Vale Athrimir was six when he declared he would become Emperor of the Eternal Skies. No one believed him or took him seriously, of course. Some even laughed at him. The first and last Emperor had disappeared hundreds of years ago, but that did not stop the bright, green-eyed boy from proclaiming his dream, determination and will shining in his steady gaze.
Now that he was fifteen, it was still what he wanted, and today, he would take the first step toward proving it by earning his Order Mark and achieving the highest potential.
"You do not look particularly nervous," Nadia said in a hushed voice, glancing at him from the corner of her brown eyes. They were standing in the hall of the Knight Assembly branch in Kazekiri, the capital of their Clan, where they would manifest their Order Marks.
Vale's eyes traced the crowd below them, the Clan leader, the Elders, and all the important people gathered to watch him and the others manifest their powers. They stood on a platform along with nearly thirty other aspirants, waiting for the Holy Knight to begin the ritual that would release their Marks.
The hall was vast, a sprawling space filled with chairs painted with symbols that hummed faintly with power. Stained glass windows cast colored light across the floor, and the air smelled of old ink and incense smoke.
Vale smiled, carefree. "Why should a Young Master of the Athrimir Clan be nervous? We are a family of powerful Knights. We breed warriors who have shaken the Highlands. I am about to become the most powerful of them all."
Nadia, his childhood friend, rolled her eyes. She was used to his way of speaking, such was the privilege of being a prince of the Clan. "I am not talking about how much power you will have. I am talking about what type of Order you will get."
Vale shrugged. He wore a white robe like the others, with a sword strapped to his waist. His black hair, thick and untamed like the mane of a Highland lion, was combed back and tied with a string. He glanced at his father again, the Clan leader seated with a flat expression as he listened to the Holy Knight drone on about the Knight Assembly.
The Order Mark determined which type of Knight Order they would belong to in the Assembly, the type of magic they would wield. There were the Elemental, Holy, Prime, Mystic, and Dark Orders. And then there was the Forbidden Order, reserved for outcasts.
Vale nodded at Nadia. "Every Order has the potential to be strong, so it does not matter. Maybe the Dark Order like the Clan leader would not be so bad."
"Or the Holy Order, like your brother," Nadia whispered.
"Stepbrother," Vale said firmly, his eyes darkening. His stepbrother, Thrain, was a year older, a contender for Clan leader, and already a Squire after his manifestation the previous year.
"You two will get thrown out if you keep at this," came a hiss from behind them. Mark, the grandson of one of the Elders, smirked. "But we would miss Prince Vale's flair."
Vale patted his sword. "Have I not shown enough already? I am the fastest sword for a reason."
Nadia stifled a sigh. Yes, he was a brat, but he had earned the right. At ten, they began training for knighthood, and she knew just how much effort he put into it. Vale was the best in their set through sheer hard work. So maybe he had earned the right to be arrogant.
Mark smirked behind him. "Do you think you will continue to be a star after this manifestation? There are monsters in the world."
"There are monsters, and there are monsters," Vale snapped, raising his voice. Groans echoed behind him. This was just the type of thing expected of him, and the Holy Knight glared.
"Do you have something to say, Vale Athrimir?" Castellen Windsor asked. His wrinkled face tightened in warning. He was the leader of the Knight Assembly branch here, and he had taught Vale enough to know just how much trouble he was.
Vale smiled easily and stepped forward, heart beating fast as he felt all the eyes in the room settle and sharpen on him. Today would not only be for getting his Mark, it would be the start of his path to power and becoming an Emperor. He must outshine his brother.
Vale clasped his hands together gently and then bowed. "Of course, Castellen. The History of the Knight Assembly, also known as the Grand Order, began long ago when the first and last Emperor of the Eternal Skies forced the different Orders to come together and share to fight for him. He was known as the greatest human to ever live, the strongest. He brought the Orders together and with his might united all the Clans under one rule."
Castellen Windsor cleared his throat, his hand on the stone altar beside him raised to silence Vale quickly. "Stop, do not talk about how he unified the Clans. Tell us about the Grand Order."
Vale liked to talk about the unification of the Eternal Skies as it was far more interesting, but he forced himself to talk about the Knight Assembly. "The History of the Knight Assembly is also the history of the Emperor because he brought them together to protect his territories, the Empire, and to fight against the monsters. He forced the different Knight Orders to share their knowledge with each other and to train Knights.
"But after the Empire fell seven hundred years ago, the objective of the Knight Assembly changed. They now focus on exterminating monsters and training Knight aspirants as well."
Castellen Windsor looked disappointed, but with Vale already in his grasp, he was not ready to let him go that easily. "What about rifts? What can you tell us about them?"
Vale hid a smile. He took both his martial arts training and theory very seriously, and he would not miss this opportunity to shine. "Rifts were created by the Arcane Wizards who ruled this continent a long time ago. They wanted to make contact with another plane of existence, and they did, because the rift they created came with monsters and ruins. The monsters are always intent on taking our lands for themselves, and so any Clans with rifts in their territories formed the Borderlands where they fight against the monsters.
