"Charles Liam Flameworth. Step on the platform and detect your mana affinity!"
Finally... It's my turn.
I step forward.
"What? Is he a Flameworth? That black-haired child?"
"Yeah, they say his mother was a maid."
"Pfft, this will be quite the sight."
I hear the murmuring of the people as they watch me Walk up the platform.
The announcer slightly bows his head and tells me to proceed.
I nod at him and face the large crystal.
This is it. The beginning of my journey.
I take a deep breath.
My heart is beating a bit too fast, but I calm myself.
I clench my left fist and I raise my right palm slowly to meet the crystal.
I give a long exhale.
And I place my right palm on the crystal.
Silence.
All the people praying for my downfall and the ones who don't care about me are focusing on me, saying no words.
There was no reaction from the crystal, not even a faint light.
"Pfft"
"As expected of a bast–"
Shwaaaa~
Everyone's eyes, including mine, widen at the sight before me. But they all immediately close their eyes to avoid the blinding light, mine is still open, I don't care about the light burning my eyes and the tears rolling down.
It's like a rainbow.
The light that's shining from the crystal is intense and bright.
It's a mixture of red, blue, yellow and green light!
My eyes reflect the harmonious and perfectly blended colors of light.
"W–W–W... Wha– no, that's i– that's impossible!"
The announcer falls on the ground, his butt is on the floor as he's crawling back in fear. His eyes are widened and his jaw slacks as he sets his sights on the dazzling monstrosity that graced the training grounds.
"Alert the Patriarch! Alert the Matriarch! Alert the elders! Everyone! This calls for a meeting!!"
I hear a mature, deep voice ring out from outside the training grounds. It's Sin Morderego.. my guide.
There's something on the crystal apart from the four bright lights that shone, and no one seems to notice it.
It's that darkness.
It's faint and like a tiny string, lingering and slithering around the crystal like a snake.
I remove my hands from the crystal, causing the light display to seize immediately.
I turn to look at the crowd of murmuring people who all have terrified looks on their faces.
I pinpoint the location of the mothers that I glared at before. As I lock eyes with them...
I give them a wicked smirk.
They shiver and jolt as they see the look on my face.
I come down from the wooden platform, my hands in my pockets and I walk.
As I walk towards the crowd of people with my head high and my back straight, they all divide, making a path for me to pass, and I leave the training grounds.
____________
In an unidentifiable room in the Mansion of the Flameworths, a group of people are gathered at a round table to discuss the massive event that occurred in the training center a few hours ago.
"This is unprecedented."
An old, bald man with a white long beard that he caressed slowly spoke up.
"Truly unprecedented. He has an affinity with all four elements! How is that even possible or supposed to make sense?"
A short, red-haired old man with a husky voice spoke up, he was slamming the table as he spoke.
"Huhuhu.. This is a good thing."
Stilia, the Matriarch, the first wife of Alexander spoke up. She wore a black hat and a veil that covered her face, giving her a seductive look as she held a handfan.
"It is not! The other elements are useless to the Flameworths! A household of flame mages gives birth to a child that controls all elements? How does that make sense!?"
The short, red-haired old man yelled, veins bulging out of his forehead.
The other people at the round table were also debating the topic when an old woman with a wrinkly face and bright red hair that cascaded down her waist spoke up:
"Have Sin shut all the mouths of the commoners and paid the nobles off? We must make sure that this news never leaks outside our dukedom. Even if we have to kill every witness. Every. witness."
"You foul old woman. Always thinking evil things, that's why your husband left you."
The old bald man with a long white beard shot bullets at the old woman.
Her face reflected the fury she felt in her heart as she gnashed her teeth, trying to sink the intense feeling of burning him to a crisp for bringing out a past painful memory.
"You should focus on yourself and your talentless grandson, Jayad."
She said in a pseudo-calm voice, her tone evident that she was forcing herself to endure.
The old man retorted, "Why wo–"
"That's enough."
A chilling voice pressed down on all of them present in the room. The old man and the old woman immediately shut up and focused on the source of the voice, and the other side characters that were debating also went silent as soon as he spoke.
He had been listening to them for a while, watching and thinking to himself.
Everybody had mixed thoughts and feelings about Charles's affinity. But him? His heart was pounding for the first time in ages with excitement. He had been grinning like a madman when he first heard what had been displayed on the training grounds.
As I thought, he's a really entertaining child! Affinity with all four elements! I can't wait to watch him grow!
Those were his thoughts, inside of him. But on the outside, a stern and solemn expression was on his face as he gazed at the members of the round table with his chilling eyes.
"He will begin training as a flame mage immediately. I don't care about the other elements, when he is of age to enter the academy, he can learn the other elements there," He said as he scanned the room, hoping that somebody would oppose or try to cut him off. He wanted to burn some faces, he was excited.
"And regarding the case of news of his talent spreading... It doesn't matter. Because no one can do a thing to a kin of the Flameworths."
Alexander declared coldly, his voice reverberated in the air, and no one dared to oppose the great duke of the West.
He stood up from his chair, "The second anomaly after Krian the Great has been born." And he walked out of the room, leaving the other people in the room drowning in silence.
He just does whatever he wants huhuhu.
The Matriarch was intrigued as she stood up to leave too.