(AN - Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna be messing with the novel's name for some time so don't mind that. Enjoy ^_^ )
"Do you think that God is real?" Ethan suddenly interrupted in the middle of the lesson. He was sitting on the chair calmly resting his palm below his chin in a thoughtful pose.
Earlene was surprised by this sudden question and became silent for a few seconds. She then put aside the book in her hands and said, "Of course God is real!"
"But how can you say that? Is there any proof?" Ethan asked calmly with a curious face.
Earlene became speechless as this was the first time someone had asked her or she had seen someone ask if God is real or not.
"See.. This is the proof..." Earlene said as she closed her eyes and extended her hands. The Emerald-bluish Spirit like particles once again appeared as they floated around her body. A slight breeze blew in the room shaking up the chandelier and the curtains.
The 'ting' sound of the chandelier sounded along with the rustling of the curtains. Earlene then slowly opened her eyes and everything went back to normal.
It was never enough for Ethan to see magic and he was very fascinated with it. In fact, he wanted to learn magic himself but so far he had no lead.
"But that can't be proof, can it? The power you have can merely be one of the Human Body's functions. Just like breathing and sense. What makes you think that God was the one who gave you this power? Have you seen him?" Ethan was relentless in his bombardment of strange questions and did not budge.
Earlene looked at Ethan skeptically as she didn't know what to think at this point. The type of questions Ethan was asking could easily be misinterpreted as heresy and that would be a world of trouble. But still, Earlene decided to think about these questions as that was her job as Ethan's Tutor.
Ethan observed her and his eyes sparkled as he saw that Earlene was giving genuine thought to his question and not running away from her job out of fear like the others.
"We have historical records of God's Existence. And there's also the Holy Scriptures as well as the existence of the Church." Earlene said with narrowed eyes.
Although she had answered the question to the best of her ability but this question was now stuck in her mind and it was bugging her for some reason.
"Alright alright... continue." Ethan backed off at this point as it would not be good to talk about these things in more detail at this stage.
There was an awkward silence in the room as Earlene did not continue and simply stared at Ethan with a strange gaze, 'That question... Is something that only either a retard or a wise person could ask. Just what are you..?' Earlene thought.
Ethan smiled mischievously as he leaned forward and said teasingly, "What's the matter, Tutor? Am I that handsome?"
Earlene suddenly jolted and blurted in a flustered manner, "Shut up! Now pay attention!"
Ethan's smile grew even wider as he was really amused. He once again leaned back in his chair cozily and paid attention to the lesson.
Nearly an hour passed and Earlene had been teaching the geo-political situation of the Atrana Kingdom in brief and Ethan was listening very attentively although he may not appear to be doing so.
He once again interrupted and said, "Say... what do you think this world is? Is it a plane? Or a realm? Or a rock?"
"Huh? Well... It's said in the Scripture that-" Earlene said but Ethan interrupted her once again saying, "Ah, The Scripture again?"
Earlene frowned in frustration and said, "Will you stop interrupting? I was about to say that although the Scripture says that the world of Akarxia which we live in is the Skin of the Allfather but I don't entirely agree with that."
Ethan's eyes widened and his mouth took the shape of an 'O' as he thought, 'Woah, that's some next-level bullshiting they've cooked up'
"So what do you think this world really is?" Ethan asked as he was curious as to what Earlene thought.
"Uhh, I don't know for sure.. I have no idea but I can at least say that what's told in the Holy Scripture can't be true. There's no justification for day and night, the changing positions of stars which is in a pattern, and many more other things as well." Earlene said and abruptly covered her mouth after realizing something.
"Don't tell anyone that I said all this... And you shouldn't talk about these things out loud either!" She said.
"Why?"
"Because it's Blasphemy! The Church will brand you as a heretic!" She said with a worried expression.
Although she was starting to doubt the rumors that Ethan was a dumb kid but his behavior was still too strange for a kid so she was worried that he would get himself in trouble.
"I got it," Ethan said and leaned back in his chair.
"Well, that's enough for today. We will continue tomorrow." Earlene said and heaved a sigh full of complex emotions as she stood up and began leaving.
Just as she was about to leave. Ethan spoke, "Wait!"
Earlene looked back and suddenly got chills down her spine as she saw Ethan coming toward her with hands behind his back, completely steady steps, a gentle yet mature smile, and firm, determined, slightly narrowed eyes that flashed with intelligence and wisdom which were almost hypnotizing.
His whole demeanor was completely flipped on its head and it was incredibly shocking, to say the least. But most of all, such a look on a seven-year-old boy would stun anyone.
Earlene subconsciously stepped back as she looked at the approaching Ethan and soon realized just how stunned she was. The whole thing was very uncanny in a way.
Ethan stared into Earlene's eyes and did not say anything as if he was looking into her mind, heart, and soul.
Earlene did not realize this but when Ethan looked into her eyes she subconsciously looked back into his eyes without flinching. It was in her nature to not give up so how could she avert her eyes from a child half of her age?
A strange pin-drop silence ensued in the room as both of them stared into eyes of each other. The silence was then shortly broken when Ethan spoke up.