I watched everyone huffing and puffing from the morning exercises, including me. Sweat dripped all over me as I ran. I just needed one more lap. I remember collapsing the first few weeks of starting to train. It was not easy at all. I was about to turn seven if you were wondering. The promised day was coming soon. Time goes by fast as you exercise and meditate every day. It seriously sucks to do everything from the start all over again. I heard wheezing from my right. It was from Eron, the second prince of Bisea.
If Eron is here that means…
I looked back to see Cleo trying to catch up to us. He looked like he was about to pass out or something. I accidentally chuckled which earned me a glare from him. Cleo caught up to me but tripped on his feet.
"Hey, Alex. Wanna do a little race for fun?" He was definitely cooking up something. Eron was like the prankster of the family and loved betting things. He was also a schemer.
"What do you want?"
"If I win our little race, you have to help to get Elise's favor. If you win, I will grant whatever wish you want except something that breaks the law." He knew I was dying to explore the city. I felt like I was being caged in by the walls of the palace.
"Deal, but why Elise?" She was my personal maid's daughter who was around my age. I turned to look at him to see him look away.
"W-w-why do y-you care?" So something was up. "When I say 'go', we start, okay?" I nodded my head at him. "Go!"
I didn't even get ready when he said go. I ran after him, hoping to catch up to him, but the weights on my ankles were slowing me down. I had prepared these ankle weights by using sand and cloth, just like in past. I knew I shouldn't have worn them today. I eventually caught up to him. As we ran against each other, I didn't notice we were going past soldiers one by one. Straight ahead, I could see the white line that we started on. Eron started to sprint faster, so I naturally gained speed to catch up to him. I wasn't going to give up my chance to finally get out of the castle. I put a little bit more strength in my legs so I could run just a little bit faster. I turned to look at him to see if he was behind, but he was neck-on-neck with me.
I didn't even notice we reached the finish line until our instructor yelled out my name. He then called out Eron's name. I collapsed to the ground, trying to catch my breath. I don't know why, but Eron started to laugh. I guess he was having fun. I laughed along with him.
"So since I won the bet, you have to fulfill any wish, right?"
"Yup." He popped his 'p' while answering back. I could tell he was smiling while he answered. "So what do you want?"
"It's actually pretty easy. You only have to take me out into the town."
"Did you actually say that was easy? Do you even know how heavily guarded that entrance gate is, right?" Eron stood up and sat next to my collapsed body. "Besides, I remember father saying not to go out of this castle to you."
"So, the most intelligent and powerful second prince of Bisea can't help a poor and humble friend out that had been helping you sharpen your-"
"I get it. I can't even believe you're like this to royalty, even the crown prince. I will help you, but it's your fault if something happens, got it?" I held my three fingers up.
"I swear to the second prince that I will not blame him if I get captured." I started laughing as he shook his head slowly with a small smile. I'm pretty sure he liked it when I was being playfully sarcastic. Now that I think about it. I have been really friendly with the royalties, even though they didn't actually like me in the beginning. Eron gave out a sigh.
"I'll help you out in the evening when your magic class is over."
"Yes, sir!" I saluted him and stomped my right foot.
"Now, you are just mocking me." I gave him a smile. I saw Serena walk over with a basket. Serena wasn't like she was about three years ago. I guess the talk with her three years ago helped her out. She started smiling and laughing as a usual six-years-old would. It wasn't just happiness she showed. She showed a variety of emotions like sadness, jealousy, angriness, and all type of emotions one could think of, but she was mostly smiling. Even though it first started out with only me, she opened with everyone after. King Howard was so happy when he saw Serena's smile that he gave her a room, which was full of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and many other types of expensive crystals and stones.
Now that I think about it? All the princes and Serena are half-elves, but there was nothing about them shows that they are half-elves. I guess Serena's hair would be a clue, but she said even the elves think she was a monster. I looked back at Serena.
Serena gave a small smile towards Eron and me. Just as she did, she stumbled over a small rock and fell down along with the basket. The cookies fell out of the basket and fell to the ground. I went over and helped Serena up. Her eyes went straight to the cookies. I saw her eyes start to tear up.
"The cookies are dirty, now."
I saw someone move from the corner of my eye. It was Cleo. I watched as he went to the pile of cookies that were on the ground. He picked up one of the cookies and popped it into his mouth. I heard Serena gasp. Eron also walked over and popped a cookie into his mouth that was on the ground.
"It's delicious, Seri!" Cleo looked so enthusiastic as he picked up another cookie and ate it. I walked over and ate one myself. It wasn't half-bad. I've tasted better, but I shouldn't probably mention that right now.
"It is delicious." Serena's face lit up as I commented on her. Her cheeks were a little bit pink.
"Aww, Serena has a crush on Alex." Her face got even redder. She chased Cleo until they went far away to the point I can't see them anymore. I thought they might stop, but they kept ongoing. Afterward, Eron and I walked back to the building where the magic class was being taken. The instructor was making the soldiers and prince Adrien, who was the eldest prince, meditate. Prince Adrien had awakened after two months I joined training here. He had just turned nine then.
"Hurry up and join the class, young master." I didn't even get to cultivate even for five minutes before the instructor moved to the next class, elemental control. There are two big types of magic that lead to the other four elements, which are light and dark. It was rare for humans to get an affinity for one of the elements. It was usually elves and dwarves that were born to be able to yield them. Even though the instructor has been teaching me wind magic, I have been watching him teach other elements too. I try my best to learn all four types of magic that humans can do, which are fire, wind, water, and earth.
My training time has always been during night time like it always has been. I even realized I had an affinity for all of them. Most humans can only control one element their whole life, but there were dual-elementalists who were rare in almost every race. I have been keeping this to myself for now. The instructor started clapping his hands to get our attention.
"We are going to see how far you've come too. We are going to do duels. You can pick anyone you want from this class. Remember this is just a friendly duel, so it shouldn't be taken too seriously." I watched others picking out who they wanted to duel with. Eron came up to me. He would have a greater advantage than me since his element is fire.
"Want to be my partner?" He had a sly smile when he asked.
"You know, you can overpower me easily."
"Alex, the age difference between us is so little."
"Alright!" I gave up with a sigh.
"Great!" Adrien went to the instructor and talked a bit before coming back. "We are going first."
Great! Why can this day be over already?