In a mansion in Port Zerim, a young man sat in a study at a desk. A parchment in front of him as he held it in his shaking hands. His fists came crashing down into the desk as a large dent formed on its surface.

“How dare he!” Saio shouted as he smashed his fist into his desk once again.

Just then he received word from his guards about his escorts that he sent for Kiran. Their corpses were brought back, what’s left of them anyway.

Not only had Kiran disrespected him earlier, now he had killed his two escort. It was unthinkable that anyone would attempt such an act at a prestigious family, let alone the young master of one.

Saio’s face filled with rage, you could see from his eyes he was brewing something, a plan.

“Just you wait…”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile, Kiran was in the middle of obtaining a badge to enter into the recruitment process for the school of Ekir.

The recruitment process was simple, for people with talent anyway.

The first and most important requirement was that the person had to be under 17 years old and must have reached 3rd cycle for either chi user or magician. If you passed, you are pretty much set for the rest of the process.

Kiran placed his hands on an orb in front of an examiner like the people around him. He controlled his chi to only release the lightning element as a blue colour reflected on the orb.

The examiner marked down the results on a piece of paper as he looked at Kiran with a light in his eyes. Lightning element was special after all. But soon it turned to confusion as he looked at Kiran. Kiran knew what it was about, his age.

Quickly the examiner gestured for someone as they came over and looked at the information before them. A quick discussion followed as the man left and the examiner gave Kiran a badge.

"Age satisfied. 3rd cycle chi user, lightning element."

Kiran received his badge and turned around. He looked around and to his surprise, there were more people than he thought.

A long line stretched into the street as young men and women queued patiently for their entry badge to enter into a prestigious school. A large crowd of family and everyday citizens gathered outside to witness such a rare occasion.

Throughout the period, thousands gathered all hoping for a chance to get in. But to be honest, this was one of the hardest part of the process. How many were gifted enough to be under 17 and have obtained 3rd cycle already. The answer, not many.

“18 years old, 3rd cycle chi user, no element, rejected.” The man behind the counter said as the young man placed his hand on an orb at the table.

“No… no! I’m only a month into 18. Please…” The young man pleaded.

Two guards appeared as they escorted the young man out of the building as everyone watched. It was an honour, a privilege to enter into a school. You were respected for such a feat and would have a place of high standing in the world. Everyone’s dream was to get into a school, no wonder there would be people willing to risk everything for it.

“No element, 16 years old, 3rd cycle chi user. Pass.” Said another man from another counter. And more came from other counters too.

A rush of awe came from outside the hall.

“16? Holy!” A man gasped.

“Yeah… I’m 31 and I’m still a disciple.” Another said with a sigh.

“You’re comparing yourself to someone who has talent? Please…” Another chimed in.

Soon, more and more were announced as they qualified for the process.

“Earth element…”

“Fire element…”

“No element…”

“Water element, 3rd cycle magician, 17 years old. Pass.” A women from behind another counter said as Kiran left the building.

Many others walked out of the building with a smile on their face. Most were accompanied by their elders, some even had guards around them. Only a few exceptions like Kiran travelled alone.

As if fate would have it, after leaving the recruitment building, a few streets away stood two young girls, a middle aged man and an old man. It was the group Kiran had met many times before.

The youngest girl walked with a bright smile at the head of the group as they headed off towards the outer reaches of the city.

Everyone in the group was high in spirit, Cassey, the eldest daughter and heir to the Qin family was the first to be gifted and able to qualify into the school. They had high hopes for her as she could lift their family’s standing.

Cassey's younger sister was even more happy than she was at her qualification into the recruitment, as if she herself was already enrolled into the school.

She knew it’d be a lot of competition and that it wasn’t going to be easy. She heaved a heavy sigh, she had a heavy burden. The entire Qin Family was riding on this.

As they followed their sister to the outer areas of the city, the streets got quieter as all attention was drawn towards the recruitment hall as people gathered to witness the rare occasion. Suddenly the group stopped as the young girl leading came to a halt.

They followed her gaze and a way in front of them was a young man. Calling him a child would be more appropriate for his age but… he did not act like one. And they couldn't tell anyway.

Seeing Kiran’s back invoked different feelings in each of the members of the group. Fear, intrige, anger, uneasiness.

