"Serve me 2 full bowls of Fried Chicken and bacon. Oh and Add pudding for dessert." he stated his orders calmly in the register, but he noticed that the server was trembling while nodding his head violently.
He furrowed his eyebrows because he didn't understand why would he look so scared like he's gonna eat him.
Weird. He didn't even use any threatening words. It was same by the other staffs that was eating in the cafeteria. They'll constantly glance at him. But no one dared to speak anything.
The usually crowded and noisy cafeteria was unusually silent. Ah. Right, due to his infamous reputation, it's only natural for them to be wary of him. Looking back at it now, he always harassed them one way or another. He never done any violence though.
It was nothing but a mere tantrum that he was throwing because he was frustrated that he can't do anything to his cousins.
Truly pathetic.
(Wow HA HA HA HA! Look what you've done to them.)
Ardem's laugh makes him wanna hit him but of course he can't do that or he'll end up like Reynan earlier.
He didn't reply to Ardem's teasing. Even he want to defend himself, he also can't refute to that very fact. It was an expected result of his pitiful actions anyway. He stood quiet until he found his way to the seat near the glass wall. From there, he could see the cars and people passing by.
Ardem noticed his silence (Tch, you're no fun.) He sat beside him. His furry tail started swinging around like some puppy excited. (You--)
"You kept calling me 'you'. Its not like you don't know my name so why don't you use it?"
(I can?)
"Isn't it natural to call a being by his name?"
(No? The others doesn't let me call them by their name without permission.)
"Really? How do you all differentiate each other then?"
(We automically knew. Telephatic messages were often used when we communicate. But we don't interact with each other that much so, there was no need to address us with our names.) he casually replied, looking at the moving cars outside.
"I see."
(Our names are considered divine by the dragon's descendants and other species. So be thankful that you get to know me!) Ardem laughed again loudly.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes, and just brushed off another one of his brags. This dragon really do act like a child. As far as he knows, their race are known for being composed and their dignity as a higher race.
He doesn't know when the dragon's mind would mature but he's sure that they are not fools.
Ardem was standing on twos and raising its paws like superman.
(KU HA HA HA HA!)
Well maybe Ardem's an exemption.
A few minutes later, his order was delivered in their table. The waiter couldn't look at him in the eye, maybe scared. But he still did his job properly and acted politely, bowing his head before leaving.
He was quite delighted by the boy's actions so he didn't comment anything.
Meanwhile, Ardem started swallowing the entire bowl of chicken. The others who were staring at them pitied the poor little cat, they seem to think that he was not beeing fed and kept hungry for a few days. Hayden felt like he could read what's on their minds but decided to not pay attention and eat.
He forgot that he didn't eat for 3 days and that he was very hungry. So he ate as fast as how Ardem did.
(As expected! This is such a delicacy! Another bowl!)
After they were full, they talked about various things, and.. they bickered with each other a lot.
There were several answers that Hayden managed to obtain from Ardem. It seems that he was actually aware about the Universal Games' occurrence. A human once traded information with him in exchange for his own survival. He agreed of course since he was extremely obssessed with talking. And he had no intention of killing the human.
He wasn't a valid vessel for him anyway, so he let him go after.
He does not take pleasure in ending another's life. And so, he told him stories about how the Primogenitors created the Game. It was said that the Universal game was built in search of new knowledge of the universe.
As many years passed, the Game had further developed and was distributed among other universes that existed. There were still planets that hadn't been discovered yet. Nano Crown was created to ensure an agreement that it doesn't involve with a specie's mind.
In other words, it can't extract private informations manually unless if you tell her yourself. She can't also control your mind. And so, knowing this, various species agreed to have this mechanic.
He already knew all of this though. As of now, this Universe, particularly Earth, is still one of the undiscovered planets.
Now that they've talked about it, he was reminded of the things he needed to prepare. He still had to prevent his family's death. He knows that he will secure a support if his parents survived. But of course that's not the only reason he had to save them.
It was already night time when he went back to his room. His father didn't ask for his presence again. Well, he was a busy man, so it was understandable.
He wondered why he hadn't met his mother nor his sister thoughout the day but he remembered that during this time, they were in his Grandmother's hometown, located in the Philippines.
Their death was because they were travelling home. They were currently on a plane that time, when the notification appeared. Completely detaching their consciousness from the real world.
Because there were no person who was awake that time, Their plane collided with another plane which was passing by. It was only for a few seconds but it was enough to cause chaos in the world. Many had died. And the damages was huge.
It wasn't like the typical manhwa stories that you can read on the Internet. It was more horrible. Unimaginable. The cassualties were tremendous. It resulted various reasons. It may be from crashing, explosion, heart attack. Some died while being operated on. Some even committed suicide because they thought that they were going crazy.
While all that happened, he was still playing video games in his room, thinking that he was just hallucinating from having no sleep 3 days straight. He only found out about it when he saw the news on the Internet.
And a few days later was when his father killed himself. He was devastated but he still continued to play video games to hide his depression.
Not until he was kicked out of the family, not receiving any type of support.
He fell asleep while having a flashback about his life from then on.
Ardem, who was not a tiny bit sleepy, turned on Hayden's computer and decided to read and watch a bunch of stuffs in the Internet.
---
A few days flew by and there's only 1 week until the notification arrive.
He was still continuing his exercise as usual. His labor bore fruit. His body bulked up a liitle. And small traces of muscles was visible in his slender body.
A lot have been wondering what he was up to, it was quite unusual for him to be quiet. He didn't make any ruckus or problem. And Hayden can only be found in the gym.
Reynan was still following him around, nothing new. He was so stubborn, Hayden couldn't figure out his intentions at all and if he did know, he wouldn't care. He'll get tired of following him around anyway.
'He went to the workout gym again today' these were the thoughts of the personnels in Greys. The elders were confused as to why he changed so much. They thought that Alexander Grey were bulshitting them, saying that his troublemaker son had changed. But when they saw him behaving, they were doubting their eyes.
Still, they were still suspicious about his sudden change, so they continued to surveil him through their secretaries.
Hayden had already predicted this though, thus he continued to show them his 'neutral' behaviour.
'That's right, look at me. I've changed. And I'll be the one saving your asses in the upcoming chaos so you better thank me and give me support.',
There were no delay in his training. He recently found out that Ardem could help him maintain his endurance while exercising so he wouldn't feel tired at all. But because his power was still not at its best, there were some drawbacks. Which was the extreme pain after withdrawing his ability.
He was able to endure just this much. This is a small price to pay for him to reach atop.
Soon, he'll be doing this without the dragon's help anyway. After all, he could just buy some rejuvenating potions that are sold in the market in UO.
"Ardem, help me again today." Hayden asked the little cat
(One bucket of Ice cream and two bowls of fried chicken.)
Of course, he can't obtain any help from Ardem unless he bribe him with food. Hayden grinned, he was really glad that the dragon is so simple-minded.
"Deal."
[A/N: don't feed cats with this much Ice cream.]
A day before the notification, he steadily increased his stamina. His body that used to be fagile has now changed. Continuous training helped him in many ways.
"All my preparations are done. Now all I need is to talk with father."
He was now again standing in front of Alexander, his father's door.
He have now thought of various ways to convince his father. He clenched his fist before knocking on the door.
He will definitely change the tragic past this time.