"What about the Academy? Did we not try to stop the Churches from committing these atrocities?" Cylix asked.
Izen lowered his head, not knowing how to answer. The Academy stopping the Churches? Let alone stopping the Churches or trying to help the Dark Mages that were being attacked from all sides, the Academy even gave their own students who shared the Element of Darkness to the Churches on a silver platter.
Izen wasn't a part of the academy at that time, but he knew the history. He didn't agree with how the Academy handled everything, but he couldn't change the past.
"Answer us! Did the Academy not do anything?" Novius asked as his voice got louder.
His eyes were showing his anger. He created the Academy with Cylix to make the world a better place! It wasn't just to train the Mages of different elements but also to make sure that the academy could protect the weak!
How could an entire side be wiped out, and the Academy did nothing?
"The Academy didn't do anything. The Academy sided with the majority and instead helped the Churches that were against the Mages of Darkness."
Novius received the response he was waiting for, but it only made him more upset. His fists tightened...
"What about the Dark Mages who were the students of the Academy at that time? Tell me the Academy at least helped them or let them leave?" Cylix inquired.
Even though he was heartbroken to hear what their Academy had become throughout the year and how it strayed from the purpose it was made for, he still hoped that at least they followed their moral duties of a teacher!
Izen bit his lower lip. The questions were only getting harsher now.
"You don't need to answer," Novius' cold voice fell in Izen's ears just as he was about to answer. "Your expressions are enough to give us our answer. The Academy didn't even protect our own students, did they...?"
Izen shook his head. "They captured all the Mages of Darkness that were studying at the Academy and handed them over to the Church of Light to be killed..."
Novius closed his eyes, getting an answer which was worse than his expectation.
"That's why no Dark Mages ever managed to reach here after Qin... And here I foolishly thought that it was because the quality of dark mages was declining! It's not that the quality of the Mages of Darkness declined. Instead, it's the morality of all the Churches that declined!"
"Killing youngsters who hadn't even taken a single step into their journey of life, all because of their element? This level of persecution? Why?! Tell me why!"
He stood up, asking his question in rage. Before his rage, the light in this room started retreating, making the room darker. He didn't direct his question only to Izen but to everyone else as well who came here after this happened in the outside world.
"Tell me why the world chose to hunt Dark Mages like the Dark Mages didn't deserve to live?! Why?!"
Cylix let his friend show his anger without interfering. Even though he was also a Mage of Light, he was also angry and disappointed at the outside world.
"We don't know..." Izen answered. "It all happened a long time ago. I have no idea how it all started or what led to this, but by the time I came here, no one was even willing to ask these questions."
"I don't think any ordinary person in the outside world knows why exactly the Dark Mages were truly attacked. All they know is what has been told to them, which is that the Dark Mages are devils who need to be wiped out of the world for it to be saved," he explained.
By the time he came here, he wasn't a powerful being in the outside world. He was also a youngster, just like everyone else here. That was why he had no idea of the upper echelon secrets.
Let alone him; even the others here didn't know why it happened. They were the same as the other Youngsters of the Academy like Maria, who just knew that the Dark Mages were bad and needed to be killed, but none of them knew why. Even the Young Princes from the Lumen Family didn't know.
Even if one tried to ask a question, no one received any answers.
The only person here who could have any idea as to why it could be was Qin. It all happened when Qin was in his fourth year, so it was most probably related to things that were happening around his time, but he couldn't recall anything like that.
Even he couldn't think of any reason why the Dark Mages would be attacked. He came here when he was in his third year, and by that time, everything in the outside world was quite normal.
The Dark Mages studied at the Academy. The Church of Darkness also kept its business to itself. So what could've led to something so massive in just one year, he didn't know.
Looking at Izen, he could feel that Izen wasn't lying. The only people who could know what actually happened were the people on the outside. Even Axion looked completely ignorant about what he did outside.
"So I was killed outside... That's why I didn't return. Not only me but we were all wiped out... The Mages of Light..."
****
"Are you telling the truth?" Axion asked Gabriel. "Did I really do it?"
"I have no reason to lie to you," Gabriel answered. "You changed the world, and I also suffered the brunt of that change... It's because of the war that you started that thousands of families were destroyed every year."
"The ones who awakened with the element of Darkness one day found their lives changed the very next day. Either their family killed them or their friend. If they still somehow escaped, the Churches killed them."
"I see..." After the initial surprise, Axion seemingly regained his old calm. "If I actually did it, then they must've deserved it for some reason."
His indifference was quite astonishing for Gabriel. Even when he was informed how he destroyed millions of lives, Axion still seemingly didn't care. Instead, his first thought was that it was fine.
"As you said, I wasn't the only one who fought the Dark Mages. The other Churches also joined me. So I'm sure there must be a good reason which needed us to eradicate all the Dark Mages," he further stated.
"Honestly, it's much better this way. I always found the Darkness to be an unholy element. If I'm not wrong, it corrupted the Dark Mages in the end, which forced me and the others to put an end to them..." Axion declared.
His words weren't only heard by Gabriel but by everyone inside the hall as well. Qin stood up. This guy... Even after finding out how he had killed millions of innocents, he didn't feel a single shred of regret.
Novius also found that answer quite disappointing.
"Is that what you also think?" he glanced at Cylix. "Darkness is an Unholy Element?"
"Nonsense." Cylix scoffed. "How long have we been together? Who could know about the Element better than us? Your Element isn't unholy at all. It's just different from mine, which doesn't make it bad. While I use the Light in this world, you use the Darkness."
"Both Light and Darkness are needed for her world to survive... I don't know why the idiots outside would forget such a basic law of nature!" He further wondered.
Unfortunately, they could only think about such things now. They couldn't change what happened in the outside world. They couldn't change the history or bring back the dead to life...
They could only do something to make the current status quo in the outside world unstable... And they also knew how to do that... Gabriel was the key!
When Axion talked about the Mages of Darkness like they were some vile beasts who didn't deserve to live, Gabriel visibly looked upset.
From what Izen informed them, most of the world outside went along with the majority. By now, the entire story about the past had been changed, and no one knew the truth that the Mages of Darkness were once upon a time good people as well.
With that logic, even Gabriel should've hated the Dark Mage. He should've been in agreement with Axion, but instead, he was upset. That meant Gabriel could see how bad this whole thing was.
They could see that Gabriel wasn't a blind youngster like the others, who hated the Dark Mages. Instead, he looked like someone who knew how bogus this entire accusation was. If there was someone who was worthy to receive their blessing in the current generation, it was most probably Gabriel.
Gabriel was not only a brave youngster who didn't choose the weaker option, but he was also someone who seemed to have some compassion for the Dark Mages, which made Novius and Cylix place even more importance on him.
They both decided on something just because of that. They needed someone who could bring this unjust world on the right track, and who better for that than Gabriel, who not only possessed two elements but most importantly, the mentality to not be scared of any challenges…
