*Present*
*Knock* *Knock*
A fair skinned boy with mismatched eyes and ocean blue hair looked towards his room door where the knocking was coming from.
"Who is it?" Prince Adan sat up on his bed wondering who would knock on his door in the middle of the night.
"It's me" He heard a familiar voice and he wasn't surprised.
"Come in"
After he said that, his twin brother walked into the room. They were identical, the only difference between them were their eyes, Aziel had a pair of deep blue eyes while Adan eyes had two colours, the one on the left was blue like Aziel's and the one on the right was gold and had a fire-like touch to it.
"What brings you to my room at this time of the night?" Adan got up from his bed and walked towards his brother.
"Is it now a crime for a brother to visit his brother's room?" Aziel asked with a playful smile.
"It is not but don't you think it's a bit too late, people might get the wrong idea"
"How about we go to the balcony?" Aziel said not waiting for his brother to reply and walked to the balcony.
Adan knew what he was trying to do but just rolled his eyes and followed him anyways.They both got to the balcony, Aziel took his time and looked up at the starry sky and crescent moon. He always liked admiring the sky.
"I'm sure you didn't come to my room in the middle of the night just to admire the sky?" Adan asked, bringing Aziel out of his trance.
"Maybe I did, you know you are the only one who's room has such a beautiful view in the entire palace" Aziel smiled dreamily now looking ahead. Indeed the view was quite beautiful, you could see the vast sea from there, the line where the sky meets the sea makes it even more incredible. "Father must really like you" He let out a low chuckle
Adan knew that the last part was a joke but he didn't laugh, to him it wasn't funny because both of them knew that it was the opposite.
Since Adan didn't say anything, Aziel finally decided to state the main reason why he came. "I overheard our father talking to someone from the academy. I couldn't wait and I wanted to tell someone so here we are"
"What did you hear?"
"Well, in six months each empire will hold the entrance exam and the top two hundred and fifty students at the age of eighteen will get admission." Aziel was excited "We might have a chance to try out, we turn eighteen in four months"
There was a silence after, Aziel looked at his brother and saw a slight frown, different from the usual one on his face. "What's wrong?"
Adan sighed "Both of us know that there is no way I could pass the exam, I haven't had any breakthrough in my cultivation. I'm still at the lesser realm with not much hope of entering the basic realm which will qualify you to get an admission"
This was truly depressing, of course not everyone was blessed by the four elemental deities but Adan's case was different. He was a descendant of the water goddess and could control the water element, he just had trouble cultivating it.
The excitement in Aziel's eyes died down as he heard his brother. He always felt bad when his senior brother complained about being unable to cultivate. "I'm sorry"
"It's not your fault. Well is that all?" Adan turned and walked into his room.
Aziel cursed himself for ruining his brother's mood. Adan noticed this and said "I'm not upset so don't blame yourself. If that's all go to bed, father will wake us up early tomorrow to give us an announcement that you already eavesdropped on"
"Ok then, Good night, brother" Adan nodded as Aziel walked out of his room and closed the door.
*****
Just as Adan had said, their father had sent the maids to wake everyone up at six in the morning.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Who's there?" Adan asked in a hoarse voice, he just woke up.
A pretty lady with very dark blue hair and crystal blue eyes on the other side of the door said "It's maid Veronica, The king has asked the royal family to wake up and get dressed because he has an announcement to make"
"Okay, I have heard you, you may leave"
Adan then sat up from his bed and walked to his wardrobe, in search of what to wear. Soon he finally found an aqua green robe that came with a shirt and trouser.
After about half an hour, Adan was ready and was looking at himself in his dressing mirror, then he remembered he had to cover his golden eye. He took out a contact lens that was the same colour as his blue eye and wore it over the golden one.
The only people who knew about his eyes were his parents and Aziel.
*Knock* *Knock*
Another knock was heard in Adan's room "Who's there?" he asked, getting irritated by the constant knocking. He preferred being left alone.
"It's maid Veronica, the King has asked the royal family to meet in the dining hall for the announcement"
"Ok I have heard"
He thought about the distance between his room and the dining hall. It would take him about thirty minutes to get to the hall because it was in the main palace and his chamber was far from there.
Adan stood in front of the mirror for a few more minutes then he sighed and walked to his room door. As he opened the door a face similar to his appeared in his view.
"What a pleasant surprise, I was just about to knock" Aziel said and pulled his brother into a hug.
"You are lucky you didn't, I would have knocked your head and I already told you don't hug me" Adan pushed Aziel away.
"I remember but I ignore it, let's get going, you know it'll take a long time before we get to the hall"
Adan didn't say anything and walked ahead of Aziel. He knew that with Aziel's current cultivation level, he would get him to the dinning hall faster. He also knew that Aziel came to walk with him so that their father wouldn't get angry but worst of all he knew he should appreciate what Aziel is doing for him but instead he felt pity. Pity for himself!
His junior brother was stronger than him and there was nothing he could do about it.
How pitiful!