ELEX VINSPEAR (POV)
Things were slowly turning bleak, in terms of my conflict with Caesar and Ashton. Tension continued to rise, and my tolerance for the lack of action was beginning to dwindle. Feeling the urge to do something drastic was always apparent in the air whenever I was in the presence of one of them. More toward Caesar than Ashton, though. He seemed to be more reserved about the whole matter, whereas Caesar gave off an oppressive ambiance.
It felt like he loved the thrill of conflict, and a target like me - a nobody who carries the last name of an unknown house - was what he enjoyed crushing. All I could do was eagerly wait for him to start something physical, until then, I listened to Leo’s advice to stay out of his way.
I was lucky to have someone like Leo. A person who thinks with their brain no matter the situation. It isn't a matter of - if Leo were in my position - he would act differently. The fact is, he would have never gotten himself into my position in the first place. He thinks knowing when to be subservient and dominant is a quality every person should have if they want to succeed. Whereas, Chrollo, was a reminder to me that only a certain amount of disrespect should be tolerated and that there were times when people should be put in their place. Although he never verbally said these things, that was the impression I would get when seeing him. Especially when he fought.
“So, let me get this right,” Chrollo sighed “the only reason the war started was because of an accidental kidnapping?”
“That's how our history books paint it,” Leo responded “But I think otherwise.”
“You believe differently from the history books that were made by the people who were there at the time?” I said mockingly.
“Not everything,” he said “But, I can't base my views on only one side. How can I be sure that they haven't altered it to make themselves seem like the victims?”
“Enlighten us then, what was the real reason?” I tested him. I liked to put Leo's mind to the test whenever the three of us would study and hang out in the library. Though he could be an insufferable smart-ass at times, he believed that the world runs on intelligence along with muscle, but enjoyed reminding Chrollo and I that it took intelligent people to come up with that conclusion.
He sighed “One hundred and fifty years ago, we were still developing as a society, and slowly stirring away our old worldviews.” He began. He spoke with his usual confidence. Meaning that he had been waiting for the opportunity to speak his mind on the matter. “Just fifty years prior, we had left the phase of open slavery. My point is that there were still many old beliefs that were in fashion. And one particular belief was that marriage between races should be forbidden. Of course, before the war started, interracial marriage was a new thing, it was promoted and seen as the dawn of a new era. However, radicalists still believed in keeping the purity of our blood to our born race.”
“So you mean to tell me, that the Prince of the Elven kingdom, was kidnapped and killed intentionally by racial radicals who didn't want the human Princess to marry him?” I said.
“Tell me I'm wrong,” he replied, “The royals of the Elven and Human race had already agreed that before the marriage, one of the leading councilors of the Elven kingdom - who just so happened to be a close friend of the Elven Prince - was to be killed in the kidnapping scheme they themselves had set-up.”
“Why, though?” Chrollo asked
“Because he was a sadistic narcissist, who had unusual control over the Prince and influence within Zarendal. If they were going to merge the two kingdoms, they didn't want somone like him to be in power.” he explained. “But that's besides my point. What I'm saying is, if it were truly just a mistake, and they accidentally took the Prince instead of the councilor, why didn't they just return the Prince instead of killing him in the end?”
“Perhaps they never knew it was the Prince at all,” Chrollo suggested
Leo scoffed, “If that was even a possibility, why would the Elven king agree for Human soldiers to come to his land to do the kidnapping? Couldn't he have had someone from the Elven race - who would most likely know what the Prince looked like - do the job instead?” Chrollo and I were left silent.
“Just think about it, they were going to unite two whole kingdoms together with that single marriage, there was bound to be some people who wanted to prevent it. After all, the Humans and the Elves already had some tension between them. That marriage would quell all of their problems.” He argued, “Whether the Human king knew about the radicalists is something we will never know, but with the way things played out, it suggests he didn’t.”
“And you learned all this from where?” I asked
“I didn't learn this from anywhere. It's what I've put together from the books I’ve read. As I said earlier, you guys are only exposed to the history books written by Humans, who I would assume would want to make themselves seem innocent by blaming the incident on unregulated traitors within the kingdom. Those books even try to tell us that the Elven king started the war because he was blinded by rage and jealousy of our kingdom.” He said while pointing to the history texts on the table.“However, I say they just didn’t want the world to think that racial segregation was still prevalent within the Human kingdom back then. Eleven histories agree with my theory, more or less.”
“. . .”
“It's a bold assumption, but what's done is done,” Chrollo said.
