Chapter 74 - Big Brother (1)

Meanwhile, while Arya's body was being possessed by the dark figure, Luca was having trouble convincing Luna to let him go to Lokreem Academy. The biggest magical institution in the kingdom of Ravaryn.

Ever since the day Luna and Luca had been separated from Arya and Ava, they had been living in hiding. Luna continued to teach Luca all she knew about ice magic and had even taught him her family's breathing technique.

Since Luca was a genius magician he was able to reach the tier 3 2-star stage by the age of 11. Luna was astounded by Luca's growth and potential, however she knew that her time was running out.

Ever since that fateful day known as the Draquerth Extermination by the rest of the world, Luna had been careful about not staying in one place for too long. They had managed to sneak into the kingdom of Ravaryn, where the church's influence was nigh zero, but she still couldn't drop her guard.

Of course occasionally she would go out of her way to search the orphanages in the towns they had passed by in the hope that maybe Arya had been taken to one of them. It wouldn't be hard to find a white-haired kid since he was probably the only one in all of Merrum with that color hair, but sadly she never found him.

Every day she prayed, asking Lillian and Neel to forgive her for only being able to protect one of their children. She made a vow to find at least Arya, and maybe together the two magical anomalies would be strong enough to save their sister from the clutches of Amana.

Luna still remembered how Arya should've unlocked his magic at the age of one, she wondered how powerful he must be right now.

"Please Aunt Luna. It's my chance to gain powerful allies. If I'm able to show off my skills at Lokreem academy, I'm sure that a powerful noble will want to sponsor me, and that way I can even help look for Arya quicker. Who knows I might even be able to save Ava." said Luca to the disinterested Luna.

Luca had grown up quite well, he was just 11 years old but was already going through his first growth spurt. He was already 1.48m, he was way taller than all his peers, and was the spitting image of his father. Every time Luna looked at him she was reminded of Neel's calm persona, something that Luca didn't seem to have. 

Luca was more emotional like his mother, every time he got angry his blue eyes would begin to rage like the ocean. At times like those, Luna was reminded that although Luca looked like Neel, he was truly his mother's son.

"I wonder how the other two turned out?" wondered Luna before replying to Luca. "You know we can't. Let's say that the church has indeed forgotten about us, which I doubt they have, how would you explain how powerful you are?" asked Luna with a stern voice but pity visible on her aged face.

"Luca I know you want to help, but you have to remember that unlocking magic at the age of 11 is something that most people only attribute to geniuses. If they find out that you're a 2-star mage, that uses ice magic at that, you'll be classified as a monster. People are afraid of what they don't understand. "

"Do you realize what that means? You won't have any real peers who will have your back and take care of you. Even the nobles that support you will never look at you as anything more than a killing machine. Is that the example you want to set for your little brother?" asked Luna, trying to convince Luca not to go.

Luca still thought about Ava and Arya every night. He blamed himself for not being powerful enough to stop Amana and trained two times as hard every day in the hopes of being strong enough to get them back. 

When he heard about Lokreem Academy he realized that he might have a chance to get help quickly and at the same time grow stronger at an exponentially faster rate.

Although Luna was a top-tier ice mage, she was restricted on how well she could teach Luca due to lack of institutions and funds. 

If Luca went to Lokreem Academy, not only could he garner a noble's support, he would also have access to vast libraries of magic and many magical elixirs to help him grow faster. Luca loved Luna with all his heart but he felt that she was becoming too afraid, to the extent that she didn't want to progress.

Sure Luca was heartbroken that his parents had died, but many children had lost their parents at a young age as well. At first Luca wanted to get revenge, but Luna explained to him that revenge would only cause him to become evil and he still and a brother and a sister to take care. So he forgot about the idea of revenge and focused solely on gathering the remains of his family.

"It doesn't matter Aunt Luna. I can endure it, please. I know that you are scared but it's my only hope. I've listened to you and stayed on the low for nearly 4 years, that's 4 years that Arya has been alone in this world. Sure Ava is in Ecclesia, but I am sure that they wouldn't mistreat a child, even if her parents are classified as criminals."

"Then what about Arya? How do you think he feels right now? He was probably even too small to remember what happened, he probably thinks his family abandoned him. Luna please, I don't want my brother growing up thinking that Merrum had turned its back on him.. Who knows what type of people he is surrounded by right now? Who knows what type of person he will grow up to be without any of his family members there to support him?" pleaded Luca.