In the corner of the room sat a young boy. He looked to be in his mid-teens, plain and unremarkable. The boy had faint black circles around his eyes, they were not visible unless someone happened to look close enough. His face was devoid of emotion and his eyes looked lost.
His black hair was disheveled, untouched by any attempt to tame it. It fell unevenly—brushing the tops of his shoulders at the back, resting over his ears at the sides, and hanging just above his brows. Nothing about him stood out, nothing except that damned hair of his did.
The teenager wore a faded black tunic, its rough cloth worn thin and slightly too tight across his frame, with frayed edges and crude stitching marking years of use. Loose black trousers hung from his waist, gathered and held in place by a tightly wound cord. Over it, he wore a light-coloured outer garment, a size too large and still new, its clean fabric standing in quiet contrast to the rest of his worn attire.
His black hair was disheveled, untouched by any attempt to tame it. It fell unevenly—brushing the tops of his shoulders at the back, resting over his ears at the sides, and hanging just above his brows. Nothing about it stood out. Nothing about him did.
This was the reason why the boy was sitting alone, in the corner of the classroom...Who would even be crazy or kind enough to feel something positive towards the boy and sit next to him, certainly no one, and no one was either.
The hateful boy received a lot of wary glances from the adults and some students of his age too. All looked at him with wary and precaution and mostly hostility in their eyes. The reason why there were so many parents sitting along with their children was the mere fact that today all of them were registered as mages of the Ruby Kingdom.
No one spoke to him. No one approached.
And he did not seem to care.
Today was not an ordinary day.
Today was also the day all the commoners and orphans like him were made to unlock their Essence Rune.
The boy, Flester was an orphan-or rather he considered himself one. He was found unconscious six years ago on the gates of the city of Frosthold, the boy had no memories of his parents, past or anything-not even his name.
He just knew one thing-To hide a certain symbol.
This was one of the reason the boy was disliked, nobody knew his origin, first they suspected him to be a spy from a neighbouring kingdom.
Many powerful mages came and checked his memory, only to find a blank spot. They had no choice except to adopt the kid and put him in the orphanage. Some believed the boy's brain was altered by the mysterious mist beings, who were known to kidnap kids, erase their memories and throw them into some random place.
No one knew who or why those beings did this but the boy seemed to be one of their victim and so, who would like to be friends with someone associated with dangers like the mist beings, only another mist being would-and unfortunately there were no mist beings in the city.
Despite being in the orphanage, he was not allowed any education or care-instead the boy had to do labour. Not many hired such a hateful boy as a worker, and many who did only hired him as a temporary or as a one-time worker. That said, the works he did were not meant for a commoner orphan of ten years and received very less pay.
It was only after he became one of the few lucky and special commoners to have awakened magic was his life somewhat better, he was not given admission in the academy but was given entry into the library, and all of what the teenager knew know was from the library-of course there were some that were not mentioned in the library.
The boy had been learning to use both his elemental and light magic for two whole years with only doing progress in elemental and little to no progress in light magic.
Light magic was common to all mages, yet it remained the hardest to master. Every technique beyond the use of elements stemmed from it, and those who truly understood it stood above all others, destined to etch their names in history.
Not even the gods had ever mastered it.
It was the easiest to use, and the hardest to master.
Elemental magic differed from person, some might have the same element while some might have unique elements. Flame, Water, Wind, Earth and Lightning were the five most common elements in the world.
The rare ones were bloodline, or rather special elements-Ice, Lava, Space, Dragon and many more, some discovered, some not yet discovered. Some were extinct while some were not even born yet.
The kingdom Flester was currently on was Ruby Kingdom, considered one of the most powerful kingdoms, and the city he was living in was...Frosthold.
Frosthold lay in the southwest of the Ruby Kingdom, isolated and surrounded by danger. The city was considered the weakest in the kingdom and yet, its surroundings were deadly and dreadful.
To the north stretched the Frost Forest, and beyond it stood Gale City. The west was sealed by the towering Ice Peak Mountains, with Emberhold lying past their long, winding expanse.
The south and east were no safer—the mountains continued there as well, and beyond them lay the dreaded Undead Seas.
With death on nearly every side, Frosthold stood alone.
The Ice Peak mountains was the homeland to the Mist beings, and that alone was enough reason to stay away from the mountains, and the city itself.
The mysterious brat let out a quite sigh them looked around, his hollow eyes looked at each and every student. All were commoners, the noble class was in another room, and even among this class-many untrained bastards and orphans like him were there in the academy for the first time in their life.
At least, Flester had trained himself before, he had basic knowledge of the world and well...was mysterious.
Flester turned his head to the left, looking below from the window, he saw a clear academy ground-there were kids fighting, or rather were having a duel.
The aloof expression of him finally began to change, as if he remembered something.
Smiling faintly, and quickly hiding it-he looked in front of him-summoning his Essence Rune. He was the first to come, and was the first to register and awaken the rune among the commoner.
The way of awakening these runes were weird, a mage would forcefully push large pounds of magic in his body forcing the runes inside him to awaken, and now he could summon it any time he wanted.
Before he could read it though, the door opened and a bald man, with tight white clothes entered, his gaze travelled across the class, ignoring Flester and the other orphans.
"Is he ignoring us?" One of the orphans whispered, they were two seats front of Flester, and no one was there in the seat before him, and beside Flester.
The two boys two seats front of him were the closest anyone was sitting near him.
"Most probably." The other boy replied. "It's because we never took admission in the academy, my guess is that we'll be kicked out."
To Flester and the rest of the orphan's dismay, they were indeed told to get out...uh, well very kindly, especially to the mysterious Flester, truly a brat no one liked.
And just like they expected, they were asked to leave, and they left.
While going back to the orphanage, the mysterious Flester suddenly turned right, and when no one was looking, he disappeared.
It was time to leave the Frosthold and start his journey.