Chapter 3: Genius among Geniuses
I always hated geniuses. Without enjoying a single second of my life, I spent it all sacrificing for talented people. I shed every drop of blood and every tear for them, just so I could survive. I'm not even sure you could call that living.
They showered themselves in gold and honey, while powerless dogs like us killed for them, starved for them, and died for them. The gap between geniuses and us mundanes was even greater in the Espada family—being a dog was the only fate left for us.
Every skill, every ounce of power I possess, was carved out through sweat, blood, and relentless hardwork. Being the untalented commoner who clawed his way up, that is what defines me. That struggle made me who I am. It made me Aether. But if you strip that away… then i don't even know who I am.
And now, here I stand, my hand pressed against the crystal, waiting for my teacher to declare me a genius. But what does that mean? Does it mean Aether no longer exists? Will the leader, the brother of the Osiron Corps, vanish here and now?
…No. I won't let it end so easily. I must remember who I was—and forge myself sharper than before. Never forget the hell you crawled out of, Aether. I will never falter, never lower my guard. I am Aether, leader of the Osiron Corps.
I almost forgot what we stood for, the help we longed for in those days, we clung to the hope that the days may change even when we knew it won't. But now, I will be the one to strike down anyone who cares to chain others the way we were chained—Yes, this is who Aether is, never forget it.
***
Currently
Suddenly, the crystal starts glowing brighter and brighter, cracking the crystal itself
Oloris shouts with a shocked face
"Don't tell me, you are—"
Boom!!
The crystal explodes, knocking back everyone, creating a fog of sand
"Kid, are you alright?!"
"Cough, y-yes, what happened"
"The crystal was overloaded"
"Overloaded? What does that mean?"
"The crystal was only meant to absorb a little amount of mana to glow, but when you put your hand on it, it absorbs more mana than it can handle, so it explodes."
"Did I do something wrong?"
"I don't think so, from what I can tell, you have more mana than anyone I have ever seen, you're what people would call a genius, a prodigy meant for greatness."
"(That's right, whether I am a genius or a talentless bastard, I am still Aether, the leader and brother of Osiron Corps)"
"Now I am sure that training you myself will be worth my while, we should start at tomorrow dawn immediately."
Aether's face turns serious, then he speaks to Oloris
"I know this might sound rude Master Oloris, but I shall not be trained by you."
Oloris is shocked, "And why is that?"
"I want to say due to personal reasons, but if that won't suffice, I—"
"I understand, i won't pry into your personal life nor will I force you to say anything about it, but tell me this, what changes your mind so suddenly?"
"I am a rather strange person, and I want to face the thorns of life alone, as I have always done."
"It's weird hearing that from a kid, but geniuses are like that. Anyway, if I don't train you myself how do you plan on becoming stronger?"
"I will observe your training with your granddaughter, and learn from that (that's right, this was how I always learned back in my old world).
And if you have any books that I can read, i would like to request that as well."
As night arrives, Aether goes back to the main house, where Fenris, the village councils and the general of soldiers are having a meeting.
He goes to the unoccupied room right next to the meeting room, and lights up the torch that shines the room in yellow. In the other room there is a meeting with an ongoing discussion
"Today's sight was not to be forgotten, but striking now will be a blunder that will only worsen our village condition, i ask the Village council and our general to restrain themselves from making rash decisions"
There are 4 village councils, who oversee the politics of the village and maintain law and order, and a General who is in command of the soldiers.
A member of the village council named Kor, who is known to oppose Fenris speaks out
"Cowardice is the sickness that befalls the weak, and the weak shall perish. If we keep running away with our tail between our legs, only death awaits us. I say that we march out tomorrow immediately and kill those ugly creatures."
Kor wears a brown coat, he has a black hair and brown eyes, he's not tall and on the skinny side, he has a lighter skin tone, and has black ears
The room stays silent, then Fenris speaks
"A fool that leads his comrades with false ambition is more dangerous than a horde of goblins. A wise man once told me this, know yourself and your enemy and you shall be ever victorious.
Right now we're in the dark, we have no information about the minotours numbers nor their village structures, we could be ambushed as soon as we enter their territory, waiting is our best choice."
Kor speaks in a low tone, hinting hate and frustration
"So that wise man you talked about, is he the same human that supposedly saved you when you were out travelling when you were young?
"Yes he is."
"Look, lord Fenris, you're the only one in this village that does not hate humans, everyone goes along with your decision to take the human child in, only because it's you who made that decision.
If not for that we would've killed him on sight. And the same goes for Poro's incident, if not for your intervention, we would've killed those Minotours on the spot and Poro would still be alive."
–Fenris fists the floor, and responds in an angry tone
"I took the general's place because he was out hunting, had I not stopped our men they would've been wiped out!"
Kor shouts, "You don't know that! Stop acting like you know everythi—"
"Be quiet!!" Shouts the general
"I agree with Lord Fenris, right now we lack the knowledge that will give us any advantage, it's better to wait and see rather than risking our lives for reasons that are not justified. Can we all agree on this?" –The general speaks firmly
The other 3 members of the council agree with Lord Fenris and the general
Kor grit his teeth in frustration, clenching his fists and his eyes filled with hate, then he leaves without saying anything.
The other 3 council leaves as well
" Thank you General Mordo," says Fenris
"Don't mention it, it is my duty to support you when you make the right decision. The people depend on you Lord Fenris, so make sure you don't let them down."
The general leaves too
Aether comes out from his room, then he sees Fenris, who is sitting down, from a glance it could be seen he's stressed
"Lord Fenris, are you okay?"
Fenris looks up with his tired eyes,
"It's you Aether, did you hear our conversation?"
"Sorry, i didn't mean to eavesdrop"
"It's alright. Let me ask you a question, do you know why warewolves, or any other monster race for that matter, hate your race so much?"
"...No"
"It's because of their selfish perspective of life, they view any race other than themselves as spawns of evil. To them, killing us means doing a good deed, they see it as a righteous act so no guilt ever befalls them.
I once tried to communicate with them, befriend them. I thought it could work, but the moment they saw me, they rang a bell, a bell that calls magicians of theirs to hunt me down. I barely survived, and I never once tried that foolish act ever again."
Then why did you save me back then?
"That's because everyone is different in their own way, only a fool would judge a kid from the mistakes of his race, I learned this lesson from a man I admired, his name was Kuroiichi."
(It seems Fenris and I share a lot of similar points in our philosophy and beliefs)
"He was a human, the wisest person I have ever met, even though he was a human, his eyes never showed any hate. He saved me when I was about to die, and it's not an exaggeration to say he's the reason I am here and still believe that humans and monsters can live together."
"He seems like a really amazing person, do you still keep in touch with him?"
"Sadly no, he treated me and helped me survive, but we only spent 3 days together, once I recovered, he left, and I have not seen him ever since."
The late night silence enters the room, the torch dims and the village is as quiet as a shadow.
"The night is late Aether, go back to your room and sleep, I shall do the same."
Fenris and Aether went to sleep
The Moonlight shines as bright as a star, covering everything in its ashen light, and under that light, stands a person in a black cloak. He stands at the pinnacle of a mountain, viewing Wolfvillage high up from the sky
"They told me to capture them, but this is wayyy more fun isn't it."
A creepy smile covers his face
"Yes yes yes yes YES!!, be a good PET and let me play with you more, heahhahhhahahhaha."
His psychopathic laugh echoes, and slowly fades away into the darkness
End of Chapter 3.