Ashton dejectedly stood up from the ground and he abandoned his swords in the arena. The crowd was still hailing Jamil and the noise only made his skin tingle with jealousy and anger. He finally settled with his loss and casted his head down as he made his way out of the arena.
On his way back to the dorm, Aurelia had stopped him by calling his name in a soft tone.
"Ashton…" She slowly muttered. "It's okay to fail." She added expecting him to wait for some consoling talks.
Ashton casted his gaze upon her and he couldn't feel any more bitter to have lost that match to Jamil. He shook his head slightly then heaved a sigh exasperatedly. He didn't bother to give Auelia a reply or react to her call in any way; he just continued his journey back to his dorm while slightly hitting her with his shoulder so she could move out of his way.
When he had gotten back to the dorm and was about to pack his stuff which had been assigned to him, Ulysses, Alden and Marcus walked into the room.
"It was nice knowing you." Alden gave his remark giving Ashton's shoulder a small pat.
Ulysses also took his turn and walked over to Ashton and have him a small pat as well before adding;
"I still do not like you but I wanted us to be enemies here so we could at least kill each other."
Ashton let out a frail smile at Ulysses words and he really wished he could have made it in and be enemies with him as well.
Marcus, still maintaining his mean demeanor, stood by the door resting his back against it. Ashton finally picked his few stuff and walked towards the door in an attempt to head out. He needed no one to tell him he would be ousted from the academy that same day. He let out a frail smile and he headed towards the door.
Marcus by then was now standing in the doorway as he waited for Ashton to finish up.
"I will walk you out." Marcus said his voice low and filled with a hint of sorrow.
"Tell me you liked me being around you without actually telling me that." Ashton scoffed as he looked at Marcus in the eyes firmly.
"You know I don't like you at all." Marcus replied with a small smirk playing on his lips.
"Yeah, me too."
"So…I will be visiting your grave soon when you die outside the academy. What type of flowers do you like?"
"Marcus!" Ulysses called in protest to what Marcus had said to Ashton. The words seemed a bit insensitive as he was not dead yet so why mention the type of flowers he wants on his death grave?
Ashton let out a small scoff and then said to Ulysses. "It's okay. You would have asked me the same as well if Marcus did not anyway."
***
Ashton eventually got out from the dorm and he began to walk away through the long terrane of the academy. He looked around for a bit just to see the magnificent structure as if he was greeting them goodbye with his eyes.
Every student watched him as he dragged his feets out of the dorm lazily. Ashton was the first pre-student to be ousted from the academy in such a short period of time and he definitely was the one who had caused the most trouble in that academy within a short period of time.
He was also the first to be summoned into her grand Mage's pavilion and also the first to break the potion during his welcoming ritual. The list keeps going on and on for things that were against his stay in the academy.
First he had been rude to Damien which had gotten him on his wrong foot and again he was almost like a rebelling fool to Master Chen. Some students know the story that surrounded his meeting with Ulysses and how he had driven Gareth to his death with Jamil.
Ashton let out a frail sigh of disappointment every now and then and he felt really bad he had been a failure and now he was being driven out to die in the hands of the raging mutants who would by not be waiting endlessly for him outside the academy. He wondered how he would face Ercan eventually.
As Ashton walked on, he was suddenly stopped by some level four mages who had come bearing a news for him. He looked up at them with a tired look and when he noticed they weren't going to step out of his way, he turned to his left as he tried to avoid causing any further dispute.
The leader of the group suddenly began to speak.
"Ashton, your expulsion has been revoked." The boy announced standing up with his chest high up like a warrior.
Ashton raised his head up at him as he thought he had heard the wrong words come out from his mouth.
"Are you trying to pull my legs huh? What kind of joke is this?" He asked impatiently as his heart began to pound heavily hoping the news was true.
"You have been summoned to the Grand Mage's pavilion for further instructions on your stay here." The boy said again and with that he pointed at the way to Master Chen's pavilion so he could lead Ashton there.
***
AT THE GRAND MAGE'S PAVILION
–Before Ashton's arrival–
"I apologize for questioning your authority but why is Ashton suddenly exempted from being outside from this academy?" Damine asked Master Chen.
Master Chen looked up from the paper scroll he was working on and he laid his writing brush aside. He raised the scroll to his face and nodded at the perfection of what he had written down on the scroll.
"Such as never happened since the foundation of this academy…or rather still after William was ousted from this academy." Damien said again with slight evidence that he was angry at the new decision of Master Chen in his tone. A small frown etched itself on his forehead as well.
Master Chen finally gave him a reply.
"There is always a first time for everything in this life, Damien. Ashton is not the first to be ousted but he is the first to be brought back into this academy and that is because he has been found worthy."
"Worthy of what?" Damien fired at Master Chen and he quickly bowed his head as an apology for raising his voice at his Master. "He had failed all of his tests. How does that make him any worthy? Are you not discriminating against every student of this academy who has passed their tests excellently?"
"Why are you suddenly bothered about all these things?" Master Chen asked, standing up from the seat he had been sitting on.
"I am a senior administrative mage Master, I should be bothered about all these things and I had to know what is so special about Ashton to have received such enormous favor from you."
"Damien…Ashton coming back into this academy should be the least of your worries." Master said, his voice was calm and condescending.
"What makes Ashton different? Why did you not show mercy on William the same way you just did to Ashton?" Damine asked, his voice quivering a bit and a small pool of tears welling in his eyes. He continued,
"If you had allowed William to stay after failing his tests back then, he wouldn't have died! He would be very much alive till now. Why is your judgment so partial?!"
Master Chen heaved a small sigh then he walked towards a cabinet that was at the far end of the room. He opened the doors of the cabinet then brought out an old crest.
Damien watched every one of Master Chen's movements carefully and he quickly wiped away the bead of tear that had managed to seep out of his eyes and soon Master Chen was in front of him with the crest. He slowly blew air on the crest and a blue light emanated from it causing it to unlock.
Master Chen slowly opened the crest so he could show Damine it's content and the more slowly he opened the crest, the more anticipating he had Damien stuck in.
Finally, the soft ethereal glow seeped away and the crest opened, revealing the hidden secret into Damine's face.
Damien's mouth opened agape and his eyes shot wide open as he saw the content of the crest. He then looked up at Master Chen when he had regained his stance.
"If Ashton is going to stay, let me be his last opponent and if he doesn't win this time around, let him be ousted for the sake of William."
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[A/N: Finally, we are back at the starting point or rather where chapter three had began]
[The following chapters will be back to back hits and I hope you vote for this book to encourage me more]
[Thank you for reading thus far and I hope you would leave a review]