1 The young lord of the Wilford family
"It's been three months since the war emerged, and we have lost most of our soldiers; we can't lose any more. We have been hiding in this forest for three days and the resources are also going to finish soon. This is the only way for us to win this war! " Mikel said.
Most of the soldiers accepted Mikel's opinion, but there were still some of them; who still had their doubts.
One of the soldiers stood up and everyone knew, that he was against it.
"He is a young lord of the Wilford family! We can't use him as bait! If Fenris were to find out about what happened to his brother! He will take his revenge. So choose someone else," he said.
Although the Wilford family never cared about Aran; they did not want to become an enemy of Fenris Wilford. So they had no choice, but to let Captain Xion decide who will act as the bait.
***
Captain Xion, a strong wind-fire cultivator; who never cared about offending anyone; Due to his reputation, everyone followed his orders without a second thought.
Xion always judged people by their strength, because he knew, in a world where only strength matters; it's the only right way.
"We can't lose a strong cultivator instead of Aran. Just because he is from a rich family, doesn't mean his life is worth more than others!
Prepare the fire-dragon array and get ready to attack. It's decided then, Aran will act as the bait, " he said.
Captain knew Aran was the weakest cultivator among them and it was only fair to sacrifice him to win the war. So he chose to go with that plan.
Everyone accepted his decision since it was what everyone actually wanted. They were just waiting for the captain to give his orders so that they can blame it on him if things go wrong.
***
Aran Wilford, a fifteen-year-old, fair young boy with long black hair, was sitting among them; and listening to these people arguing.
As the captain gave out the order, Aran stood up and accepted without saying anything; because he knew that there was nothing he can do that will change their decisions.
Since he also thought, what they were saying was true, he had no other choice but to accept it, for the greater good.
***
Aran watched as his troop quickly worked on the array formation, and once they were complete, he started to move, towards the western region of the Fendwir mountain; with a white flag in his hand!
An enemy who was keeping track of the eastern region saw Aran and informed his troop.
The captain of the enemy troop wanted to seize this opportunity and attack. So he ordered his soldiers to prepare their formation and take positions.
After walking for a while, as Aran got too close to the enemies, he immediately threw the flag; wielded his sword, and charged at the enemies.
Enemies were still preparing their attacking formation. So one of the wind cultivators, from the enemy troop, used his windshield to stop Aran from advancing further.
They couldn't properly attack him; because they didn't want to risk their lives by exposing their exact positions.
Captain Xion, who was waiting for the enemies to act, instantly created a huge fireball and blasted it at the windshield.
As the fireball hit the windshield; it created a massive explosion and it blasted away Aran, who was so close to it.
Captain Xion immediately ordered his troops to advance! And everyone followed the formation towards the enemies, and the battle between two troops of cultivators broke down!
***
Aran tried to defend himself from the explosion, but he fell far away from where he got caught up in it. Even though his life was spared, the explosion broke the defence artifact his brother Fenris gave him; right before he came to the war and he also got severely injured!
Aran saw a cave at the place where he fell, and he did not want to be caught up in the war; therefore he chose to hide in that cave.
He couldn't walk straight due to the injuries. But he still had to try his best. So he got up and started to limp towards the cave.
As he walked a little inside, The further he walked; the darker it became.
Suddenly Aran slipped and fell and he couldn't walk further; so he just wanted to lie there, in that darkness!
He felt like he is not going to survive this, but he wanted to survive at any cost. He wasn't someone who will give up on his life, just because of some injuries. But the injuries were very severe.
Immediately took out a mid-tier healing potion he was carrying and drank it. Since the potion was too strong for aran, it started to create illusions.
The flashes of his life begin to appear before his eyes.
***
Aran was born, as the second son of Deylor Wilford.
House Wilford was one of the strongest families in Carwel and it was the richest family in the Caluric, his hometown.
Aran's father, Deylor Wilford, wanted his children to become the strongest cultivators so that at least one of them can become the patriarch of the Wilford family; something even he couldn't achieve.
Growing up Aran was extremely smart.
He learned basic sword fighting at a very young age, and his soul cultivation was also so much better than his elder brother's.
Everyone thought he is a genius, destined to become a great cultivator.
In time, everyone in his family awakened their attributes; but Aran couldn't break through, from the beginner stage and awaken any elemental attributes no matter what he did, and he remained in the beginner peak stage for years.
When people found out about this, everyone started to treat him like trash and soon he was known as the trash of the Wilford family.
His mother Ellania and brother Fenris were the only people in his family who truly cared for him.
Unlike Aran, his brother Fenris was a strong and talented cultivator. Fenris was the pride of the Wilford family.
***
Throughout his life, Aran tried his best to prove himself to his father and did everything he can to break through but it didn't work. He realized that he won't be able to use the elements but he still didn't give up.
He started to read every book there was in the Wilford family's mansion library and learned everything he can.
He believed that nothing is impossible and that he will get his answers one way or another.
But even after learning for years, he still couldn't find a way to his breakthrough, since it was extremely difficult for heavenly cultivators to artificially breakthrough.
Even though the Wilford family was, one of the richest families in the country, Aran's father refused to spend money on his trash son; and always treated him like a burden.
***
When the war between Carwel and Fenweric broke down, the rich families of the country; started to give their financial support to the country.
While everyone was giving their financial support, Deylor Wilford decided to send his fifteen-year-old son to the war! And he never let anyone, give their opinion about that.
The only way for heavenly cultivators to break through to a major stage was while fighting a battle. Since Aran couldn't break through, even after hundreds of duels; Deylor thought that he might break through in a real battle.
Even if he couldn't break through and die in the war; the Wilford family would be recognized as the family, who sacrificed their young lord for the sake of their nation and Deylor might be able to use that when the next succession ceremony for the next patriarch takes place.
It seemed like a good plan for Deylor, who always thought of his son as a burden. So he sent his son to the war!
***
Aran, who was severely injured and laying down inside a dark cave, thinks about his life and the dreams he couldn't achieve.
He thinks that he would have lived a life he could be proud of if he was stronger. But now he wasn't even sure if he could heal all of his wounds.
Thinking that if only he was stronger, he slowly closes his eyes due to the potion's effect.
At that exact moment, he feels something strange!
When he opens his eyes, he sees a bright light, coming from, far inside the cave.
For Aran, it was the light of hope!
He suddenly felt some kind of energy flowing through his body!
That energy gave him enough strength to stand up and he started to walk towards that light.
Although Aran knew, a mysterious light in an unknown cave can be dangerous, he felt like the light is calling for him and he was curious to see what could it be.
As aran walked at that light, it was so bright that he couldn't see it, with his naked eyes.
As he got closer, The brightness started to slowly drop and when the brightness decreased he noticed, the light was coming from a black-coloured book.
