Rise of the Malactric Heir

"How can I assist you, Nina?" he asked as she sat.

"Was that your pal Alix?" she questioned.

"You can say that, sorry, but I didn\'t know he\'d say that about the princess, he was just informing me," he replied.

"Don\'t worry about it, I understand you don\'t know much about her, it\'s fine, and he\'s right, people will still judge her," she frowned.

"I know, she did nothing," he responded.

"You trust her that much?" she inquired, and he smiled.

"She is assisting me in more ways than one," he said, "what\'s not to trust?"

"Believe me, I know how you feel; she took me in as well; her most broken was probably Vellon, too," she explained.

"To be honest, he is still a mystery to me; I don\'t understand, is she that attached to him?" he asked and Nina smiled.

"Not in the way you might think; he is like a little brother to her; he sees her in a completely different way than the rest of the world does; they have a strong bond that hasn\'t been broken after all these years," she responded.

"Will she be able to fight him if he is truly evil?" he wondered.

"Of course, she will, she is probably the most strong-willed among us, and you are close to her after that," she said.

"I am nothing compared to that woman, don\'t mind me, how old is she?" he asked, and Nina smirked.

"Don\'t ask me everything about her; if you want to know her, talk to her, don\'t be afraid," she replied.

"Scared? "I\'m not afraid; I am just curious," he said, and she laughed.

"If you say so, I may have seen how beautiful she is, but I don\'t know everything about her, and I don\'t think I need to; hopefully she will show you guys her face as well, with time, of course," she replied.

"There is no rush; she can take her time; I think I can tell she is pretty despite only showing her rough sides," he explained.

"Is that right? You certainly observe well, which is one of the reasons you are my personal favorite; now, can I please have chocolate-filled croissants?" She inquired.

"Coming right up and thank you," he said as he walked away, and she sighed.

"He is a good kid, and the others are beginning to notice his rapid growth," Nina said as he brought her order and she paid him.

"It\'s almost night; what are you going to do next?" she asked as she rose to her feet.

"I am going to go home, have dinner, watch some TV, and relax because tomorrow we are going to need a lot of energy I know it is not going to be an easy fight," he said.

"You are right, it will be difficult, but I have a feeling you guys will win, she may not be here, but I can tell she will not miss the match, I will be there with the others supporting you guys all the way, I wish you good luck, not sure you need it," she said, and he smiled gently.

"Well, I appreciate it, and I want to prove myself a little bit as well, so I need it," he replied, and her eyes sparkled as she stared at him.

"Well, I\'ll see you tomorrow, bye Alix," she said as she walked away.

"Bye," he replied.

"Isn\'t she lovely?" Sally asked as she approached Alix.

"She is," he confirmed.

"Oh, when will you even get a date? Your life is still somewhat lonely," she said and he sighed.

" Seriously, I am fine the way I am," he said as he looked out and saw it was already night then stretched off.

"You can go home, it\'s already night, get as much rest as you can, and I\'ll watch your match on TV and cheer you on," Sally said.

"I\'m going to win no matter what, good night Sally," he said, and she smiled.

"I am glad you are confident, good night Alix," she replied then he left the bakery, heading home.

"Good grief, I\'m pretty sure that monstrous princess will look at the match tomorrow, no matter where she is, I better not screw up, she\'ll kill us," Alix muttered as he entered his apartment, locked the door, and threw himself on the couch.

\'Dral\'s words, they seem polite and he seems harmless, how does he know so much,? \'I don\'t think he\'s a threat to me,\' Alix thought as he took the scroll out and stared at the marking on the side, unsure what it meant.

"Seems like some ancient text, but I have never seen it before," Alix said as he opened the scroll and the map of the world started reflecting in it causing Alix to smile.

"Dral was right, everything he said about it was right, man he sure is mysterious," Alix said as his heart began to race and his eyes widened as he heard a woman scream.

"Not this again," he said, his eyes turning black and red and his arms formed an armored claw.

"I don\'t have control over my powers, this is never good," he said then clenched his fists, dropping the scroll on the floor as he stood up, but the scroll wrapped itself up and vanished as usual.

"Argh, this hurts my head, whose scream am I hearing?" he exclaimed as he collapsed onto the floor, clutching his aching head.

"Take a deep breath and calm down," a voice said as Alix looked around but saw no one. Suddenly, his pet wolf appeared before him in a smaller form and placed his paw against Alix\'s hand.

"You can hear me because you are my master now; you need to calm down and focus on controlling yourself, you managed to make yourself my master, I am sure soon enough you can get whatever this is under control, for now, get back to normal," the wolf said communicating with him telepathically.

Alix sighed, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the screams and focus entirely on returning to normal.