"No! You're not going anywhere!" Mrs. Brunson shouted for the umpteenth time. Making it quite clear she wasn't about to change her mind.
"Y'all better shut your yaps in there before I get mad!!" A loud angry voice came from the living room. The mother and son immediately descended to whispering. They knew the next time, Dred wouldn't shout, he will just act and they didn't want to see what he would do.
Ethan,who had told his mother that he had been asked to come stay with one of his teachers whose class he was failing and who had offered to teach him personally for a month so that he wouldn't fail the qualifying exams that would push him to his final year as a senior in school was now wondering if his excuse had been too shallow.
"Mom, please. This is schoolwork. I need to go live with him. Besides, he's a teacher. I will fail if I don't let him help me." Ethan pleaded. What had even made him think convincing his mother to let him go away for a month was going to be easy? The woman was so stubborn. He had forgotten this stubborn side of her and now he was paying for it.
"For a month? What if something happens to you? How would I know how you're doing? Even if I can't move properly, in here I can crawl over to you when you need me. How will I get to you where you're going if you need me. I can't lo..lose you too." The woman burst into tears. "I just can't. You're all I have left." She sobbed silently.
Ethan's heart was shattering with each passing second. He hated himself for making her cry. Normally, when she cried, it had something to do with Dred so Ethan found it easy stocking Dred's punishment for all the times he had hurt him or his mother.
Dred's punishment, which Ethan had spent the better part of the last 7 or so years stocking for later when he had power was now bigger than the titanic and Ethan planned to give him every single punishment without mercy. Especially regarding all the times, Dred had given his mother pain. Now,he Ethan was the one giving the woman pain and he wondered if he should start stocking up punishment for himself as well.
"Mom, please don't cry. I'm not leaving you. I never will. I just really need to do this. It's for my Future. Your future. Our future. Not counting Dred. You want me to be successful, right?" Ethan asked his mother as he sat beside her on the bed. She was still crying, with her face hidden behind her palms.
Mrs. Brunson nodded to Ethan's Question and proceeded to wipe her face off tears with her palms. "Of course I want you to be successful", she said with small sniffles. "But what will you eat? Your job. You will lose it. I just can't help but worry. For.. forgive me." Her lips started shaking as she said this.
Ethan didn't want her to start crying again. He was already feeling like shit as things were. He didn't want to feel worst now. He quickly hugged her in an attempt to stop her from bawling her eyes out again but that was obviously the wrong choice to make as the woman started shaking in his arms whiles sobs racked through her body.
After about a minute of crying silently, Mrs. Brunson stopped crying and nestled deep into her son's chest. Ethan brushed his fingers through her hair silently. "Look, mother. My teacher gave me a phone so that I and you could keep in touch at all times.", Ethan pulled out the phone from his side pocket and showed it to his mother after they had separated. "Also, he has spoken to Jerry from the restaurant so I have a month's pass. Also, my teacher has a helper at his house who will prepare our food and help with chores. Everything is already planned" Ethan informed his mother.
Ethan had refrained from telling his mother about Hermes making him stop his job at the restaurant. He didn't know how his mother would react to that news and he wasn't ready to find out. He figured it was best they discussed that occurrence another time.
Mrs. Brunson nodded in acknowledgment of her son's words as she looked at the beautiful cellular device in fascination. The phone looked expensive. She found it hard to believe that someone would just give away something like that for free. "Under what condition were you given this expensive phone?" Mrs. Brunson asked bluntly.
Ethan was a little surprised his mom knew the value of the phone but he remembered that she was using phones waay before he was even born so she would definitely have some idea about the pricing just from looking at it.
"The only condition was for me to try my best to pass and move on ahead in school. Look, mom, I'm not going far. I will give you my number so that we can call and talk to each other anytime at all. I need to do this for our future. I need to be able to protect you and me from that man. I'll visit you anytime I have the chance I promise." Ethan told his mother.
"Okay then. I don't want to be the one to stop you from ascending to greater heights. I want you to be a great person in future someday. If this is how that dream can be achieved, then I'll let you go. It will be hard living here without you but I will manage. At least we will get to talk on phone. Just promise me that you will learn with all your might and pass this test. You are no failure. Also, please stay safe for me." Mrs. Brunson whispered the last part.
Ethan hugged his mother again, tightly. How he loved this woman. He had decided he would give her all the money Hermes had given to him the previous day as his monthly salary. He wouldn't need it now that he was going to live with the Protector. Mrs. Brunson needed the money more than him. "I promise to stay safe mother. And don't worry, I don't intend to fail this test." He mumbled into her neck as he hugged her.
'DING!'
Whiles Ethan and his mother were talking, many things were happening in different places. The dark forces had mobilized all their forces and spread them out to go search all the different realms for the boss's lost item. Each realm was to have ten people searching for the item. Each group was headed by a strong leader whose job was to make the search as fast as possible. Even with this arrangement, the generals were still doubtful their cronies would be able to finish the task in time. One realm could take years to search.
The best they could do was finish in a couple of months then they would have to move on to the next realm since the mobilized forces were still too thin to spread over all the realms. Each team was going to search at least three realms. The generals themselves were now still with their lord whose temper kept growing worse with each passing day. He was the reason why they were spread so thin.
Anytime he got angry, he burnt about two dozen low-ranking minions. Even when the generals had tried to send all of their minions to go search the realms, he had ordered 2000 of them to stay behind just so he could burn them anytime he was in a bad mood. The generals were at their wit's end. They themselves were now worried. Today, they had sent a small scout team to go look for the Protector that escaped. They were sure that finding the Protector was key to calming the boss so they were eagerly waiting. That Protector better hide well. They weren't going to let him escape a third time. They all thought just as they heard painful and dying screams coming from the big boss's throne room.