Xavier's eyes shot open, the air smelled moist and humid, his ears rang like someone threw a flash bang at him.
"Huff Huff…"
Xavier took heavy breaths, and hurriedly patted the surrounding area around, gripping onto his soaking wet blanket and feeling its damp and cold yet soft surface.
He was back…
Xavier had many thoughts running in his head, almost enough to distract him from the intensifying beat on his rib cage.
"ARGGH!"
But it didn't, Xavier never could take a break in this situation.
'It's almost routine at this point.'
All he had to do was grit his teeth and endure it.
After all, there weren't any treatments for any of the problems in his life.
'It's incessant and annoying.'
Xavier thought as he laid back down and controlled his breathing, with every breath the ache in his chest subsided, until eventually it stopped hurting entirely.
Sighing in resolution Xavier sat up, taking pause to gather his thoughts and concerns. One big elephant came to mind.
"Greed."
It rolled right off his tongue, but Xavier had a hard time comprehending it. It sounded foreign and raw, full of hidden innuendos and meanings. But nonetheless it was the same word carved literally in the dream stone.
'Am I a greedy person?'
After mulling it over a bit, he realized thinking about it would leave his question unanswered and even introduce more into the equation. This could just be a coincidence after all?
'But was it so simple as a thing that my mind conjured up?'
'Maybe I've been stressed out lately.'
He thought half believing himself, after all that experience was pretty much cemented into his mind already, how could he simply chalk it off to a coincidence? He literally had been having this recurring dream for years now.
—BEEEP
As if telling Xavier to think about it later, his alarm rang, it's beeping ringing out and filling the silence of his pitch black room making it feel less hollow.
Xavier let it ring for a bit, simmering in silence and started staring aimlessly at the darkness in front of him illuminating only but a light red glow coming from the alarm.
—Beep
—Beep
—Beep
Eventually Xavier reached over to the clock and pressed firmly on a little yellow button on top of it, the time already 10 minutes past its initial start.
Xavier turned on his lamp and stood up, he got changed into a light t-shirt and got ready for his day. Walking out of his door and into a huge corridor.
There were windows lining the side of the grand opening, spilling just enough fresh light from the outside to make him feel nauseous.
'It's definitely some interesting architecture.'
He walked past the huge corridor into a huge room, revealing even more light through its numerous windows, all of which made Xavier wince and cover his eyes with one hand.
The room was the main space which contained his house entrance, a living room, his kitchen and a lot of unused space all in one square. It had an open house design so Xavier was assaulted with light the moment he stepped into the place.
"Hmm hum hmm."
A light voice hummed a melody just to the left of him, a little off tune, but still pleasant to hear.
An even more pleasant and crisp sizzling accompanied it too.
'Oh I'm getting hungry.'
Xavier turned to his left, curious by the pleasant smell in the air and made his way across the room to his kitchen that hugged the wall of the room and spanned across its corner in an L shape.
Standing cheerfully bobbing his head left and right seemingly unbothered by any fatigue was a young man standing at six feet one with sharp red eyes and a striking face without blemish,his sharp jaw accentuated his glossy pink lips, a light smile stretched softly across his face,a smile that seemed to glide the sunlight rays perfectly across the contours of his face, it was a smile that many girls would faint upon seeing and it was also the smile of Xavier's best friend and butler: Dim.
Looking at him made Xavier instinctively touch his own face in pity.
'I…I'm not bad looking right?'
Dim turned noticing Xavier's presence and smiled, amusingly commenting:
"Wow, you woke up early this morning, you normally sleep past the alarms."
Xavier walked over to the dining table which was situated like a rectangular island surrounded by the L shaped kitchen and took a seat on one of the stools directly facing Dim who was busy cooking, and snarky responded.
"You know I actually decided that I should start anew, shed my cocoon and become a fully responsible incel."
Dim walked to the coffee machine which seemed like it was already running for a while and pulled out a cup from under it, then he turned to the table and handed Xavier the cup with a smile.
"Well I was gonna wake you up anyways, because today you actually become a fully responsible adult."
'Fully responsible adult?'
"Why is it my birthday?"
"It's senior graduation today dumbass. You normally don't forget these things."
Dim replied, an expression of light concern on his face as he resumed his cooking. Flipping the pan up and down.
Xavier's eyebrows twitched, normally school was the least of his concerns, hell he hasn't shown up for a single day other than the respective start and end of each school year.
But the fact that he had the simple job of remembering two dates and somehow he forgot one really irked him in the wrong way.
'I'm clearly not in my right mind this morning.'
He took a deep sip of his coffee. Mulling over his thoughts and sat there until Dim placed a plate in front of him and in one fell swoop overturned his concerns into hunger.
The white dish was a simple dish of Bacon and Scrambled eggs, however it wasn't simple.
This was Dims cooking after all.
The bacon was crisp with a light brown texture and the burnt outer edges of the pork folded in slightly, it crunched perfectly as Xavier dug his fork into it filling his ears with bliss.
