"Dinner's ready!" Eir, Blake's mother, called from the kitchen.
Blake had spent the whole afternoon browsing through the century worth of memories. He did not know how to describe his reaction. It was too surreal. All the things he saw were so unrealistic and unexpected. He was not talking about after the invasion. Even before it, the next five years of his would have been life changing even if his future self did not come back.
When he came downstairs, his parents were already at the table.
"Blake, are you feeling well?" When Eir saw her son, she felt something was off.
"I'm alright, why?" Blake did not know what else to say. He could only scratch the back of his head.
"Come on, eat then", Eir motioned for him to take a seat. Her eyes were still full of concern.
Blake did not notice it as he sat down and grabbed the rice bowl. Because of the fusion, he was extremely hungry even after he had eaten lunch.
Just when he was about to put the spoon in his mouth, his mother snatched the bowl from him.
"Something's definitely not alright! You didn't wash your hands!" She covered the concern with a thin layer of anger. She was especially keen towards hygiene and matters regarding health.
"Oh!" Blake did not want to anger her and scurried off to wash his hands. He glanced at the side to see his father laughing at him. He did not know why but he did not shoot an angry gaze at him like he usually would at times like this. His father realized it too and curiously eyed him up and down.
Getting back to the food, he raised the topic.
"Dad, mom, is magic real?" His question was too sudden, making Brom splutter out the food in his mouth.
Both of them to look at each other. They were surely debating about who would answer him. Blake could somewhat understand the words behind those flickering eyes.
'He mentioned you before me, you'll answer'
'The last person he called was you, you do the honors!'
After five seconds, his father let out a sigh as he said, "Son, everything exists as long as you believe it does"
"Then, do ghosts exist?"
"You know, they do. One of the scarier ones even lives under this roof", Brom secretly pointed towards Eir so that she would not notice it but he still received a blow on his head nonetheless.
"Why do you ask?" Eir questioned as she composed herself.
"I saw someone spraying water with his hands on some dark thing in the air. The water drilled through the thing, creating holes in it. It was like the man was cleaning the dirt on the window", this was not a lie. He truly saw this scene, in his memories that is. "I tried to approach the man but he vanished in thin air before I could reach him", now this was a lie.
"Damnit! Those exorcists! Can't do things secretly!" Brom suddenly cursed out. After realizing what he said, he hastily covered his mouth and turned to Blake, "I didn't say any thing! You heard nothing!"
Eir face palmed.
"Exorcists?" Blake thought about how hard it was to act like he did not know anything.
"People who drive away evil spirits", Eir explained.
"Can you control water too?" Blake asked Brom, his tone was of a kid who thought that his father was better than anyone else.
"Control water? You think so lowly of me? Your father can- oops, maybe I should just take my leave...", Brom stood up and went out speedily to take his evening stroll.
"I want to shoot lightning! Teach me!" Blake tried his best to make his dormant and cold eyes sparkle.
"Ugh! He left just after throwing the bombshell...", Eir gritted her teeth.
"Ah... Son, it's getting late, your father knows more about such things. Ask him in the morning. Be a good boy and go to bed early! You need to get up before your old man sneaks out!"
Blake nodded but before he could even turn around to head back to his room, a voice came from the window.
"I won't teach him the boring stuff! Just send him to the Academy! I'll think about imparting my skills once he develops the foundation!" Brom had not left yet. But he did after he said what he wanted to.
"There's an Academy?!"
"Seems like he hasn't been getting his beatings properly!" Eir gritted her teeth.
Blake made his leave before his mother directed her anger towards him. He knew better than anyone else how ferocious his mother could be.
...
The next morning, he was sent to school after being continuously reminded about keeping everything magic-related inside his belly. He only got enough time to say, "What goes in won't come out".
School was uneventful. He was a loner with little friends. Little. He had a few but all they did was practice silence. That was the thing that brought them together. Come to think of it, Blake doubted he had ever spoken to them even once.
He did not go back home right after school. He had gotten enough understanding of the situation through the pile of a century worth of memories. Even without his future self, he thought he must do something. Waiting was something he was very bad at. Judging by what he knew, he formulated a plan. The first step would be to ready the next generation in line before the invasion so the survival rate may increase if the attempts to stop the invasion fails.
He decided to start from people he knew and people was or would be close to.
After about five minutes, he arrived at an arcade.