CH 72.5 - Interlude 1 - Into the Depths

Fall of Autumn, Week 4, Day 3

“Crap,” Theo sighed, staring at his disheveled appearance in the mirror, “Mother is going to skin me.”

He set to work righting the short curls he’d rummaged through in his aggravation. Theo fixed the buttons he’d misaligned in his distress and generally straightened his whole appearance. Sure, Mother would give him grace because he was coming from Twilight, but not that much grace.

“And when she pries it out of me that I saw Nora, it’ll be ten times worse,” he grumbled under his breath. He usually didn’t make it a habit of speaking to himself out loud, but he found it quite cathartic in the current instance. Besides, the Hands of Dawn only reported what they thought was important. Which was often that Theo excelled at his classes and was steadily Leveling his Skills.

He’d met the competency threshold on them all long ago, and now he spent most mornings refining their techniques in Twilight before attending his courses. Unlike Raphael or Evelyn, he didn’t attend the Tower or the Swordsmanship Academy. No, he had to study the Callistan Empire. Memorizing noble families, exports and imports, weather patterns, anything that could help him navigate life in their court.

He was set to leave in Spring, after all.

To be a glorified prisoner, he sneered at his reflection before turning and leaving his rooms.

One day, he decided, when he returned to Maeve, he’d use every connection in the Callistan Empire to crush his elder siblings and take the title of Duke for himself.

[Status], he commanded.

[Status Summary]

[Name: Theodore Dawn]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 9]

[Unallocated Stat Points: 0]

[Vitality: 15 Endurance: 10]

[Strength: 14 Dexterity: 8]

[Perception: 18 Magic: 11]

[Luck: 12 Divinity: 3]

[0th Tier Class: Child of the Gods, Level Max]

[Boon: Druigr’s Blessing]

[1st Tier Class: Young Lord of Protection, Level 3/20, 2.2%]

[Skills:

0th Tier: Acting Lv. 12, Daggers Lv. 5, Inspect Lv. 9, Library of Thought Lv. 16, Mana Sense Lv. 5, Riding Lv. 2, Sparkler Lv. 6

1st Tier: Barrier of the Mind Lv. 18]

Dismissing his [Status], Theo continued through the halls, heading to his meeting with his mother. He was proud of his progress, but that didn’t mean much in front of the monstrous strength he felt from his younger sister earlier. He didn’t even need to activate [Mana Sense] to feel the magic rolling off of her—though he had. She was practically a mana spring. He knew it had to be because of her high Divinity. No one whose affirmation practically blinds people could level that fast. She had to be nearing level eight by now.

What did they do on that journey? Two months is crazy for seven levels.

Theo didn’t have much more time to think about such things, though, because as he was approaching his mother’s office, he saw something unsightly.

“Eve,” he greeted her politely with a bow of his head. He was going to pass her by, but her piercing eyes caused him to freeze in place.

“Theo.” The way she spoke always caused the hairs on the back of his neck to spring up with gooseflesh. But it had been nearly two years since she’d stopped holding him down and forcing him to do her bidding.

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To his credit, none of this showed on Theo’s face. Instead, he put on a nonchalant smile.

“How are you?” An attempt at small talk was stupid, but Theo wasn’t in the habit of letting Eve and Raph just get their way anymore.

“What’s the matter with you?” Eve narrowed her eyes and stepped closer, looking down her nose at her younger brother, “You’ve been chaotic today.”

“Nothing.” Theo waved away her question, “I’m just tired from Twilight.”

“Hmmm,” she hummed, “What happened that requires you to run to mother?”

Then she had that cat-like grin she always had when she knew something you wanted to hide, “Another threshold met?”

Feigning deflation, Theo slumped his shoulders and dropped his smile.

“Caught me,” he sighed, then leaned into a faux bow, stepping forward and ducking around his sister, “Now I’m headed off if you don’t mind.”

Just as he was confident that was enough, Theo heard Eve’s laugh. Like everything about her, it was unsettling.

“Tell Mother I said hello.”

And then Theo rounded the final corner away from his monstrosity of a sister. Dropping the facade of confidence, he approached the knight guarding the office. This needed to take priority. If he didn’t want his mother chewing him a new one, then Theo needed to be at the top of his game.

He felt [Acting]’s power roll over him, and he shook out his body.

“Sir Imrad,” Theo nodded to the man, who was wearing a full set of armor despite the fact that the manor’s gates had never been breached by an enemy force. Idiot, Theo thought to himself. “I’m here to see Mother.”

“Do you have an appointment, my Lord?” Sir Imrad asked lightly as if it was normal to need an appointment to see one’s mother in one’s own house.

“Standing appointment,” Theo nodded, gesturing to the calendar hung up on the wall by the door, “It’s Third day.”

“Ah, right,” then Sir Imrad glanced across the hall to the clock, “You’re late.”

“Yes,” Theo smiled, his Skill helping it to look sheepish instead of sharp, “Just a smidge, though.”

Sir Imrad let out a low laugh, then rapped his knuckles across the door. Within a moment, his mother’s aide appeared. He was a rail-thin elderly man with stark white hair and a monocle. His name was Emerson, and he was the bane of Theo’s existence.

“Lord Theo,” Emerson tutted, glancing at his watch, “You’re late.”

“Terribly sorry, Emerson, Twilight was delayed.” His Skill stopped him from grinding his teeth, instead showing a repentant young man with a wobbly smile.

“I’m sure.” Snapping his finger, Emerson turned around. From experience, Theo knew that was his cue to follow the man.

Stepping into his mother’s office, the walls grew dim. Despite all the light, this room always had this effect on Theo. Once, Theo had attempted to [Inspect] the enchantment that blurred and darkened the files and books lining the walls. All he’d gotten for his trouble was magical backlash and a nosebleed. Well, and a disapproving look from his mother.

“The Third Light of Dawn has arrived,” Emerson said it with such gravitas one could almost not believe it happened every Third Day. Theo watched, counting the seconds it took his mother to stop what she was doing and acknowledge him.

When he first started this game, he expected it to grow dull—much like everything else. Instead, he was interested in what caused his mother to sometimes make him wait upwards of a minute before she paused her work. The record was actually three minutes and twenty-two seconds, but that was an anomaly, and his mother had been particularly ornery that day. It was often around forty-five seconds.

That day, it was one minute and fifty-five seconds.

When his mother finally looked up, she had a severe expression on her face. It was practically the same face Eve had given him earlier. More gooseflesh crawled across his neck, but his Skill kept his face neutral. He only had another couple of minutes left, so he hoped she didn’t ask anything too pointed.

“What did you train in Twilight today?”

Okay, or not. Theo mentally swore.

“Today was [Daggers],” Theo lied smoothly.

“Oh? Have you passed the bottleneck?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.

I wish. He thought.

“Not yet, but I can feel it. I’m making it further in the trial every run,” he said instead.

“Hmmm, very well.” Her sharp blue eyes lit up, but Theo didn’t feel the power of her aura, so he was unsure of which Skill she was using. His mother had quite an esoteric set of Skills, and he’d only deduced a few of them.

“How is your sister?”

Theo froze, not even allowing himself to breathe until his Skill took over.

“Eve seems fine, you know, she’s working so hard.”

Theo hoped that was the right answer.

“No, the other one,” she said, a sharp smile on her face.

Theo could feel his Skill reaching its limit when he answered, “Leah is happy as ever. You know, a bit too young for anything else. We had a tea party the other day —she made me be the court scholar.”

His mother shifted, tsking.

“Now, now, Theodore. You know better.”

And with a snap, Theo felt his Skill end forcibly.

“Tell me, how is Eunora?”