Secrets

"And the winner of this match is, Krios Whiteflame!" The referee announced.

The crowd went wild and the discussion regarding Krios' feats became a hot topic. Krios, bloodied and bruised, fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

Medical staff from the academy immediately went in and took Krios and Wella into the infirmary. Loras, who lost his match in the same round, followed suit and went to the infirmary to look after his friend.

"Wow, he beat someone from a higher realm again." A student said.

"Yeah, and he did it three times in a row! Can you believe it?" Another exclaimed.

"If he wasn't injured that much, he might have been able to win this tournament in my opinion."

"Psh, you're underestimating the rest of the students down there. He struggled against Wella who was on the mid Mana Condensation realm, how do you think he would win against someone like Dion who's in an even higher realm?" Another student exclaimed.

"I guess you're right. But we'll never know!" The other student answered back

On the viewing platform above the arena, the professors were in a similar discussion. Their moods were at high seeing the quality of students they have for this year.

"Inform me immediately the moment that boy wakes up." Headmistress Zelester told professor Ashburn. She did not wait for his answer and immediately left their private viewing platform.

'What did the headmistress see in that boy for her to be that interested in him?' Ashburn wondered.

'Nonetheless, we have a real talent in our hands. So it's definitely a win for the academy.'

"Hey Ashburn, do you know who that child is?" A female professor asked.

"Yeah, that's Reah Goodwin's son." Professor Ashburn responded.

After all the clamor and the fanfare, the tournament continued on as normal, with the round of sixteen going underway. But because Krios was rendered unconscious and unable to continue his bout, he was subsequently placed as the sixteenth ranker for the tournament.

Inside the infermary, Loras sat beside the unconscious Krios. He was now cleaned up and his wounds were taken cared of.

Upon close inspection, Loras realized that all of Krios' injuries were minor and superficial.

'What the hell? He took that strong of an attack from a person with a higher cultivation and he was only damaged by this much?' Loras was dumbfounded. That only meant that Krios only fainted due to exhaustion or mana depletion.

What everyone didn't know about was when Krios was able to coat himself with a thin layer of chaos energy right before the last attack of Wella hit him squarely on his chest.

No one in the arena can sense chaos energy which is why to Loras and the rest, it looked like Krios took that final attack head on without any protection.

Krios finally regained consciousness after a couple of hours.

"Hey you're finally awake." Loras spoke.

"Where are we?" Krios asked as he slowly sat up.

"We're in the infirmary. They brought you here after you match."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"You've been here for about four hours."

"By the way, congratulations on placing sixteenth! You're now at the top of class two!" Loras congratulated him.

"Thank you. How about you? What happened to your match?" Krios asked.

"I lost in the round of thirty two. And based on the length of my fight, they ranked me at twenty seven." Loras said proudly.

Krios smiled at him.

"Congratulations to you too then! We both placed higher than our expectations!" Krios told his friend.

"Oh, I almost forgot, I'm going to head out right now to inform professor Ashburn that you're finally awake." Loras said in a hurry.

"Why?" Krios asked curiously.

"I don't know, he just told me to inform him the moment you wake up." He answered and went out of the room.

'What does he need from me?'

A couple of minutes later, the door opened up and someone came in. It was an old woman wearing a bright blue robe. Krios inspected the visitor and he noted that he was not able to see her cultivation level. Which again meant that she's on a whole different level.

"Hello? You might be in the wrong room." Krios said politely.

The woman just smiled.

"How are you feeling, Krios Whiteflame?" The woman spoke as she slowly walked towards Krios' bed side.

"I am feeling fine. My body is slightly sore but other than that, I'm okay."

"That's good to hear. I am Dorothy Zelester. I am the Headmistress of this Academy." The woman said as she sat down on the couch beside Krios' bed.

"Nice meeting you Headmistress Zelester. But what do I owe you a visit for?"

"You know Krios, my family has had a very long history heading this academy. I inherited this position from my father, and he in turn inherited it from his."

Krios didn't know where this conversation was going so he remained silent.

"A couple of hundred years ago, my ancestor, the academy headmaster at that time, met someone. This person he met was enigmatic to say the least. He quickly gained my ancestors trust, and they have built a friendship like no other."

"But this person, was quite peculiar in a sense. He claimed to have visions of the future. Visions of something catastrophic."

Krios frowned in confusion but he remained listening.

"Only my ancestor believed these visions that peculiar man had. Well, he trusted his friend obviously."

"But all of a sudden, that man vanished. Never to be seen again." Headmistress looked at him knowingly.

Krios' eyes widened as he started to have an idea as to where she was going.

"My ancestor spent years looking for his friend, but his efforts were futile. He scoured the places they usually hang out with, but all found was a book. A book and a letter."

'Is this what I think this is about?' Krios asked himself.

"The book, well my ancestors could not read it because for some reason, it can never be opened up through any known means."

"Inside the letter, the peculiar friend instructed my ancestor to wait for someone. Someone from his bloodline would come and claim the book."

"And this became an heirloom every headmaster of this academy held on to, waiting for its rightful owner. It became a lifelong job for our bloodline, as instructed by our ancestor."

"Why are you telling all of this to me?" Krios finally spoke.

"I think you know the answer to that question already." Headmistress Zelester smiled to him knowingly.

"As the current headmistress of the academy, the book in question is under my ownership. And I feel like it's time to pass it to its rightful owner."

"You mean that the friend of your ancestor was my ancestor?" Krios asked.

He already had an inkling of what and who the Headmistress was talking about but he had to be sure. He can't jeopardize the secrecy of his secrets just like that.

"Yes Krios. I am talking about Antares Whitflame."

'So I was right. She was talking about Antares.' Krios thought to himslef.

"I know him. I read of him somewhere in our library."

The Headmistress looked at him.

"Really? Because the handful of Whiteflames that came and went in this academy did not know about him at all."

"It's to be expected because as far as I know, he had been erased in the anals of our clan's history."

"So if he had been erased from you clan records, how did you manage to read about him in I presume, your clan's library?"

'She's testing my knowledge to see if I really am the one they've been looking for.'

'Should I tell her? But if she has the same knowledge as I do, the I guess it's safe to trust her'

"To be honest, I found a secret chamber inside our clan palace. And there, I saw a book." Krios started his story.

Headmistress Zelester's eyes went wide. She knew she's close to finding out who Krios truly was.

"And there I found records of him. Records he wrote himself." He continued his story.

'I might have just found the person all my predecessors have failed to find.' Headmistress Zelester thought excitedly.

"And what exactly was written in the book? If you don't mind me asking."

She noticed the hesitation on Krios' face and it confirmed something she knew about.

"It's okay. You can trust me like how Antares trusted my ancestor." She encouraged him.

"It was a bout a certain energy. A power different from mana. I didn't really understand most of it. But it was a power only I was able to notice."

'He is the one. He definitely is.' Headmistresses Zelester smiled as she knew her bloodline's long search was finally coming to an end. A promise fulfilled.

Headmistress looked Krios in the eye making him pause. Then she spoke, and what she said surprised Krios.

"Are you talking about that energy Antares called chaos energy?"