*Present*
A quiet knock on a door echoed. A fair-skinned boy with mismatched eyes and ocean blue hair looked towards his room door where the knocking was coming from.
The boy sat up from his bed in annoyance ad although he had an idea of who it might be, he still asked, "Who is it?"
"It is I, Brother." The person on the other side of the door stated.
Prince Adan was not unsurprised for his suspicion was proven right. "Come in."
After he said that, his twin brother walked into the room. They were identical; the only difference between them was their eyes. Aziel had a pair of deep blue eyes, while Adan's eyes had two colours: the one on the left was blue like Aziel's and the one on the right was gold and had a fire-like touch to it. Which was unreal.
"To what do I owe this visit at night, Brother." Adan asked as he stood up from his bed and approached his twin who had just walked in.
"Has is now become a crime for a brother to visit his brother?" Aziel asked with a playful smile and an unserious tone.
"It is not but do you not think it may be too late at night for a visit? People may talk." Prince Adan stated.
"You should know that I care not what people have to say."
Adan sighed knowing it was useless continuing the conversation so he asked, "Shall we go to the balcony?" Not waiting for an answer he already made his way there and his brother followed behind.
They both stood side by side as usual in silence leaning on the rail admiring the star filled and moonless sky. A soft breeze blew carrying the ocean scent as Adan's chamber was at the farethest east of the palace close to the ocean.
"I am sure you did not come to my room in the middle of the night just to admire the sky, did you?" Adan asked disrupting the silence.
"Who knows, maybe i did. You know you are the only one whose room has such a beautiful view of the entire palace." Aziel smiled dreamily, now looking ahead. Indeed the view was quite beautiful, you could see the horizon from here and if you wake up early enough you could see the sunrise as well. "Father must really like you" He let out a low chuckle.
Adan knew that the last part was a joke but he didn't laugh, to him it wasn't funny because both of them knew that it was the complete opposite. Aziel glanced at him and realised he should not have said that and decided to change the topic. "I was sneaking around in father chamber, do not ask why, but I overheard our father talking to someone from the academy. I could not wait till morning to tell you so here we are."
"What did you hear?"
"In six months the entrance exam wil be held and the top two hundred and fifty students from each empire of eighteen years old will get admission." Aziel was excited "We might have a chance to try out, we turn eighteen in four months!"
There was a silence after, Aziel looked at his brother and saw a slight frown, different from the usual one on his face. "What is wrong, Brother?"
Adan sighed he did not want to dampen Aziel's excitement with his own inferior abilities. "Both of us know that there is no way I could participate in the exam. I haven't had any breakthrough in my cultivation. I'm still in the lesser realm with not much hope of entering the basic realm which will qualify you to be able to take part in it."
This was truly depressing, of course, not everyone was blessed by the four elemental deities, but Adan's case was different. He was a descendant of the water goddess and could control the water element but not cultivate it. Leaving him in the same realm since birth.
The excitement in Aziel's eyes died down as he heard his brother. He always felt bad when his older brother complained about being unable to cultivate. "I am sorry."
"It's not your fault, Brother." Adan patted his twin's shoulder and turned to his room. But his twin remained unmoving and said curses to himself which Adan noticed and said, "I am not upset, so don't blame yourself. If that's all go to bed, Father will wake us up early tomorrow to give us an announcement that you already eavesdropped on."
Aziel sighed, "Ok then. Good night, Brother." and walked out of the room, he did not wait for a reply for he knew he would get only a nod.
* * *
Just as Prince Adan had said, their father sent maids to wake everyone early the next morning.
A pretty lady with very dark blue hair and crystal blue eyes on the other side of Prince Adan's door knocked softly.
"Who is there?" Adan who had just woken up asked in a hoarse voice.
"It is Maid Veronica, Your Highness. His Majesty has asked the royal family to gather in the dinning hall."
"Okay, I have heard you, you may leave." Prince Adan dismissed her.
He sat up from his bed and walked to his wardrobe, in search of what to wear. Soon, he finally found an aqua-blue robe that came with a shirt and trousers. After about half an hour, Adan was ready and was looking at himself in his dressing mirror, then he remembered he had to cover his golden eye. He took out a contact lens that was the same colour as his blue eye and wore it over the golden one. This was his morning routine everyday since he could remember for the only people who knew of his eyes were the royal family.
He sighed as he thought about the distance between his room and the dining hall, which was located in the main building of the palace. It would take him about thirty minutes or less to get to the hall because his quaters were far from there.
The ealier I leave, the earlier I get there. He thought to himself as he opened his room door and a face similar to his appeared in his view.
"What a pleasant surprise, I was just about to knock." Aziel said and pulled his brother into a reluctant hug.
"You are lucky you did not. I would have knocked you on the head." Adan paused and tried to free himself from his brother's arms "And I already told you not to hug me."
"I remember but I prefer to ignore it, let's get going, you know it'll take a long time before we get to the hall." Aziel pulled away and walked ahead of Adan.
Adan didn't say anything for he knew that with Aziel's current cultivation level, he would get him to the dining hall faster. He also knew that Aziel came to walk with him so that their father wouldn't get angry, but worst of all, he knew he should appreciate what Aziel was doing for him, but instead, he felt pity. Pity for himself! His younger brother was stronger than him and there was nothing he could do about it.
How pitiful! He thought.
