Chapter 81

'We are all here, why do the instructors all look pale?' Alex thought as he and his group appeared back on the campus.

He found the answer as he looked up at the screens that once showed a map of the surrounding woods. Several videos played above.

'Our group wasn't the only one to run into those things?'

Several groups of students fought on the screens, and as things got rough, a few instructors appeared and aided in taking out the monsters.

One of the videos went dark for a moment before a static screen all that was left.

"They were watching every group. Including ours?" Taylor said as he looked up.

"That's why they gave us such a small area to hunt in." Derek responded.

Alex expected to get pulled away and questioned about what happened after the camera went out, but the likelihood of that happening seemed impossible as he laid down to sleep when night drew near.

Every other part of the the competitions went normal as he watched everyone else fight. However, there was one thing that was bothering him. The host of the the competitions had a face that showed he was discontent with how things were going. It wasn't until after the fighting ended and Taylor was the champion, that the man spoke up, his pride filled voice cutting the applause short.

"This event was quite good. There is just one thing that is bugging me, I heard that there was another promising mage here, and it is true, this mage indeed is here, but it seems that he is avoiding the limelight." He turned to the stands where Alex was sitting.

After choking on his saliva, he asked a guard next to him. "Where did he go?"

The guard pointed to the floor below.

"Ahh, Alex, so you can understand when you are being spoken about. Well then you will also understand what I say next. I suspect you to be cheating, as of now the events you took part in last year are now null and void." He said with a smile on his face.

'That same smile.' Alex thought as he fought to keep his emotions from showing.

An uproar was heard from the stands above, most of them booing the man, but a few shouts of approval also bled through.

"There is one thing he can do to prove his skills though." The man said as he held up a hand to calm the crowd.

"I heard you were recently promoted to a captain within your own school which means you are eligible to take part in this final competition. My compromise is simple, fight Taylor and if you win, then I will take back my accusations."

Alex raised an eyebrow before turning to Taylor.

"I forfeit." Taylor said as the crowd stopped shouting.

"No you don't." The man responded.

"I do and therefor your accusations are null and void as Alex has defeated me."

"You! Where is your pride as a light mage?" The man yelled as he lost composure.

"My pride is within myself, not with a organization that promotes terrorism."

The man disappeared from above.

"Fine, it is fine, if you refuse to fight him, I have no say in the matter, but Alex must prove his innocence, so I will be his competitor." He said as he ran towards Alex from across the stage. The concrete floor cracking with each step.

'What is going on?' The man thought as he felt himself growing heavier with each step that he took.

He fell to his knees a few feet in front of Alex, his body glowing as he tried to overcome this feeling of pressure.

After slowly turning around he spoke up. "What are you waiting for? Activate the dome."

His voice played through the speakers above, the muffledness of it seeming to create panic in the guards above.

The man fell to the ground as his strength wore out, and three people appeared next to Alex as he spoke up.

"Do you forfeit?"

A muffled voice answered. "Yes."

"Good I think these few want to have a word with you." Alex said as he retrieved his spacial domain.

"I heard that you spoke Ill of my judgement." A large and somewhat round man said, his feet creating a distinct thud as he walked to the trouble maker.

"Nothing to say for yourself." The large man said almost grunting, his coarse voice making him seem scarier than he actually was.

The man didn't speak up, he was too shocked at what had just happened.

"The Tillerman family, has undermined the authority of the of three of the most powerful organizations by saying cheating had managed to slip by us undetected, and rather than to confront us about such notions, Ausborn Tillerman the next in line, took matters into his own hands."

The large man's voice reverberated loudly in the large stadium without the use of the speakers.

"Whether he was acting through Ill-will, or simply didn't understand the consequences of his own words, it doesn't matter. What does matter, is that the council has decided that he is not fit to be the host of this years events. So say I, a rune-master of the Rune-Writing guild."

"I, a potion-master of the Potions guild." Merelda added.

The third and cloaked figure stepped forward. "And I, leader of the Hunters guild."

"With this your authority is revoked, and you may not return as host until proper review of you qualifications has been made. Try not to ruin your fathers name any further." The rune- master said before turning away.

Meanwhile Alex listened from inside of the locker rooms.

'So, Timothy is a guild leader.'

'I still have no clue what his affinity is, or even how strong he is, but to be the actual leader of a guild rather than just one of the masters within the guild.'

He looked down to his phone, the news was already on top of things.

A headline read out. [New Magic?]

Two people were currently having a heated debate over him.

"I don't care if Ausborn was in the wrong, what we are discussing is a new magic. You saw what happened, even the mystical dome of Holdensburg couldn't prevent his magic, I say it needs to be registered immediately."

