Krios sat with his family at one of the private viewing platforms inside the arena. The atmosphere was electrifiying and the excitement was palpable.
Everyone was looking forward to the start of the tournament and they all can't wait to see the young geniuses of the clan go against each other.
On a normal day, Krios might have felt a tad bit jealous of all his clan members participating in this tournament. He of all people should have been there like his brother. But alas, fate has other plans for him.
"Good morning my beloved clan members!" A booming voice rang across the stadium and it was answered by an impassioned cheer of the fifteen thousand-strong crowd.
It was his grandfather speaking from his personal viewing platform.
"I know we are all excited for this tournament so I will not delay it any further." The crowd cheered even louder. The excitement level inside the arena rising by the second.
"To the young geniuses of our clan participating in this tournament, know that you all have already made us proud by simply showing up courageously into this tournament. I wish you all the best!" Before he continued speaking, he raised his arm and a white ball of flame started to manifest at the palm of his hand.
"Let the tournament begin!" He shouted excitedly and the fire ball shot out from his hand and went straight to the torch held out by a giant statue at the other side of the arena. The torch lit up brightly and the crowd cheered in jubilation.
Krios clapped with his family but his mind was obviously somewhere else. He still can't get past the weird energy he felt the night before.
'I have to know where it was coming from.' He thought to himself.
"Father, can I go back to my room? I am not feeling really well right now." He asked his father who was sitting right next to him.
His father looked at him immediately.
"Are you okay son?" His dad asked.
"What's wrong honey?" His mom interjected and walked towards him.
"I just feel unwell is all." He answered. While his mom was feeling his forehead.
"You don't seem feverish. But go on then. Rest well, and if you can, please come back so we can support your brother." His mom hugged him and they both stood up.
"Be careful on your way there okay?" His dad reminded him. He nodded and hugged his father before exiting their viewing platform.
He immediately increased his pace when he was finally out of the room and went to the direction of the hallway where he felt the strange energy from the night before.
He can hear the screaming from inside the arena as he was navigating through winding hallways. The arena has a private tunnel that connects it to the palace nearby which was to be used only by the main family. This made his journey a lot faster as he no longer had to go out of the arena and into the winding roads of the clan grounds.
After minutes of walking, he finally arived at the very same hallway where he felt the strange energy. He then scanned the area for some anomaly but he didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
'It must be coming from somewhere near here' his thoughts continued to buzz. He knew that it did not come from the throne room because he did not feel any of it there. He also knew that it didn't come from the east wing because he did not feel it there as well.
'I only have two guesses on this. It's either coming from the west wing, or from the center of the palace. There is only one way to find out' He thought to himself.
He flared out his soul power and it stretched to a circle with a diameter of two meters around him. He closed his eyes and tried to feel which direction his soul power felt the most pressure from the energy.
He felt the energy all over his soul sense but it was faintly stronger in the direction of the center of the palace.
His eyes snapped open and a small smile crept on his lips.
'There it is!'
Krios immediately ran towards the center of the palace. In that place, there is an open graden only accessible to the main family and the clan elders. He has never been there before which added to his excitement.
When he arrived, he was awed by what he saw. The garden was huge, considering that it was in the middle of a palace. It was about forty meters across and sixty meters long. At the very center was a beautiful fountain adorned with human sized statues.
Plants of all sizes grew in there as well and they were obviously well kept. The flowers bloomed beautifully adding color and fragrance to the place.
He scanned the area but saw nothing out of place in particular. But the strange energy was definitely stronger here.
He flared his soul power once more and repeated the process. He started walking towards the area where his soul sense was picking up the strongest of energy and he started navigating through the garden.
He passed through multiple statues, plants, and trees. And finally, he stopped in front of a grotto at the far corner of the garden. It was situated at the very corner, slightly covered by some trees. If you don't look hard enough, you might just miss it, as if it was being hidden intentionally.
It was a small grotto with a life sized statue of a man standing in the middle of a pedestal. The pedestal had writings on it which Krios were not able to understand.
The energy was stongest in the area and he knew he was near its source. He started scanning the pedestal and the statue, looking for something he also did not know.
'There should be something here. I know it." He said silently.
