Unrivaled Elementalist:Emergence of the Strongest Hunter

Ashen's eyes brimmed with sorrow and tears as he repeatedly played the same video over and over again till the screen of the smart phone in his feeble hands almost cracked...

The popular news streaming platform ,Aironews had recorded one of the many tragic incidents in human history "The massacre of CB mall "...

The video Ashen Colheart constantly replayed over and over again was the CCTV footage of this incident recorded and uploaded to Aironews' Vutube platform...

As for why Ashen Colheart was so interested in this video,well his parents were part of the unfortunate masses that succumbed to the tragic fate of this incident... They were one of the many victims of the massacre of CB mall...

It had been two years since Ashen's parents, Steve and Angela passed away in this tragic incident, but Ashen had not moved on...

After all, he was just eleven years old at the time of the incident .. He was not psycologically matured to handle such tragic news... What made matters worse was the fact that his parents passed away on his 11th birthday, 17th February 2022

"Had it not been for me , they would still be alive... Had they not gone to the mall to buy groceries for the celebration of my birthday, they would have still been alive... "... Ashen constantly muttered to himself as his hands shook in minute frantic motions from the agony traceable to the deepest parts of his being that no words could express.

His white shirt was wet with tears and sweat...

Ashen almost attempted to throw the android phone away, but reality put him in check...

He was an orphan who lived on the small savings his parents left him in case something unexpected were to happen to them.. ...His late parents were simple people who did odd jobs to make ends meet after all, so the emergency savings was not even enough to sustain him for the next 2 months...He could not afford to purchase a new smart phone...

If he spent his money unnecessarily, who knows how he would manage to survive in the coming seasons of his life... He could not be too hopeful about the fact that he could awaken some sort of powerful affinity , that could land him out of this powerless ,miserable life of poverty ...

Ashen had learnt the hard way that expecting too much or being too hopeful could lead to dissapointments that could unmake a person... He was already miserable already... After all, expecting that his parents would always be there for him to take care of him did not end well for him...

Ashen calmed down,wiped away the tears from his eyes with the back of his palm, and sighed... "Why am I even alive... I'd be better of dead after all... Today is another round of hell at school.. it's the same usual routine.. Bullying ,crying , and hunger ... Who's kidding me, I would have done the deed if I had enough courage to commit suicide.. Inasmuch as I am not optimistic, the only thought keeping me going is my upcoming thirteenth birthday which is tomorrow... And the fact that I might awake some sort of affinity... Who am I kidding... Me... Awaken...hehe... Dream on Ashen... This is not a novel.. well at least I will have the courage to end my life after tomorrow if I don't awaken any affinity, since there wouldn't be any point living in this miserable world"

He stood up , glanced at the messy room that had become the home of empty pizza boxes and noddle cups, which radiated a smell enough to make one puke out their intestines...well except Ashen, he had become used to this smell... This had been the usual atmosphere of his room after all...

He proceeded to the washroom, the only part of the rundown apartment he managed to keep clean from time to time to wash his face, and brush his teeth...

Ashen did not even have the energy to take a shower... "What's the use of a shower when life is so meaningless.. Besides, those bullies will either beat me till I'm soaked in my own tears and bruises with dirt all over my body or they will throw me into some dumpster"...

Ashen took a few minutes to find some old clothes that spoke volumes of his poverty to wear, then dashed out of the apartment, heading towards school....

One would have assumed that Ashen would have been struggling to move freely in the clothes as they would have been too tight for him to wear, since they were old clothes from two years ago that he used to wear... But no, Ashen was too malnourished that the clothes were rather too large for him to wear ... A young man about to turn thirteen, was too lean to fit into clothes that his eleven year old self used to wear.....

*****

Ashen stood in front of the gates of New Alexandria High School, his heart thumping in chest...

"Another day of hell begins"... Ashen sighed in melancholy, then walked into the Lion's den...

As Ashen passed through the gates of the academy, his heart sunk in his chest..

A young man twice his size approached him with a malevolent smirk on his face, boasting a dreamy physique ... He had the aura of some Chinese novel arrogant young master... Well, he was one actually ... except this time, he wasn't from a Chinese novel, but a real born and bread arrogant young master...

"Did I tell you not to come to school today , you little maggot ...?"

"Look, Andrew, I'm not looking for any trouble... Had you told me not to come to school yesterday, I'd had stayed at home okay..." Ashen replied with a crestfallen but annoyed disposition... The bullying was always reserved for after and therefore, he was psycologically prepared for that, but he had in no way imagined that he would be bullied before his day even begun...

"Oh, so now ,you can take back to your superiors ... Is that how you were raised... Your parents are big time losers for raising such a disrespectful brat like you..." Andrew flared in anger as he walked towards Ashen and landed a big blow in Ashen's abdomen...

Gruuuh!... Blood traced down the mouth of Ashen as a result of the blow, and obviously from his malnourished physique...

One would have thought the surrounding security guards and students would have done something to interfere in Ashen's situation...

But the opposite happened rather, the security guards turned a blind eye to this occurrence ,as some of the students gathered around to observe the spectacle, with various expressions on there faces...

However, no one dared interfere ..

Another blow landed on the abdomen of Ashen, who fell down, crawling and gasping on the floor with blood dripping down the sides of his mouth...

"If I say I told you not to come to school today, it means I told you not to come to school today...you little maggot.... How dare you talk back to me... Don't you know who my brother is?" Andrew continually kicked the feeble Ashen lying on the floor with maddened rage that left the surrounding students gasping in shock and horror...

Andrew was not an awakened, but non of the students had the guts to interfere because they did not want to attract the ire of his elder brother....

After kicking Ashen for a while and realizing that Ashen was unconscious, he spat on Ashen, then left Ashen there , his lackeys trailing behind him...

The surrounding students quickly scurried off, and went about their business ..

As for Ashen Colheart, he woke up in the school infirmary, lying on a typical hospital bed, with an old woman sitting beside him...

"Just endure it for a while kid... If you manage to awaken on your birthday and with a useful affinity at that, all this pain and suffering will end" The old lady sighed and forced a smile, trying to comfort the crestfallen and depressed Ashen...

"Save the motivational quotes for someone else old lady... I'd be dead by the time the day ends.."... Ashen joked self ingratiatingly... then continued in a serious tone "There's no life for me if I don't awaken an affinity tomorrow"

The old lady silently stared at the ceiling with a hint of melancholy in her brown pupils "Tell you what kid, I've been doing this job for a while.. Quite a couple of kids with backgrounds that don't count are brought in here everyday, wanting give up on life... Some even want to commit suicide... However, though not for all of them, but for some of them,their thirteenth birthday changes everything for them... You could be one of them".

"Not counting on that .. I mean, what if it doesn't?...". Ashen sighed rhetorically ..

The old lady chuckled slightly..." Like I always tell the others like you who come here... What if it does?"...

Ashen did not respond to the the old lady for a while,lost in his own melanchokic thoughts.. but finally broke the silence " You are a good healer..."...

"Thanks for the compliment... Hardly get that these days since I got old and rusty "... The old woman responded with a chuckle...

Ashen smiled faintly then replied "Say, how about I lay here for a while ?"

"Suit yourself"... The old lady ,the healer, replied...