The Royal Academy was just as grand as it was described in the novel. If not for the specks of dry blood lining some of the walls and ground, it would have been the ideal Academy. The Royal Academy stood in the center of a large plot of land. It was surrounded by a vast forest that stretched to the outskirts of the Kingdom. The only entry and exit was a dirt road that was only accessible by going through the commoners district. In all honesty the placement of the Academy was one of pure genius, but also pure idiocy.
The forest surrounding the Royal Academy was used as hunting grounds for not only the students, but the nobles as well. It was the perfect place to demonstrate one's abilities and determine their worth. Oftentimes competitions would be held for students to demonstrate their strength to those of higher standing. Killing one or two beasts was no small feat, and the students who had the chance to catch and kill a demonic beast were often awarded a title on the spot.
Yet the forest also had an obvious flaw. It brushed the borders of the Gelani Empire. The King of Soline didn't think too much about this small problem. His pride consumed him and he assumed that the Gelani Empire wouldn't think twice about invading their lands again, but the King would soon find out he was wrong.
There was a passage in the novel that stated,
[The Gelani Empire took the opportunity of the numerous hunting tournaments to infiltrate the Royal Academy's grounds. With so many servants walking around, it was easy for their ranks to take out the unexpected servants and take their spot.]
This was the main reason why the Gelani Empire was able to infiltrate the Soline Kingdom so easily. An outcome that could have been avoided if the nobles weren't so full of themselves to notice when one or two of their servants' faces had changed.
"Get out!" The footman grumbled as he banged on the carriage window. A split second later a crack appeared, ruining the window.
He scowled at the offending crack. It was as if the world was mocking his situation. 'Deep breaths, deep breaths.' He thought to himself. After a moment of silence he composed himself and stepped out of the carriage and into the hell that awaited him.
Immediately he found that all eyes were on him. The students who were roaming around huddled together, whispering amongst each other. He assumed they were just isolating him. It was a petty form of bullying and one that he could easily ignore, but the cruel and twisted smiles on their faces said otherwise. Without warning he found himself faltering in his steps as a strong urge to vomit overcame him. It took everything in his body to not cover his mouth.
'Is this the previous owner warning me?' he wondered. He placed a hand over his heart, feeling how it was speeding up just enough to cause him to slightly panic. He tried to ease his racing heart by taking deep and calming breaths, but that did little to appease the sudden onslaught of fear and panic that invaded every nerve in his body.
'Stop.' He thought to himself, 'Everything will be fine. I will be fine.' He was not convincing himself, but rather this body. He had a feeling that the previous owner's emotions and memories still lingered and that was something he couldn't afford. Especially at the Royal Academy.
As soon as the intense stares came, they also disappeared. The students around him went about their daily lives as if he didn't exist. He blinked, 'Strange. I thought for sure they would do something.' He shrugged and ignored his still racing heart. He took a couple steps forward and immediately stopped. Something was wrong.
He gripped his poorly made bag and made his way to the entrance of the Royal Academy. His walk was slow and leisurely at first, but soon it turned into an all out run. His eyes were glued to the door. Someone was looking at him and with how his body was currently, he didn't want to find out what they wanted. In retrospect, he really shouldn't have been surprised when he didn't make it.
A gust of wind cut his cheek like a knife that was cutting butter. He only had a second to register the pain as the wind curled around his body and threw him to the ground. Without thinking he tried to catch himself by placing his arms behind him. Realizing his mistake too late he bit back a scream as one of his fingers bent in an unnatural direction. He stifled his gasps of pain and tried to carefully examine the injury.
'Is it broken? Crap, it's definitely broken.' He pursed his lips. Surprisingly the first thing that came to mind was that the maid wasn't going to be happy.
"What's this? I didn't think you would actually survive to see the sun rise." A high pitched voice mocked. A man, no more like a child, with short dark red hair and brown eyes stared down at him. He was smirking with his right hand raised in front of him. A small tornado swirled in his hand.
