2 Order

They say when you leave Miatia, you are met with nothing but endless fog. However, some disagree, they say beyond the fog, there lies monsters.

Harlston 

Year 7023 M.E.

Standing before a gigantic golden-framed mirror that was easily 4 to 5 times his height, a teenage redhead waited anxiously.

He had small beads of sweat adorning his forehead, and from time to time, he would shift on his feet nervously.

The aforementioned time had come, and Hade slowly raised his right hand to 90 degrees, with his palm outstretched and fingers almost touching the mirror's surface.

He took a few deep breaths and then with the utmost delicacy... gently laid his hand onto the mirror.

He waited...

Nothing happened.

"Sh*t," Hade cursed quietly to himself.

The silence within the hall would almost be deafening if it wasn't for a few baited breaths you could hear around the hall.

Hade wasn't alone...

He removed his palm from the mirror and pressed again, this time with a bit more ferocity. He waited but once again, nothing happened.

You could hear one or two sighs around the hall but Hade's face remained resolute. He was about to remove his hand and try again for the third time when suddenly, a squeaking noise was heard from the golden-framed mirror...

All of a sudden, one by one, letters written in ink as black as tar began to slowly etch themselves onto the mirror's smooth reflective surface.

...D

'Darkness!' Hade exclaimed in his mind

The law of Darkness! That was one of the rarest variant laws in existence!

However, before he could rejoice, an E soon popped up after the D and he was at a loss for words.

Hade instantly rummaged through all the names of magic laws he knew in his head. It did not matter whether they were elemental, variant, or mythic and before long, he came to a worthwhile conclusion.

'The mythic law of Death!' Hade exclaimed yet again, his heart now pounding in his chest.

He had struck the jackpot! And while he hadn't really considered it before, world domination had suddenly become a viable option!

But to his dismay, the letters that followed next were not the ones he was expecting, nor were they in the sequence he was longing for:

O

R

R

'What the hell?!'

Hade was distraught. This was not how you spelled Death!

Was the wretched mirror playing games with him?!

Suddenly though, the letters magically rearranged themselves, and "O R D E R" was the final text.

"Order?" Hade unconsciously read aloud with furrowed brows.

'The law of... Order?'

Did such a law even exist?

Soon, the letters began to disappear but they had undoubtedly served their purpose.

"Hade, congratulations!" A breathtakingly beautiful woman with the same deep brown eyes and a similar yet lighter shade of red hair emerged from one of the corners of the hall.

She moved with an elegant poise and an enchanting grace, her every step echoing like a melody, as if the very ground beneath her feet yielded to her presence.

"Thanks, Mom," Hade replied as he forced a smile. He had gotten a law. That was enough... for now.

Standing not too far away from the mother and son duo, Castus and Dedric stood conversing quietly amongst themselves:

"Dedric, have you ever heard of a law of Order?" Castus asked his right-hand man, skepticism laden in his tone.

"No, my lord," the giant man replied promptly before retaining his silence.

"Hmm," Castus nodded in contemplation.

"And you, Bartholomew?" he asked to no one in particular... Or at least, that was how it seemed initially.

*Poof!*

A bald man materialized out of thin air to stand just behind Dedric.

"No my Lord," he also replied.

"It might be one of the mythic ones, even perhaps the first of its kind."

"Not necessarily a good thing," Dedric chimed in.

"This might bring unwanted attention onto the young master."

Castus subsequently furrowed his brows. He was the steward of Harlston, one of the three largest provinces in the empire, and an absolute monster in his own right.

Unarguably, he was a very powerful man, but, he was not naive enough to think that he was indomitable.

No.

The world of the laws of magic was vast... The things that could potentially threaten him and his family were certainly not few in number.

Castus looked down at his scarred hands and palms.

"It seems I'll just have to become even stronger," he muttered to himself.

Turning his attention to his wife, Isabella, and his youngest son, Hade, in the distance, unconsciously, a calm yet at the same time, overbearing aura began to slowly seep from his person.

Bartholomew appeared to choke, experiencing difficulty in breathing whilst, on the other hand, Dedric looked to bask in the pressure, almost as if... in ecstasy.

