The dinner went as well as you expect, Roland, Tiffen, even Eveline all stayed quite, some small talk went between them, but nothing worth stating.
All the adults in the room had different ideas of why Alex was this way, but they all agreed it wasn’t a time to poke at Alex.
So silence was a neighbor to this dinner, while there small talk wasn’t exactly fruitful, it was still refreshing against the silence.
Alex stood up abruptly, his head hung low and his gaze was shallow, eyes where drawn at Alex’s sudden standing.
Before he had just been using his spoon to circle the bottom of the bowl of soup, this action was repeated several times as Alex was lost in thought.
But now having stood up, this action ceased, letting go of the spoon, Alex had yet to eat, he didn’t want to eat, the sensation of hunger and fulfillment where something he didn’t want to feel any longer.
Roland looked up at Alex, Tiffen turned her head, and Eveline watched closely, Alex was dazed though something in him changed at that moment.
Whether it was his mind slowly breaking under the pressure, or if it was the feeling of self and the shards fusing into Sub-Alex’s mind.
Or maybe the first consciousness thoughts of They had begun, or perhaps his mana leaking had caused more harm then good, it was hard to tell with
Sub-Alex especially since he was under this amount of pressure.
“I…” Sub-Alex exclaimed, he continued getting the attention of everyone in the room; “I…” 『 What Am I doing?
』 “I, am going back to my room… Thank you for dinner.” Nothing really happened, Tiffen, Roland, nor Eveline protested against this, normally they would have, but something was hanging over Alex like a bad omen, a bad spell.
So the family did nothing and let Alex walk away, they all well every adult had a different perspective on what Alex was feeling, but I digress.
With Alex leaving his full bowl of soup alone, and walking down the hallway, slowly opening the door, and closing off the entrance of his room.
Alex fell down against his bed, his mind and entire head was dazed, neither his body or mind could keep up with his leaking mana and fusing of the shards, so he closed his eyes.
For once, Sub-Alex closed his eyes, knowing very well this may be his last breath before They, a lone tear ran down the side of his cheek, hitting the sheets of the bed.
But Alex, or Sub-Alex for that matter, wasn’t the main heart of thing, if anything something at the table was inspiring, something rather, well, evil…
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“So, what are we going to do with him?” Tiffen said, she looked to her side seeing the empty chair, adding; “He seems unwell, he really seems completely different. Like someone swapped out Alex at school, oh that reminds me, when I went to pick him up from school we met the other students. Mmm, I believe there names where Shim, and Cleo, after they had walked past the street, Alex fell down and had passed out, I though it might have been from exhaustion, but maybe there connected to this weird Alex now?”
Roland head tilted up; “Cleo?” He said almost probing the word off of his tongue, he added kicking his feet up and over the side of the table; “Cleo often does work in the great library of the tree, if I remember correctly he does work in exchange for magic related books…” Roland paused his sentence mid way, thinking to him self; *Wait!
That’s it, Cleo study’s a lot about magic, if Alex’s leaking had happened at school he might of tried to intervened and fix such a problem, that may have caused it to become worse!
Though, that is just a thought, I doubt Cleo could even pull off such complex magic…*
“A child study’s magic here?” Eveline said a bit surprised, “Oh, wait, I remember! I had met Cleo before, though briefly, when was it again? …… I can’t fully remember, my memory is a blur, it’s still amazing that a child is studying magic at his age.” Eveline finished her thought, though her memory was in a blur, she sill remembered meeting a young boy named Cleo, that was all.
Roland scanned through all his memory’s of Cleo, trying to remember anything of malice or something like that, he spoke again; “Cleo is really amazing, though his magic is slightly weak he still knows how to produce spells and study’s an awful lot. Even some of the Elders are guiding him, though I wouldn’t trust there words to much. Ahm, anyway, Alex, Alex, Alex, mmmmm, should I talk to him?” Roland finished his words, even though Cleo was shy, he still was very dedicated to his study and field, and as such he would often get guidance from the Elders.
Tiffen sighed folding her arms against her chest; “Maybe not now, he seems a bit sad, if anything we should find the cause, maybe we should pull him out of school? I can teach him if I have to, or I could go to school with him and see his studying conditions, but I believe we should give him the most space as possible.” Tiffen said proudly, she was the family maid, but after some time she became a beacon for the family, and with her guiding light they could pass almost any storm.
Eveline looked to the empty chair, raising her arm to her chin in thought; “I think Alex may be slightly sad or depressed, after all he was happy to You are reading on novelping.com, the official source. go to school this morning, maybe he wasn’t happy with school.
Or maybe he expected more from school, that’s my thought, he is just sad because he wanted more from school.
I think we should all talk to him.
Bring him out here and let him discuss his thoughts, isn’t that the responsible thing to do?
After all Alex is almost at that age where he should have a say in these matters…” Eveline looked back at the empty seat, this time her eyes where sadder, “And, the best way to understand is to talk to him directly…”
“That wouldn’t work…” Roland said quickly, he knew most about Alex, Tiffen understood this, and Eveline was a little late to understand.
Roland had been the one to talk to him in the morning on there walk, and later inside Alex’s bedroom, he also knew most about Cleo, from that alone it was best he made the decision.
“We should leave him be, he doesn’t seems well, he looks exhausted, he looks sad. He must be going through a lot and doesn’t want to bother us, we should respect that decision, that being said I cannot rule out the possibility of Alex being corrupted. Even Tiffen noticed, that the Alex in his bedroom right now, well, that’s hardly the Alex we know.” With an openly loud sigh, Roland lifted his legs off the side of the table, Tiffen and Eveline where more shocked by Roland’s sudden proclaiming that Alex may be corrupted.
But Tiffen also agreed, and Eveline was more shocked then anything, Roland stood up, pulling his coat over his shoulder he then spoke again; “I am going to get the Elders involved as well, I have a bad feeling about this… Tiffen your in charge of keeping Eveline safe while I go fetch the Elders, got that?”
Tiffen now knew this was a matter that needed the upmost attention, Alex clearly had something going on, something further from depression, something that needed the eyes of the Elders.
“Very well, I will await your return and keep Eveline safe from harm while you are away.” Tiffen added with a smile, making her way around the table to hold Eveline in a small hug, Roland nodded and walked closer to the door.
“Roland..” Eveline said as Tiffen wrapped her hands around her shoulder, Roland turned his head with a small ‘Hmm?’ Eveline only said with a smile; “Be safe.”