35 Handling some personal matters (2/2)

The friend dropped his fork. ”Wait, so you really can play in a non-violent manner?”

The girl nodded. ”Well, mostly. We were attacked by someone before and we had to fight Ken's new pet for a bit.”

Ken gave a nod. ”Yep, it is possible. It isn't easy but it does work.”

”You have a pet? What type?”

”He is an animal companion rather than a pet. He is a Lynx named Lux. Hopefully he will grow out of his kitten state soon.”

Alex smiled. ”That is good. I'm glad you had some success with your build, Ken. A midsized feline is a great balanced animal companion. I'm sure you will gain specialized ones later.” He turned to face the dancer. ”Moira try to finish your quest as soon as possible. The sooner you leave Pren the better.”

The girl nodded. ”I understand. I'll talk to my brother about it.”

Alex bit his bottom lip.

Kenneth sighed. ”By the way Alex, why did you talk about your brother like he is a stranger? I thought you two were close?”

Alexander laughed. ”Heath and I are close. But, in the guild I am so used to treating him like a stranger I spoke out of habit. With the exception of a few of the higher ranked members, the Dragoons guild doesn't know I'm their guild leader's younger brother. I wanted the guild to respect me for me and not because of my relationship with my brother.”

”You joined a guild?” Moira asked. ”One of my online friends I talk to said that guilds have a lot of problems with them.”

”Yeah, I joined my older brother's guild so he could help me become a much better player. I understand why your other friend said to avoid them. If you joined The Dragoons, my brother would try to understand what you were capable of and to make the best use out of your abilities. He isn't cold, in fact I am actually confident he feels more than most people, but because of that, he is very calculating.” He sighed. ”For free spirited people, like you and Ken, that don't like having a lot of restrictions in their lives, my brother's guild is a bad fit.”

Moira smiled. ”Shouldn't you be trying to convince us to join rather than scare us off? I thought that is how most guilds run?”

”When I told him about the two of you, he told me that if the two of you would be unhappy in his guild, not to have you join. He even told me that if I would be happier elsewhere, he would support my choice to leave at any time.” He sighed. ”I'm not supposed to say anything but since it has come to this, I'm sure my brother will forgive me.”

Moria looked confused. ”Say what?”

Alex swallowed. ”The mist is a type of spiritual poison and normal means won't work on it. It only seems to affect humanoids negatively; other types of creatures seem to be able to live in it just fine. Somewhere in the mist is a creature suffering greatly. I thought I should warn you since you have a high chance to get caught up in it.”

Moira shook her head. ”The mist also affects creatures negatively. Ken's pet, Lux was originally just a normal lynx. He was almost killed by people who entered the mist. The mist offered him power which in turn cursed him. So a lot of the creatures in the mist are normal creatures at first.”

Alex's eyes widened even further. ”Where did you get this valuable information?”

”From Lux himself,” Ken replied. ”Moira and I both have the Speak with Animals ability.” He paused. ”If you would like, I can talk to Lux and see what he knows about the mist.”

”Would you please?” Alex asked.

”Of course, however, get permission from your brother to talk to us about the things he knows.” Ken replied. ”That way, you don't have to feel guilty for telling us secrets he asked you to keep.”

The glasses wearing pre-teen nodded. ”Thank you. I will do that after I make it home later tonight.”

Moira smiled. ”I noticed you stay after school a lot lately. What are you up to?”

Alex looked a little flustered. ”Um… Well you see I wanted to make a request to your brother when I met up with him. I have been staying after school to access the learning pods so I can learn some extra things not normally taught in order to be more ready to make that request.”

Ken smirked. ”Tell us more.”

Alex shook his head at took another bite of food. ”I want it to be a surprise.”

***

Moira turned the door handle. ”He locked it? Did he go somewhere?” She pulled out her key and unlocked the door.

The dark house gave a very oppressive feeling.

The girl frowned. ”Speaking of emotional and spiritual poisons...” She rushed into the front room.

Heavy instruments were scattered around the floor. A microphone and recording device stood in the middle of the room. The curtains were drawn closed. The sound of the shower running was heard in the background.

Moira sighed as she opened the blinds and windows. ”So you were suppressing the other Jericho this whole time. I thought he only showed up in game and you were able to handle it. Why do you try to hide that part of you from me? I know everyone's deaths have affected you more than me, but I don't understand why you feel the need to act fine in front of me.”

Nippy autumn air entered the home and cleared up part of the heavy atmosphere. Light entered the formerly dark space.

”Who triggered your grief?” Moira muttered as she started carefully propping the instruments out from the middle of the floor.

Moira sent a message to her brother. ”Take as much time as you need. I'll see you in game. I left the windows open to air out the house.”

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The shower water turned off.

The dancer logged into the game.

Jericho emerged solemnly from the bathroom, read the message from his sister and put his instruments away.