"Ugh, not again! I just got it to work. What is it mother?" Hesara came into the room smiling. She had a tray of snacks in her hands hoping he would take something.
"Well, I wanted to talk to you. You haven't been showing up to dinner lately and you haven't been in your room or outside much either. Just how much time do you spend in here?" She walked over to one of the benches in the room and motioned for him to come and sit beside her.
"I don't know. I usually just go until I'm tired. What day is today?"
"It's Monday. How long have you been in here?" The look of concern in her eyes made Jacob look to the ground. He didn't like upsetting or worrying his mother. He knew it'd been days since he slept but he just never felt tired anymore, at least not enough to sleep. He would meditate and relax his mind enough so that his body could rest while he thought about how to improve his powers but sleep never really occurred to him.
"I don't know. I think I came in here two or three days ago, maybe? Time goes by quickly in here and I just don't bother to check." He knew his mother was watching him to see if she could find any signs of fatigue or if something was troubling him. He wished he could put her mind at ease somehow but he just hasn't felt the same since his awakening. There was something inside him constantly yearning to learn, to grow, to continue ever forward.
"You know you don't have to prove anything to your father or I, right? We have always loved you for you and nothing can change that." She put her arms around her son and pulled him in close. This hug lasted for mere moments when Jacob bolt upright and stepped away from the bench.
"But that's just it! Even if I don't have to prove anything to you two, I must prove it to myself that I can be just as good as the rest of them. They all got their powers so easily and I'm sitting in here still struggling. I'm tired of being the one that gets left in the dust." Jacob looked at the ground and his mother remained silent for a few moments and then she smiled.
"I know you are frustrated, but trust me, you will be surprised one day. You have your whole life ahead of you, don't base it off what your siblings say or do. Just be yourself and everything will fall into place." She got up and hugged her son, she lingered a bit longer than she might have needed then walked out of the room.
"Well that was touching. So how is getting the hang of your powers coming along?" Jacob whirled around and saw the hooded figure standing across the room from him just as the first time he met him. This time the figure seemed a little younger but still looked and felt familiar. There was just something about him that made Jacob feel like he knew him from somewhere but he simply could not place where.
"Who are you? What do you want? How do you keep just appearing here?" Jacob quickly closed the distance between them to stand right in front of the person before him.
"Who I am and how I appear will all make sense in due time. As for what I want, well let's just say I am investing in the future." The hooded figure moved in a circle around Jacob and came to a stop in the center of the room. "just listen to me and everything will work itself out. One day, you will meet someone who will change your life forever and you must be open to that change, got it?" Jacob couldn't see the figures face under what seemed to be an endless darkness. Try as he might this darkness would not respond to the power that lay inside of himself.
"What kind of things? You can't just come here and be cryptic expecting me to just understand what you mean. I might be an adult now but that doesn't mean I've experienced much yet." Jacob looked at the figure and waited for an answer. This man put Jacob on edge but at the same time intrigued him by the way he spoke and looked the similar to himself.
"Either way, you just need to know…" Suddenly the hooded figure vanished and Jacob was once again left alone with even more questions than answers. "Thanks a lot." Jacob yelled out into the empty space within the training room. He went to sit in the middle of the training room to meditate but Ankor walked in with a concerned look on his face.
"Son, there is someone here to see you." Jacob froze for a second and tried to process what he just heard. No one ever visits this place, let alone to see him specifically. How would they even know to ask for him or who he was? This place shouldn't be able to be found by any normal means and certainly not able to be reached by any normal means either.
"Someone is here to see me? But how did they get here?" Ankor looked at his son and the look on his face conveyed many emotions Jacob had never seen before. Fear, worry, and anger were all mixed together on his face but overall a sense of caution came through to him. He stopped asking questions and followed his father to the front of the house where a man was waiting for them. The man was small and stocky and held with him a suitcase made of what seemed to be fenhara* fur.
"Good afternoon, Mister Shadowmaster." The stranger said to Jacob's father. He had never heard his Father's true name before and this sent a chill through his spine. Why had someone suddenly shown up to speak to him and why did they know his father or about this place? "I'm sure you recognize me from before and I can assure you I am not here to take you back."
*fenhara = a quadrupedal marsupial found on various home realms of Nothings. They keep to themselves as best they can foraging and tending to their homes within the plains. They are commonly hunted for their fur as well as their bones. (They make a wonderful pet if you can train them properly)