Death tablets

As if he had been expecting his name to be called in a grand manner, Damine suddenly walked into the chapel with Alden and Aurelia trailing behind him.

Ashton turned in their direction as they walked in and he gave Damien a small smirk in respect to having defeated him in the battle while the look in Damien's eyes could have killed him as he was still brewing in anger to have lost that final test to Ashton.

A small status screen materialized beside Damien and Ashton quickly read the information before he walked away.

[ALLY HOST STATUS]

[Name: Damien Linus]

[Age: 19]

[Class: Summoner]

[Grade: High]

"Ally my foot!" Ashton sneered, rolling his eyes at Damien as he walked past him.

'This explains how he knew my name the first time we met.' Ashton thought to himself. 'But I didn't have a system ability then…how could he read my status?' Ashton asked himself in his thoughts and his conclusion got him puzzled. He decided to ignore the whole concept and focus.

Damien finally reached his destination, Master Chen's presence. He gave a simple bow and awaited Master Chen's words.

"The first group will be the leading group. They have to get to the Eastern part of this city first so they can analyze the depth of danger that is going on there. Hence, they will travel by vehicle. The rest of the groups will go through different routes to serve as backup for the first group." The silver ringed mage explained in place of Master Chen.

When everything was clear, Master Chen finally spoke.

"Every member of group two should come with me to the holy shrine." He said and he turned around to face the huge stone that was behind him. He touched it after reciting a spell and the stone made way for him breaking into two equal parts which had served as an hidden door.

Without much hesitation, every member of group two began to follow Master Chen into where he had called the holy shrine and as soon as the last member had walked in, the stony entrance closed shut.

Inside the holy shrine were a thousand lit candles and name plates. There was not an ounce of darkness in the vast room which seemed like a huge library. The name plates all had a candle lit beside it.

They all watched in awe as they had never seen a place like that before. The shrine was eerie quiet but the silence was broken by a thousand unknown hum every one minute interval. Master Chen walked towards some name tabs and bade all of them to come see.

"What are these?" Ashton had asked, breaking the silence with his question.

"These are your name tabs. Every student of this academy once they had attuned with their spirit guide, their name tab appears in this shrine and their candle lights up after attunement." Master Chen explained.

"What exactly does it mean, Master?" Marcus asked as his curiosity had been piqued by why they needed to know about the existence of their name tab.

"These tabs are not just ordinary name tags," Master Chen began to give his reply. "These tags are your death tabs." He finally broke the news.

"What?!" They all exclaimed except the senior students.

"If you survive your first mission, your death date will appear on your name tab and this is a reward from the heavens for completing a mission against the Arkillians."

The thought of knowing the day one would die sent a shill down the spine of everyone and suddenly they felt a cold gust of wind flush through the shrine. Marcus finally stepped forward after his eyes had darted about the stone made table that held their tabs. He said,

"Why are there six name tabs instead of seven?" He asked.

Everyone except Master Chen looked at the tabs to count and surprisingly there were exactly six tabs instead of seven.

"That's true!" Alden said as he had finished counting first. "Who's name is not here?"

"Ashton's!" Aurelia who had been quiet all long finally said.

"Eh?"

They all looked at the tabs again to read the names that were inscribed in each tablet and unfortunately, Ashton's name was not inscribed in any of the tablets.

"How is this possible? Why does Ashton not have a tag as well? What does it mean?" Ulysses asked, his voice laced with genuine concern.

"Does this mean Ashton is going to die during our first mission?" Jamil finally asked boring laser beam eyes into Master Chen's eyes.

"Jamil!" Marcus called urgently in protest to him mentioning the word death.

"There are two probabilities as to why Ashton's name tab is yet to be added in this holy shrine. One is that he might live more than every normal human had lived and…" he paused, his action piquing more suspense in their hearts.

Ashton watched Master Chen's lips subtly as he awaited the second probability to roll out of his mouth. The tension surrounding him was rising really fast and he could pass out due to it but he maintained his stance since he didn't know what exactly the second probability would be. Master Chen finally opened his mouth and said,

"Yes, he might die."

As if those words had quenched the fire that had brewed around him, Ashton heaved a sigh of relief and he calmed down.

Marcus turned at Ashton abruptly to see his reaction but to his surprise, the boy wasn't shaken by the news.

"It's okay," Ashton said, covering his mouth a bit as he yawned. "You don't have to look at me with pity." He continued as he turned at Marcus who's eyes were now filled with concern. "You think I will just sit still and wait for death to come take me?" He asked with a frail smile.

"Don't be a burden and die on us during the mission!" Ulysses hissed as he looked away from Ashton.

"I will heal every one of your wounds." Alden added with a soft pat.

"Better still, I will protect you from getting hurt." Jamil also said.

"Argh! What's up with you guys? What's with this sudden cringe attitude?" You all should stop it! I'm not going to die!"

"You can only die by my hands, Ashton!" Damien sneered as he plunged his devil eyes into Ashton. "You are still owing me one."

"Ahem!" Master Chen interrupted them by clearing his throat. "You all have to set out now before nightfall."

Ashton puffed his cheeks and nodded at Master Chen's words. He definitely would not let a mere death tab scare him off from going on the mission. He had too, fighting the Arkillians was what he had wanted to do his whole life and now that he had been assigned to destroy them, his death meant nothing.

'I will defile fate during this quest!' he thought to himself and an evil grin crept onto his lips.

***~°~***

Before their journey to the Eastern part of the city began, they had all gone to the academy's shop to thrift some weapons they would need for their mission. The senior mages– Damien, Marcus, Alden and Aurelia were exempted as they had always had their weapons with them.

The doorbell attached to the door tinkled as Ashton pushed the door open with Ulysses and Jamil walking behind him. A man was by the counter sharpening a magaiza sword. The moment Ashton's eyes fell on the sword, he wanted it for himself as it wasn't only pretty but was the best he could handle well.

"How can I help you?" Were the first words that came out of the man's mouth. He sounded friendly and Ashton felt relaxed for a bit.

"We are here to get weapons for a mission." Jamil said, looking around the store to check for any sword he fancied.

"Buy!" The man corrected and Jamil nodded his head in approval of his word. "I see you are all new students, what are your names?" He asked.

"Ulysses," He introduced himself and pointed at the duo to mention their names. "Jamil and Ashton."

The man nodded and said, "Call me, Puden."

"How do we pay for the swords? We do not have any means of exchange yet." Jamil said again.

"Quite simply, boy. New students are given a chance to get weapons for themselves and pay back after their first heist and because you three are probably friends,..." He paused and looked at Ashton who was staring at the sword he was holding. "I will give you a discount."

"I want that sword!" Ashton finally said pointing at the sword Puden had been sharpening.

Puden let out a small chuckle. "You are still a cultivator, you cannot wield this sword without magic so you need to have leveled up to level five or above before you can even touch it." He explained and set the sword aside.

He turned at the weapon shelf that was behind him and pulled out another one.

"This one should do." He said with a smile as he stretched the sword to Ashton. "A dagger."

"Eh?" Ashton irked as he saw the size of the sword. "Definitely not my type." He murmured then walked towards the man's table to check the magaiza sword out. He stretched his hand forward to touch the sword but the moment he did, he could only hear the distorted voice of Puden…

"Do…not...touch…the…sword!"

But it was too late, he had touched it and with a loud blast, a strange gust of blue wind that had emitted from the sword sent him flying backwards and he hit his back against another weapon shelf.

"You should have told me it's this dangerous before I touched it." Ashton managed to say as he groaned in pain.