Morning light spilled through the window in thin, golden threads, pooling softly across the wooden floor.
Outside, the sky stretched wide and clear, a pale blue canvas brushed with the faintest streaks of rose where the sun had only just begun to climb.
Birds called to one another from somewhere beyond the glass, their chirping light and unhurried, as if they too knew there was nowhere to rush to on a morning like this.
A cold wind pressed gently against the window, rattling it just enough to remind the room’s occupants that autumn hadn’t quite let go yet, though the frost of it never made it past the glass.
Dew still clung to the branches outside, catching the early light in small, scattered glints, and somewhere beyond the courtyard a distant bell tolled once, marking the hour with a soft, hollow note that faded as quickly as it came.
The whole world outside that window seemed to be holding its breath, content simply to exist in the quiet in-between of night’s end and day’s true beginning.
Inside, the room was warm, still, undisturbed by the morning’s business.
A boy with a devilishly handsome young face lay sprawled across the second best pillow the world had to offer him.
Second best, because the first best would always be Vespera, though Alex would rather die again than admit that out loud.
He was stretched flat across the couch, his head resting on Zara’s lap, a book held up above his face with both hands.
His brows were pulled into a small, focused knot, eyes tracking line after line of dense text about the Veil.
There wasn’t much known about it, the book admitted plainly, just fragments of general knowledge passed down and guessed at.
Still, Alex read every word like it might hold something new.
’Seven years,’ he thought.
Seven years since he’d been five years old and had first awakened.
Seven years, and everything about his life had changed beyond recognition.
Zara’s hand drifted up into his hair, her other hand brushing lightly against his chin.
Then, without warning, she ruffled his hair, slow and deliberate.
Ruffle. Ruffle.
"H-hey! I just made my hair, how many times—" Alex startled, nearly dropping his book at the sudden intrusion.
"Oh, I wonder why I gave you the authority to speak, when you decided to make me your lap pillow." Zara said, a smirk curling at the edge of her mouth.
"Because I surely did not allow you to complain."
Alex pulled his head back and sat up straighter on the couch.
He cleared his throat with an exaggerated cough.
*Ahem*
"That was only for the betterment of the shadow bond," he said.
"If the bond improves, it will benefit both you and me and you know it."
"Oh, so now this has become about the bond, huh, little prodigy of The Abyss." Zara said, teasing, drawing the title out like she was savoring it.
Alex huffed, though a small, wry smile tugged at his lips despite himself.
’Well, yeah, this has become a title people are now speaking about in the whole palace,’ he thought. ’The Prodigy Of The Abyss.’
The word had even made it out to Winterfang’s capital, apparently.
Maybe even farther.
’Hell, if I would know, I’ve become almost a recluse and training maniac.’
’Maybe I should really go out sometime.’
Zara had made it her running gag by now, ’the little prodigy of The Abyss,’ tossed out at every opportunity, half mockery, half pride.
And it wasn’t entirely wrong.
Alex had been improving constantly, relentlessly.
At first, he’d only been capable of fighting level 2 to 3 opponents.
But within a few years, he’d climbed to taking on recruits at level 5 to 6, not merely from his rising attributes but from the sharpening of his actual combat skill, technique layered over technique.
By eleven, he had already defeated every level 8 and and one level 9 recruit that particular training hall had to offer.
Now, his mind was set on the level 10 recruits.
And the answer to that particular problem was, to him, deceptively simple.
"Of course it’s become about the bond, Zara." Alex said, straightening further.
"I am so close to completing the synchronization with the shadow element!" His voice rose with open excitement.
"Someone seems rather excited about this." Zara said, watching him with amusement,
"And that is because—"
"Because I am going to finally wipe the floor with those level 10 recruits after I have the shadow element, and then—" Alex stopped, drawing in a long, dramatic breath, chest expanding.
"I WILL BECOME A FREE BIRD!!!! READY TO CONQUER THE WORLD!!!" Alex declared, arms thrown wide, voice booming through the quiet room like he was addressing an army rather than one amused girl on a couch.
"Heh, talk about freedom, after you handle your sister letting you escape your imaginary prison." Zara said slyly, one eyebrow arched.
"Oh, don’t you worry about that, I have everything planned, just you wait and watch..." A scheming look crept across Alex’s face, sharp and confident.
"Well, I hope you have this same confidence when you actually face the recruits..." Zara said, watching him the way one might admire a particularly amusing piece of art.
"And your attributes." she continued.
"Where exactly have they reached?" She asked, though she already had a rough idea of where he stood.
"Well, it’s enough to be on par with them in raw attributes." Alex said, his tone shifting into something more focused and calculating.
"But I still need an element of my own, or it’ll just become a fight of attrition."
"I don’t want a duel," he went on.
"I want a massacre a defeat so clean that word of it spreads far more explosively, enough to give me the backing I need for what I have planned."
Zara said nothing to that, only watched him with a faint, considering look.
’Well,’ Alex thought.
’It’s been a while since I checked my system interface.’
’Let’s see exactly where I stand right now.’
He willed it, and the screen bloomed into existence in front of him, unfolding in its full display and glory.
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End of Chapter 93: Timeskip and Glaze
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