Chapter 2: Sanctuary of Elders

The door closed shut as Luke came out of the duke’s office. His mood was down as he was feeling helpless and sad. "I heard father is about to throw you out huh?" Leo, the second son and the youngest among the four children of the duke said. Taunting Luke as he rested his back against the wall near the door. "Well, he should have done this ages ago, after all the son born out of wedlock from a maid is bound to be useless." He said with a smirk. "Enjoy your last days in the mansion and pack anything valuable, you might need them when you are thrown out. Hahaha!!" he walked away after throwing those insulting words. Luke clenched his fists tight. He didn’t say a word and endured the whole time. he knew that there were no words to refute this boy younger than him, who was just 12 and had awakened his magic circle. He had awakened a red circle that was proof of being a fighter mage, which was the symbol of the Ranatosh family. The awakened magic circles were of two types. The red circle represented the fighter mages. Their mana holding capacity were low but in return were granted enhanced physical strength in return. While the blue circle represented the wizards or the true mages. They had huge mana holding capacity and performed large destructive spells, but in return were not granted physical strength or enhancement. Luke believed if he fixed his circle and awakened, he would definitely awaken to the red circle, that’s why he wanted to train his body as much as he could so that the enhancement will be high. After a few seconds he calmed himself down and unclenched his fists and started walking away from the door. Drake let out a sigh seeing such a hardworking and talented young man being wasted away in the household. He opened the door and entered the duke’s office. "My lord! Is it really necessary to banish the third young master?" "Weakness is a sin, Drake! I don’t want a son who is of no use to me or my family. If kept, he will remain a sore spot which will show my weakness to the others." Danver said with a stoic face. "Still, he’s your son, my lord." "He’s a mistake Drake. A mistake I regretted the day he was born with a shattered circle!" "Bring him to the sanctuary on his birthday. I want both him and Leo to enter together. Either he gains something that day or he loses everything, it’s all up to him!" "I understand, my lord!" Drake bowed and turned away with a heavy heart and exited the room. **** Luke wrapped his fists around with a long white bandage cloth and wore a leather vest and steel armguards along with steel legplates. He was getting ready for the test when he heard a knock on the door. "Yes!" "Happy birthday young master!" Drake said with a warm smile as he entered and stood near the door. "Thank you, lord Drake!" Drake waited as he let Luke fix his fist wraps. "Are you ready?" "Yes....I am!" "Please follow me then!" Drake turned around and opened the door as he walked out. Luke nodded, and followed behind. They passed a few hallways and corridors after which they arrived in front of a huge door. Two guards were standing at the two ends of the door and when Drake nodded at them, they pushed the door as it split in the middle and opened up. Drake went inside as Luke followed him. Inside was an arch shaped tree branch whose both ends were fixed on the floor and within the circumference was a glowing blue translucent film. This was a teleportation gate used to travel long distances, powered by the mana stones. "Let’s enter young master." Drake said. Luke nodded and followed. Both of them disappeared after they went inside, leaving the room empty and when they came out of the other side, there were many figures standing around an elevated stone platform. Above on the platform was a hemispherical depression like a pool, which was empty. There were four wizards in robes and wearing long pointy hats along with their wooden staffs, circled around the platform. At the front was Danver and Leo. Drake and Luke walked and came to a stop behind Danver. Danver looked towards Luke and then shifted his eyes towards Drake and nodded. Drake bowed and nodded in response. Danver then signalled the four wizards and they started chanting. After a few seconds, a runic circle appeared inside the pool and water started flooding in from the circle which filled the pool to the brim. Danver, Leo and Luke then started moving towards the pool. They got up together and all three of them made a cut on their palm and let a drop of their blood drop inside the pool. The blood drops instantly changed the color of the pool, making it dark red and the water murky and viscous. "Go inside. Let your destiny choose the ancestor who will guide your future from here!" Danver said commandingly. Leo gulped a bit of saliva in nervousness, tension apparent on his face. Luke took a deep breath and stepped forward. Seeing him move, Leo hastened and got inside the pool too. Slowly both of them submerged under the murky water and were not visible anymore. Luke felt like the pool was far deeper than it looked, he kept going down but the end didn’t seem near, and then suddenly a whirlpool appeared and sucked him inside, not giving him a single second to struggle. Darkness spread in front of his eyes, for a moment he felt like he had gone unconscious, and when he opened his eyes he was shocked to see that he was standing in front of a huge steep rocky mountain, it’s top not visible at all and there was nowhere else he could go as towards both of his side was darkness and the only visible thing was the ground he was standing on and the steep mountain in front of him.