I was six when I declared that I would become Emperor of the Eternal Skies. No one believed me or took me seriously, of course. Some even laughed. The first and last Emperor had disappeared hundreds of years ago, but that did not stop me from proclaiming my dream, determination and will shining in my steady gaze.
Now that I was fifteen, it was still what I wanted, and today, I would take the first step toward proving it by earning my Order Mark and achieving the highest potential.
"You do not look particularly nervous," Nadia said in a hushed voice, glancing at me from the corner of her brown eyes. We were standing in the hall of the Knight Assembly branch in Kazekiri, the capital of our Clan, where we would manifest our Order Marks.
My eyes traced the crowd below us, the Clan leader, the Elders, and all the important people gathered to watch me and the others manifest our powers. We stood on a platform along with nearly thirty other aspirants, waiting for the Holy Knight to begin the ritual that would release our Marks.
The hall was vast, a sprawling space filled with chairs painted with symbols that hummed faintly with power. Stained glass windows cast colored light across the floor, and the air smelled of old ink and incense smoke.
I smiled, carefree. "Why should a Young Master of the Athrimir Clan be nervous? We are a family of powerful Knights. We breed warriors who have shaken the Highlands. I am about to become the most powerful of them all."
Nadia, my childhood friend, rolled her eyes. She was used to my way of speaking, such was the privilege of being a prince of the Clan. "I am not talking about how much power you will have. I am talking about what type of Order you will get."
I shrugged. I wore a white robe like the others, with a sword strapped to my waist. My black hair, thick and untamed like the mane of a Highland lion, was combed back and tied with a string. I glanced at my father again, the Clan leader seated with a flat expression as he listened to the Holy Knight drone on about the Knight Assembly.
The Order Mark determined which type of Knight Order we would belong to in the Assembly, the type of magic we would wield. There were the Elemental, Holy, Prime, Mystic, and Dark Orders. And then there was the Forbidden Order, reserved for outcasts.
I nodded at Nadia. "Every Order has the potential to be strong, so it does not matter. Maybe the Dark Order like the Clan leader would not be so bad."
"Or the Holy Order, like your brother," Nadia whispered.
"Stepbrother," I said firmly, my eyes darkening. My stepbrother, Thrain, was a year older, a contender for Clan leader, and already a Squire after his manifestation the previous year.
"You two will get thrown out if you keep at this," came a hiss from behind us. Mark, the grandson of one of the Elders, smirked. "But we would miss Prince Vale’s flair."
I patted my sword. "Have I not shown enough already? I am the fastest sword for a reason."
Nadia stifled a sigh. Yes, I was a brat, but I had earned the right. At ten, we began training for knighthood, and she knew just how much effort I put into it. I was the best in our set through sheer hard work. So maybe I had earned the right to be arrogant.
Mark smirked behind me. "Do you think you will continue to be a star after this manifestation? There are monsters in the world."
"There are monsters, and there are monsters," I snapped, raising my voice. Groans echoed behind me. This was just the type of thing expected of me, and the Holy Knight glared.
"Do you have something to say, Vale Athrimir?" Castellen Windsor asked. His wrinkled face tightened in warning. He was the leader of the Knight Assembly branch here, and he had taught me enough to know just how much trouble I was.
I smiled easily and stepped forward, my heart beating fast as I felt all the eyes in the room settle and sharpen on me. Today would not only be for getting my Mark, it would be the start of my path to power and becoming an Emperor. I must outshine my brother.
I clasped my hands together gently and then bowed. "Of course, Castellen. The History of the Knight Assembly, also known as the Grand Order, began long ago when the first and last Emperor of the Eternal Skies forced the different Orders to come together and share to fight for him. He was known as the greatest human to ever live, the strongest. He brought the Orders together and with his might united all the Clans under one rule."
Castellen Windsor cleared his throat, his hand on the stone altar beside him raised to silence me quickly. "Stop, do not talk about how he unified the Clans. Tell us about the Grand Order."
I liked to talk about the unification of the Eternal Skies as it was far more interesting, but I forced myself to talk about the Knight Assembly. "The History of the Knight Assembly is also the history of the Emperor because he brought them together to protect his territories, the Empire, and to fight against the monsters. He forced the different Knight Orders to share their knowledge with each other and to train Knights.
"But after the Empire fell seven hundred years ago, the objective of the Knight Assembly changed. They now focus on exterminating monsters and training Knight aspirants as well."
Castellen Windsor looked disappointed, but with me already in his grasp, he was not ready to let me go that easily. "What about rifts? What can you tell us about them?"
I hid a smile. I took both my martial arts training and theory very seriously, and I would not miss this opportunity to shine. "Rifts were created by the Arcane Wizards who ruled this continent a long time ago. They wanted to make contact with another plane of existence, and they did, because the rift they created came with monsters and ruins. The monsters are always intent on taking our lands for themselves, and so any Clans with rifts in their territories formed the Borderlands where they fight against the monsters.
I took a deep breath. "Also, we can trace the origin of the Knight back to the Arcane Wizards because they made use of Knights to fight the mess they created because they could not be bothered. Some people even say they created Knights. The records of events that followed after that were flawed because everyone was trying to contain the monsters, and a lot of libraries got burned to the ground and..."
"Thank you so much, Vale Athrimir," Castellen Windsor said grudgingly. "You are indeed of the Athrimir Clan."
I bowed and stepped back, my smile still firmly in place. My gaze flickered to my father, but the Clan leader was looking as flat as before, though some of the Elders were looking at me with a slight frown.
I hid my smile. Yes, today was only going to get better.
Castellen Windsor turned to his stone altar, which every surface was covered in runes from an Enchanting Knight of the Mystic Order. It was an enchanted tool of great power that would inject essence forcefully into the body and unlock the essence core if the individual had it, and then it would give the Mark of the Order.
It would also measure the potential power of the individual.
Castellen Windsor tapped some of the symbols on the altar and each one glowed a deep red in reply. He whispered some words before he turned to us. "You have all been taught how to conduct yourselves here."
We shifted, murmuring. Tension hung among us so thick it could be felt. Even the bravest among us felt as if we were on a cliff’s edge. This was it. It was better to become a Knight, even a weak one with low potential, than to fail at activating the essence core.
I smiled, a forced one, and clasped my slightly trembling hands together behind me. I would not show weakness here. The only thing to show was how powerful I was. Yes, I was an Athrimir, a Clan powerful enough to rule over millions of people.
Castellen Windsor continued after he got our nods. "Just put your hands on this altar and the essence will flood into you. Do not forget, you should not fight it. Your core will be activated and then a feedback will create your Order, and your potential will be shown."
"Eadbert Alred, come here."
And so it began.