Michael and Gaya were standing in Professor Lane's office. The office was a gloomy and dimly-lit room located adjacent to the Alchemy classroom. The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars filled with slimy, revolting things, such as bits of animals and plants, floating in potions and pills of varying colors. Michael noticed there were more jars in the office than in the classroom. The office had a fireplace. In a corner, there was a cupboard containing Lane's private stock of alchemy ingredients.

  Professor Lane was examining the tiny dot of dark flames hovering above Michael's pinky finger.

  "This is not the Hell's flame. Is this even a primordial flame?" Professor Lane's waspish voice sounded shocked,

  "What do you mean? We risked our fucking lives in that dungeon!" Gaya stomped the wooden floor beneath her feet.

  Ignoring Gaya's temper tantrum, Professor Lane brought a six feet mirror to Michael,

  "Touch the mirror with the flames"

  Professor Lane covered himself with his dark robes while Gaya took several steps back from Michael. The already gloomy room grew darker as he conjured a ball of Dark Flames over his right hand.

  Despite the arrays placed in the office, Lane could feel his soul aching. It was as though the heat coming from the flames burning his soul itself.

  Michael covered his palm with the dark flames and touched the mirror.

  Boom!

  The mirror suddenly exploded into a million pieces and the shards evaporated into nothingness before they could even hit the ground.

  "Is this supposed to happen?" Michael asked as the system began to offer him thousands of badass points. For a moment, Michale noticed Lane's eyes open wide.

  "No, it's not. This flame… is much more powerful than any other primordial flames" Lane said in a gravely serious voice,

  Michael already knew this yet he pretended to be surprised. Quickly, Professor Lane made his way to the rack where he lined up all his personal collection of pills and potions. He rummaged through the collection to pull out an emerald green box

  "This pill will disguise the flame as the Hell flame. Take it" Lane handed over the small box to Michael.

  Michael was curious to see what was inside though he could sense powerful radiation coming from within. He then slowly opened the box and saw a purple pill resting on a red cloth like a wedding ring.

  Because Michael absorbed a primordial flame, he could sense another primordial flame and he sensed the energy of a primordial flame within the pill. However, it seemed as if Professor Lane used a sliver of primordial energy as an ingredient to concoct this pill.

  Before taking the pill, however, Michael looked at Professor Lane with a gentle smile on his face,

  "Why help me, Professor? No offense but you don't seem like the friendly helping professor type"

  "You might only be someone worthy of my teachings" Professor Lane simply said.

  Since Michael had a plan of his own, he did not poke Lane any further.

  *********************************

  Meanwhile, in their room, Victoria and Edith placed the glass orb that enabled communication from the Akilan realm to Thusia. Vitoria placed her hand on the orb and sent a sliver of Cosmic energy as the glass orb immediately began to glow brighter and brighter. Victoria and Edith took several steps back.

  Soon, two figures in ethereal form appeared above the orb. The man was in a crimson red robe that draped the floor beneath him. He had striking crimson red hair dancing over his shoulder, blue eyes, and a thick beard without a mustache. His muscles were bulging out of his crimson red robes. The man possessed an aura of an emperor and not of a kind benevolent emperor; rather he seemed cold, iron-fisted, and powerful as a god.

  The woman who remained by his side had golden hair, a gentle smile on her face as well as a pair of glistening hazel eyes. Her perfect structure was covered by a long gown usually made of a luxurious tunic and contained embroidered lace and gems.

  "Father, mother" Victoria immediately dropped to one knee and bowed her head.

  "Your majesty, your highness" Edith curtseyed them with a royal bow instead of kneeling down like Victoria.

  They were the king and queen of Thusia; Maxim Barnes and Valeria Barnes. Valeria looked at Victoria with a kind look and she was about to speak when a cold voice reverberated in the room.

  "Unacceptable"

  Maxim Barnes's voice conveyed authority. The voice emanated from his six-foot-six-inch stature commands attention. It was unmistakable. At its most pronounced it felt like a whip against dewy skin

  "You have failed to secure the Primordial flames. What have you learned from your failure Victoria? Raise your head and answer"

  Victoria shuddered like a child in front of him,

  "The Primordial flames indeed have a mind of their own father. They refused to submit to the Cosmic energy and one of them has chosen a new master"

  "One of them?" Frowned Maxim Barnes,

  "Yes father, there were two primordial flames-"

  "FOOL!" King Maxim raised his voice. He was furious. Along with his shout, a powerful blast shot out of his ethereal figure and blasted Victoria onto the wall behind her,

  "Vikki!" Edith was stunned but she quickly ran to Victoria,

  "No" Victoria refused to take Edith's hands and picked herself from the ground without any help.

