3 - Zealot

"Mom! Dad! Are you guys fighting again?!" A serene voice asked. 

The door once again opened, revealing a girl similair in age as Arthur. She had completely white hair, simlair to Elijah. Her skin was pale, contrasted by her bright red lipstick. Between her eyebrows she had a black star, deep as the night sky. More freckles were around her nose and cheeks, distinguishing themselves from her almost white skin. 

'Beautiful...' Was all that Arthur managed to think, before she turned her head towards him. The red haired woman followed her daughters eyes and also glanced towards Arthur. Then she looked down...and back up. "AHHHH!" The younger girl shouted before turning around and running back into the house. 

In that moment Arthur remembered that he was still completely naked! He quickly covered himself with his hands, dying in shame. Lightning cackled again, and suddenly Arthur felt covered. Looking at his body, he saw some clothes that were clearly too big for him on him. 

'Just how fast is he?' Arthur couldnt comprehend the speed you would need to possess to do something like this. However he clearly had more important matters to attend to at the moment.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Arthur said to the red haired woman. She simply smirked at him before turning back to Elijah. 

"And who might that boy be?" She said in a relaxed tone, however Elijah knowing his wife knew she was boiling! If he said anything wrong he would taste another explosion!

"Well you see, I found him in the forest! I couldnt just leave him alone there to die so I brought him with us!" Elijah said, trying to explain the situation to his wife. "He also has incredible amounts of Zeal in him, despite clearly not even knowing what it is." He whispered that last part, making sure Arthur couldnt hear it.

A suprised look appeared on the womans face. She looked towards Arthur and examined him. 'More than an Adept Rank without having trained at all? Interesting.' She smiled towards him and gestured for him to come closer.

Despite being unsure, Arthur got closer to the woman. Seeing her upclose was really something else! Her fiery red hair perfectly contrasted her pale skin. Her red lipstick was sticking out against her skin aswell! Dressed in tight black clothes with red ornaments and decoration, her curvy figure was accentuated even more.

"Hey there sweetie, whats your name?" The woman asked Arthur in a motherly tone. 

"Arthur." He responded. "Arthur huh? Well you can call me Emory. Dont mind my husband, he's a bit childish sometimes." She whispered that last part, even though Elijah clearly heard it and his lip twitched. 

"Do you have any family that you can return to sweetie?" Emory asked. Arthur hesitated for a bit before stating "No, not really.". He winced while saying it, family or a place he belonged to were sore topics for him. 

Emory picked up on it, feeling sympathy for him. "Its okay Darling, do you wanna stay with us for now?" She offered.

Arthurs eyes basically sparkled. "If you'll have me" He said, earning a headpat from her before she turned back to Elijah. He simply nodded with a childish grin. 

"Come with me kiddo." Elijah said, dragging Arthur with him. The inside of the house was even more mind boggling than the outside!

The walls and floor were made of some kind of white marble. Decorations made of gold and expensive looking crystals were everywhere! Elijah and Arthur quickly went to up to the third floor through the incredibly astonishing stairs.

Even a king could be overwhelmed by this luxury! As they reached the third floor, Elijah pointed to the right side. "Go down the hallway, then right. There will be your room. Rest for now, we'll talk about the rest later." Elijah explained, suddenly dissapearing only leaving behind a spark of lightning. 

Arthur followed the instructions, arriving infront of a door with a small inscribing on the wall saying 'Guest Bedroom'. He opened the door, only to see a room double the size of his previous living room in the orphanage! 30 kids used that room at the same time! 

He had never seen a room this big. However he was suddenly assaulted by pure exhaustion! He had been walking through the forest for hours, fought a weird plant beast, survived about 50 attackers and then walked here till nightfall! 

