2025-02-06 03:32:17“How can you remain so damn calm about this?! You are blind! You can’t see!” Caden’s voice was panic-stricken, but Elaris still remained calm.
“I told you that it is only for a brief moment, the longest would be one month,” Elaris massaged his temple because of the stubborn man. He knew that he was being like this because of the over protectiveness he felt towards his brother and the need to take care of him but he was really giving him a headache.
“Don’t you understand the gravity of this situation?” Caden stood up and paced the room. “You have to go to the Academy in two days, there’s no way you would be able to do it without seeing anything, you are already bad at combat but doing it with no eyes? Even I don’t dare to do that!”
“You are exaggerating. I would go there and we would end it there, alright. It doesn’t matter if I am blind, it won’t change anything.”
“No, you should stay at home. Who knows what the academy might want now? What if they used real weapons, you are as good as dead!”
Elaris sighed heavily and closed his eyes in frustration, going blind like this was nothing. When he was in the military, his eyes acted up too and he didn’t let it affect his duties. He had been different since he was a child, he was born weak and just about anything would affect him, his parents wanted him home but he defied their orders—he was just stubborn.
The major challenge he had was bad eyes, out of nowhere, his eyes would make everyone turn to a blur whilst paining him too, it was always better to keep it closed not to irritate it
This was just like visiting old times, strange but familiar.
Caden opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the loud banging at the front door of their apartment, accompanied by loud rowdy chatters, his lips turned up in irritation.
“Who are those?” Elaris asked.
“Who else? They are the stupid friends you do performances with! They are here to call you again.”
“Let them in.”
“You aren’t thinking of doing a performance right?” Caden asked, and Elaris turned to raise a brow at his direction. Caden cleared his throat and went out, it took a bit before sounds of many footsteps filled the room and he could deduce that adding Caden, there were six more people in the room.
“Draven, hell, where‘ve ya been?!” One of the men said, he sat beside Elaris who quickly moved away from him. “You promised us that we’d go and burn the Light house when you missed the guards but we heard nothing from you. I suggested that we come here and only found out from one of the maids that you crack your head?”
Sound of laughter filled the room.
“Ya really are a nutcase,” Another man said and Elaris turned to glare at him. “Heard you wanted to swim? Why try when you can’t?”
“Something is really odd here,” Another voice said and the laughter died down. “What’s wrong with ya eyes, ya seemed to be staring into space. Are ya worried about our next performance?”
“If it is only your stupid performance that he had to be worried about, how happy I would be,” Caden scoffed. “In case you haven’t noticed because of your brainlessness, he is blind.”
“What?!” A collective yell filled the room and Elaris flinched.
It was truly no lie that the lower the city in the empire, the rowdier it is, he didn't want to wonder how bad the two cities below Astrad were.
“What happened to yer eyes?!”
“How the fuck did ya blinded it?”
“Is it totally useless now?”
They asked over each other, some even advancing closer to wave their hands in his face.
“Oh? It seems like ya really went blind,” This time all of them moved away like he burned them. “You’ve turned useless!”
“Yeah, what could ya possibly do anymore? This is bad!”
“Would ya look at the time, it’s almost time for our performance at the square,”
“We will get back to ya later Zaden!”
And just like that, all of them were out of the room and away from the mansion.
Elaris sighed. “They are really useless.”
“It is about time you realize that!” Caden yelled right beside him and he flinched.
“You are too close,” Elaris replied and Caden nodded before he moved back.
“Are you alright though?”
“Why won’t I be?”
“About your friends, they aren’t supposed to abandon you like this.”
“It is okay.” He waved dismissively.
He just wanted to test out if those people Zaden kept wreaking havoc with were loyal to him, but they hastily proved him wrong.
He had learnt the hard way that no one was really useless, no matter if they did military to protect the civilians, entered the Academy to become official and scholars, become an Arcaner and wield magic, or be a member of Fragile Souls and do art.
If he had given the Artists at Visteria their respect, maybe the Fragile Souls might have come to his aid at the brink and give him the information he desperately needed.
The entertainers get most information—they render services that provide information, even the dangerous ones and would only share it to those they are firmly loyal to.
Elaris looked down on them so he didn’t cut the list.
If Zaden’s friends had proved to be loyal, he might have kept them.
“Are you still sure that I shouldn’t tell father about it? Maybe we have medicine you can use. I would beg him if need be.”
“You are not going to be begging anyone ever again, especially not them.” He stated firmly. “What is on duty today?”
“We have to clean the stable, I am not sure that you would be able to do that considering…”
“Don’t worry about that, I would sit down and keep you company. You can keep me informed about the things I have to know about our family.” He stood up and Caden quickly moved to hold him. “Let’s go.”
**********
“We have an uncle from our father’s side but he is not in Astrad, last time I heard, he was in Lunither. He moves about every city every time, if we want to see him we must send him a message in advance.”
“Have you ever seen him?”
“Once.” Caden nodded, brushing a horse. There was no other source of transportation, the place was still remote to the point of frustration, not even the City Lord owned a car.
“A very long time ago, I think it was when you turned two. Lord Wilder didn’t make him feel welcome and they had a huge fight. He never came again, he had too many things to do.”
They were both at the stable, Caden explained to him about the dynamic of the family as he sat to one side and Elaris had to applaud the Blackwell Family as the most messed up one he had ever seen.
