"Hah."
Alex fell to the side of the track, his back against the muddy floor, not caring for the dirt, his breathing coming in short bursts as he tried to suck in as much air as he could through both his nose and mouth.
Water. Alex felt an unquenchable thirst rise suddenly, his throat dry and raw, his entire body drenched in sweat. The long-sleeved shirt and coat he wore did not help him in the slightest. The sweat had soaked through his clothes and clung to his skin, and no air had been able to pass through to cool his body. He had always trained with his upper body bare, wearing nothing more than shorts most of the time when he practiced at home. Running while wearing such tight and suffocating clothes did not help at all.
And the fact that the sun had reached its zenith and was casting its bright rays down against the ground, making the entire area hotter by the minute, only made things worse. Buckets of sweat were still dripping from his head and forehead, covering his face entirely.
Alex looked ahead at the running track. Only a few students remained on the field, still running their laps, while most had already completed their fifty and were resting on the benches placed along the side under the shade of the trees.
Alex tried to push himself off the ground, but just as his weight lifted from it, his legs gave out and he found himself squarely back on the earth with a dull thud. He bit his lip and this time, with every fiber of his being, pushed himself upward. He managed to stand on both feet, but his legs trembled beneath the weight of exhaustion, having been pushed nearly to their limit.
Alex bit his lower lip and steeled his resolve to complete the fifty laps. He was only short by ten laps. He took a step forward only to feel his leg buckle beneath him, his weight collapsing toward the floor, but before he could hit the ground he felt someone grab him from behind by the back of his coat. A large shadow fell across the ground in front of him and before he could even turn his head to see who had stopped his fall, he heard a voice that he had heard more times than he could count in just the past hour alone.
"Boy, take a rest. At this rate, you will only hurt your legs." Professor Daniel said loudly, lifting him upright and carrying him toward the direction of one of the vacant benches.
"Let go of me, professor. I only need to complete ten more laps and it will be done. I can do it." Alex pleaded. He did not want to fall behind the others. If he failed to finish today, he would have to make up those ten laps tomorrow while everyone else moved forward, learning something new or completing the next round of training, and he would fall even further behind.
"Boy, keep quiet." Professor Daniel let go of Alex's coat. Alex's feet met the ground but instead of holding him upright, his legs gave out completely and he crumbled to the floor, trembling.
"See? Your legs cannot keep going like this. Rest today and finish tomorrow. The class has already ended." Professor Daniel said firmly.
Alex clenched his fist and turned toward the benches. Most of the students were already leaving, and the few who remained were only catching their breath before joining the others and the ones completing the laps around the running track also were heading out from the training grounds seemingly having completed their 50 laps.
"I know you are determined," the professor said, crossing his arms, "but desire without the strength to back it up will yield you nothing. Rest for a few minutes on the bench. It is still the recess period so there is plenty of time before the next class begins."
With that, the professor lifted Alex onto his shoulder like a sack of grain and carried him over to the vacant benches, where Alex sprawled out like a weary patient, closed his eyes, and let himself rest. He gave up on completing the laps that day, accepting that pushing further might cause more lasting harm to his legs than he was willing to risk.
Just as his eyelids began to droop and he felt himself drifting toward sleep, someone shuffled onto the bench beside him and sat down. Alex opened his eyes immediately and saw his grandfather. Ragnar was sitting right beside him on the same bench, and Alex pinched his own cheek to check whether he was dreaming or not.
"What are you doing here, Grandpa?" Alex shifted slightly upright and sat, his legs still stretched out across the bench, still trembling too much to pull back properly.
His grandfather Ragnar turned to look at him with a warm smile. "I was just passing by and decided to visit my lovely grandson," Ragnar said and patted Alex on the head.
"Oh, you have got some dirt in your hair. Let me get that." Ragnar said, and began carefully picking the dirt from Alex's hair. Alex did not stop him.
"There, all done. Make sure you wash your hair once you get back to the dormitory." Ragnar said with a beaming smile.
"Is Grandma here too, Grandpa?" Alex said, turning his head around to see if his grandmother, who had a habit of sneaking up on him and catching him off guard, was hiding somewhere nearby.
"No, boy. She is busy in her magic tower. I came here alone and now that I am done I will be returning to the borders shortly." Ragnar answered.
"Won't you be meeting with my parents and Ariana, then?" Alex asked. His grandfather was always busy and Alex only got to see him occasionally, and even those visits were brief as Ragnar always hurried back to the borders, insisting that the borders would fall apart without him.
"I will meet them next time. I have to return to the borders as quickly as possible." Ragnar said. Alex looked into his grandfather's eyes and saw them glinting sharply, and he only nodded, understanding that there was likely some trouble with the demons on the borders and his grandfather had to leave earlier than he would have liked.
"You have become quite the investigator, have you not?" Ragnar patted Alex's head with a voice tinged with teasing. "Asking me all the questions while not letting me ask even one."
Alex just smiled in response.
"Are you enjoying the academy? You always wanted to join it," Ragnar said. "Now that you have finally gotten in, how does it feel?"
Suddenly, Alex froze. His smile froze in its place. He did not know what to say to that question. He had always wanted to join the academy and more than anything he had wanted to enter it together with the princess, to study alongside her, but that had never come to pass. But, then he managed to get into the academy a year later than her, only for their marriage agreement to be broken apart.
Now the academy did not appeal to Alex the way it once had, and the mockery and open taunting from the other students was becoming increasingly unbearable. But Alex could not bring himself to tell his grandfather that Eldric and the others were bullying him. It felt like too much to admit. Alex was the heir to the Drakethorne Grand Ducal House and he could not go whining about something as personal as being bullied to his grandfather, who already had enough problems to deal with at the borders.
"Is there any problem at the academy?" Ragnar asked again, his voice carrying a slightly higher note this time.
Alex put on the brightest smile he could manage. "It is nice, Grandpa. I am enjoying it," he replied, and looked at his grandfather, who also smiled just as brightly in return hearing Alex's answer.
"Tell me if anything is troubling you," Ragnar said, standing up from the bench. "And I want you to know I am quite proud of you. Even when your legs gave out, you did not give up."
Alex's breath caught in his chest. His grandfather had been watching him run on the track field this whole time.
"I will try to visit more often, Alex." Ragnar said. "Take good care of those legs and make sure you wash up before you sleep tonight."
Alex shook his thoughts away.
He nodded and bid him farewell. "Stay safe, Grandpa." Alex's azure eyes met Ragnar's red ones, and Ragnar smiled.
Then, like a gust of wind, he was gone.
***
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