands of years.

What each house is famous for aside, I grew up under the pressure of being the sole successor of the Selvano bloodline. Today is, in fact, my sixteenth birthday and I do not look forward to leaving my room. At all.

"Sweetie, get down here now! You'll be late for your own celebration party!" the sweet voice of my mom tingled just outside of my mental barrier.

"I haven't even shown any signs of awakening a talent, why do I have to go deal with those old bastards right now?" I replied with my voice low, not in hopes of no one hearing but because I just wanted to do nothing today.

The mansion we call home is situated on top of Helvana Peak, the tallest peak of the Central Lathen mountain range. Although Lathen itself is rather small, most of the city's location was hidden via stealth magic formations or natural dimensional folds. Central Lathen, in particular, was actually reached via entering the central bell tower in Lathen. The hidden door led to the foot of the Central Lathen mountain range and our House of Selvano prepared the Awakening ritual a.k.a. my birthday feast in that area. The almost constant heavy snow of the peaks contrasted with the greeneries and beautiful forest of the mountain feet making the view spectacular and a sight to behold.

"Young man, you listen to your mother now. Don't make me break your puny locking charm and drag you out of that door," the stern voice of my father came like a sharp knife in my head. I groaned loudly and throw the blanket off myself.

"Fine! But I leave the city as soon as I blow the candles on the cake."

"They're fragments of immortal flames," my father's deadpan voice elicited my mom's giggling.

"Then I'll bring it with me," I grumbled and threw on the prepared clothes on myself.

I mumbled incantations of a cleaning spell and made sure I don't smell that bad before undoing the 'puny locking charm' that can ward off even a sneaking Shadow Elf. I tried to brush my black hair quickly while passing through the mirror room and wiping down my glasses. It was filthy and I didn't like being scolded by my mom for it.

After passing through the master bedroom and the heavily guarded portal room, I shifted my foot and swivelled to go through the wall on my left. It led to the stairway down and since the ceilings are made to fit even an average height Warrior Orc, there was plenty of steps to go. I took the time to tidy up myself and rub the sleepiness off my eyes. When I reached the obscure mist on the second floor, I jumped through it and entered the second floor. I twisted left and passed through the element magic room, potion room and father's study. I stopped in front of the tall mirror on my right. I inspected my self one last time from top to bottom to make sure I didn't miss anything important.

My hair was pitch black, a trait I got from my father but my eyes are a bright and clear purplish red from my mom. Although staying up late and playing my phone all the time made me wear black-framed glasses as a punishment from my parents. I suppose they were tired of healing my eyes every time it got blurry. My skin was almost translucent but it wasn't pale. It was fair in colour while the skin under my neck gills was a faint bluish colour, almost like strips of veins on my neck. I particularly liked how it looks cool and almost alien-like.

Of course, aliens were for kids. Even the elders said that extraterrestrials were way too primitive to make it to Earth and those advanced enough would not show themselves to primitives like us.

I wore the black shirt my mom prepared and the silver-white vest from my father. The sleeves were annoying so I proceed to roll it up to my elbows. Freeing the pale, soft fins on my arms felt truly nice. I was required to wear formal dress pants and I had slipped a pair of dress shoes on to go along with it. I figured that wearing my usual sneakers would make my father just about ready to murder me. Feeling something missing, I swiped my right hand from the left to the right and then plunged it inside the mirror. My reflection distorted into the view of my room and I summoned the silver pocket watch, my phone and my wallet. I stuffed my wallet and phone on my pant pockets and slipped the pocket watch into my vest's pocket. I clipped the chain on the other pocket. It was old school, yes, but the good type. The mirror distorted back to my own reflection as my hand slipped out from it and fell on my sides. In the last second, a dark red fabric with purple-silver patterns on its ends passed through the mirror and settled itself around his waist. With annoyance, I pulled it off and looked at the tiny blue eyes opening up innocently on the underside of it.

"Caleb, I told you I don't look good with a sash, or a cape. If you still can't change forms then be good and stay inside," I couldn't help the exasperation leaking into my voice.

