Lunch was a boring affair.
The spread was extensive and, by all accounts, exquisitely prepared. Yet Adrian barely tasted a thing. His palate felt dulled, as if his thoughts had stolen all sensation from his tongue.
Those thoughts were a tangled mess. Worry for his father and brother. A quiet ache as he missed his mother and sister. Anticipation mixed with dread over the upcoming Awakening. And beneath it all, a persistent, gnawing sense of inadequacy.
Afterward, he found himself in the yard, swinging his wooden sword at a training dummy.
Left.
Right.
A thrust with the pointed end.
The motions came naturally, ingrained through years of repetition. Habits drilled into him since the age of five had become pure muscle memory. His movements were calm, precise, almost meditative.
His mind, however, was anything but.
As the wooden blade struck again and again, his thoughts drifted back to the ducal castle. The castle had always been full of people, yet strangely cold, its vast halls echoing with voices that never quite reached the heart. This farmhouse—this Farm Palace—was different. Quiet. Isolated. And usually warm in a way the castle or fort or whatever they are called, can never be.
Usually.
Today, anxiety smothered that feeling before it could surface.
The Farm Palace lay on the outskirts of the major cities, far from the capital, in the northern reaches of the Duchy of Vanga. Beyond it stretched the Enchanted Forests, spanning thousands of miles. Past them rose the Dwarven Mountains, and beyond those, the forever-frozen Antarctic Mountains.
He wondered, absently, whether the dragons rumored to dwell beyond those icy peaks ever crossed them. Did they sometimes descend into Vatibia? Or were they content to remain legends whispered in classrooms and taverns?
His lessons surfaced in fragments, most of them absorbed during half-awake tutoring sessions.
Forests were primarily the domain of Orc tribes, though some old-fashioned Forest Elves—like his great-great-maternal grandfather still preferred their ancient Root Palaces deep within enchanted groves rather than city life. Most Half-Elves and Half-Orcs, however, gravitated toward urban centers.
He wished he had been born with a natural mana-conducting body like theirs. Apparently, elves naturally generated mana through their spleen and lymph nodes. They didn't even need a separate Awakening just to access mana. When elves awaken, they gain derivative elements directly and sometimes even multiple elements at once.
Which is completely unfair.
There were so many kinds of elves. And humans too, if one looked closely enough. On one hand, Forest Elves were apparently predisposed toward Nature or Illusion, on the other, Snow Elves leaned naturally toward Ice. For the life of him, Adrian couldn't remember the innate elements of Desert Elves or High Elves. He swore he would check the books in the library again, this habit of forgetting crucial information while thinking important things is very annoying, he swore again, that he would rectify this sooner rather than later.
Anyways, Humans, unfortunately, had no such predispositions for elemental awakening.
They had to acquire mana through an Awakening ceremony. Some humans couldn't awaken mana at all. In those cases, a mana core had to be surgically implanted into the spleen. He'd heard it was much less painful than the ancient rituals but still incredibly painful, with people suffering for days afterward.
If that was considered less painful… how bad had the ancient rituals been? Never mind, he was sure he would awaken naturally, he always strived to be a good and just, he ate all the yucky vegetables, he always visited church, he even prayed to Elven Gods.
" It's better not to dwell on negativity.". Adrian spoke to himself animatedly, he copied his tutor when he said that.
His tutors had once explained that like Elves humans, even Orcs from Dwemeria looked distinctly different from those of Vatibia, and that both differed again from Eulovian humans. Adrian had never met anyone from beyond his homeland, so the he can only imagine and go by the pictures books in the library. He remembered once, his father complained, the traders of Vanga had tough time in Agronia, apparently, they were very mean to Vatibians.
Discrimination aside, Humans were just… humans, as far as he was concerned. All of them equally annoying. Especially adults, regardless of what languages they speak.
Speaking of Languages, that too, had once varied wildly. Before the Last Demon War, people spoke countless tongues. Afterward, the Federation enforced a Standard Language—mandatory for humans, elves, dwarves, and Argonians alike. It was a necessity, they said. Unity through understanding.
Still, he remembered his mother mentioning once that some continents continued to cast spells in their native languages rather than in Fedstan. That certain words carried power the standardized tongue could never quite capture.
Adrian had always been fascinated by archaic and native languages. Even within Vanga, there were Orcish clans and Forest Elf tribes who spoke Vangrity language which was wholly unlike the Federation's standard. Rougher. Older. As if it didn't care whether outsiders understood it or not.
Do demons have their own language too? he wondered.
And then, naturally, his thoughts took a turn.
So… what's "stupid" in Demonic? What about "shit"?
He stopped his sword practice, while thinking of this, lowered the wooden blade, and walked over to grab some water. He heard, that demons script is written from the right bottom instead of left top, So, would shit become tihs and stupid become diputs. More he thought about it, more confused he was becoming.
Yes. That was important knowledge.
He decided then and there that he would learn it. Memorize it. And write it right on his brother's forehead the next time they met—as punishment for leaving without saying goodbye.
Wasn't that what they called courtesy? Greeting your younger brother properly? Especially when you hadn't seen him in six whole months and had the audacity to come home from university only to disappear again with Father?
Adrian took another sip of water, frowning.
Honestly. Adults were the worst.
His brother had been perfectly fine before becoming one. Now he was always busy. Always unavailable.
Another thought struck him, and his frown deepened.
"I've stopped growing," Adrian muttered. "It's been eight months. Not even an inch."
He glanced down at himself.
"I'm almost twelve," he continued miserably, "and even girls are taller than me now."
Naturally, he blamed his butler, Mr. Das, for lying to him about drinking milk and eating meat making him taller. He'd been doing exactly that for five whole days now, ever since arriving at the Farm Palace.
Clearly, the results were unacceptable.
What if my Awakening doesn't make me taller either?
He remembered reading that Awakening made humans stronger and faster. But no one ever mentioned anything about height.
His thoughts drifted again—this time to the much-anticipated Awakening ceremony.
What would his element be?
A strange mix of curiosity, excitement, and nervousness churned in his chest.
Father had awakened Water and Earth. Mother had Wind and Water. His brother had Water and Wind. His sister had only Water, but she'd inherited their mother's elven ancestry and awakened a derivative element directly during her Awakening—Maya, or Illusion.
Which was super cool.
"I hope I awaken Water, Wind, and Earth," Adrian thought. "Or maybe I could awaken derivative elements directly too… like Gravity, Lightning, or Ice."
His teacher had said it was incredibly rare. Only the Crown Prince of East Vatibia and his sister had managed it.
Apparently, the Crown Prince was friends with his brother.
Adrian's eyes lit up.
He can tell me the secret, Adrian decided eagerly. I'll ask him when he comes back.
The thought made him grin, his earlier worries momentarily forgotten.
As for asking his sister instead…
No. Absolutely not.
He quite liked his cheeks exactly where they were, thank you very much.
And he had no intention of donating them to her habitual pinching. His cheek starts hurting even thinking about it.