The rest of the walk was a bit less… chaotic. The two boys spoke of times when they were younger with Cody enjoying a front-row seat to the adventures of Finn, Darla and Alaric, a ragtag band of three that always had a knack for getting into trouble. As a tag-along on most of Alaric and his crew’s escapades, he’d been a spectator of most of these dastardly stunts.
Most of the time, trouble came from some idea Finn had cooked up… like the time they decided to make a little money doing jobs around the village and got called in to rescue a cat.
Naturally, a task as simple as this should have been simple, causing no problems. Alas, this had ended up occupying their whole day which made Alaric train late into the night seeing as his guardian wouldn’t let him skip a day of training.
The nimble feline had been swift and agile, getting the kids to run after it all over the five hills, through people’s homes and compounds, earning them a few scrapes and bruises all for a few coppers.
Another story had the children working part-time at a wedding. Events like these were rare in the small town… So much so that Finn wouldn’t let this business venture go past him.
True to the couple’s word, the kids were awarded a large pile of food and a single silver for their hard work. The later part of the evening was characterised by the ominous sound of Finn’s running stomach.
There were more stories like this, so long as Finn was involved. Darla tried to keep his spontaneous ideas at bay but the sandy-haired boy was too active for his own good and for some reason, Alaric was always ready to carry them out. Darla, by majority vote, ended up having to haul them out of trouble when things went south and nursing them when they got hurt.
Alaric and Cody arrived at the orphanage with the sun still a few hours from setting. Sister Marla rushed out of the renovated building and enveloped Alaric in a big hug. Alaric’s smooth face turned a light shade of red as he struggled to understand what was happening.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“The tax… It went down. How did you do it? You know what? I don’t want to know. I’m just glad. Come inside… I managed to buy a lot with part of the money he returned,” the woman rambled, then pulled out of the hug upon noticing the boy on his back, “Hey Cody.”
“Good evening, Sister Marla,” the boy jumped down from Alaric’s back and ran to the silver-haired caretaker for a hug.
Alaric stretched his shoulders, marvelling at the lack of pain. He was still coming to terms with his body’s new capabilities. Shifting his mind back to the caretaker, he asked, “Is there something I can do to help with supper?”
“Oh no! I’ve got that covered. You go take a shower and rest, read a book… supper will be ready soon. The others were thinking we could try meat…”
“Can I help with the cooking?” Alaric asked again.
Marla sighed, letting go of Cody and giving his flaming hair a gingerly shuffle. Oddly enough, the flames in Cody’s head didn’t behave the same way normal flames did. Only when he was angry did they get destructive. Otherwise, his power could have been a true curse.
“Alaric… Who owns this orphanage?”
“You do, Sister Marla.”
“Then you also understand that while you’re still under my roof, you listen to what I say,” the woman responded yet again, cutting him off, “Cody, go clean the living room and set the table with Jasper. Alaric has a lot of resting to do.”
This was not a request… but an order from the caretaker of the orphanage.
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In less than ten minutes, Alaric found himself submerged in a tub of warm water, looking up at the white ceiling of their bathroom. The dormitory had changed drastically, down to their very facilities, allowing them the luxury of having warm water.
‘I thought it would take years for this to happen,’ Alaric thought to himself.
[ It should have… but you got yourself a patronage. Your situation is different from what it was meant to be when we started] Alia responded.
Alaric sighed with his eyes closed, when he opened them, he asked, [ How badly has my six-month sleep affected my friends? ]
[ The effects could range from nothing to them not knowing each other] Alia responded, [You do remember Finn’s frustration with being Class B. ]
[ Class B guardians are powerful beings ] Alaric argued.
[ Yes, they are powerful beings… But then he watched Aidan rise from Class B to Class A, which should have been impossible ] Darla responded, [ He’s not wrong to be frustrated by it. Anyone would be… but the effects of that frustration are the ones you should be most worried about. My best guess is Darla would try to help him. ]
Alaric furrowed his eyebrows… [ They will be fine… ]
[ And if they are not. ]
[ Then I’ll fix it ] Alaric responded, his resolve humming through the air, [ They are the only ones that understand how much we want to rid the world of demons. That goal binds us. ]
[ I know… and if their resolve is anything like yours, then they will be a lot more powerful when we meet them. For now, continue to train Spirit Essence Circulation and get comfortable with manipulating the form of your Spirit Vessel, painful as it might be ] his guardian responded.
Alaric nodded, then closed his eyes and focused.
Playtime was over. He would be travelling to the Tower of Seekers the next day… and soon, he’d be reunited with his friends at the Elite Guardian Academy where their battle against the demons will begin in earnest.
Alaric could already imagine being deployed into battle with his friends in a squad of elite Slayers all with the same goal of eradicating the corrupted abominations that tainted their world.
[ How much of your power can I use now? ] Alaric asked.
[ Barely a sliver… ] Alia responded with a sigh, [ I can lend you a single gauntlet and even then, you would have to be careful how you use it or risk breaking your Spirit Vessel. ]
Alaric shivered at the thought of wielding his guardian’s power. His Inborn Ability had a lot to do with other guardians, from commanding them to do his bidding down to reading their memories and copying their powers.
He didn’t understand what made his power so multifaceted… Perhaps a side effect of that was the respect guardians used when addressing him, but he didn’t mind it now. Alia had awarded him the same respect by calling him titles like Little Prince, enough that it stopped bothering him.
Half an hour later, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off, changing clothes and rejoining the other children of the orphanage.
Nina, a young girl interested in art, was drawing into a large book, a variety of pencils strewn on the table. Alaric stared at the drawing she was working on. Her pencil strokes had grown much more elegant and refined, and her attention to detail was staggeringly sharp for an eleven-year-old.
As Alaric stared at the man she was drawing, he noticed his right hand had a gauntlet on it that looked a lot like a knight’s gauntlet. It was pitch black and well-made to suit him. What disturbed Alaric, though, was that he’d never seen it before on anyone.
[That’s what the gauntlet would look like on you, I presume] Alia’s voice echoed.
“Is that… me, Nina?”
Nina looked at the drawing, then furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, “No, he’s a prince.”
Alaric’s heart skipped a beat as he felt the exaggerated pain of a knife going through it, “And… I’m not a prince.”
“No, silly. You’re my brother,” Nina replied with a laugh.
“Can’t your brother be a prince?” Alaric pouted.
“Then that would make me a princess,” she replied.
“And you don’t want to be a princess?”
“Princesses look sad and their clothes look uncomfortable,” Nina replied before returning to her drawing… The face of the prince she drew, however, looked far too smooth to be real.
“Sister Marla, do you have a mirror?” Alaric asked the woman humming in the kitchen.
“Right, Nina, go get your brother a mirror from my room,” she called from the kitchen. Like that, Nina dashed away in a hurry to return to her drawing.
Why she was so interested in drawing a prince was beyond him but something about this drawing made him uncomfortable. Did she dream up the image or was it something she’d seen in a book?
The gauntlet, especially, drew his attention. It was simple yet refined, bearing small details that made it even more alluring. Simple patterns that spoke a lot about the craftsmanship of the person that made it.
[ Is that exactly what it should look like? ] Alaric wondered.
[ No, it’s the one. The exact replica of the gauntlet appears on your hand when you call on my power. ]
Nina brought a hand mirror for him moments later and upon looking at his reflection, he froze.
[ Is that… ]