Son of the sun

The atmosphere was serene, white clouds filled the blue, sunny sky and the chirping of the birds added to the peacefulness of the afternoon.

A dark-skinned man clothed in an imperial, white uniform and a golden sun crest on his left chest sat in the patio of the beautiful castle garden of dawn. The garden was huge and all kinds of beautiful flowers grew around it. The patio itself was painted white and sunflowers grew around it.

"Did you really think it was a good idea to send only one person to the sanctuary …your highness"

The man said as he sipped the tea that was served in front of him. On the other side of the table sat the beautiful queen of dawn herself, Queen Freya.

"We had no other choice, the times we're in called for it"

She said as she also sipped her tea. Behind them were two royal knights of Dawn dressed in their golden armor.

"So cynar has already started making their move huh"

The man said as a look of concern formed on his face.

"With the current situation of insurgency in the city we can't afford to send any soldier away from the city" Freya said.

The man stood up to admire the scenery before them

"Our citizens are losing faith in the government with every passing day, I fear that within a year, things might turn violent" The man said

"If only there was something I could do…"

"don't be too hard on yourself general Salim" Freya sighed as she stared at the general.

"Battles are harder to fight when the people you have to fight are also people you have to protect, what we have to do is find out who's poisoning the minds of our people"

Freya said as she stood up and stood beside general Salim.

"When we interrogated one of the citizens, we found out that whoever is controlling their cult made them believe they're the servant of lord Orion himself"

General Salim said.

"hmm…whoever is behind this is weaponizing the faith of the people…I can't wait to see his head detached from his body", Freya said sadistically

General Salim chuckled at the statement made by the queen

"I sure do hope Cyrus meets your expectations…cuz even I find you scary when you're angry"

"I wouldn't worry about him, Zain found a way to imbue personal essence in an object…kinda like a peak of your legacy" Freya explained

"Are you freaking kidding me?!...that mad scientist really created a relic?" Salim was shocked a little that someone created an artificial relic.

"Are you surprised?" Freya asked proudly

"The times have changed…something big is about to happen…I can feel it" Freya said as she walked down the steps of the patio

"I just hope he's ready for what's about to come"

….

"My name is Cyrus dawn…heir to the throne of dawn"

The boy said as he smiled at Icarus. It almost seemed like he had a spotlight on him.

Adrian looked at him in disbelief, he couldn't fully comprehend what was just happened.

Inez snapped stared at Cyrus with ecstasy. She had never seen such destructive power before. Although she's the most calculative of the group she also has a fetish for explosives.

Dracon helped Inez up and offered to help cassie but immediately got rejected.

Icarus stared profoundly at the teen in front of them as he begun assessing him, power like this was just the thing he was looking for.

Taking in a deep breath, he went to introduce himself

"Cyrus uhn, my name's Icarus… whatever it was that you just did saved us, you have my thanks"

"Ha…I didn't really do much" Cyrus looked at the people surrounding him as he humbled himself.

"Hey… you're telling me you could've done this all along and you just let your comrades die" Cassie yelled as she approached cyrus.

But to Cyrus he couldn't even hear what she was saying, he was star struck as he had never seen a girl as beautiful as her. Her ethereal beauty left him in a daze as he admired all her wonderful aspects.

"A lady as beautiful as you shouldn't be shouting, if you'd like to know why I didn't help you before I'd gladly tell you", but before he could explain we all heard a voice say

"So that's a relic, I knew no human could possibly possess such power" Adrian said.

"Yes, you're right it's a relic. you're quite knowledgeable, aren't you"

"My name is Adrian Lagnus, heir to the throne of Castinas", Adrian said as he introduced himself.

"Wait, but how come you guys aren't with any relics.... now I kinda feel embarrassed for being the only one" Cyrus said.

"What's a relic?"

Icarus asked.

"A device found in nature that gives the holder the ability to peek into his legacy"

The hooded man from before entered the arena, behind him were two men dressed exactly the same way as him

"They are quite rare, I see we have a genius in our midst this year or multiple at that.."

But Adrian and Dracon wasted no time and charged towards the man. Their eyes filled with rage as Adrian pulled his sword and Dracon pulled his spear from the beasts' body.

They thrust their weapons with all their strength but were immediately put to a stop as for some reason their weapons seemed to not even be reaching him.

"What is this?", Adrian asked confused but the man only chucked

"You honestly believe you children would be able to reach me?" the man said

The man signaled to one of the men behind him, he snapped his finger and the dead bodies on the ground were teleported away, including the beasts'

"What the?!..." Dracon exclaimed.

