Over the next few weeks, Eros learned how to slowly move his muscles again with the guidance of Ivan.
So you take your aura, attach it to your limbs and muscles, and force it to move. The limbs and muscles must then do whatever you will your aura to do. This really is a miracle...
"You won't leave this hospital until you're able to toss and turn in your sleep. I need to see that you're capable of doing it 24/7, even when you're unconscious. Think of it as something as simple as breathing."
Lucerio side eyed Ivan, huffing through his mask. He still hadn't acknowledged Eros' existence, watching quietly through all of Eros' training.
Eros had gotten better at seeing the Astral Aura surrounding every individual within the hospital, the different colours clashing against one another. He could see everyone's aura no matter how faint it was, even if it was a pregnant woman's unborn child. But despite how keen his violet eyes had gotten at noticing these powerful glows, he was still unable to see one around Lucerio's body. Even the corpses of patients had aura surrounding them, yet this masked boy that he spent well over a month with hadn't shown any signs of having aura.
It's infuriating, is he manipulating his aura to the point where he has none? Or does he just not have any? But that's also impossible, Ivan said every living thing has Astral Aura within it, no matter how faint it may be.
Eros had a bright idea.
Eros was on his daily run in the morning, Lucerio sprinting closely behind him when he decided to turn around and punch Lucerio in the face.
Now, I'll know for sure. When an Astral Artist enters combat, their aura begins to externalize. I'll focus my eyes on his feet, it'll start from there first so that he can dodge this attack.
Lucerio dodged the attack, sliding underneath Eros' fist. However, there was no aura surrounding the masked boy in this moment. He grabbed Eros' arm and flipped him to ground, threatening to break his arm without saying a word.
"Why is there none surrounding you? Everyone has aura surrounding them except for you..."
"I'm nobody special..." Eros hadn't noticed it the first time Lucerio spoke to Ivan in the hospital room, perhaps because he was on far too many medications and barely conscious, but the boy's voice sounded muffled, almost like he was constantly being strangled. It was no wonder why he hardly spoke, not because he didn't like Eros but because it must physically hurt him to speak.
"That's not true. You're special because you're alive."
Lucerio stared at Eros for a few moments, his light brown eyes searching his words for a hint of sarcasm. There was none, frustrating Lucerio even more. He let go of Eros' arm.
"Idiot..."
Eros laughed softly, standing up and dusting off his clothes.
He reminds me of Elise, except far less vocal. I still think Elise is scarier though. They would be good friends...
"Hey kid! Guess what?" Ivan screamed from the entrance of the hospital, waving his hands at the two of them. "You're being discharged today!"
Finally!
After an hour of filling out paperwork, Eros finally left the hospital with Ivan and Lucerio. Ivan took out his car keys, clicking a button on his key fob repeatedly until a rusty red van honked its horn at them in the distance. The van's paint was peeling off, its windows were half way down with plastic wrapping it to keep air from entering the car, and its side mirrors were broken.
"This is our ride?" A grave expression began to appear on Eros' face. The van was a piece of junk, it would be a miracle if they even got it to start.
"Shotgun!" Lucerio shouted ecstatically, perhaps the most emotion he'd shown since Eros met him.
"What does that mean?"
"It means Lucerio is riding in the front. You're riding in the back."
Ivan opened the backdoors to his van, gesturing for Eros to get in. The back of the van was more horrifying than the van itself. There was tons of fast food wrappers, moldy food, and a bunch of boxes of useless junk inside.
"Can I just walk there?"
"What? Why would you walk there when I'm offering you a free ride in my baby! Isn't she beautiful?"
Eros remained silent, afraid of hurting Ivan's feelings.
"There is no space..."
"Of course there is!" Ivan grabbed Eros despite his protests, tossing him into the back of the van and closing the doors before Eros could escape. The smell was horrendous, he held his hands over his mouth to hold in his puke. Ivan jumped in the front seat, smiling through the rear view mirror. "We'll be there in no time kid!"
Isn't this kidnapping?
Ivan turned on the radio, raising the volume to max level to the point where the music's bass was shaking the van.
"You ready kid? Put on your seatbelt!"
"WAIT! THERE'S NO SEATBE—"
Ivan stepped on the gas, flinging Eros into the back of the van. Greasy food wrappers flew onto Eros' face, leaving grease stains all over his hair and cheeks.
He's insane! He's going to kill me! I knew it was too good to be true...
Ivan sped through street after street, running every red light possible. He drove on the opposite side of the road, switching to the side walk when there was traffic. A man in a suit who was on a phone call and carrying a briefcase jumped into a water fountain, angrily screaming curses at them as they drove past him. Traffic laws were merely a suggestion to Ivan.
"Wh-where are we going?" Eros screamed over the loud music.
"The association..." Lucerio replied calmly, ignoring the fact that they had just run over a mail box.
"How are we doing on time, Lucerio?" Ivan asked, eating a chocolate bar while scrolling through his phone. Neither of his hands were on the wheel. He threw the wrapper into the back of the van.
"The meeting is in 5 minutes."
"CAN YOU PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEELS!"
"Calm down kid, it's fine. We'll be there in a minute. Oh, there it is..."
They came up to a skyscraper in the middle of a large roundabout intersection. Hundreds of people were standing on the staircase leading to the building's entrance.
"Where are we going to park?"
"Right there."
"Where?" Eros' eyes widened at the realization. "Wait, you don't mean..."