“What are you doing, sitting while your brother gets to work?” Elaris heard Dax’s annoying voice behind him.
“How is that any of your business? I didn’t complain,” Caden replied.
“You are both tasked with doing it!”
“As long as there is no side that is unclean, you should have nothing to say.”
“Why won’t he work? Is he blind or something?” Jaxon asked, appearing behind Dax, he scoffed. “Don’t tell me that you are preparing for an exam you are bound to fail”
Both of them kept their eyes trained on Elaris who didn’t spare them a glance, sure enough, their presence confirmed his suspicion that they were ones that messed with his eyes—no wonder the food tasted strange.
“Won’t you like to know?” Caden’s voice was sarcastic.
“He should work.” Dax protested. “At least, some exercise so that he won’t feel the sting too much when I beat him at the entrance exam?”
Caden glared at him.
“For a dunce, you have a lot of awful confidence. Shouldn’t you mind your own business?” Another foreign voice added, and Elaris turned slightly.
“I should be saying that to you. This is our family business, you shouldn’t butt in.”
“Zaden is my best friend, of course, I have to interrupt you when you are ganging up on them.” The person said and soon enough, his hands were on Elaris’ shoulder.
He turned to raise a brow at Caden who had come to stand beside him. “Who might he be?”
“He is Ashton Jarex, the last and favorite child of Lord Jarex, the second city lord of Astrad.”
“What?” Elaris asked in disbelief.
It was obvious from the manner of talking and carrying himself that he was a noble young man that carried himself with respect, how on earth did he tangle himself with Zaden?
“I don’t care it is your family business, but if you want to get over to him you must go through me,” Ashton stood his ground, glaring at him.
Jaxon and Dax glared at him back but they eventually grunted and walked away indignantly, as much as they hated it they couldn’t dare to offend Ashton lest they cause a rift between their father and the second city lord.
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Ashton kept glaring at them until they were out of view, before he immediately turned to Elaris.“Zaden! What’s—”“Elaris. Don’t call me Zaden.” Elaris said, shrugging his shoulders out of Ashton’s hold.“Oh? You decided to change your name again?” Ashton beamed. “I must say that this name is better than the former one.”Elaris tilted his head to the side at his word, no wonder nobody blinked an eye when he announced a new name. The brat changed his name every time too.“I rushed here as soon as I heard the news. What’s wrong with your eyes? They said that you are blind.” Ashton’s voice was tinged with worry.“Damn those idiots.” Caden cursed. “Nobody asked them to spread the news.”“Do you have any idea what is wrong? He can’t suddenly wound up blind. How is he supposed to do everything he had always dreamt of?”“Do you used to perform with me?” Elaris asked, Ashton shook his head before he remembered that he was blind.“No, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t support you in
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“Intermediate Level.” The judge added and Ashton, along with some other students turned to look at him in surprise.“How on earth did you know that?” Ashton asked, glancing at Lila who was already walking away with a sad expression, Elaris just looked away.“Tarex Cald,” One of the judges called.“Look, Tarex is next!”“It is obvious that he would be the one that would be the topper of this exam.”“Yeah, his siblings have always won—no matter what competition they were in. I must say that Lord Cald is truly blessed.”Chatters ensued as the boy’s name was called, all eyes fixed on the young man who was walking to the judges, taking his good time.He was dressed in the finest material made from cottens that were imported into Astrad from Embrayl, his shirt and trouser suited him perfectly well and the green color e chose greatly enhanced his skin color.“Look, who’s next? He is the third child of Lord Cald, who just happened to be our first city lord,” Ashton began to explain to Elaris.
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“Good, serve him right, his question is the trickiest today,” Dax said with a victorious nod.“I can’t imagine him entering the Academy with us,” One of his two friends who had challenged Elaris earlier said.“There’s no need for you to imagine it. He is not going to enter with us.” Another agreed.Just ten seats away from them, a man sitting beside Tarex turned to him.“What do you think, Tarex?”He was dressed in a white material that wasn't as smooth as Tarex’s but it was not inferior in matters of quality. The difference in color just made their similarities in features prominent.The same brown eyes and brown hair was enough pointer that they were related.“I don’t know brother,” he replied. “The guy is too weird. I heard that he predicted Lila’s grade and also said that my question was the simplest of all.He might win it but I am sure that he is not going to top my score, Lan!”“Topping your score is hard, your result is Master level,” Lan said and Tarex nodded before they turne
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“I heard that he passed, would you look at that?”Whispers started all around as Ashton took him to walk around the academy to get fresh air.“Maybe he managed to muddle through, I guess that the entrance exam is getting easier.”“Easier?” The person scoffed. “Obviously, you didn’t hear the question. I doubt that some students of the Academy would be able to answer it at all.”“Are you saying that he is smart? I have seen him, all he knows is how to behave like a clown.”“It is like a change overnight!”Ashton snickered beside Elaris who just remained peaceful as if he heard nothing they were saying.“You have become a star, everyone knows you now.”“It only means that there are many people waiting for me to fail,”“Can you be less pessimistic in some situations?” Ashton grumbled.“What’s the issue with my brother’s military prowess?” Elaris asked instead.Ashton looked thoughtful for a moment. “I don’t know if I should tell you this but I am just going to go ahead since you have chan
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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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