The promise

"Look at him, he never seems to accept his miserable life " the voice of a young boy could be heard followed by the laughter of many others. "A young boy looking to be around his late teens could be seen on his knees surrounded by many others, fingers pointed at him as insultive remarks were made against him. The boy appeared to be dressed in a casual white shirt and black browser, he had long silver hair which complimented his sparkling silver eyes, a fair toned skin and an average body stature, in all the young boy looked attractive.

'I thought all these would and today... how did it go wrong?" the young boy on his knees thought to himself. His eyes welling up like he had lost all hope his gaze never left an old looking book that appeared to be made from scraps, it looked like something that had emerged from a wasteland, but the boy kept staring at it with a confused and questioning gaze.

-A day ago-

A boy with long silver hair could be seen sitting at a corner of a classroom, an older man at the front of the class rambling but none seemed to be concerned, the silver haired boy had a book in front of him as he wrote across the pages with a smile on his face.

"And which fantasy are you up to this time Nickel '' the silver haired boy heard a voice in front of him as a tall shadow cast over him and with it accompanied three other shadows.

The sound of a bell went off indicating the close of school, some of the students in the class stood up to leave while some turned their seats around to watch the daily entertainment.

'When did the professor leave' the silver haired boy referred to as Nickel thought to himself, he had lost track of time as he had been too engrossed in the book he was writing.

"What happened cat got your tongue?" One of the figures says as he immediately grabs the book from the desk, Nickel tries to stop him only to receive a punch to the middle region causing him to fall to the floor.

"Sasiki the best mage in the world appears with a smile on his face, throwing out his fist flames erupts covering the Nengero curse, the people clapped while cheering his name, Sasiki, Sasiki..." the boy read out the contents of the book with a tone and look of mockery as everyone in the room bursts into laughter.

"What's your problem Mayel, what do you want from me?" Nickel questioned still on the floor clenching his fist and holding his middle region as he was still in pain.

"Sasiki Nickel, what's wrong, why do you have dreams, 'the best mage in the world' and you can't achieve a self awakening" the boy referred to as Mayel suid "F*ck your dreams, Francha isn't' here again to save your sorry ass" Mayel said with a devilish smile on his face as flames erupted from his hands covering the book, Mayel was a self awakener.

"No" Nickel wanted to scream but it only came as a soft whisper, the laughter of the class followed, that was his fourth book getting ruined by Mayel in just one week, when his sister 'Sasiki Francha' was still around none of these would have ever occurred but she was taken to the Imperial capital because of her talents.

The awakening ceremony occurred every year for people around the age of eighteen but self awakeners didn't need the ceremony to unlock their zenya, self awakeners often awakened their zenya a few weeks or month till the ceremony.

Mayel is a self awakener of only a few weeks ago with the zenya of fire but that only made matters worse as his sister 'Francha' was taken away before that and ever since then it had been hell.

Two years, Francha had awakened her zenya two years before the normal age, from the age of sixteen she had begun mage training, and she was deemed a prodigy by the town, her progress had been too fast that she became an advanced mage in about a month ago, the school acknowledging her talents were too great to keep here there got her admitted to the school at the Imperial capital.

********

"kiddo, I'll be leaving for the Imperial capital today... I want you to promise me one thing." A soft charming voice said to a boy with silver hair, they stood beside each other underneath the beautiful view of the setting sun.

"What is it Frankincense" Nickel asked his elder sister calling her by the name her full name.

"Promise me you will stand up for yourself and meet me at the Imperial capital" Francha's soft voice requested, her long silver hair swaying in accordance to the night's breeze, her left eye a light blue hue while her right eye a purple hue.

"I promise" Nickel replied with a smile, Francha was the only one he had although he was depressed she was leaving, he was happier that she was going to become someone great.

********

Nickel clenched his fist "Mayel, I promise you after the awakening ceremony tomorrow, I will get the best zenya and surpass you and go to the Imperial capital".

A loud burst of laughter resounded around the class followed by multiple others, Nickel wondered what sounded funny, it had felt so domineering when he was speaking but now he felt like a fool.

"Nickel, you're not the ice queen, stop it with your craps" a voice from the back of the class said.

"The ice queen is a prodigy" another voice said and many other comments, Nickel knew who they were talking about, Francha was nicknamed 'Ice queen' because she rarely showed any emotion and her zenya was of the ice element.

"Shut up." Mayel shouted and everyone kept quiet, although there were a few other self awakened in the class Mayel was the most active as the others rarely showed off, he let out a small chuckle before speaking "Fine, I'll see what you have to offer by tomorrow, but trust me I'll make you regret your words and not even Francha can help you".

Nickel wished he would do something, but alas, he had yet to perform the ceremony, Mayel left the class along with his three goons and soon the students left, but Nickel's promise remained a main talk as all awaited to know the type of zenya he would awaken.

-Present time-

'I'm sorry, I failed,' Nickel thought to himself, he had awakened an item-type zenya, the old book he held in his hands.

"What's wrong now Sasiki, where's all your confidence. Failure" a red-haired boy stood in front of Nickel. It was Mayel.