2 . The Six Empires

The continent has six empires. Vulcan is the name of the royal family overseeing The Empire of Inferno that's located southeast. Most talented fire users are born there. In the land of Inferno, there are no winters. As expected by the land that was blessed by the fire.

Then there is The Aurelian Empire of Metal, which is named after the royal family. Their Empire is in the southwest. The location is in a mountain range. Lucky for them, the mountains are full of gems, making them the most richest empire. But that's not the only reason why they are so rich. They share land with the dwarfs that make weapons for them, and that only benefits their kingdoms' budget

The royal Frost family named their empire by their surname, The Frost Empire of Ice and Sea. Their land crawls all the way to the sea and is on friendly terms with the merman there, so now they are part of The Frost Empire that is located northeast. They have short summers and long winters. But the seas never freeze.

The Zephyr Empire of Wind was ruled by the Remus family. Their land was the smallest out of all of them. But that didn't matter as they did not live on it. They live in the sky. Thanks to the rare mana stones that naturally absorb the mana around them.

The stones are light, and if one is near the area with these stones, their mana will refill faster as well as it helps them meditate to expand their mana pool. The stones make the naturally strong wind currents there even stronger by infusing their mana into the wind currents, so enormous pieces of land can be seen floating in the sky if not for the chains that bind them to each other and to the ground then no one would know how far would the wind take them.

They are like small islands floating in the sky, making the view magnificent and breathtaking. It is indeed befitting of the title of the most beautiful Empire. it's located in northwest and right under it is the elven forest where the forest elves and dark elves live. Ice elves live on the borders between The Frost Empire and The Zephyr Empire.

Right now, Ash just finished reading the book.

And move to the last one in the library. The book is about the Great Empire of Darkness and the Grat Empire of Light. That is located in the east and stretches out to the middle of the continent and touching the dark forest that crawls all over the nort that belongs to the Great Empire of Darkness.

These two empires are the strongest ones. Even though light and darkness are like polar opposites, they have never been in war as the Empire of Darkness minds their own business and never bothers to cause trouble for anyone. The other empires do not dare to cross paths with them as they have full control over the information network of the whole Aurora continent. They carry assassinations, and they know all the dirty secrets. They guard the continent from the shadows.

While The Empire of Light has its own problem, like the current power struggles for the throne between the first and second prince.

The only neutral zone is the border between the Great Empire of Light and the Great Empire of Darkness. The neutral zone is called Evania. No one dared to claim the ground as the two great empires publicly declared that its under their protection.

Evania purpose is to give everyone an equal chance. That's why there is the greatest academy built there. Evania Academy is not a really creative name, but it is what it is. To get to the academy, one must work hard or have a good talent, and you will take a few tests like normal knowledge exams. The first exam is about magic, and the second one is about the empires with a few history questions. Nothing you can't find in the local lybraries. This academy is attended by royals, nobles as well as commoners.

The second part of the exam is practical combat. But of course, when a prince goes there and a commoner is facing him the he forfeits. And that's why all students are required to mask themselves. At first, all nobles objected and didn't want to, but ofcourse The Great Empire of Darkness couldn't care less as they just went with it. Thanks for the support of the Great Empire of Light they didn't have to deal with many problems.

With that, the academy didn't face such problems as discrimination because they don't know witch one of those masked people might be a young noble, if not worse, a prince.

All staff were required to keep the identity of the students a secret. The staff there were also under a strict soul contract.

' Well, that was some basic information. No wonder I kept it last. This was boring. '

I closed the book and placed it back where it belongs. Just as I was about to yell at William, he appeared. I was about to compliment him on his great timing but was cut off as he said, " Master Aron has returned and is calling you young master. "

' I thought it would take longer for my brother to come here. '

" Where is he ? " I asked.

" He's on his way to the office," After hearing him, I went through the portal that took me back to his office. I sat on the couch that was in front of his office desk and made myself comfortable as I waited for him to enter.

It didn't take long as I could hear the doors of the office open wide as he passed through them and hugged me.

" Ash, did u miss your big brother while he was gone ? " Aron lifted me up in a hug and buried his face into my shoulder. He cuddled with me for a while before placing me back on the couch and sitting next to me.

" How was your trip, big brother ? " I took the invite to ask Aron

" Nothing much, i stopped by the engineering tower in Evania and looked through it. Attended a few boring meetings, and that's probably all "

" I see," I said, thinking of how I should bring up to him that I'm leaving the main castle. After a while, I took a deep breath and decided not to tell him anything as it would be a headache.

I kissed him on the cheek and went away after a long hug he gave me. Luckily, he had more stuff to do, or I would still be there and used as a comfort pillow.

If anyone saw my brother, then they would be shocked to see him cuddle with someone as he is naturally cold and indifferent. Heck, people went as far as to call him a devil, and now it's his nickname.

After I exited the office, I closed the door and was again in the hall of portraits. I need to grab a few things before I leave.

I went to the portrait with Ruth Blake inscribed on it. She was my grandma. " Sorry, granny."

after apologizing i grabbed a pair of earrings that had a crow feathers hanging at the end of a silver treat. I quickly put them on and walked away.

' This artifact is called Silent Crows Feathers, as the name suggests. It's from a silent crow, a crow that doesn't make a sound. The Silen Crow's Feathers hide any sound that comes from my body like steps. Even if I talk, no one would hear me. It goes great in pair with my shadow cloak the I have back in my room it allows me to hide in the shadows.

I wouldn't be able to grab them if I didn't have black mana as this hall is heavily protected. Luckily, I didn't trigger any alarms, and my brother will come out of office probably tomorrow morning, so I have time to leave.