Achlys walked through the noisy street while watching everyone with excitement 'this is how humans are always talking about something, chattering, gossiping, selling and buying. Somehow this kind of life seem to amuse her.
Her mother had trained her since her day one preparing her to assist in their palace. She was lost in thoughts before she heard the noise growing louder.
She went to check and it was a poster that brought out the noise. She read it to herself 'preparing for the future with our youth, an organized gathering created to strengthen the forces of our youths'.
Sounds interesting, the only remarkable thing about the kingdom of Nesha was that the kingdom believed in magic and even encouraged it.
They believed that the kingdom came into existence because of the Nesha goddess of night. She used the zither to create beautiful music that calmed souls and headed.
Some people thought that it was her music that brought life while others said it was her zither. Time passed and soon people began to covet her zither so that they could get the power of creation. It was said that a lot of forces fought with her for the zither.
She was afraid that it would end up in the wrong hands so she brought it to this land and and buried it here. It was in their history, 'ignorant people ' Achlys thought. The announcement though didn't seem like a bad idea to her so she could check it out.
At the palace hall a lot of people were gathered for the empowerment. The chief eunuch came in with a royal decree.
He stepped in front of the hall and began to read out, with his voice loud enough for all of them to hear.
"This empowerment of special abilities is granted to young citizens who want to improve themselves by his benevolent majesty.
The rules of this sect would be read out now" he paused and looked towards the southern gate where four men stood with a large board. Receiving his signal they entered the bustling hall and the youngsters naturally made way for them.
When they reached the stage, the men placed the board at a clear angle for everyone to see. On the board, a line was written in bold which read 'LUMINIS' then some other words were written under it which were the rules.
[Rule 1: The school is opened for public admission for a period of two weeks only. After two weeks an assessment will be done and those who do not meet the requirements for the school would be asked to drop out.]
[Rule 2: Before the assessment, no student is allowed to leave the Luminis house]
[Rule 3: Students should display good manners after gaining admission to the Luminis]
"Only this? Why does this seem a little risky" a young lady couldn't help but comment after seeing the rules. Her companion snickered
"Don't dwell too much on that, can't you see that the last rule already covered most of the message that needs to be conveyed. Exercising good manners can be on different levels"
After hearing this, the young lady eyes lit up and she repeatedly nodded in a profound manner.
Achlys witnessed this conversation and was amused. Subconsciously she looked in the direction of the young lady, what she saw made her stunned. She quickly turned her head away and tried to compose her expression.
'What is she doing here?' she thought while stealing another glance at the woman.
The young lady did not notice this as she kept chatting with her companion, occasionally having an enlightened look on her face.
After a while of murmurings and hushed conversations, some men who were dressed in armours came in. They looked like knights but anyone who had lived in Nesha would know that in this kingdom there were no such things as knights. These men who were fully armoured were the well-known palace guards. Infact judging from the dull yellow gauntlet they wore, one could easily tell that they were the lowest ranked palace guards.
Once this men came, in a hush suddenly fell on the crowd. It was expected as these palace guards had a very fearsome disposition. Who were these palace guards, even the weakest among them could easily crush a genius from any of the factions in Nesha.
Every single one of them had been trained since young and they had to face different difficulties before they were finally accepted. As the palace guards stood firmly around the hall the people remained quiet and some of them even broke out in cold sweat because of the tension. They were saved a minute later when another eunuch came in to address them. He stated that the palace guards would escort them to the Luminis house.
The youngsters were dumbfounded, what did they just hear ....e-es-scort?...
What great deed had they done in their past life to deserve this honor?!
On the other hand Achlys was a bit confused. She had just come down from the mountains and didn't really understand what was happening, but she could tell that this armoured men were greatly feared in Nesha.
Their presence alone could bring out a suffocating pressure even among these talented youths.
At that moment, Achlys had a new mission. She must become stronger in the future, strong enough for these men in armours to bow to her