"What is he doing here?" The murmurs began, and slowly spread through the grand halls.
"Isn’t this his fifth ti now? Or maybe his tenth?" another voice whispered, though not quietly enough.
"What else would you expect from the King’s Bastard?" ca a particularly harsh reply.
Prince Aiden heard these most of these side talks as he walked through the halls of Arcane Spire, the kingdom’s Magic academy. However, he had learned to ignore them over the years.
Aiden had this dark, shabby hair that fell across his face as he kept his eyes forward, wearing his usual green leather vest over a white shirt with puffy sleeves, cinched with a brown leather belt.
The comnts didn’t bother him anymore; well that was what he told himself. His entire focus was on getting into the academy, and nothing else mattered.
He found an empty corner and stood alone, which wasn’t unusual for him. Besides having no friends, he was also one of the oldest aspirants there. A nineteen-year-old surrounded by teenagers who were three to five years younger than he was.
Then the atmosphere in the hall shifted. This was when his half-siblings, the twins Lysandra and Lucas, walked steadily into the room, and suddenly every eye was drawn to them. They had things to say as well but the were all in total admiration.
Lysandra herself commanded attention effortlessly. Her silvery-white hair was styled elegantly, in an updo with this stylish braiding, while loose strands frad her face. She had blue eyes and her skin was pale and just as beautiful. She wore a formal off-white gown, and her subtle makeup only enhanced her natural beauty.
Lucas as well, drew admiring stares. His white hair was curly and voluminous, and though he dressed similarly to Aiden, sohow everything looked more refined on him.
The twins then separated to join their respective groups of friends, leaving Aiden alone in his corner.
This was the Hall of Evaluations, and currently, it was filled with nobles, elites, and children of the Royal Family, the Crowleys.
At the upper gallery levels of the halls, sat the eight Guild Captains. Five n and three won, where they observed with keen interest as they would choose new mbers for their guilds based on today’s assessnts.
Ser Thornbaut, the Magic Assessnt Supervisor, had waited for all the royal children to arrive before beginning. He stood before a stone pedestal that had glowing runes carved onto them, and atop it was a floating crystal orb.
This orb asured the strength of one’s magic and categorized them into ranks, and all one had to do was channel their mana into it.
A rune would then appear on the surface of the orb which would state rank of the magic, and then Thornbaut would read aloud for everyone to hear.
"The Magic Rank Assessnt will officially begin," Thornbaut announced, his voice echoing through the halls which brought it to abrupt silence.
"We’ll start with the royal family, then I’ll call the rest of you forward one by one," Thornbaut said, before shifting his gaze toward Aiden, who stood alone to the side. However, before he could beckon the prince to co forward, Lucas stepped up boldly.
"I’ll go first," Lucas declared with a confident grin on his face. That was a lack of manners, but only soone from the royal family could behave so boldly and have it overlooked.
Thornbaut simply nodded and motioned toward the orb. "Place your hand on it and channel your magic," he instructed.
Lucas did as told, placing his right hand on the crystal surface. The orb glowed brightly, which was always a promising sign of high magical power. When the rune appeared, Thornbaut read it aloud: "A-Rank!"
Admiring chatter broke the silence, though people tried to keep their voices low, however soone said, "As expected of a true blood!" not quite quietly enough.
Thornbaut then motioned his hand to the side, which was where Lucas was to go stand at and away from the crowd till the assessnts were completed. Lucas moved as instructed and clearly proud of himself. He knew the Guild Captains would be interested in recruiting a young prince whose wind magic was at an A-rank status.
Next, Thornbaut motioned to Lysandra, and the crowd didn’t even attempt to stay quiet this ti. The princess was the person every Guild Captain watched most carefully, since she had directly inherited her father’s powerful gravity magic.
She placed her hand on the orb and channeled her energy, and the crystal glowed even brighter than it had for Lucas, and when the rune appeared, Thornbaut announced: "S-Rank!" Pure joy spread across Lysandra’s face as the crowd erupted into excited conversation.
Even the Guild Masters in the upper gallery began talking animatedly among themselves. However, Lucas shook his head disappointedly, for once again, his twin sister had outperford him. "Not only did she inherit Father’s magic," he whispered to himself, "she also matched his rank from when he was her age."
Prince Aiden had just watched both his siblings achieve practically the best possible rankings, and now nervousness washed over him. He wasn’t hoping to match his siblings, of course he would never dream of such a thing.
But all he wanted was to achieve just enough rank to finally enter the magic academy after five attempts.
Thornbaut raised his right hand and called out, "Quiet!" The hall fell silent at once. Then he motioned toward Aiden.
So people in the crowd hissed, while so others looked away, in anticipation of the embarrassnt Aiden was about to endure yet again.
Aiden walked toward the orb, his heart pounding, but then he repeated the words in his mind, "You’ve co this far, You cannot go back with nothing today."
