A year easily passed as kassius departed for the academy located at the middle of the island, 'Vmos'.
Knights were sent some months back to deliver the relic, the gloves considered to be a treasure was painted black in color and had golden strip of lines that converged at the middle.
Having just the gloves for about a year, Kassius came to a decision only to use the gloves when his life was in danger.
The power contained within them was too great for him to control, recalling how he almost fried himself the first time, it was a given he didn't have enough power to use them.
After a year, he finally found a way not to kill himself. Limiting the power has much as he could, he was able to use the gloves for fifteen seconds before running out of energy.
But that wasn't the only thing he was doing, although overusing them easily drain him, he found a way to incorporate them with his fighting style.
Using short burst of lightning from the gloves it effectively increased the damaged dealt providing him with better close range capacity.
Arriving at the golden gates of the academy, Kassius unknowingly steeled himself as this was where he would be spending the next four years of his life.
He handed over his bags over to the guards and was asked to wait for a quick search, after five minutes he was given clearance to enter not before the guard gestured towards his eye's indicating for Kassius to do something.
I suddenly recalled, dyeing the sclera of my eyes black. It was a form of insurance to guarantee you were an ascender before given permission into the residence.
'It's bigger than I thought, how many facilities do they have,'
Bewildered by the sheer size of the academy. Kassius failed to notice the stares he received progressing alongside the path to the hall.
Multiple ascenders like him filled the academy, but he could see a large amount of them moving towards the large building that was located right in front of them.
'They must be newcomers like me'.
Must of the other students that he saw where clothed in either black or dark blue, with different number of stars ranging above their collar.
Entering the hall, it was filled with about a hundred newcomers. 'I've never seen this much variety of people before'.
People from different parts of the empire could be seen, all with in their groups of origin.
"Hello"
Breaking out his thoughts, Kassius was greeted with a gentle voice which belonged to the girl in front of him. Her hazel hair was tied to a bun as a beautiful lily rested along the side of it enhancing her vibrant emerald eyes.
"Can I sit next to you," she asked
I nodded my head has she proceeded to sit, her oval face greeted me with a smile which to me looked like the sunshine in autumn.
"My name's Felina"
"I'm Kassius"
"Kassiass?"
"No… Kassius", I corrected
"ohh… Kassihorse"
"It's Kassius, K-A-S-S-I-U-S" I spelt it out as the frustration got to me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you Kassous"
A frown became evident just as I was about to complain, while she broke into laughter while covering her mouth. It finally dawned on me that I was been messed with.
"It's not funny," I said plainly in a flat tone staring at her vibrant eyes.
Although I wouldn't admit it her laughter was soothing to the ear, it was almost enchanting.
"Really, then why are you smiling?" Felina asked twisting her head to the side.
"Uhhh…," I obviously didn't find the joke funny yet I couldn't stop smiling, too bad I couldn't tell her it was because of her laughter.
"You don't need to know"
"ohh… come on, I promise I won't tell"
"Forget about it," I said dismissing her
She sighed while turning her head to the side pouting.
I had to admit she looked cute, unfortunately there wasn't time as my attention was brought to the center of the hall, where a tall man with muscular biceps stood.
"Welcome to the Turan Academy," the man said with a raspy voice
"For the next four years, this will be your home and solitude until you're all renowned as useful individuals to the empire. Many of you here will probably die but those who survive will become exceptionally powerful"
Only the voice of the muscular man could be heard, everyone in the hall stayed quite in other not to miss any details. It wasn't to say some of us went already briefed of what the academy entailed.
Looking over to my right, Felina was solely focused on the man as her eyes seemed to be glued to the podium at the center of the hall.
After a few minutes the burly man finished with his speech and we were all instructed to move to our various classes.
I left the hall with felina proceeding to the board by the hall where our classroom were to be located. Walking for about five minutes we got to our destination which was a large building located at the east wing of the academy.
Stepping into the classroom, it was half filled as the other ascendants already took their sits and had begone conversing. Felina and I took our sits around the middle of the class as I registered some of the notable faces among the class.
A small crowd was gathered around a platinum blonde haired girl, her ocean eyes focused on the people around her laughing as a small smile was pasted around her lips. The small star marking underneath her right eyes gave her a unique appearance.
She was the princess of the great graham empire, "A'urora Von Telos".
She was currently the most important person in the room, her presence was known by all.
It was actually incredible how he didn't notice her before now but that didn't matter as he already made a mental note to stay clear of any royal family activities.
Shaking his head Kassius focused his attention on the others, Lucas and Amber Carlsworth popularly known as the 'the twins'. They were the son and daughter of 'ATLAS' the ruler of the North, one of the prime enemies of his family.
The fur coat they both wore belonged to the cravon that was hunted by them during their coming of age ceremony, their savagery was second only to the khans that inhabited the 'Forgotten Lands'.
The last noteworthy person within the class was someone he would call somewhat of a doubled edge sword, although they seemed to be an ally for now their allegiance belonged to whoever benefited them the most.
After all they were merchants by nature…
Kassius gaze seemed to linger on the beautiful female, her oval face was adored with dimples as her reddish pink lips looked quite enchanting. The baggy black cloth she wore was decorated with golden streaks which formed a dragon as the insignia of her family rested at the back of the kimono.
Yuno La Riva, one of the daughters belonging to the duchess. She bore a striking resemblance to her mother, and not just in the face as well.
It appeared I stared a little too long as she turned her face towards me before flashing a huge smile.
She seemed to want to say something but was interrupted by the sudden sound of the class door being open.
A man clothed in all black entered settling at the podium in front, his long hair flowed to the back of his neck as a long scar drew across his left eye.
"My name is Eruen"
"And from now on I'll be your instructor. And to remind you this lasts for the whole four years you'll be staying in the academy, so let's get along" he said with his left eye closed.
Little sounds were being made by most of my fellow classmates as they discussed the about our instructor.
"Hmmm… who is he?" Felina asked by my side
"He is Eruen, Keeper of life," I replied
"Keeper of life?"
"Yeah, during the last civil war twenty years ago, he alone reaped the souls of atleast a hundred people"
Felina's face twisted into a frown, the thought of learning from someone who killed hundreds of people didn't sit right with her.
"If he really reaped all does lives, why is he here?"
"During the war, after each battle he would pray in front of each corpse he slayed.
It was stated by his comrades that he ran mad from the killing while others said he could speak to the dead, but no one really knew the truth"
"After the war he retired and that was the last anyone heard of him"
"Hmmm…" felina nodded in understanding
I stared at eruen and the rest of the dukes children, and a small smile slowly etched across my face.
"Maybe the academy won't be that bad"
"What did you say" felina asked
"Nothing, focus on the front"
"Alright" she said pouting…