"A MAN WEARING SUNGLASSES DOES NOT VIEW THE SUN LIKE ONE WHO ISN'T. THE FORMER HAS A CLEARER VIEW THAN THE LATTER"
Alex stormed into his room full of rage, he didn't believe he just got beat up by Thibaut again. He had always hoped that someday he'd take on Thibaut and defeat him in the most embarrassing fashion, and he thought he was making progress but just realized he wasn't. It was as though Thibaut's power increased with every fight. But that wasn't the main issue, the question was how Thibaut broke out of the drope.
He sank into his bed faced up, staring blankly at the decking. He had thought of several ways to increase his fighting skills, he already had as much power as many gods would only dream of but he couldn't diversify his attacks with it. That was a big let down and he knew it, he had been told tales of the previous protectors and how powerful they were.
They were fearful and no one dared cross paths with them and go free, but where was he missing it? Why was a teenage Lion feeling like a domestic kitten? Alex questioned himself for a long time, recalling every fight he had with Thibaut in the past and mistakes he made.
He laid on the bed, lost deep in thoughts and suddenly drifted to a sub- conscious mode. He saw himself all covered in dark flames, he could feel raw power oozing out of him. He walked into a crowd of gods and they all gave way for him, he was savouring the moment when he suddenly snapped out of it.
When he broke out of his trance, he met an old man dressed as a servant who works in a fancy mansion. He wore a white shirt and a pair of well ironed black trousers with black shoes and he bow tie to match, he was even better dressed than many free men.
Alex was stunned by the man's looks, he was handsome despite his age and that complimented his perfect outfit. After assessing the old man for a while, he finally remembered that Thibaut's base was secret and unknown to anyone but this old man was in his room somehow. How? He's got to be dangerous, Alex's danger instincts finally kicked in.
He picked up a special dagger he made by himself from his solar energy and Cynthia's craters, it was one of his most reliable weapons. He only used it on 'worthy opponents' as he called people who could test him in a fight. He didn't know this man's strength but getting into Thibaut's base alone was enough explanation and he wasn't taking any chances.
He immediately poured alot of energy into the dagger but that was a dangerous strategy because it was getting late and he had a natural allergy to sun down or dawn, this was because his energy came directly from the sun. By sun down or dawn, the sun was retired and his energy levels seemingly drops drastically. So pouring that much energy into one attack was being penny wise and pounds foolish and he knew it, but he was doing it anyway.
He intended on ending the fight very quickly or at least weakening his opponent and then calling for reinforcement, he chuckled at the thought of that. He knew he wasn't letting anyone help him out in a fight. 'Call it whatever you want, I can take care of myself' he'd always say.
'spheew' the dagger flew as if it contained Alex's rage in it, the flames he infused in it grew darker and one could almost hear them roar. In a flash, it was in front of the old man and had driven into his heart and out through the back. It didn't stop there, it flew like it had mind of its own. It cleanly sliced the man's head, making it fall off in slow motion and splattering his blood all over the room.
Alex looked at the dead man in disgust, he had a weird feeling about this though. No one could bypass the energy alert system in Thibaut's base except he had reached a very high stage in the god ranking, so if he had that much power why would he die so easily?
'Or did someone sneak him in? If someone did, he'd stay to protect him knowing he's not that powerful.' he was thinking deep to clear the uneasy feeling he had but he couldn't focus, the stench of the man's blood was abnormally heavy and he couldn't take it anymore.
He turned to leave his room and get something to clean up the mess when he felt strong danger behind him, he turned sharply cancelling out the attack with a solar shield.
He was beginning to feel the heat, he had been beaten severally by Thibaut but he didn't know what it felt like to run out of energy because he never had. To him, this was a whole new experience.
He couldn't keep up with the quick attacks of his ambusher so he was relying on his solar shield to survive so far, and it wasn't looking like a good plan.
His solar shield was one of the first moves he learnt when he got his power, it was made from a simple concept. The shield needed to be reinforced enough to withstand string attacks so he just poured out raw energy and condensed it, this made it have a strong resistance to almost any attack.
'booom' Alex's shield dissipated. His assailant released a super strong shockwave completely destroying his shield down to the last bit, Alex stood rooted to the ground. Shock was evident on his face and he shook slightly trying hard not to show his fear, he hated the feeling of being scared and felt even worse when someone else knew he was scared.
He looked on as his assailant's sword made for his neck, he could barely blink. He felt weak and helpless, feelings he had grown to hate over time.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as he waited for the cold metal to make contact with his neck, he had accepted his fate and was proud to die by the sword. He always thought of what was beyond the living world when he was little and his parents would shut him up as if it was a sacrilege, he was finally going to see them again and his questions would be answered. No one would take them away from him this time, and if there was a hierarchy over there, he'd make sure to top it.
After a few seconds, Alex shut his eyes open. He was shocked at the figure in front of him, his assailant was the old man from before he thought he had killed. He quickly turned to the place where the old man's body and blood was supposed to be but it was all cleaned up, not a single drop of blood was left. Alex's eyes remained wide open in shock.
The old man dropped his sword and bursted into a very indecent laughter, "son, did you think you could defeat this old man that easily?" He asked whilst still laughing, his tone clearly showing mockery.
" You know, with your power you could be much stronger than I am" the old man said. This instantly drew Alex's attention, he loved when people acknowledge his power and the old man had gotten that right.
" I know" Alex answered confidently, he was feeling really good.
"Well do u think you will reach it with your current level of practice? Or your weak techniques and skills? You have to up your game son" the old man spoke confidently. His eyes lacked any atom of fear, he seemed like one who had gone through many battles.
Alex was now getting confused, he knew very well that he couldn't develop as quickly as he hoped with his current training and as far as he remained with Thibaut, "exactly, you need to leave the confines of this base, you need to see the outside world" the old man said.
Alex gazed at him in shock, from what Thibaut explained to him and his sister, only a higher protector can read a protector's mind. Did that mean the old man was a protector too?
"No I'm not reading your mind, I'm just reading your body language and guessing your thoughts, and no I'm not a protector". The old man chuckled, he was obviously feeling big at the moment.
" You see son, a man wearing sunglasses does not view the sun like than the man who isn't. The former has a clearer view than the latter." He took a brief pause to let his words sink. After affirming that Alex was following, he continued " I can take you to my boss, he runs an underground firm that trains young protectors from several universes, believe me you'll be stronger than I am in barely two months" The old man smiled assuredly.
Alex thought about it for a while, and that was enough for him to make up his mind. He really wanted to get stronger faster, he had convinced himself all along that he wanted to get revenge for his parents but he knew that wasn't the only reason, but he didn't know the other reason. It was just a feeling, but it was extremely strong.
"I'll go with you, but what about my sister?" He asked, he was sincerely worried he'd lose the only family he had left. He had promised to protect her with whatever he could and now was he just going to leave?
" Alex, you can contact your sister anytime you want. You're both protectors, I'll personally teach you to master your telepathy so you can communicate in your minds. When she sees your progress in few months, she'll come around" the old man succeeded in convincing Alex.
A portal opened and they both went in.