Tale of Eldramir

Needless to say, Ezekiel did not like the situation he found himself in, and regardless of his mental age, his currently childish form meant that his cringing and hiding further behind his mother’s legs was not abnormal. If anything, given the surprisingly intense stares that he was receiving from Aldor and his friends, it would almost be expected that he would recoil as he did.

Unfortunately, there would be no reprieve for him, as his mother gently nudged him forwards as she took a step to the side.

“Don’t be nervous Ezekiel, introduce yourself.” Evelyn said with a slightly strained smile on her face. Clearly, she was just as stressed out at this meeting as her son, but she couldn’t stand to see her only son so scared. It was so strange to her, to see the boy who was always curious, and always moving forward and wanting to know more, suddenly shy away from something for the first time in his life. It nearly broke her heart.

“Ah! Right.” Ezekiel said as he straightened himself up. “My name is Ezekiel Luminance. I hope that we can get along well.”

There was a quiet pause as Ezekiel’s finished speaking. The silence stretched on for a bit. Usually this is where the other kids would introduce themselves, but it was clear that none of them wanted anything to do with Ezekiel.

Glancing at all of them, he could see looks of disgust on two of their faces, a look of anger, barely hidden by disgruntlement, on Aldor’s face, and looks of pity and annoyance on the last two teenager’s faces.

Shari was the only one that didn’t have a negative look on her face, but instead she showed confusion. Clearly, she didn’t know how to react in this situation. Most likely her parents had told her one thing, and her brother had told her another, and she likely didn’t know which set of instructions she should listen to.

A moment of silence passed by as the adults and Ezekiel waited for the children to introduce themselves. A look of displeasure came over Allon’s face as he looked toward his son. Aldor didn’t say anything, and just looked away with an equally displeased look on his face.

Noticing the tension in the room, one of the two older girls spoke up.

“Hello Ezekiel, my name is Peni.” Said the girl who looked at him with pity. She had on a small smile now, as it seemed she was trying to be as welcoming as she could be.

She had a slim build and long green hair. She was also dressed in a light green and white shirt and a dark green skirt. Of the five older children, she was the only one who hadn’t been throwing around any spells when Ezekiel and the adults had first entered the room.

“This is Stephen.” Peni said as she gestured to the boy beside her. “Don’t mind him too much. He’s fairly quiet.”

The one who seemed annoyed at him. He had dark brown hair and was dressed in what looked like a school uniform. He was fairly skinny and looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep for the past few days. There was also a small gust of gray colored streams encircling his hand. Ezekiel hadn’t seen it before, but he assumed that this boy was a tempest mage. A mage who controlled the wind.

“These two are Alys, and Everet. They’re siblings, which you might be able to tell.” Peni said as she pointed out the other girl across the room, and the boy standing next to Aldor.

Alys was a fairly tall girl, with a somewhat stocky build and blonde hair. Surrounding her body was a perfect circle of sand which she had been using to shape into little figures. Everet was also fairly tall, but still shorter than his sister, with blonde hair and small spheres of water floating around him. These two were clearly cavern and glacial mages.

“And you already know Aldor and Shari.” Peni said before looking back at the boy with fire in his hands. His eyes narrowed at her momentarily, causing Peni’s demeanor to fall slightly. The look of pity she had given Ezekiel was back, but there was also concern. She was likely worried that she had upset Aldor, which she had, but everyone there knew not to say anything. Getting burned was painful after all.

“Thank you for the introduction, Peni, however, in the future you must remember that it is the host and their family that are meant to introduce guests to one another. Aldor!” Allon said with a frustrated tone of voice.

“Yes father.” Aldor said with disinterest. “In the future, should an actual guest arrive, I will be certain to introduce them properly. My apologies, Mrs. Luminance, for not introducing my friends.”

Unspoken was the fact that Aldor did not consider Ezekiel to be a guest. Though it was obvious what Aldor’s words had implied.

Evelyn simply glared at Aldor, before doing something that no one in the room expected.

She flexed her magic as Reya growled from her perch draped across Evelyn's shoulders.

Her shadow extended towards the corners of the room. Everyone in the room found themselves unable to move. The only exception to this was Shari, who didn’t seem to notice anything wrong, and Allon, who was aware of what was happening, but knew better than to interfere. He trusted Evelyn to not go too far. Besides, it wasn't like he, or anyone else in the manor, was strong enough to stop her.

“Thank you for the apology, little boy,” Evelyn said as if talking to an infant, “however, it is not me you need to apologize to.”

She gestured for Ezekiel to step forward. He did so, standing confidently in front of his mother and her familiar. He knew full well that nothing bad would happen to him so long as he was near his mother and Reya.

“Now, little boy,” she called Aldor once again, “I believe you have an apology to make to my son, don’t you.”

Aldor gulped silently as he found his body forced into a standing position. He found himself taking several steps forwards until he was right in front of Ezekiel. With eyes full of hatred that a thirteen-year-old shouldn’t be able to express.

Biting his lip in anger and frustration, Aldor calmly held a closed fist to his chest, and bowed ever so slightly at the waist.