"That's where you bring up a good point, Ausborn breached many rules when he ordered the guards under his power to use the dome on a child. I mean just look at how he immediately charged at him after not getting what he wanted. Can we pull up the video?" The first person spoke over the second who about to take the topic in an entirely different direction.

The recording played as the two got silent.

"As you can see, this was more than just a test of ability. Ausborn is a King class mage and would have absolutely beaten Alex in combat, if not crippling him in the process. This new magic was the only thing protecting him, we all saw what he did when he realized he was on the loosing end, had he had his way, the coverage would have been different. This would have been a minor hate crime and would be swept under the rug."

Alex turned off his phone as the second person speaking just laughed in response.

——————

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay, climb in and make yourself comfortable, it's a long drive."

Alex wasn't ready. The same feeling from last year had returned, he wanted to turn away and run, but he pushed it away and got into the vehicle.

'New and old faces.'

'It's just a trip to a library.' Alex thought as he sat in the last row of seats, avoiding Tori's eye contact.

Eventually he found solace by staring out at the trees that blurred by.

Words echoed through his head as he realized the reason he felt so terrible. What he was feeling was shame.

'Probably the only person who's opinion can affect me.'

He frowned as he reflected upon himself. It wasn't until the ride back home that he was sure.

'I hate myself.'

Alex had avoided doing bad things avoided thinking about evil deeds, but he had been constantly been beating himself up. At this point he was completely numb to what was going on around him. Changing himself, for what he called the better.

It didn't matter what path he took in life, the outside influence had already guaranteed that that part of him would exist. The words she had spoken and how he had processed them made that apparent to himself.

"'Veins are disgusting."'

He remembered how he had subconsciously looked down at his hands which were hardened by the training and work he did every day.

"'Long hair is better."'

Those words and more seemed to over-shadow every other moment during the trip, even the one moment when they had managed to speak to one another for once.

——————

{Sorry, but this trip is much longer, and I don't want to ruin it by rushing it's completion as I focus on completing the main story.}

——————

Those feelings seemed to culminate for a while until Alex went to sleep one night and found himself in a familiar setting.

'You look pitiful.' A distinctly feminine voice drew his attention.

'And?' 'If you're just-'

The voice cut him off abruptly.

'Don't worry darling, I'm nothing like my siblings.'

'Unlike them I actually want to help you, not use you. So tell me is there anything I can do to ease your pain?'

Alex didn't answer and just sat down.

'Thats fine, even if you don't tell me I still have a few ideas.'

A mirror appeared in front of Alex, he watched his pupils shrink as he stared at his reflection.

'You've always felt alienated, haven't you. Life would've been a lot easier if you had just fit in.'

He watched as all of his features shifted slightly, all the similarity between Alex and his father faded.

'Nothing?'

'Maybe what you could use is some strength.'

Alex's features sharpened and he felt an abundance of energy course through him.

'How is that, feels good doesn't it?'

Alex subconsciously nodded.

'Good, we're making progress. Then how about this.'

His features changed once again.

'Now how is that, she would definitely swoon over you now right?'

'No.' Alex said in a quiet voice.

'No?'

'This is just a small bandage, a distraction. The world would have to change completely… and you can't give me that.'

'No, I can't, but I can help, and the first step to helping you is teaching self love.'

His reflection blurred for a moment, before a familiar face appeared. He saw a female version of himself looking back at him.

Alex lifted his hand only to find a dark mist was surrounding him making his actual features hidden.

'That's enough.' He said as he watched the reflection mimic him from the corner of his vision.

'It's not nearly enough, there is still a lot I can do to reignite that heat within you.'

The reflection blurred once again and Alex's pupils dilated as he saw Tori standing in front of him mimicking his every movement.

'See your body knows what's up, um…' the voice grew panicked as Alex demeanor changed.

'Maybe I took it a bit too far, there quite a few more things to see, so let's just move on.'

The reflection blurred and a tinge of blue was seen before the mirror shattered into fragments.

Alex returned to reality while the voice was freed, and a woman appeared within the dark world along with her siblings, the somber and empty look on Alex's face as he broke free, imbedded itself within her memory.

Alex stood up and activated a runic device as he left the house.

After entering the invisible building within the woods, Alex was met by sleepy and questioning faces.

"You called the emergency meeting? What is it Alex, did something happen?" Michael asked as he entered behind him.

"I'll have to do things this year. I just broke through to the emperor class."

"The competitions are next month we won't be able to prepare in time." One person spoke up.

Alex didn't answer but a wooden box appeared in his hands before shattering into splinters and a portal appeared next to him with Drak stepping through.

"You called?"