"Channel your magic," Thornbaut instructed. Aiden nodded and placed his hand on the crystal surface, then channeled every bit of magical energy that he could muster.
There was a glow, the faintest anyone had ever seen, but still a glow. And then a flicker of hope crossed Aiden’s face, because at least this ti, sothing had happened.
The rune appeared, and Thornbaut announced: "E-Rank!"
"What?" Aiden said, looking up from the orb in confusion.
There were muffled sounds of chuckles through the hall from people who tried to hide their faces or covered their mouths, but Lucas couldn’t hide his reaction. He tried to hold it in until it turned into loud and open laughter, before Lysandra elbowed him hard in the ribs.
"Ow!" Lucas yelled, straightening up and trying to muffle his laughter. Lysandra was the only other person who felt genuinely sorry about the outco. She knew how hard Aiden had worked over the past year to sohow improve his magic.
"Please, check again," Aiden said, tears forming in his eyes as he looked at Thornbaut pleadingly. Without waiting for permission, he placed his hand on the orb again and channeled mana into it.
Unfortunately, there was the sa faint glow on the orb, which was followed by the sa rune. Thornbaut looked at the symbol and sighed before eting the tearful, hopeful gaze of the young prince.
"It’s the sa result, my Prince. I’m sorry," Thornbaut said whilst moving his hand to the opposite side of where his siblings stood at. Apparently, a side for people who won’t get into the academy.
However, Aiden stepped backward slowly, then turned and walked through the hall. He wasn’t about to stand there and endure the embarrassnt once again.
Though he heard shaful giggles and hurtful whispers from every corner of the room as he made his way to the doors and left entirely.
...
Every year, Arcane Spire assessed mages and those with magical potential for enrollnt.
Normally, all you needed was an E-rank score to gain admission, and under normal circumstances, Aiden would have been overjoyed, for it would an that he could finally enter the academy.
However, different rules applied to royals and nobles. They needed at least a D-rank assessnt. The E-rank threshold existed to be considerate to the lower classes, but it was also a form of discrimination designed to maintain social standings.
The Royal family and families of high social standing were even particularly careful about marriage alliances, ensuring they didn’t dilute their magical bloodlines.
The assessnt age was fourteen, and no one could attempt entry to Arcane Spire before then. When Aiden first tried at fourteen, the orb hadn’t even glowed and he had scored literally nothing.
This shocked even Thornbaut, because achieving no score at all ant soone had negligible mana or none whatsoever. Usually, only peasants or commoners with false claims about having magic or any mana at all scored nothing.
So common folk even saved money all year just to buy entry passes to the assessnt halls, hoping to catch a glimpse of royalty rather than actually being tested.
Every royal and noble, until Aiden’s first assessnt, had easily scored high enough to enter the academy. The Crowley family in particular had never produced anyone who scored below B-rank. In fact, achieving only B-rank as a Crowley was considered almost shafully low.
Now Aiden, on his fifth attempt, could barely muster enough magical energy for an E-rank assessnt at age nineteen.
For four years, he had failed completely. After his fourth failure at eighteen, he had begun taking extra lessons from palace mages, desperately trying to improve. He begged every Guild Captain who visited the throne room to teach him, pleaded with even the Grand Magus whenever possible.
Each one turned him down, either bluntly telling him he had no magical potential or letting him down gently, but the answer was always no.
At eighteen, when most young n in the kingdom celebrated their coming of age by visiting pleasure houses, Aiden had chosen to remain celibate. He abstained for a full year, staying a virgin until he could gain admission to the academy.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have desires, he was a man after all, but he refused to let anything derail him from his purpose.
Only Grandal, one of the palace healers, had taken pity on Aiden and helped him develop whatever small magical ability he possessed.
Over the past year, Aiden had finally managed to produce fla magic, tiny sparks, but flas nonetheless. The day he first created those sparks had filled him with pure joy. It was proof that he had so mana, however little.
He had practiced constantly, and was confident that the next assessnt would finally get him into the academy. But today had proven that even his small improvent wasn’t enough.
...
Outside the main assessnt hall, commoners and regular townspeople waited in orderly lines for their turn. They stood on both sides of the corridor, expecting the nobles inside to finish so they could proceed with their own evaluations.
When the doors opened, they grew excited, thinking it was their turn, but only one person erged: The Prince, Aiden.
The doors shut behind him as he walked between the filed commoners, leaving them whispering about what had happened inside and why only one person had left.
Unfortunately, these common people couldn’t identify Aiden as one of King Jarius Crowley’s sons. His true identity was hidden from most people outside noble circles to avoid publicizing the sha of his illegitimate birth. Additionally, he lacked the distinctive white hair of the Crowley family, so most people would simply assu he was so minor noble.
Aiden left the academy building in a rage and climbed into his waiting carriage.
"Back to the palace, my Prince?" asked the servant who guided the horses.
Aiden then responded, "No. Take to the finest pleasure house in the city."
User Comments
0 comments from readers