Chapter Four : What your hiding
Lukas calmed his rapidly beating heart by taking a deep breath and focused his mind solely on the task at hand.
He felt the familiar tingling feeling in his veins as mana began to swirl, gathering at his fingertips. Slowly and carefully, he injected his mana into the orb, watching it as it began to glow with a soft light.
He immersed his mind into the myraid elements and tried to resonate with the elements within the orb. Yes, this simple-looking ball held thousands of elements and traits albeit in the tracest of amounts.
And by using ones mana, one could resonate with the most suitable element and trait for them.
Lukas maintained the constant flow of mana. As the glow continued to increase, Lukas began resonating with an element.
The light from the orb started to change and started becoming darker before blooming with a deep purple color.
Seeing the changes, Lukas' eyes lit up. He awakened his first trait, "TELEKINESIS"
Even the composed Rhys Verdon wasn't expecting it and gazed at his wife, who was the most excited as her son took after her and awakened her own family trait, "TELEKINESIS".
The orb's color started changing again. Lukas focused and started sensing it.
The deep purple color of the orb started shifted and becoming darker and darker, transforming into a deep, almost pitch black shade. Intense heat radiated from it. Even the air around the orb seemed to fluctuate with waves of heat, creating a distorted, mirage-like effect.
The light stone started flickering, as if someone was turning it on and off continuously.All three people in the room were shocked. The atmosphere grew tense.
"Honey, it should be Gravity,right?" Lukas' mother asked in an uncertain tone, shaking, and clutching the helm of her dress tightly.
"Let's hope it isn't Darkness." Lukas thought, flinching at the mere possibility.
Lukas' father remained silent, looking to Nayla for answers.Nayla herself was shocked, observing more carefully to check what element it was. Yet, the orb slowly returned to its normal state before changing again.
The orb's color began to shift, brightening up with a brown-yellowish hue before dimming down and returning to its original form.
"Yes!! the Earth element," Lukas was excited,
He looked to Madam Nayla for answers, worrying about the truth of his second trait.
"No, let's not hope for that," Lukas convinced himself, waiting for Nayla to speak up.
Nayla was still pondering the second element that he had awakened, her eyebrows were tightly knit using her full focus on the task.
"Hmm," Nayla murmured, her eyes narrowing as she continued to analyze the orb's residual energy. The room held its nervous, almost fearful atmosphere, awaiting her assessment.
After careful analysis, Nayla finally spoke, her voice steady, "Lukas Ver Owsdin, Congratulations you have awakened the trait 'MAGNETISM'."
Simultaneously, two sighs escaped from his parents mouths, as thankfully, their worst nightmares didn't come true.
Lukas also sighed in relief. Fortunately, his fate isn't that twisted. What he feared most, "DARKNESS".
The element of the sheer terror of humanity, a harbinger of misfortune. When the war broke out, "DARKNESS", was considered one of the most powerful elements of the world until the renowned weilders started behaving weirdly when the demons approached this world.
And as the scholars expected, the ones with 'DARKNESS' started changing. Their behavior twisted, and their actions completely irrational. They massacred their own comrades' and joined the demons in their assualt.
The phenomenon began being called as the "DEMON POSSESSION".
And from that point, Those with "DARKNESS" element, even those not possessed were executed, and their relatives were put to prison and to be baptized, leaving no chances of demonic possession. In the process, they will lose all the power, the lands they held, along with their authority to wield mana, either sealed or completely crippled.
Those unwilling to meet this end hurried to join up with the Dark forces.
Thus, seeing Lukas hadn't awakened that cursed element , the atmosphere relaxed and everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief.
"The element 'EARTH' along with traits 'TELEKINESIS' and one of the rare advanced utility traits 'MAGNETISM'. "Not bad" Lukas was excited enough to obtain mana now, he had a good element and traits too.
Now he would be able to use magic.
Rhys Verdon looked at his son, in deep thought. "Magnetism, haah."
"Ahhhhk!"
Someone grabbed Lukas from the side, hugging him tightly. His mother seemed more excited than anyone, she somehow held her excited self until the ceremony ended.
"Oh, my genius son. My son is the best!"
The sudden embrace startled Lukas,"Mom can you let go? you're squeezing the magic out of me."
"I don't want to!"
Lukas: Ahk! mom, I can't breathe.
Nayla: Sigh, she's the same as always.
Meanwhile, Lukas' father was pondering what to do next.His son didn't awaken his own unique trait HEAT. Rhys ver owsdin is a magician with the elements: EARTH, which everyone awakens for their bloodline, AIR, also somewhat because of bloodline, and HEAT being his unique trait.
He thought that Lucas would awaken 'AIR' too, just like him. From a young age, he was quite agile.
"Sigh, the preparation I made for putting him in the Agis squad was in vain." Rhys sighed, looking at the love-dovy interaction of his wife and his son.
"TELEKINESIS and EARTH. The path of a knight. It seems that I have to protect him until he's strong enough."
After pondering this for a while , he returned to his old, composed self.
" Alessia,let him rest. He has to depart early tomorrow." He spoke with a serious tone.
Lukas' mother pouted at this and was reluctant to leave her cute son, but ultimately she let him go as he had to sleep early for tomorrow.
And thus Lukas escaped from her clutches and could finally breathe normally .
"Charlos, Accompany Lukas to his room and tell Nolen to come here."
Out of the blue, like a ghost made of steam. A figure appeared right beside Lukas.
"As you wish, Master."
Bowing down to Rhys courteously ,he looked to Lukas with a smile.
"Congratulations, young master, on your successfull awakening."
Lukas nodded in response and looked at his father.
"I will be off then, Father, Mother, and Madam Nayla."
Lukas turned around and exited the room with his butler. The big wooden doors closed silently.
After sometime, the doors burst open again,and Nolen entered the office.
----
At Lukas' bedroom,
"Young master, I wish you good luck on your journey ahead," Charlos said, standing in front of the door
Lukas turned around with a smile and looked at him with gratitude.
"Thank you for your service all these years." Lukas said, bowing his head slightly in a bid of acknowledgement.
Charlos wasn't expecting such a reaction as his young master rarely ever showed such rich expressions.A smile formed on his face.
"Be safe, young master," he muttered, before closing the door as quietly as possible and leaving behind Lukas in his room.
Lukas stretched his back.
"Thanks again for saving me from the shadows."He muttered to the empty room and recalled those many times Charlos came to check up on his safety after every assassination attempt or attack of any kind.
Although he tried to hide the traces of battle or wounds on himself to not worry Lukas but Lukas was observant enough to pick up on those little details and the worry he tried to hide in those eyes at those times.
So Lukas was really grateful.
Taking an apple from the table, he took a bite and gazed at the sky towards the bright blue moon.
"He should have acted already, right?"
----
Meanwhile,
Nolen exited the office after some brief talking about the frontline and Lukas' elements.
He was more curious now what that guy would come up with now that he could use magic. It always felt like he was hiding something. Although lukas was good at hiding it but there was still that faint feeling. Always being cooped up in that stupid tree, Nolen was curious about what Lukas did there.
"Let's see what you're hiding, younger brother of mine." Nolen smiled and started heading for the same old lonely tree on the hill.
[To be continued...]