The side doors swung open without ceremony, and a man stepped through. He appeared to be a young man, but he had an air about him that was overly intimidating.
He wasn't tall in the way Nix was, but a close second in handsomeness. He carried himself with a pride that made everything else in the hall seem to shrink back. His hair was pulled into a loose ponytail. His gaze was cold and steady.
A sword hung at his hip, its black sheath looked worn, a sharp contrast with the sheer extravagance of the hall.
The man stopped a few meters away and Nix bowed his head.
His gaze locked onto Nix. It lingered, then his voice dropped like he was pronouncing judgement.
"Four days. Why bother coming back?"
Nix flinched slightly.
"Surely, it was a mistake to make you my disciple, with this attitude. I'm sure you know excuses only show a lack of commitment! You vanish for four days, and like a stubborn rash, you reappear." The man sneered. "Do you still have anything to say? Seeing as you dared to come here." His gaze flicked to Kaelen and he stiffened.
So this was the famous Master? As expected, what an ass.
Kaelen rolled his eyes before he could stop himself. Vanish? Excuse? Nix had probably been dragging him, broken and half-dead, out of a pit.
But Nix didn't argue. He didn't lift his chin, didn't smirk, didn't so much as twitch. He only bowed his head deeper instead, voice quiet but steady.
"I apologize, Sir. It won't happen again."
The master gave a curt nod. "It goes without saying that you'll make up for your absence. Extra drills until I say otherwise. No rest. No excuses. If your body breaks, you'll piece it back until it learns not to break anymore."
Nix didn't even flinch at the unreasonable directives. He bowed deeper, voice even. "Yes, Master." When he lifted his head, Kaelen could see how red his face had become.
Hm? Is he flushed from anger?
His gaze was just much too soft and excited for someone who received a scolding and even a punishment. Kaelen blinked. That was a punishment, right? No specific 'drills' were mentioned, but it must be some form of training plan they were already used to. Right?
Nix went to his side like a house-broken pup, and the man reached for his head. Indeed like a pet, Nix leaned down slightly, letting him run his hands through his hair. They maintained eye contact, seeming to speak a silent conversation.
The air thickened. Kaelen stood frozen, unsure if he'd stumbled into a master scolding his disciple or a romantic drama. It really did sound ridiculous.
"Go." The man dropped his arm and Nix left obediently through the side door the man had come out from.
After watching him exit and shut the door, the man turned to face Kaelen. His eyes darkened greatly as they narrowed. He looked like he wanted to spit on him, but also like he wanted to kill him— specifically for a crime he didn't commit— and do it slowly and maliciously too.
He sighed and relaxed his features.
"I see. Stealing his attention away by jumping off a mountain."
The man stepped closer and Kaelen stepped back, but he continued.
"It was also clever to do so in my brother's guild, for me to find out he chose to be with you instead, right? Wow..." The Master scoffed and laughed to himself. He began to pace left and right, face scrunched in thought as if replaying some scenes in his head.
"What did I even say that wasn't true? What did I say that was so bad? You're a failure with the sword? It's the truth. You'll never improve, even to the level of my two-year old niece? That's a fact! Are you trying to blame me for it so I look bad?" He stopped pacing and faced him challengingly.
Kaelen gaped at his thought process.
"Well, congratulations, he stayed with you and you lived. Now, don't interrupt us again!" That previously stoic, respectable aura was replaced by the presence of this whiny little boy.
He spun on his heels and stormed away, robe swaying with the speed of his retreat. The doors slammed shut once again and Kaelen was glued to his spot, dumbfounded.
His mouth opened and closed, unsure of what to say. To whom would he even say it?
He thought hard about the eye contact, the hair stroking, the obvious and ugly jealousy in the man's words, and snapped his fingers in sudden clarity.
Oh!
Ohhh.. I get it. This Master isn't simply cruel, he's crazy. And his malice must be part of what drove the original to leap off a fucking mountain.
What's worse? He's so far up Nix's ass that Nix doesn't even notice...
Hmm. Or is he the one that takes it in—
Anyway, what a plot twist.
The realization was much too absurd to sit with that he was sure he was simply overthinking things. His chest shook, not sure if he wanted to laugh or be sick. He quickly left the hall.
Things had finally slowed down and he could now sit with his thoughts.
Without Nix, he only roamed blindly and tried to take reconnaissance. It may have been his "home" but it felt like enemy territory.
Just what had the past him done that was so terrible to cause all this bad blood? No matter how he thought about it, he ran a blank.
He also tried to remember where he had been before waking up here. Even then, he ran a blank. But living this way felt too unfair. He felt like two different people and neither at the same time.
Just as he had that thought, his skin crawled with goosebumps. With unnecessary speed, an arrow narrowly missed his left eye and landed loudly on the wooden fence beside him. He stood in shock for a few seconds, then realized he had stumbled between training grounds.
A white-clad figure casually walked passed him to retrieve the arrow.
When the person stood upright and turned his way, the complaints dissolved in his throat.
He wanted to shed a tear in gratitude to the heavens, for letting him keep his sight and be able to behold such a beauty.
His doe eyes were a rich brown, with long brown hair to match and lips that looked too soft. He couldn't help but imagine the feel.
What a model! Sculptors would fight over him!
The person then awkwardly bowed and tried to walk away. He snapped out of his trance.
Huh?? That was it?
"Hey, hold on!" They stopped and turned back to Kaelen. He could physically feel his heart squeeze out any little resolve he had mustered up. He cursed himself for being such a sucker for handsome faces.
But he had to keep going, since he already made such a big deal of it.
"Do you know you almost took my eye out?" What a roundabout thing to ask. The question came out with much less fury and violence than he had intended, so he just sounded like a fool who threw his textbook away so he could share with his crush and have an excuse to talk to them.
"Oh, my apologies, Senior. I'm only a student. My teacher is waiting for me, so…" He kept his head down and his tone neutral, as though it were only a stick that fell out of his hands and not a sharpened weapon.
To others, he could look like a pitiful and jittery junior afraid to meet the eye of his senior. Kaelen took it another way, though.
In other words,'So what if you nearly lost an eye? What should I do about it, you washed-up elder? You're wasting my precious time.'
Kaelen felt his palms clench. "Be more careful, then, so you don't bring shame to your wise teacher." He advised through a tight jaw.
The boy nodded and left quickly.
What an eventful awakening this was turning out to be.