"Duke Ragnar will return in four days, so you can rest assured he will be present for the awakening."
Azrael assumed a happy expression, but only he knew his true thoughts.
After talking about some other things, Azrael bade farewell to Howard and returned to his room.
*****
Azrael's room,
"You can drop the act now, there's no need to pretend any longer, that we are happy with this family," said Master White.
"I know, but it has almost become a reflex after sixteen years.
But it will eventually fade away." Azrael replied.
Master White simply nodded.
Humans are said to be social creatures, but that did not apply to Azrael. He prefered isolation. He is repulsed by the idea of communal gatherings, exchanging polite pleasantries and feeding each others egos.
It is tiring and at the same time a very futile thing.
One can argue that communal gatherings are different from family, but Azrael doesn't understand that yet. He only thinks of this as necessary formalities compared to the optional social formalities.
For sixteen years, he has been pretending, acting and meticulously planting a character of Azrael in everyone's mind.
The second heir of House Vaeloreth: a mature and calm kid for his age. Always holed up in the library, occasionally playing with only his sister Cesia and is very diligent in training as reported by Instructor Howard.
This is the description anyone will have, if they inquire about Azrael Vaeloreth.
This particular persona is very vital for their upcoming plan.
"Duke Ragnar will be back in four days, what is our move untill then?" Azrael questioned
"Our training concluded today, we have a rough estimate of our strength; there is no need to push further."
"We do nothing and play it natural as it has been since the day we were born." Replied Master White.
Azrael nodded in agreement.
Four days later—
In the dining hall,
Duke ragnar is present at head seat, Elyndra is on the right side. Cesia is seven-years old now, so she sits besides Elyndra. And Azrael is sitting on the left side but not in his usual place, as there is a new addition to this already complicated family.
Taking the immediate seat to the Duke's left is Julius Vaeloreth, First son of Duke Ragnar and heir to the Vaeloreth dukedom.
Julius had a very similar face and build as Duke Ragnar. His golden hair reaching shoulder length and the signature emerald-green eyes.
He carried a cold and stern face which commanded obedience from those beneath him, one can say that he is a perfect copy of his father.
There was an awkward silence in the dining hall, as this family is very weird. Every single one of them is motivated by different things, making them not share a single common point to discuss.
The only exception is Cesia, but as she grows up, she is also starting to pick up on things and is losing her childish innocence.
Azrael was very shocked to see his elder brother arriving along with Duke Ragnar. He greeted them in an official manner and escaped the people's attention while everyone was busy dealing with an overjoyed, sobbing Cesia, who saw her father and older brother for the first time in years.
But now, at dinner, confrontation was unavoidable.
As the silence stretched too long, Azrael decided to break it—
"Where have you been all this time, brother Julius?"
Julius stops eating, sets down his silverware and turned towards Azrael.
"While you were growing up, I was occupied with the academy for most of the time. And for the past two years, I have been assisting Father at the border."
Actually this is not the first time Azrael is seeing Julius. when he was just a toddler, Julius was setting off to the Sylvanus academy.
And he would often come to visit baby Azrael in the cradle.
By the time Azrael grew up, he was already gone and returned today.
"But you and father are back for good, right?" Azrael followed with a question.
"Yes, the war is over.. for now." This time Duke Ragnar replied.
"I am glad that the war is over and you both returned home safe and sound." Azrael said with a calm and satisfied expression.
Duke Ragnar simply nodded.
He then asked—
"Are you ready for the Awakening?"
At this, Julius also turned his gaze toward Azrael.
"Yes father, I have been training diligently with Instructor Howard and I am ready for the Awakening."
"Good, I have prepared a gift for you."
"What is it, Father?"
"You will receive it on the day of Awakening." Duke Ragnar said with a rare thin smile.
"Okay." Replied Azrael.
Azrael finished his meal and returned to his room.
Azrael's room,
"We messed up there, I should have started the conversation with a compliment to Julius." Azrael commented.