He took a deep breath. "Also, we can trace the origin of the Knight back to the Arcane Wizards because they made use of Knights to fight the mess they created because they could not be bothered. Some people even say they created Knights. The records of events that followed after that were flawed because everyone was trying to contain the monsters, and a lot of libraries got burned to the ground and..."
"Thank you so much, Vale Athrimir," Castellen Windsor said grudgingly. "You are indeed of the Athrimir Clan."
Vale only bowed and stepped back, his smile still firmly in place. His gaze flickered to his father, but the Clan leader was looking as flat as before, though some of the Elders were looking at Vale with a slight frown.
He hid his smile. Yes, today was only going to get better.
Castellen Windsor turned to his stone altar, which every surface was covered in runes from an Enchanting Knight of the Mystic Order. It was an enchanted tool of great power that would inject essence forcefully into the body and unlock the essence core if the individual had it, and then it would give the Mark of the Order.
It would also measure the potential power of the individual.
Castellen Windsor tapped some of the symbols on the altar and each one glowed a deep red in reply. He whispered some words before he turned to the aspirants. "You have all been taught how to conduct yourselves here."
The aspirants shifted, murmuring. Tension hung among them so thick it could be felt. Even the bravest among them felt as if they were on a cliff's edge. This was it. It was better to become a Knight, even a weak one with low potential, than to fail at activating their essence core.
Vale smiled, a forced one, and clasped his slightly trembling hands together behind him. He would not show weakness here. The only thing to show was how powerful he was. Yes, he was an Athrimir, a Clan powerful enough to rule over millions of people.
Castellen Windsor continued after he got their nods. "Just put your hands on this altar and the essence will flood into you. Do not forget, you should not fight it. Your core will be activated and then a feedback will create your Order, and your potential will be shown."
"Eadbert Alred, come here."
And so it began. A tall boy, taller even than Vale, with a mop of hair that covered his eyes, came out with all the joy of a pig in the butcher house. But come he did, and Castellen Windsor instructed him to place his right palm flat on the altar.
Eadbert's hand hovered above it and everyone sucked in a deep breath. Vale's eyes focused tightly on the altar and he forgot to breathe as the boy slowly placed his hand on it. Nothing happened for a few seconds and the silence was almost too much on the aspirant, but then it lit up, every single symbol on the altar lit with deep yellow and vibration that washed over Eadbert and painted the surroundings golden.
Vale studied what was happening closely. He watched as Eadbert stiffened as his face went slack and then he suddenly jerked as if shocked. The golden light around him gathered together and then shot forward in a thick pillar that reached Eadbert's chest.
The reaction from the people seated in the hall was instant, sighs and murmuring. Eadbert did well if average. But now, he had truly begun his journey as a Knight. But it was not over. The boy shoved his hand away as if burned and then raised the back of his hand to his widening eyes.
Right there on the back of his hand glowed a purple circle with a scythe inside. The Dark Order.
Castellen Windsor clapped his hands. "The Dark Order gained a new Knight today."
And those Knights that carried the mark of the Dark Order sitting in the crowd and those that lined the wall shouted back in reply. Even the Clan leader nodded.
Eadbert did not join the aspirants as someone was quickly there to whisk the still stunned boy away.
It was as if the first one was an icebreaker because the aspirants relaxed after that, and they began to call them one after the other at random. Most of them were average Knights, but they saw two whose glow blazed higher than the rest. One of them was in the Holy Order, which made Windsor smile for the first time.
"Seems you have pissed Windsor off and he is making you wait until everyone is done," Nadia said.
Vale rolled his eyes. "What about you? You have not been called as well."
"Everyone knows I am your oath-knight, well, I will be, so it makes sense that I am still here beside you..."
"Nadia." Castellen Windsor snapped after he had called her twice, as she was too busy talking.
She shot Vale a glare when he tried and failed to contain his laughter. She hurried away, bowing twice at Windsor before she placed her hand on the altar.
Vale pretended he was not worried as he watched her place her hand on the altar. He held his breath as she activated her core and then golden light gathered and shot up far above her height, the highest yet.
A purple circle shone on her hand. Inside it gleamed three silver stars around a crown, the mark of the Mystic Order.
Vale took a deep breath and shot her a smile as she was led away to stand beside the wall. And even through the distance he heard her voice, "Try to beat that." He took it as a challenge.
And then finally, Castellen Windsor called, "Vale Athrimir."
The hall went silent immediately as eyes settled more on the Clan leader than Vale. It was as if this was what a lot of them had been waiting for today. The boy who might be the future Clan leader, would he be worth supporting? Would his potential be as high as his skill with the sword?
Vale made himself relax as he walked forward, and then before he placed his hand on the altar, he made sure he stared at everyone and they saw the smirk on his mouth. And then finally, he placed his palm on the cold altar.