When the darkness thinned out, Alex found himself staring at the white colossal academy building. It was glowing white in the dim glow of the white twinkling stars and the moon. The academy was beautiful even in the night's darkness, its immense dome and soaring spires rising toward the sky was a beautiful sight to watch no matter how many times Alex had seen it since entering the academy.
The nearby fountain sprayed water in every direction, and the gardens at the front of the academy stretched out in darkly rich green. The street lamps pushed weakly against the darkness, but it was not enough for Alex to see the garden clearly from where he stood. He was still quite far from the academy's front, yet he could observe the building itself with remarkable ease, owing to its humongous, giant-like size.
"Ahem." Alex was drawn away by a deliberate cough. Standing beside him was the principal, who had seemingly transported him from the restroom to outside in the span of a single second. What kind of power does the principal hold? Alex mused, staring at the man who was smiling brightly at him.
"Care to sit?" Toren tilted his head toward a vacant bench beside the cobblestone path.
Alex nodded and took a seat, and to his surprise and mild shock the principal settled down right beside him.
Alex shifted uncomfortably to the side, trying to maintain a respectful distance from the principal. If the principal found his smell or his behaviour unpleasant, wouldn't that be courting death? He didn't mean it literally, of course, but metaphorically. The principal might utter some sharp words about Alex's conduct. So he shifted a little further to the right, away from Principal Toren.
Suddenly Alex froze in place, his head snapping to the left, where Toren was draping a white robe across Alex's shoulders. "Kid, your clothes are tattered," Toren murmured as he adjusted the robe carefully over Alex's back. "You will catch a cold."
Alex absentmindedly nodded and slid his hands into the robe's sleeves, instantly feeling a warm barrier settle over him, blocking the cold from touching his skin. The robe was warm and quickly drove away the chill of the night.
"Thanks," Alex offered quietly, though he could not quite understand why the principal was suddenly acting with such kindness toward him. After all, Toren could have intervened when Eldric and his companions had first started their bullying. Perhaps Toren had not known at the time, but he must surely have learned of the fight between Alex and Eldric in the canteen later on. The principal could have done something more, could have salvaged the situation before it had gone too far.
Though, Alex reflected, the student president had already taken care of that, and the principal intervening might well have been seen as overstepping the student council's authority.
"You are lucky to have come back alive." The principal's words pulled Alex away from his endless thoughts, which would likely have carried on much longer had Toren not spoken. Alex turned to look at the principal, whose pale, unblemished face seemed to flow with quiet energy, his white eyes glinting faintly like the distant stars, and his long white hair catching the moonlight in a way that made it shimmer. Alex thought for a moment he was imagining things, but he attributed it in the end to the powers the principal carried within himself.
Toren turned his head toward Alex, and this time his lips did not curve upward into a smile. Instead, he gazed at Alex with a grim expression, steady and measured. "You could have died in there, boy. The gate you entered was a solo gate, meaning only one person may enter, and that person cannot leave until they either die or clear it." He paused, letting the words settle. "But it looks like fate had other plans." Toren's hand stretched out toward Alex's head and came to rest atop it gently, the way Alex's grandfather had always done.
"And you ended up resolving whatever had been keeping you trapped at level 1." Toren's face slowly bloomed into a smile. A genuine one.
Alex nodded and clenched his fist. His experience inside the gate had been nothing short of a miracle, and part of him kept insisting that his encounter with the two twins, the goddess, and that vast battlefield had all been a mirage. But he could not dismiss it as one, because it had felt far too real, and he remembered every detail of it too vividly to write it off as a dream or some trick of the mind.
"You still need to learn to control your energy," Toren advised, and Alex listened quietly. Then the next words from Toren made Alex's breath catch in his throat. "I won't ask what happened inside the gate if you do not wish to speak of it, but let me tell you something." Toren leaned his head slightly toward Alex, his voice dropping lower. "Do not take such rash actions."
"Though I have to admit," Toren continued, his tone shifting into something almost wry, "I am a little jealous. You have stumbled upon some treasures worth killing for." Those words made Alex's chest tighten and his heart stall for a beat. For a brief, terrible moment, he was almost certain that Toren was about to kill him or torture him into revealing what had transpired inside the gate.
Then Toren burst out laughing.
It erupted from him suddenly and completely, his body arching back, his head tilting up toward the sky, his laughter ringing out freely like a madman's. After a long minute or so, he turned back toward Alex. One hand was pressed tightly to his thin belly, and with the other he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. "I am not going to do anything to you, kiddo," Toren assured him, his voice warm with amusement.
The words finally settled over Alex, and he released the breath he had been quietly holding. He had already been poised to bolt had Toren's expression turned anything other than mirthful.
Alex relaxed properly at last, and after a moment he asked the question that had been nagging at him. "You probably already knew that Eldric and his friends were bullying me," Alex ventured, watching Toren's lips press into a flat, straight line. Toren gave a single nod.
"Then why didn't you stop them? If you had stopped them, I would never have had to risk my life inside that gate, would I?" The rage that flooded Alex then was strikingly at odds with the fear he had felt only moments before. His hands balled into fists at his sides, and his voice came out at a sharp, high pitch that tore through the quiet of the night, silencing even the faint rustle of the trees. He was shaking visibly, and he knew it, but he could not rein himself in any further. He had to ask this question to free his mind.
Toren rose slowly from the bench. His hands slipped into the pockets of his robe and he tilted his gaze up toward the moon, letting the silence stretch for a moment before turning his head back toward Alex. "You must understand that you and Eldric are not the only students in this academy. There are so many others, and I make it a point to stay out of the skirmishes between students as much as I can. That is what the student council is for, not me. I step in only when the situation is truly dire, and even then there are things I cannot interfere with, no matter how much I might wish to."
Toren's gaze drifted back toward the dark night sky. "Tell me, boy," he began, his voice quieter now, almost contemplative, "if I had stepped in and put a stop to it all, would you have broken through your level? You would still be stuck at level 1." Toren turned his whole body toward Alex then, his broad frame casting a shadow that swallowed Alex, the moon hanging behind the principal like a pale crown. The man's back almost seemed to radiate light of its own.
"Bu..." Alex stopped himself before the argument could leave his mouth, because he already knew Toren was right. He would still be stuck at level 1. He nodded despite every instinct in him screaming to push back, and he forced himself to stay quiet.
"A bird that never leaves its mother's nest will die the moment its mother stops bringing it food," Toren remarked, his words blunt and without pity. Alex could not argue against them, and so he bit down on his lower lip instead.
"You are a smart boy," Toren continued. "It is better that you start learning now that neither your parents nor your entire family can go on sheltering you forever." The words landed hard. Alex felt a dull pain course through his chest. All he could do in that moment was clench his fist even more tighter and press his teeth into the inside of his cheek.
He had no rebuttal to offer, and the silence that followed hung between them heavy like a suffocating presence. Neither of them spoke a word.
It lasted only a few more seconds before the sound of running footsteps broke through it, pulling Alex out of himself once more.
"They are truly fond of you, boy. Never let them down" Toren remarked lightly, his tone carrying a playful warmth that was completely devoid of the cold, measured voice that had delivered such hard truths only moments ago.
***
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