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At a wide table filled with dishes worthy of kings sit three and none other, a youth whose skin glowed with the sheen of bronze, to his right, a man who exuded an aura of terror and tyranny, he almost unperceivably glowed under the light of the chandelier above, his face filled with hard lines and a scar ran down his left eye and down his cheek, his eyes green as poison. To the youth left sit a stern looking yet absurdly beautiful lady, her skin a darker shade of brown than the youth, her eyes behind her glasses a bright shade of blue, almost unnatural, her hair fell in waves over her shoulder, black as night.

None spoke, and only the sound of cutleries on plates could be heard. The minutes stretched till it felt like hours when the youth cleared his plates, reaching to a fancy glass filled with water, he drank it all. Pushing the plate a tad further from himself, he sit up straight as he pulls of the napkin from around his neck.

"Thank you for the meal", he says to none in particular, his tone monotonous. The hard man on his right nods with a grunt and the lady doesn't deign to reply.

Picking a bell on the side of the table, he rings it twice, it chimes gently as he puts it down soon after. Within a minute walks in a maid with gentle steps, her head bowed, she clears his side of the table as she picks up his dishes and napkin silently. With a low bow, she turns and walks out the room, the door shuts behind her, leaving a ghostly cleared part of the table towards the youth. The hard man and stern lady do not look up once, their cutleries clang softly still on their plates as though the maid was never there.

Without a word and without moving an inch from his straight position on his seat, the youth faces forward, his face deadpanned and his hands rest on his laps. Soon, silence creeps into the room as the couple finish their meal, the bell rings again, curtsey of the man. Two maids walk in this time and soon they table is cleared, they both give a low bow and leave. Silence pervades the room once again, broken only by the asynchronous breathing sounds of the trio.

"You came home late today, why?" The man breathes the question, his voice like the wind, his baritone like the echo of thunder in a storm, his poisonous stare on the youth.

"Can Alberto, take the fall for this one?"

Replying with a monotonous drawl, the youth says with a ghost of a smile on his lips, his face otherwise remains deadpanned as he stares ahead, unwilling to look at the monster to his right.

"Do not test my patience, and you will look at me when I speak to you". Dominance rolls of in waves from the man, his aura of tyranny spikes up, making the air heavy, and his gaze remains unmoving as he stares at the youth.

The icy blue eyes of the lady that holds not kindness watches the boy, "speak, now", is all she says, plunging the room into a cellar of ice.

His head turns stiffly towards the man as he balls his hands into a fist on his laps, his voice is barely above a whisper when he says,

"I fell asleep in the library".

Silence pervades the room again, this time, accompanied with a stifling pressure and icy chill. They look away from him simultaneously.

"Any dreams?" questions the woman as she stares at her nails.

"None".

"Then why did you sleep? You forget that libraries are for the acquisition of knowledge, not for random naps." States the man offhandedly.

"I am well aware, it just happened, unplanned".

"Like the blackouts then, why call it sleep?" asks the woman, her chilly gaze on him again.

"It was different this time, no harrowing dreams or visions, I simply fell asleep and woke up refreshed." Drawled the youth in reply, his fist now unclenched, his face showing no emotion still.

"Strange, I don't like strange. I'll get the Sayer to look into it, to tell me what it is." Says the man as he stands up.

"I am find father, there's no need for that". The youth looks at the hulking stature of the man, hidden only by his lower than normal chair, he truly was intimidating in all forms.

"It will be as I have said, goodnight." And with that, he was gone, his feet barely thumping on the floorboards as he left. The lady joins after a few seconds, saying nothing to the youths as she drifts away, more ghostly than her spouse.

He watches her go, his fist once again clenched on his laps, his knuckles crack and vein bulges a tad, yet his face blank and his eyes dull. He says nothing, the light of the chandelier above seems lacking to the darkness suffused atmosphere of the room.

Silence rules the room, as he sits for minutes that seemed like hours, with a low sigh, he stands and begins to make his way towards the door and out the room. He pauses for a bit and looks back towards the chandelier, before his eyes, it morphs and reshapes itself into a lamp.

Its body dark as night with gold markings that swirls around it body, a tuft of green flame sways without wind in the room. The flames grow stronger yet it gives off no heat, upon reaching its apex, a silhouette of an hourglass appears within the flame. The room begins to spin as the youth collapses, what he had borne witness to at that moment was unexplainable to himself. His eyes roll back as he collapses with a 'thump'.

The flames sway as the hourglass within makes a turn, the sand within begins to fall, an eerie chuckle with an undeterminable gender echoes, "it begins again, bet you thought free didn't you?".