The eggs were also cooked to perfection, like a pillow of glistening stars that parted easily to the touch and even easier in your mouth. It had a rich creamy aroma that Xavier couldn't resist as he started shoving it into his mouth.
'I'm so glad, this guy is my servant.'
"Enjoy, make sure you change into your school uniform after this."
Dim nagged as he took a seat next to Xavier and placed his own plate down.
Xavier didn't even pay any attention to Dim's statement as he already had a mouthful of food in his mouth, chewing loudly, his mouth agape.
Dim looked at him with a bit of disgust.
"You gotta stop doing that sometime."
Even though Xavier had royal blood in his veins, it didn't mean he would act like one. He'd rather eat quickly and get stuff done.
He had abandoned all that long ago. That's why he's here after all.
—Burp
"Phew, that was a great meal!"
With a burp Xavier chowed down the last of his bacon then loudly announced to his only audience, who didn't seem too pleased with his complements.
"You didn't have to announce it like that, you sound like a Han."
"That's racist Dim."
Xavier replied with a look of mock disappointment on his face and stood up walking to the corridor he once entered from.
Dim called out again, his eyebrows raised in an amused look.
"So you're just gonna call me racist and leave?'
"Yep"
Xavier replied his back was already turned, he gestured in a backwards wave, before walking out of Dim's sight.
Before Xavier could make it to his door, he heard Dim's voice mockingly reminding him.
"Make sure to wear your uniform before you forget!"
'Bastard'
Xavier opened the door to his room, a click illuminated its entirety, it was rectangular with the entrance on the short end, there was a bed and closet situated to the far right and far left side of the room respective to the door, and his desk was placed just left to his door about 2 meter away from the closet and just right was the entrance to the bathroom.
The room had no windows, the sole source of light being the bulb in the center of the room.
Just the way Xaver liked it.
His room was neat and organized, the bed and blankets once crumpled and wet, now neat and folded.
He liked to keep his workplace clean. It was easier to find things that way.
The first thing Xavier did was change, he walked to his closet and skimmed through an assortment of clothing and pulled out a dusty white collared shirt, would've looked like any fancy shirt if not for the emblem stapled on the left of his chest:
The image of a knight on his noble steed, its rear hooves dug deep into the ground elevating the two front legs up,the sunlight radiating off his armor and javelin that was hoisted into the air, with big bold letters in blue spelling out an acronym: SPPC.
'Saint Princeton Prep College'.
It was a bold image for a school indeed, knights are held in high esteem and having one as your figurehead meant you are very good at what you do or you paid the big bucks to get where you are.
It was variable advertising, normally someone could tell one or the other.
This College however had history, it was a school founded by the 16th king of Britain: Leonard Windsor, who is revered as the first to push for the unionization of the world. The school was meant to build the future of the nation and for students to become Mages that helped push the effort for world colonization.
Although it still teaches magic in the modern era, its shifted focus into an institute that produces future heirs of corporate and noble houses as well as a platform for future connections.
A far cry from the epic purpose it once served.
But it was still an elite school.
Nonetheless Xavier could care less for either purpose, he was just there because it served as the most convenient option for him via his father to get a diploma, and a steady path for a job.
'He couldn't have just sent me to a normal school…'
Hence why he hardly went to school and the dusty uniform.
He sighed then put on his uniform. Then he turned to take a glance at his bedside.
'7:30'
He still had 45 minutes until he had to walk to school.
'Plenty of spare time'
He thought walking quickly over to his desk where stacks of neatly organized papers were placed along with a slick white metal rectangle that was in the center of it all.
Xavier took a seat and pulled open the top of his laptop parting the keyboard from the screen.
Xavier hated participating in politics, however he liked having his own opinions and learning about modern day events.
Which is why he made an effort in skimming through the internet to find answers.
'Dammit looks like this website has been taken down again.'
Xavier cursed internally, with the introduction of the internet, the British government had been very active in monitoring online forums and news sites, often censoring information and shutting down sites. News work is an especially dangerous business.
Xavier had been taught at a very young age, to not believe from one story and to look at multiple to form a broad view. So he always tried to find all sorts of sites and articles.
Every one of them had a hidden meaning. He could usually tell what they were just by their title.
Especially here on this site.
'London Times News.'
It was the most well known and popular news site in London
Which meant it was the most edited and censored of them all.
Even just scrolling through it was obvious.
'The King intends to increase national pride by implementing 'nation' murals around Britain.'
Seems like the king is losing support and trying to increase it by appealing to nationalism.
'The Barbarians of Han wreck havoc in local villages of the China Province.'
They're having trouble quelling remnants from the hundred year war.
'Huh? This one.'
A line of blue text caught his view, then his attention.
'Young mentally deranged child attacks his school, Princetown College'
'That's a block away…'
He hovered his mouse over it for a bit staring at the highlighted text.
Then with a click, the page flashed black before loading up a page full of words.