Waking up on something other than a bed that healed him was an odd experience but not a bad one, he felt well rested but the aches and soreness that would be lessened in the night were now present. His room was exactly the same, his mom kept telling him she knew he wasn’t dead, so she didn’t change a thing. When he talked to his dad he could see in his eyes that he had accepted the loss of his son but couldn’t handle the thought of telling his wife. That didn’t change how happy he was that Dorian was back; he had never been so glad to be wrong. There had never been so many tears in his eyes and he kept his hand on his son’s shoulder most of the night as they all sat talking on the couch.
His father had asked him for an explanation and before Dorian could answer his mother looked up at him, stopping him as she really saw the state of him. “You need a haircut and… do you know how to shave?” Dorian’s face flushed and he glanced at his dad “I, um, well dad… I wasn’t around for dad to show me… and I didn’t really have a razor or something, I-” he was rambling, he hadn’t seen his mom in so long he felt like he was being reprimanded. “Take that all armor off,” she said before making a face realizing what that kind of armor meant. “You’re a climber? You’ve been fighting??” She had been holding onto him so long she must've not seen his face, she looked and the three jagged lines that split his face and started to tear up.
“Ma, I’m fine, ok?” he smiled and laughed at her concern, “I promise, I’m ok. I’m better than ok. Seriously, I’m great”.
She hesitantly acknowledged with a nod, but he could see the doubt in her eyes. Then, like it didn't happen at all, she picked up her tirade over his appearance exactly where she'd left off. His mother then dragged him out back and leveled out the misshapen sliced up hair into something more manageable until he could get it cut properly. He let her take care of him, he thought it was odd to go straight for a haircut, but he didn’t care, he had missed her random motherly quirks more than he would care to admit.
She dusted off his shoulders, feeling the dirt on his shirt, "leave your clothes outside the door when you change". He nodded and stood up to go take a shower, his mother put her hands on his face. She had gotten so short, or he had gotten too tall, when she hugged him with another “my boy is back” his arms wrapped around her so easily. She looked more than a year and a half older than when he last saw her, hair graying in places and more wrinkles, her eyes looked like they’d been puffy every day since he'd been marked K.I.T..
His dad stood in the doorway that led into the house holding some of his own clothes, happy smile unfaltering. “Your clothes will probably be too short now,” Mr. Feldayne looked at the clothes Dorian was wearing under the armor, the loose white shirt slightly sweat stained, but the pants were in great condition. “Take these and go take a shower. Are you hungry”? Thinking about the same jerky, nuts, and dried fruit he’d eaten over the last year he shouted out a yes so quickly it didn’t even sound like English.
“Haha, ok I’ll whip something up while you shower.” his father said lightly.
"I'll whip something up for after." his mother followed up with a clap.
As he showered, Dorian had realized another thing he’d taken for granted… real plumbing. The shower in the dungeon was freezing, even under the steaming water he shivered at the memory. He washed slowly and watched the grime swirl down the drain, he washed at least once a day in the dungeon, but it was basically just a rinse to get the sweat off; no soap or shampoo. After he washed, he sat down and let the hot water cascade down his body, pulling the steam deep into his lungs. He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been for the last year until it had started to melt away in the water.
After a few minutes he turned the water off and grabbed the towel that hung next to the shower door. Wiping the foggy mirror, he took himself in; he hadn’t looked in a mirror in a very long time and what he saw surprised him. He pursed his lips and nodded as if he was saying “not bad”. His dark hair was a medium length, for now, until he cut it shorter, his face darkening with a budding beard; his father gave him his powered trimmer so he cleaned it up the best he could. He had never shaved let alone styled one.
He barely recognized his body, chorded muscles that rippled when he flexed and moved in the right way, not a six pack but a toned torso, lithe like a stalking predator. His teeth needed some… attention, they stung when he brushed them and much to his dismay he resolved himself to take his once a decade dentist visit.
