"How many candidates do we have in total?"
A man with an authoritative voice, sitting in one of the armchairs of a round table in a dark room, where there were three of us, asked curiously.
I gave him the answer.
"Four at the moment... But if we look at their potential, only two stand out."
The man pointed to the photographs of the two students that appeared on the holographic screens floating in the center of the table.
"You mean these?"
The boy in one of the images had white hair and emerald green eyes, while the other had coal-black hair and gray, ghostly eyes.
"Yes. One of them has an extraordinary power and his past is a bit dark. So he's a great target for us and a very good candidate for the seat. As for the other one..."
My eyes turned to the boy with gray eyes and coal-black hair.
"He changed so much after the night he tried to commit suicide that he caught the eye of our spies. His stats aren't spectacular... but he has an amazing theoretical mind. His recent actions are completely focused on his future and I must say, quite accurate..."
I sighed slightly, speaking too much in one breath.
"Of course, there were a few actions that we didn't understand, but considering that he didn't hesitate when he did them, he seems to know something that even we don't know. On top of that, he can adapt to situations extremely quickly and make rational decisions."
I moved his hand slightly to the side so that the two images in the center of the table changed into a video.
It showed the boy we were talking about and an assassin in black fighting. Given the level difference between them, the assassin was supposed to win.
But the winner was different.
The winner was the one who took advantage of his opponent's mistake, ignored the huge gap, and took a small gamble on his final move.
"Keep a close eye on both of them, both of them are definitely up to the job."
"Understood."
So the man with the authoritative voice looked at the other person sitting at the table, the man with the prominent bushy hair, and spoke indifferently.
"What about this human who communicated with us?"
"He said that the only thing he wanted was knowledge... However, having researched his background and personality, I think he is trustworthy."
He took a deep breath, thinking.
"Okay, then let's do as he suggests."
"Understood."
So our work here was done. Before we left the table, all three of us had our eyes on the two boys on the holographic screens.
Which one would be chosen was still unknown. On the one hand, there was Adrian Caleo, who overcame all obstacles as if they were nothing, and on the other, there was Aiden Tenebra, an unexpected gold who appeared out of nowhere...
The bushy-haired man left the table first, then me. Before I left the room, though, I took one last look at the man still sitting at the table.
He had a smile on his face, a frightening smile.
--Volume I: The Lands of The Lunerra--
--The End--
*(A/N: The first and shortest volume of the novel ended with this. The other volumes, especially after the second volume, will be much longer than this. About 2.5 to 3 times as long. Anyway, I'll post the prologue and the first chapters of the second volume tomorrow. The prologue will probably come a couple of hours earlier than the first chapter. Other than that, the schedule of the chapters will remain the same for the second volume. I am publishing this epilogue and the prologue of the second volume, which I will post tomorrow, separately from the regular chapters because they are shorter than them.)*