51. The feast started

The feast started minutes before Boss and friends arrived with the grill on full blast.

Before anyone else within the group had decided on what to do, Boss had already walked away and plopped himself down before the firepit tearing into a leg of grilled chicken. Arthur wanted to do the same, but he noticed some people he wanted to greet first and went over to talk to them.

Gran, Seth, Pebble, Cobble, Roselyn, Orchid, Dr. Galil and some of the people he’s scared this morning were all sitting around the enormous firepit grill. Arthur went over to greet everyone he knew.

Michael and Julie found an empty seat and greeted the villagers and participants sitting beside them.

Shelly saw Arthur walking towards Gran and them and decided to walk over to Boss, she had some questions to ask.

“Boss, what was that back at the Inn?” Shelly asked.

Boss lifted his head; his mouth was full of grilled meat. He patted the spot beside him for Shelly to sit while he finished his bite. Shelly sat down and waited. Boss gulped the rest of the meat and replied. “It was a nightmare.”

“Arthur had a nightmare, and that is what he saw.” Boss repeated when he noticed that Shelly wasn’t responding. “Shelly?”

“What about the smaller versions of us what was that?” Shelly asked.

“What’s not a nightmare? A dream you silly girl. He dreamt that. Don’t tell me you’ve never had a dream before?” Boss asked. However, Shelly remained silent again, her brows furrowed. “Oh, shoot was I right?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a dream.” Shelly replied. She tried to recall any of the nights she closed her eyes to sleep, however there was never a night where she felt like she’s had a dream. For her sleeping was just meditation, when she’s meditating, she’s sleeping, when she’s sleeping, she’s meditating.

“Have you ever woken up at night screaming or crying? Have you ever woken up with a smile on your face?” Boss asked.

Shelly shook her head, even though most of her life was full of danger and despair she had never felt the sensation of a nightmare or dream when she closed her eyes.

“Meditating and sleep was just peace to me.” Shelly sighed and replied.

Shelly’s comment made Boss even more curious about her past. However, no matter how curious he was he’d never ask.

“That’s alright, one of these days you’ll have your own dream or nightmare.” Boss tried to reassure. He continued, “But yeah, Arthur had a nightmare regarding the Seraphim back at the Church, it seems like it became a trauma for him. However, from the looks of it he doesn’t seem to remember his nightmares or dreams.”

“I guess you two are quite similar in that regard.” Boss remarked.

“Will young master be able to control it?” Shelly asked.

“What? Are you worried one day he’ll have a nightmare that’ll kill him or dream something extremely happy that doesn’t include us?” Boss asked.

“No, I’m not worried about that, I’m worried about what’ll happen to the students at Naturelle if young master had a nightmare.” Shelly crinkled her brows and replied. Her response was right if he can’t control his dreams or nightmares, innocent school children will get injured or killed.

“It’s fine for now, we’ve only had a glimpse of his powers because of what’s currently going on within his body, his energy is still condensing and revolving, what we had seen was just his energy leaking when he’s asleep.” Boss replied. He continued. “He should be able to control it once he finds his inner energy.

“Boss, how come you know so much about our energy?” Shelly asked. She’s read all the books Boss had read within the Galafray’s household there is nothing about it that is as comprehensive enough for Boss to know the way this world works.

“Because energy is the simplest and most difficult thing to understand.” Boss replied.

“In the future, you’ll know what I mean.” Boss reached for another drumstick and handed it to Shelly. “Come, let’s eat.”

Shelly took the hot drumstick in her hand and bounced it in her palm causing Boss to laugh. He quickly tapped her hand and the heat from the drumstick dissipated instantly. “Energy.” Boss only said one word and continued with eating.

Shelly held the hot drumstick in her hand, there was nothing different about the drumstick it was still as hot as ever, however there was no sensation of heat on her hands. She closed her eyes hoping to sense what Boss meant. however, she didn’t sense any energy like that of the invisible teleportation mazes Boss prepares for them to go through every day.