As soon as he stepped out of the soapy smelling steam filled bathroom, he closed his eyes and breathed in the greatest scent he’d ever had the pleasure of smelling, a smell he used to enjoy every morning. Bread, roasted meat, and something sweet. He came downstairs to see his mother and father smiling and working together to bake and cook, his mother humming as she checked the personal apple pies in the oven. They were little hand-size pies that he’d loved ever since he was, well, as long as he could remember they were his favorite. His dad kneaded dough, his wide back and thick arms worked the material with practiced ease. His Focus tattoos on his arms started at his fingertips and ended at the shoulders, red runic script that encircled both arms completely.
He watched his mother use her focus, a tight bracelet around her left wrist, to slow time in a small area in front of her. When she was younger she was a very strong climber, she used this power to slow attacks and counter very effectively, but when she met a young man who used an extremely powerful fire focus to simply bake bread, the best bread she’d ever had, she couldn’t help but fall in love. “Not just for the bread, but it was an excellent ice breaker.” His mother had always told him. Dorian watched his father put the dough in a bowl to proof and turn around to watch his wife as well, neither of his parents had noticed him yet.
A lock of graying brown hair fell from his mother’s ponytail, and she pushed it behind her ear as she smiled in triumph, asking her husband to lower the heat so they would stay warm but not crisp anymore. She stood up and dusted her hands together, his father looking at her just as happily as he looked at Dorian. Dorian remembered what Elliot said, this might be the first time she baked anything since he disappeared, he was sad at the thought but seeing her at it again made Dorian feel lighter.
“Hey, Jed, can you go get Dori- “she cut off as she turned and saw him smiling at them in the entrance of the kitchen. “Perfect timing, let’s eat!” Dorian made for the table which was already set and then asked what time it was and if they hadn’t eaten already.
“Doesn’t matter,” his dad said, taking a loaf out of the oven, he must’ve walked over to the bakery and grabbed some already proofed dough earlier and was making some to replace it. “First family meal in a year, we wouldn’t miss it”! It was late, Dorian could tell, but no one was tired, they ate and talked late into the night and early into the morning. He told them about everything that happened, he didn’t want to repeat himself, but he couldn’t say no to his parents.
He told them about his testing and the training, all except the part where he was the one who chose to stay there… he didn’t want to tell his mom that just yet… or ever. He told them about his powers, his Focus, his test; neither of them had heard anything like it before. The mental area for Focus choosing and testing had been done before but another table appearing after not choosing anything and then such a long training period after was completely unheard of.
“What were your tests?” Dorian’s question to his parents was cautious, he didn’t know why he’d never asked before but could always tell his father hated talking about why he never used his Focus for anything other than baking and simple things.
His mother answered first, “Well, mine started the same as yours, but when I chose my Focus it put me in a room of moving objects, each faster than the previous, and I had to slow them down to catch them. Once I had all ten I placed them into a door and it let me out. It took me about a day, maybe”? She spoke with no hesitation at all, his father, however, looked very apprehensive.
He looked at his wife with an unspoken question, she looked at him softly and told him that it was ok, Dorian was old enough. He coughed and cleared his throat before he told Dorian, “In my younger years I was… hot-headed” Jed couldn’t help but crack a dad-joke whenever the chance presented itself. “I used my fists to fix most problems, couldn’t be bothered with anything but fighting and getting my Focus so I could start climbing”. Dorian’s face must’ve looked visibly shocked because his mother laughed at him, his father was one of the gentlest people he knew.
“Doesn’t sound like him at all, does it?” his mother grinned, leaning her head on his shoulder, his father had a slightly forced smile on his face.
“My test gave me only one choice,” he looked at his forearms and the tattoos covering them. Dorian had never seen the extent of them, but he knew they went up to the shoulders, down to his chest and then a line down his spine. The stronger a focus, the larger it is usually, this wasn't always true but it was a good indicator. His father’s was one of the biggest he’d heard of.
