"There!" A familiar voice, resounded through the halls outside the library, followed by the sounds of rushing footsteps and rigorous winds. Sicarius returned a book to its shelf and sat on the table just as his mother and the witch appeared in sight within the library.
Agatha caught sight of his boy and let out a smile, and yet when she saw who was beside him she froze.
"Greetings Founder!" Agatha greeted,
"Founder?! Greetings!" The witch did the same as soon as she saw the old man.
The old man nodded with his expression stern, "Agatha, Synthia, why are the two of you making a ruckus so early in the morning again?"
The witch, Synthia, smiled sheepishly, while Agatha lowered her head in shame.
"Agatha here lost her son, so I had to help her find him because she was so distraught."
Agatha scowled at the Synthia's words and rebutted with a jab of her own, "If only someone didn't scare him from returning by telling him threats when he's just going to the bathroom."
Synthia scoffed but she did not reply. She just glared at Sicarius while dragging her finger along her neck menacingly. The old man peered at Synthia and Agatha then redirected his look towards Sicarius.
"Agatha is your mother, boy?" he asked,
"Yes, mentor," Sicarius responded,
Mentor? Agatha and Synthia tilted their heads, doubting their ears whether they heard right.
"Agatha, I'm taking your son as a student."
"What!?" Agatha and Synthia replied in unison. Synthia paled while Agatha's mouth was hanging in confusion.
"But my son is just 6 years old, sir founder!"
"What's the matter?" The founder crossed his arms, "Haven't you trained him as well."
It was only natural that he would assume that. Heightened intelligence and physical capacities of such a child could only be from training, it was too impossible for it to be natural. That would be a miracle that the old man had not enough hope for.
"Sir founder, I did not train him at all."
The old man paused and let his bushy brows furrow,
"That's impossible!"
"I would not dare to lie to sir founder, Sicarius has never been trained in any way but he's always been a special child. In fact today is the first day he spoke." Agatha said in all seriousness,
The old man seemed flabbergasted. This boy had never been trained? So his body's overwhelming strength is natural? Not only that but with such a sharp tongue he had only spoken today? This boy could already speak more articulately than any young man he's ever seen!
The implications of such realizations did not escape him. This means this boy had actual potential, the old man did not dare say it was limitless, however it was already enough potential to attain status 5. It all depends on the boys dormant power, if it was as miraculous as his intelligence and physical strength then status 8 may not seem so impossible.
"Sir has the all seeing eye, you can judge for yourself whether I am lying."
Sicarius glanced at the old man. The journal from earlier belonged to him after all.
The old man closed his eyes in thought and flashed Sicarius a narrow gaze, "Starting tomorrow I will train you at my personal training facilities, if you are not at the top of the tower by morning I will take that as you have given up and I will not entertain you anymore."
"But sir founder, he-"
The old man raised a finger, "Let the boy decide for himself, Agatha."
"I will see you tomorrow, mentor." Sicarius answered, to which Agatha was crestfallen, while the old man seemed satisfied.
"Good, you may now return to your duties, both of you have classes to teach." The old man proceeded to levitate away before he paused, "What's the boy's name?"
"Carius, Carius Gray." Although out of sorts, Agatha replied.
"Carius, meaning; at great sacrifice." The old man snickered as he started to levitate away once again, "What a perfect name."
Once the old man was out of sight Agatha could simply sigh, she felt as if she'd lost time with her son. It's Sicarius's first day of speaking, Agatha would have loved for herself or for Hanzel to be able to talk and bond with him now that they knew he wasn't deaf nor mute.
"What just happened?" Synthia asked then she eyes Agatha, "Why do you seem so devastated when the founder himself is going to train your child?"
"You would only understand if you had a child." Agatha paced towards Sicarius and held his tiny hands, " We should make get going, as the founder has said, we have classes to teach."
Synthia merely shrugged her shoulders. Her plans of scolding the kid was no more, the kid had attained an untouchable status in such a quick time. She can do nothing but walk to her class. Leaving Agatha staring puzzled at her own son as they parted ways along the corridor.
Sicarius was sure she had many questions, however, she did not ask anything until they went home, where Hanzel found out what happened too.
"How the hell?" Hanzel reacted as soon as he had the gist of it,
"That's what I want to know." Agatha focused her green eyes on Sicarius, "Carius, will you mind telling mommy what happened?"
"The old man asked me if I wanted to be his student," Sicarius answered with a blank face as he always does, "I wanted to so I said yes."
"How the hell," Hanzel again, "can you speak so well? Oh my lord I bet he got my genes of smartness! Or maybe it's his power?"
Sicarius glanced at Hanzel with dead eyes, "It's just natural for me to speak like this."
"Back to the point." Agatha snapped her fingers, " He just asked you randomly, son?"
Sicarius replied with a nod.
Agatha pinched the bridge of her nose while gazing into Sicarius's deep violet eyes. This child was no doubt special. To his calm demeanor to his articulate manner of speech. He was capable of great things, thats what all mothers would like to think of their son.
But the founder was a strict teacher. His teachings were likened to torture, and most young powereds wouldn't last within a day of his training regiment.
Of course as his mother she should be her son's greatest supporter and if the founder with his all seeing eye sees potential in him then she will have to trust his sons abilities.
The question was Sicarius's childhood, and his bond with them as his parents. They loved Sicarius no matter what, but they felt like they lacked time together. The both of them wanted to take Sicarius to places, to let him have fun, to have conversations with him, anything that would ensure that their son had a happy childhood.
"Carius, I'll allow you to go, you tell me if the founder ever pushes you too hard and I'll fight him I don't care who he is." Agatha said as her eyes lit up with fire, "And whenever you're training is over and you're not tired, you have to spend time with me and your father."
Now to Sicarius, the first condition will never happen. The 2nd however was quite troublesome.
Seeing Sicarius deep in thought Hanzel spoke as well, "We just want to make sure you learn to smile more often son. Maybe I'll get a chance to take you to work too, show you the cool weapons at the police barracks."
Hearing this Sicarius made up his mind,
"I will, father and mother."
And thus Sicarius has taken a step forward once again towards the apex, not knowing what the old man had in store for him on the day to come.