Ivan stepped on the gas, speeding his van up until he was driving 200 kilometers an hour. He drove up the staircase, causing people to jump over the staircase railings to avoid being run over. They drove right through the glass doors, causing everyone in the main lobby to scream and back away from the car. Part of the roof collapsed onto their van.
"Well, let's go." Eros was too stunned to move, Ivan had to pick him up and carry him to the front desk.
"Hello, how may I help you?" The front desk worker asked, a warm smile on her face.
"So it might seem crazy what I'm about to say..."
"If only the gods would return today..." She whispered, signaling for them to follow her. They followed her into an elevator where she took out a key, opened a panel, and inserted the key into it. The 99 floors on the button panel were replaced with its negative counterparts. "What floor?"
"-100..."
"Oh, I see..." She opened a second panel with a second key hole. This time, Ivan pulled out a key and inserted it into it. The button display changed once more, this time only showing one number, the floor they were going to.
They descended 100 floors within a minute, the elevator doors opened to reveal an open dark room with a spot light in the middle of it. A platform appeared above them with 4 cloaked members watching them.
"You're late, Mr. Shieldings..." One of the cloaked members said coldly. "We expected you an hour ago."
"Sorry, you know how traffic is."
"Stop treating this as a laughing matter, you summoned us to enroll this boy into the academy and you don't even show up in time?"
"Actually, I'm enrolling both of them."
"Is this a joke? That masked boy has no Astral Aura surrounding him. The blonde boy has a faint amount of Astral Aura. These are the candidates you want to enroll into our Astral Artists Academy?"
"Yes, I believe they will both play pivotal roles in what's to come."
The cloaked members laughed at him.
"This meeting is over, we will not let you disgrace us any further." They all turned to leave.
"Every living thing possesses Astral Aura..."
"Why are you spouting common knowledge to us?"
"Because you yourselves just acknowledged that Lucerio has none surrounding him, despite him being alive." Ivan smirked, his bright green eyes dancing with glee. "You four were chosen as the heads of the association. Yet, despite being the closest in centuries to becoming Divine Artists, you yourselves are unable to see any Astral Aura surrounding Lucerio..."
"And what exactly is your point?"
"That despite the infinite wisdom you boast of, you still don't know everything about Astral Arts..."
"Pick your next words carefully..."
"My point is, there's still so much we don't understand about Astral Arts. Sure, there's over a thousand recorded arts throughout history. But there's probably millions more that are yet to be recorded. I believe Lucerio is an example of this case. I've never met anyone without any Astral Aura yet this boy is clearly capable of it. He should enroll in the academy and be taught how to harness this power."
"Fine, he can enroll. The blonde boy still can't."
"Eros here is someone truly special. The faint aura you see surrounding him is simply how I've instructed him to manipulate it. Eros show them..."
Eros made his aura become more visible, turning into a giant purple flame once more. Before he could even blink, the four cloaked members surrounded him, their blades each aimed at vital points on Eros' body.
They're so fast! Are they going to kill me?
"Easy gentleman and my dear lady... you reacted just how I thought you would."
"How is this possible? How is this boy capable of possessing such a great amount?" The cloaked female asked from behind Eros, her dagger pressed against his neck. "It's even greater than all of ours combined..."
"We can't allow him to train, who knows what he'd be capable of if he fully harnessed his powers..." Another cloaked man interjected, his eyes not moving off of Eros. "If he were to turn his back on the association one day... or align himself with either of the Twin Empires..."
"I know, it's a great risk. But he won't, he was the one to scar Velvo."
"This boy was the one from the footage? He looks different now, less like a slave."
"So that's why you brought him here, Ivan? You think this boy will become a symbol of hope for the slaves? He'll make them rebel?" The fourth cloaked member added on. "We don't need him. We've tracked down their queen. She will be their symbol of hope, not him..."
"And what happens when hope dies?" Ivan asked calmly, his hand gripping the holster of his gun.
"We have no time for your riddles, Ivan." The cloaked female hissed. "Just spit it out..."
"It's great that you've found the queen, but she alone can't save her people. If you want to overthrow the Volarions and their empire, you'll need Eros."
"And why's that?"
"Well it's simple. He's the son of Aphrodite and Ares, two powerful Astral Artists that were working for the association before they went missing..."
They were Astral Artists!?
"And your point?"
"Well, it seems even you weren't aware of Aphrodite's blood then..."
"What do you mean?"
"Aphrodite is the descendent of Ego Eldritch, the Empyrean General who rebelled against humanity's first emperor, Seraphim Volarion. That was nearly 1300 years ago, yet both bloodlines have survived until this day. It's clearly fate..."
Is this what Sepheros meant when he said my fate interested him?
"That's not possible! We conduct DNA tests on all of our artists! If her DNA matched, we would have known! We would have used her to lead the rebellion!"
"In their files, only Ares had a known Astral Art. One that allowed him to drill through things with his hands. Aphrodite never had a known art. It's likely due to her ability that she was able to bypass your tests. But Eros here, when the doctors ran his blood tests, they found a match to Ego Eldritch. You can confirm that yourselves..."
No wonder Father was the fastest driller on our team, it was his art...
The cloaked members sheathed their weapons, walking towards the elevator. Before the elevator closed, the cloaked female member muttered:
"Fine... he can enroll as well..."
Ivan smirked, running his hands through Eros' and Lucerio's hair, messing them both up.
"Well then, you'll both be training in the Astral Artists Academy. And in 7 years, you'll both be Astral Artists! Make me proud!" Ivan walked away, turning to the both of them before leaving. "After that, the real work begins..."