2025-02-06 03:24:54“Za- I mean Elaris.” Caden called, Elaris turned to wait for him before he they started walking side by side. “Are you sure that you really want to do this?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It is just that you have never wanted anything to do with other things that have nothing to do with art, you have always wanted to act, sing, and paint but never have tried to join the military or the Academy. We talked and fought about this a lot, and you have told me time without number that the thought of doing it disgust you.”
“Loser,” Elaris scoffed.
“What?”
“I was just being stubborn, I figured out that it was about time that I man up and start doing well.” He shrugged.
They stopped in front of the apartment that belongs to just both of them in the mansion. It was built separately and at the back of the house, as if to shut both brothers out of the people’s view.
“It is about time you don’t have to constantly worry that you would end up on the streets because of my antics, and we should move out of this stupid apartment, it is the shabbiest thing in this house.”
“Are you sure about passing this exam? It is not that I don’t want to believe in you but you haven’t even been tutored at all. You bailed it every time I arranged it for you.”
This Zaden was truly a troublesome fellow and gave his brother a lot of headaches.
“Why would I bet our home on it if I am not sure?”
He didn’t wait for a reply before he walked away, Caden stood rooted to the same spot wondering if this man was the same brother that he had always known. He stared at the poised way he carried himself, walked, talked, everything he did was different from before. It was as if he was standing before a new man, and he wasn’t hating this changed behavior at all.
“Caden?” A maid who was walking across the lawn called and he turned to look at him. “If you would please come to help Pat in the woods? He got lost again.”
“Alright!”
********
“Mom, did you see that? Did you see what he just did? He insulted all of us!” Jaxon complained when it was only them and their mother.
“I saw the way he continued staring at us all, it was like he thought that we were below his feet! He even dared to gaze at you in that same way!” Dax added.
“Not to mention that he boldly claimed that he would ace the test, then he went ahead to say that we would not be able to compete with him if it comes to it.”
“Why are you worried about the exam at all?” Their mother asked. “You of all people are aware that he can’t do anything to save his life, even the stupid arts that he has passion for, he doesn’t excel at it! Talk less of the Academy, he didn’t even know the answer to the most basic question.”
“But still!” Dax exclaimed. “We can never know with him, that mischievous asshole might be up to something, we have to counter-attack in advance.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“I think that it is absolutely necessary,” Another voice said, they all turned to see the second child of the family enter.
“Brother!” Dax exclaimed.
“Max! You came at the right time,” Jaxon said. “But first, how was the training?”
“I passed the first round, at this rate, I might just jump from being a trainee to a master at our branch of Arcane establishment!” Max replied.
“That’s my son! Even though you are the second child, you have never disappointed me. Your older brother is not bad too,” Phina beamed.
“We would never,” Jaxon beamed back.
“I would also turn out like my older brothers, mom! I won’t ever let you down, I will ace this entry exam!” Dax said. “But these things aside, what are we going to do about Zaden, he said his new name is Elaris or whatever?”
“You should absolutely do it. I heard from Kai that grandfather said that he would take one of us to Lunither, you know what opportunity that is. That is the fourth greatest city in the empire, it would be of great goodness if he took one of us. We can connect to nobles and find our way to become one of the officials there.” Max explained. “If both of them suddenly start to behave properly and shine, what do you think would be of us if they suddenly start to focus?”
“It won’t be good, grandfather is already as biased as it could get.”
“We did everything in our best effort to make sure that they remained under the radar in Astrad city, we are not about to let them go now, especially now that you guys could use a good opportunity.” Phina smirked. “Don’t worry, I know what to do.”
********
“Elaris! Are you here?” Caden asked, he opened the door when he got no response but he paused when he saw the sight before him. For the first time in a long time, his brother’s room was cleaned and rearranged, all the stupid posters were dispersed and his clothes were neatly folded.
“Caden?” Elaris asked, entering from his bathroom and Caden did a double glance. “You straightened your hair?”
“I don’t like it, what’s with it to begin with?”
“You wanted the bad boy look with a cute look.” Caden chuckled, Elaris curled his mouth in disgust– he couldn't just get over how vain Draven was. “I brought food, I figured you needed it. Now that I really think about it, it is weird that you haven’t asked for food since you woke up.”
He placed the food on the table and Elaris stared at the bread and lamb stew he brought, it made him remember his own family. Usually, when it was time to have a meal, there were nothing less than four different meals on the table and it was usually his mother or sister that usually brought it to him.
They would sit and joke around with him, joking about how they wished they could tie him down at home since he was their only son and make him inherit Arcane Hall by force, he would roll his eyes at them and they would all laugh about it, it went on and on until Kadel brought problem into his family.
He balled his hand into a fist. Even if his former family have a new son in this life that he is in, he would make sure till his very last breath they get the Arcane Establishment.
He doesn't even know how the organization is now, and judging by Caden’s interest, he would know little to nothing about it too.
Forget about asking if the Skythorn family exists, Caden barely knew things happening in Astrad that had nothing to do with the military.
He really needed to find the Arcane branch that was in this city, he needed to start somewhere.
“Are you alright?” Caden, who was already eating, asked when he noticed that Elaris was releasing a deep killing intent and super dangerous aura. It was deep enough to suffocate to someone if not careful.
“I am alright.” Elaris said, and Caden nodded, he signaled for him to eat and Elaris nodded before he pulled the food closer to himself and took a bite.
At the first bite, he was sure that something was wrong with the food, but he didn’t stop and continued eating instead. He made sure to eat everything even though it was a bit foreign to the things that he was accustomed to but it wasn’t too strange because he had similar meals while he was at war.
He barely finished eating when he started feeling pain in his eyes, he groaned and Caden stared at him in concern, the more the pain intensified, the more he groaned and the more concerned Caden was.
“Are you alright?” Caden asked with worry dripping in his voice, when Elaris didn’t stop and continued rubbing his eyes, he stood up and started to go out of the door to seek help.
“Don’t go anywhere, I am alright.” He said calmly and Caden stopped before he hurried over to his side. “Is something wrong with your eyes?”
“No, not really,” He shook his head, Caden exhaled in relief. “It is just that I am blind at the moment.”
Caden eyes grew so wide it almost popped out. “Oh, that’s—wait what?!”
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Everybody froze with complicated expressions on their faces, there was no saying if they should advance forward and bash the two men standing with their back against each other or withdraw to their master who was already bleeding from the thin slice on his neck.There was a dead silence as everyone continued to stare at each other, Elaris and his partner continued to advance backward and near the houses, it was easier to find an escape route around their than at the front.“Boo,” Radai said, and Eadai glared hard ahead since he couldn’t turn his head or he would risk detaching his head from the body.“What the hell are you doing?” Eadai asked, his lips trembling as he clenched his hand tightly.“What does it look like, brother? I think it is self explanatory,” Radai replied.Elaris and his partner had walked a considerable distance from them all but then all the soldiers standing at the rare gate also came forward and stopped behind them.“Your time is up, you have pranced around for
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