Caleb can't speak human language but I sensed his forlorn feeling through our bond. I groaned and tried to resist.

Keyword: tried.

I ended up throwing Caleb on my waist where he happily wrapped around it. I mentally told him how I prefer him to look like and he tried his best to morph and move as I wished. The fabric shortened to just below my mid-thigh and longer on the back. It flared slightly and seemed to be like a mini cape for my hips. He settled under my warm vest and I glanced at the mirror. Caleb actually looked pretty good as an accessory but I was more worried for him. He's very young and I had found him injured from a Light-Drifter's attack. Light-Drifters are generally good to most creatures and only attacks Dark-type creatures. Caleb was abandoned by his parents or previous owner, likely as bait. I sighed and patted the soft fabric on my waist.

Walking a little bit to the end of the hall, I took a deep breath and jumped into the wall. Whoever thought the way to the first floor of the House of Selvano's mansion were stairs must have missed the point of it. Still, I cursed whichever ancestor decided a freaking free fall was a good alternative. I looked down to see Alecra, our hundred-thousand-year-old massive Dimensional Whale. I briefly waved at her before she vigorously swallowed me whole.

I cast a simple weightless charm on myself and I floated down to the grand staircase of the first floor's mezzanine. I cursed again at my ancestors who decided that using a Dimensional Whale to the first floor after the free fall was a good idea. Caleb signalled that he agreed with my notion this time. He ruffled himself and laid as prim and proper as a fabric can be on someone's waist. I walked down the stairs after dispelling the charm on myself to meet my parents. The staircase led to the first floor's main hall and I took a right to the dining hall. Many of the Selvano disciples stood up and bowed. I raised my hand to stop them before they scream "welcome, young master!" like those yakuza movies. My eyebrow was raised as I saw even the elders around the hall bowed their head in respect although they didn't stand in attention.

The great elder was my father's uncle and even he had smiled widely with a bowed head. I sighed and clapped my hand. The secret art of the Selvano bloodline is time manipulation and its most basic form is stopping time relative to oneself. One step from that is stopping time relative to others. Time seemed to halt right before the crisp sound resounded and continued after the peak of the sound's frequency. I had passed everyone in the dining hall and was entering the kitchen, leaving the words for the wind to hear.

"No need to test me again, I already passed father's trials last month."

I ignored the clatter of hidden weapons and cutlery in the dining hall with a shake of my head. I was met with a woman slithering around on the marble floor. She was taller than me where she 'stood' so she didn't see me as she hummed a melodious yet unknown tune. Her long and beautifully styled hair was almost platinum blonde with hints of red here and there. Her upper body wore a very fashionable summer dress inappropriate to the season while the lower half... were not legs. The scaly body was more snake-like than fish-like but had large fins flapping around and tossing ingredients into pots with precision. The tail ends were also made of fish-like fins except it's way too grand and big to do anything detailed with it. It mainly fanned the main flame while her nimble hands adjusted the heat runes for the stoves. The total length of the snake-like body from hips to tips was almost five times that of her human upper body's length.

"Mom, chefs exists to make food. Why are you cooking here?" I asked as I opened one of the closed pots.

"Oh sweetie!" the woman turned around and charged at me with full power. I cast another weightless charm on myself to jump up and stayed floating up, "I didn't see you there! Happy birthday! How was your day?"

Her smile was wide, beautiful and showed rows of sharp teeth. I was glad I evaded my mom's hug. Her eyes were bright purple with slit irises. Her fins flapped to throw in another ingredient as she used her tail to cover the main flame. I nodded to show I was fine before repeating, "why are you cooking? The feast shouldn't start until after the ritual while the family breakfast turned into a family gathering trial? Father won't be asking you to give me some poison or anything, right?"

My mom kept a secretive smile and winked, "my son has grown up so well and even wishes to leave my side, how can I bear to let those mediocre food be your last feast in Lathen?"

I shivered, and Caleb agreed that this woman is indeed scary in a really weird way.