“Huh? How could you say that?” Leo replied.
“What? Just because you think your superstitions make more historical sense, doesn't mean I'm going to change the answer I put down in the test.”
Leo was left speechless, gawking at Chrollo.
“The reality is, we live in the Human kingdom, and you can't simply change the way the whole kingdom feels just because your theory could potentially be right. Oh wait, I know,” Chrollo said with sarcastic enthusiasm. “When you're older, and you’ve gained influential popularity, you can finally tell the people of the Human kingdom, how they were the ones who were in the wrong. And, because of their selfishness and racism, they caused the Royal war and are also the ones responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths. I'm sure they will take that with a slice of guilt and apologize to the world” He finished.
Leo chuckled to himself “Shut up, it's just a theory. I suspect others have come to similar conclusions before me anyway. However, besides that, I doubt whether you put the correct answer or not, you guys will still get bad grades” he said smiling
“You guys?” I repeated “ You and I had similar scores on the last test.”
“One hundred percent and ninety percent aren't that similar. Meanwhile, Chrollo here can barely get past seventy.” he laughed.
Chrollo frowned ”seventy percent is still a good grade” he mumbled.
“To some, yes, I suppose it is.” Leo said, “But for those who want to be seen as a student who excels in everything, that would be considered a fail”
Chrollo scoffed, “In everything? Why don't you show me how much you excel on the feild.”
“Well, I obviously meant academically, but, unfortunately, I’m too smart to know not to engage with you in battle.”
“Or just cowardly” Chrollo smiled.
They both laughed together as I watched. My two friends: an academic genius and an arcin mage prodigy. I guess you could say I sat somewhere in the middle.
The grandfather clock at the far end of the room told Leo it was time to go to his next class, and Chrollo and I decided we would head out with him. We walked down the many flights of stairs to make it to the ground floor, where we reached the entrance to the district and approached the tram carriage post.
Chrollo and I parted ways with Leo as we reached the carriage site, and we decided to go train during our free period. As we sat within the carriage tram line, I wondered to myself if Chrollo had met with Caesar yet. But I didn't want to ask, lest I come across too eager.
“This view is amazing every single time,” Chrollo said, leaning his head against the windowpane, “I don’t think there are any schools similar to this in Veintor”
“What's it like,” I said “the demon kingdom, I mean”
“It's . . . beautiful” he replied “It's different from here - very different - but it's beautiful in its own way.”
“It would be nice to see it someday,” I said “But, my family doesn't have plans for going there any time soon”
“Shame, I think you would like it”
We arrived at the Northern district and headed for the “Nethuin Ranvier” training building. Once we had dressed into our training kit, we headed for the indoor stadium, where we found smaller groups of students spread out across the field. Thankfully, for the size of this place, their presence was little to none.
“What should we do today?” Chrollo asked
“I was thinking we could practice some internal body enhancement tricks with mana. I’ve been reading about some mana techniques that fighters use to change the weight of their body.”
Chrollo smiled “So you finally caught on”
“Huh?”
“In our fight at the beginning. That's what I was doing to move around you quickly. Although I didn't think by releasing your aura you would be able to sense my location” Chrollo said.
Honestly, I had no idea it would work either, but that would make a whole lot of sense as to how he could move so fast. However, I couldn't help but think, how was he able to control it so well? I mean, we were the same age, how had he already learned to control advanced mana techniques at a young age?
“It was a hunch.” I said “My father had taught me a lot about mana signatures. Being able to exert, sense, and dispel a signature were all key things that he said I should master. I've pretty much got the first two down, but the last one is tough”
“I guess we both have things we can teach each other,” he said
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I punched the training dummy as hard as I could - as Chrollo had said. The dummy went flying back with a powerful force behind, as it toppled over and skid across the ground.
“No,” he complained, “you're still getting them mixed up. When It comes to affecting your body with mana, you can either fortify yourself, lighten yourself or strengthen yourself.” He ran over and brought the dummy back to where we were. “Watch,” he said.
He stood face to face with the dummy, and with blinding speed, suddenly, he struck the dummy with his fist so fast that it was difficult to see the outline of his hand, and the dummy reached the other side of the stadium and crashed into the wall with a thud.
“See, If I had punched the dummy normally, I would have felt pain in my fist from the impact, risking injury to my hand. The only way to numb that pain is by fortifying my fist with mana. However, when you fortify a part of your body, it tends to feel sluggish and heavy, so, I have to provide strength to my fist with mana as well, which will allow me to move around with ease.”
