As Isaac entered his third year, the world around him expanded in both wonder and peril. His early childhood lessons in healing, hunting, and magic had laid a foundation, but now the stakes grew higher. The Empire of Britton, balanced precariously among seven great houses, was beginning to demand more of her heirs—and none more so than Isaac Veritas.
## A Morning in the Hunting Grounds
Sunrise fell over the Veritas estate in a chaos of gold and lavender light. The mist crept around age-old oaks, and deer stood feeding quietly in the glades whose grass was silver with dew. Isaac sat at his father's side on a bony hunting mare, the pendant around his neck—**the Heart of Veritas**—catching the early sunlight.
"Pay attention to the subtle signs," Duke Aldric taught, his deep voice rumbling. "The world tells those who pay attention: the snapping of a twig, the quiver of a hoof, the sound of distant wings. Read it all, and you will never be surprised."
Isaac nodded, his small hands firm on the reins. Though only just three years old, his senses were more acute than many an adult hunter's. He closed his eyes for a moment and sensed the beat of life around him: the bay mare's heartbeat beneath him, the crawling beat of insects stirring in the undergrowth, the subdued vibration of magic threaded through every living thing.
Ahead, nestled in ferns, a wild boar family rested. Their bristly backs rose and fell in peaceful sleep. Isaac opened his eyes and pointed. His father smiled, pleased by the vision.
"Fine," Aldric commended gently. "Now watch: not all hunts result in captured prey. It is our responsibility to see balance, not to give in to bloodlust. Learn restraint as well as shooting."
In one motion, Isaac nocked an instructional arrow—neither to kill, but to pin a piece of fur to a tree nearby, signifying dominion over kill. The arrow struck true, sinking cleanly beside the boar without damage. Aldric applauded once, his stern face splitting with pride.
You have the heart of a Veritas hunter," he told her. "One day, this will save not just our lands, but the very lives of people in the Empire."
## The Medical Library
By noon, Isaac was in the grand medical library, whose high shelves supported centuries of Veritas knowledge: books on surgical procedures, treatises on unusual diseases, journals documenting epidemics, and precise field notes on innumerable hunts and rescues.
Duchess Lyanna led Isaac to a grand mahogany table littered with herbs, powders, and jars of tinctures. Today's lesson was poisons—how they worked and how to cure them. This information kept Veritas healers a step ahead of their lethal counterparts in House Draco.
Isaac's diminutive fingers traced the smooth glass of a vial of dark red liquid. "What is this?" he asked.
"A poison that is extracted from nightshade root and dragonfly venom," Lyanna said. "It will halt a heart within seconds, but there is an antidote within the petals of the silver lotus. You will need to study the two sides of this coin."
With close supervision by his mother, Isaac prepared antidotal mixtures, weighed properties by odour and weight, and conditioned himself in giving doses to inert samples. His dexterous fingers moved with the assurance of a seasoned apothecary.
With the sun's slanting rays filtering through the stained glass, Isaac shut his eyes and breathed in the aromas of each herb. Each smell held a tale: the soft heat of chamomile, the piercing burn of aconite, the soothing gentleness of balm. In a few seconds, he knew each herb on the table and named their chief uses and risks.
Duchess Lyanna's eyes shone with pride. "You drink knowledge like a forest does rain. But don't forget: wisdom is not only knowing how but also when not to use it."
## An Unexpected Visitor
Shortly after, while Isaac was playing with wooden copies of ducal standards in the nursery garden, a shadow fell over him. He glanced up to see Lord Roderick Belmont, matured from the kind cleric of Marcus Thorne's recollection into an experienced healer whose fame now equaled his wife's.
"Isaac," Roderick said gently, kneeling to encounter the boy's eyes. "I've brought you something."
He presented a tightly rolled scroll secured with crimson ribbon. "An invitation—from the Kaiser himself."
