It didn’t take long after that for them to come and pack the children back to the arena. Of all the over two hundred, those that remained were not up to thirty.
Those who were injured were treated, and they were given food. Normally, Drenvar would turn the rest of it into a party, but the man had been cloaked with a strange silence since the children returned.
The big projection that dominated half of the arena sky showed the rankings of the children. The rankings were based on their overall performance.
Vacuse was put at number one, and the next rank began at number five with Harkon, followed by Kagerou and then Lyra. The rest remained unranked.
"I guess I didn’t do too badly," Vacuse said. Before, he wasn’t even ranked, and it was the first time in his life he would be number one on a list.
It made him feel something he had never felt before.
Combined with his earlier revenge, he was feeling absolute satisfaction.
Vacuse sat there in the chair arranged for them, facing the guests who stared at them.
All of them waiting for what Drenvar would say.
Eyes drilled into Vacuse from all angles; after all, it was safe to say that he would be the heir of Vorrakyn now.
Finally, Drenvar stood from his throne, and his eyes swept the gathering. A hush fell, and he began to speak. "Once, the wings of our Dragons spread so far they shielded the Empire alone. Our roar was strong enough to shake the continent, and our Soulbearers were the apex."
Slight disgust crawled onto his face, and his expression twisted.
Vacuse was familiar with that expression. If there was one thing he inherited from Drenvar, then it was the ability to switch from calmness to extreme anger in an instant.
"But now we are at the bottom! Our lands are taken! And the title our ancestors took, fought for, is being threatened! We were the sky, and we once held the heavens in bondage!"
His expression smoothed again. "I, Drenvar Vorrakyn, Grand Duke and Dragon Lord, will return us to where we were standing. And above that."
His eyes went to Vacuse as he said the last part, and he met his father’s eyes unflinchingly. Two pairs of red eyes. Different thoughts but the same meaning.
The father thought he had found a new tool, and the son was thinking about how it would feel to have his father’s head in his hand.
’...I won’t let you drag the name of the Vorrakyn through the mud again. I will personally take charge of things....’
Drenvar didn’t even look at Lyra as he continued. "The blood heart rite has come to an end. Now, we will start preparing for the second part."
He said it as if the second part would happen the same day or the next day. Or the same year. The second rite was where they would use the Dragon pathway to try and bind themselves to a Dragon or, as in most cases lately, its kin.
But it was not that easy.
Now that the blood rite was over, the children would begin their next ordeal of training. Now, they had been recognized somewhat as a Vorrakyn.
Each of the children would be studied, and then they would train them specifically in line with what fit them. In his past life, it was realized that Vacuse was only good at one thing: doing things again and again.
So they first trained him as a soldier, an ordinary one who was good for taking hits and probing enemies. He was good at running too, and they used him as bait after they had him trained to run again and again, running without getting eaten by a monster.
People like Kagerou were trained as assassins.
And then there was the general training where they would teach politics and geography, the Pathways of the other Houses and organizations, and the continent.
They would teach them how to ride a Dragon and how to fight on a Dragon.
And how to use their powers, how to use techniques, and so on.
One thing the Vorrakyn did not slack on was training. They were a warrior family, after all.
"The culling has ended. Those who remain will be further culled through the years," Drenvar spread his hands. "Children of the Dragons, I wish you luck."
Drenvar did not pay any outward special attention to Vacuse as he turned and began to walk away.
Vacuse smiled. The game had begun.
Vacuse turned and saw Lyra beside him; he raised his brows.
Her shoulder had been further dressed, and her face had lost its pale look. She smiled at the raised brows coming from Vacuse. "Well, I’m sure Father is going to adopt you to replace Zephyr. It’s only a matter of time. Also, thank you for earlier."
"It’s convenient," Vacuse shrugged.
Lyra nodded. "Well, I’m going. I hope we meet under much better conditions. You are going to outpost."
"Eh?" Vacuse blinked until he remembered that the children would be sent to different outposts until they were ready for the Pathways rites.
He looked up at the projection and saw that his name was marked for the blood heart outpost.
’....so Drenvar was indeed paying attention....this outpost is one of the strongest and most valuable...to put me here...’
One by one, all the children were taken. He saw Kagerou and Harkon leave without saying any other words to him, but Vacuse didn’t mind.
When he was ready to use them, he would seek them out. His only fear was that they should not be dead by then.
"So you are the prodigy, eh? You Vorrakyn just like to think you are the best or something!"
Vacuse turned around, and there in front of him was standing the typical, classic young son of a lord with an inflated ego.
’....I don’t want to deal with bullshit ...’
He turned to the boy, his gaze sharpened. "And you are?"