Chapter 55

'It's hard to accept it.'

'But it makes sense. It makes too much sense. The fact is that I would never know for sure until I get confirmation, until then I have to be thankful for those around me.' Alex thought as he released a pent up exhale.

Somehow he had managed to remove the knot from his gut and a weight had lifted from himself.

But in the process he felt numb, like he was loosing himself. He checked the chained soul within himself but found nothing out of sorts. He then looked up. Alex could feel the calling that had showed up from the completed runes humming.

After shaking his head and clearing everything from his head he entered the potions building, a calm yet somehow different expression coating his face. The pain that usually was seen behind his eyes was replaced with… nothing, nothing but an empty gaze.

After making his way back to his seat, Alex sat next to Taylor and asked how James was doing.

"He is finalizing the potion right now." Taylor answered while he looked down below.

Alex looked down to where James was. He saw his signature ring of flames around the cauldron. 'He believes that the key to perfect brewing is a a perfect temperature, and from how well he does, he may just be right.'

Alex watched all of the brewers below. All of them seemed to have an endless amount of mana as they each poured their own elements into their cauldrons.

'Alex.'

'Sam? What is it?'

'Our sister is stirring whatever you are doing it's working.'

Alex's mind went blank as he stopped paying attention to what was around him. He checked his dark affinity and was surprised as he found that he was nearing the the end of the expert class. 'I spent none of the past few months working on my dark affinity. Every moment was me working on my spacial affinity and the other two. I can't break through here.'

'Tomorrow we will probably be teleported out, hopefully I can do it there. If not I can risk leaving the dome when I return.'

Alex sighed internally as he lifted himself from his seat. "I have to go, I'm not feeling well and I tell you about it later." Alex told Taylor as he once again left the potions building.

Taylor only watched as Alex left with a face full of concern. 'I hope he is okay.'

——————

Alex entered their cabin and went through his belongings and laid on his bed. He cleared his thoughts as a big smile filled his face.

Alex thought back on him memories trying to pick out all of the positive parts between them as he forcefully tried to change his emotions. Within himself his light affinity glowed, as he remembered his surprise party a few months ago. His smile twitching as his thoughts flowed trying to interrupt the memory.

'It could be my last party as well.'

His dark affinity was attempting to overpower the light affinity, but for the first time Alex was not on its side.

'It won't, I've made sure of this.'

Alex laid on the bed fighting his brooding spirit for what felt like an eternity, his broad smile eventually fading into a serene and calm face.

——————

Duncan walked over to where Taylor was sitting as his eyes looked over all of his students. "Where did Alex go?"

"He wasn't feeling well, it seemed to be urgent." He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I don't think he will be back anytime soon, this is the second time he had to leave the building since they began brewing." Taylor answered.

Duncan nodded as he looked behind him.

"Well when you see him again, just make sure to tell him that the potions master is looking for him." He said before heading back down to convey what he had just learned.

"I'm sorry, but he seems to have been not feeling well recently and probably won't be back before the potions competitions end." Duncan said as he entered the a separate room below.

"That's fine, there is still a good portion of time left here, just make sure he stops by before leaving." The woman Alex had met before said before dismissing Duncan.

Duncan let out an exhale of relief as he exited the room. 'Such a scary woman.'

He climbed back up the stairs giving a wave and a smile to the other instructors and students he passed. His ears perking up as he heard Alex's name being called out by a student he was passing.

"Are you sure he got first place? I thought I would have made it in time to watch him compete, and when I saw him leaving earlier I thought he had dropped out of the competition…"

Duncan's eyes flicked for a moment but he continued moving on. 'The light mage from yesterday? I wouldn't have thought she would even acknowledge his presence much less hurry to watch him compete.'

Duncan smiled internally as he praised his student, for somehow managing to draw the attention from the least likely of people.

——————

A few hours later.

"Alex we are back." Taylor said as he walked up to their bunk.

Alex was still lying down his eyes closed and seemingly asleep.

"Alex?" Taylor said before putting his hand below Alex's nose and feeling his breath flowing regularly in and out.

Taylor exhaled a breath of relief before taking ahold of Alex's shoes and pulling them off along with his socks and afterward pulling Alex's blanket above Alex.

'I guess all the training from mom does have a purpose.'

'Duncan did say he didn't have to go immediately, hopefully he'll be better if he gets some rest.' Taylor thought before laying on his own bunk and pulling out his phone, planning to watch over Alex instead of heading out as he had originally thought of doing.

Alex gave a small smile as he was still conscious, but fighting breaking through. After a while of going through his memories, he grew tired and his already closed eyes, didn't help to keep himself conscious.

'Hey you! You can't sleep there!'

Alex wiped his eyes as he looked around.

'Listen kid, you're gonna have to move, shops opening and actual customers are going to be coming around soon.'

Alex looked at the woman with a confused look before turning around to see everything around him. A bustling street filled with pedestrians and several ancient vehicles around.

'Where am I?' Alex thought as he moved away from the shopkeeper who was shooing him away.

'A dream?' Alex's heart sank as he remembered what he was doing before he had fallen asleep.

'Is this the memory? I guess there is nothing I can do to stop it at this moment.'

Alex looked around for a moment. 'It feels just as real as all the other memories, but why does it feel…' Alex looked down at his hand, and then he waved his hand.