Suddenly though, Isabella noticed the slight disturbance and immediately cast a questioning glance towards her husband.

*Poof!*

The pressure vanished almost as immediately as it came.

Castus flashed a wry smile, scratching the back of his neck, before going to congratulate his son.

Along the way, he stopped briefly and spoke in a low tone:

"Make sure this news is kept contained," he said.

..."At least until I can make proper arrangements."

Both Dedric and Bartholomew bowed respectfully A comfortable silence lingered between the two men as they watched the small, happy family.

"He worries too much. Law or no law, the young master is almost unrivaled among those in his age group... I made sure of that!" Dedric proudly stated.

"I think that is what worries him," said Bartholomew.

"Young master Kain already brings more than enough attention as it is. This new addition surely won't make things easier for us."

Dedric laughed and then said:

"All this housekeeping is turning you soft. If anyone dares to come for us then let them come. We'll remind them just why they shouldn't mess with the Ronens."

...

Once in his room, Hade slowly closed the door and sat on his bed. He heaved in a deep breath and for the umpteenth time that day, found himself sighing in relief.

Sh*t could've easily gone sideways, he of all people knew that. He also knew just how fortunate he was.

He had awakened a year ago, when he was 16, and now, finally, he had manifested a law.

The law was no doubt a peculiar one for he had never heard of an Order practitioner, however, it was still a law nonetheless. The Mirror of Reflections had said so and it was never wrong.

After awakening, law manifestation was the mandatory next step. Without it, one would never reach the true apex of their magic path. And in this ruthless and unforgiving world, it did not matter how wealthy, famous, or respected you were...

The power to decide between life and death... It was only wielded by the strongest.

Hade balled his fists and thick veins crisscrossed from his wrist, up his forearms, and to his elbows.

He was getting stronger and stronger by the day, he could feel it. The new law had only just added to his already formidable arsenal of skills.

Normal awakened, or unranked, as they were more commonly known, had their physical aspects like strength and agility only slightly better than those of a normal person.

Hade, however, had far surpassed that threshold. His strength only was now nearly triple that of an ordinary adult man!

This was by no means normal. At least, for a mere 17-year-old, it was definitely not.

He was different, Hade had figured that out a long time ago.

In fact, he already had a guess as to what the catalyst for his rapid growth was...

Hade stood up and walked to the mirror hanging on the wall, instantaneously recalling the artifactual Mirror of Reflections from the hall.

He removed his shirt to reveal a ripped and toned athletic torso, quite impressive for a boy his age.

To become unranked, youths ages 15 to 16 had to awaken, a state that could not be accurately described in words.

It was likened to being reborn- The cells of the body would restructure and the body's metabolism would change.

That transmutation came with the ability to manifest, manipulate, and transform the laws of magic...

Different people achieved awakenedness differently. Some achieved it in their sleep, others during exercise, and others in the most random ways possible.

There was even a story of a young couple who awakened simultaneously during intercourse. Of course, these rumors were never proven true but they served to certify just how random a process awakening was.

It was a natural, ruthlessly selective phenomenon that did not discriminate between race, social standing, or background. If you did awaken, well, congratulations, but if you didn't, well, better luck next life!

Hade himself had awakened in his sleep however, there was something peculiar about his own awakening.

It was this something that he now suspected influenced his abnormal growth speed.

Hade slowly turned his back to the mirror and there, on the reflection, covering his whole back was a ghastly, ominous-looking symbol of sorts drawn in blank ink.

On the night of his awakening, Hade had woken up with the mysterious tattoo engraved onto his back.

Neither his father, Castus, his mother, Isabella, nor his teachers; Dedric and Bartholomew had any idea what might have caused it.

Well, at least that was what they told him.

They also did not know what it meant or symbolized but if Hade knew one thing for sure, it was that his awakening had certainly triggered something.

What that something was... he did not know, or what it would lead him to, he could only guess.

However, for the first time in a long time, as he stared intently at the mysterious symbol on his back, Hade strangely felt... whole.