1. Four Basic Elements

huff... huff...

Ash was running like his life depended on it because it did.

" There he is ! Catch him, " yelled some rich-looking kid, and the people chasing him were probably his bodyguards.

As for why they were chasing him.....

[flashback]

It was every other normal day when Ash could be seen walking down a crowded street in a black attire with his hood and mask on, cowering half of his face from the chin up to his nose. As for what he was doing, pickpocketing.

He was passing by a lot of people he didn't let any one of them go. His hand went to every pocket he could find, and the moment he got the loot, his hands retracted and were back in his pocket.

He was collecting the necessary money to be able to enter Evania Academy secretly, so that's why his pickpocketing and not getting the money from his family pockets.

" looks like I found a big fish today," he said as he spotted some rich kid in expensive clothing. He got closer and closer and grabbed the kid's sack of coins.

Too bad for him, the kid noticed and screamed, " Hay you, stop there !! "

But of course Ash, as the thief he was, he started running before he realized he got 4 bodyguards his tail and the little brat.

Seeing their speed, he realized that they were all skilled mana users, so he couldn't help but curse out loud "shit"

[flashback ends]

Ash was crossing the border of the Aurelian Empire to get back to nort. He was running through the forest in a zigzag pattern, trying to lose them. He couldn't use his skills since his identity would be exposed.

huff... huff...

Ash was running out of stamina, and the gap between them was closing faster and faster.

He quickly entered a forest where he prepared traps for exactly this situation. He jumped up a tree, and from there, it was already easier to get from one tree to the other.

It was years of practice that made him able to jump from one tree to another he was silent and fast.

The men that were chasing him slowed down as they had to dodge all the trees while Ash was using them as a support.

The bodyguards and thayre young master were all just trying to catch up to Ash while being oblivious to the traps around them.

The bodyguard that was the closest to Ash fell into a hole in the ground that was masked by an illusion and got pierced by spikes the second bodyguard that was right behind him didn't have much time to stop and fell on the first bodyguard pushing the spikes into the first bodyguards body even further. A small grunt escaped the first bodyguards mouth.

The other two bodyguards behind reacted in time and jumped over the hole following them was the young master that yelled, " You are fired !!! " at the two bodyguards in the hole with an angry expression.

Ash looked behind and thought,' Two down three to go '

After a while, they got to the other trap. On every tree that Ash jumped on, a red magic circle appeared and exploded, making the trees fall.

The two bodyguards slowed down and summoned their mana shields, protecting their young master from harm.

The trees were falling, and the ground was shaking, making them fall and lose their mana shields.

The bodyguards had few broken bones, but their young master seemed to be fine as he escaped with only a few bruises here and there.

While they were getting up, Ash was long gone. After a while, he looked back when he stopped hearing the explosions and fall of the trees. It seems like Ash has successfully escaped.

After a few hours of running, Ash was standing before a black castle that was surrounded by dead trees and a big fence.

The castle seemed gloomy and dark, but at the same time, it looked elegant. Even though the passage of time, the castle was still standing as strong as ever.

Ash approached the front gates of the palace that opened on its own just enough for him to slide in.

The hallways were full of ornaments that were lightly craved into the black walls. The ceiling of the hallways was decorated by small light crystals, making it look like the night sky.

Ash walked further and further down the hall. Taking turns here and there. He finally arrived at a big black door that had a symbol of a full moon that was crossed out by two daggers. The symbol was inscribed into the door with much care and detail.

Ash reached out for the door handle and started pouring his black mana into it. Black mana was the very symbol of the Blake family as no one else had a black colored mana in this world other than them.

After a while, the door opened, and Ash found himself in a hallway filled with big portraits of people on each side of the wall. Under each portrait was a glass table with different items.

Some were necklaces, uniquely looking accessories, as well as rare artifacts that can't be sold no matter how much money is offered. The items belonged to the people in the portraits as some were painted with them.

Every person in the portrait has his or hers name inscribed on to the frame. Those people had one thing in common, and that was their last name. All of them were part of the Blake family.

At the end of the room, there was a portrait but without a table full of treasures. The portrait showed a black-haired youth that had silver white eyes and on the frame was inscribed Ash Blake.

After passing the hallway full of portraits, Ash entered his brothers office. He went around the office table and arrived at a wall that was full of books.

" Oj ! open up !!!! " Ash screamed at the top of his lungs, but nothing happened . He continued to scream at the books on the shelf. After a while, he started banging on them.

A few books fell onto the ground from all that banging, and the bookshelf finally fell to the ground. Ash jumped back, dodging the falling bookshelf.

The wall behind the bookshelf started twisting as the space was bending. Only a split second after there was a portal where a pale man stepped through. He had white hair and a very light toned skin color as if sunlight had never met it.

The man was levitating two inches above the ground, making him even taller as if his handsome face wasn't enough.

He was one of the guardians to the Blake's families library and was guarding one of the entrances that Ash just decided to take.

He made a very small bow while trying to hide his irritated smile. Even his forehead veins could be seen bulging.

" Welcome back, young master. " He said elegantly, but Ash was already used to it and picked up the sarcasm in his voice.

" Yah, nice to see u too, William." Without a care in the world, Ash stepped on to the bookshelf and the books while heading to the portal. Right before he entered, he heard his butler sobbing.

" Master, please don't step on these precious books." A tear found its way out of the corner of the butlers eyes.The butler dramatically wiped his tear off of his face.

Ash puted on a gentle face, and with the most sweet and caring voice, he said, " Dear butler William your a servant it's your job to clean it up, besides you could just had opened the portal sooner and this wouldn't have happened. My troat feels dry from all that screaming, you should take responsibility and bring me some of my sweet lemon tea " After those words left his mouth, the butlers lips and brows could be seen twitching and veins bulging even more vividly.

'Arrogant brat, it's a waste of time reasoning with him, I can feel my life seeping out of me every time that bastard opens up his mouth,' the butler thought as he was starting to clean up the floor with the help of his magic.

After crossing the portal, I was briefed by a familiar sight of bookshelves filled with books that seemed never-ending if im not out for food or money, then I always spend my time here I almost finished all books in here.

The collection of these books far surpassed the other royal libraries, not to mention I memorized almost all of them.

From what I remember, this is quite fascinating. There are four basic forms of elements fire, water, earth, and wind. From the four basic elements, it branches out. Like fire can become lava or lightning for water ice or steam for earth we can control different types of metals or rocks and so on, as for wind it can be sound.

But there are also people loved by this world and were born with unique bloodlines that can or can not be based on the four basic elements.