Vladislav and Athelstan walked behind Atlas as he guided them throughout the mansion to the dining room.
The Schatten mansion was beautiful and huge, with marble walls and floors, featuring the family's symbol. It had golden crystal chandeliers hanging from the roof.
Vladislav looked outside.
Outside, a beautiful garden was filled with red lilies and blossom trees of various colors: pink, red, and blue. Their grandmother liked plants, so she planted them years ago, before even Athelstan and Vladislav were born. But what stood out the most in the garden was a large blossom tree with red leaves, surrounded by red spider lilies at the top of a hill.
My grandma said that apparently, no one knows who planted them, since it wasn't her either. That hill was called the Color-Changing Hill because the tree alongside the lilies would shift colors from time to time, seemingly at random. They started growing out of nowhere.
In the middle of the cobblestone pavement was a large and tall statue. The statue of the founding father of the Schatten family, holding the hilt of the sword stabbed into the ground with both hands, was surrounded by a fountain. He had short hair and a noble expression on his face.
Servants and soldiers bowed and saluted the Schatten brothers and the butler as they walked by.
The soldiers wore black armor with a clean, black robe on top, featuring golden stripes.
On their right chest was a symbol or emblem: a black sword with a dark, obsidian dragon coiled around it, baring its fangs, and it was exquisite.
In the corridors of the mansion, there were pictures of the previous family heads and family legends.
After walking for a couple of minutes, they arrived at the dining room's doors. The doors were obsidian back with golden handles.
Two golden dragons are engraved on the doors, one on each side.
Two guards stood in front of the door, both with black hair. John had blue eyes, while Lucas had cyan eyes.
"Good morning, young masters and Sir Atlas," the guards said in unison and bowed.
"Yo, Lucas and John!" Athelstan greeted and fist-bumped both of them. Vladislav did the same thing.
Both guards smiled at the gesture.
"The family head and Lady Geneviève are already in. Please go in," they held the handles and opened the doors at the same time.
They stepped inside.
The dining room walls were obsidian black with polished wood—a giant chandelier made of gold hung in the middle of the room.
Under it, a long table was filled with food and delicacies.
Sitting around it were individuals with a suffocating aura.
At the head of the seat sat our father, Vladimir, the current head of the family
Pale snow white hair with crimson eyes, broad shoulders with a straight posture, and a handsome face as if God himself sculptured it. He had a short, trimmed white beard.
He appeared to be in his 30s, but those who know him know that he is actually in his early 40s.
On his right was Geneviève, his wife and our mother.
Black obsidian hair like mine and emerald eyes like Athelstan. She had perfect, smooth, pale skin and a perfect, symmetric face; she was gorgeous.
Geneviève was a grandmaster.
She was wearing a black dress that fit her well, and Vladimir was wearing a black coat with a black long-sleeve shirt. They seemed to be made for each other.
On Vladimir's left sat my grandmother, Mary. She had pale, white hair and pitch-black eyes. She had a soft aura. She was beautiful too; she looked young, despite being in her mid-60s. Perks of being a Sovereign
Next to her was my Uncle Mikhail, who had black hair and crimson eyes. He had a buffed physique and broad shoulders. He had a black mustache, but his beard was shaved.
"If it isn't our family's Prodigies," Uncle Mikhail smiled towards the siblings.
Well, the reason he called us 'prodigies' is that we formed our mana cores too early and reached the very first rank, dormant. A child was only supposed to awaken their mana cores at the age of 7, not at 5 or 4 years old, which means they have already taken two steps ahead of their peers of the same age.
Sitting by his side were his children, Asa and Leon, my cousins. The former had black long black hair tied into a ponytail that reached her back and crimson eyes. She wore a playful, smug grin on her face.
"They are following my footsteps, Dad, I'm their great big sister after all," Asa said while she puffed her chest.
The latter had short, red hair and crimson eyes, with an aloof expression and a light smile.
Leon rolled his eyes and greeted Vladislav and Athelstan.
"Good morning, my babies," Genevieve stood up and hugged Vladislav and Athelstan.
"Good morning, Mom," They both said as they hugged her back.
After hugging their mother, they fist-bumped their father, who greeted them with, "Took you long enough, boys," and later ruffled their heads with his hands.
After greeting him, they hugged Mary and greeted Petrus.
They sat down next to Genevieve, and everyone started eating afterwards.
