Legacy Of Altherion

Nathan entered a crowded hallway filled to the brim with young hopefuls.

His final semester at Bracken University had just begun.

In order to graduate, he only needed to complete one subject, a schedule that would bring joy to any student. He too relished the idea, if only he had a different lecturer overseeing that subject.

Nathan surveyed the sea of faces until he found the one that he desperately wanted to avoid.

“Damn, he's early!" he said under his breath.

He hoped to submit his pre-semester assignment before the lecturer arrived. He really regretted sleeping in for an additional thirty minutes.

He attempted to sneak into the lecture hall by joining a group of students walking towards the brown door.

"Mr Gremzor!" a gruff voice yelled behind him. Nathan sucked his teeth and continued walking, pretending not to hear him over the rumbling voices.

"Nathan Gremzor!"

Nathan sighed and turned his head reluctantly. He presented a polished fake smile, and walked towards the second door to the left of him.

"Good morning Professor Groves, you're looking sharp today." he said, extending his right hand.

The tall, burly man with curly brown hair shook Nathan's hand.

Professor Groves had a peculiar fashion sense which only he found fascinating. He proudly tugged his leopard print waist coat as he graciously accepted Nathan's exaggerated compliment.

"Why thank you Nathan, these are actually my favourite pair of trousers you know?" the Professor said, pointing to his orange corduroy trousers.

Nathan nodded at the Professor's statement.

“Did you need me for something Professor?”

“Ah yes, an opportunity has arisen that I believe you are perfect for!”

‘I knew it, he’s always giving me unnecessary work.’ Nathan thought in annoyance, however, his expression reflected that of interest.

“What kind of opportunity sir?”

“A colleague of mine needs an assistant to aid him with his research. He asked if I had any promising students that I could recommend, naturally you came to mind immediately, so I told him all about you. He is eager to meet you.”

“What type of research is he conducting?”

“I don’t know the specifics per say, all I know is that it’s a study on human behaviour. I believe it would be mutually beneficial for the both of you.”

“I see, thank you for the recommendation sir.”

“When is the deadline for my response?”

“Well I suppose the sooner the better, but you can think it over and let me know by Wednesday.”

“Thank you sir, I’ll do that.”

“Alright, in you go now, we should be starting soon.” the Professor said with a gesture towards the brown door.

Nathan nodded and entered the lecture hall without delay.

“That’s it for today, remember to leave your assignments on my desk before you leave.” Professor Groves said as he disconnected his laptop from the projector.

“If I don’t have it in my box when I leave this room, it will not get marked!”

The moment he finished talking, a flurry of footsteps vibrated in the lecture hall as students forced their way to the Professor’s desk.

Nathan sat in the centre of the back row where he spent half of the lecture asleep. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head. He noticed some of the students in the row ahead of him passing their assignments to a woman sitting three seats to the right.

Her long brunette hair obscured her face, preventing him from recognising her immediately.

He glanced over the rows of seats to gauge the commotion ahead, he shook his head and slid to his right.

“Excuse me, are you taking those to the box down there?" he said.

"Yes." she said.

“By any chance, could you?”

She presented her hand over her shoulder. “Sure.”

He handed over his paperwork. “You're a life saver, thank you. I'm rushing to a meeting, I'll be late if I have to wait for that crowd to clear."

A student in the row ahead approached her with their assignment, drawing her attention away from him.

Nathan rushed to the exit as fast as he could before the Professor could impose himself again. He strode

through the corridor to avoid the traffic of students exiting the lecture venues. He stopped when he noticed a large yellow poster with bold green writing on the grey wall.

"They're looking for volunteers for the upcoming Tournament? Hmm..." he said under his breath.

‘Well, that's to be expected. Is it worth the effort to volunteer?... Probably not.’

Nathan's mobile phone vibrated in his pocket. He sighed as he scrolled through numerous text messages from the same number.

[Idiot: Nathan! Are you free?]

[Idiot: Hey are you there?]

[Idiot: Nathan!]

[I just finished my lecture. Stop triple texting.]

[What do you want?]

[Idiot: Urgent business! Come to Eleven-Noon right now!]

[It’s too early to visit the bar. Besides, I have plans with my Dad today.]

[Idiot: Blasphemy!]

[Idiot: Fine, but come here once you're done.]

[No promises.]

He exited the corridor and headed for the parking lot.

Nathan parked his car in the driveway of a luxurious white house. The moment he stepped out of the car, the sound of cheerful barking came from inside of the house. He approached the door and fiddled with the handle, causing the barking to become louder and more animated. When he opened the door, a grey Alaskan Malamute nearly pounced on him. The husky ran around him, forcing his way through Nathan's legs with excessive tail wagging.

"Hey buddy, it is good to see you too." he tickled the fur around it’s neck.

“Cosmo, where’s Father?”

The dog looked back towards the house.

“Go and find him.”

The husky responded by running inside the house barking.

Nathan strolled towards the kitchen, passing by various photographs of his parents and he on the peach walls of the hallway. He smiled as he recalled a memory of himself at his first carnival captured in one of the frames.

“Oh, Nathan dear, would you please bring those boxes upstairs.” a silvery voice said.

When he glanced at the stair case, a tall woman with a golden tan and black shoulder length hair greeted him with a smile.

“Good morning Mother.” he said walking towards her.

He lifted two brown boxes off the floor. “Where do you want them?”