He then decided to touch the statue compelled by his instinct. When his hand reached the the top of the pedestal where the foot of the statue was, a magic circle suddenly lit up and a contraption came to life. His hand was pierced by something. The contraption then retreated back to where it came from after piercing his hand. It was deep enough for it to bleed but not enough to hurt.
"What the hell!" Krios yelped and he yanked his hand back in surprise. He saw his blood drip into the magic circle and for a couple of seconds, nothing happened.
Then the statue started to rumble and he heard stone griding on one another at the back of it. He turned to look at what was happening and he saw that a entry way has opened up at the back of the statue.
He saw a staircase going downwards and he felt the strange energy double in intensity. A thin smile appeared on Krios' face.
"I found it!" He silently said to himself as he decided to descend down the stairway into the mysterious source of the energy. His skin tingled with the strong sensation of the strange energy.
He moved slowly down the staircase, his soul power flaring up in defense. He could not see that far ahead so he walked with caution but his excitement was rising in each and every step he takes.
Krios finally descended to the bottom of the stairwell and what he saw in there was surprisingly unsurprising. The chamber was around twenty meters long and twenty meters wide. The air inside was dry and thick, indicative of it not being opened in quite a while. Which excited him the most because what he might find in that place might be something no one in his clan currently knows about.
The weird energy was very thick in the area that he had to retract his soul power as it was starting to become overwhelming. It was now hard to pinpoint the exact source but he was a hundred percent sure that it was inside the chamber.
"What is this place?" He said out loud.
He scanned the area and the room was mostly empty except for the altar at the far end of the chamber.
Then something caught his attention
"Wait, what is that?" Something was glowing on the altar. It was quite a distance so he was not able to get a good look of it right from the start.
"What the hell? Is that flame purple?" He said in shock as he saw what the small glowing thing on the altar was. It was also where the strange energy was coming from.
He looked at it closely not daring to go near it. This was new to him thus the precaution. He moved slowly towards the altar compelled by the strong energy he was looking so hard for. Then he saw a box at the base of it. He picked it up and inspected it. It was about seven inches long, five inches wide, and three inches thick.
'It has the same writings as the statue upstairs'
He tried looking for opening but it does not seem to have any. He tried to shake it and something inside rattled.
'Okay so something is definitely inside of this. What could it be? Well, I'll just check it out later' He mused then returned his attention to the purple flame.
He checked it out but it seemed like it was not emmiting any heat. His grandfather's white flame was very hot a small ball of fire from him can be felt meters away. The blue one's his father and uncle weild are slightly less hot. Then there's the normal fire the rest of the clan uses. But he does not know anyone who weilds purple flame.
'This is so weird' He thought to himself. He reached his hand to touch the flame expecting to feel warmth but there was nothing. His hand lingered around it for a moment but nothing happend.
He became even more curious so he he tried touching the flame. But when his hand and the flame made contact, the flame was all of a sudden absorbed by his hand leaving nothing behind.
"What the hell!" He shouted in panic as he inspected his hand. He touched his palm but mothing feels out of place.
For a moment, nothing happened. The he heard a rumble and he quicly looked at the staircase and he saw that the door was slowly closing very slowly.
"Oh shit." He muttered as he sprinted as fast as he can flying through the steps.
When he reached the other side, he fell to his knees panting and gasping for air. The door behind him closed shut not leaving any trace of the secret space he once entered.
About twenty minutes has passed during his rest when all of a sudden, his body started to hurt all over. It was a burning pain that was slowly increasing in intensity.
"Argh" He grunted in pain as he felt like his body was being burned from the inside.
'What the hell is going on?' He wondered as he force himself up.
'I can't stay here. I might pass out and somebody might see me. I need to go to my room' he thought to himself as he started running as fast as his body would allow him. With the box tucked safely on his arm, he ran fast towards his room.
He quickly entered his room, placed the box inside a drawer and laid down his bed. By this point, the pain was almost unbearable to him. It felt like a thiusand needles were piercing his skin. His insides felt like they were all melting. And the area where his mana core was felt like it was being punched repeatedly.
He was blinking in and out of consciousness and he was slowly losing his senses. After a few excruciating moments, Krios finally passed out. And everything went dark.