"The Seven Nobles of the Ancient World, the greatest group of martial artists to ever set foot on Earth. In the Last Battle of The Fallen Valley all of these great warriors fought it out for dominance and amongst them a single warrior came out as the victor. He was crowned as the One True King, 500 years later this hierarchy is still followed.

These seven noble bloodlines established their own clans and preserved their martial techniques throughout the ages, these techniques were closely guarded by the clans. As years passed on more and more clans were being set up but none of them were able to meet the might and splendor of the greatest of them all - The Draco Clan. They were the descendants of the ruling family but they were not the richest of them all - yes Young Master Levi?", The tutor, Joakhim looked towards the boy who had just raised his hand. Joakhim was the tutor for all four sons of the Phoenix family, one of the Seven Noble Clans, it was the proudest moment of his life when two of the oldest sons, his own students were admitted into the Eight Pillars, the exclusive group of exceptional young martial artists, the true gems among the plethora of geniuses scattered across the entire globe, who were approaching their full potential but not quite in their prime right now.

He was looking with distaste at the boy before him - Levi Phoenix, the fourth son of the Phoneix family. he had flowing black hair and the rare golden eyes which were characteristic to the Phoenix clan and that handsome face which girls would go crazy for.

While all of his brothers were born geniuses, Levi had no skill in combat. He was a completely hopeless case, all he did was bury his head into books, he knew the theory of all of the special techniques of the Phoenix family, but he was not able to utilize a single one of them.

"Such a wasted talent", the tutor thought to himself, but he didn't dare say it aloud. It was a well - known secret that the head of the family, Levi's father doted on his youngest son.

He turned his attention towards Levi and awaited his question, even though he had no talent, the amount of genius which was dwelling within Levi was unfathomable, the tutor had to grudgingly admit that in terms of intelligence and strategic thinking he was even above his own brothers and maybe any other member of the Eight Pillars

"Master Joakhim, is it true that a person can 'awaken' even after attaining the age of 17?" He asked. Joakhim sighed and looked at those brilliant golden eyes before him, he knew that Levi wished to prove himself, his greatest desire was to attain the 'awakening', that magical moment when a person will be finally able to call himself a martial artist.

For common people it was a dream which was sometimes out of their reach, but if you had the luck to be born into a noble family it was almost guaranteed that you would awaken, one of the only exceptions was sitting before him.

The fourth son of Phoenix family hadn't awakened. A rumour which had shook the entire province when Levi had finally passed the Age of Finality, it referred to the age after which one could no longer attain awakening, it was approximately around 17 years of age. Levi had turned 21 this year.

Joakhim shook his head, "No Levi the possibility of such an event occurring is really low, closer to 0% than even 10%", he said. Joakhim felt sad as he saw Levi's face fall. Although he didn't particularly like the boy, he had seen how he would spend all of his free time training and strengthening his body, however the gap between an awakened body and one which hadn't was immeasurable.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

After the lesson was over Joakhim observed Levi walk slowly out of his room and out of the house. Joakhim knew where he was headed to, that place in the mountains - Levi's favourite place. Joakhim leaned back and smiled to himself - Ah the energy and vigour of youth!'

After hearing the disappointing news, Levi had slowly trudged out of his house. He had ventured to the spot he always went to when he was feeling sad or lonely, he passed through a cave into a tiny clearing covered with bushes, he pushed through them and came to a ledge, it was actually an overhanging part of a steep hill, on the opposite side was a tremendous waterfall, sometime it would spray water droplets onto the place where Levi was standing. He sat down near the edge of the ledge.

"I might never awaken", Levi said to himself, he was feeling quite hollow. All three of his brothers had awakened much before their Age of Finality, but Levi had waited patiently for his turn. When days passed into weeks and then into months and years Levi finally started to lose hope. At last he had to accept reality, he might never awaken.

He lay down on the grass and looked on at the waterfall, he was about to doze off when something caught his eyes. Something flying against the backdrop of the waterfall, was it a bird? He squinted to see clearly and sat up in shock. That thing had... legs? Levi scrambled to his feet, it looked like one of the fairies from the stories that his mother used to read to him when he younger. The creature disappeared somewhere behind the waterfall.

Levi looked around, trying to find a way to reach there. He never had a reason to go behind the waterfall and he wasn't even sure that such a path even existed.

He ran to the end of the ledge, he looked to the other side, he saw a narrow path across the walls of the hill. He took a deep breath.

"A little risk is worth it", He mumbled to himself and jogged to the end of the hill, he tentatively put a foot down onto the ledge, it was slippery from the foam that was constantly sprayed by the waterfall, he screwed up all the courage he had and put down his other foot. He inched forward one step at a time, hugging the wall.

After what seemed like an eternity he was able to reach the end, he saw an open space just behind the waterfall. At this point the sound of the waterfall was almost deafening, he could barely hear himself think. He hopped down onto the space. A thick wall of moss covered what seemed like an entrance, Levi cautiously pushed the mosses apart and peeked inside.

His mind was blown away, there was an entire village in there! Small houses littered here and there. Markets set up on either sides of what seemed like a road. Several carriages drawn by small four legged animals. It was like he had stepped into a fantasy world and the people surprised him the most.

He saw creatures he had never seen before, elves, dwarves, fairies, creatures he had only read about in books. An elf spotted him standing near the entrance.

"INTRUDER!" He screamed pointing at Levi, all eyes turned towards him. They raised their eyebrows as soon as they realized Levi was an outsider. They took up the cry of intruder.

"No... I... I do not mean any har-" Levi began but the creatures cut him off.

"The human race are know for their smooth tongue, do not trust him", an elf said.

"We should imprison him!" He heard a dwarf say. Many of the creatures roared in agreement to this idea. Levi started to sweat, what had he gotten himself into?

"We should first take him to the King" he heard someone say, it was a beautiful fairy, unlike the small one he had seen earlier, this one was almost the size of an average human and the most startling were her striking features. Long auburn hair flowing down to her waist, shining blue eyes with a golden glow that gave them a soft appearance.

He watched in awe as all the creatures bowed down to the fairy.

"Yes my princess!" he heard an elf say.

"ALL HAIL THE PRINCESS!" They chorused in unison. Levi stood there rooted in confusion, unsure what he was to do.

The fairy motioned to him, "Come with me, I will take you to my father, he will decide whether you would live or die".