The White Darkness

By Helbaworshipper

False Treaty Arc: The Tutor's Laugh

Growing up in a place without much hope was not abnormal. His adoption into the Lotis Tutor family had been only after a long amount of struggling. Perhaps with his own future. Still, he had a goal in his life. To serve someone who truly was the master of all. That's why he did so much to make sure anyone with even a little talent could become truly powerful. In a way, Alice had taken him by surprise.

Right now as he escorted her into the ballroom he could feel it. All the attention on the couple everyone wanted to end up together. He could also feel Alice's awkward way of looking ahead to avoid causing trouble. Truly, if she caused trouble, it might be better. Perfection was not something one had to achieve. You either were perfect at something for that moment or you weren't.

"Did someone come to visit you?" He asked, looking over at the brown-haired girl with a calm gaze.

"King Wakamiya," she spoke softly. "He was asking if it was worth keeping you monopolized for his son's marriage to be delayed."

"He has no need to worry of such things." He saw her look towards him a bit confused. "If I was someone who could be bought by such decisions, I'd have done so."

"Still, what should I do?"

"You should continue to learn, unless there's a problem?"

"What if I can't help Mayura even after all this?" This question felt wrong. Helping Mayura when the woman did everything wrong? How dare Mayura even remotely be as much a worry? Still, he supposed her talent had been something he thought of as a good shot. It was almost a joke when she begged him after a day.

"Even if you could help her now, your test is waiting." He saw her gaze lower a little. "I promise your true value will show one day soon."

Taking a break from the mass that was nobility was hard. The moment he let Alice go to do what duties she could was when most would beg him for his services. It was well known that you couldn't just take a tutor from royal. However, if one agreed to share with another, they could at least get one or two lessons a month. He had been alright with this for awhile, but it got quite annoying when he couldn't find any promising talent.

Frei had been an anomaly when he trained the royal. He barely needed training and while he struggled with the methods, he survived. Not many since then could even remotely meet the standards he needed for taking an apprentice. Still, he had no desire to have many apprentices at once. He had before and the battle had taken all of them.

"Are you not attached to your student?" A voice asked that he knew right away.

"And you are not attached to yours?"

"Unlike you, brother, I listen to people when given a good deal." Kazuki was good for laughs like this. He took a sip of his champagne carefully as the light of the dance floor showed the rather annoying amount of money spent on the stone of this place.

"A good deal is when you know it is." He turned towards Kazuki a moment. "You do realize that I know what you did to her when I was with Mayura."

"What are you talking about? I'm a proper-"

"Don't lie to me." He spoke, chilling the figure beside him. "If you're going to lie, then do so properly."

"You still hold it against me that I made her stay locked in there for hours?" Eric could remember the exact event.

Mayura's training with him was already failing utterly. She was trying to basically tough it out, but he could tell her energy and mind were at odds. Without really caring much about how it looked, he told a maid to keep Mayura energized properly so he could see what his brother touted as duties. The girls were younger, so there shouldn't be a huge difference.

Yet… as he approached the door, it was locked. He pulled the key out and slowly unlocked the door. Kazuki had had a few days head start, but why would he lock the door? He opened it to quite the scene. The library's books were piled up all around one of the tables. As he moved closer, it was even worse. Kazuki had no presence in the library. In fact, only a young brown haired girl sat there. Her hand looked like it had ached.

Certainly he had been worried about how tired she looked, and now he knew. The pile of parchment kept going and he couldn't stand it. He moved closer as he practically had to hide his eyes from the glowing ink. How could… How could Kazuki ignore someone this talented?! Still, he had to be careful. She was so exhausted at the moment a shock might cause an avalanche of books. Quietly he formed a Riiya barrier around her and the spoke beneath his breath another word. Slowly her hand dropped the quill and he carefully caught her body before it got covered in the drying document.

Without hesitating on his decision he had practically moved into the main dining hall that lacked Mayura due to her attempt to adjust. Kazuki had come and was quite confused as he held Alice in his arms.

"So, is this what you call teaching?" His brother's face paled as he knew what was going on. "Leaving a girl locked to write for hours without any guidance?"

"She doesn't even know-"

"Then you teach her the basics! She's exhausting her lotis for five hours of writing for what exactly?!" He looked at the shocked parents for a moment, not caring what punishment or lack would happen to his inadequate brother. Taking what was a powerful user and using the must horrible way of teaching… "I promise this won't happen again."

"Of course I do." He simply answered back, putting his finished glass down. "If you'll excuse me."

It was the first dance of the ball and of course all eyes were on Kyo and Mayura. He would have offered a dance to Alice, but she certainly would deny it. The setting was calm enough for now, but he could feel it right now. He knew what was about to burst into this lovely night.

"The Moon is ready." Samuel spoke, hiding behind him for a moment.

"And the stars?" He felt a familiar shape come into his hand. He had missed it considerably for all this time.

"Is it the red or blue one?"

"Start with the red one. Tell Kayna to be ready as soon as it breaks." He moved forward a few steps as he could hear it. And at the center of it was someone not to be at all messed with. He smiled as he saw Kazuki heading towards it. He moved with a practiced pace to get in front of him.

"Brother! Why are you-" He felt a shock for a moment as the clothes he wore changed. Slowly, forming on Eric's body were the tell tale robes of black. He slowly looked down to see that he had just been stabbed in his heart. He tried to speak for a few moments before the Rajika dagger fully and utterly destroyed what he had not been prepared to fight against.

"Let's go to master now, shall we?" He spoke softly as the ballroom turned into chaos.