After two days
another morning in the Kingdom of Vaylen. As I woke up, I saw the beautiful kingdom in its full glory. A man sped past, wielding his speed Threads to deliver the news.
The local baker used his elemental fire Thread to bake bread for the morning, and a lady watered plants with her water Thread. The basic elemental Threads are the most common ones, manifesting easily among the people, yet I was the lowest of them all, having only a physical Thread.
Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if I'd been given a different Thread. Or a Lord Vessel. Would I be the same person? Would I still have the same mindset? Would I be so determined to change my situation? As I gathered all of this, a knock came at my door.
"Master Vynn, are you awake?" my maid Sera called out.
"Yes, Sera. I'm up."
Good. I am coming in," she said fiercely.
Our maid Sera isn't a usual maid. She has a fierce temper, although she looks young, with silver hair shaded with black. If you look closely, she doesn't look like a middle-aged lady, but rather a teenager my age. Whenever I ask about her past, she shuts down and won't answer me.
Even though she isn't a true member of the Zane family, my mother adopted her when I was just a child, and she hasn't aged a single bit. I always wonder what her secret is.
"I am done, Master Vynn," Sera said. "You can take a bath; I'll get you a cup of coffee before you leave."
I sometimes wonder, Sera, what I would do without you.
"Nothing! You'd just become disciplined enough to do your own things. But you have me now, which is very sad. You're seventeen, yet you depend on me for most of your work."
"Hey, you're my maid. Of course, I'll depend on you. What do you do all day, anyway?"
"Humph. I'm going. Have a good day, Master Zane."
Oh, I'm cooked again. Whenever she switches from Vynn to Zane, she makes my life difficult. Sigh.
After breakfast, I found my mother, who sat in the garden, radiant as the morning sun. Light shimmered through her hair, giving her a goddess-like glow as birds gathered around, drawn by her gentle nature. Each gesture was pure and sincere, as if she herself was weaving sunlight into the air.
"Oh, Vynn, have you eaten your breakfast?"
"Yes, Mother. I'm done. I was just leaving for the academy."
"Be safe on your way, goodbye, Vynn."
As I headed to the academy, I met my friends, Laya and Lark.
"How's your mood today, Vynn? You were down just yesterday," Laya asked.
"I'm fine, Laya, how are you feeling excited for the upcoming threadspire I asked her
You know I will be much confident in my skills if i would have my mother's talents or overconfidence.
Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Just so you all know, I am not overconfident or delusional. I have considered everything, it's just you won't believe me. That's all
Yeah, yeah, keep boasting, Lark, it won't change that much. I know you're strong, but did you forget last year's annual competition
That was so last year. This year I have worked hard, plus we still have six months, and I am greatly improving my power and control over my threads
Yeah, Laya cut him some slack if Lark is saying he has done ample preparation, then I somewhat believe him, plus I know Lark, he is reckless and careless
Hey, that's not helping at all, Vynn Lark said, frustrated
But he is honest and smart and he knows his limit, so you don't have to worry about him
Vynn!, Lark almost cried as he said I didn't think you had that many high hopes for me. Don't worry, I have another reason to win this year.
In Threadspire, the top 8 people will get a chance to choose a weapon as their reward plus will also be nominated to get a chance to be chosen as a student under any ascendants. Even though the rewards were high, it was still a very dangerous event.
Yeah, let's do our best then, Laya said
We arrived at the academy. I usually sat in the back. Lark sat next to me, Laya sat with Seren and Mira from the Ashen and Thorne families. Ashens have fading silver hair and blue eyes, while Thornes have brown hair and yellow eyes.
"Alright, class. Pay attention here!" Miss Anies entered the classroom. "I have an announcement. The royal decree has commanded that this year's class will graduate in one month, and the Threadspire event will take place one month from now."
"What?" Everyone was stunned. "Why are they doing this? They just cut off five months!"
"And as you know, you'll get a whole month for preparation before the event. Which means you'll have no classes after tomorrow."
Everyone was stunned, except for Tarion and Markus, the top of our class, followed by Lark, Seren, Mara, and Laya. As for me, I'm pretty average compared to those people. If you asked about the top six rankings this year, I'd recommend choosing from them, but for the top spot, Markus and Tarion are the main contenders.
"Hah! It's all pointless to even compete in this Threadspire, everyone else will be crushed!"
"None of you stand a chance against me."
"Bold words from a small man, Tarion. You're going to eat dirt this time. Last year, you beat me in the annual competition, but this year, I'll crush you. Just wait," Markus said with a big grin on his face.
"I don't doubt you, Markus. You and Lark are the only ones who give me some competition. I'm truly thankful to you two. You are the only ones who help me push my boundaries. I'm stating this for the other students. Wouldn't you agree, Vynn?"
"Yeah, Tarion, you're just so good."
"Humph! Not even a retort? You're no fun, Vynn. Bullying you was so much more entertaining when we were kids."
Tarion and I were friends as children; my father and Tarion's father are good friends.
As I grew up, I realised Tarion was only bullying me for his own amusement. I liked him back then, but after growing up, I distanced myself.
"Alright! Enough chattering, Tarion, Markus, and Vynn. Have you all forgotten I'm still in the classroom? Let's get back to advanced thread manifestation. You will learn that today, as your classes this year were all about practice, I think they just left the practice part, those ignorant monkey officials." Miss Anies said, frustrated
Class ended for the day. "Just work hard, everyone. Your destined competition has come much closer ." Miss Anies said with a slight glimmer on her face, but what she said afterwards was surprising for me and others.
" I really hope all of you can survive and come back alive "The whole class stood up from their seat and bowed their head to her and said, "Thank you for everything ". Even though I didn't say it, it was still very touching.
Walking home with Lark and Laya, an unusual tension hung in the air until Lark finally broke the silence.
"What are we going to do? I have to start preparing for Threadspire right now."
"I wasn't expecting the borders to be so critical that they had to reschedule Threadspire because of it," Laya said.
"It's not just that the situation is critical; they see the bigger picture. I think they're trying to gain something from Threadspire. think about it. The situation is already critical at the borders; the Demorai are at their peak, having swallowed many kingdoms in Elyssara. Only Vaylen and three other countries remain struggling against the demorai ."
After leaving Laya and Lark, I walked home, pondering the dangerous situation at the borders. If the Kingdom of Vaylen gets destroyed, I must plan to leave. The world is vast; I don't want to die here.
As these thoughts ran through my mind, I arrived home and immediately sensed danger from inside. As I entered, a huge body engulfed me, my head squeezed by two soft pillows. There was no doubt now.