“I was elated,” he continued grimly “with it I’d be a top climber for sure”. Once I’d bonded with it I found myself in a large coliseum of sorts and it sent out things for me to fight”. He swallowed before speaking further, Dorian saw his mother squeeze Jed’s forearm reassuringly.
“At first it was wooden creations, dummies like you had fought, but the Tower finds weaknesses you don’t know you had and tests them. Eventually it set live beings at me, I burnt the monsters to death without remorse, smelled the burning hair, heard their non-human screams… I didn’t care. The blood burnt up so quick all I saw was ash, all I heard was crackling death. You only had mannequins…” his father said darkly “why couldn’t I get mannequins.” His voice was dark and jealous. "After nine waves the gate opened for the tenth time and four people walked out…”.
Dorian gasped in shock, “People? How did people”?
His father shook his head, “The Tower can create anything it wants, they may not have been born in the world, but their flesh and blood were real enough.” He kept on before Dorian could ask anything else “It was two bandits,” he choked up “and two children”. He closed his eyes, and the next sentences rushed out like a child trying to get out of punishment. “I had never learned control, I always just melted everything in my way with extreme prejudice.” The tears Dorian saw his father shed now weren’t happy at all, they seemed to be tearing him apart, a part of his soul in each drop.
“I tried to make small fireballs to hit just the bandits, but they exploded early and... one of the kids… the screams. After that the second bandit slit the other kids... I never took a second to learn control, I didn’t I didn’t mean to. I could've saved them". He had his face in his hands and Dorian’s mother moved her hand to the back of his head and scratched it slowly to calm him. “I could smell them for months after… I felt like it was in my skin, etched into my soul.” He mumbled from his hands and sniffed deeply before wiping them and looking up at his son.
“I haven’t used my Focus for anything more than basic necessity since… I… I got a job at a bakery and started to focus on my small-scale control, the smell of the bread helped me oddly enough”. He reached his hand back to grasp his wife’s and held it, “little did I know my bread making prowess would eventually let me trick the most beautiful woman in the world to marry me”.
“Oh, shut up.” she said with a flat face and an eye roll before slapping his shoulder playfully, Dorian was spaced out again thinking about something he’d never realized before now… he hadn’t actually drawn anyone’s blood, he hadn’t ‘killed’ anything except mannequins. Would he be like his father when he did? Would the crunch of bone on barrier ruin climbing for him?
“Now let’s eat before it gets cold!” Jed said, the words snapped Dorian from his thoughts, and he focused on the table. Roasted ham, fresh bread for sandwiches, some veggies and some fresh fruit had Dorian feeling like a new man. They talked all night until the sun started to come up, all sense of time gone like the food Dorian had devoured.
As the pies were coming out some extremely panicked knocking thundered from the front door. The Feldayne’s looked in the direction of the door simultaneously, each one showing a different expression of confusion. “Who could that be, and why are they… ah” she smiled like she knew something they didn’t; which was usually the case with Momma Feldayne”.
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The knocking stopped abruptly, and his mother put the pies on the table as if nothing had happened, Dorian looked at his father who grinned, got up to unlock the back door and then sat back down. As soon as he sat down, and his pie was pushed in front of him the door blasted open. A pair of huffing twins were crowding the doorway. The female, Tella, was flushed, her blonde ponytail fraying from her running. Her eyes were looking around wildly before they locked onto Dorian. The boy, Graytis, whose hair was a darker blonde, wasn’t as flushed but still huffed for air. Their house wasn’t far but a dead sprint from there to here would be tiring.
“Come on you two, I unlocked the door so you could-“ Jed started.
“Hey guys,” Dorian started to stand before a yellow rocket tackled him to the floor, his chair flying to the side. “Oh, ah, hey Tell.” He felt her sobbing before he heard it and put his arms around her to hug her tight “hey, don’t cry.” he laughed “I’m here, I’m alive”. He thought about trying to get up before he heard “eh, fuck it. Welcome back, dude”. Dorian looked up just in time to see Graytis in the air before getting squashed in the dog pile. Tella and Dorian both groaned loudly under the weight and Dorian squirmed to be a little more comfortable; he didn’t even try to escape.
