Chapter 62

Alex sat on a wooden stool as he stared at the board he was writing on. His new uniform laid atop the old vehicle within the sinkhole.

'Four affinities, two at the Expert class, one in the Master class, and my original affinity, stuck in the Adept class. My range of influence is nearing four hundred and twenty feet.'

'When summer comes I will be leaving to train with my new mentors. And apparently next summer the invisible church I went to when I was younger, will be having a field trip so to say.'

Alex hummed as he went over everything in his head.

'And potions, potions potions. I have sent out the first batch and received the payment as soon as it arrived at the nearest delivery station. It seems some individuals are impatient for just a sip of it.'

He looked up, the once empty and dark cavity, was now lit up and had several runic formations. The rubble cleared and vehicle dusted off. A cauldron sat in the center of the room, a hand made workstation beneath it.

Alex sighed before gathering a mass of darkness. 'If darkness is the affinity which grows the fastest, then there is no reason to stifle its growth.'

After flipping off the lighting formations, the room somehow got darker as his domain appeared. Alex controlled the darkness with the power of a Noble class, and a halo appeared within a moment. His body shivered as it came into contact with the mana, but he didn't stop he controlled the pure mana that the halo expelled and created a second and more powerful halo.

He stopped there as he felt his spacial control trembling. 'This has to be close to the purity of mana that a Kings class mage would have. I'm surprised my spacial element is able to even keep up, although it helps that this energy isn't actively fighting my own.'

The two halos pulsed in sync as the room was filled to the brim with the energy, when the mana reached the roof where the ventilation was located, it stopped. The runic formation that was spread all around the massive room, worked ceaselessly to keep the mana within as Alex sat down and absorbed as much mana as he could.

After feeling his watches alarm go off Alex released his spacial energy. The dark mana lingering in the air for a moment before disappearing. He walked over to check up on the formation of runes, frowning as he saw that the perfect runes he had created looked like they had been in use for years and wouldn't last for much longer. After replacing them all he appeared in the middle of the woods, the sun just barely rising. After a run his home came into his view. He checked that the restroom was vacant, entered, and got ready for school.

Alex looked up at the gray sky an odd feeling coming up as he saw it, he shook it off and started moving to the school.

——————

"Dude Alex is famous now." Clay said in between bites of food.

"Your not going to leave us are you?"

"Why would I do that?" Alex asked as he played with his food.

"I've seen it in movies, what comes next is you living in a mansion and forgetting about all of us." Clay answered.

Alex chuckled. "Even if I had enough money to afford a mansion, I wouldn't buy one. It would be much cheaper to just build it myself in this day and age. You don't have to worry about me leaving anytime soon."

"I knew you wouldn't." Clay smiled.

"So how did the formation hold up?" Paul asked after everyone had finished speaking.

"Not too well, I think I might have to layer multiple formations." Alex answered.

"You might have to create a mana recycler, to power the runes." Paul suggested.

"I can try. It'll take a minute, but it should be possible."

After a tone sounded, they had all headed to their respective classes.

Alex and Paul, walking side by side to the magic building. Alex saw Michael and Daniel standing outside waiting for him. The look on their face somber and angry at the same time.

"Paul you can go ahead, we have something to tell Alex." Michael said as they walked up.

Paul noticing the mood nodded and continued on.

"What is it?" Alex asked.

"Your father and your older brother." Daniel started.

"We're both arrested today." Michael finished.

Alex went silent as he had no idea why his father would be arrested.

"Things don't look well for either of them, your father was pulled over at some point today with amarnian woman, a substantial amount of drugs were found in the vehicle." Daniel said.

"He doesn't do drugs. At most he drinks, he hated when my brother had brought home drugs when we were younger. Who is this woman?" Alex asked.

"They won't release any information about her." He answered.

"And my brother?" Alex asked.

"He was pulled out of work randomly earlier this morning." Michael answered.

"Then he should still be at the courthouse right?"

Michael nodded.

"Then I'll be back." Alex said.

"Don't do anything that you will regret." Michael spoke up.

"I just want answers." He said before heading towards the central town, leaping over the fence surrounding the school grounds.

——————

In the center of Dalifield Alex sat within the largest building, a piece of glass separating himself from his older brother.