Seeing as they we stopped by an invisible force they both jumped back retreating

"Out of one three hundred soldiers who came here only forty of you were able to follow my instructions, welcome to the sanctuary my new dogs"

The man said as he removed his hood. His head was bald and his face was covered in scars, his smile seemed so evil it looked like he was there to kill them.

The forty survivors were led into a room by the man and his men, this time it looked less of an arena and more of a large hall.

Arriving in the room, icarus and Inez heard a familiar voice.

"Wow, to think I'd ever see the day I'd miss your face", Isaac said as he reunited with Icarus and the cohort

"What!...you didn't die"

Icarus complained

"What did you really think I'd die", Isaac said with a frown.

"Where were you, I thought that thing swallowed you whole", the brown-haired said smiling.

"The goal was to survive, where in the rule did he say we had to slay the damn thing, I just hid under a pile of dead bodies"

Isaac said shamelessly

"Spineless cunt", Icarus said.

Isaac shook his head saying, "Oh…I'm sorry for being sane"

Out of the 250 candidates who came to the sanctuary, only 7 people remained of the initial 18 of the knights of snow, the king of Aveus 3 children survived, while 5 of the 15 people from exodus reamined, The remaining villages and lesser kingdoms had 20 people left, Plus the 5 people from unknown lands.

"Our numbers have been immensely reduced… what exactly was the point of everything" Adrian pondered.

"We've been experiencing weird shit ever since we got here, what the hell is going on with these people"

Icarus said as he wondered himself.

Just then the man who conducted the test entered the room. Paying no mind to the eyes filled with murderous intent that stared right at him he climbed the stage and faced the crowd from a podium.

"Good afternoon my soldiers…"

The man didn't finish his sentence before Icarus interrupted

"Soldiers my ass, how dare leave us to be slaughtered and come here addressing us like everything's okay!" he said yelled from the crowd, Adrian didn't even try to stop him because he too needed answers.

The man looked directly at Icarus with scorn in his eyes

"And what exactly have I done wrong?... you people survived because you were chosen, your dead comrades are dead because they weren't, it's as simple as that"

The man said

"You have no right to address our comrades like that you fucker!" Dracon said as he approached the stage but immediately found that he couldn't move any further, it was like there was a wall preventing him from coming near this man.

"There it is again" Dracon thought to himself.

"What are you anyway, a sorcerer, do you intend to use us for a ritual"

A woman from the crowd yelled, the entire crowd began to shout in rebellion.

The man immediately snapped his finger and the crowd grew silent, everyone became scared. He had definitely done something, every move this man has made has been accompanied by witchcraft and murder, he had definitely done something to us.

Silence was heard throughout the entire room as everyone tried to figure out what this man has done. Immediately the man broke out into a sadistic laughter, this made the entire crowd become even more worried, what's up with this man?

"You see that, I didn't even do anything and yet you refuse to defy me, this is true power, the power to make the enemy piss themselves at the slightest move you make, this is absolute of strength"

The man spoke with utter madness, just the sound of his voice alone sent chills down everyone's spine.

"Believe it or not, there is no such thing as magic. What I have been doing all along was all done using essence"

Immediately he said this the whole crowd became confused, what was this man even talking about.

Everyone was in utter confusion, everyone but Icarus. His eyes had a different look in them, while everyone was confused, he was intrigued. A power this strong was finally within his grasp.

"I'm sure you might know this but although essence has been in this world from its inception, it is not of this world"

The man explained

"Essence is an energy that dwells in a select few that enhances their physical capabilities…At least that's what they told you in your comfortable kingdoms, but the truth is much more complex than that.

Think of essence as a separate being that dwells inside you, that being is the one that gives you your physical prowess and just like any other form of life, it thrives better in its natural habitat"

"What is this guy talking about"

The whole crowd wondered but the man continued

"If the conditions are met that being gains a unique ability called a legacy, those who have attained this power are also known as legacies, you've been witnessing abilities like that since you got here…"

The crowd remembered the screen that appeared when the man first addressed them, the teleportation and the barrier.

"So you're saying you're gonna teach us how to use this power"

A man said from the crowd but the man laughed at his statement.

"You did not come here to gain this power, you came here to prepare to gain this power"

The man explained.

"What the hell are you even talking about, speak English you damn geezer"

Icarus yelled in annoyance.

"Over the course of the next few weeks you will no longer be divided into northern soldiers or western soldiers, you all will become students of the sanctuary…

I don't care if you're royalty or peasants, here you're all dogs and you will heed every word I say, you will even address me as master. And I advise you to pay attention, everything I will teach you will ensure your survival in your next training venue", The man said

"Survival in our next training venue? …just where do you intend to take us"

Adrian yelled.

A cynical smile formed once again on the man's face once again as he stared directly at Adrian

"The place where you will develop your legacy will be the birthplace of essence of course…The void", he replied.