Zuno was static, his pupils widened in fear, his mouth was wide open and his body was shivering.

A door slammed opened, Arya came rushing out holding her staff while still in her sleepwear. "What the hell happened?" She screamed.

Three mage guards also rushed to where Zuno was. "What happened sire?" One of them asked.

"Uh---uh.... I--I killed a person, but it was an accident. I guess he or she wanted to kill me." Zuno stuttered for he was still in shock.

"It wasn't one of us, there are no mana leftovers." The other guard said.

"We will definitely look into this issue, but for now, return to your chambers." The guard advised.

"Come on Zuno, I'll take you to your room." Arya said.

"Thanks." He replied.

--------------

One week later

"Alright Zuno, now summon the shadows." Ulric said.

"Right. From darkness and by darkness, I summon thee creatures of the dark, RISE shadows of Zuno." He chanted as he placed his palm on the ground. He formed a dark circle with 2 meter diameter around him. One by one, shadows began appearing. This time, the shadows are starting to listen to Zuno. The shadows were humanoid form, they were as dark as the night and some even have some sort of cape that dangles from their backs. They had no face, just pure black humanoid figures standing around Zuno.

"Good. Now, try ordering them to move towards me." Ulric said again.

There were 4 shadows around Zuno, just standing idle. Zuno move his arm and pointed at Ulric. The shadows followed his directions and moved towards Ulric. But, instead of moving slow, they ran towards Ulric, wanting to kill him.

Ulric used his magic staff and casted a light spell which brightens the surroundings, hence making the shadows disappear. "Try again Zuno. This time, don't make them attack me." He ordered.

"Alright." Zuno took a deep breath, "From darkness and by darkness, I summon thee creatures of the dark, RISE shadows of Zuno." The shadows appeared again, this time there were 3 of them. Now only using his voice, he said "Go." The shadows move slowly towards Ulric.

"Good, keep going." Ulric said.

A mage knock on the door and entered in a hurry.

"We're practicing, can't it wait?" Ulric wondered.

"It's his parents sir, they are here." The mage said.

The shadows disappeared, "My parents....they're finally here." Zuno said softly.

"I'll take you to them sir. Please follow me." The mage said.

Zuno didn't hesitate, he immediately followed the mage.

The mage took Zuno to the royal garden. There, Zuno's parents were talking to Princess Eena.

"MOM! DAD!" Zuno screamed in joy as he ran towards them. His parents dropped in tears as they hugged Zuno very tight.

Princess Eena smiled as she gazed upon a family reunion. Ulric arrived not long after Zuno.

"Took longer than expected. But we got them out." Ulric reported.

"Better late than never, good job." Eena congratulated. "Let's leave them be."

"We thought you were dead son." Zuno's mom cried.

-------------------

"Take cover! Enemy artillery!" Prince Ande yelled. He was still at the city of Wesh, Ravenrock was now there.

Ande ran and hid behind an old shop, "mages, rendezvous point on me." He ordered via telepathy.

Ravenrock Landships were destroying everything in their path, there were still a lot of civilians that were not teleported back to Andeena.

10 mages gathered with Ande. "Is this everyone?" He asked.

"Yes sir." A mage answered.

"We're heavily outnumbered, we need to get back." Ande said.

"What about the civilians sir?" The mage asked.

"We--- urgh, we have to leave them behind, it is us that they're after, they won't kill the civilians. Let's go." Ande ordered.

Prince Ande and the mages teleported back to Andeena.

------------

The next day

Swords were slashing and clashing each other. Zuno was battling Ulric using his shadows.

"Feel it Zuno, make the shadows mimic the exact movement you have from your mind." Ulric commented.

Zuno stood still at the edge of the chamber while his shadows were clashing swords with Ulric. He was still using his hands to control the shadows movement.

They trained for 2 hours straight.

"Geesh, I'm drained. Nice job Zuno, take 5 and after that I will show you to our academy. I see now you are ready to face other candidates." Ulric said.

"Right..." Zuno said while breathing heavily, tired.

They took a quick break and then they prepared to go to the academy.

"Pack up Zuno, you'll be there for a while." Ulric suggested.

In the background, a lot of guards were going back and forth the royal chambers, Prince Ande has returned.

---------

"What the hell happened?" Eena asked.

"Ravenrock are all over the place, I can't believe they could move that fast. They have this new vehicle, a steel thing with cannons in front and was moving without wheels. Truly it is terrifying." Ande informed. "Assemble the council, another battle is about to begin." He continued.

"You just arrived, rest brother. We shall conduct the meeting tomorrow dawn." Eena  insisted. "Terian, I need you to see how the newly arrived civilians are doing and also see the progress of the evacuation from the other cities."

"Yes your majesty, at once." Terian said as he bowed and left.

"How's the boy doing?" Ande asked.

"He's doing extremely well in controlling his powers, Ulric did a hell of a great job teaching him." Eena replied. "He is a special one."

"Are you sure? So he will be placed in the academy then?" Ande wondered.

"Yep, he is preparing to go there as we speak." Eena answered.

----------

"Let's go." Ulric said.

"Take care Zuno, you'll do great!" Arya came.

"Thanks. Alright, let's go." Zuno said.

Ulric and Zuno stepped on the teleporter and the went to the academy which was located in the deep Silent Mountains, far from any contact from the outside world.

"Welcome to the academy!" Ulric welcomed.

The academy was built inside the mountains, the buildings were as tall as the mountains were, they were made from the stones of the mountains. It looked like a gothic castle. Their source of light were only torches lit by the fire mages. Zuno could hear people clashing their powers while chanting aloud. He could see people flying around the empty space of the mountains using nothing but their spells. The academy streched across the mountains, there were terrains specifically for each element, water, earth, fire, wind, light and also darkness which will be used as their training ground. Their dorms though, were not separated. All elements live in the same dormitory.

"Welcome to our academy!" A mentor welcomed them. "Ah, High-Mage Ulric, what a pleasure to have you here."

"Uhhm, thanks, but I'm here to drop off the new kid." Ulric replied. Zuno waved to the mentor.

"I see, this must be the shadow-summoner I've always heard about." The mentor commented.

"I'll leave you to it then, take care Zuno." Ulric said as he teleported back to Havend.

"Well he seemed to be in a hurry. Hello young man, my name is Exus. I'm one of the mentors here, my speciality is dealing with darkness mages." Exus said.

"Hi, I'm Zuno Erlikson, ehm, I'm new to all of this." Zuno replied

"Haha fear not young man, that is why you are here. We will help you get through this. Although..." Exus explained.

"Although what?" Zuno asked.

"Well....you are a bit special, I mean, different from the rest. Ehehe" Exus smiled.

"Right...the one and only shadow summoner, which supposed to be extinct lalala. Yeah I get it." Zuno replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Right, let's get inside then." Exus invited. "Oh and I think you might have a friend here. He has white hair. I think his name was something like White...Wise.."

"It's Wize." Zuno made clear.

"Ah yes, Wize, so you do know him. I'll take you to him th---" Exus didn't get to finish his sentence.

"No,no it's fine, I'll just see him when I see him." Zuno insisted.

"Alright, I'll take you to your room then. Follow me." Exus said.

Zuno was taken to the dorm not far from the main entrance, it was in the back of the academy.

"Oh look, your friend is here. Wize!" Exus called Wize.

Zuno hid his face behind his bag. He peaked and saw Wize standing in front of him.

"Wize?" Zuno wondered. "Is that really you?"