"Hey Alex."

"Hey, can you tell me what you are doing here?" Alex asked the bluntness of his question almost visible.

"They told me that I was with a girl that was underage." His brother answered avoiding saying his point of view.

"Is it that girl you were with recently?"

His brother shook his head. "It's a girl I was with nearly half a year ago."

"What's her name?" Alex asked.

"I can't tell you that." His brother answered.

Alex set up a sound barrier and blocked and recording devices.

"You can speak freely now." He said.

"It isn't the girls fault, It's her dumbass parent's fault. The reason I broke up with her is because one day after bringing her home they asked me to give them some drugs for free. And when I said no those fucks went crazy, cursing me out and calling me a useless tragnantian." His brother looked down anger visible on his face.

"I know it was them, they waited until I turned eighteen until doing this."

"It's your birthday?" Alex asked.

"It was last week. You don't have to feel bad for forgetting, I know that you've been busy."

"Did you tell them about the parents?" Alex asked.

"I told my lawyer, he told me that that would only make things worse. This fucking place treats recreational drugs as if they are the end of the world."

"How long?" Alex asked.

"Four years. Me and that girl didn't do anything, and for all I know she should still be a virgin. They have nothing on me."

"Then why are they putting you away for four years?" Alex asked barely holding back his rage.

"Their word is more trustful than ours. Everyone here is racist, the judge, the jury, people, everyone."

——————

Alex returned to the school after turning in a large order at the delivery station.

"You find anything out?" Michael asked as Alex returned.

"Only as much as the public is going to find out in the newspaper. I only just barely got there in time to prevent his name from being spoke in front of the public. They really do give no protection to those who get sent away." Alex answered.

"You did good, at least all people can do is speculate. Two family members taken away at the same time is no coincidence."

"And my dad?"

"They revoked what little there was of his citizenship. He will be sent back to Tragnantia soon." Daniel answered.

"But just so you know, they did allow him bail. A friend of ours will pick him up and take him to a safe house. He will be a fugitive, but at least he won't be sent to a place where his children can't visit him on the holidays."

Alex exhaled a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, we want you to avoid having to worry. Otherwise our training this summer, and showing you the true state of the world, would be pointless."

Alex nodded.

"Since clubs are done for the year, I'll be in a private training room most of the time, training or working on projects for next year."

"Okay, get to it then. If we need anything we'll ask Deb for your whereabouts." Daniel said, sending Alex off.

Alex left and after getting into a completely empty room he opened a portal and pulled out several potions.

He looked at them for a moment before opening one and drinking it in one gulp.

The world started spinning, colors stopped making sense to himself, and Alex started hallucinating. He found himself looking around after hearing whispers appear everywhere,questioning himself on how he could see a whisper.

Just when he started to lose himself everything cleared up, but he didn't stop, Alex pulled the lid off of another potion and drank it.

His body finding a rhythm as every time the effects faded another potion was taken.

Alex sat down after track practice had finished, the cold air cooling down his burning legs as he sat on the curb and sent a message to his mother that he was waiting and that practice was done.

He pulled his backpack around to his lap to prevent the cold from freezing himself and to have something to rest his head on. He watched the cars on the highway hoping to see a familiar vehicle arriving, but finding himself watching the green grass waving around in the piercing cold January air.

A truck pulled up to him. He looked up as his coach spoke up.

"Are your parents on their way?"

Alex looked at his phone for a moment

"My mom will be here in a bit."

"Alright, I'll be waiting over there, if you end up needing a ride just ask." His coach said before parking in between the football field and the school.

Alex looked back towards the road, everything fading as a blank white wall replaced it. He looked at his hand, placing down the empty vial. He gathered all of the empty vials in a sack and sent them back through a portal.

He rubbed his legs trying to rid them of the goosebumps as he opened another portal, several rocks falling through. The smaller rocks immediately rose and moved throughout the air, while the larger ones slowly trembled before rising.

Alex's arm as if naturally reached out as if guiding the rocks and after a few minutes they fell.

Both his eyes and arms ached, as if they had truly been there carrying the heavy rocks, and not some mystical force.

Alex removed the rocks before laying down on his back to catch his breath. His mind wandering as he never caught a break from the strange visions from his affinities.