The main palace was the busiest. There, you will find a lot of maids and guards carrying on with their duty of the day. Some wore deep blue attires while others wore a lighter shade. The colour differentiates their ranks in the palace, deep blue for a high rank and light blue for a low rank. The ranks are determined by connection and achievements but we all know knowing someone is better than what you can acheive.
"Greetings, Your Highnesses." The two guards in front of the main palace door greeted in unison.
"Thank you." Aziel answered and walked in while Adan just nodded to them in acknowledgement.
As the two brothers continued on their way a group of young maids were in their path, They seemed to be in a hurry but at the sight of the two princes they stopped in their tracks and bowed their heads.
"Good morning, Your Highnesses!"
The sound of their combined voice made Prince Adan grimace but Prince Aziels had the opposite reaction for he always enjoyed the greetings from the maids.
"Good morning to you too, pretty ladies." Aziel smiled widely, indulging their fantasies.
The maids' cheeks turned red and their squeal could be heard as they hurried away to continue their morning chores.
"If you keep calling them pretty, you'll give them the wrong idea." Adan shook his head and walked to the stairs.
"But brother, they are pretty are they not? Besides, you saw their faces, they like it." Aziel was satisfied with himself.
"It is pointless to argue with you."
They passed more hallways as they climbed up the stairs, more greetings were heard, and finally, they arrived at the dining hall entrance. The guards in front of the door greeted the twins as they walked in.
The dining hall was quite huge. It had over a dozen windows, and guards were in front of each one. The dining table was long, standing at the center of the hall and had chairs around it. The room was elegantly decorated with blue and silver as well as gemstones that shimmered.
The Emperor and Empress were already seated in their respective seats. "Good morning Father and Mother." The two princes greeted their parents in unison and walked to their seats.
"Good morning, my sons." The Empress answered with a bright smile on her face.
"Good morning, Prince Aziel," said The Emperor, acknowledging only the second prince.
Aziel gave Adan a sympathetic look which Adan ignored it. This wasn't the first time something like this has happened and it obviously won't be the last. So he didn't need his brother sympathy.
As the brothers sat down, a cute and petite feminine voice came from the door "Brother Adan!" and she ran towards him and hugged him. For the first time since the day began, a small smile appeared on his face as he hugged her back; she was his little sister who was twelve years of age.
"Yamuna, what did I say about running in the halls?" The Empress scolded, The Emperor just looked at the hugging pair with a glint of annoyance in his eyes.
"Sorry Mother" The Princess pulled away from the hug and sat on the chair next to Adan.
"Good morning l, Father and Mother. Good morning Brother Adan and Brother Aziel."
"Good morning to you, too, but you have not given me my hug yet." Aziel said with pouted lips.
"You do not get any." Yamuna stuck out her tongue.
Adan already started eating, ignoring his siblings' bicker. He just wanted to eat and leave before anything happened.
"Father, you woke us up so early today. Is there a reason for this breakfast?" Yamuna complained while looking at her father with big blue eyes.
"I wanted to tell the news to my family before I announced it to the empire." Emperor Mykel said with little to no emotion in his voice as well as in his icy eyes. "As you all know, The AXOA Academy accepts two hundred and fifty top students from each empire every year. For the past four decades after I graduated no one from the Water Empire's royal family has been admitted into the school because no heir was born then…"
"But this year it will be different. My son will soon turn eighteen and have a chance to get an admission, and I am sure he will get in." He was referring to Prince Aziel. Adan noticed this and stood up from his seat. He was not in the mood to receive more indirect insults from his Father, "Father, Mother, I shall be excusing myself."
"You are not excused so sit!" His father said. Then the temperature in the room dropped the sun was shining through the window, but the room was freezing. Even the guards shivered. Before Adan could react, a big fist made of ice was heading straight for his chest at full speed midair.
It seemed to have appeared out of thin air. His father remained on his chair, not moving a muscle but you could see that he was controlling the fist.
Aziel immediately put a water shield to protect his brother but it shattered like glass as soon as the ice fist touched it.
A loud sound boomed in the hall and Adan was forced back on his chair as he coughed blood. The ice fist decipated and the temperature of the room went back to normal. Empress Inga couldn't do anything even if she wanted to. Yamuna was worried, but she wasn't scared. She had seen this type of thing happen before and sometimes the aftermath was worse than this.
The Emperor then turned and looked at Aziel. "Next time, do not interfere, or you would not like it." His eyes were completely cold. Aziel wanted to say something but he saw Adan shake his head then decided against it.
Adan coughed blood and spat on the floor then cleaned his mouth "I am sorry, Father"
Emperor Mykel scoffed and said, "Meet me in my chamber by noon." and walked out of the hall.
After he left, Adan's mother quickly stood up and joined her hands together and closed her eyes. She had a greenish-blue glow on her skin. Then the water in the air around her had the same colour and flowed towards Adan, healing him slowly.
This is the water techniques used for healing, it is called Vitality of Water.
"I am sorry, my son. There was nothing I could do." she sobbed.
Adan didn't respond, he wasn't scared because he had half expected it. He only felt more pity for himself.
Why am I so weak? Why? Why? Why?! Adan thought as he stared at the wall in front of him with pain and anger in his eyes. He stood up abruptly and walked out of the hall, slamming the door behind him.
An awkward silence and a low sob was left behind in the dining hall. That was how the royal family's breakfast ended.