Aric was shortly after kicked from Leonard's office after he drowned him in question.
It can't be helped since that was the first time Aric witnessed a battle of that realm, with him not being the pray, of course
He was fascinated by Leonard's moves, he was like a phoenix soaring to the monster with a single step.
It was such a breathtaking show, it brought Aric's very soul on fire, he was ready to train like a monster if it meant that he could become that strong.
After being kicked out of the clinic, Aric made his way to the white pavilion, ready to pick an art and embark on his journey of mystic.
He followed Leonard's instructions, he passed the monsters arena not too far of the clinic and was fascinated by it's grandeur and the terrifying aura it casted off.
He then followed the road as he was told, and after three turns, and completely different statements from multiple students, he realized, without a question , that he was lost !
". For the love of lady Alina, was this places built by a puzzle maker or what ?" Aric sighed then went through the same horrendous process that he have been through two times now.
After rounds and rounds of asking around and deciphering the gibberish of instructions he was given by the different students, he finally made it to the white pavilion.
It was a fascinating sight to behold, the building was made completely by some crystal-like material, it looked like it was build from clear white glass but it was much sturdier than to be as such.
He made his way through the huge mahogany doors and found an old man attending the front desk, he went forward and show them the white token he was given and explained why he was there.
This time however he wasn't given the usual smile of the white robes or the indifference of the blue robes, rather disdain was quite obvious in the old man's voice as he instructed him where to go.
Aric didn't mind it anyway,he knew very well that he had met someone that knew better, since he wasn't the most loved and appreciated person in this Empire, especially from the supporters of his brothers political war.
He then made his way through the Pavilion till he found a room made from fine Red jade as he was told.
He entered in and found an old man attending a small desk in the middle of an empty room, he was reading a parchment paper that appeared especially old, yellow from the deterioration of time , he was so attentive to it he didn't even realize it when Eric made his way into the room.
" Ahh...Sorry sir" Eric spoke those words as he made his way to where the old man was sitting.
" What do you need? " The old man didn't even care to lift his head and gaze at Aric ,he spoke with indifference as if it didn't matter at all whatever business this boy had.
" Well, I am here to pick mystic art " Aric said these words and he didn't care for how rude the old man was with him, for all he cared ,this guy's character could be considered polite compared to what he had witnessed at times through his life.
" Oh ! " The old man finally seemed intrigued, when he gazed at Eric's face he exclaimed" look who it is, !"
The recruitment trails are yet to end, and the only possibility for someone requesting to pick an art rather than to exchange it, would be this boy right here.
" Well, where's your token? "
Aric handed the old man his token, and followed him through a door to a neighboring room, they. Entered a small study, and the old man placed Aric's token over a granite pedestal engraved on it hundreds of runes , then told Aric " this room holds description to all Arts accessible to white robes, each of the bookshelves represent an element, when you're ready to pick come and meet me "
" There won't be a need for that, I already have something in mind" Aric responded to the Oldman, and told him " I'm picking the crimson dawn flame art "
The old man heard Aric's response and he smiled " a wise choice"
Aric didn't know wether the wise stood for picking a flame art rather than light, or rather for picking petontial over fast gain, but he didn't care anyways, he watched as the old man left through another door and returned with a small booklet with an untitled blue cover .
The old man went past the granite pedestal, he placed the art over it and then signaled for Aric to come closer .
After Aric stepped forward, the old man handed him a small silver ritual knife and told him, " to take this copy of the art out with you, you'll need to first take the oath of commitment and dedication, you have no right to pass the art given to you or take the art passed to another without the approval of the academy's high class executives, if this oath is ever broken or defied, the oath will act, and you'll lose your life, do you understand ? "
" Yes " Aric was ready for this oath all along, the legacies and arts the school held represented it's power and prestige, if these arts were to ever be distributed to the public, then the school would lose the main piller of its power, and that's what these oaths were for.
" Alright then, use the knife to extract see of your blood, and repeat after me "
Aric slached at his palm, and with a squeeze of his hand, blood tricked down on the ritual padestal he then repeated after the old man the oath of the ritual.
It was a simple oath, the words stated that he shan't under any circumstances divulge the arts of the academy or spy on the arts of others.
The statement of the words was simple but intricate, it didn't leave any room for loopholes or vague indications.
These oaths were meant to be understood by the soul, they way they were structured and said didn't matter much, all that matters is that they state themselves explicitly and coherently to the one taking the oath, so that he understands the rules of the oath .
When Aric finished stating the oath, the old man placed his hand on the granite pedestal, and the engravings began to release this dark hue and aura, it was the man's elemental force activating the arcane mechanisms, since oaths were at the end of the day a dark elemental characteristic.
Aric's drop of blood started absorbing the strings of dark aura and condensed slowly in the air into a symbol the size of a grain of rice.
It revolved in a circle, round after round before it suddenly shot at Aric and penetrated his forehead, in the point between his eyebrows completely unperturbed.
It was his blood after all, and his spirit didn't have any resistance to it.
The Oldman gazed at Aric and smiled softly, convincing Aric that everything was going as it's supposed to.
Aric closed his eyes and looked within himself, he felt as the seal traversed deeper into his head and was about to slam into his soul to engrave itself within it.
Aric brazed himself, and when the seal was less than an inch from his spirit he stiffened and awaited the engraving pain that would accompany an oath, spirits were fragile entities and an oath was a mass of dark energy that bind it to its core, so it was obvious that hurts.
Aric let got of his senses and awaited the pain, he breathed in and held his breath, and waited ,then waited, but the pain never came.
Aric was baffled, he gazed within himself, and saw a scene that left him breathless.
The blood seal forged by the Oldman, the one that was supposed to bind the oath to his spirit, was now bound by this formless energy that was slowly dragging it down.
Aric was dumbfounded, he followed the seal as it struggled while being pulled slowly towards his heart.
He was surprised to find out that the force that captures the blood seal was the chaos crystal,and even more surprised with what happened to the seal when it reached It.
When the seal made it to his heart, a small drop of chaos essence slowly left the crystal, and then shopped at the fingernail sized seal.
Compared to the seal, that twig of essence appeared unnoticeable, but when it chopped at , it tore it to pieces in a single hit.
The twig kept on cutting the seal and slowly, the access and diluted essence started to burn , and in a couple of breaths, all that was left was a mass of dark essence, slowly revolving around his heart in an orbit with the chaos crystal as it's center.
Aric was so dumbfounded he was left speechless he opened his eyes and saw the old man looking at him with a bright smile as he said " you took that surprisingly well, it seems you have quite the spirit kid !"
Aric didn't know how to answer that, what spirit? He just cheated the oath that's it.