The sun was slowly rising over Valthera.
Three children walked through the city’s streets.
Raizen walked in silence.
Kaira carried her massive axe over her shoulder.
Beside them, Zayden walked calmly, his eyes hidden beneath a black blindfold.
They had no family.
No home.
No one waiting for them.
But they had each other, and for them, that was enough.
After years of surviving together, the three had finally reached the moment they had been waiting for: they were going to the Central Academy of Étheria.
The Central Academy After several hours of walking, the three finally arrived at the academy gates.
The Central Academy of Étheria was enormous — gigantic towers rising into the clouds, surrounded by magical barriers and floating platforms.
Thousands of students from different kingdoms came here every year to study magic.
Kaira tilted her head back.
“So…
this is the academy…” Zayden smiled beneath his blindfold.
“I can hear thousands of people.” Raizen stared at the entrance, sensing countless magical energies pouring out from inside — some weak, others far more powerful.
None of them impressed him.
“Let’s go.” The three walked through the enormous gates.
None of them knew that, from that moment on, their lives would never be the same.
The Entrance Examination All the new students were gathered inside a vast examination hall, hundreds of young candidates waiting nervously.
At the front stood a professor in the academy’s traditional black robes.
“Welcome to the Central Academy of Étheria.” Behind him, a massive magical crystal appeared.
“This crystal will measure your magical potential and affinity.” The students stepped forward one by one.
Fire.
Ice.
Lightning.
Wind.
Earth.
Different types of magic manifested throughout the hall as the professor recorded each result.
Then— “Kaira.” She stepped forward and placed her hand against the crystal.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then— Boom!
The entire crystal shook, a powerful wave of pressure sweeping through the room.
Several students stumbled backward.
The professor’s eyes widened.
“What is this…?” Kaira pulled her hand away at once.
The crystal was covered in cracks.
He studied her for a moment.
“You possess an extraordinary amount of physical energy.” Kaira shrugged.
“I’ve always been strong.” The professor’s gaze drifted to the massive axe on her back.
Something strange was emanating from the weapon — he could feel it, though he decided not to mention it.
“You may step aside.” She returned to Raizen and Zayden.
Zayden “Zayden.” The blindfolded boy stepped forward, and several students immediately began whispering.
“Is he blind?” “How can someone like that fight?” “Maybe he can’t even use magic.” Zayden ignored them and placed his hand against the crystal.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
The professor’s brow creased.
Then, suddenly— Boom!
The crystal began to glow — brilliant white light spreading across one side, and dark black energy blooming across the other.
The two opposing forces began circling each other around the crystal’s surface, and the hall fell utterly still.
The professor watched in disbelief.
“What is this…?” He had never seen magical energy like it.
The white and black currents kept turning around one another, and for a brief moment he felt a crushing pressure bear down on the room.
Then Zayden pulled his hand back.
The two energies vanished, and the silence held.
The professor looked at him.
“I…
can’t determine the nature of your power.” Zayden smiled faintly.
“Neither can I.” The professor wrote slowly on his examination sheet: Magical Affinity: Unknown.
Analysis: Impossible.
No one in the room understood what those two energies truly meant.
And, most importantly, no one knew what Zayden was hiding beneath his blindfold.
Raizen “Raizen.” He stepped forward, hundreds of eyes turning toward him, and calmly placed his hand against the crystal.
One second passed.
Nothing.
Two seconds.
Still nothing.
Several students began laughing.
“He has no magic!” “He’s completely useless!” “Why did he even come here?” Raizen said nothing.
He didn’t react.
Then— Boom.
The crystal began turning black, darkness spreading across its surface, and the laughter died at once.
The professor took a step back.
“What is happening…?” The darkness kept spreading until the entire crystal was consumed by it.
Then— Crack.
A small fissure appeared.
Crack.
A second.
Then a third.
Raizen watched it happen, feeling the darkness inside him answer in kind.
He didn’t understand what was happening.
Then— CRAAAAACK!
The crystal shattered completely, fragments scattering across the floor.
A heavy quiet fell over the hall.
Raizen looked down at his own hand, confused.
“What did I do?” The professor’s face had gone pale as he stared at the ruined crystal.
“Impossible…” Raizen met his eyes.
The professor said nothing back.
For the first time in many years, he was afraid of what he had just witnessed.
The Three Strongest Students Later that day, Raizen, Kaira, and Zayden walked through the academy courtyard, students gathered everywhere around them.
Then Kaira noticed a large crowd surrounding three figures.
A nearby student whispered, “Those are the three strongest students in the academy.” Raizen turned to look.
The first was a young man wrapped in crackling lightning, having mastered powerful lightning magic.
The second was a girl surrounded by a freezing aura, her ice magic clearly formidable.
The third stood apart from the others, calm and still, several small stones drifting in the air around him — a master of gravity magic.
Kaira studied them.
“They look strong.” Zayden tilted his head slightly.
“Yes.” Raizen watched the three for a long moment, then looked away.
“They aren’t strong enough.” Kaira smiled.
“Judging them already?” “I’m simply observing them,” he said evenly.
The three of them kept walking.
Raizen glanced up at the sky, watching the sun sink slowly toward the horizon.
He didn’t know what the future held for him.
He didn’t know what secrets waited inside the academy.
And he didn’t know that the three strongest students he’d just seen would eventually become connected to his destiny.
The path of the three abandoned children had only just begun.
— Kurotsuki