The Messenger of Death

"What?" Camron could not understand what Alex was saying.

['Alex, are you sure you want to leave here tomorrow? We don't know where the Severance academy is.'] Lex asked.

['If the school is that good we can ask around for directions.'] He replied.

['Wouldn't it be better if we had a guide? Just calm down and be rational about this. We know nothing of this world we can't move around blindly.'] Xander spoke up.

"Damn it." Alex cursed out once, he took in deep breaths and stood up.

He started pacing around, back, and forth.

'What is he talking about? Is he going to leave tomorrow?'

After a minute, Alex stopped pacing around and came back to his seat.

"Are you going to leave tomorrow?" Camron asked.

-Silence.

Only the frogs and crickets could be heard croaking and chirping. After a while, Alex spoke up.

"No, I won't. I was too emotional to think straight."

Camron was relieved to hear that he wouldn't be leaving. He flashed a blinding smile.

"That's good. We all say things we don't mean when we are emotional. I mean it is a very normal thing to do."

Alex frowned and looked at Camron and asked.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Why shouldn't I smile? Some while ago, I thought you were going to be leaving here and now you say that you are not. That something to smile about if you ask me."

"Are dumb or just naïve. Or you are both? You don't even know me, you met me on the road two days ago. Are you…?" Alex paused and looked at Camron carefully.

['Is Camron Gay?'] Alex thought.

['Eww. If he is then avoid him. I don't swing that way.'] Al voiced out his disgust.

['Do I look like I swing that way too?'] Alex asked as he was annoyed by Al once more.

['Not everyone that acts nice to you like you for your physical qualities. Some people are just that nice.'] Lex interjected.

Alex took two steps back and asked;

"Camron, are you gay?"

"Huh, what!?" He was taken aback by Alex's direct question.

"No, I'm not. What makes you think that I am?" He frowned as he questioned Alex's reasoning.

"Then why else are you nice to me, I obviously don't have anything that you might want. So why are you nice to me?"

What Alex said got Camron thinking.

A minute later, he gave a response.

"Honestly I don't know. At first when Evan informed me of a young man standing by the road, what went through my mind was – if he's very strong let us avoid him. If he's weaker than us, then by all means let us help him. Evan had already probed into your cultivation level from afar.

As we approached you, your bloodline suppression caught us by surprise. At that point, I knew that I had miscalculated, even if we choose to ignore you we wouldn't have been able to go far." He paused.

"And then?" Alex asked, being curious about his reason.

"And then the horses passed out…."

"Cut the bullshit and go straight to the point. I mean I was there, I know what happened. I asked what your reason is for helping me this much." He was getting impatient.

"Aren't we friends? We bumped our fists, didn't we? Is this not what friends do for each other?"

"We did. Friends do this for each other?" Alex said in confusion.

"Don't tell me that you have never had a friend before."

"Yes, no. Not really."

['Why did I do that though? I know I said yes to us being friends just to keep his bubbles floating, but why did I bump fists with him?']

['Because you got excited. Because deep down you are still a child Alex.'] Al said seriously.

['I don't remember asking you for an answer.']

['Believe what you want Alex. Just know that the truth will remain the truth, whether you like it or not.'] Al backed off.

['What he said is not wrong Alex. Do you really know yourself?'] Xander voiced out.

['What sort of gibberish are you saying now? Why wouldn't I know myself?']

['Then why did you bump fist with him?']

['I – I… I don't know.']

['Exactly. You haven't lived for yourself, Alex. We have been living for Death's Door for the past 8 years. Apart from food and Sheila, what else do you like?']

Xander was trying to make Alex realize what he had been oblivious to for a long while.

['I – I don't know.'] Alex gave the same reply as his previous one.

['You might not be who you think you are Alexander. Right now you are a confused child with multiple personalities. Camron might not even be the homosexual here, it might be you.']

['Hell no! Just because I don't know who I am doesn't mean that I don't know what I like. I'm not gay.']

Lex chuckled and said.

['There – there Alex, Xander was only trying to lighten the conversation by cracking a joke. We all know that you are not gay.'] He clarified and comforted Alex.

['That was a joke?']

['The gay part was, but the rest wasn't.'] Xander answered.