"Like I said, no need to worry about the persona anymore. It is already established, what we should really be preparing for is the thing after the awakening ceremony." Replied Master White.
"We will do it immediately after the awakening as we have planned. It will be done with good showmanship, to spread it as far as possible."
Azrael nodded in agreement.
They discuss some more details and their plan of action for the next three days— after a while Azrael goes to sleep.
*******
The Awakening day,
The Vaeloreth Castle was in quite an uproar. The usually isolated training grounds at the back of the castle is filled with people to the brim.
Today it won't be just Azrael awakening, all of the soldiers and the people with immediate connection to the Vaeloreth dukedom will also participate and send their kids for awakening.
Awakening is carried out every year by all the top powers of the Sylvanus kingdom. But the rulers are not present for every one of them.
Duke Ragnar will be attending today's ceremony. So, it's a big deal for the common populace.
Besides the training grounds, there are ten chambers specially prepared for awakening. All the childrens are arranged in a group of ten and are standing in order.
The whole event can take one or two days to be over, the first batch of kids already went in, and after half an hour the second batch also got in.
Likewise, all ten batches went inside the chambers and now all the audience and the family members wait.
It can take up, almost eight to nine hours just for the first batch to finish assimilating the blood.
And the final tenth batch will complete the awakening by tomorrow morning.
Afterwards it's time for new groups to be formed and to proceed with the second day.
The first day was almost over, and the initial batches were already out. The training grounds were filled with newly awakened children.
Some were jumping high in the sky with their new found strength, the others were sparking fire, water and other elements out of thin air.
It's early morning of the second day, all the newly awakened are trying out their new abilities, and that is expected. Because everyone wants to experience the supernatural.
They have grown up in a world, where the supernatural element isn't just an imaginative story but a reality.
So the moment they became one of the people with access to such an reality, they were beyond excited.
suddenly the chatter died down.
A man walked down the central path toward the elevated platform. He took the highest seat. He didn't need a flash banner or a loud announcement.
It was Duke Ragnar, his mere presence demanded order.
Following him were Duchess Elyndra, Julius, and Cesia.
They all take their respective seats, and no one speaks anything.
Just as the crowd thought the arrivals were over, a young man with messy golden hair and green eyes walked in, seeing him some of the ladies in the audience can't help but be stunned. He was strikingly handsome.
He carries a cold dignified demeanor and many of his peers aren't able to look at him eye to eye.
The older male audience however is astonished for a completely different reason, that is because the young man is being escorted by one of the top figures of House Vaeloreth.
Howard Finch— The "scholarly Beast". One of the most fearsome generals of the Vaeloreth army is escorting a young man for Awakening. Many were surprised but the few who knew the relationship between them understood the action.
By now all the people can infer, that the young man is the second son of Duke Ragnar, Azrael Vaeloreth.
Contrary to the Duke's arrival where everyone went silent, the moment Azrael stepped in, a slow chatter began to rise among the crowd. It was not disrespectful but curiosity getting the best of them.
Howard stepped onto the platform and shouted,
"Silence!"
The grounds became deathly still. Azrael stepped forward and bowed to his father.
"Rise." The Duke commanded.
"For the maturity and understanding you have shown in my absence, I present this gift to you."
"I have prepared four different types of tier-6 beast for you. Choose whichever attribute you like." Duke Ragnar said.
The whole crowd gasps,
It is very rare to find such high level blood, unless one hunts them on their own.
They can hardly imagine a tier-5 beast, the above tiers are beyond their reach.
"Thank you, Father." Azrael expresses his gratitude.
The Duke simply smiled, he turned towards Howard and nodded at him to bring out the four vials of blood.
Howard stepped down and presented four vials:
★Titan Fire Ape
★Arctic Serpent
★Raging Earth Bull
★Gliding Gryphon
Azrael pretended to weigh the options, though he felt nothing for the blood of these beasts. After a calculated pause, he spoke.
"I choose the Titan Fire Ape."