Quickly taking off all his way too big clothes besides his underwear, he jumped into the bed. As soon as he was under the blankets, he immeadietly passed out.

~~~

"Wakey wakey kid! Come on we dont have all day, you dont want your breakfast to go cold do you?" Elijah knocked on Arthurs room and called him down for breakfast.

Arthur woke up groggily, still tired from yesterday. 'Tsk.' Arthur clicked his tongue but quickly got dressed and headed downstairs. Still overwhelmed by just rich this family was! 

'Just who are they? Maybe some kind of royalty? But why would they live inside of a Cursed Forest then?' Arthur speculated, however no reason he came up with made sense. 'Whatever, I'll just ask them later on.' He decided.

Reaching the first floor, he walked into the Dining Room. He couldnt even be suprised anymore at how big and luxurious it looked, he just had to accept it and move on. On the dinner table a huge array of foods was prepared. Emory was still cooking some stuff in the kitchen, meanwhile Elijah and the other girl he had seen yesterday were already sitting down. Elijah was happily munching down on some food, meanwhile the girl was still waiting.

She glanced towards him, her cheeks flushed red and she quickly looked away. 'I need to clear up this weird vibe between us.' Arthur noted.

"Sit down and eat kid." Elijah said with a grin, his mouth stuffed full with meat he had bitten off a giant turkey leg. No genuinly, it was massive! Easily as big as a humans thigh.

Arthur sat down next to Elijah but didnt start eating yet. Emory carried some more food to the table. She then sat down and looked at Elijah and saw him happily eating. 

"YOU COULDNT WAIT AGAIN?!" She said, red liquid forming around her thumb and middle finger. She then snapped, sending a explosion over the table straight in Elijahs face. He flew backwards, crashing into the wall with full force. 

Unexpectedly, the wall hadnt been destroyed. No more like, it hadnt taken damage at all! 

'Just what is this house made off?' Arthur wondered.

"Haha! I'm sorry m'lady. I just couldnt resist your divine cooking skills." Elijah said, appearing next to his wife and giving her a quick peck on the lips. This made her relax instantly again. Elijah was, of course, completely unharmed by the explosion. 

Arthur still couldnt quite believe his eyes. All these weird abilities. It was so interesting! He wanted to learn more, he wanted to be able to do that aswell. "Woah." He unknowingly said.

All three turned towards him, making him realize what he said. "Oh sorry, I was just...well impressed by your abilities." Arthur explained. 

Emory smiled at him. "Heh that so? Of course, I'm strong you know." She said, proudly pointing at herself with her thumb. "Dont worry kiddo, I'll teach you some cool stuff aswell." Elijah exclaimed, getting a weird look from the daughter. 

"Anyway, I'm sure you're very confused. Lets quickly introduce ourselves. I'm Elijah Stormcrest. The Strongest.-" He proudly declared. He sure was confident. "You've already met my beautiful wife Emory Stormcrest.-" He said, giving her another quick peck and smile. He then reappeared near the girl. "And last but not least, this is my daughter Claire. Claire, he's Arthur." Elijah said, finishing the introductions.

"Nice to meet you." Arthur said to Claire. "Likewise." Claire responded, clearly not very interested in him. 

Arthur didnt mind, he just smiled and made a mental note to just leave her alone if she didnt want to talk with him.

"Anyway, lets dig in!" Elijah said, licking his lips. They all sat down and began eating, lightly conversing throughout it. They asked a lot of questions about Arthur and he answered as much as he could without revealing that he wasnt from this world. He also asked a few questions about them, learning interesting things about them. After a while Emory asked him a deeper question.

"So Arthur sweetie, what exactly is your plan? Do you have any goals on what you want to do? You can stay with us of course, but do you have anything that you personally want to do?" Emory asked. "Plan?" Arthur asked and started to think. He wondered that himself. 

It was very clear, this world wasnt his. It wasnt the planet earth he had lived his last 16 years on. There were weird abilities, dangerous people, dangerous beasts but despite all that there were also very generous people, unlimited possibilities and endless new things to learn and explore. He had to make a decision. What was his goal? 

"I want to live a long and fulfilled life. I would like to start by learning more about the abilities you guys have shown." Arthur answered. 

Elijah gave his wife a smug look before turning to Arthur and declaring. "Heh, I knew you'd say that. I could tell from your look that you wouldnt be able to resist the temptation of Zeal." 

"Zeal. Yes. I would like to learn more about it." Arthur said. Claire gave him a unidentifiable look, that he simply ignored. 

He was brought to a world with some kind of magic, which teenager could resist the temptation?

Before even completely finishing the meal, Elijah stood up and said "Come on kid, its time for your first lesson. Claire, join us after you're done."