Chapter 2: Academy

One year went by while Zen and Anna gave their all to their studies. Although nothing major happened, bullying in school got worse with every passing month. It was clear as day that the children from the nobility were trying their best to disturb Zen's studies. On the day of exam, Zen and Anna reached the center 5 hours earlier just to avoid any "accidents". The exam went well and after a week Zen and Anna were waiting for their results.

"Refresh again son. Do it!" Elizabeth was sitting beside Zen while her chewing her nails.

"Calm down Liz. E..everything will be fine. Yes it will be fine. Y..yeah it will be good."

"You really can't convince anyone while stuttering like that dad. Not with that white as ghost face of yours." Anna rebuked.

"It's here! It's here!" Suddenly Zen yelled at top of his lungs.

""I am first!""

"Holy fuck! They did it! Liz they fucking did it!"

"Language" Liz said with tears in her eyes.

"Language my bi..." Mark wanted to retort but seeing the eyes which were cold as Antarctica, he stopped.

"Ahem! I mean congratulations kids. You did it."

"Sigh" Anna said while sighing.

"Although I am extremely happy with my and brother's results, I still can't shake the feeling that those children, specially from Maxwell and Pearson families will keep quiet."

Pearson and Maxwell families were two of the nine prominent noble families. They were known for their contribution in the field of genetics and technology and held power in almost all the positions related to academics. It were the descendants of these two families who were trying to suppress Zen & Anna.

"Yeah. No surprises there."

And as they thought, just after an hour social media was filled with accusations about how Zen and Anna cheated their way into college. But all Zen did was to go inside her sister's room and uninstalled her social media apps. He then opened his twitter account, and tweeted

|Heh... the high and mighty clowns should leave their positions and become social media influencers instead.|

and then deleted his apps.

This tweet shook social media. While lackeys of these families were defending, a war began between the two sides. And while this was happening, the man behind this war was sleeping soundly.

Next day -

Bham bham bham bhammmm... someone was knocking Zen's door so loudly that Zen felt that it will bring down the whole house.

"Brother wake up. We will be late for the academy."

"Alright. Just give me 30 minutes."

Yes. Today was the day of admission. Zen and Anna will leave for the academy where they will finalize their admission. Since the transportation had become efficient, it took only a few hours to reach anywhere on the earth anytime of the day.

Zen and Anna finished their breakfast and were ready to leave. When they were leaving, they could hear murmurs around them.

|They must have cheated somehow.... it's impossible for a poor mutt like him to get first place.| A loud voice resounded.

|Exactly...|

"I will beat the shit out of these bitches and make them confess. This girl also looks fine for my taste."

A man seemingly around 20 shouted with a glint in his eyes. After hearing this, Zen stopped and looked towards the man with eyes full with rage. Elizabeth and Mark were still inside the house. The man sneered and walked to Anna while ignoring Zen. When he tried to put his hands, he felt a sharp pain in his solar plexus and instantly felt extremely dizzy. While he struggled to get back into his senses, a punch knocked him out instantly.

The whole place became silent. Everyone looked at Zen as if they were looking at a demon.

"I don't care what you say, I don't care what rumors you spread among yourselves just to justify your pathetic existence. But... if you dare move against my family, I guarantee you that I will come at you with everything I have and will make you regret being born."

Although there were some faces showing disapproval, majority was terrified with Zen's actions. As for Zen, he showed no remorse on his face. He was adept in fighting since, as a lower middle class, he had to deal with bullies and street thugs almost everyday. At the same time, Elizabeth and Mark came out with distressed faces. This was the first time their children will leave for such a long time.

"What's wrong? What's with the guy lying down? Isn't he the kid who lives around the corner?"

"... Don't worry about him dad. He is just extremely drunk and fell with his face down."

"Ahh... what has happened to this..."

"Stop with the preaching dad. We are getting late."

Elizabeth sighed and said,

"If only we had more money. We could have come with you." The mood became dull. She always felt guilty that she couldn't provide everything to her kids.

"Come on mom. It's good that you guys are not coming with us. It would be difficult for us to move around with dead weights." Anna said jokingly to lighten the mood.

"Bastard! Who are you calling dead weight?"

"Do you see anyone else here?"

"FUCK YOU!"

""Hahaha"" They all laughed.

Now when they were leaving, tears were visible in everyone's eyes. The four of them had no one to rely on in this world. Now that they were separating, all four of them were feeling a strange weight on them.

"Take care mom, dad. We will visit as soon as possible. Although only weekly contact would be possible, call us anytime you need with a pretext of emergency." Anna said with a heavy heart.

"Yes. Zen, take care of your sister. And always remember...."

""Don't let anyone, be it nobles or gods, take advantage of yourselves. We are Ashfords, even if we fall, we will always fall on our enemy's corpse."" Zen and Mark said together.

"Goodbye mum, dad. Will see you later."