Ray pushed the door to his apartment open. The open door let in a beam of light that shone against the cold floor.
He walked in, dropping his bag on the floor, and crashed on the couch.
"School's far too stressful!" He groaned and sat up.
His eyes wandered about his apartment. It wasn't too small, just about enough for one person, maybe two if he was willing to share.
Ray looked at the coffee table and picked up the framed picture of a couple.
The woman has the same hair color as him, while the man had his eyes. 'Mom and Dad, where are you?'
He dropped the picture back on the table and went into his room.
Ray brought out a small box and opened it. It had small embroidery materials.
He grabbed a needle and thread, pulling off his shirt.
"Bunch of idiots, picking on someone who they know can't fight back." He scoffed.
"I mean who does that? Well, I would but that's because I'm smart!! You don't have to be smart when you're strong." Ray sat on his couch and threaded a needle.
He threaded the needle and winced as he forced it through the high-quality material. His hand reached for the remote and turned on the TV, in time for a live feed.
The reporter smiled widely at the camera, reverence evident in her eyes. "As you can see, the son of Daystar and now Tier 5 prodigy, First Light, has successfully completed his tribulations!!"
Her voice was vibrant as she spoke into the microphone.
The image cut to a tall blond man wearing a set of pure white clothes, "That must be a hard wash!" Ray scoffed as he watched.
First Light's skin was almost as pristine as his clothes, almost absorbing the stage lights. His blue eyes scanned the field of cameras facing him.
The reporter's voice cut in, "It is said that he'll be joined by Daystar himself. After more than a decade of avoiding public eye, is it actually possible that such an old genius will step out of the shadows to congratulate his- Oh! And there he is now!"
An old man appeared from thin air, his hair greyed and he barely kept his balance with the aid of a cane.
Yet despite the wrinkles on his skin, anyone staring at him could feel something was off about him.
Ray's lips curled up, "Who was the unlucky woman that bore his child at such an old age? Mustn't have been pleasant."
Daystar walked to his son and shook hands with him under the flashes of a million cameras.
The view cut back to the reporter and the admiration in her eyes seemed to be only stronger, "First Light's story is quite the inspiration to many!"
Ray scoffed, "Yeah. Inspiration. I bet being rich is a wild inspiration." He briefly looked at what he has sewing.
"Just like many, he was born with two cores—" His face blanched and his hand gripped the remote.
"a deformity that prevents most from pursuing the cultivation journey. He didn't let it stop him. He-"
Ray pressed the power button on the remote and the TV went off.
His scowling reflection glared at him on the dark screen.
"Nepo babies." His voice was stifled and he swallowed the lump in his throat.
Ray looked at his shirt, he had completed the stitch. It wasn't the best and still had some holes but it was better than before.
He turned to his bag and reached for it.
Wrapping his hands around its strap, he pulled it to himself and pulled the zip open.
His hands reached into it and pulled out a rather worn-out book with stains—some from food and others from what Ray hoped was a dairy product.
'Basics of Elemental Cultivation.'
The book has over a dozen library stamps covering the writer's name. Simple but functional, exactly what Ray could afford, or better yet, what he couldn't afford.
He flipped the pages open for the fifth time that day, "Yadada, I've read this part… um…" His eyes skimmed over the lines.
Ray smiled when he caught what he was looking for; Fire core cultivation technique.
He placed the shirt beside him and pulled his legs under him on the couch so that he was sitting on them.
His fingers traced out the lines.
Ray closed his eyes and followed the instructions. Luckily, it wasn't too different from the Water core cultivation technique.
He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. Twin spheres of red and blue revealed themselves under his breathing technique.
Just like actual twin stars, the cores spun around one another with pure darkness as their backdrop.
Ray focused on the red core and drew in a deep breath. He let it out in three sharp pulsed and inhaled deeply again.
He repeated the process while keeping a watchful eye on his fire core.
The core pulsed slightly, releasing a little bit of its red energy. Ray winced as the flesh around his abdomen burned a little from the heat.
Red particles of energy flickered into existence in the darkness surrounding his cores.
Ray's eyebrows knitted and his breathing completely changed in pattern: he exhaled deeply and took in air in three short pulsed.
The red particles drifted to the red core. With each millimeter moved, it felt like its speed reduced.
Another pulse ripped through the core and the speed of the particles slightly increased, drifting faster to the core.
They gathered around the core and the first particle made contact. Ray's body burned with a comfortable warmth.
His tense muscles relaxed involuntarily under the imposed comfort.
The particles drifted into the core and a steady wave of energy courses through it, pushing the boundaries of the core.
Pressure built within the core, pushing its internal walls but before anything could happen, his water core reacted.
It expelled blue particles that drifted into the red core and Ray's world went dark with pain.