“But, how do you move so fast when you attack?” I asked
“Because I also lighten the weight of my entire arm when doing the movement. If you are able to divide and control the mana within you equally to those three aspects, you’ll be able to attack your opponents much faster, harder, and with less risk,” he explained
“I can't tell what I'm doing wrong, though”
“I think you're only focusing on strengthening your body, and you're barely fortifying it as well - if you are fortifying it at all,” he said. “You need to also lighten your body, and then make sure the distribution of mana is equal between those three elements”
I sighed “This is harder than I thought it would be?”
“Don't worry,” he said “It took me a while to grasp my head around it too, but once you do, the wait would have been worthwhile.” He reassured me. “And you’ll be able to do things like this . . .” He took a few steps back, and gently pushed himself from the ground.
The amount of power that he used in his legs, looked as if it wouldn't have taken him any higher than his ankles. However, to my astonishment, he ascended in the air gracefully and with constant smooth speed.
The other students in the distance gawked up at him as he approached closer to the stadium roof, some pointing to their friends nearby.
I watched in amazement, as he stopped ascending and then began to fall elegantly to the ground and land in front of me.
“How did you-”
“Don't ask me, tell me,” he said. “It's obvious if you have been listening to what I've told you.”
I thought for a bit, but the answer came to me quickly. He was right, it wasn't that hard to deduce what he had done.
“You only focused on lightening your body, without strengthening or fortifying it”
“Exactly,” he said “if you can learn to control and master all three of the internal mana techniques, you'll be able to do things that may seem impossible. I still don't have complete command over controlling the mana within me to lighten my body, but the people who have mastered that aspect of internal mana control, are able to appear as if they are floating within the air.”
“Amazing,” I said with amusement.
It truly was. If I were able to lighten my body to a point where I essentially weighed little to nothing - with the help of my air arc stone - I would theoretically be able to fly. Just the thought got me excited. In the past, the most I could do was use the wind to hold me in the air or to assist me when I wanted to jump higher than usual, but it would take a lot of my mana reserves to maintain that state for a prolonged period of time. However, if I could control this one thing, I could fly for as long as I liked and it would also give me a huge advantage in battle.
“It is amazing,” he said, “so, get back to training then.”
Just as I resumed my exercises, a girl approached us, fidgeting her hand in front of her and looking genuinely uneasy.
“Umm, Chrollo?” she said, switching her eyes between both of us.
“Yes?” he replied.
“There is someone outside who wants to speak with you,” she said.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Was this it? Did Caesar want to talk with Chrollo now? I think he may have been thinking the same thing, because he looked at me and smiled, and agreed to follow the girl out of the stadium to meet with the person waiting on him.
“I’ll be back in a second,” he said to me as they left.
Returning to my training, I was slowly getting more comfortable with using the mana to do specific things to my body. However, right now, I am only able to strengthen my body and somewhat fortify it. Being able to lighten my body would have to come later. Realistically, altering your body with mana was a mana technique we would be learning in the later years of our time at this school, but now that I've learned Chrollo had been using it this entire time, I made it a priority to catch up.
Continuing my failing attempts at lightening specific parts of my body, the slam of the door echoed through the stadium. I suppose since I was the only one left, Chrollo’s entrance would be more apparent, but I didn't expect him to come back so soon.
“So, how did it go?” I asked him, not bothering to turn around as I practiced.
“We’ll see,” an unfamiliar voice replied.
No, the voice wasn't unfamiliar, it just wasn't the voice I was expecting.
I turned to look and saw Caesar himself standing there, accompanied by a group of friends.
“Caesar?” I said, slightly irritated.
“I told you before, you're not one of us,” He said as he approached me.
“Where’s Chrollo?” I asked bluntly, my discomfort increasing gradually.
“He’s busy with other things right now,” He said whilst a smirk formed on his face.
I looked around at the group of boys who were there, and I realized Ashton wasn't with them. I gazed toward the entrance and it was blocked by more of his friends.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“God, are you an imbecile?” he shouted. “I want you out of my sight!”
“What?” I replied, genuinely confused.
“Leave,” he said.
‘Calm yourself’ I thought. Leo’s advice rested as a thin line in my head, slowly dwindling, but still there nonetheless. I wouldn’t let this stuck-up swine have control over my emotions.
“No problem, I was just about to make my way out,” I replied.
Heading towards the door, I passed him shoulder to shoulder and he placed a hand on my chest, stopping me from continuing forward.