Tessa’s face drenched in colour as she remembered the feeling from Kiran before at the trading house. However, the feeling slowly turned to anger as she thought about it more. Her upbringing as the princess of the Qin Family fuelling her audacity.

More so now because of her sister’s qualification into the recruitment process. Once a person was in a school, they’d have a high standing as well as a strong background. When you mess with a student of a school, you mess with the school. And even the lowest of schools had powers beyond most groups, families and clans.

Forgetting her ordeal the other time, the younger sister turned towards the group as she looked at her sister, then at the qualification badge hung around her waist. Finally with courage she turned to the old man and paused for a second, unbeknowst to all, a great conflict in her mind.

After a while she decided, she could not let it slip by. Who was she? A direct member of the Head of the Qin Family, she had to maintain a strong power to any who disrespect the family. Plus she was sure her sister could get into the school, it made it more important to do what she was thinking. A skewed way of thinking to convince herself of her action.

“Rafok...” she finally said. As the old man by her side squinted his eyes. He had a bad feeling about this.

“That boy, find out everything about him.” She said to Rafok, who like everyone had a surprise look on his face.

“Grandpapa, we can’t be so weak! We have to do it for the Qin Family! At least pay back!” she pleaded at the old man.

For a second the old man froze, have they really been coddling her too much? Then his eyes widened as his face fell to a stern expression.

“Foolish!” He yelled as a great brush of air erupted from around him with him at its centre.

“But…” Tessa said softly with tears in her eyes. Never had anyone gotten so visibly angry at her before. Not even her father and especially her doting grandpapa.

“Have I not already told you to not invovle yourself with him? He is not someone you can handle. He is not someone we can handle.” He said without subsiding his anger.

Not willing to let up, she let drop a sentence that she had overheard once in her father’s study. Within different family’s there were always conflict. And not every step was a clean path. Dirty deeds had to be done. And what Tessa said next, wasn’t entirely coming from her, but she would regret it for a long while.

“There’s always his family…” she muttered so softly that only the group could hear her, or that’s what they thought.

The old man’s face reddened as blood flushed to his head, this stupid girl!, he thought in his mind.

“How dare y…” But before he could finish, his eyes caught a movement as his head turned sharply which suddenly drawing the attention of everyone in the group.

From the start of this conversation, the corner of his eye had always been affixed at one spot. His attention was purely focused there. Why?

Because as soon as Tessa started talking, he noticed a figure at the end of the street that stopped. The sun right in front of the figure cast a large shadow underneath his body. The old man knew then, that he had heard them. That was why he was angry at Tessa. At least say these things in private he thought.

But who could blame her? Who could’ve guessed a young boy could hear that far.

As soon as Tessa’s last sentence was said, he could see the figure’s head turn as he looked back at them.

Perhaps the sunlight was playing tricks on him, but he saw a flicker of yellow coming from the figures head. And as he was about to yell at Tessa, before he could finish, he moved.

The old man moved so quickly to the front of the group before he even finished his sentence that the other 3 had to look around for him. They looked at his back as they wondered why.

Then as if by coincidence, in unison they all followed the gaze of the old man and found the object of his sight.

The figure they had just been talking about had stopped, even though they could only see his figure, they knew, he was looking at them. Chills went down their spine as fear gripped their hearts. Suddenly a gasp was let out as the figure seemingly shimmered and vanished.

“What the…” Rafok exclaimed.

“AHHH!” A pitched scream suddenly resounded from the middle of the group as everyone’s attention turned to the source, Tessa.

Only Tessa wasn’t alone. She was in mid air with a hand around her neck as her hands desperately tried to peel off the fingers around her.

Rafok without thinking twice moved in as chi gathered around him and attacked Kiran.

Before he connected, Kiran’s other hand was already up as it threw a simple punch at Rafok with such a speed that even without chi, Rafok’s chi was penetrated and sent flying several metres as he spew blood from his mouth.

The old man had already turned when Tessa made the noise but made no move. He knew he couldn’t. Kiran’s speed was eerie, his movements were uncanny to the point that he couldn’t even see him very well, let alone catch up.

The old man knew that if he were to do anything, Kiran could snap Tessa’s neck and escape without them even being able to touch him.

Cassey was in shock but quickly recovered as she got into a battle stance, her eyes betrayed her as worry overcame her.

