Chapter 3: Tenth Son
The body belonged to the son of a Duke, more precisely, Asher Wargrave, the tenth child of the esteemed Wargrave lineage. The Wargraves, Dukes of the Zarethorne Empire, were a family forged in the crucible of battle, a clan defined by warfare, renowned for their martial prowess and hardened by generations of conflict.
Asher was sixteen, soon to turn seventeen. As the Duke’s tenth son, he commanded both respect and deference wherever he went. But in a household where excellence was the standard, mere birthright was not enough.
The Wargraves were a family of prodigies, every one of Asher’s nine siblings was a genius in their own right, as were his parents, uncles, and aunts. Mediocrity had no place in such a lineage.
It was not enough to be talented; he was expected to be extraordinary. In truth, the Wargraves were less a noble family and more a lineage of monsters draped in glory.
In this new world, every individual, noble or commoner alike, underwent an awakening upon reaching the age of fifteen. It was a universal rite of passage, one that transcended status or lineage.
Yet, despite its inevitability, the true nature of the awakening remained a mystery to Ethan. Still, as an avid reader of fantasy novels, he possessed a general understanding of what it might entail.
The process of awakening occurred at fifteen, but success was not guaranteed. Not everyone was able to awaken. Each person was granted up to three attempts, at the ages of fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen.
Should they fail all three, their fate was sealed.
They would forever remain ordinary, destined to live a life devoid of power or potential in a world that revered strength above all else.
But Asher had done the unthinkable, he had failed his awakening at the age of fifteen. And that was where everything began to unravel.
Though the world granted a second and even a third chance in the years that followed, failure, however temporary, was an unspoken disgrace within the Wargrave household.