Asher West. Everyone in the small, elite Bayside Academy at Alstria knew him. Even with the rigorous entrance exam that guaranteed that only the cream of the crop would gain admission into the acclaimed school, Asher West still stood out among them all.

For the administration, it was his undisclosed relationship with the Sinclair family that made them very wary. They were not allowed to disclose this relationship or treat Asher West in an overtly special way yet they could not neglect him either.

Asher, while a calm student most of the time, was not the kind that would allow himself to be bullied or insulted. When the parents of the other party came over, shouting and demanding his expulsion, the school board needed to meditate with the parents without affecting Asher in any way. After several loggerheads with entitled parents, the school administration board whose motto was not to offend anyone as to maximize donations decided to hire a professional whose experience in conflict resolution spanned two decades.

The student either knew or was concerned about all that. They knew Asher West especially for his intense rivalry with Elene Crane. For two years, the two of them had dominated the first and second ranks and neither had gotten an edge over the second person. From Ability Control Studies and Combat Fundamentals to World History and Advanced Mathematics, If Asher ranked first this semester, then Elene would rank second the next semester.

Even subjects that favored one party were not left alone. Survival and Wilderness studies is one of the most disliked subjects at Bayside Academy. A three day solo or team trip to one of the largest forests in Alstria with only a bag of supplies was something many of the spoiled children from wealthy families disliked with everything in them. Asher West with his animal transformation ability has broken all the records in the school on these subjects for three semesters.

It was his highest scoring subject with over 50 points gap from Elene Crane until Elene dethroned him with a point gap.

Since then, the rivalry had been something akin to an urban legend. Every assignment, project or examination, money was passed under the table with people betting on who would get the highest score. It turned into an entertaining event for their students. On the day that the results would be posted, students would linger outside notice boards.

The students were not the people most concerned about every single score, Asher was the one most obsessed with whether Elene had passed him in the cumulative score. The fact that she had not put in her entire best during that entrance examination was something that he refused to forget throughout their two years of schooling.

Even now, whenever she got the highest grade, she would give him that smile. That one that meant that she didn’t even try her best. It was so infuriating.

Elene Crane. He really did not like her.

"Whether you like her or you don’t like her, what does it have to do with this file? Ravi had done everything to hide the existence of this man from you until you turned 18." Malik said as he lay bonelessly on the sofa, his left hand caressing Anouk’s hand while his right hand held a thick red file which he waved around.

Asher ignored the PDA in front of him, it had been so long that he had already gotten so used to it. Malik was always touching Uncle Anouk, if he was not lying on him, he was holding his hand or hugging him from behind. When he had asked Sage about it, Sage had replied that it was because Malik was a possessive mad man.

A small smile appeared on Asher’s lips that was Sage reply to everything that concerns Malik. He looked down on the person who had become an uncle figure for him, a black blindfold was around his eyes and his voice was always soft and gentle. He could not quite equate words like possessive, crazy, obsessive mad man with someone like Malik.

Malik who every time he had a nightmare and opened the window was sitting down there waiting for him to talk. He loved Ravi the most in his life but still there were many things that he could not tell Ravi.

He knew Ravi would love him all the same and that Ravi would not look at him with pity but he also knew that Ravi would feel pain.

Anytime something about his past crept up, that enduring pain that flashes in Ravi’s eyes, Ash had always felt so conflicted about it. He liked that someone was so worried about him, so pained by everything that he had been through but he hated that pain that his past caused Ravi.

Malik was different; his pain did not affect him in the slightest so telling him things felt freeing.

The people he had killed, the blood on his hands, being sold by his father to the Infernal Covenant, working as a thrall, the hunts, not being worthy of a name. Everything he had gone through in a world that was worse than hell. They poured out so smoothly before Malik.

His darkest thoughts, everything. It was as if he was a sinner confessing to a Judge but rather than judgement, what he received was a slow series of pats on his back.

"Uncle Malik, stop reading my mind. I do not like Elene Crane. She is so... proud and so... infuriating. I just need to research my gene donor; we have a project on it. I have already chosen my topic, ’Genetic Lineage and Phenotypic Expression of Rare Abilities’.

"It is a strong topic." Anouk touched the screen in front of him to minimize the tab before he opened another one, "I would tell your grandpa to send you some materials on the topic."

Ash grinned, there was no time that any of his grandfathers or grandma sent a package that they would not include rare fruits and a very thick red envelope.

"Thank you, Uncle Anouk."

Malik pinched Anouk’s palm preventing him from typing properly, "I understand. You want to score higher than Elene Crane no matter what. I support you making wrong decisions. You are too restrained for a teenager. Ash, when Ravi eventually finds out that you are researching that man, do not bring me into it, okay? I had no idea that you even took on a project on Genetic Lineage."

"I am not too restrained. I play a lot." He pursed his lips in a way strikingly similar to Ravi and confessed, "Yesterday, Sage and I played games for over three hours, I missed my curfew by 10 minutes."

"So wayward!" Malik chuckled and then continued in a patronising tone, "What next are you going to do? Be late to school! Not fold your clothes properly? Forget that man in prison, you should check Anouk’s blood, you two might just be related."

"Mal!"

"Uncle Malik!"