**Astral Mystic Institute, Saturday.**
It’s been two days since the auction, and also the announcement of the supposed mock exam Damon knew nothing of.
The entire first year had been buzzing in anticipation about the event. So much that some even doubled their training, and decided not to take a mission today. For Damon though,
Whoosh!
He appeared in the mission hall with a soft whoosh. Today he wore a set of black pants, and a grey t-shirt. Then over it, he wore a long coat that billowed dramatically when he moved, reminiscent of a certain shadow monarch.
Damon moved from the matrix, and towards one of the check-in areas where Dion was already waiting.
"Finally bro, I’ve been waiting like forever." Dion sighed wearily.
"Sorry dude, I had some unfinished business to take care of." Damon muttered. Yesterday Dion had proposed that the two once again take missions in the same city or region together. And since Damon saw no issues with it, he agreed.
"You know bro, I’ve been having issues thinking on which continent we should go to." Dion’s weary expression got chased away by his enthusiasm.
Damon smiled.
"You’re the one having issues. I already know where I want to go." He shrugged.
"Where?" Dion asked curiously.
"I’m taking a mission to Rivermark city, in the Remea continent." Damon replied.
Dion grinned.
"So you mean we are taking a mission to the remea continent then?"
"Of course, shall we?" Damon mirrored his grin.
"Indeed we shall." Dion replied as they both moved to the counter.
"We would like to take some missions in the Remea continent please." Damon said to the staff behind the counter. "Preferably ones in Rivermark city, or somewhere close to that." he added.
The staff nodded to that, and navigated to a certain block on the scroll, before turning it towards the two.
"These are all missions in that region, take a look, and pick whichever you like."
The duo nodded, and began to scroll through the missions.
"I think I’ll take this one." Damon muttered after a while. He had found a relatively easy mission, and it paid 30 points. Not as much as the one he took last week, but still good.
Not long after, Dion also found his.
After that, the staff proceeded to register the missions they took in their names.
The two then went over to the teleportation matrixes.
"Where are you headed?" one of the staff manning the matrixes asked.
"Rivermark city, Remea continent." The two said simultaneously.
As they watched as the man recalibrated one of the matrixes that’ll take them to their destination, a change occured in the mission hall.
A cold unbridled chill pressed down on everyone as a single individual emerged from the matrix connected to the third year campus.
Four more individuals soon appeared as the figure stepped away from the matrix. The individuals stayed half a step behind him like he was some sort of king, which he kind of was, because he was the president of the student council.
Due to the undeniable chill and aura he was radiating, everyone in the hall was forced to turn towards him.
Damon meanwhile grimaced upon seeing the individual. He knew the man very well, in fact more than very well. The man gaze also swept the mission hall in cold indifference, but when his eyes fell on Damon’s, they stopped, before they radiated overwhelming malevolence.
The man’s cold expression soon twisted into a ghost of a smile as he took step after step towards Damon, with the four individuals trailing behind him.
He soon stood before Damon, his striking grey eyes reflecting Damon’s grim visage.
"Miss me brother?" he finally said in a sonorous tone, as he leaned down a little to look Damon in the eye.
All the pressure of his Zeta+ ranked aura pressing on damon. He didn’t even spare Dion a glance. The man was taller than Damon by at least three inches, his long jet black hair falling in droves around his shoulder.
Damon however felt a chill run down his spine. This man was Emmett Darkfell, a Zeta+ ranked aetherial, and soon to enter the Gamma- rank. He was the current student council president of the Astral Mystic Institute, the second prince of the Darkfell empire, and also Damon and Rose’s Older brother by two years.
"Not able to speak are we?" Emmett’s eyes narrowed. "Well I’ll also not be able to if I was such a disappointment." he continued.
"I haven’t seen you in what, two months?, and yet I am still baffled by your ineptitude." Emmett said with a shake of his head.
Damon meanwhile still stood frozen in fear of the man before him. It wasn’t the fear of the transmigrated part of him from earth, at least not fully, but the fear of the 18 year old Damon who had spent his entire life being bullied and being talked down to by this man.
The transmigrated part of him meanwhile also felt a bit of fear. He had read about this man, and knew how wicked and ruthless he could be.
In the novel, Emmett wasn’t the arrogant prick type, or the ’greater evil’ type of character. Instead he was the man behind the strings, puppeteering the entire Nahaar from behind the veil, just because.
It didn’t matter if it were the Humans, Elves, Demons, Merfolk, or even the heretics, this guy manipulated everyone like they were pieces on a chessboard. It didn’t help his case that his unique physique was called; The checkmate physique, and that his initial physique ability was literally the manifestation of a chessboard.
’He probably already knows all I’ve been doing ever since I was exiled.’ Damon thought grimly.
Still, he steeled his fear, and tried to quip a sarcastic comment.
"My dear brother graces me with his presence. To what do I owe this honor?"
"Just wanted to see what the lesser brother was doing, and maybe he’s grown a little less dumb after falling into an obvious trap and getting exiled." Emmett said, with a ghost of a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
’So he knows the truth of the matter, and still kept quiet even while I was being blamed.’ Damon expression turned grim.
But Emmett’s expression didn’t change one bit. "How foolish do you take mother and father to be?" he said, a statement rather than a question. "Did you really think they didn’t know that you were being framed?" Emmett’s voice grew into a whisper.
"You weren’t punished for attempted rape, dear little Damon." Emmett’s hand gripped Damon’s shoulder in a tight firm hold. "You were punished for falling into an obvious trap such as that."
’So they all knew.’ Damon thought gritting his teeth. ’And they let me shoulder the blame for something I didn’t do.’ His blood boiled, and his fury peaked. But he managed to calm himself from lashing out at Emmett. That wouldn’t end well for him.
"You really have changed." Seeing that, Emmett looked him up and down and clicked his tongue. "Last I heard, you were in that black market in Silver city." He said causing Damon’s eyes to bulge.
’He knows!... He knows!’ Damon thoughts were in disarray. Guessing Emmett knew, and him actually knowing were two different things.
"H...how?" Damon managed to compose himself and ask.
"Who do you think Ariel got that mask from?" Emmett’s lips curled into a cold smile.
’Did she get it from him?" Damon inwardly thought. ’He’s using the mask to track me? Does the mask have any trackers?’ Damon’s thought went into a frenzy.
"I guess you’re still as dumb as you once were." Emmett’s baritone voice sounded, interrupting his train of thoughts. "But try not to disappoint by doing something stupid, or falling for some obvious trap once more." He said as he turned away, his entourage following behind him.
But the mission hall refused to take a single breath, it wasn’t until Emmett and his flankers took whatever mission they wanted to take and disappeared into a matrix that everyone in the hall finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Even Damon released a breath he didn’t knew he had been holding.
"Man, and I thought your sister was scary." Dion muttered literally wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. "How did you even live, with that guy breathing down on your neck?" Dion inquired, turning towards Damon.
Damon sighed.
"It hasn’t been a picnic." At the very least, Rose only hurt him during sparring. But Emmett cared not about that, he bullied Damon anytime he so wished.
"I can tell." Dion nodded in agreement.
The staff that had stopped calibrating the matrix when Emmett arrived, also woke up from his stupor and continued his job.
The poor guy couldn’t be blamed. Sure he was a staff, but Emmett was the student council president, and a prince on top, while at the same time being a Zeta+ ranked aetherial. But he, the staff was only a Theta ranked aetherial. The only reason he even got this job was because he was good at what he did.
"It’s done." he announced to both Damon and Dion who were still reeling from Emmett’s presence.
Not long after, the duo disappeared into the matrix.
*************
SO WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK OF EMMETT?
COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW!