"What do you think happened to him?"

"Your Highness, his body has signs of dark energy. He must have been corrupted as a result"

"In that case, how long will he stay unconscious?"

"I have never seen such potent dark energy. Normal people would be dead if they were in his place but his body is purifying itself. A true marvel to behold, Your Highness"

"As for how long he will stay unconscious, I cannot give an accurate answer, but at the rate his body purifies itself of the dark energy, I believe a few days to a week should be sufficient"

"You said he is an arcana?"

"A newly awoken one, Yes. Due to various factors, his seed has been sealed and I cannot determine what element he has an affinity for"

"Look after him and let me know the moment he awakens"

"Yes, Your Highness"

The door closed leaving two people in the room with an unconscious Aiden.

One of them was an old man with a white beard and grey hair while the other was a young man who stood behind the old man like the disciple he was.

"Master, how potent is the dark energy in his body? It must be extremely potent, that is why you had no treatment for it?"

The old man glanced at his disciple; with a solemn expression he answered, "the dark energy in his body has the characteristics of death".

"Characteristics of death?"

"Yes... Due to specific situations, death can take an energy form or contaminate an energy form. An example of a place that has this type of energy is The Devil's Summit"

"The Devil's... But that is impossible. No one can survive that place and it is too far away from where he was found"

"There are not a lot of places where dark energy like this can be found but the fact that his body can purify the dark energy is enough to explain how extraordinary the circumstances he faced were"

"Master, why can't we use him to reverse engineer a method to..."

"Keep that thought to yourself", the old man interrupted. "Do you think I have not considered doing it. If His Highness heard you thinking that, you might not live to see tomorrow".

"Please forgive my ignorance, master"

"Look after him, I have a few things I need to do at the apothecary"

The young man bowed towards the door as his master left the room.

The door closed, leaving the room silent. The young man walked over to a chair and sat down as he muttered under his breath.

In the city of Nethilor, a dimly lit room;

"He entered The Devil's Summit?", a man who had his face obscured by the dim lighting asked.

In front of him was a man who knelt on one knee. 

"Yes, Your Excellency"

The already gloomy atmosphere in the room suddenly grew colder.

"I told you to bring the boy back at all cost. Explain in detail what he did before he jumped to his death"

The man who was kneeling raised his head slightly and his face could be barely seen. It was none other than the Captain of the Watchers who pursued Aiden and ultimately forced him into a deathly act.

He had already explained briefly how Aiden ran and escaped capture till he jumped into the depths of The Devil's Summit but did not dare to tell how he had taunted Aiden after he thought the boy had been cornered.

"Tell the truth and you might just get a lesser punishment", the man spoke with a voice that sent chills down the spine of those who heard it.

The Captain who was kneeling visibly trembled when he heard the word 'punishment'

He wasted no time and recounted everything that had happened, from his taunting to Aiden's words and the mumbling of words he could not understand as well as the subsequent jump.

"You can take your leave, your punishment will come soon"

The Captain quickly bowed and left the room when he heard the statement.

"It's better that he is dead. However, make sure he is properly dead. I cannot have anything ruin my plans"

A cold, hoarse voice was soon heard in the room. It came from the same man who had just sent The Captain of the Watchers out of the room.

"Okay", the normal voice replied from the same person giving a disjointed feeling.

...

"Quickly clean him up?"

"His Highness said he must be well taken care of"

"Heh... I wonder if he would have had the same treatment if he did not have a pretty face"

"Who are you to comment on His Highness' choices"

'Ugh... What do those words mean? Why are they so far away?'

'Can any of you hear me? Hey... Anyone there?'

"Oh, you better stop talking..."

"What happened? Did you hear someone coming?"

"Where do keep your brain dummy? I'm talking about the pretty face, his face twitched when we were talking"

'Wait, pretty face, what are they talking about? Hm? I can understand what they are saying now?'

"You mean he might have heard what we said?"

"Maybe, I read that there are times when people in an unconscious state can hear what those around them are saying. They just can't reply to them, so their bodies instead, move in response"

"Let's finish the cleaning and leave as soon as possible"

There were no more words spoken after that and the silence made Aiden whose mind had just awoken fall into deep thought.

'What exactly did I do wrong?'

