"You know what David, I can say with great certainty  you are a terrible storyteller,  ?" Rizel said with a goofy smile on his as he watched the man sitting across from him.

 "Oh, no really?" the man cried out in mock horror as he put his hand over his heart and turned away dramatically.

"Yeah," Rizel laughed out at him as he shook his head in disbelief. 

"You really are a horrible storyteller"  he continued to laugh at the other man as he shook his head slowly.

"Bite me" 

He let out another laugh before finally giving up and leaning back against the chair in front of him as he wiped away a stray tear that rolled down the side of his face.

Rizel looked at the man sitting in front of him, the man wore an inky black robe that wrapped around his body like a second skin that made it seem as though he was floating in nothing but darkness. 

His Irisless white eyes perfectly matched his eerie pale skin.

His smooth bald head perfectly complemented his sharp jawline and high cheekbones.

The most prominent thing about the man however was his eyes; they stood out like two white buttons against his white face that seemed so bright compared to the angry dark red tattoos that ran throughout his entire body, covering every inch of him in intricate designs and patterns, some were inks or even blood red. 

They almost resembled blood, a bloody red liquid mixed together that flowed like water through his veins and seemed to never end no matter how hard the man tried to push it away.

"You know, if my brother were alive he'd be laughing at you now." The Rizel said in a quiet voice before continuing "I think you're telling this wrong."

the man stopped acting, a frown etched onto his face.

"This is exactly what I am talking about right? This is your version of the story and not mine." Rizel continued 

The man let out a low growl that 

 sounded inhumanly menacing but didn't make any move towards Rizel, he just sat there staring into the abyss that was Rizel's face.

"I should probably go, my family are probably wondering where I am". the man said as he began to leave 

" No, no stop continue your story but please for the love for life, tell it better"

the man sat back down but the frown was still etched on his eyebrowless forehead.

"It was you who wanted to listen,  right?"

A soft smile came onto the men face, he had this look of relief and joy as if someone had taken all the pain away.

" Yes"

Rizel whispered under his breath.

" Good, good" the man mumbled as he began to speak again.

*                    *                      *                         *

The sun hung high in the sky as shining brightly as the cold wind whipped around, ruffling the leaves on their trees, making them shake violently as they flew past.

The first time I saw the enormous walls of Varnis I felt overwhelmed, I had seen nothing like in my previous life,  the sheer scale of the wall and the fact that they had been built was enough to scare anyone, but something else took my attention, 

the huge gates that  led inside the wall and  were guarded by giant iron statues of people I didn't recognise but one thing was for certain;

they weren't friendly.

There were guards on the walls, flags flying, and even a group of wagons approaching an open but heavily guarded gate not far from a riverbank,  there must have been more than fifty guards walking by at least ten different falls flew on the walks, each one man wore a guard armour which gave them the appearance of being soldiers.

"Can I help you?"

my sighting was interpreted by a rude voice 

I looked away from the walls and looked at the person who interpreted me 

The man didn't react or blink as he continued to stare blankly at my eyes.

My eyes widened slightly and I felt a slight tremble run through my body as I stepped back from the gate.

It took me a minute to realise that the person standing outside back wasn't human, he or she seemed almost humanish in shape and appearance but I couldn't place my finger on what it was that made me doubt the man's human status.

before I could reply, Ester stepped forward and walked in front of the guard 

She handed, the man thre parchment documents and a silver medalion that glowed in the sunlight.

the guard was expressionless until he saw the silver medallion, the guard's expression changed as he carefully took the mediation and studied it and then handed it back to Ester and then gave a deep bow. 

"If the honoured  citizen please flow me" 

Ester nodded her thanks before signal in us to follow.

strangely enough, all of us were quiet as we followed Ester and the guard who bypassed the huge line of people and wagons that were waiting to enter the city.

even Jon, who held my hand tightly was uncharacteristically quiet, the 6-year bully chatty girl was sucking her thumb as she stared wide-eyed at everything.

We were soon ushered into a sort of kind office where three guards stood around a heavy dark wooden desk at which a thin lean man with dirty golden blonde hair sat crumbling away at a price of paper.

he looked up when Ester and the guard entered with a tired and somewhat bored looking expression on his face.

"Welcome back citizen," The man said in an exhausted tone as he gestured for us to take our seats.

"You've arrived at just in time, I just finished sorting out these contracts," he said in a tone that clearly told us he was not happy at our arrival.

I glanced at the man and his guards, seeing the lack of enthusiasm in their eyes, I could only imagine why.

"As you can see," He pointed to the papers laid out on his desk before us, "I am a busy man, so can we be direct?"

Ester gave a small curtsy

"certainly Sir Knight, as you wish" 

the man gave a curt nod and gestured at the two chairs in front of him.

Ester with a prime pristine and etiquette sat on the right side chair, as there were only two chairs I decided to not dir, but to my surprise, neither Anabella nor Isabella took the seat next to Ester.

I quickly turned to glance at them but both of them were looking anywhere but at the man.

I sighed before turning back to watch the man who was still looked bored and interested as he fiddled through the scattered papers.

"So, tell how have silver rank citizen medallion, when I  have never seen you before today and I have met every single silver citizen if this blessed city," he asked his tone still had that not interested monotone but his eyes had turned sharp and cold.