“You misunderstand me,” he said
“Huh?”
“I want you to leave the school.”
“What are you saying?” I swatted his hand away from my body.
“Stop pretending to be one of us, you don't belong here,” he said as if he were disgusted. “Don't take it personally, it's not your fault you were born a peasant. If anything, blame your parents for doing nothing about it.”
He walked on thin ice as he spoke, his words a burning fire, and the water beneath being my wrath. It was only a matter of time before the rational side of me - the ice - would crack.
“You don't want this, Caesar. You’ve already seen what I can do, keep talking like this and I will show you what I can do again.” I warned him.
“You’re right, I have seen what you can do. And despite that, you don't scare me. You just irritate me to the bone, like an itch I can't get rid of.” he said “Understand this, since a child is young, they believe they can become whatever they want in the future, their innocence is accepted because they don't know any better, but seeing you slug around in the uniform every day is a sore in my eye. Seeing someone like you trying to be something unrealistic is just pathetic. Your parents should have raised and taught you better.” he spat.
His body went flying across the stadium floor along with the other boys around him, the torrent of wind I produced alerted the other boys who were not affected and they turned to face me.
He got up from his crouched position and looked up at me, his disheveled hair covering his face slightly. “Well done,” he said with a sinister smirk as he arose.
The tension had reached its peak, and the other boys were surrounding me and closing in. I let out a wave of air in all directions, pushing them all back further from where they started. They didn't seem to resist at all.
“You,” Caesar said towards a specific boy “you, do it.”
The boy seemed hesitant at first, it almost seemed like he was about to refuse to listen to his orders, but with a soul-piercing glare, Caesar scared the boy into doing his bidding. The boy then began to use his arc stone abilities to fight. He was a water user - one of the first I had seen actually - but he attacked lousily and with no backbone to support him.
As we faced off, the other boys only threw themselves at me, trying to grab or punch and kick me. I was able to keep them off me with ease but was too occupied watching Caesar and focusing on the water user throwing abilities at me to notice the strange circumstances I was in.
Why hadn't I questioned it then? The persistent smug look on Caesar's face, the fact that only one of the boys used their abilities, and the fact that Ashton wasn't here either. Was I really so blinded by anger that I let these . . . animals get to my head?
‘No, I'm better than that. I'm better than them' I told myself, as I sent an unforgivable gust of wind down upon one of the boys behind me, his body flying across the room. He landed awkwardly and howled a gut-wrenching cry. As he covered his twisted leg. The other boys backed off, scared and frightened.
It didn't phase me.
‘They are the ones who are beneath me.’ I thought again, ‘It is them who don't have the right to be in my presence.’
What was I saying? Amidst my battle I was hearing a voice in my head - my own voice - but it was saying things I would never say. It felt good to listen to it, to believe it, but the part of me that was listening to the voice knew it wasn't right.
Only as I sent more gusts of wind at Caesar - who unfortunately was able to dodge them - and at his little gang, did I see in the side of my eye, the familiar glow slightly emanating from under my shirt. And it was at that moment, that my mind snapped back and the voice whispering in my ear vanished.
The immense pressure and build-up of pain in my hand became apparent as I noticed the white markings under my training kit. Although it wasn't completely visible to others around me, I still shifted the earth and with the help of the wind created a dust cloud to obscure everyone's vision of me.
‘Why now?’ I thought ‘I didn't even try to activate it, but it came out on its own.’ The Trigon
I took that short moment of cover to calm myself, and luckily, it worked. No huge release of mana was needed, and the white markings slowly began to fade away, hidden within my skin.
The sound of the main entrance door swung open with a loud bang, and the most dreadful aura overwhelmed my senses. A pressure that was similar to what I had felt when those cultists attacked my village. No, that was much worse than this. But, nonetheless, the pressure still caused me to stiffen up.
“What is going on here!” I heard Sho-Gan Dom’s voice roar throughout the stadium.
As the dust cleared, I could see that more than half of the boys were gone, Caesar included. And all who remained consisted of the boy who fought me with his abilities and a few others.
“No one, and let me repeat, No one, will ever let you close and lock the stadium from the inside!” Shog-Gan Dom said as he strode quickly toward us, slightly reducing his aura. ”What in Arcinos’s name were you boys thinking? While I’m trying to assess reports and do work, I'm being told that first years are fighting in the training stadiums?” He said with disbelief.