As the son of the most loved General in the city of Nethilor, he could have enjoyed life as the son of a General but he had worked hard to make his father proud.

His mother had died when he was young and he never knew his relatives. All he had for as long as he could remember was his father.

His father had been very strict. He would not allow his son to end up spoilt by an easy life. He had instilled the importance of hard work into him from a very young age so that by the time he was aged seven, he could say hard work was not something difficult but a way of life.

He saw his father defend the city from the Savages year after year. It was a noble act, one he was proud that his father could do. It had become his dream to do the same by the time he was ten.

His father could be described as a Fire Arcana. This meant he had awoken his fire seed and he was able to use the fire element in battle.

Every person had a seed inside them but only a small percentage of people were able to awaken their seeds.

The seeds awoken would always have a specific elemental inclination and the more compatible the seed was with the element it was inclined to, the more powerful the control over the element and the more powerful the arcana it belonged to would be.

At the age of sixteen, every person who was at that age would be placed in a sealed space where they would be exposed to an incredibly pure source of aether and this would stimulate the seeds in each of the sixteen-year-olds.

At the end of the 24 hours, those who remained awake would have passed the first test and those who had passed out would be sent back.

He had passed the first round and the second round was a one-week period where the chosen would attempt to gain a connection to the aether.

A successful connection would lead to a phenomenon showcasing the elemental affinity of the sixteen-year-old. It would be a swirling plume of color. 

The brighter and clearer the color was, the stronger the connection and in turn, the stronger the control.

There were many elements an arcana could wield and they were divided into two major categories: the primary and the secondary elements.

The primary elements were the elements that most arcana would awaken. This category had the following: Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, space, and time.

The secondary elements were a bit harder to awaken. They were: Ice, shadow, light, spirit, summoning, healing, plant, poison, and sound.

Every one of these elements could be powerful depending on what they were used for as well as the affinity rating an arcana had with that element.

An affinity rating could be described as the percentage number that showed an arcana's compatibility with the element they had awoken.

However, there was no doubt that an arcana was always more powerful than a regular person even when they were at the lowest level.

The reason for this is pretty simple. An arcana can make use of the aether, even in the most ordinary tasks.

By the second day of the two weeks, there were already some who had gained a connection with the aether. It made for a beautiful scene but Aiden was not one of them.

It was possible to still fail the second round but most of the time, such a thing would not happen.

Then came the third day, the fourth, the fifth, and even the sixth. By now virtually everyone had made the connection except Aiden who was still trying to gain a connection to the aether. 

The last day of the second test came but Aiden had not managed to make the connection. 

In each of the compartments they were placed in, there was everything they needed as well as two exits from the room. One of them was for a successful connection and the other was to be used after a failed connection.

He knew he had failed at being at making a connection with the aether and this was a big stop sign in his journey to be an arcana.

To say he had been disappointed would be an understatement. 

He had gone back to his house and tried many more times to gain that connection he needed but no matter what he did, it was fruitless.

Despite the disappointment, he continued to train himself the way he had always done but now there was no longer a twinkle in his eyes.

In the following days, no one came to visit, let alone see how he was doing. His so-called friends had all abandoned him. He had kept to himself as well but trouble came when the army returned from one of the major battles of the year, meant to repel the savages that broke through The Boundary.

The army had returned amidst the celebration of the city inhabitants but this celebration did not last long because, on the evening of that day, several savages broke through the city defenses and killed hundreds of the inhabitants before the savages were killed or captured.

As it turned out, this small number of savages had hidden in The Boundary, withstanding its destructive might till the end of the battle that killed their kind who had crossed the boundary.

When the army finally left, they came out of The Boundary killing The Patrols who were left to watch for any attacks and possessing some of them to make it easier to infiltrate the city.

The plan had worked but there was Aiden who had fallen unconscious surrounded by a few powerful savages.

By the testimony of a few people who saw Aiden kill the savages by himself using some form of energy that made him seem like an arcana, he was declared possessed.

Chained to a bed in the deepest parts of the dungeons, Sam who woke up a few days later was puzzled as to why he would be chained up when the last thing he remembered was getting caught by one of the savages.

Half a day later, he was summoned to The Viceroy's Court to stand trial. 

On the way there, Aiden finally understood the problem.

He had killed so many savages on his own, how was that possible?