Ave flashed a small smile at Shango, the excitement she heard in his voice delighting her very much. She rarely saw anyone with such pure childlike excitement, so she could only look at Shango with admiration.

"We don’t know what your element is right now. We needed you to wake up before we could determine what element you had. Tomorrow we will test you to see what your element is, and then you can choose which path to follow."

Her reply made Shango become dejected. First, he found out he had special abilities but not how to use them, and now he had to wait to learn what element he was. It was such a downer. What was the point of telling him all of these cool things?

To him, it was like going to a strip club. Getting excited for some woman whose job was to turn you on, and after throwing hundreds if not thousands of dollars. You’re reminded by the 6’8 350-pound bouncer, no touching, ultimately killing your excitement. That was one of Shango’s main reasons for not going to those clubs.

Thinking those thoughts, Shango became low spirited. Ave could see how disappointed Shango had become and chuckled a bit. Despite how he acted earlier, he had a very childlike temperament.

“Do not look so down. We will find out what element you have when we go through your first training session. You can wait longer, can’t you?” Ave said teasingly. The more she teased him, the more he compared her to Yuki, which made it difficult for Shango to stay mad at her.

With all of his excitement gone, he lowered his head and said, “Fine, I can wait a bit longer.”

“All right, Rolla and I will make the preparation for tomorrow’s test. You can just lie down and rest here.” With that, Ave and Rolla quickly said their goodbyes and went off to prepare.

When Ave and Rolla have left, a wave of exhaustion overwhelmed Shango. Since the moment he had woken up, his old life had ended and the new life that awaited him was very unforgiving.

He realized that he would have to walk a very long and hard road, and face many challenges that may change the person he was.

Those thoughts robbed Shango of all of his remaining energy, and within minutes, sleepiness overtook Shango.

***

On the other side of the castle in a room only he and two others knew about, King Mortimer sat down with his trusted adviser, Edwin Wilibrord.

Edwin looked about 40 but was nearly two decades older than King Mortimer. He had a bald head, a long white beard that reached down to his waist, blue youthful eyes and stood at a height of about 5’8. He wore a plain black robe decorated with minimal embellishemnts and gave off a very homely feeling despite how he looked. He was one of the kingdom’s most powerful mages.

Sitting across from him was Darwin Ackley, King Mortimer’s most favored knight. A man of about 6’1 with black hair streaked with white, Darwin had black eyes that seemed to hold great depth to them. He wore a cloak that covered most of his body, but just from the metallic sounds that could be heard with every movement he made, it was obvious that he wore heavy armor underneath. He was also King Mortimer’s childhood friend and sworn blood brother who had helped King Mortimer seize the throne from his siblings many years ago.

“Hilde, why did you use such a high-level spell earlier? Did you know that I gathered all the guards because I thought we were under attack?” Darwin asked while he sat cross-legged, polishing his blade.

King Mortimer glanced at Darwin before taking his hands and rubbing his temples. He had repeatedly told Darwin not to call him by that name since he took the throne, but he knew no matter what he did, he could not teach an old bitch a new trick.

After he finished massaging his temples, King Mortimer answered Darwin’s question. “The eyes of that man we just summoned look similar to that of the subrace,” he said in a dispassionate tone.

Both Darwin and Edwin looked at King Mortimer with a questioning look. The royal physician had examined the summoned hero and verified that he was, in fact, a human but he just was an odd color. Could he have got it wrong?

Noticing the two gazes upon him and quickly guessing what they were thinking, King Mortimer said, “No, I’m not saying he is one of the subraces, but his eyes showed the same defiance they do. I feel that if I do not show him that he is but a measly ant in front of a King, a problem will arise in the future.”

“Well, that should be normal. Even your ancestor showed resistance at first. It is only normal to do so; you could have scared the little hero to death.” spoke Edwin, shaking his head.

“No, you don’t understand. If his eyes showed resistance, that would have been fine, but those eyes of his showed rebelliousness. We must keep a tight leash on that man or an undesirable outcome may occur.’’ King Mortimer said while leaning back into his chair.

“If that is the case, then it’s best to get rid of him now before he grows in strength. Right now, he is an abandoned tiger cub, weak and defenseless, but if we allow him to grow, then the damages we may suffer at his hand will be extraordinary.” Darwin said in a somber tone while sheathing his blade.