"That bastard doesn't deserve to know about us!" Rylan spat, his eyes bloodred within a minute.
Mr. Landon patted Rylan's shoulder, urging him to calm down before walking towards the only table in the room.
The counselling file was opened and Asher was sure Mr. Landon had collected the testimony of every student present in the assembly hall that morning about what had happened.
"Asher…" Mr. Landon called, closing the file with a sleek thud, blowing away a piece of rubbish from the table.
"We have something important to discuss with you."
"It wasn't me!" Asher protested, balling his fist to express his anger.
"No one said it was you and what do you mean by it wasn't you anyway? I haven't said anything yet." Mr. Landon continued, raising a questioning eyebrow.
Asher knew it, the entire school was already against him. Even before the incident that morning, the preceding days, thousands of rumors about him had been circulating in the school, thereby making life almost unbearable for him at Evergreen Academy.
Rylan had been best of friends with Asher during their first year. They were both inseparable that one couldn't be seen without the other tagging along.
But their friendship began to go down stream when Asher began to receive scout offers from prominent Mages academies to become a trainee that will eventually undergo the test for the chosen.
Fueled with jealousy as he should be the prodigy, Rylan turned on Asher, revealing the secret behind Asher's mom's disappearance with a false narrative to the kids at school.
Some rumors have it that she had been sent to a mental hospital after trying to kill Asher while some other rumors forged around how his mother whored around the royals and had Asher.
The gullible dummies at school believed these stories, adding their own context to make it more dramatic and taunting.
These rumors stood against Asher and not only the students were against him, making his skin crawl, some teachers as well stood in his way.
It wasn't long these rumors started that Asher fell out of the good side of both the teachers and students of Evergreen Academy.
Despite this, Rylan would never stop taunting Asher as he always attempted to make life unbearable for Asher and his newly found friends, Five and Ivan.
"What do you believe in, Asher?" The old man whom Orion had introduced as Llyord asked, tracing his hand along the couch arm to grab his black stick.
He had dark sunglasses on, so Asher wasn't sure if he was blind or pretending to be, but given his old age, he was probably blind.
Asher shifted his attention to the man, ignoring the steam welling out of Rylan.
If it wasn't for the presence of the other three, Rylan would have unleashed himself at Asher.
He hated him. He hated Asher so much for the attention he got and everything despite being a nobody compared to himself.
"Myself." Asher replied to the old man.
"Why is that so?"
"I feel the weight of unseen things."
A silent hush, then Rylan suddenly began to cackle like a maniac.
"Stop trying to sound different, Asher, you're not that special."
"Rylan, leave this room this instant!" Orion finally said, his eyes turning cold and unforgiving.
"Orion!" Rylan frowned, not believing his brother might be taking sides with Asher.
"Don't make me regret saving you earlier, Rylan. You know the way out."
Rylan knew he dared not defile his brother, but at what cost? Orion could be the end of him, so he had no choice but to listen. He furiously stormed out of the room and Mr. Landon followed after him.
"Do you have a drive?" The old man continued with another question.
"Yes,"
"Tell me, what is it?"
"The princess. I want to help her ascend into the astral realm." Asher tried without thinking too much of it.
Llyord smiled, his feeble hands now clasped against the head of his stick.
"You're following in your father's footsteps, Asher."
Asher paused, his veins pulsing with adrenaline at the mention of his father. He could sense it again, the feeling that something was burning and this was probably it, the very source of his powers.
"You know my father?" The boy asked, his heart racing with each passing second.
"How do you know my father?" Asher asked again, his warm tone turning cold like Llyord had just mentioned the name he dreads the most.
"You see, Asher… today is not about your father but you." Orion said, getting up from his seat.
"We believe you are one of the chosen and we hope that is true because we need all the help we can get from this moment onward."