Other staff members came in, and a few headed over in our direction, while the others went to care for the boy weeping in the corner, his hand grabbing tightly onto his leg.
“I'm sorry, boys, but I simply don't have the time for such stupidity and nonsense! All of you will report to the headmaster immediately!”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARRISON SAUNDONT (POV)
‘First the school board, next the reports of terrorists from the council, and now this - first years fighting?’ I thought.
Why do I put myself through so much stress? Maybe I should have just listened to the school board and left while they tried to get rid of me. But, the better part inside of me knows something isn't right. Something is going on here and I need to be the one to figure it out. However, for now, I have to deal with kids fighting on school grounds.
As I sat at my desk flipping through the small report Professor Dom gave me, I sent out the boy in my office, and called for the next one to come in.
“Boy, stand there,” I said firmly, pointing to the opposite end of my desk.
He did so with haste
“Why are you here?” I asked
“Because I was fighting, sir,” he said with his head down.
Something strange but prevalent within him and the previous six children was that they all seemed apprehensive about their actions. Almost as if they didn't do them by choice, as if someone was forcing them. Of course, I already knew who could have been doing that. The Kadmin boy.
“Why were you fighting?” I said.
“I was only sparring with a friend, sir,” he said. A blatant lie.
“How does a spar with your friend result in a child with a shattered leg bone?”
“A . . . an accident sir. My friend has temperament issues, and can lose control at times” he said. It was different, but still similar to the other boys’ alibis.
“What is the name of this friend of yours?”
“Alex . . . no, Elex, sir” he corrected himself.
Yes, Elex, the boy in question. When I saw his name in the report that Professor Dom gave me, I had to do a background check, as I needed to be positive if he was the one. If he was, I could almost laugh at the irony of it all. The fact that he could be here, at this school of all places. Where would he have gotten the money?
I sighed, to show my frustration.
“Go, you will be informed of your punishment later in the week. For now, continue with your classes as normal.” I said to the child as he got up and left.
I didn't believe him. Simply because one of the previous students told me that Lord Kadmin's son was involved in this little incident - a fact that I don't think he was supposed to mention. And, somehow, the Kadmin Child wasn't here in my office.
“Come in!” I shouted to the last person to speak with me.
A golden-haired boy, with deep green eyes, walked in and stood opposite my desk. His hair was tattered and the training kit he wore was covered in dirt marks and looked slightly damp.
‘He doesn’t share similar features.’ I thought, ‘Perhaps it's not him after all'
“What's your name, child,” I said to him
“Elex, sir.” he replied “Elex Vinspear”
“Do you care to explain to me why you were fighting with other students in a locked stadium?”
“I had no intention of it, sir. Things got out of hand, but I am not the one at fault here,” he explained.
“Oh, is that so?” I said, “Elex, when the staff members checked the room you had been fighting in, they only picked up two prominent mana signatures throughout the entire stadium - yours, and one from the boy who was in here before you.”
His eyes slowly began to widen in shock. Had I caught him? Did he realize that there was no running from this punishment?
“Not only that, but, despite the fact that only two mana signatures were detected, multiple boys were sent here to my office and claimed that they were fighting in self-defense to try and calm you down,” I said.
He was speechless, all he did was look down at the desk in shock.
“Sir, I can assure you, it wasn't like that.” he pleaded
I sighed, “Take a seat, child”
He pulled out the chair in front of him and sat directly across from me.
“Explain yourself,” I commanded.
“They singled me out, sir. I didn't want to fight anyone, I swear it. All the casualties were out of my self-defense”
“Your self-defense?” I repeated, “Explain to me how your self-defense breaks a boy’s leg?”
He was silent once again.
“They were provoking me, sir. You don't know what it's like to be on you're own while everyone around you is out to get you,” he argued.
‘Oh, you would be surprised," I thought.
“And thats your excuse? You tell me one story, while seven other children tell me a different story. Who am I to believe, young man?”
I could see the look on his face, the realization that he had messed up. And it was at that moment that I saw it. That familiar look when he would run out of words, but instead of it being on his face, it was plastered on the face of this little boy in front of me. I knew he wasn't in the wrong, as soon as I was able to squeeze the name Caesar Kadmin out of one of the other boys' mouths, I knew something else was at play here. He was set up.
I smiled at him for a second, “It's ok, child. I know you are not at fault here.” I said.
He looked up, shocked and in disbelief. “What? How?”
“Things I cannot discuss with you for reasons I cannot say. But you will be punished for fighting nonetheless.” I said. “Now, go back to your daily classes. You will be notified later this week.”