'I'm living in the memory!?' Alex thought as he moved his hand out of the way revealing a face in a puddle. His own face, the same face he saw everyday in a mirror, except this one was more sunken. It looked as if Alex would become a skeleton if he continued to deteriorate.

Alex's thoughts were put on pause as he felt a rumble within his stomach, the scent of food flowing out from the shop he had just left. He watched as several families entered the shop and ate their fill.

Alex checked his pockets but couldn't find anything.

'Alex, what are you doing just standing there hurry up and get to work, the shop won't open itself.' A voice from the building beside Alex spoke up.

Alex followed the voice and entered the shop. 'So much clothing!' Alex thought as he looked at the endless maze of a store in front of him.

He froze for a moment as a man walked up to him and put a broom in his hand.

'What are you waiting for? Get to work.' The man said before sitting down at a desk and looking for something to busy himself.

He looked at the broom which looked like it had been worn down from years of constant use and started sweeping. Alex didn't even look around as his the growl of his stomach seemed to motivate him to get through this strange memory.

'I haven't eaten all day, last thing I had was a mushroom, and I only took one bite.' Alex thought as he moved the bits of dust and dirt into a pile.

Alex paused for a moment before closing his eyes, and summoning some spacial energy. He swept the floor around him for a moment with his energy before he felt it shatter.

'Alex! The use of magic within the city is not permitted, if you want to get paid stop clowning around.' The shop owner said while slamming the heel of the book he was reading on his desk.

'He broke my spacial energy? That easily?' Alex was shocked as he looked at the owner of the shop. Alex looked around the world shook and twisted as he used his newest power, every pedestrian had tidal waves of power surrounding them.

'What is this?'

Alex stopped looking around as he finished up the last of the sweeping.

'Don't leave it there, put it outside.'

Alex looked at the man confused, but he swept the pile to the door as he saw a serious look on his face. He brushed the pile outside of the shop and went back in.

An hour later Alex left the shop with a sour look on his face. 'They just throw feces out of a window.'

He placed the coins he had earned inside of his pocket before looking around.

Alex felt a sense of being lost as he looked at all of the food shops around on the busy street.

'Such a short job and it feels like I only have enough for one meal. Is food scarce? Why is the cost of living so high?'

Alex entered the shop he woke up outside of and looked at what they had. 'What do you want?' The voice of the woman that woke him asked.

'Can I have a bowl of soup?' Alex asked.

'You can't just have it. Do you have a dollar? Because that is how much it costs.'

Alex reached into his pocked and pulled out what he had made today. 'Is this enough?' Alex asked laying it down on the counter.

The woman looked at Alex for a moment before poking the coins and counting them in front of him.

Alex immediately realized that she was taking advantage of him. Whenever she added two coins that were identical to the total she couldn't even remember the number she had given to the first one and made up another.

After she finished counting, she spoke up. 'I'm sorry but you don't have enough for the soup, with what you have you would barely have enough to get a piece of bread…'

The woman continued talking but Alex couldn't hear her as a he blocked out what she was saying.

'. . . . . . .'

The woman before him was looking him and lying to him as if it were as natural as breathing. The look on Alex's face shifted as several emotions stormed through himself. He had no clue what was going on in this memory, but he knew that he was some homeless kid who was on the brink of death just trying to survive and this lady was cheating him out of a meal.

The woman finished speaking and a smirk appeared on her face for a moment.

'Kill her'

'No, I could just take it.'

'No even that is wrong, I could just leave. Maybe I could have better luck with another shop…'

Alex paused as several thoughts in his mind clicked together.

'A Dream? This feels like an over exaggeration of my own life. Well, if it is then might as well get some food before waking.' Alex thought as he looked at the lady in front of him with a smile.

'I think you must be mistaken, you said that it was one dollar and I gave you three.' Alex said while pointing at the coins on the counter.

'I'm definitely not mistaken, I even counted it…' she paused for a moment as she looked down at the notes in front of her.

The foreign coins from before, had changed into a currency he was familiar with.

'I'll take the bread to though, I just got done working and I'm famished. You can keep the rest though.'

The woman frowned before nodding and heading to the back of the store.

Alex closed his eyes as he got ready to enjoy his imaginary meal. The smell of the warm soup that the cook was preparing grew stronger and stronger.

The warmth from the soup seeming to get closer and closer.

He opened his eyes and had to stop himself from jumping back as he saw a bowl being held in front of his face.

"See I told you it would wake him up." Dylan said as he pulled back the bowl.

"We already had dinner, but your stomach has been louder than the video games that the kids from Crowdsville have been blaring, so we decided to get you some soup. Taylor said it was the best thing for those who aren't feeling well."

"It was that bad, huh?" Alex said before carefully pulling himself up and grabbing the bowl.

"He is exaggerating just a bit. It did get pretty loud though." Taylor said while handing Alex a spoon and some crackers.

'You did however, manage to sleep all day though. Do you think you can compete tomorrow?'

Alex nodded. "whatever happened has seemed to pass. The only problem is trying to go back to sleep. I don't want to be tired for tomorrow."

"Well then I have some good news. Potions master wanted to speak with you. You could probably get a sleeping potion while your there."

"I will head that way in a bit. Just gotta finish this." Alex said in between sips of the soup.