"You need to work on your jokes," Alex said out loud.

"My jokes?"

Camron looked around, he was checking if there was another person around. Much to his confusion, there wasn't anyone around apart from the two of them.

'Did I say a joke? Why don't I remember?' He thought. Camron at the moment was very confused. He couldn't understand what Alex was talking about.

['Damn. I need to learn how not to think out loud.'] Alex's face palmed himself.

"I guess I don't know how to say jokes. Haha," Camron said and gave an awkward laugh.

"Huh?"

['Did this retard think I was talking to him?']

['Yeah and he tried to cover up for what he didn't do, he is a retard. Hahaha.'] Al found Camron's Action funny.

"HAHAHA!!" Alex also burst into laughter. Al's laughter was contagious.

"Hahaha." Camron joined in on the fun.

After laughing for a good 30 seconds, Alex and Camron ceased their laughter.

Camron looked at Alex.

"You should smile a lot. It fits you." He suggested.

Alex wanted to stop the smile on his face, but he couldn't. It was like his facial muscles just wanted to flex on their own.

['I'm still in control of my body right?'] He asked his alters.

They all laughed at his question.

['Yes Alex. This is all you. We can't take credit for such a beautiful smile.'] Lex coaxed.

Alex felt like he was going to blush, hearing what Lex said made him feel funny and good about himself.

'This feels good. Sheila, this is also what you wanted. For me to smile like this.'

"You should return to your room. It is really cold out here." Camron said as he shivered.

['It is? Why can't I feel it though?']

['We have the blood of three cold-blooded reptiles flowing in us, one of them even breathes fire. Of course, we wouldn't feel cold'] Al stated the obvious.

"Oh, that's true." He blurted out.

"Yeah. So you head back on your own that is if you know your way back. Do you?"

['I did it again. This is going to be hard to get used to.'] He found it hard to avoid thinking out loud sometimes.

"Yeah, I do." He replied.

"Alright, I'll be going to see my father in his study," Camron said as he got up from the chair.

He started walking away when stopped and turned back.

"And Alex, if you notice anyone tailing you or watching you. It's my father's butler, he asked them to keep an eye on you. Don't let it get to you."

['A stalker ehh. Doesn't matter.'] Al said.

"Okay." That was all Alex said. He made his way out of the forest and headed to his room.

**************

-Rat-a-tat!

The rhythmic sound of a door being knocked on echoed out.

"Father, it is me," Camron announced.

"Come in," Lawrence said.

-Creak!

Camron stepped into his father's study.

The room was 12 feet wide and 10 feet tall. It was dimly lit. Camron could barely see the multitude of books on the shelves by the side of the room.

His father was sitting on his mahogany desk. There were some papers and portfolios by the corner of the desk.

"Your friend. Are you sure that you do not know what bloodline class he has?"

"I do not father. He never mentioned it, nor did I ask. The reason I found out was because of how we first met. He had his bloodline suppress me and Evan to the extent that I felt my life force slipping away, and it even made the horses faint."

"Hmmm," Lawrence uttered as he ventured into his thoughts.

"For the horses to faint. And for you and Evan to be suppressed. His bloodline class should at least be class-3 ancient blood, am I right Reginald?"

"It would seem so my lord." Reginald appeared from the darkness and stood next to Camron.

Camron jumped, he was startled by Reginald.

"Do you have a weird fetish on sneaking up on people? You scared me half to death."

"Forgive me, Master Camron," Reginald said with a sincere smile on his face.

"Answering your question my lord. The boy is only at the fifth-rank of the origin realm, if he has a class-4 bloodline, then it would not be a problem for him to suppress master Camron who is at a higher realm than he is but also a person without a bloodline class."

"Ouch, don't rub it in," Camron whispered.

"A class-4 bloodline cannot suppress a cultivator that is two realms above them, even if that cultivator doesn't have a bloodline class. There are limits. So if it is as master Camron says it is, that Evan was also suppressed. Then the boy has at least, a class-3 bloodline." Reginald explained.

"Cam," Lawrence called.

"Yes, father."

"Are you sure that he is an Orphan?"

"I do not think he lied about that. If he did, then he is the most convincing liar and actor I have ever seen." Camron answered.