“Ughhh, damnit Gray, get off!” Tella shouted through a sob.
He climbed off of Dorian and Tella laughing through a grin, he helped Dorian up and pulled him into a tight hug. “Missed you, man.” Dorian returned it, squeezing him just as tight.
“Yeah, dude,” they pulled out of the hug with huge smiles “I missed you too”. As if they’d never been apart, they were already best friends again, not a word of explanation needed. Graytis saw Dorian’s face and gave him an appraising and curious look, taking in the scars and his new body clearly wanting to know what happened… and was that jealousy when he looked at Dorian’s butting beard?
“Did you… did you climb without us?” he asked, not mad but surprised, maybe a little annoyed, at the thought of Dorian taking the initiative and just leaving without them.
“Something like that,” he grinned, “sit down I’ll tell you about it”. His parents cut their pies in half and gave each of the twins a piece and they ate as Dorian told his story, again, with his own whole pie. Tella was abnormally quiet, eyes puffy but no tears. She stared at Dorian without saying a word, she just listened. Her brother, however, asked a question every time Dorian stopped for a breath.
It was in the middle of his story that he’d remembered something very important; he looked at the twins to ask a question of his own. “Did you get your Focuses”? Tell did show a sign of life at this, an expression that Dorian couldn’t read passed over her face. He got very scared for a moment, what if they didn’t get Focuses, what if he had to climb without them? He didn’t want to, but he’d had a taste of combat, he got addicted to the fight and for the need to get better; he needed to get stronger, and he wouldn’t be able to do that if he didn’t climb”.
“You bet we did,” Graytis said. He stood and pulled up his shirt to show a skintight undershirt with sets of runes on it, “it’s extra durable,” he said as he picked at the shirt, “but it also gives me sonic attacks. It will help my lungs expand for larger attacks, some people say shirt Focuses aren’t great, but it never comes off and I don’t have a problem with it”.
Dorian wrinkled his nose, “you don’t wash it”?
Graytis laughed “it dries practically instantly, so I just shower with it on and wash it there.
“That’s insane, you’re insane.” Dorian admonished.
“Look, why the hell would I take off my powers? What if something fell onto me and the shirt would have prevented debris from puncturing my lung”?
“Well, you would take it off because you probably smell like dumpster.” Dorian tried to hold back his smile as Gray looked at him in offense. They both laughed and Dorian saw his parents chuckle along with them, but Tella didn’t for some reason.
“Did you get a Focus, Tell”? Dorian said softly.
She nodded and looked at him, brushing back the hair on her right side and showing light markings that went from her ear to right next to her eye, then she touched her back and said, “I have sensory boosts and stealth”. This made Dorian a little confused as Tella was never the sneaking around type. Before he could ask, her brother explained with a teasing tone.
“She wanted to stalk around the tower looking for you, Dori.” The grin that Gray gave him threatened to swallow his own face and the heat coming off Tella’s cheeks could’ve cooked a marshmallow.
“She knew you weren’t dead, either, don’t either of you make fun of her.” The glare that Toria Feldayne gave her son, and his best friend, could have made even the most senior climbers cower in fear.
“Yes, ma’am”.
“Sorry Mrs. Feldayne”.
They said these at the same time, Graytis still grinning and Dorian giving Tella a slight glance; she was looking at Toria with admiration and gratitude. The mother of the twins passed when she gave birth to them, their father was Dorian’s father’s right hand in the bakery and his godfather. Their father had gotten Jed his first job at the bakery and Dorian's dad returned the favor ten-fold when he opened his own bakery. The twins were family and Toria treated them as such, giving Tella a mother figure to look up to as well as someone to teach her how to handle stupid boys.
There was another knock at the front door, much more sedate and calm than the banging from the twins and it waited patiently for someone to get to the door. Jed stood, telling everyone else to stay there as he walked to the front of the house. No one could hear who it was, just the mumbled sounds of talking before the door closed. Jed walked back in with another man following him, “I hear you promised this man some bread, Dorian”?