“Yes, sir,” He said while getting up slowly and heading for the door.
I knew he was the one, but something was holding me back from asking for confirmation. Was it because I was trying to be professional? No. Was it guilt? Guilt for how things ended between us?
“Elex, wait,” I said hesitantly
He turned to look at me, “Sir?”
“Is . . . is Raja your father?”
He stared at me with a questioning look on his face. Was I wrong? I wouldn’t be surprised, Vinspear wasn't that uncommon of a name. But those eyes? So similar to hers.
“You know my father, sir?” he said.
I was right!
“Sit, child,” I said again, trying to appear more welcoming.
This was wrong, if I got to know the boy, it would ruin our professional student-teacher relationship. And yet, I had to speak with him, I had to know how Raja was doing. It had been so long since then.
“Yes, I do know him,” I said. “Hasn’t he ever mentioned me?”
“No, sir. The first time I heard of you was at the opening ceremony,” he said.
Of course, why would he talk about me? He probably wouldn’t want to remember those times. He probably didnt want his family associating with me at all. Where had it all gone wrong?
“Really, not even once?” I said, “I would have thought that he would tell you who I was considering you were coming to this school.”
“Umm, If you don't mind me asking, sir. How is it you know my father?”
“We used to be in the same guild for adventuring, we were also in the same party,” I said.
“Oh, he did tell me about how he would go adventuring with my mother at times,” he said.
“I'm not surprised, we were one of the strongest parties within our guild back in the day,” I said reminiscing. “Say, how are Raja and Olivia these days? It's felt like an eternity since I last saw them”
He looked at me for a moment, as if he were in deep thought about his next words. And then, finally, he spoke.
“My mother is dead, sir.”
My heart dropped, and I was taken aback by the sudden change of mood in our conversation. How could this have happened, why am I only hearing this now?
“W . . . What?” I said shocked “how long ago?” I asked. Trying my best to be careful with my words.
“Four years now, sir,” he said.
Four years! Why hadn't Raja told me? Just because we ended on a bad note doesn't mean I didn't have the right to know. I cared for her just as much as any of the other party members. No, I cared for her more than the rest, I . . . I loved her.
I rested my head in my palms on the desk in front of me and sighed. I looked up, and I could see it more clearly now. This boy was the spitting image of his mother. The only reason I couldn't recognize it from the start was because I was looking for Raja in his face, not Olivia.
“I'm very sorry to hear that,” I said “I cared very much for your mother”
“It's ok, sir. I'm somewhat over it now” he said.
Was that the truth? Or was he trying to appear strong? I decided to test him, more so for my own benefit to gain knowledge about her death, but also to see if he was telling the truth about how he felt.
“You don't need to answer, but, could you tell me how she died?” I asked.
He tried to hide it, but he seemed startled. Only after a quick second of regaining composure was he able to answer.
“She . . . was killed”
‘What?’ I thought. By who? How?. Where was bloody Raja in all this? I was about to unload my questions and confusion upon this little boy, who I could see was slowly breaking from just talking about his mother. Perhaps he wasn't over her death as much as he wished he was. Or maybe, today's incident may have included his mother as well.
“Forgive me,” I said, “We will speak of it no more,”
He nodded.
“You may go, child,” I said.
He got up from the seat and headed for the door, but I stopped him once more.
“Elex,” I called out, “please, watch yourself. These people you're getting involved with are not to be played with. It may seem harmless now, like childish squabbles, but if this continues down the line, you may find yourself in dire consequences.” I warned him. “I want you to come here next week, the same day so we can talk. Ok?”
“Yes, sir,” He said, opening the door and walking away.
I slouched in my chair, as the door closed, and let my body relax. So much had happened that I didn't know about. I wonder if the other party members knew. Maybe, if I wasn't so enveloped in my work here, and I did leave my position as headmaster before, I could have met them again. I could have tied up any loose ends, and perhaps I could have been there . . . maybe Olivia would still be alive.
I sighed, 'Il have to speak with Lord Kadmin's son' A confrontation I was not looking forward too. I hated all of those pricks on the council. Why did Elex have to get on the bad side of somone like him? And now that I let my curiosity get the better of me, I've opened the door to a personal relationship with the boy, which will definelty affect the way I treat him.
No, I dont care. For her, Il do it. For her sake, I will help the boy get the best opportunities possible, it's the least I can do. A way for me to pay for my sins through her son.