Morning sunlight filtered through the towering glass of the Grand Hall, scattering fragments of gold across the marble floor. The air was dense with murmurs — a symphony of youthful ambition, nervous laughter, and restrained arrogance. It was the first day of classification, when the Royale Académie des Exorcistes divided its students into their respective paths of study.
Keran stood among the crowd, his uniform crisp, his eyes sharp and restless. Around him, banners of noble houses fluttered from the high arches — emblems of pride, lineage, and authority. For most students, today was about prestige. For Keran, it was about understanding the system itself.
Master Thalion stood at the front of the hall, flanked by several senior exorcists. His voice rose, calm yet resonant:
> "Power without order is ruin. Knowledge without hierarchy is chaos. Today, you will learn that every artefact, every incantation, and every ritual you wield, must serve a purpose beyond yourself."
His words struck with the weight of conviction. Behind him, magical sigils illuminated the wall, forming concentric circles — the Six Orders of Exorcism, each representing a distinct branch of mastery.
The students watched in reverent silence as Thalion gestured to the first ring.
---
The Six Orders of Exorcism
1. The Order of Purifiers — Masters of elemental cleansing, tasked with purging corruption from both artefacts and souls.
2. The Order of Bindings — Specialists in restraints, seals, and containment spells; their work formed the foundation of demon imprisonment.
3. The Order of Invocation — Scholars who commune with divine and neutral entities, wielding power through pacts and invocation rites.
4. The Order of Insight — Analysts of curses, illusions, and psychological manipulation. Masters of perception and mental defense.
5. The Order of Artefact Masters — Those who forge, maintain, and manipulate artefacts — the engineers of divine instruments.
6. The Order of Executioners — The combat branch — elite exorcists trained to eradicate threats through direct, brutal confrontation.
---
Each order held its own hierarchy, initiation rites, and ancient doctrines. As Thalion described them, Keran absorbed every word, but his attention was not on prestige — it was on structure. He noted which orders attracted the loud, the ambitious, the calculating. He marked the mannerisms of instructors, their subtle gestures of favor or disdain. He was already mapping alliances, weaknesses, and unspoken rivalries.
"Choose wisely," Thalion warned, pacing before them. "For your Order will shape your destiny."
Keran's mind churned quietly. The Order of Artefact Masters interested him — it represented both power and subtlety. Yet the Order of Insight drew him as well, promising mastery over perception, illusion, and control. A perfect balance between manipulation and innovation.
Around him, students were already murmuring their choices. Many from noble bloodlines gravitated toward the Purifiers and Executioners — paths of visible prestige. But Keran had no interest in spectacle. His power would come not from display, but from understanding.
He approached the elder scribe who recorded each student's selection.
"Your name?" the man asked, quill poised.
"Keran, son of Baron Kira," he replied evenly.
"Your chosen Orders?"
Keran paused, then spoke with deliberate precision:
> "Primary Order: Artefact Mastery. Secondary Order: Insight."
The scribe looked up, surprised. "A rare combination. Few pursue both the tangible and the intangible."
Keran's eyes did not waver. "That is because few understand that one is meaningless without the other."
The scribe hesitated, then nodded, writing his name with care. "Ambitious," he murmured. "We shall see if your mind can bear the weight of both paths."
---
The afternoon unfolded into chaos — classrooms flooded with students, instructors barking commands, artefacts humming under layers of enchantment. Keran entered the Hall of Artefacts, an immense chamber filled with relics suspended in midair, each sealed by magical bindings. The air vibrated faintly, charged with residual energy.
At the center stood Mistress Arlène, a woman of sharp features and colder eyes. Her reputation preceded her — the youngest ever to achieve Grandmaster status in Artefact Forging.
Her voice cut through the noise like tempered steel.
> "Artefacts are not weapons. They are reflections of your will. You do not wield them — you negotiate with them. Fail to understand that, and they will devour you."
As she spoke, several students failed their initial synchronization attempts. Artefacts sparked violently, forcing them back. Arlène's expression remained unmoved.
When Keran's turn came, he approached the chosen artefact — a small crystal prism, dull and lifeless. He extended his hand, not with arrogance, but with focus. The room seemed to still.
His energy flowed, measured, calculated. The prism flickered — once, twice — then stabilized, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. The instructor's gaze sharpened.
"Name?" she asked.
"Keran."
"Baron's son, yes. You've been taught control — but this…" she gestured to the prism, now glowing steadily, "...this is not control. It's resonance. You understand the difference?"
"Yes," he said. "Control is an illusion. Resonance is harmony."
Her lips curved faintly — the first sign of approval. "Good. You may last longer than the others."
---
Later that day, Keran attended his secondary class — The Order of Insight, led by Master Elion, an aged man whose presence was almost spectral. The classroom was lined with mirrors and sigils, and the scent of burning incense filled the air.
"Perception," Elion began, "is not about what you see — it's about what you choose to see. To be an Insight Exorcist, you must learn to manipulate not only the senses of others, but your own."
The exercises were grueling. Students were asked to detect illusions layered upon illusions — to separate falsehood from truth under immense mental strain. Many failed, collapsing from exhaustion.
Keran, however, adapted quickly. His previous experience — his trauma, his discipline, his hunger for clarity — had conditioned him to see through confusion. He began identifying patterns invisible to others, exposing the layered constructs with unnerving precision.
Elion watched silently, then spoke:
"You see further than most. Why?"
Keran paused, then answered, "Because I do not trust my eyes. I trust the logic beneath what they perceive."
Elion smiled faintly. "Good. Keep that distrust. It will make you powerful — and lonely."
The class ended, but Keran lingered, staring into one of the mirrors. His reflection seemed foreign, older somehow. The boy who once wept in the ashes of his village was still there, but buried beneath layers of resolve, ambition, and quiet calculation.
He understood now that the Academy was not merely an institution — it was a labyrinth of minds, power, and manipulation. The Orders were not paths of learning; they were factions, each with agendas woven into the fabric of their teachings.
Keran's choice to straddle two disciplines was not coincidence — it was strategy. The Artefact Masters would grant him the tools; the Insight Order would grant him the perception to wield them effectively. Between them, he would forge the foundation of true supremacy.
That night, in his quarters, Keran studied the notes he had taken — diagrams of sigils, schematics of artefact cores, and cryptic fragments of illusion spells. His lamp flickered, shadows dancing across his desk.
He whispered softly to himself, the mantra he had already begun to live by:
> "Observation births knowledge. Knowledge shapes power. Power creates order. And order… is the only form of control worth mastering."
Outside, the Academy bells tolled midnight. The moonlight filtered through the windows, illuminating the sigil etched into his notebook — two interlocking circles: one solid, one transparent. The emblem of dual mastery.
Keran closed his eyes. The path ahead was perilous, but his course was set. The child of ashes was now a student of structure. And soon — very soon — he would begin to reshape the structure itself.