The Abandonment of succession was a ritual forgotten with the ages. Many didn't realise or acknowledge the existence of such a practice. It was first introduced by the ancestor of the Sylvanus Kingdom and its first King, Rowane Sylvanus. He had introduced it to lessen the struggle for the throne. Seeing the effectiveness of it, there were people who wanted to perform it to set themselves free from the political struggle. But the later generations' hunger for power was more than the King had imagined and the ritual had become nothing more than lines and pages in the history books. Until, that is, it was brought back to life by the hands of a sixteen-year-old kid who had just awakened.
Azrael Vaeloreth, second son of Duke Ragnar Vaeloreth. His identity spread to every corner of the Sylvanus Kingdom and beyond to foreign lands. Just by his one action, people were divided into two groups. One berated the boy, as they believed he feared the battle of succession and chose the easy way out. The other group praised him for his determination to cultivate and his ruthlessness towards himself at such a young age.
Whether his name was famous or infamous, it didn't matter. One thing was guaranteed: that no one would forget the name of Azrael for years to come.
*********
Capital city of Sylvane,
In the very heart of the capital was, The Sylvane Sphere. A dome-like structure made of wood from the Sylvaran Forest and hardened metals from the Blackstone Barrens. It was the royal hall, where the royal session was held to decide the important matters of the kingdom. Beside the dome stood a big mansion, relatively smaller than the Sphere.
In one of the rooms of the mansion, a man with brown hair and light-green eyes sat half-naked on a couch, sipping a glass of wine. The room was filled with the pungent smell of alcohol, and the man appeared intoxicated. Two young ladies lay on the bed, with only a single red blanket covering their dignity.
Suddenly, a man in full black clothing and a mask covering his face appeared out of nowhere. He stood in front of the half-naked man and bowed. He offered a piece of paper for the person on the couch to read through and silently waited for him to finish.
"Abandonment of Succession.. is that the ritual my forefather invented?"
"Yes, your majesty." The person in black clothing replied.
"But why do you bring this news to me?" The half-naked man questioned.
"Your majesty, Azrael Vaeloreth—" before he could finish, he was interrupted.
"I don't care. His declaration of abandonment doesn't concern me or the kingdom in any way possible. So, I don't consider this a matter of importance worthy of interfering during this precious time of mine." The half-naked man stated.
"But—
The man with the mask was silenced once again.
"No more discussions on this matter, this is a case for the Vaeloreth dukedom and not my concern." Saying that, he walked towards the bed, pulled the blanket covering the ladies, and started indulging in carnal pleasure without an ounce of consideration for the presence of the masked man.
The masked man shook his head and sighed. He left the way he came, disappearing into thin air.
***********
In another corner of the sylvane capital,
A middle-aged man with grey hair and a grey beard, a sign of his aging, was going through papers in his office. He found one piece of information that really intrigued him.
"Azrael Vaeloreth, I am really looking forward to meeting you in the next two years. Oh, but now he doesn't need to come. He can choose not to attend. Ahh.. I really wanted to know what was going on in his head, how such a young kid overcomes the thirst for power is very fascinating to me." He started mumbling to himself.
"I sincerely hope you attend the academy, Azrael." Saying that, he returned back to his usual work.
***********
Somewhere in the World of Terralon,
"Interesting.. I didn't know that the Sylvanus Kingdom had such a kid to offer. He is a genius in his own right, I wonder when we will meet."
There was no light, no face, and in fact, no presence either. Only a low sound echoed in what seemed to be an enclosed cave or room. But there were many people kneeling in some random direction; when they heard the voice, all of them turned towards it and lowered their heads even more. None of them uttered a single word.
************
Back in Vaeloreth Castle,
In Azrael's room,
Azrael was sitting on his bed, and Cesia was locked onto his lap, hugging him tightly. It had been a day and Azrael had just woke up, the first thing he found when he woke up was Cesia sleeping beside him and when she was also stirred awake by his movements. She clung onto him, not even giving him space to move.
After witnessing yesterday's traumatizing event, she had sobbed uncontrollably and went straight to look for Azrael. Seeing him asleep, she had been very adamant about staying by his side. At last, the maids gave in and let her do what she wanted. She didn't want to leave her crazy brother for even a second who did something completely unexpected.
"I am okay, Cesia. You can let go now." Azrael said.
"No, I won't let you go. You will hurt yourself again." The dried up tears were beginning to form again at the corner of her eyes. Seeing that, Azrael interjected immediately, "No, I won't hurt myself again. You don't need to worry."
