"There is a reason I called you here. I wanted you to be familiar with the process of joining the Fire Faction so that you can show your peers to go about it. You are aware that the Fire Faction used to be the strongest faction until the Azure Faction came to be. The two of you show a high prospect and have a very high chance of bringing our faction back to its glory days.
"That is why I want you to register now," Madam Sarah said and Julian was excited about this but Lyren was feeling something different. He was already a member of the Azure Faction and it appeared that he was being recruited by the patron personally to join the Fire Faction. It was a tough decision to make and as he carried himself, he was a man of his word.
"Sorry Madam, I will disappoint you. It has already been announced that I am joining the Azure Faction. I hope you understand. I…" Lyren was stopped when she raised her hand and Julian's excitement had died down. Now that he thought about it, Lyren was in a different faction.
"Mr. class rep, stop there! Do you think that I live above the moon I don't know what goes on in the academy? I am very much aware of your public declaration but I am giving you a choice to join the Fire Faction.
"You are the most talented student on the fire element I have seen and you just need help in refining your use of the element. What I mean is that the Azure Faction is arguably the best faction but its numbers do not even reach fifty. But that is not my point.
"The Azure Faction is focused on the ice element and you, you are of the fire element. Your element is suppressed by ice. Joining such a faction will derail your future and you will be wasting your potential right there. There will be no one to teach you there and as the only guy, do you think that you are going to fit in?
"Of course, you might but I am thinking about your future here. It's yours of course so it's up to you. Make the right choice," she said and Julian was nodding profusely. That was the main point. Lyren was wasting his potential there.
"I have already made my…" Lyren was silenced once again when Madam Sarah lifted her hand once again.
"I don't need your reply now. You can think of it over time," she said calmly.
"I don't think that I will be needing time. I made up my mind. Sorry," Lyren said his voice unwavering.
"I will say it again, I will be waiting for your answer," she said not looking at him anymore.
Julian held his breath when he heard Lyren rejecting the second time and when Madam Sarah gave time, he had thought that it was over but Lyren… Lyren dismissed her once more and it was now obvious that Lyren had no interest in joining the Fire Faction. He realized that it was a useless endeavor and he also gave up on trying to convince Lyren. Maybe Lyren was trying to get close to those girls in the pretense of being a man of his word.
"You are free to join any faction you want but it is advisable that you all join the faction of your element. That is the message I wanted to pass to you," Madam Sara said and dismissed them.
"It can't be that you are having perverted thoughts when joining the girls only faction right?" Julian asked after they were clear from the vicinity of the Fire Faction. By the time Julian finished his words, he was already a safe distance of five meters. At least, he would get the chance to scream…
"I have been there in the faction and let me tell you, I really am into those girls. It just that they are not accepting new guys anymore. I would have spoken a good word about you to our leader," Lyren said mockingly as Julian stopped wearing an ugly look.
As though he stood a chance! It was the biggest anomaly that the Azure Faction had a male disciple. No one ever thought that such a thing would be possible. There was no way that those proud girls could accept a guy in their midst. How Lyren had ended up in that place was maybe a mystery to be studied.
The two separated not long after that as it was time for the faction related activities. Lyren was yet to get introduced to the members of the azure faction and this was the day that it was going to happen so he was going to arrive early. He did not want to get into the wrong books of the faction members. He was sure that Sera had had a hard time covering for him after him missing the first meeting.
***
"I hear that the queen of flames has been doing some recruitment," a voice came through in a familiar room. The trophies and the candle chandelier dangling from the ceiling made it clear where this was. The voice was somewhat familiar and it was obvious by the color of their clothes where they were from.
She was the one person who had question Sera on her decision to accept Lyren as a disciple. She was wearing a veil similar to her clothes. The veil was somewhat translucent but one could not see anything through it. not even the outline of the veiled parts of her face.
"An honor it is to have you come visit me. I am moved," Madam Sarah said looking at the lady standing before her.
"You flatter me. We are friend after all…" the lady spoke.
"We used to be. So, if you have nothing of important to say, you can leave. Or is it that you are here to mock me that you have taken the fire element SSS grade talent into the ice women faction?" Madam Sarah asked and the other voice sighed.
"I am also not sure what is happening or why it is happening. That kid has somehow overturned our system. I was curious about the Fire Faction next move since you had an SSS fire talent but to think that to it would be snatched right in front of your nose…"
"Get out!" Madam Sarah almost raised her voice but the other lady was nonchalant about it.
Instead, she was going around and she picked a silver trophy from the top cupboard and she traced it with her fingers. She then put it back gently and then she picked another one which was golden. She could see her reflection on it and she admire it by turning and rotating it and then she placed it back on the cupboard.
"That little girl Seraphina. How many times have I warned her not to take things into her own hands? I did not even know that they knew each other before. I did some digging and it appears that they found the kid stranded in the forest all alone and they all assumed he was a commoner because they could not get a read on his cultivation.
"They brought him out but it appears that they were saved by the kid at several occasions but that it not the catch, he is the kid who had been lost for a year. I heard that he was found but who could have thought that the kid is Lyren…" the lady said and Madam Sarah's eyes seemed to sparkle.
"What do you mean?" She asked calmly.
"Isn't it obvious? How do you think a commoner can suddenly gain cultivation? Even the awakened ones cannot pass the third stage. But this commoner was able to survive in the woods and even came out with a seventh stage cultivation…" the lady stopped when she felt malice in the air and it turned out to be a glare form Madam Sarah.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked with her eyes narrowed into slits. "Are you probably targeting the kid?" She added as the chandelier above lit up.
"Is that what you view your best friend as? You should know better than anyone. What I mean is that I am not the only one who has this information…" she said as her words hung in the air. Silence suddenly enveloping the room and the chandelier above extinguishing in a puff of smoke…