While eating, I looked at the empty head of the table and asked, "Is grandpa not going to eat with us today, Grandma?"
"He's currently not in the human empire, little Vladislav, he is in a meeting with the other guardians of the other families, and probably doing some of his shenanigans," Mary sighed.
"he will probably be back next week, so be patient, okay?"
Vladislav nodded.
I keep forgetting that Grandpa was a Guardian.
From what I read in the books in the library, there are many families in the human domain, but 5 stood out the most.
The Five Legacy families rule the human empire:
-Schatten
-Sparrow
-Valerius
-Ashworth
-Yves
They have been ruling and protecting humanity for a millennium. They are the strongest families in the human empire.
But if one were asked, 'Which one do you think would come on top if they fought?', only three of them would come on top.
They were the Schatten, Yves, and Ashworth
Why?
Because of their Guardians, who are Demigods.
Each one of these 3 has a demigod, guardians of the family. Grandpa was one of them.
Demigod is a rank that was so rare and nearly impossible to achieve that only a few individuals, especially humans, ever reached it.
What is a demigod?
A Demigod is a being who has successfully undergone apotheosis—the metamorphosis from a mortal Sovereign(the peak of Rank 9) into a divine entity(Rank 10). They are the bridge between the mortal realm and the sacred. Many sovereigns attempted to achieve it but failed and perished, while those who succeeded were at the pinnacle, an extraordinary feat that was all the more remarkable due to its difficulty.
They could kill one dozen sovereigns with ease. A Demigod is to a sovereign what a Sovereign is to a common soldier. They were just that terrifying.
As they finished eating, Vladislav looked at Vladislav and Athelstan and said, "Congratulations on reaching the dormant rank and almost stepping into the world of awakeners. Since you guys are already at the dormant stage, I think it is already time I started training you two."
"Yes, Dad, I can't wait to start practicing the sword and using elements," Athelstan chirped while swinging an imaginary sword in his hands.
"Me too," I replied with an excited voice.
"Pfft, you probably won't even be able to lift a sword with that body of yours," Asa teased,
"You little–
Before Vladislav could retort, his father interrupted him.
"Asa is right, I'll have to train your bodies if you want even to hold a sword, that's the first foundation," Vladimir agreed.
"Plus, we don't know what path you are destined to follow since you're not awakened yet."
"That's why we will start training today. Meet me at the training grounds at 1 pm," he said
"Okay, Dad!" they both agreed, oblivious to the hell of a training that was going to come.
He nodded, stood up, and left the dining room, along with my mother, who waved at us since they had to attend to some family business.
"Please don't be too hard on our babies," Geneviève said as she wrapped her arm around his
"Of course not, I'll just teach them what their current body can handle." Despite saying those words, a mischievous smile played across his face, suggesting otherwise.
"Hehe, don't worry, dear, they are in good hands," he said
She just smiled and shook her head at his expression.
Brace yourselves, my babies, because your father is a training freak. She giggled as they walked away.
After that, Valdislav and Athelstan went to play with Asa and Leon in the garden.
"Wow, you have two elements, that's sick. As expected of big sis, Asa" Athelstan said while looking at the fire that lit up on Asa's index finger, while the other hand conjured a small rock.
"I know. I'm that great," she puffed her chest and laughed with amusement at Athelstan calling her big sis.
While I was surprised too, I refused to call this brain-dead monk—I almost did it, mom said not to insult anyone because it's mean and rude even if it's in our heads, tsk.
"What elements do you have, Leon?" I asked
Leon, who was absentmindedly thinking of something and not paying attention, replied, "Ice and wind."
He conjured a small shard of ice in his hand and wind that lifted and swayed the grass on the ground.
The reason why both of them could already use their elements was because they were already at the adept rank, where, for martial artists like Asa, their mana aura takes on the property of their affinity, and for mages like Leon, they can cast the basic combat spell of their affinity.
"Imagine he even got the ice element, the same as his personality, tsk." Asa snorted, and Leon just looked at her with the same aloof expression.
Leon moved his right hand and cast a wind spell that pushed Asa before she could react and made her fall on the ground on her butt.
"You fuckerrrr!" she screamed.
As if that was his cue to leave, he waved goodbye to me and Athelstan and ran off towards the mansion. Asa stood up rapidly and chased after him, leaving me and Athelstan alone.
We both laughed at the siblings' bickering and moved towards the training grounds, as it was already time for our father's training.