“Take them to the spare room and place them next to the lamp in the corner.” she said walking ahead of him.

Nathan walked up the stairs then proceeded down a hallway. He passed three doors, then turned into the last door on the right. He set the boxes down on the wooden floor and looked around the brightly coloured room.

“You decided to go with lavender this time?” he said.

“Do you like it?” his mother said, arranging golden ornaments on an oak table in the opposite corner of the room.

“The client could not decide, so I replicated their living room in here to show them.”

“Have they seen it yet?”

“They have an appointment at noon, I am doing the final adjustments.”

“I see.” he examined the rest of the room.

”Mother, when will you advance this business beyond a hobby?”

She snickered. “Perhaps in a few hundred years when the Nava choose another Pryme. Besides, this is merely a stress relief exercise, I do not intend to make a living out of this.”

Nathan nodded, though he thought that the notion of decorating a stranger’s house being stress relief was absurd.

“Well, I will leave you to it then.” he said, turning around to leave.

“Nathan, you have not answered my question.” his mother said with narrowed eyes.

Feeling her piercing gaze on the back of his neck, he turned his head.

“I did not? I am certain that I did.”

She folded her arms.

“I am merely teasing, it looks good.”

“However?”

“Nothing...”

“Nathan!”

He cleared his throat.

“I would move that over there, and swop those two around.” he pointed to one of the couches and the oak table.

His mother looked at his suggestion and smiled.

“Good eye.”

‘She’s always testing me, jeez’

“Well, are you simply going to stand there smiling at yourself, or are you going to help me rearrange these?”

He sighed. “Yes, of course.”

Nathan walked back downstairs and allowed Cosmo to smother him again. He reached out to pet him and continued walking, passing the kitchen and into a doorway on the left.

“Good morning Father, sorry to have kept you waiting.” he said, addressing a muscular tan gentleman sitting behind a large maple desk covered with stacks of organized files.

His father looked over the paperwork and grinned.

“Were you helping your mother decorate upstairs?” he said in a deep calm voice.

“Yes sir.”

His father nodded.

“Very well, please take a seat.” he said, gesturing towards the swivel chair opposite him.

Nathan sat and glanced at some of the files on the desk. He looked back at his father to gauge his reaction.

His father nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Before we moved to Bracken I assured that you would not be involved in Altherian business. I did my utmost to honour your wishes for a normal life here.” he said, then sighed.

“As you can see, that may not be possible for much longer. I requested additional personnel to assist with the investigation, however, I may need to rely on you if things get worse.”

His father’s ability to maintain an impassive expression during difficult situations always impressed him, however, he sensed a hint of anxiety in his tone. He understood that the situation may be more dire than his father let on.

“I understand, Father. You can count on me”

Later that evening, Nathan sat on a bar stool holding an empty glass in both hands. The music and the chatter of the patrons had long since faded into the background. He stared at the reflection of the purple neon sign on the black counter top. The conversation with his father and the disturbing images on his desk replayed in his mind on a loop.

“That glass isn’t going to refill itself you know.” a husky voice said behind the bar.

“Yeah.” Nathan said, staring at his glass.

The bartender grinned.

”She must have been quite the catch huh?”

Nathan snapped out of his daze and glanced at the bartender.

“What was that about a catch?”

“Nothing, would you like another?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Nathan took a closer look at the bartender as he prepared his drink. The lighting around the bar itself was significantly dimmer than the rest of the building, so it took his eyes a while to adjust after his daydream.

He noticed that the man had two thin Band-Aids over his left eyebrow. On a closer inspection of his eye, he observed some discoloration around that area too.

The bartender placed the drink in front of him. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” Nathan reached for the glass.

“Hey are you new here? I haven’t seen you around before”

“Do you come here that often?” the bartender said with a raised brow.

“Sometimes, when I get coerced by my idiot friend, but not for a while, no.”

“I see. I started working here about two weeks ago.”

‘That bruise looks about... No, that’s none of your business’

“Excuse me for a moment.” the bartender said, responding to another patron’s request.

“Nathan, you’re finally here!” a raucous voice yelled from across the room.

“Speaking of idiots.” he said under his breath.

“Bradley, have you been here all day?”

He glared at the tall slender gentleman with dirty brown hair as he approached. The man ignored Nathan’s stare and continued stumbling towards him.

“No of coursed not, I wouldn’t never do something so recluse.”

Nathan tried to restrain himself from laughing at the slur, unfortunately, he let a faint chuckle slip.

“Bradley, I told you that you are cut off for the rest of the night!” the bartender said, as the drunk clumsily tried to get onto the bar stool.

“Logan, why do you have to be so mean to your friends?”

“I just came to sit with my best friend!” Bradley rolled his eyes at him.

“The idiot friend?” the bartender glanced at Nathan.

He smiled and nodded.

“Don’t buy him anymore drinks.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.”

“Hey Nathan, don’t let this guy bully you.”

“Shut up Bradley!” they yelled in unison, then laughed at Bradley’s bewildered expression.

Nathan got off the bar stool. “I think I’ll take this idiot home now.”

“It’s Logan right?” he placed some money on the counter top.

“Yeah.”

He extended his right hand over the bar. “Nathan, nice to meet you.”

Logan shook his hand. “Likewise.”

“All right we’re leaving, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Come on, get up.” he lifted Bradley off the stool and placed his limp arm over his neck.

“See you around Logan.” he said over his shoulder as the two left the bar.