53 Chapter 53

"Mages already left the desolate area alone. Nothing grew on that barren land. Only small animals scavenged there. Little did the mages knew that the so called scavengers would be their biggest headache."

"When the first evolved magical beasts appeared, it caused casualities on a scale which wasnt seen in this part."

"The beasts werent large but they could use spells and their defense was strong. So strong that they deflected most spells off them."

"The beasts would appear time and time again. The mages pushed people away who lived closest to the desolate lands. The formed a sort of border which defended against those beasts. Only the most powerful mages could stand against them. "

"The appearence frequency of such beasts increased, as a result most of the powerful mages were stationed at the border. "

"Teams were sent to investigate. Some returned with only a few members surviving, some were completely lost. But they couldnt traverse the desolate lands. As they went further, the number of beasts increased as well. They could never reach the end and find no answers."

"The mages quit investigating. The loss of lives were meaningless. They started to defend. The facts were hidden from the masses. It would cause widespread panic. Any mage who was strong enough was sent to the border. Those who didnt seem to be fit enough were left behind to run the mage association and maintain the order of the world. Even they were kept in the dark by the council of mages who run everything. "

"They made an elaborate net of lies to keep people in the dark. They erased all the past history of the world from the reach of common people and mages. In a way they gave up on ever reaching the main world."

"Do you know there are about 500 mages graduating each year from all the mage institutes? At that rate 25000 mages would be produced in the last 50 years. Do you see those many mages around? Where are they? " Thunder king shook his head.

"No one seems to question. They blindly follow whatever they are told. Its easier that way, isnt it?" Aaron had no answer. He truly never thought about it. He always thought he had time to find the answers. He was just too busy with his own things.

"The border has high mortality rate. Mages die to give you this sense of peace. The mages at border arent allowed to leave till they are no longer able to fight. That is the price they pay. "

"I was one of such recruits. Freshly out of the one star mage institute, the best there is. Proclained a genius. I got called upon to join the border. I had always heard whispers about it. I was naive enough to think of it as glory. I spent horrible couple of years. Seeing the friends you made die every day, that leaves scars on your heart which never heals. I wanted to leave. But they didnt allowed it. I came to find out how the mage council was able to hide all of it make people stay at the border. It was blackmail. Blackmail with the lives of your dear ones. Or yours. Whatever it took. I now somehow understand what forced them into this. The control they have over this world would be lost if they didnt do it. Everything would be chaotic. The number of beasts was increasing. They defended humanity at the cost if their own. Endless massacre awaited if they failed. "

Aaron was shivering. He never expected the situation to be so serious. The peaceful life he had, it was all false. It came at the cost of many lives. They didnt even get a vote of thanks. He looked at Thunder king in new light as well. He went through that much? No wonder he was a little crazy. But that didnt absolved him from the crime he committed.

"I fought. I had countless merits. They started calling me Thunder king. I grew strong to a point they couldnt control me anymore. I had my freedom. The old man who came that day, he is the leader of the council. He had trained me on how to fight at the border."

"I left because I disagreed with the council. What they are doing is prolonging the inevitable. We have to find a way to contact the main world and need to learn what happened here and find a solution to the whole mess. The mage association had given up on contacting the main world. They are waiting for a miracle to happen."

"With the mage stone I just got, I might be able to traverse the desolate land and find a way to contact the main world and end this mess once and for all. "

Aaron thought about what he said. If what he said was right, it was indeed inevitable and the solution would be to contact the main world. But mage association was stuck in dilemma as well. What if they failed again to contact the main world. They have sent countless missions do so over the last 10000 years. None have succeeded.

"The mages you see here at the association are left overs, who couldnt make it to the borders. Hence you see the weak pathetic appearence. The ones are the border are really the strong ones. The mage families send their representatives as well. That's the only way they gain resources and are allowed to flourish. It may look like the mage association and mage families maintain a status quo on the outside, but the families had always been surpressed. The matter of the death of your friend was supressed in a similar way. "

That comment still hit the raw nerve. Aaron had a flash of anger hearing that, but he controlled it. Anger wouldnt lead him anywhere now.

"Do you know what an elemental form is?" Thunder king continued as if he didnt see Aaron's reaction.

"When you learn enough about your element as an elementalist, you can turn a part of your physical body into that element. Instead of turning, you could say, each part, even the most tiniest part of your body is filled with a little of that element. The biggest advantage of an elemental form is the usage of mage stones. In your elemental form, you could directly use the power within a mage stone to supplement your own magic power. "

That was massive. If that was right, if you found a big enough piece, you could have almost infinite amount of magic power.

What did he mean by the tiniest part though?

"I see you understand the significance. I plan to use that. The speed I can achieve is unfathomably fast in my elemental form. I hope the stone could power me to cross the distance of the desolate land. As to what lies at the end of it. It will be on luck. "

Thunder king explained what he had planned to do.

All of this was too much for Aaron to digest at one go. The world he had come to know in the last 16 years was not even close to what he had imagined. He thought of the desolate lands at most an unexplored territory. He had no clue of the history behind it.

Even the Association wasnt what it appeared to be.

Seeing Aaron shaken up, Thunder king knew he had to give him some time.

"Alright. Enough for today. We have two months left for you to understand everything."

"Lets begin with your training now. "