Legacy of Forgotten Times 160 Richard's Past 4

"Let's start with the basics. As you might know, we can class the roots into four categories, low-grade, medium-grade, advanced-grade and peak-grade. They also have levels among them between the grades but that's not important. There is actually another grade known as the perfect grade. Those are roots that have complete assimilation with their particular elements. They have no bounds on how strong they can get and those who possess said roots are called Sovereigns" Dumbledoor explained calmly.

"Now as you might have guessed your root was perfect-grade, meaning instead of having a pre-determined shape it was the element itself staying in your soul. Same for the altar you built. Your soul must have combined with the root and achieved perfect balance otherwise you would have already been dead. As for what makes Sovereigns so special is that they have perfect control over their domain. Instead of fighting to control the prana and bend it to your will, the prana itself would follow your commands to a tee but that's not the scariest thing about them. It is the fact that they can control the element of their adversaries too. So as long as your opponent is of darkness element you are virtually unbeatable. If they want to cast a spell you can disrupt it. If you don't want to do that you can also hit them back with their own spells. That's why they are called Sovereigns. They are basically the king of their respective elements and the beloved child of prana. Now, do you understand why we were so happy? That is not the only benefit you can get. There are several others but we can talk about that in the future" said Dumbledoor and finally noticed the pale look on Richard's face. He immediately got up to check up on him.

"Are you okay? Is something to matter? IS there any side effect from the altar?" he was speaking so fast that one would think it was his own son that was sick.

"N-no, it's just that. This is too much to handle. I-I don't know what to feel right now..." said Richard. Those were his true feelings. Until today he had always thought he was average and he would never be able to catch up to Leon- Wait! Leon!

Richard turned his head to see Leon looking at him with a complicated expression. He was biting his lower lip so hard that blood was coming out of it. He seemed just as conflicted as Richard if not more. Before today, he was the favourite son of the prana. His future was boundless. Everyone expected him to possess a peak-grade elemental root. They had even thought he might be able to awaken a mutated root with multiple elements. Who knew that he would be declared disabled and even unfit to build his own altar? And his own childhood friend, who was always below him, would suddenly rise to prominence and become something as legendary as a Sovereign?

"Teacher, if there is nothing else I will take my leave," said Leon and gave a bow to Dumbledoor.

"You were still here? Go on then, you can leave" said the principal. His attitude was like he was shooing away a stray dog. Richard did not like that. This was how he was treated in the past and now that he lost his value it seemed like he was treating Leon just to same. Of course, Leon himself noticed this fact too and left the room since he wasn't welcome anymore.

"Leon, I-" Richard was about to say something when he was stopped by Dumbledoor.

"Now, let's talk about your future and how we are going to train you," he said as he dragged Richard to sit in a chair in front of his desk.

"Principal, I-"

"Call me teacher. From now on you are going to be my personal disciple. I am not a darkness mage but after years of raising students I know how to train one"

"What about Leon?" Richard asked this question through his teeth.

"What about him?"

"Don't you think you should talk to him?"

"Why? He disabled as a mage so why should I waste my effort in him? He has no future in this field and it is better for him the sooner he realizes it" said Dumbledoor as a matter of factly.

Richard wanted to say something else but after that point on he was not allowed to speak. Dumbledoor and Serpentine decided on a training program for him and explained the other perks of being a Sovereign like immortality or having the ability to rebuild your body with the said element. Actually, both of those things can be counted as the same thing. Mages had a finite life span just like any other human but that did not include Sovereigns.

In the past, one of the Sovereigns discovered that he could rebuild his body with his domain element after a devastating injury and after that point on he became an immortal. When he gets older he just needed to replace those body parts with the new ones built from his element so he lived for centuries but that was not real immortality. After having a fight with another Sovereign and getting his head destroyed in battle he wasn't able to regenerate anymore so it was decided that Sovereigns only had the ability to keep their youth and they could be counted as pseudo immortals. Still, that didn't discourage the mages, once they found out that they could stop their ageing they tried to find other ways to gain immortality. One of which was the recent debate about the Philosopher's Stone. Currently, it was just a theory but they had found that if someone could fuse their body with the said stone they would achieve true immortality. However, that was only a theory and there was no substance to that as of now.

After being released by his 'teachers' Richard immediately left to find Leon. He was his best friend and wanted to find out if he could do something for him. This must be a very hard time for him. He needed all the support he could get. Of course, the naive Richard did not know that his presence would make matters worse but what can you expect from someone who grew in the countryside and only had a handful of friends.

Richard asked anyone he could find if they had seen Leon but none of them was able to answer him. Then Richard went to the highest tower in their school. Leon liked hanging out in there and watch the stars, imagining the day he would finally get to leave this school and travel around the world. Since it was already dark he might be there. When he arrived there Richard found out that he was right. Leon really was there but he was not alone. Edith was also with him.

"Edith, I love you. Will you marry me?" Richard stopped himself from going inside. So this was how his perfect day was going to end. Leon had finally confessed to Edith and they were going to be a pair. His heart hurt, he knew that he shouldn't have any hopes but once he found that he was special he couldn't help but imagining his own future with Edith. Of course, he could have still barged in and confessed to Edith as well and with his new identity there shouldn't be any problems with them getting married but he couldn't do this to his friend. He had lost too much today and Richard was afraid that he might do something irreversible if he took Edith away from her.

"I am sorry but I can't reply to your feelings I have someone else I like," said Edith while bowing her head in apology. Richard who was about to leave stopped on his tracks and kept on listening.

"Who?" Leon had asked in hostility.

"Richard," said Edith and something in Richard's head jolted. He wanted to jump and shout. He wanted to barge in there and confess his feelings to her but he could not do it. At least not right in front of Leon. So he bolted out of there as fast as possible lest he would not be able to hold himself back and barge in there to hold Edith in his arms.

That night Richard wasn't able to sleep and he kept turning around in his bed. He was thinking about what kind of expression he should make when he meets Edith today. As soon as it became morning he got up from his bed and wore his best robes. He wanted to look his best today. He even carefully combed his hair!

After having a heft breakfast he wondered if he should also grab a bouquet of flowers for her. Yes, it would be so romantic.

"Hey, did you hear the explosion last night?"

"What explosion?"

"I heard that Leon barged into one of the element pools to build his own altar. It seems like he wasn't able to come to terms with the fact that he wasn't a genius anymore. I also heard that his girlfriend Edith barged in after him to stop him from doing anything stupid but he didn't listen to her. Resulting in him implode and taking away Edith to the underworld together with himself. Such a tragedy"

After listening to the chat of the students next to him Richard felt numb. They could not be serious, right? Today was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. They both couldn't have gone and left him all alone in this world right?

Richard got up from his chair and went to where the explosion took place. The teachers including Dumbledoor was there stopping students from barging in there. Seeing the mangled bodies lying in the middle of the room Richard let out an agonizing cry. Everything was his fault. If he had been more courageous, more honest with her Edith might have been alive. If it was Leon who was the Sovereign he would have still been here. They had died because of him. Everything was his fault!

Chapter end