"Izik!"
Izik stopped from his tracks, breathing heavily as he turned to look at Sinclair. He was walking back with their friends. The guy was quick to dart towards him, brows furrowed. "Where were you? You missed the whole par—wait, are you okay?" Izik turned away from Sinclair's scrutinizing stares. God, he could feel the heat on his skin. Izik was aware of how pale his complexion was compared to others thus you can easily see him red whenever he was flustered. "Why are you so red?" Izik jolted feeling how Sinclair poked his neck with his finger as if a kid trying to touch something he shouldn't.
"I got to go," he simply said before quickly leaving, ignoring his friends that were calling his name.
/Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!/
Izik kept cursing in his head and he was someone who doesn't really curse that much. How in the world was he caught in the middle of Xanthe's secret love affair? He was so mad, rubbing the back of his hand on his lips. He could still feel his lips tingling, his blood was just rushing every damn where. It was also annoying how his stomach was flipping over and over again.
After Xanthe kissed him, Adeline yelled something and Izik was sure she cried before she left running. He tried not to glare at Xanthe for using him like that just to get his point across to Adeline that what they share was never special and he can do it with anyone else but Izik was rendered speechless when Xanthe was looking at him with a such surprised look on his face. His eyes were wide and Izik saw how he seemed to have broke in cold sweat. His expression then turned unreadable before becoming grim.
He was more surprised when Xanthe grabbed his collar and asked him using his deep chilling voice. "What the fuck did you do?" he gritted. He sounded so angry as if he wasn't the one who just suddenly kissed him.
And that was Izik's first kiss to boot!
He can't believe his first kiss was wasted on something like that!
Izik pushed him away. "You're the one who kissed me? What do you think you are doing?" He'll probably have his head somewhere hung in the walls of the palace of Soleil but back then Izik was no longer thinking. His reactions were all emotional and instinctive.
To put it simply, he was pissed.
Before Izik could say more, Xanthe pulled him and kissed him more. This time deeper, more intimate. Izik tried to push him away but he only got swept by the moment. The Prince refused to let him go, holding him so desperately that it hurt. Soon, he was kissing Xanthe back. Something in him was compelling him to do so which was ridiculous because Izik never had any desire of kissing anyone or being intimate with anyone.
Dating and relationships had always been a hot topic among his friends and classmates but it was something that Izik thought could wait. It was not his priority. It wasn't his priority. Stopping on his track, Izik let out a groan. He felt so fucking embarrassed and frustrated. How in the world did this night ended like that?
Why the fuck did he even get mad if he will only end up kissing Xanthe back?
Cursing, Izik hurried back to his dorm, and gods, the walk was so damn long he wished he had those teleportation magic that some Hunters have. Reaching his room after nearly thirty minutes, Izik locked himself inside. His sponsor got him a solo room which was a huge deal because it meant, the sponsor was paying more. He lay down in bed and thought about what happened.
He hoped, he fucking hoped to the gods that he will never cross paths with Xanthe anymore. Well, as long as he doesn't go to the main building and he stayed away from the Hunter faction then he should be fine.
With his eyes on the ceiling, Izik wondered about the weird sensation he felt during the kiss. It was far from the romanticized description he heard from his classmates. It was nothing like the romance books he happened to read before. It was as if there was some invisible force that flows all over his body. Closing his eyes, Izik thought how that must have been what it was like to have a mana path. You feel it flow in your veins, down to your fingertips and all. It was weird but it wasn't a bad feeling. It left a certain unexplainable satisfaction in him.
"Augh!" he tossed and turn in his bed. Why was he even thinking about the whole thing? It was so stupid. Xanthe was an asshole. Why did he even let himself be used like that or be swept away like that? "You are an idiot, Izik." he groaned to himself.
Xanthe Soleil...
It was hard not to know who the guy was when they were required to learn about the seven candidates to inherit the throne. As far as Izik knew, Xanthe was an elemental Hunter, or well at least that's what people knew. It was said he was an elemental however no one had ever seen him use his magic. He never used his magic. He fought without them and still dominates any fight he got into. He fought so much without magic that people started thinking that he wasn't an elemental and was rather an enhancer because of his inhuman strength and speed.
However, Izik was also aware of the rumors about the reason why Xanthe doesn't use his magic and it was because he was not compatible with a single Guide. Guiding for Xanthe was nothing but excruciating pain. According to some rumors because of how Xanthe felt nothing but pain with Guides he had killed several of the Guides assigned to him.
/"I heard that if Xanthe uses his magic and with that amount of mana, he's at risk of being a Fallen... and because of how he's the strongest Hunter the Empire can't risk him falling or we're all doomed,"/ Izik remembered Sinclair telling him back when they were studying.
How scary... if someone like Xanthe fell then the entire empire was doomed.
Not wanting to think anymore, Izik allowed himself to fall asleep. Suddenly his body was exhausted and aching everywhere.
The next morning, he had to delay his trip home for their school break because he unexpectedly got sick.
It took Izik almost a week before he got better. Good thing Sinclair checked on him before he left or Izik will be left alone with a high fever and shivers. At some point, Sinclair had to carry him to the infirmary and they had to call an Acolyte for him but since everyone had gone home only low-level Acolytes who don't plan on going home were left in the academy. It took them some time before they finally broke his fever.
As soon as he got better, Izik packed his things and left to travel back to his hometown on a nonstop five hour train ride. When he finally got off, he let out a sigh. Maybe he should have stayed in school? But it had been a year since he went home. He doesn't want his already dilapidated house to get more... well, dilapidated.
He dropped by the market to buy himself some food before renting a carriage that took him to the only thing his stupid father gave him and his mother—an old house.
According to his mother, Izik was a happy baby. When he was born, he rarely cry and would giggle more because of this his mother named him Izik which means laughter. Growing up, Izik was what you'll call a happy child—always laughing, infinitely curious, a bit mischievous, and adorably smart. He was his mother's pride and joy.
Or at least until his father stopped dropping by and sending money and support.
It was maybe when he was six years old that his mother left. Telling him that she will just go and buy food in the market only for her to never come home. It took Izik two days to understand that she was never coming home and he has to start fending off for himself. It wasn't easy and Izik's only consolation was he was a smart kid.
As he grew old, he learned the truth about his parents. How he was a son of a Baron who was popular for having numerous affairs and was rumored to father so many children that he then abandoned and some didn't know of. His mother was the daughter of a marquis that fell in love with his father. When his mother was supposed to be shipped to the other side of the country to marry another noble, she ran away holding unto the promise of his father.
They had Izik out of wedlock while pretending to everyone that they were commoners and when the weight of having Izik was something they no longer want to bear, they decided to abandon him.
Was he mad about it? For the longest time, he was. It was the only thing he clung to just like how he clung so desperately to the hope that they will be back and they'll be happy again.
But in the recent years, all Izik felt was indifference.
The ride on the way home was silent. He thought he'd miss the whole place but he felt empty. When he got down, he paid and thanked the driver. He eyed the old house that Izik worked hard to make a home out of but now just looked like a neglected mess with all the weeds growing all over. A sigh left his lips as he mentally noted all the work that needed to be done. He has at least almost three months before the next school year starts. That would be more than enough to fix the place.
"Okay," he clapped his hands, "Let's get to work!"