“ga…ga…” Weird noises came from Tessa’s mouth as she struggled to breath and swallow.

“Please…” Cassey pleaded in tears. “We’re sorry! Please!”

But Kiran made no move.

Tessa, who was still struggling, was face to face with Kiran. She took a look at him and fear was ever so present.

Kiran’s eyes were not his own. Rather, it was not human. His yellow dragon slit pupils had emerged as a red smoke slowly covered it. A red aura slowly formed around Kiran, only this time it looked like it was alive. The aura (bloodlust) around him flared like smoky tendrils as it flickered out and dissipated. If Orsc was here, it would bring him a memory that still sent shiver down him. Kiran was angry.

What was standing in front of Tessa was not a human, nor a dragon. It was death itself in a humanized form. For a moment she saw nothing but pure anger in those eyes. And the result she could see, at the end of everything, was nothing. She was nothing. Everything was nothing before those eyes.

“Sir, we apologize for our misgivings. We will do everything you want, but please… don’t harm her. She is young and stupid. We would never do such a thing.” The old man quickly said to Kiran after noticing the bloodlust seeping out of him. Kiran was ready to kill.

No reaction came from Kiran.

Just as the old man was about to throw in a desperate attempt to stop Kiran even at the cost of his life, Kiran’s hand dropped Tessa as she slumped onto the floor.

Cassey immediately dashed towards her to check Tessa. The latter was passed out, and although it was faint, she was alive. She turned up to look at Kiran as she saw his red eyes had faded a little back to the yellow eyes.

Kiran’s body shimmered once again as he disappeared from the area.

The streets fell silent once again as if nothing happened. Only this time, one man was slumped on the floor unconscious and a young girl laid near death.

The old man quickly breathed a sigh of relief as his body tension released. He then quickly dashed to Tessa to check on her.

Meanwhile, a shadow glimpsed here and there as itsuddenly stopped and appeared in an empty house.

Kiran appeared, his hand on his face, his yellow eyes now red again were filled with confusion as sweat poured from his body.

Within a second, a deep red aura came alive around him. This was unlike any other, previously, his bloodlust was just a small layer covering his body. But this time, it was expanding everywhere.

His bloodlust formed and expanded to around 2 metres with him at its centre, the edges smoky as it flickered and dissipated.

Kiran had killed many people before, there was really nothing he wouldn’t kill. Even with it came to women, if he had a legit reason, he would kill them. Children however, was much more rare. He had killed one before, but that was to put the child out of its misery.

This time however, he was really going got kill her. His bloodlust had made him lose his mind. Little did Kiran know, if he hadn’t fought back his bloodlust, it would’ve engulfed him and turned him into a killing machine. One that felt nothing except for a thirst for bloodshed. One that could not hold reason.

Kiran already had a strong bloodlust for his power, but his dragon nature had slowly integrated into his personality. The instincts of a beast was incomparable to a human’s after all. Anger came much easier to beasts. Humans have learnt through the ages to hide their emotions, to mask themselves. Beasts were as straightforward as they come.

Because Kiran’s bloodlust were so far ahead of his power, his mentality was not capable of withholding the bloodlust. Normally, Dragons would take hundreds of years to mature, and so would their mind. But Kiran did what normally would take centuries, in a matter of decades.

The mind must keep up with his body and power.

The bloodlust effect was intense. Weak minded people within a 30 metres radius passed out, others shivered in fear, and some turned violent and angry.

Kiran tried intensely to control his mind, to keep his bloodlust under control. Slowly, after a few minutes, the bloodlust aura slowly subsided as it retreated back into his body. His eyes slowly faded from red back to yellow. The from yellow to black.

He breathed heavily as he left quickly outside of the city to recover.

Kiran made a mental note to himself, he would never let that happen again. But easier said than done.

Not two minutes after Kiran disappeared, a man dressed in white with grey linings appeared in the air just above the house Kiran was at. If anyone were to see him, they’d be in shock as being able to fly was a sign of a 1st cycle chi user/magician.

The man didn’t move, but his eyes indicated he was looking for something. His brows furrowed after a minute as he couldn’t find what he searched for.

Moments later, another man appeared in the air near the first man. His eyes widened as he looked at the man.

He bowed slightly and held his fist in greeting.

“I did not know you would be here.”