“What is energy?” Shelly thought to herself. From everything she’s read and seen she learned that there were two kinds of energy. One was meditative energy that is used as a key to unlock the pathway and talent of a normal person and increases the potential of an Exotic’s.

It is a formless energy that dictated what colored hair and eyes a normal person was most suited for. The second is power energy, the energy released after any type of power was used. For example, Arthur’s dream and nightmare creatures contained power energy, energy she could sense even though Arthur is an Exotic.

This is the same with all people who have power, no matter whether you’re an Exotic or an Orthodox the person may not be something one can sense if they were right next to you, but once they use their powers it can be sensed. Like the air, it is something we may not notice is there until power is enacted upon it and becomes wind. Only Resonance is an exception to this matter.

Looking at her hand Shelly got curious as she turned her head towards flames of the firepit before her. Her hands slowly reached towards the searing hot flames. Closer… closer… will Boss’ strange energy nullify even this kind of heat?

“Shelly what’re you doing?” Arthur walked over and asked. He was looking down at the little white-haired girl who was slowly sinking her hand closer to the flames of the firepit.

Shelly swiftly retrieved her hand and turned to look at her young master. “I was just getting young master a drumstick. Here.” Shelly handed the drumstick in her hand over to Arthur.

Arthur held the drumstick for only a couple of seconds before his voice echoed in the air “Hot hot hot hot!” Arthur quickly blew on the drumstick and tried to cool it off.

Both Shelly and Boss let out a short laugh. A couple seconds later Arthur felt like he cooled the drumstick down enough and took a bite. “Thank you, Shelly! It’s delicious!” Arthur stated while munching on the piece of chicken.

Shelly released a faint smile and was about to reply when more people started to show up around them. It was the same group of individuals they had met every time they were in the dining hall.

“Ahem, Boss?” The old man looked at the kid who was munching away on a slab of pork the size of his head.

“Mm?” The kid replied with a mouthful of stuffed food. Boss squinted his eyes and furrowed his brows as he stared at the old man in front of him. The person seemed familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint where he’d seen this man.

“Who areh youh?” Boss replied while munching on his food lacking in any sense of courtesy.

“It’s me.” The old man pulled out a chef hat from who knows where and placed it on top of his head. Boss continued to squint his eyes as he looked up and down between the hat and the face of the old man. “Ohrh”

“Whath youh whant?” Boss asked.

“I uhh, I was wondering why you haven’t come back to the kitchen after that day? I told your friends that you can use it whenever you want.” The head chef went straight to the point and asked what was on his mind, he really wanted to learn more about Boss’ style of cooking and have attempted to make the same dishes Boss had made with no success.

“Oh, I was busy” Boss replied after finishing what was on his hand. He was reaching for another piece of meat before the head Chef stopped him. “Here, let me season it for you.” The head chef continued to pull out spices and mixed it with the meat nearby Boss.

“It’s not as good as how you’ve made it, but I’ve been trying improve my own cooking after I tasted yours.” The head chef replied as he handed the hot food over to Boss. He was even about to blow on it to cool it down, but Boss took the meat away from his hands without his notice.

“It’s pretty good.” Boss replied as he ate. He continued “I’ll come back to my kitchen to teach you guys a thing or two in the future, just keep practicing I don’t want to have to kick you guys out again for not being good enough.”

The head chef didn’t even mind Boss’ words and continued smile. “Thank you, I’ll get going now, sorry for interrupting your feast. Hopefully, we’ll see each other again soon?” The head chef asked.

“Mm.” Boss replied.

The head chef turned to Arthur and Shelly who were sitting beside Boss. “See you tomorrow Arthur, Shelly.”

Arthur and Shelly replied at the same time. “See you tomorrow.”

“Sorry about Boss’ rude behavior” Arthur added.

“No, no, it was us who was rude.” The head chef replied. He continued “Anyways, we have to go back, still have to cook back at the Inn, I hope you guys enjoy the feast tonight.” The Head chef stated and walked away. His group of apprentice chefs all bowed their head at the kids and followed behind.