"I won't listen to you." She dismissed him completely and tightened her hug around him even more.
Azrael simply sighed, and made a mental note to never do anything like this again in the presence of his little sister— at least until the time she had grown up to handle these kinds of situations.
Suddenly, someone barged into his room without even knocking. Azrael frowned, but seeing who it was, his face changed back to normal. It was Julius, his elder brother.
"Why did you do it?" He directly asked without even greeting Azrael.
"Did you feel threatened in any way by my presence, or was it someone else threatening you?" He questioned.
"First of all, good morning, brother." Azrael replied with a smile, but seeing the solemn look on his face which wanted answers he didn't beat around the bush.
"Alright, I will answer your questions. The answer is NO, I didn't feel threatened by you or anyone else. Like I said, the only thing I care about is cultivation and I don't want to play politics with anyone." Azrael said in a determined voice.
"But you could have done that even without the ritual, you just had to ask me or Father for permission."
"Now, I don't have to ask for any permissions. I have complete freedom over my actions and I am not tied to the name of Vaeloreth." Azrael immediately answered.
Hearing that, Julius frowned. He didn't have a good enough argument to counter that.
"You do realize that after the abandonment, you are a false noble and Father can completely demote you to the level of a commoner?" Julius retorted.
To which Azrael simply shrugged. Julius was frustrated; he sighed and left the room. Azrael understood what his brother was feeling, Julius had finally returned after so many years and was looking forward to building a great bond with his siblings. And it was going well, until Azrael performed the ritual. Which had a direct effect on him, as he abandoned his rights then Julius becomes the sole heir. He wanted to inherit the legacy but not like this—where his brother gives it away to him.
He thought it was his fault that Azrael made such a decision. Azrael had said that it wasn't because of him, but he could only do so much; the rest was up to Julius to figure out.
Just after Julius left, Howard entered the room.
"You have been summoned by the Duke, young master." Howard said.
Azrael nodded, and after making multiple promises to Cesia that he won't do it ever again, she finally calmed down and let go of him. He made his way to the Duke's office along with Howard. As they were walking down the hallway, Azrael suddenly said.
"You don't have to call me young master anymore, Howard." Azrael said.
"I don't believe in any ritual, young master. Nothing will change the way I address you or your position in my eyes. You will always be the second young master of the Vaeloreth dukedom for me." Howard replied with a smile.
Azrael just shook his head and continued walking.
*******
The Duke's office,
Azrael and Duke Ragnar stared at each other for quite a while now. A slow tension was building up between them. Seeing that the silence was continuing more than he expected, Azrael decided to break it and questioned.
"You called for me, Father?"
"Why do you think I summoned you?" Ragnar questioned back.
"To decide whether I would still be a noble, or if you would banish me from the Vaeloreth Castle and renounce my status to a commoner."
"You really thought it through.. huh? when you performed the ritual, I was really shocked. None of your previous actions indicated in any way that you were going to do that. Even Howard's report didn't mention anything out of the ordinary except for the incident at the training grounds two years ago—but you were cleared of it by Howard the next day. So, it doesn't really count."
Azrael was inwardly shocked to know, that he had even been on the suspect list for the training dummy incident. He noted that he needed to learn more about how the investigation had proceeded and concluded, to find out any loopholes that made him a suspect.
"Alright then, let me tell you my decisions. Firstly, I won't be demoting you to a commoner; you will still be a noble—the second young master of House Vaeloreth. But just in name, as you won't have any actual power. Secondly, you will continue to stay in the Castle if you want to, and leave at anytime, there isn't much I can say against it anyway. Which leads us to the third point: even though you stay in the Castle, none of the members here, including me, have any right to order you. But that is applicable to yourself also, as you won't be able to ask for help from anyone. Lastly, you won't have access to any of the resources normally provided for cultivation by the Vaeloreth House. Remember this: you are an independent cultivator from now on, and you will acquire resources all by yourself.
Azrael remained silent for a while, then bowed, and said.
"I really have no words to express my gratitude, for still accomodating this incompetent son of yours."
"I promise, that I won't trouble the Vaeloreth House in any way and stay true to my claim of being an ascetic."
The Duke looked at Azrael for a while, and just sighed. Nobody knew what he was thinking but there was a difficult expression on his face.
"I hope you achieve your dreams, Azrael. That's all for now, you are excused."
"Thank you, Father." With that, Azrael left the office and returned to his room.