“My apologies, Ezekiel Luminance, for my rude behavior. As the first-born son of the Alkena family, and heir to the Alkena Auction House, I should’ve introduced you to my companions after you had introduced yourself. I thank Madam Evelyn Luminance for her guidance in these manners.” Aldor said impeccable manners and clenched teeth. It was quite clear that he was angry, but his fear at the situation had outweighed any thoughts of further insulting the mother son duo at the moment.

“Hmph.” Evelyn made a noise of complaint, clearly aware of the fact that Aldor was lying through his teeth, and his apology was entirely insincere.

She felt slightly guilty at how heavy handed she was being, but she couldn’t stand how her son was being treated. In front of her eyes no less. She truly couldn’t understand how the son of one of her closest friends had turned into such a pile of flaming garbage.

Ezekiel on the other hand, could only sigh internally. He knew full well that, regardless of his confidence, he wasn’t going to be leaving the Alkena manor unscathed. Especially if he was left alone with these brats. But there was nothing he could do. One of the things he had studied over the years, and learned from his parents upon past promptings, was etiquette between mages.

“I thank you, Aldor Alkena, for your words of apology.” Ezekiel said with a monotone voice. He really didn’t mean a single thing he said, but he understood how frustrating his and his mother’s position was. Especially since there were at least three other children in the room that most certainly had connections to other nobles and aristocrats in the city.

“I hope that you and your friends can put this all behind us, as I don’t think there is any need for knowledge of this breach of etiquette to leave these walls.” Ezekiel mentioned as he looked towards the other children in the room. Each of them looked quite nervous, but not nearly as angry as Aldor.

All of the older children nodded their heads. They knew full well the consequences of acting outside their station, and whilst Aldor’s behavior, reprehensible in a public setting, and even worse when directed towards those of equal class as him, was merely considered rude when directed at Evelyn and Ezekiel, the fact that he pissed off a Tier three Mage was not something that should be made public knowledge.

This was due to the fact that Aldor, coming from a lesser noble family with ties to the aristocracy of the city due to his family’s auction house, was of a higher-class station than Evelyn, who was considered to be of the merchant class. The fact that he himself was a child also meant that his actions were not as great a reflection on his family’s name.

The fact that he was rude to Ezekiel, a child younger than him, and of a lower station than him, wouldn’t be something worth being reprimanded for if it had happened on the street. His polite words to Evelyn were also something that would offset his previous behavior.

However, due to the sheer difference in power, with Tier three mages considered to be high class when it came to magical ability. If it was let out that Aldor had pissed off a Tier three mage, then it wouldn’t matter what their social classes were. The Alkena family would receive quite a number of complaints from the rest of the high-class citizens in the city.

Luckily, the fact that none of the children in this room knew who Evelyn Luminance was meant that she was one of the few Tier three mages that didn’t like to have their names well known to the public. This meant that they would be able to keep things behind closed doors, so long as they themselves kept quiet. As such, it was a simple matter for them to all silently agree to not mention what had happened here to anyone outside the room.

Shari, of course, just continued to look around in confusion. Although she had run up to her father after seeing Aldor stand up at Evelyn’s command.

‘Poor kid,’ Ezekiel thought to himself, ‘She doesn’t deserve to grow up with a worthless piece of trash like this.’

Evelyn, seeing that things weren’t going to get much better, but that things had been formally resolved, looked at her son in admiration. She couldn’t help but feel proud at how her son was behaving.

‘Ha! My son might be a Void Mage, but he’s the most impressive Void Mage in the world!’ Evelyn thought to herself as she mentally cheered on her son from behind him.

Reya just pawed at her face, the equivalent of a human's face-palm as she listened to her bonded human cheer for her son’s well-behaved mannerisms. She loved her human, and her human’s son, but she couldn’t help but think that Evelyn behaved like a lovestruck schoolgirl when it came to Ezekiel. Not that she had any right to complain, as she turned into a pile of putty whenever Ezekiel started scratching under her chin in just the right way.

“Well then,” Allon said, his voice breaking through everyone’s thoughts as he clapped his hands together to clear the air as best, he could, “Perhaps it would be best to leave the children to themselves for now. I doubt young Ezekiel wants to sit around doing nothing as talk business, right?”

Evelyn looked unsure of herself but nodded in agreement. “Very well, Allon, I guess really should get at least some work done today. Ezekiel!”

Ezekiel straightened up as his mother addressed him.

“Be careful. Void mages are naturally tougher, physically, than other mages when they aren’t augmented with spells, but that doesn’t mean you should do anything that could get you hurt.” She said as she stared down Ezekiel with a look of concern on her face.

“Okay mom. I’ll be careful.” Ezekiel said as he walked towards the group.

Unfortunately, both Ezekiel and his mother knew that sometimes it didn’t matter how careful you were when outside forces were trying to get you. Aldor’s continued glaring did nothing to ease off any fears.

Evelyn and Allon left the room. Ezekiel was slightly surprised when he noticed his mother taking Reya with her. Usually, the deceptively small black feline would accompany him wherever he went, a silent guardian for when his parents couldn’t look after him directly.

Turning slightly to see the doors close behind his mother and Allon, Ezekiel let out a sign and felt a little bit of relief as Reya looked back and gave him a wink. The doors close with a soft click as the children are now left to their own devices.

Turning back towards the other children, Ezekiel couldn’t help but let out a sigh as he prepared himself for his next confrontation.