Belle sat by the fire, feeling a mix of relief and apprehension. The warmth of the flames brought comfort to his tired body, and the blanket provided some respite from the chilly night air. He watched as Greg and Liana disappeared into their tent, their voices fading away. It was quiet now, and Belle was left alone with his thoughts.
As he gazed into the dancing flames, his mind wandered back to his own journey. He had been walking for what felt like an eternity, searching for something he couldn't quite define. The desire to understand and control his powers weighed heavily on him, yet fear held him back. What if he caused harm with his abilities? What if he keeps hurting others?
Belle's thoughts were interrupted when the man who had woken him up approached the fire, taking a seat beside him. His face showed genuine concern as he glanced at Belle's worn-out appearance.
"Hope you are not having it bad here?" the man asked softly, his voice filled with empathy.
Belle nodded, grateful for his understanding. He opened his book and quickly scribbled a response, showing it to the man. "Yeah, I appreciate your kindness."
The man nodded, his expression thoughtful. "The Young lord sure overthinks a lot of time but from the much I can see he is not bad? So how did you really come to be here? Don't tell me you were going to the academy and got tired, so you decided to sleep. They can believe it, but I can't."
Belle hesitated, unsure whether he could trust this stranger with his secret. However, he needed to reply.
"I'm trying to find a reason to live," Belle scribbled and showed the man. By answering like that, he hoped to convey that he had his own reasons for being here, rather than appearing as a sadist who wanted to die but wasn't sure.
"Hmm, why do you say you are going to the academy then?" the man asked.
"I have never thought about the academy. My mum used to talk about how she would love me going to the academy and becoming a Guardian. Hearing them talk about it made me remember, maybe I can use that as a reason to live," he wrote. He knew that the best way to lie is by mixing it up with the truth.
The man looked at Belle for some time. "I don't really wish to know what goes on in your mind. It will be right if you tell me your powers, at least it will make things easier for us to coordinate when we get attacked."
"I can't die," Belle decided to stick with not being able to die since it would serve as a convincing reason why he slept off in the forest.
"What's your second ability?" the man asked.
"Good hearing," Belle scribbled and showed the man. "I can notice when people lie to me. As for my second power, I'd like to currently keep it a secret. You can be sure I will never let anyone know your powers. I only wanted to know it for precaution," the man smiled reassuringly.
"Okay," Belle said.
"I'll be doing some patrol now," the man said as he stood up to leave. "My second power could be nasty, I hope you consider whatever you want to do well." Leaving a subtle warning to Belle, the man left.
"How is it? What did you find out about him?" the butler, who had been hiding in the dark far away, asked.
"He has a couple of lies mixed with the truth. I can't tell which is a lie and which is the truth, but currently, I don't think any unforeseen stuff will happen," the man said.
"He sure isn't as simple as he thinks," the butler said.
"His ability to not be able to die seems really unnerving. I don't know if that is a lie," the man said.
"Not being able to die?" the butler asked, seemingly shocked.
"Yeah, he said he can't die. That must have been why he was comfortable sleeping here. If that is true, I think he would have already been in other sure-death encounters to know he can't die," the man said.
"Okay, you keep watch on him. Once we are at the academy, everything will be okay," the butler said.
"It is my work to do that," the man answered.
Belle, who was still sitting by the fireside, had a lot going on in his mind. True, his mother had always talked about the academy, how he might be lucky to awaken and bring them riches and respect since neither she nor his father could awaken, but now they were not here anymore. They couldn't even see his awakening.
"I have really told him the truth, but my powers never contain immortality," Belle thought to himself. Seriously, his power when he awakened was sonic scream and Telepathy, but due to mutating with the spatial zone, the Telepathy space changed to Perfect T and the sonic scream space got added two red S at the back. The Perfect T power makes him able to use any superpower that has the letter T starting them, but there were no powers of being able to not die that starts with T. He had wanted to find out the reason why he can't die because none of his wide lists of powers included not being able to die.
As Belle thought, the night wore on, and Belle found himself drifting off to sleep near the crackling fire. He felt really hopeless with less expectations for himself; living was just for the reason that he can't die.
When Belle woke up the next morning, he found Greg and Liana already up, their belongings packed and ready to continue their journey. They greeted him with warm smiles, and Greg patted him on the back.
"Ready to go, Belle?" Greg asked, excitement evident in his voice.
Belle nodded, feeling a newfound determination within him. He gathered his belongings and joined them on their adventure to Baddock Academy. As they walked side by side, Belle couldn't help but feel grateful for the unexpected companionship that had found him in the forest.
The road ahead was still uncertain, and Belle knew that his fears would continue to linger. But who cares, at most he didn't have to use any of his powers at all since he didn't know how it might turn out.