Crown Prince Ryohei stood in his tower looking towards the direction of the Phoenix Academy where his youngest son was likely entreating his desired patron deity. At over eighty years old Ryohei still looked as youthful as if he had barely aged since he was in his mid-thirties. His ki was so dense that he could have over a thousand years to reach the next stage of ascension before beginning to age again. He was his father, the eternal emperor's favored son.

To be the Crown Prince signified more than a mere title; it meant the stewardship of an empire, a responsibility shouldered while his father endeavored to ascend. It was natural that his father had an immense level of trust and faith in Ryohei’s ability to lead and in his strength to protect the empire.

Ryohei thought of his youngest child who ought to be selecting his deity as they spoke. Looking from the Pavilion that overlooked the city he could see the faint glow of candles and fires pepper the city from above giving a quaint feel.

If his youngest child was shown to be talented as well his father would reward him with many powers that he currently did not have and he would permanently solidify his place as the crown prince of Kuro. He smiled as he thought about his son. All of his other children had been extremely talented, but he has a special place for his youngest son and daughter.

"Come back with good news Eizo..." he whispered to himself as he reminisced about his own blessing at that age.

…

A large crowd of youths stood in amazement as a pillar of golden flames erupted from the ground. The shrine, depicting a Phoenix emerging from ash, towered over them, dwarfing their figures.

The Flames had seemingly devoured a young man who had been meditating for a while causing some to step away from fear. Everyone knew that interfering with the bestowing of a blessing was asking for disaster.

"I accept you as part of my familia, young one. Go now and serve me well." The golden flames of rebirth died away, revealing a silhouette that took the shape of a young man.

The fourteen-year-old bowed deeply toward the shrine of the god, a broad grin on his face followed quickly by a look of pure happiness. He had done it; he had received the blessing of Saisei, the Phoenix god of rebirth and patron god of the current emperor, his grandfather, and his father, the Crown Prince. Saisei held a prestigious position as one of the strongest gods in the heavens, leading the Imperial pantheon of the Kuro Empire.

Nothing could have been better, one of the most popular and extremely picky gods in the empire selected him as part of his very small familia. Naturally, many of the girls around him were fawning over him, but he didn't care much for the fan girls; they all were only looking for an opportunity to try and gain his affections for their own gain.

Being the son of the crown prince caused him many headaches over the years only those of similar status could be seen as trustworthy and even then he had to be cautious needless to say commoners could not be trusted. They all lusted for power not knowing the responsibility and burdens it came with. Even at fourteen, he knew that many of the people of Kuroian society viewed the imperial family as almost mythical existences. While that wasn’t completely far off the only existence in the imperial family that could be considered on the level of mythical was his grandfather. Even his father was a long ways off from that level let alone his various uncles and aunts.

Walking away from the shrine he headed over to Grandmaster Zhou who along with the other masters would be assessing all the disciples that got blessed to see if they could become an inner disciple of the Phoenix academy of the empire. It was common for students to be selected by masters of the inner court; some had many students while other masters were much more selective of whom they wanted.

Ezio was extremely confident in his ability and never even bothered training as an outer disciple, opting to train under his family until now which was not uncommon for high-ranking people of Kuro to do such. In particular in the capital city of Ei'en.

As he approached the steps to the main building he noticed out of the corner of his eyes the secret corps that his father sent to protect him should they need to, they were always so annoying, but once he enrolled and gained entrance into the inner court they would no longer be needed.

Swiftly turning he called out to them "Hey! The two of you can leave now this is one of the safest places in the empire. I have no further need for you."

Both of them silently listened to the orders and jumped out of view flying into the tree branches before running along the branches out of the academy complex. The black ashes corps were some of the most elite and deadly assassins in the entire empire and he felt it was a bit overkill for them to be guarding him. Ezio was pleasantly surprised that they listened, smiling as he turned around to go inside.

*THUMP*

Ezio's chin collided with someone's forehead, sending both of them onto their asses "Ouch!" he grunted to himself. Instantly going to rub his chin.

"Hey! Who bumped into me!" Ezio got up angrily, his eyes fell onto a girl rubbing her eyes forehead with her eyes closed. Ezio's face immediately flushed when he saw the girl before him. Her face was clear and fair like a polished pearl which contrasted beautifully with her midnight black hair. The girl was clearly shorter than him, her nose would just barely touch the bottom part of his upper lip if she stood up. Ezio's heartbeat began to beat more rapidly as he looked at the very beautiful girl before him. Even the pain in his lip seemed to dull as he looked at her rubbing her forehead.

After several seconds Ezio realized he was staring and went over to lend her a hand. The girl opened her eyes startling him as she gave him a perturbed look, but that wasn't what was so shocking. Instead, it was her piercing azure eyes that stared into his own. As beautiful as they were, his instinct to distance himself kicked in. He was aware of the legends that said people with azure eyes lived cursed lives and it was best to avoid them which caused him to frown ever so slightly.

What a shame. A girl like this being cursed with such an unfortunate mark. He thought to himself.

"I'm sorry for that," he said, holding out his hand his father had always told him to keep a noble bearing even to the most unworthy. Most nobles felt his father had grown soft over the years, but Ezio knew full well that his father’s reasons were valid even if he didn’t know the exact details.

"Yeah? Well, you should be" she said sharply batting away his hand. She was upset with him even though she was equally at fault for what happened.

Not even trying to feign being polite which Ezio viewed as rather rude even though it was clearly both our fault she didn’t seem to care. Not even doing the typical Kuroian tradition of rejecting his apology and issuing her own customary apology in return. It only made sense if two people bumped into each other.

"That was kind of rude, you were also not watching where you were going. Were you not?" Ezio said, trying to be reasonable, giving the girl a charming and friendly smile.

At this point the girl had gotten up and dusted off her tunic looking back at Ezio "Yeah well, whatever just leave me alone, I don't have time to deal with you." She said moving past him while heading into the main building where the assessments were taking place.

Ezio looked at the girl as she moved inside his mouth slightly agape as he realized that she didn't know who he was, which was all the more shocking. Not only did she not know him she didn’t care in the slightest that she bumped into him.

Only two words formed in his mind as he watched her stride away from him “Country bumpkin” he thought to himself “All brawn no brain.”

"This girl." He gritted his teeth in embarrassment as he muttered to himself as he watched her disappear behind the doors.