"The tower is about to open."
The old man's crisped voice rang out over the room.
Daerion let out a subtle frown before nodding softly. "Well, let's get moving then."
Just as he rose from his throne, Von finally moved from the pillar he was leaning on since he entered the room.
"Dont bother yourself. You must have important things to discuss with the council, right? "
"I'll see them through." Von's voice was firm, leaving no room for argument.
"Fine then." Daerion said with a forced smile, though, clearly displeased.
"Don't disgrace the family name, Maya." His expressionless gaze fell on Maya for a moment before looking away.
"Of course, father." Maya said with a bow, fist clenched tightly behind her back.
"Alright. Giddy up." Von muttered, grabbing both by the hand.
Letting out a soft breath, the world seemed to tremble for a moment as something that could only be described as divine occurred.
Four pairs of white wings slowly materialised one after the other before the astonished and awe filled gaze of the others.
Just as they fully materialised, the room seemed to brighten more as they fluttered open, letting out specks of white lights.
Len was awed to the bone.
"So this is the Innate Trait of the Everhart family." He thought silently.
"Hold on tight."
Von muttered before leaping towards the ceiling of the chamber.
Len stared at Maya, who still had the same strange lost expression since she met with her father.
Sigh~
Len kept his eyes open as they approached the high ceilings. "Dont tell me this old man really wants to crash right through it." He muttered.
Not that he was scared. After all, he was in the care of an SSS-rank human.
Von's wings fluttered and pulsed brightly, momentarily blinding his vision.
The next second, they were out in the open clear blue sky.
"Did we teleport or what?" Len had a puzzled look on his face as he stared down at the beautiful scenery before him.
His eyes traced the grand castle, made entirely of white sparkling crystals and then to the opulent main buildings built around it.
This was the main area opened only for the bloodline families and scions under the Everhart family.
He then finally stared forward, gaze landing at the Majestic Tower, which glowed brightly from afar.
Surprisingly, the Everhart family had built their citadel away from the tower.
Von gradually increased his speed, easily covering the distance from the tower.
They finally left the grand castle and the districts behind and into a nice scenery of trees and flowers.
About a couple of kilometres surrounding the tower were left untouched and covered with rich white untainted soil.
The once empty ground was filled today, though. Over half of the people of Valerie had come to watch the proceeding.
To them, it was some sort of ritual. A divine ritual that would help select the young and upcoming heroes of humanity.
As soon as they entered the kilometre range, Len felt the subtle difference of the air in the surroundings.
His tensed muscles slowly loosened, causing him to let out a soft breath.
Len felt the space within here was entirely different from that of the world. It had this pure, untainted air that eased the minds of all those within.
His gaze was fixed at the tower as they got closer and his breath couldn't help hitch.
The celestial Tower hovered on top of a broken, colossal fragment of the earth.
It appeared as if a careless god had torn a piece of the world free and placed the tower atop it.
The structure wasn't something of this world. Its flawless white marbled walls and smooth glass like body pulsed from time to time as if alive.
Even from this distance, Len could see faint pulses of light travelling along its surface.
The height was another fascinating spectacle.
The Tower rose higher and higher, its body piercing the heavens until its peak vanished into a blinding crown of whitish light.
The light swallowed everything within tens of kilometres, blessing it with its infinite light and divine warmth.
At the west and east sides of the tower were compact buildings, built in the form of a military barrack.
"Smooth right. Well, I got the idea from a close friend of mine."
A wide platform had been built beneath the majestic tower. Those who were going to take the exam were being screened before giving a small token crystal.
The token crystal is meant to serve as a spatial tracker in returning them back to this point after the trial.
Von finally landed on the edge of the platform, carefully dropping Len and Maya.
"Off you go then."
Len and Maya made their way towards the long line only to be stopped by the tower guardian, who was surprisingly back at the Tower.
"If it isn't the old fossil," Von said with a wide smile.
The old man stared at Von with a frown before breaking into a soft chuckle.
"I assume the battlefront hasn't been nice to you, Von." Lucius, the Tower guardian, voiced out with his clear voice.
"Says the man using a stick to support himself." Von fired back with that same smile.
Tsk.
"Still the same old goat you are, huh?" Lucius muttered, shaking his head.
"Nice to meet you too, old fossil." Von finally stepped forward, gripping Lucius' shoulder softly.
"Come on, kids." Lucius turned to them with a smile before finally leading the way.
Len and Maya followed behind while the duo elders began a conversation at the front.
Len softly rubbed the chain sword hanging around his neck, enjoying the silence. He wasn't much of a talkative, after all. The person who seemed to bring out that talkative part in him was strangely quiet today.
Lucius led them through the lines and to the entrance of a small building. "I'll be back," he muttered, quickly entering a little office at the side of the wall.
"Here you go." He was out soon holding two white crystals with the emblem of ten wings wrapped in golden chains. "These are your tokens."
Both collected it, keeping it safely before staring forward. Len and Maya waited patiently as the last of those gathered finally received the crystal token.
Just then, a large screen slowly flickered into existence at the centre of the platform.
Within it, an orange haired figure was projected.
A figure whose fame was as widespread as the major families... if not more than. He was the face of the government and the most important pillar holding the crumbling Elyon together.
The figure was Rowan, humanity's strongest ranked human.
It was finally time for his speech.