“Elliot!” Dorian shouted; he couldn’t help being cheery at reunion of some of the few people he cared about and another person who had recently become a sort of friend. “Come, sit, I guess I can tell the story for a third time.”! His father and mother brought over more bread and Toria used some of the leftover apple pie filling to make a sort of compote butter for it. They all ate more as Dorian told the story for a third time.
“Oh, that reminds me!” Elliot said as he reached into his pocket. He took out an envelope, it was thick and snow white with the insignia of the auction house on it, an “X” with a coin on the left and right, one side of the coin showing on each, the top of the x had a gavel in it and the bottom had a pair of scales. The coins for money, of course, the gavel stood for all sales final, their authority… probably had something to do with them using a gavel in the auction but Dorian wasn’t one hundred percent sure, and the scales to signify equal exchange. The scales were for balance, nothing left without being purchased or traded for, it was a loose usage of the word, barely meeting the definition, but when you were of the largest auction house chain in the world you could make your emblems mean whatever the hell you wanted.
He handed the letter to Dorian who took it and mentally marveled at the weight of it and wondered what was inside. He pulled it open and found three cards and a large, folded piece of paper. He looked at the cards first, one was his new ID for the auction house, at eighteen he could enter alone and now that he had goods on auction he would need an identifier to acquire his money. The other two were preloaded cards, Elliot had told him that they bought all the jewelry outright and put the armor, weapons, and clothes on auction. The cards were full, each had five thousand Tower Credits loaded onto them, each credit worth ten dollars of standard in the city when exchanged.
A hundred thousand standard from just jewelry? It was the most money he’d ever had by a long shot, and he still had more items on auction?? The letter was from the Academy, apparently last night after Elliot turned in Dorian’s goods, one of his superiors had found him and asked where he’d gotten all the loot. Elliot told him that Dorian, the boy who was marked KIT a year ago returned with all of it. He took Elliot to his office and wrote down two letters, one was to Dorian and the other was to the Academy; he asked Elliot to deliver them both, so he did. The letter for the academy he delivered that night and Dorian’s the next morning.
~Hello Dorian, you do not know me, but I have heard of you. My name is Alder Glassus, the Academy's Head of Focus Research. I have been told that you spent a year and seven months inside the testing floor. I've been told that you exhibited no obvious Focus. The guardsman explained how you made the bag of loot float but didn’t lighten it at all and you weren’t able to move whatever held it up. Very fascinating.
At your earliest convenience, or tomorrow… perhaps now if possible - please make your way to the Academy so I may study you look into this further. At this time, I can also help you with enrollment and you could become a full-time subject student and learn to control your abilities more effectively.
I would also like to learn about your time in the testing area, why did it take so long? I must know, please will you tell me when you come tomorrow, or tonight, of course, I am not there with you. HA! This is exciting, I look forward to studying meeting you tomorrow, please feel free to arrive anytime, I will be expecting you!
Yours sincerely,
Alder Glassus, Head of Focus Research ~
“What in the world?” Dorian said after reading the letter. He felt tired from reading it, like he’d just had a very quick conversation and needed a breath after. “Who is this guy, Elliot”?
Elliot smiled sheepishly, “He’s a genius…” he winced “an oddball that everyone kind of… stays away from.” Looking at the worried face Dorian made, Elliot retracted and put his hands up, waving them trying to wipe away what he’d said. “Everyone except researchers and people with his interests, I mean, people who don’t get what he's talking about are, intimidated maybe? The way he talks to people is as if they should know everything he does. He doesn’t mean to do it, but he treats a lot of fascinating people like objects to study. It’s just how he is”.
“He’s very nice.” Tella said, finally looking at Dorian, ears a little pink still, “he helped me figure out why I got the Focuses that I got and which kinds I should look for next. He’s just… excitable”. She smiled reassuringly “I can go with you, if you want”. Dorian was used to being alone but the thought of hanging out with his friends talking to weird people sounded like a lot of fun. When Elliot decided to say something, the back door opened, and the twin’s father walked in.