Ester gave a small bow as she put the silver mediation on the wooden desk 

"This medallion belonged to my great-great-great-grandmother Dame Ester Clearwater" Ester spoke in a clear  elegant voice 

The man's expression changed as he stared hard  at Ester, 

 his lips pulled into a snarl. 

"Is there anything else that you want to say?" He asked in a deadly tone

Ester gave him a slight bow but shook her head 

the man banged husbands in the table and the table broke no distinguished into 

tiny pieces of wood that flew everywhere.

I activate my force shield as I protect the group from rouge splinters that flew our away 

"Do you honestly believe that you are a long lost descendant of one of the founding families of Varnis?" the man snarled anger filling his words.

I slowly backed away with my force shield glowing in a light blue shade, the shield surrounded everyone near me, I was getting ready for a fight.

but Ester didn't even flinch as she can't look at the man who was clearly at the core level.

Ester had explained to me the power level system of this place, in here the practitioners refined mana instead of qi, and the practitioner followed two paths of practice.

First, there was the warrior's path that  used the mana  to enhance the body, this path had followed the structure

the Lairds, the low Dames/knights, the high dames/knights, the underlord, the overlord, the Archlord.

Second, was the magician path where the mana was used to cast spells and improve the spirit it filled the structure

The apprentice, Novice, Adept, wizard, grand wizard, Archwizard.

and clearly judging from the pressure the man gave off he was at least a low knight that meant he was as powerful as foundation realm master and was just as powerful as me at my silver soul rank.

I could feel the energy surrounding me change as Ester started her tale, the man was now leaning forwards his fingers clasped together and his chin rested atop them.

"Yes, sir. My grandmother Dame Ester was indeed a member of the original founding families of Varnis, and yes I am her descendent and if you doubt my spoken word we can do a blood test"

the man blanched at Ester's cool demo and sat back down 

"Very well then madam we shall do just that" 

he clicked his fingers together and a bronze bell appeared  in his hand and he began to ring it with such gusto that I thought  he would break it

The bell rang repeatedly and the man became angrier as the sound kept  echoing in the room, he looked at Ester as if trying to get her to shut up, yet she paid no heed to him, 

finally, a boy ran into the room from the other side and stood next to the man in  rapt attention 

"You called my lord?"  Asked the boy respectfully

"Go, inform Guy in the lower hall that there is a need for his services to check a founding family bloodline," He snapped impatiently.

the boy moulded and ran off as he did so the two guards on the side shuffled forward and placed a new deck that was identical to the previous one and another man picked up the dropped medallion and handed it to the thin man.

from where had they brought out the deck and when had they done so baffled me but I kept my thoughts to myself.

As we silently waited the tension in the room began to grow, even Jin began to whimper and I picked her up and I tried to soothe her by rocking her but she just whispered as she buried her face in my neck.

that brought the man's attention to me.

 

"And who might you be, may I ask?"

I gave him a small bow but before I could speak Ester interjected.

"That is my manservant", she said in a cold tone that  shocked me.

the man turned back to Ester and stared at her with such intensity that  my heart started beating wildly and sweat dripped from my forehead

a few minutes later a wheezing old man with a silver-white beard wobbled into the room,  a few of the people in the room tensed at the sight of the old man's figure and the man himself looked like he wanted nothing more than to hide from the elderly man.

" Ah master Ross, I was not expecting you to come, your apprentice would have sufficed as we only need to conduct a simple blood test," the man said as he got up from his chair 

the old man highly wheeze as-is each breath he took was a great effort as made his way to the table 

"Nonsense, Might it into ever. the day I see an ancient family resurrected, not ket's see the lass who claims to be a clearwater" 

the old man was clearly struggling to walk to the table yet no one was offering him any aid or help

as he reached the table and placed one wrinkly hand on the medallion.

"Aye, it is real no fake this is."

The man looked to the old man as he let his head lay on the table and his hands grasp the table as he closed his eyes.

"Aye lass shall we begin?" 

the old man turned to Ester as he asked 

Ester gave a quick nod

then the old man with being found strength took a glass blow out nowhere and placed the medallion into the bowl and then began to fill it with brownish thick viscous liquid.

once done he turned to Ester and made a gesture of invitation as he handed her a thin Pin.

Ester immediately took the pin and pricked her hinder and dropped a single drop of blood into the bowl.

as blood made contact the brown liquid instantly evaporated leaving behind just the white liquid that contained red markings.

as it did so the man visibly became tense.

Ester held the pin up and showed it to the men and nodded her thanks

"Ay,e that should be enough,"

the old man then  peered into the bowl with great enthusiasm 

"Hmm a one-fourth purity, Aya the lass truly is a clear water descendent, but she isn't from the direct  line of the founder of the founders' lineage, she seems to be a side branch or something of that nature."

the old man seemed satisfied with this answer and gave a nod of acceptance.

hearing the news the man relaxed as he gave a bright smile 

"Good, very good!" the man beamed 

"That means she is not eligible to keep the citizenship, correcter master Ross"

"Incorrect, are an idiot lady where do your schooling, even she can't claim the Nobel title she is still a descent hence she has the right to citizenship and as lass already has medallion she is already a citizen" 

hearing that statement the man face scrunched as if some just force-fed him a lemon.

Frankly, at the time, I had no idea what was going on.