12 Neanderthal

Alexander and Aleyria stood before a massive pillar. They were in an open courtyard behind the Royal Court. After Alexander had dismissed the court, he had told Aleyria that he wanted to use the testing pillar.

And Aleyria had immediately brought him to this place.

Alexander gaped at the monstrosity that still shamelessly bore the name 'pillar'. It was beyond huge.

He looked up, squinted his eyes and tried to see the top of the pillar. But he couldn't. It stretched out into the clouds and disappeared. Obviously it wasn't supporting anything. Alexander wondered why it was still called a 'pillar'.

"Obelisk would be a more suitable name for it. Testing Obelisk." Alexander thought with slight amusement. "Maybe even Testing Monument. Hmm. Testing Statue?"

"Idiot." Buccephalas muttered.

"Hey! Why must you always be so negative? Alright, that's it. Come on. Let's have a talk right now." Alexander felt enough was enough. "Tell me what's going on!"

"A deep long talk? Right now? Aren't you afraid your precious little disciple will get suspicious seeing you stand without saying anything for a few minutes?"

Alexander glanced at Aleyria. Sure enough, she was already staring at him with a worried look on her face. He sighed.

"Fine, let's focus on the task at hand. But we ARE having this talk later. You aren't getting away with this!" Alexander pointed an imaginary finger in his mind at an imaginary Buccephalas sternly.

He wasn't sure if Buccephalas actually can 'see' his thoughts, but he did it anyway. It was too weird interacting with a mere voice in his head without having any actions whatsoever.

"Aleyria. Are you alright?" Alexander asked with concern in his voice.

He beckoned Aleyria to come closer. "Come, tell me your thoughts."

Aleyria frowned slightly. She hesitated for a moment before deciding to just come clean about her thoughts.

"Teacher, I feel that you're acting very strangely. Your mannerisms, your words and even the aura that you're giving off, they are all strange. It's like you're a whole different person."

Aleyria pointed to Alexander's waist and continued. "For all my life, I have never seen you without a belt before."

She pointed once more to Alexander's hair. "I have never, ever seen you hold court with such messy hair."

And finally she pointed to his bare feet. "And you were the one who taught me that my feet must always be covered by footwear."

Aleyria gazed at Alexander with a complex look on her face. Enough said. She remained silent as she waited for Alexander's response.

Alexander was a general and he knew a hopeless cause when he saw it. Immediately, he realized that he had no chance at all in pretending to be King Aloxandros, and that nothing but the truth could satisfy Aleyria. The young lady was frightfully intelligent.

He sighed deeply. He had hoped to delay this painful confrontation for much longer, but apparently he was too optimistic.

Still, after all was said and done, he was a general. And a great one at that. So he was not lacking at all in decisiveness and charisma. He had won over his enemies many, many times.

Yes, technically he had won them over only after he had shredded their armies into nothing more than beautiful memories, but his awe-inspiring presence, candor and most importantly, charisma had played important parts as well.

"Come." Alexander made his way to a bench by the side of the courtyard that was usually used by the examiners. He sat down and indicated that Aleyria should join him. "Set up a sound barrier around us. What I am about to tell you must never be leaked out."

Aleyria sat down next to him obediently and waved her arm. Space warped and a thin membrane shimmered around them.

"Aleyria, I am not King Aloxandros. This body is King Aloxandros, but the soul in it is not. Aloxandros is dead. My name is Alexander, and I am not from this planet."

He paused and allowed Aleyria to process the information. And also to respond to Buccephalas who had just exploded in his mind.

"OH well done you block headed, brainless farmer of a general!! Just go ahead and smash her head with a brick won't you? Why don't you go and stab her heart with a walking stick? And don't forget to kick her in the stomach while you're at it."

"Wait a mi.."

"CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THIS POOR GIRL IS IN LOVE WITH ALOXANDROS! How can you tell her right of the bat that he's dead?! Nincompoop! Barbarian! Ughh. NEANDERTHAL!" Buccephalas was pissed. How could he be so insensitive?!

"Whaatt.." Alexander focused and looked at Aleyria. Indeed, she had gone extremely pale and was breathing rather rapidly.

"Aleyria..." Alexander began.

Aleyria stood up and pointed her wand at Alexander. Her hand was gripping the wand so tightly and it was trembling slightly.

"What have you done to King Aloxandros?! Tell me before I.. I..."

Alexander said nothing. He merely looked at Aleyria calmly, ignoring the wand pointed directly at his head.

His greatest defense was that this body belonged to King Aloxandros. There was no way Aleyria would do anything to him.

He watched the emotions interchange on her beautiful face which was once again stained with tears.

Disbelief. Anger. Anguish. Denial. Anger. Before finally... Brokeness.

Aleyria collapsed on the bench and began to weep. Heartrending sobs and the occasional mournful whine could be heard.

"Oaf. Lump of brick. Glorified monkey." Buccephalas muttered.

Alexander could only sigh and shake his head helplessly. He turned to look at the Testing Pillar.

"DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Buccephalas bellowed angrily at him. "Do not leave her alone!!"

"What am I supposed to do then?" Alexander asked Buccephalas in mild irritation. Truthfully, he did feel abit guilty. He probably could have broken the news a little better than that.

"Just sit there nicely and wait for her! Be there for her if she needs you! Not that she'll ever need your retarded, stupid comments. But she'll need to see Aloxandros for some measure of comfort and peace later."

"Alright, alright. I'll wait here!" Alexander sighed again. He had never sighed so much since his best buddy, Hephaestion, died. Poor Hephaestion, the Gods took you too soon.

Alexander sighed deeply again.