The massive caravan of the Trion family, consisting of dozens of carriages, passed through the wide grassland.
The carriages, pulled by huge grey bulls, were flanked by dozens of beast riders atop massive grey wolves.
Xane Trion sat in the first carriage, staring through the narrow window at the passing grasses blurring into green streaks.
Xane enjoyed the song of nature filled with birds chirping and the fresh smell of moist grassland.
Just across from him sat Zayn, his twin and the upcoming Trion family genius heir, who was busy looking down at a book filled with special instructions.
In this quiet carriage, Xane thought about the morning ceremony, where his grandfather, the current head of the family, publicly declared Zayn as the future head of the Trion family.
It was a surprise for many in the family, and several of his cousins, who were in line for the position, even protested the decision, but everything fell on deaf ears. It wasn't a surprise for him, though.
Zayn had always been the most talented one, the prodigy everyone looked up to, the boy who made the entire family proud. Compared to him, the others were just mediocre, and this included Xane. He was just one of the many with mediocre talent present in the family compared to Zayn.
Xane was not that bitter. He was prepared to witness that scene; it's just that the decision came unannounced. Still, he was happy for his brother. If only he were as talented as his brother—no, forget that—if only he were not born with such a weak body. Xane looked down at his skinny hands, then at Zayn's muscular physique. It would be a lie if he said he wasn't jealous.
Both of them were twins, but for some reason, from childhood, he was born into this cursed, weak body. He was not only jealous of his twin brother but also of his cousins, who, even with a bit less talent, tried hard to compete with his brother. There was a time when he wanted to be like them and give his hundred percent in training, but this cursed body wouldn't even allow him to chase his dreams.
Today's events dug up his bitter memories. While everything centered around his brother, he stood on the sidelines, ignored by everyone in the family. This was not the first time for him to be ignored like that. He had long ago accepted his role to stand on the sidelines, watching Zayn rise. It just…
Xane tried to ignore the helpless bitterness rising in his chest. At that moment, he started coughing. "Cough! Cough!"
Zayn asked in concern, "Are you alright?"
Xane pressed his chest and nodded. "Yeah."
Zayn continued to stare at him and asked again, "Why are you so quiet, Xane? Don't tell me you're also upset about the morning."
Xane forced a smile back. "Why would I be? You've always been the talented one. It's only right." His voice sounded hollow, even to himself.
Zayn chuckled and said in confidence, "Don't worry, brother. I will make sure no one bothers you in the family anymore." With this, Zayn went back to his notes, unaware of the storm brewing within Xane's mind.
At this moment, a jolt from the carriage sent Xane flying up.
His head slammed against the side wooden panel.
Before he could understand what was happening, a sharp pain pulsed through his skull. The world around him blurred, and Xane dropped onto the carriage floor.
He tried to blink this blurriness away, but everything started becoming dark around him.
The last thing he saw was someone's footsteps before he blacked out.
…
Not knowing when an odd fragmented vision overtook him.
Xane saw memories—unforgivable memories, which for some reason felt familiar to him.
In this dream-like state, he saw an old man leaning over a crib with two small babies sleeping inside it.
What's going on? Is that Grandfather? Then the two in the crib... Xane tried to focus on both babies, but everything was blurry.
At this moment, the old man bent down and picked up a small child with a wide smile on his face.
Now that the baby was in his grandfather's arms, it became clearer to him.
Xane felt a sense of familiarity; this baby looked exactly like him, but there was something different about this baby. Is this Zayn?
Xane tried to make sense of this scene. From the way his grandfather was smiling, it should be Zayn, then the other child in the crib...
Xane tried to focus on the baby in the cradle, but it was still blurry to him. Grandfather placed the baby Zayn down and then stared at the other baby with an unknown gleam in his eyes.
The next moment, Grandfather took out a shiny red egg, pulsating with an eerie glow. Xane stared in shock as Grandfather took out a small knife.
He picked up the second child and slashed a minor wound on the child's chest.
Xane's chest tightened as he saw his grandfather press that marble-sized egg into the child's chest.
The baby—him—was crying in pain, but that was just the start, as the next moment, the small egg started absorbing the baby's blood. Instead of worrying, he saw a smile on his grandfather's face.
Grandfather healed the chest wound of the child while still leaving the egg inside the baby's chest.
Then, the memory broke into fragments. He saw, in these broken fragments, how, over time, the red egg continued to absorb the baby's blood, making him weaker.
In the next fragment, he saw a boy, frail and weakened, struggling to keep up with the rest. He almost looked like a skeleton compared to other children of their age.
In the next fragment, he saw a couple looking at the child lying on the bed. They looked at one another and walked away.
As the vision unfolded, Xane saw the boy's efforts diminish as another boy, a stronger, vibrant figure, appeared beside him: his twin brother, Zayn.
At this point, Xane also noticed that every time the egg absorbed the child's blood, it produced a shiny red liquid around the egg.
Xane continued to watch one scene after another until he saw a scene where thousands of beast masters rushed to attack the white castle.
He remembered this war on Trion Castle. At that time, his grandfather took on these intruders alone and emerged as a hero.
But as he saw the war again, his eyes widened when he saw his grandfather using a shiny red liquid to strengthen his beast. That red liquid was almost the same as in the little boy's body.
Then everything became blank.
After a long time, he saw a scene where the little kid now looked exactly like him.
The version of him in the dream was sitting cross-legged in a massive chamber along with hundreds of other children surrounded by different elemental mana.
Xane recognized it. This was the mana chamber where teenagers awakened their mana nodes. Is this the future now?
Xane did not know what was going on, but there he saw the kid who was sitting there with closed eyes suddenly start vomiting blood and collapsing on the floor.
Xane stared at the pale face as the teenager destroyed two out of three mana nodes, making him almost a dud.
But what shocked him more was the egg, which used to stay inside the teenage body, suddenly disappearing along with all the mysterious red liquid.
The fixed scene suddenly shifted to a second teen who not only succeeded in awakening all three mana nodes but also had the egg in his chest with a large amount of that mysterious liquid around it.
The memory fragments changed, and from this moment on, they centered around his brother, Zayn.
He saw, unlike him, that there was a mysterious blue layer around the egg that stopped it from absorbing Zayn's blood.
Not only did the egg have no adverse effect on Zayn, but he also saw that somehow Zayn got to use all the mysterious liquid that formed from his blood.
Zayn started using that mysterious liquid to increase his strength.
In later fragments, he saw the rise of Zayn in the academy, standing side by side with the top geniuses of the core families.
In one of those fragments, he saw himself trying to recover from the half-failed advancement. Like always, his brother was there, cheering for him from the side.
But this time, he felt nothing but numbness.
Xane had no time to think when his memory shifted to a dark bunker. Inside this bunker, he saw a teenager trapped in chains. Xane expected this teen to be him, but to his shock, he saw Zayn trapped there.
In front of Zayn stood a silver-haired girl, staring at Zayn with eyes full of greed. Xane did not know her but saw her in the earlier fragments. Zayn was part of her group in the academy.
He saw her raise the blade, and without hesitation, she drove it through the chest of his twin brother.
Zayn's face contorted with pain, and his voice echoed in Xane's mind, "I... am... Sorry..."
Not caring, the silver-haired girl dug out the red egg from Zayn's chest and walked out of the dark chamber.
Before he could recover from Zayn's death, he saw his mother waiting for the girl outside the chamber. His mother bowed to the girl with a bright smile on her face.
Everything became dark, and he heard three words. "Use. Red. awakening."
…
Xane snapped, opened his eyes, and found himself back in the carriage.