It was Wednesday. Kai was in maths class, looking out of the window with no focus or interest in the ongoing class. Kai liked history and mythology more. Despite being assigned to a particular trio, every student needed to attend basic classes every day. These classes included normal subjects along with some different new subjects like history of blessed humans, mythology, aether, etc. Kai's mind was currently filled with thoughts about the invitation. 'Last night Shi-sensei got excited about the sender. I wonder who it is...' he thought.
[What happened last night]
Shi was now normal, not very excited anymore. He was explaining what to do next because he too was not sure if the invitation was a trap or not as he could sense a very small essence of mischief arcanis from the letter.
"Only four people will go to the party. Two couples—that makes two males and two females,"
Shi said."But why only four people?" asked Caihong.
"Because that's what is written in the invitation." Shi showed him the letter.
"So Kai and Kanhatsu will go as one couple."
Kai blushed a little, but Kanhatsu's expression was stern as always. "Who will be the other two people?" asked Kanhatsu.
"I will go with you," Shi said.
"And the girl?"
"I'll arrange it."
"But what about me?!" Caihong exclaimed.
"You will not go," said Shi coldly.
"But I want to go too!"
Adam pulled Caihong by his clothes while Caihong kicked his hands and legs like a baby.
"When is the party?" Kai asked.
"On Monday."
[Present time]
As soon as the bell rang marking the end of the period, all students rushed outside. All the classes for that day were over and students were allowed to do whatever they wanted. On the way back to the room, Kai found Kanhatsu. Each member of a trio attends different classes every day than their fellow trio members.
"Which class were you in?" asked Kai, now walking to the room with Kanhatsu.
"Physics. You?"
"Maths," said Kai in a bored tone.
Despite being a magic academy for blessed beings, most of the academic subjects were normal. It was because most of these blessed beings live among normal humans in a normal way. They can use aether but that doesn't mean they need to use it; most blessed beings prefer to live normally. Kanhatsu used to think, then what is the use of these academies if most of the blessed beings want to live normally? Why train them in the use of aether?
"Where is Caihong?" asked Kai.
"He went to the room early probably."
Both returned to their room. Caihong was sitting on the floor facing the wall, making random circles on the floor using his finger. He was still upset about not being allowed to go to the party. Kanhatsu ignored him. After some rest, they went to Shi-sensei for the trio training. The training continued till evening. They were soaked in sweat, panting heavily. Days went by like this; Shi's training was almost deadly but he didn't care about the students as Adam would heal their injuries and wounds after every session.
Days passed; it was Monday. There was a knock on the door. Kai opened the door; a maid was there. She gave two packages of clothes to Kai, bowed, and walked away.
"So the clothes arrived?" asked Kanhatsu; she was at her study table.
"Yeah."
They opened the packages. One bright red suit and a red cinched-waist maxi dress were there. Shi had bought them new clothes for the party.
"Looks expensive," said Kanhatsu, holding her cinched-waist maxi dress.
"Hey Caihong, look, how is my suit... er... never mind." Kai wanted to show his new clothes to Caihong but... he was still kind of upset, facing towards the wall.At night, Adam took them outside the academy. Shi was already there wearing a shiny black suit. A stunning lady in a bodycon maxi dress was beside Shi. She looked like Adam—sapphire eyes, long and smooth golden hair, glowing fair skin; she looked like a deity.
"Who is she, sensei?" Kanhatsu asked. "Your wife?"
"Eve," Shi answered.
"She is my wife. Beautiful, isn't she?" Adam said sweetly.
Kanhatsu felt a little embarrassed for misjudging the relationship.
"She will help us," Shi said.
Eve smiled sweetly towards Kai and Kanhatsu. She was gentle and friendly like her husband Adam.
"But how will we go down?" Kanhatsu asked. "It will take hours to reach Tokyo."
Shi raised one hand and a portal appeared. They walked into the portal; Adam was waving goodbye. The portal led them into a dark alley. When they found their way out of the alley, Kai was mesmerized by the tall buildings, lights, vehicles, people. He had never seen a big city like Tokyo in his life, not even in photos.
"Let's go," Shi ordered.
The hotel mentioned in the invitation was right in front of them, on the other side of the road. They walked inside. The interior was, of course, luxurious and expensive. A butler led them to the main hall where the party was going on. Many upper-class people were there, some enjoying the food and drinks while others were talking to each other.
"What is the plan now?" Kanhatsu asked, scanning the hall.
Shi did not answer. He was trying to sense and locate any type of aether or arcanis in the hall. Suddenly the lights went off and a particular spot lit up. There stood a gentleman. Silver suit, pure white hair, white and calm eyes, and a mischievous smile. He was holding a microphone.
"Thank you, all of you, for attending this party," said the man. "I hope all of you will enjoy the party." The man bowed and everyone began to clap for formality. The man looked into Kai's eyes before walking away.
"Sensei..."
"Found him."
Shi was getting excited. "Eve, you should stay here. It can be dangerous," he continued. "Kai and Kanhatsu, follow me."
Shi followed the man walking through the dark corridor. Walking straight ahead, he found a door at the end of the corridor. He opened the door; the same man was standing there.
"I was waiting, Shi," said the man.
"Long time no see, Ten." Shi said bitterly.
The man first looked at Kanhatsu and then at Kai. His mischievous smile grew wider.
"Oh! The little ones." He said, "Let me introduce myself." He bowed dramatically. "My name is Tengoku. Call me Ten."
"It is very pathetic," Shi said, looking at him, "to accept the proposal to be on his side. You got some nerves meeting me here."
"You are calling me pathetic," Ten said, angered by the sentence, "but after refusing his proposal, you turned into an eternal slave for both sides."
The atmosphere in the room grew heavy. Kai and Kanhatsu did not dare utter any word. Shi and Ten both began to release their aether pressure, and Kanhatsu and Kai knelt on their knees due to the pressure; they both looked at each other—both were terrified. In a blink, Tengoku and Shi jolted towards each other. Shi dodged Ten's attack and punched him in the chest. Tengoku coughed up blood but the mischievous smile was still on his face. He looked into Kai's eyes again. A tremendous amount of aether began to leak from Ten's eyes; the aether was in such a pure form that Kai and Kanhatsu were not able to sense it. All of Ten's clothes tore due to his own aether, leaving only some tattered cloth pieces on his body. Kai looked outside the window; the weather was stormy. The dark clouds were swirling above the hotel. He looked at Ten again. A pair of white angelic wings appeared on Tengoku's back and a halo ring on his head. The roof of the hotel broke and flew upwards towards the center of the swirling clouds. Ten flapped his wings and took flight towards the center of the swirl, laughing madly. He looked into Kai's eyes again and opened his mouth to scream something.
"Kai! The chosen one, Devifactor of primordial Shiva—my master will be waiting for you in the heavens." He screamed madly and entered the center of the swirl, disappearing completely.