NOCTEM

Eccentric wizard

"you're awake." the voice stated as a matter of fact.

Nox steered his head to the entrance of the room, where he saw a stunning man with peculiar looks.

The mysterious man had gunmetal hair which he tied meticulously with a black string into a ponytail. His gray eyes glowed with an otherworldly intensity, much so that nox couldn't help but tremble in fear.

It was baffling that somehow this man standing before him seemed much more terrifying, no.. much more terrifying would be an understatement. The man before him was far more dangerous and was on a completely different level from the wraith.

Nox couldn't even move his body, he could only stare helplessly as the man approached him.

A subtle smile appeared on the mysterious stranger's face as he spoke.

"Nox ráu Vlad, son of Aurelia ráu Vlad the daughter of the vampire monarch and the heir to the crescent wolf pack, the one who holds the blood of both powerful races in him, yet at this very moment you're nothing but a norm."

Nox froze on his spot, his mind a mess but his heart was much worse, it was beating so fast that he felt like it was about to leap out of his chest.

'How does he know my name and why did he call me and my mother, Ráu Vlads? Who is he.. who the heck is he, what does he want with me.. is he going to sell me off to those humans? No.. no no no no no, not after everything I've lost just to escape.. I can't let myself be captured by them again.'

Nox couldn't stop the array of thoughts that ran amuck in his head, he was so lost in them that he didn't notice how close the man had gotten to him. It was only when a suffocating pressure befell him that he noticed.

Using all the remaining strength left in his body, he managed to raise his head, a pained grimace graced his effeminate face as he struggled not to pass out.

The mysterious man chuckled.

"Oh.. it seems my aura is proving to be quite unbearable for the likes of you, worry not, I bear no ill will towards you."

As soon as those words left his lips the invisible pressure that filled the room dissipated allowing Nox to breathe once more.

The mysterious man spoke once again, his eyes gleamed with a familiar recognition as he gazed at the effeminate kid.

"It's to keep away the beasts which managed to escape the forest's dream curse. I can assure you that my aim is not to hurt you nor is it to hand you over to your pursuers, believe me if I wanted to.. I could have killed you since the moment I saw you unconscious in the forest."

Nox took a minute to calmly consider what the mysterious man had just told him, while it was true that there were many opportunities to kill him he still didn't know what the mysterious man wanted from him, for all he knew the man could have just said that to get him to lower his guard, after all there was no such thing as a free meal in the world.

Nox exhaled, took a moment to check his surroundings and various openings he could at least try to use to escape if things went south.

He scowled when he realized that there were no openings and the only way to leave was through the door which the mysterious man would quickly be able to stop him if he did try to escape.

As if sensing his unease, the man took a seat at the left side of the cabin where he could still see Nox, only now he wasn't in the way of Nox getting to the door anymore.

But Nox still felt uneasy, in fact his unease seemed to have increased even more, Nox felt like such a person who had that much of a suffocating presence didn't need to do pointless things like blocking the door or even selling him out, except he was actually working for the people who were chasing him, which Nox doubted to be true.

With a bit of reluctance he managed to speak up.

"W..Who are you?.. no..what do you want from me?!"

The mysterious man had a thoughtful look on his face, he lingered for a few moments then he gave a pleasant smile to Nox.

"I'm Eren Von Michælson, a fairly decent wizard if I may, and to answer your second question, I would like for you to be my student."

Nox was baffled, a mysterious stranger, an eccentric one at that, whose intention Nox had still yet to understand, randomly saves him and out of nowhere and suddenly declares he wants him to be a student of his.

'is he just stupid or is there something more to it? I refuse to believe he's just doing this without a reason.'

"I doubt that, but let's say I actually believe you, I can't learn anything from you.. I have no mana and the only thing I'm good at is running away."

Eren considered Nox words, he didn't seem surprised even though it wasn't common for a denizen of the mystic realm to possess no mana, in fact it was more like he expected it.

"Did I mention that I was going to teach you to cast spells? No it would be close to impossible for a non-witch or wizard to learn it, except you manage to learn runic sorcery which you may as well just give up on."

Nox merely glanced at him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he questioned.

"You're a wizard, what can you possibly teach me besides spells."

Eren didn't seem offended by the remark the kid made, instead he just gazed at Nox for a few seconds, studying him from head to toe.

"Hmmm, your frame doesn't seem to be made for fighting, so you can't be a fighter, rather an assassin training should be more suitable for you."  He mused, almost inaudible but the room was eerily silent so Nox could hear clearly.

Eren spoke up once again, this time his voice was more audible.

"You're right in the sense that I can't teach you spells but I could also train you to be a lethal weapon with that frail body of yours, of course you'd have to build it as well."

While the eccentric wizard went on about how he was going to go about Nox's training, the effeminate kid was looking around for anything he could use to defend himself. 

He knew the wizard was a bit eccentric, it could've be that his eccentric behavior was just a façade but nevertheless he wasn't going to trust a mad wizard with his safety and for some unknown reasons the memory of the white haired kid who had slaughtered other children in that forest was quite vivid in his head.

Eren noticed Nox's calculated gaze scanning the entire cabin, he couldn't help but smile at his soon to be student.

"See you already have the gaze of a killer, you're halfway there to becoming an assassin."

He paused as he gazed down directly at Nox, who stared at him with confusion on his impassive face.

"The first step to becoming an assassin is have the will to murder, when you have no will to kill, skills can only get you so far."

A pale smile appeared on his face.

"Luckily it seems you're already determined to kill, son of Aurelia,... Do you want revenge on those responsible for the demise of your parents?."

Nox eyes widened in shock.

" Y..You knew?."

The eccentric wizard sighed deeply as he stared at the ceiling of the cabin with a wistful expression.

"Yes, I knew... I was an acquaintance of your mother and I owe her a great deal, she saved my life when I was younger."

Nox couldn't believe what he was hearing, the eccentric wizard knew his mother, not only that but he even had a debt to repay her.

Anger surged within him as he flared, glaring at the wizard with a murderous and somewhat hurt look.

" Y.. You knew... And yet you couldn't save her, if you were so powerful why couldn't you have helped her, why didn't you do something when she was in danger?!!"

Eren could understand why the kid would throw a fit, after all he would have done the same if he were in his shoes, perhaps he would have done worse.

At the moment he couldn't do anything, neither was he going to try consoling the kid, the only thing he could do and the only thing he had to do to repay Aurelia was to make her child strong enough to protect himself from any harm that may befall him.

He stood up from his seat and walked over to the bed where Nox was seated, he gave the child a somber look, his eyes were cold and indifferent.

"Do you think that if I had the means to get there on time I wouldn't have been there to help her? Or your dad? By the time I arrived they were already dead but you were nowhere to be found so I decided to chase after you...

Don't think that their pursuit of you is over, no.. they won't stop until they find you, so the best thing I can do for you is to make you strong enough to be able to withstand whatever they throw at you."

He paused.

" And as for your mana, it's not like you don't have mana or you were born without it, it's merely being suppressed and you can't use it because of certain circumstances."

He lingered once again, his cold eyes bore into the kid before he spoke.

".. so in the place of having you learn spells that require mana to use, how about teaching you how to manipulate the mana in the atmosphere... I assure you it'd be quite helpful if you want to survive out there in this cruel world."