Isaac's heart pounded. Summons from Kaiser Von Britton did not come easily, only to exceptional ones. The Kaiser's Court was the Empire's center, where policy was formed, plots were uncovered, and fates decided.
Duchess Lyanna stood in the doorway, worry dancing on her face. "Your Majesty sends for you to appear at the Festival of Ascension next month. You will show your skill to the Emperor and all seven houses."
Isaac's heart pounded. The Festival of Ascension was the transition from boyhood to the duty of noble heirs. Though he was yet young, the Kaiser's invitation was both honor and danger.
Father needs to approve," Isaac exclaimed, eyes aglow.
"I have already spoken to Duke Aldric," Roderick said reassuringly. "He feels it is time for you to take the next step on your journey."
Isaac nodded, a determination etched into his slender body. He would not fail.
## Training with House Azure
That night, Seraphina Azure came with her daughter, Seraphina Jr., who was hardly more than a year or two older than Isaac. They sat in a radiant room in the Veritas keep—walls filled with crystal prisms that broke candlelight into whirling rainbows.
"Magic is music," Lady Seraphina said to them, her voice ringing softly. "Every incantation is a melody—harmonies of intent spun through the air. Learn to hear the harmonies, and you can do miracles."
Under her guidance, Isaac practiced focusing his will into sparks of light. He learned to weave simple defensive wards, conjuring barriers of faintly glowing energy that repelled small stones cast by the Azure instructors.
When Seraphina Jr. tried to levitate a steel ball but was not successful, Isaac stood up, closed his eyes, and mumbled an incantation which he had just concocted himself. To everyone's surprise, the ball lifted off and floated peacefully in front of Seraphina Jr., who was overwhelmed with joyful laughter.
Lady Seraphina's smug smile dissolved into something more somber. "You have healing and hunting talents, and now raw magical talent. Such a convergence is unprecedented."
Isaac bowed his head. Pressure of expectation weighed upon him—wonder and fear in equal proportions.
## Whispers in the Halls
As Isaac progressed in training, rumors started to circulate within the halls of Veritas Keep. Servants whispered about strange assemblies: evenings when Duke Draco's men were spotted watching the estate at night, when Quo Vadis priests brought enigmatic parcels to the gates, and when shadowy figures crept through the woods under the light of the moon.
A late night, Isaac had been listening to two guard captains talking of a clandestine gathering in the woods along the edge of Draco lands—a conclave that would determine the future of the Empire. Curiosity and worry drove Isaac out of his chambers, pendant softly pulsing at his breast, and after the ghostly hint of voices, he trailed into darkness.
Concealed in a thicket of growth, he observed cloaked men—one with the Draco sigil, one with Rubrum's red bear, and a third with Quo Vadis runes embroidered on his robes. Their voices were too muted to discern, but Isaac detected the sinister undertones: treason, ambition, and ambitions on the throne itself.
He escaped before being found, his mind whirling. The Empire was not merely a platform for alliances—it was full of plots that endangered every home, even his own.
## The Heart's Resolve
When Isaac went back to his room, morning was breaking. He blew out the candle and touched the Heart of Veritas necklace. In its soft light, he sensed the collective wisdom of all teachers: his father's teaching on perseverance, his mother's understanding of life and death, Belmont sympathy, Azure spells, and the dark lesson that threats lay hidden in covenants.
An unspoken vow was made in his mind: he would master his talents, not for renown, but to protect the Empire. Betrayal had cost Marcus Thorne everything. But as Isaac Veritas, he bore the authority to alter fates—and he would not permit the shadows to snuff out the faint embers of hope.
As dawn's light filled the room, Isaac closed his eyes and prepared for what lay ahead. The Festival of Ascension awaited, a crucible where his abilities and loyalties would be tested before the entire Empire. The path would be fraught with peril, but he embraced it with unwavering courage.
The reverberations of seven houses bounced inside his head, but in the midst stood Isaac—heir, hunter, healer, and mage—prepared to reshape the future of Britton.