Moments before the light show at Nelxus Academy, Axel, who had been wandering in the void, which was what his consciousness had become as a result of his death, suddenly came across something.
That was his blue pendant, the blue stone was floating and glowing very faintly.
"What's going on now?" He muttered as he stared at the stone.
Despite wearing that pendant all his life, he didn't exactly have any recollection of how he got it and why he developed a strong attachment.
According to his parents, he was suddenly holding tightly onto the stone soon after his birth and wouldn't let go no matter what.
"Have you come to see me off? I don't even know how that's possible but I'm grateful." He smiled before slowly reaching for the stone.
He was just about to touch the stone when it suddenly received a bright golden glow.
The light from the stone temporarily blinded him and when he opened his eyes the next moment, he suddenly found his consciousness back in his body.
However, he could only feel that he was back in his body but a part of him still felt that he was still in the void as all he could see was darkness.
Well, until that message suddenly popped up in front of him.
[ Welcome ]
[ Your Fairy System is now available ]
"What's going on?"
Soon after Vesper opened her eyes, the golden light receded as Axel slowly descended back on the bed.
Even with the light gone, Vesper still found herself staring up as she was caught in a daze.
That was until something significant enough to quickly snap her out of her daze showed up.
"What's going on?" Axel groaned.
For a moment there, Vesper felt like she was hearing things, that was until she realised that she could actually feel Axel's breath and body warmth now, something that had been impossible just a few minutes ago.
Her eyes widened in shock, and she slowly lowered her gaze to see Axel slowly raising his right hand.
"Axel!"
That one word was filled with a mix of elation, surprise and relief.
She grabbed onto his hand before he could put it down and pulled it to her chest.
"It's really you, you're still alive." She smiled as tears filled up her eyes.
"Vesper? Is that you?"
"Yes." She nodded.
Getting that response, a smile appeared on his face as he followed her voice to turn toward her.
"Where are we? Why are we in a dark place like this?"
The smile on Vesper's face suddenly dropped as she slowly looked around to see all the candles lit up at every corner of the room.
"You think we're in a dark room?" She asked.
"Yes. Why else would I not be able to see anything?" He responded.
Hearing him say that, Vesper's expression suddenly returned to a sorrowful one as she bit into her lower lip, tears rolling down her cheeks.
She brought her hand close to his face and waved it back and forth a couple of times but there was no reaction from his eyeballs whatsoever.
'He can't see anything.' She cried inwardly before letting out a deep sigh.
"Vesper." Axel called.
"Here. I'm still here." She responded.
"Of course, I know you're still here." He smiled. "You're still holding onto my hand."
"Oh."
Fixated on his sudden blindness she seemed to have forgotten that.
"So…."
Before Axel could finish what he wanted to say, Vesper's ears suddenly caught wind of something as she quickly shot her gaze toward the entrance.
As always, she was spot on as there were three teachers currently heading toward the room, one up front as the other two followed from behind.
"It should be this room." The one on the right said as soon as the doorless room came into view.
The three rushed into the room afterwards, but unfortunately, there was nothing for them to find, well, except maybe a white piece of cloth.
"Who were the last people to enter this room?" The one up front asked. It was obvious that he was the leader.
"As far as I know, a first-year student, fairy, was brought in here and confirmed dead during the evening. His siblings were also here. However, the last person to come here was Princess Vesper according to the students." He reported.
"Princess?" The other teacher asked.
"Yes. Princess Vesper is the third and youngest princess of the kingdom; she's part of this year's first-year students."
"Oh."
"The supposedly confirmed dead fairy is gone alongside the princess." The head teacher uttered as he slowly raised his left hand which was folded into a fist. "That means they had something to do with what happened tonight."
________ ________
Running away was not something a lot of people would think of if they were in a similar situation as Vesper.
She had always believed in her instinct, and at that moment, her instinct was telling her to get as far away from the Academy with Axel as possible.
She listened to her instincts and made her way out of the Academy that night but leaving the Academy didn't seem to be enough as the two were currently outside the capital city of Mystonia.
Luckily, the royal family had a small mansion in the suburbs outside the city.
It was a three-storey building with a very large yard and very tall fences.
Given the location of the mansion, the members of the royal family had barely ever been there making it the best hiding place for now.
At the moment, the two were still on the first floor which was brightly illuminated by the crystal light hanging above.
Even with all that, Axel's eyes still had no reaction; he had been staring at the same place for a while now, and he couldn't see anything.
Seeing all of that, Vesper was firmly sure that he was blind now and just thinking of that, the sourness on her face wouldn't go away.
"Vesper?" Axel called.
She couldn't respond to that as she bit hard into her lower lip while scrunching her face.
"Vesper." He called.
"I'm here." She responded, failing to completely conceal the fact that she was sobbing.
'Is she crying?' Axel thought.
"Where are we? Why is everywhere still so dark?" He asked.
"It's not dark, Axel." She shook her head as she folded her left hand into a fist.
"What do you mean?" He asked, a sudden drop in his voice.
"The room we're currently in is very bright." She sobbed before raising her head to prevent the tears from rolling down.
It took her a lot of effort to say that but she felt that he deserved to be aware of his current condition.
"Oh." Axel muttered. "I just can't see anything."
Those words escaped his lips with a little chuckle, a chuckle meant to mask the hurt he was feeling now.
"You must be hungry. I'll get you something to eat." Vesper uttered before heading toward the right where the kitchen was located.
"I can't see anything." Axel chuckled once again.
'Then what is that?'
[ Your Fairy System is now available ]
Other than the darkness, that message was the only thing he could see for a while now.
He tried to reach out to it, and the moment he did, something happened.
[ Name: Axel Melborn ]
[ Race: Fairy ]
[ Core level: 2 ]
[ Exp required: 0/200 ]
[ Attribute: Water ]
[ Core skills ]
[ Light element unlocked ]
[ Light slash: level 1 ]
[ Light shield: level 1 ]
[ Water skills ]
[ Basic water manipulation: level 2 ]
[ Water blast: level 3 ]
[ Water slash: level 2 ]
As Axel glanced through everything in front of him, only one particular area caught his interest.
'Light element unlocked?' He said inwardly. 'It was locked this whole time?'