Alyssa smiled as she slowly drifted through what she could only describe as the void.

No colors, no contrasts. Indescribable and, if you would ask Alyssa, the most beautiful sight she could ask for. A blank canvas waiting to be painted on and yet an already finished painting.

A glimpse of ultimate freedom. Itself emotionless and yet bringing forth a riot of emotion in the beholder.

She loved this dream and didn’t want it to end but…

Alyssa grumbled as her alarm clock woke her from her dream.

Well, more like a memory than a dream.

She sighed and turned the alarm off before looking around the chaos she called her room, coming to rest at a grey blob staring at her with big yellow eyes that looked at her with concern. Remembering yesterday’s events, she couldn’t help but hugging her pet-slime Pebbles before breaking out in tears.

Everything Alyssa wanted was to get praise from her grandfather, Henrey ’Godshot’ Barkas, who was revered as one of the five heroes that came forward at the time of the ’transmigration’ 15 years ago. But that was easier said than done, as her grandfather only seemed to have eyes for her younger brother, who he had appointed as his heir shortly after their mother’s death and the subsequent self-exile of her father.

Her brother got all the training materials he needed, whereas she was left with the scraps and even that got less and less. To combat her lack of training materials she worked hard, harder than everybody in her age group, which got her the respect and friendship of many of the other 4 clans.

But all her hard work amounted in nothing. She had participated and won in 15 different tournaments to show her grandfather the results of her hard work. Her grandfather didn’t even flinch as her trophies, prizes and the greatsword, she proudly bought with the prizemoney, went up in flames.

Alyssa had been at a loss at what to do, standing there watching as her spoils and with it the dream of getting her grandfather’s recognition burned down. And she still didn’t know what to do now, all she wanted was to be praised, to prove her worth to her grandfather and subsequently her family.

Well, getting ready for training would be a start.

She put Pebbles to the side as she got her training-gear ready. Clothed in a worn down leather armor and with an old backpack on her shoulders she left the family estate.

Normally she would eat breakfast with the rest of the family by now, but she didn’t want to show them how badly yesterday affected her.

Getting a cereal bar out of her backpack, she set out for the training field on the outskirts of the city. Pebbles looked back at the mansion with a reproachful look, then followed her.

--- --- ---

Henry sat at the dinner table eating breakfast and looking through documents. His workload had tripled when the people from the Empire had shown up. Trade negotiations, accommodations for the ambassadors, cultural exchange programs, all things that he had to organize additionally to his already existing workload.

Before all this he had been a retired policeman and an enthusiastic bow hobbyist, the latter helping him considerably after the Transmigration. When humanity was at its lowest he was one of the few that intuitively walked on a path of power, and one of five who walked on two simultaneously.

The four paths of power were ways to grow stronger over the limits of the human body ad were categorized in cultivation, sorcery, laws and knighthood. Cultivation and sorcery, the paths Henry had, were both paths of qi. Cultivation was the path of the body, empowering it and gaining control over one’s slightest movements, while sorcery was the path of the mind, discovering your elemental affinities and gaining control over them.

After the situation had calmed down he had gotten the nickname ’Godshot’, because of his superb marksmanship and his affinity for light magic. Henry had been a bit overwhelmed when he suddenly had to organize millions of people, of which the majority wanted to join his ’clan’, an idea one of the other heroes had popularized.

His clan, now over 2000 people strong, was what most of his time was spent on. Getting training materials, resolving disputes and keeping the different factions happy that had formed over the years. The most important thing however was raising an heir.

Without someone who could lead the clan in the future when he was no more, the balance he achieved between the factions would be forcefully broken. His three sons were inadequate seeing as one had not yet unlocked a path, one only thought about partying, and one had self-exiled himself. So, he had appointed his grandson Thomas as his heir. In his opinion a bright boy who had an extraordinary talent for the path of cultivation, but more importantly was that he had a knack for the field of politics and was a natural born leader.

Which got him to his current predicament. While his grandson was extraordinary his granddaughter was something else entirely. She was a genius on the path of knighthood and sorcery, controlling three elements with wind, water and thunder. Far scarier was her path as knight however.

Knights etched runes, mystical symbols that gave you supernatural powers by changing your body, into their mindscape and upgraded them with time. Runes could be obtained as a reaction to adapt to an environment or could be learned if the rune was simple enough.

Henry didn’t know how but Alyssa had learned the rune for ’Adaptability’ which made the highly versatile path even more powerful. To be honest, he feared what she would be capable of in a few years and other people had taken notice of her too. One of his clan’s faction leaders had even openly verbalized his support for her taking up the seat of clan heir instead of her brother.

Henry shook his head. He didn’t know what was going on in his granddaughter’s head, having to show off her power and accomplishments before the whole clan, but if she continued the clan would inevitably split over his inheritance.

Anger seemed to well up in him as a thought creeped into his head.

“She will destroy everything you’ve done. Get rid of her.”

Taking a deep breath Henry banished these dark thoughts and focused back on work.