He knew better than to speak. From the looks of it, this boy was probably the one that had caused the injuries on his body. And by his words, it seemed like he had wanted the previous owner to die.
'Did this brat actually succeed in killing the previous owner of this body?' He lowered his gaze. 'If he did then that explains why this body wasn't mentioned in the novel.'
With his head still downcast, he peaked through his hair to observe the people before him. The boy with red hair was obviously the leader of the small group. Two girls and two boys, all dull in appearance, stood by the red head's side with the same mocking smile on their faces. By their appearance alone he could tell that these fools were not important enough to be mentioned in the novel.
"You know, you never learn, do you?" The boy spoke softly this time, he crouched down and leaned in close causing him to unconsciously flinch.
'Don't get close to me!' He internally screamed, but he knew better than to react. One wrong move and he was as good as dead.
The smirk on the other's face was long gone and a deadly gleam sparkled in his eyes. The tornado in his hand was right next to his face now, swirling faster as the seconds passed. "You should have died when you were supposed to Aether."
'Aether? Was that my name?' He didn't have long to think about it as the red haired boy threw the tornado in his hand straight at him.
His eyes widened and he quickly closed them, mentally preparing for the worse. He could feel the tornado hit him in the face, but the next thing he knew it was growing in size and surrounding his entire being. The ground underneath him had small rocks littered about, he could feel them shift next to him and the next thing he knew they were being thrown around like projectiles. Knowing what was about to happen, he held his bag over his head. It did little to help him overall, but at least his head would come out unscathed.
Waiting for this torment to end, he felt something cold drip down his cheek. Thinking it was blood he ignored it, but as the cold feeling grew and grew he realized that it was tears. It was strange. He didn't feel like crying, but the despair and hate growing within him was too much for his body to bear, so he cried.
He fell to the floor and covered his head with his arms and his bag. Silently he sobbed. He stayed that way until the wind died down and a hand harshly grabbed onto his hair. Pulling him up he came face to face with the red haired brat.
The boy opened his mouth, but clicked his tongue when a loud bell went off. He roughly threw Aether to the ground and walked away. Making sure to step on his broken finger in the process.
This time Aether let out the shriek of pain. He pulled his shaking hands to his chest and tried to hold his broken finger. His tears hadn't stopped falling and he found himself not caring in the slightest. Instead his mind was stopped in an endless cycle of whys.
Why did he transmigrate into this novel? Why did he have to transmigrate into this body? Why were they treating him like this? Wasn't he the son of a high ranking family? Shouldn't they be scared of him? Bowing down to him like their lives depended on it?
"You better hurry Aether!" one of the dull girls chidded, "You don't want to be late to class again, do you?" Her voice was dripping with fake concern and the other girls around her started to giggle and join in with the taunts of fake worry.
"Hurry Aether!"
"The door is closing soon."
"Don't want to miss class, our Professor is very unforgiving after all."
"Ah! The door is closing, we tried to tell you Aether!"
"Hope you can make it in time!" They waved one after another, disappearing behind the door with a loud thunk. And all at once, Aether was left alone with only his thoughts to accompany him.
At this point, a normal person would have wished for some miracle to happen. To discover a golden finger that only their character possessed. Or find an object that would help them gain a miraculous power that would change their position, but he knew better than that. He was in the Flower of Soline. A world where only the strong survive and the weak perish at the hands of others. If he wanted to change his fate, then he would have to change it himself.
His eyes darkened as he looked at the closed door. When he saw that group of brats a strange scene appeared in his head. Their mocking faces were like many snakes slithering around his body, holding him down as the boy with red hair pried open his mouth and poured a bottle of strange liquid down his throat as he screamed and kicked.
'It seems the previous owner really was poisoned.'
At that moment, he realized that not only was he going to change his life in this miserable world, but he would also get revenge for the poor soul that had died before him. He lifted his body off the ground and limped his way to the door. Placing a hand over his chest he made a silent promise to a soul long gone.
'Those bastards will pay for everything they did to you.'