  Knowing about her husband's anger, Valeria remained silent. She did not even try to calm him down because she knew it would only make him madder.

  Victoria ignored the blood slowly trickling through her nostrils and knelt before him just like before,

  "Only the three primordial flames can stop the Cosmic energy. What does that mean?" asked Maxim Barnes.

  "Our enemies can use the primordial flames against us" Victoria immediately answered Maxim without even taking a second to breathe,

  "They will, they will use the flames against us. That is why we must secure them for ourselves before our foes. Each failure teaches us a lesson, learn from your failures"

  "Yes Sir" Victoria placed her hand on her chest and declared,

  "Have you found someone worthy of you in Mazeroth?" asked Maxim,

  "No father"

  She shook her head. Maxim looked at Victoria for a moment and then disappeared leaving Valeria with the two girls. Edith finally let out a deep breath and felt her muscles loosen up.

  "Rise my daughter" Valeria's gentle voice swept over Victoria. There was nothing but love and kindness in her eyes. She looked and acted like the embodiment of compassion.

  Victoria stood up, revealing a delicate smile.

  "Your father and I have picked two young men who might be worthy to take your hands in marriage Victoria. If you have no one in your heart, you can select either of them and you won't be disappointed"

  "Mother" Victoria growled,

  "I don't want to get married"

  "No, no dear, marriage is important. To you and to our kingdom. Your father has given you the freedom to pick a groom for yourself. He has been very patient in this matter but you know about your father, he is not a patient man"

  Victoria could only sigh. To be honest, she did not want to marry but she was unable to disagree with her father too. She had been telling them she will find a man who is worthy of her yet she barely even tried to.

  "But how could I marry someone I don't even know? Every man I met till now is weaker and inferior to me in every aspect"

  "I married your father without knowing him honey and that's the best decision I've ever made. You can't keep avoiding this matter saying they are weak and inferior to you. No one can or will be stronger than you Victoria, you have the Cosmic energy running in your veins. I think the young men we found might be the best fit for you, they are stronger than you but they are not weak either. If they had Cosmic energy, I have no doubt they will be just as strong as you or stronger"

  Victoria was momentarily stunned by the last few words that came out of her mother's mouth. She creased her brows, refusing to believe that not one but two men existed who could be stronger than her. Granted she had Cosmic energy but even before absorbing Cosmic energy, her cultivation speed and the purity of the energy in her body shook the entire Ozer continent. She was deemed a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy and many even compared her to the Hunt family prodigy.

  "Who are they?" Edith's curiosity got the better of her.

  "Both of them hail from the Elon continent. One of them is a guardian, our contacts in the guardian guild have informed us he is a rising star with unlimited potential. They believe he has reached Core Formation stage level 10 recently"

  As queen Valeria was describing the candidate, Edith's heart started to beat faster and faster. It felt as if her heart was pounding against her chest,

  "He is kind, forgiving, and talented in both Alchemy and combat. General Booth has accessed the battles he went through and said he could fight with him toe to toe and might even defeat him in a duel"

  Valeria intentionally teased Victoria without revealing the identity of the young man. She kindled the fire of curiosity within Victoria and rubbed her ego to the point Victoria would travel to Elon to meet both young men and pick one to be her life partner.

  "Who does this remind you of?" Valeria chuckled

  "You," said Victoria. When someone wanted to describe Valeria with few words as possible, they would say the exact thing Valeria said about the young man 'kind, forgiving, and talented in both Alchemy and combat'

  Valeria failed to notice a tear rolling out of Edith's eyes.

  "Do you want to know his name?" Valeria teased Victoria. The young girl nodded her head wordlessly telling her mother to stop teasing her and reveal his name.

  "Noah Winston"

  Edith's tears hit the ground as soon as Valeria uttered the name of the man whom Edith was in love with.