Alister scrunched his nose in disgust, and his distaste only grew as the car backed into the garage. His father had already waited in front of the door for him, and from his expression, even an utter fool could tell that he was cross.
His mother turned off the car and tried to give him a reassuring glance as she opened the door, however, her own anguish made it clear that her reassuring glance was simply a badly covered up pained grimace.
"Remember, if you don't stand up for yourself, nothing will change. Always be prepared to live with the consequences." Zeri's voice echoed in his mind, before his presence faded away again, leaving Alister with the chilling sensation as the only reminder he was still there.
Alister took a deep breath, steeled himself, and exited the car.
He had been given strength, and in a test of wills, it would be always up to how much he would be willing to bear the consequences of his choice.
"Dad." Alister greeted, while his mother tried her best to look smaller than she actually was. Though her stare was empty as she expected his dad's insults to happen, the fear and submission his dad instilled in his mother's mind was clear from her body language.
"Alister, what do you think you are doing?!" His father snapped, while Alister tried his best to not wince at the figure he feared almost all his life. "You're going to school to study, not to instigate fights! Do I need to teach you a lesson?!"
"But-"
It was just one word, but that trace of defiance was enough to stoke his father's anger and make it even worse.
"You ungrateful child! Do you want to live on the streets and fight with people for a few coins?!" His dad's face contorted in pure rage, as he lifted his hand, about to slap Alister.
However, Alister's improved reflex made him able to catch his father's hand in midair. Alister gave his father's wrist a slight squeeze, a warning.
"Apply a little more force and break his hand, would you?" Zeri said sarcastically in his mind.
Alister ignored him and proceeded to ask. "Would it really hurt you to listen for a second, dad?!" Alister snapped, all the weight from pent up anger from the circumstances of his life clear behind the question.
"Unhand me!" His father ordered, but Alister's grip remained strong.
"What should I do, then? All you told me my entire life was to study, to become wealthy and coast on life. Then what else?! Are resolving conflicts not important in your vision of my life? As long as I graduate and was able to pile the money you seek, you're okay with me getting beaten up almost every day?!"
"If you don't release my hand in three, I will make you suffer, Alister." His dad threatened again. "Three."
Alister watched with half-lidded eyes, as if unfazed by the threat at all.
"Two."
"Get on with it." Alister's grip tightened just a bit, enough to make him wince in pain.
"Release my hand!"
"Then listen." Alister demanded. "You are not only saddling my mom over inheritance, but you also cared nothing for me. Did you only marry her for this supposed 'inheritance'? You always tell me my entire life to work hard and collect as much money as possible for a comfortable life."
Alister's grip tightened again. Just a little bit more, and it would be enough to shatter bone.
"Then put yourself where your mouth is, and work for it."
Alister grabbed his mother's hand, released his father's wrist, and walked into the house, leaving his stunned father in front of the door.
--
Alister spent most of the day in his own bedroom.
"Zeri, are you there?" Alister called out.
Right as the words left his lips, red and gold smoke seeped out from the crevices of his room, before it coalesced into Zeri's familiar form. "What is it, Alister?"
Unlike before, they were not talking with their minds, and Zeri's voice rang clear as day in Alister's ears.
"You mentioned revenge against twelve families. Who or what are they? Do you know where they are?" Alister asked. "I did not have time to ask you before, so..."
"I understand," Zeri nodded and conjured up a ball of floating smoke above his right palm. The smoke ball shifted and stretched, turning into magical glass."
"The families are scattered, but their spiritual energy signature is clear, and I can track them. For now, the closest one would be the... Fioreta." Zeri concluded. "They are not one of the more prominent families, but the last time we fought, they fought with Nature element techniques."
"Element?"
"There are many different elements, and even the greatest element scholars still struggle to clearly define how each element intersects. But, most agreed that there are twelve elements, that is..."
Symbols started to appear on the screen from top to bottom.
"Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Nature, Divinity, Daemonia, Null or Void, Primal, Temporal, and Spatial. The last one is hotly debated but it's usually Outer magic. The elements are very self explanatory, Divinity and Daemonia refers to gaining strength from differently affiliated beings, Primal is a technique used to control elder elemental spirits that dwelled in almost every corner of the world, while Outer is a technique used to understand and communicate with beings outside our comprehension." Zeri explained. "Any questions?"
"You didn't tell me what Null refers to." Alister pointed out.
"Null, as the name implies, refers to non-elemental magic outside the two distinct Temporal and Spatial.It includes things such as illusions, mental manipulation, shape-shifting, and certain empowerment techniques. It was called Void as well, not only because it refers to how it has no element, but also because most of the practitioners use items and their more prominent figures are affiliated with the stars.and space." The screen shifted again, showing faceless figures performing standard Null magic. One imbued their weapon with a silvery glow, another turned into a massive dragon, and the last one was holding the hand of a hostage whose eyes were locked into a stare full of horror.
"Then, what are we?"
"The closest thing we are would be a Daemonia magic user, considering my original world and all. But standard Daemonia magic users imbue their weapons or items, while their partner only supplies the energy. Sharing thoughts like we do is considered an anomaly. If my calculations are correct, there are less than 100 people like us all around the world." Zeri waved his hand, and all the images faded into smoke.
"I get the gist of it. Then, we should hunt the one closest to us."
"Not so fast." Zeri dismissed the idea. "I love how eager you are being right now, but you going headfirst like that would just leave both of us easy targets. First, we need to increase our power by collecting this."
Zeri looked at the screen again, and a picture of a tall, purple plant lined with flowers. The plant glowed with ever-shifting light, and when Alister tried to look at it from a different angle, the glow turned red while the plant turned a sickly yellow. Every time he looked at it slightly differently, it would appear as a different color with a different glow.
"This is called the Moonlit Lavere, and we need to collect it at the night of a full moon."