Once they were further away Arthur looked at Boss. “They say you can use their kitchen whenever you want, are you going to do it? I really like your cooking, Boss.”

Boss let out a hearty burp and turned to the kid before him. “Mmm, I’ll cook again when everyone improves in their meditation. That means you’ll need to at least stop one smack from Gran.”

Arthur seriously nodded his head; he believes he can stop Gran’s stick from hitting him for sure. Shelly didn’t show it, but inwardly she had her doubts that her young master would improve overnight to be able to sense energy.

Michael and Julie joined the rest of the group by the time the feast ended, when nothing was left on the grill. They spent most of their night together as they ate and made friends with those sitting around the firepit. Leftovers were abundant and everyone took however much they wanted back home and to the Inn.

Arthur woke up the next day hopeful and ready for training and meditation believing that he would be able to do what was impossible beforehand. However, Shelly’s doubts were answered during meditation that afternoon. Arthur and Michael continued to fail in their meditation getting a score of 0/60 every day.

This process did not change even though Arthur and Michael continued to push themselves during training and meditation with Gran, Pebble, and Cobble. They even fully spent all their time afterwards meditating and falling asleep every night. The only male who made improvements was Seth, Seth made marked improvements once he found his meditative energy, however it was extremely weak, and faint not even Gran could determine what talent was best suited for Seth.

Training continued to get tougher with Boss’ slowly increasing the intensity of the maze he prepares for them. He recognized Julie and Shelly’s potential and ability to discern energy, so he sent them on a separate path back to the Inn. It was boys versus girls race with the girls winning every single time even though their maze was far more complex and intense compared to the boys.

Before long, more than a week had passed with their grueling training with Gran, Pebble, and Cobble. Arthur and Michael laid on the ground in the meditation room, their body was bruised and battered from the consistent daily training and meditation they had. Even though in the beginning they managed to recover completely by the next day, when it came to meditation Arthur and Michael was left physically exhausted after the hour.

However, on this day a smile sprawled upon both of their faces for the first time since meditation started as they cooled their stinging arms and legs on the cold hard floor.

Gran looked at the two who laid there and released a gentle smile. “Shelly and Julie 60 out of 60 for the hour of meditation. Seth, 15 out of 60 for the hour. Arthur and Michael… 1 out of 60 for the hour. Congrats, you two have finally done it.”

Boss, Cobble, Pebble, alongside the two pets entered the meditation room after the hour finished. The kitten was laying on Pebble’s arms whereas the puppy laid on Cobble’s head.

They at once noticed the smile plastered on everyone’s face within the room including that of Arthur and Michael and knew that today, the two boys have finally started to comprehend it.

“Congrats you two, you’ve finally did it!” Pebble congratulated them. “Yes, good job!” Cobble followed up.

Arthur and Michael weakly turned their heads towards Pebble and Cobble. “Thank you.” They said in unison. The meditation tonight took all the energy out of them, they could barely stand right now.

Gran nodded his head and smiled. “Let’s see if you can do it again tom—” Gran squinted his eyes and looked towards the direction of the door. His eyes slowly grew wide and the smile on his face grew extremely large.

“Mom! Dad! Brothers! I’m home!” The sound of a young boy’s voice echoed throughout the estate, followed by the slamming of the front door and the sound of footsteps racing towards the room.

“Dad!” The young red-haired boy slammed opened the door and ran up to stand in front of Gran. “Dad! I’m back!”

“Welcome home, my son.” Gran smiled down and patted the hair of his youngest son. He was a tanned skinned kid much like father and his brothers. He was wearing Lumiere’s pure white school uniform containing an insignia of a glowing sun on his left chest.

Standing just slightly a head taller than Arthur the kid ran and looked up to his two eldest brothers who were completely surprised by his appearance. “Brothers! I’m just like you guys now!”

“B-B-Boulder!”