“It true, Jed?” A stout blonde man walked in with a brilliant smile, he started to look around when he found Dorian at the head of the table, a huge grin on his face also. “Dorian! Come here, boy!” Ab stomped over to Dorian and crushed him with the same kind of bear hug his father gave. It wasn’t as pressing as it was when he was younger, but he loved those hugs all the same. He would never say that out loud, though. “Love you like one of my own, kid, I’m happy your back. Tella and Gray talked about you almost every day”, he pulled back with his hands on Dorian’s shoulders and took him in.
“What in the emergence happened to you?” He looked at Toria and Jed who were just enjoying their son being back and looking so happy.
“Training!” Gray shouted, “We’ll tell you later, Da, he just told it for the third time”!
“What if I want to hear it from the source! Toria, can I get some of that delicious smelling apple creation and bread?!" he was a happy bear stomping around the kitchen with people as close as family.
“Of course, Ab, our home is yours”.
Ab turned to thank her and saw Elliot, “Oh, hello there, guardsman, there a problem”? Ab got nervous apparently not seeing the happy smile Elliot had been wearing.
“He’s a friend, Mr. P, he was actually the last person who saw me before I went into the training room”. Ab tilted his head intrigued.
“That so?”
Dorian nodded, “yup, see it went like this. After they took me back to the gate, you know mom and dad couldn’t be in the room, I was there with Elliot, just calmly waiting to go in”. Elliot had an odd coughing fit that sounded like “bullshit”. “Ok, I might have thrown up on his boots, but that’s neither here nor there”. The twins cackled, apparently not hearing that part of the story before. Ab sat at the table giving Dorian all his attention until the story was finished.
“Bone focus, aye? Never heard of one like that… and so extensive. Are the scars bad?” Dorian reacted like he’d been slapped then his gaze went blank.
“Scars?” his expression turned thoughtful then pensive. He didn’t even look to see if he had scars on his back; granted he didn’t have a mirror in the training room.
“Yeah, from the bones pushing themselves in. It’s a mental testing facility but adding Focuses is a physical thing.” Despite his looks, Ab was very smart, he had the thought process of a Climber he just didn’t like climbing. He went up to floor five in his youth then decided he liked baking more. You didn’t have to fight with your Focus, you could do whatever you wanted with it and Dorian loved that about his family, they were strong but in their own way. “So, let’s see, I’m curious… ladies love a good scar, Dorian, my boy!” Ab was laughing but Dorian was slowly getting worried.
His mom and dad noticed immediately “Want to show me first, Dori?” his father said, Toria looking at him as well.
Dorian stood slowly, a blank thinking expression on his face, “Yeah, um… yeah”. Tella and Gray stood slightly before their father told them to sit down immediately. Elliot stood and spoke before Dorian moved anymore.
“I’m going to get going, I’m stationed at the usual spot if you wanna come talk, Dorian, bring me some bread once in a while, yeah?” he held out his hand and Dorian took it, snapping out of his stupor and looking at Elliot with a genuine smile.
“I will, Elliot, I promise. And seriously, thank you.” Elliot smiled back and told him it was no problem. Before leaving, Jed and Toria forced a loaf and some compote on him which he, not upset about it at all, took.
“Let’s give them some time, alone, you two.” Ab said while standing and wiping his mouth, “you have classes today, you’ll see him later”. They whipped their heads to look at him simultaneously.
“Dad!” – “Dorian just!” – “Nooooo, DAD!” – “Pleaseee!” these all came at Ab simultaneously and so fast he couldn’t make out the end of any of it; he got the idea though.
Completely unphased he took in a breath and let out a stern father voice to top all other stern father voices, “Noooooope, time to go and get ready, move those butts.” with a groan they stood up and hugged Dorian. Dorian started laughing at the situation and hugged them back, promising them he would find them when he went to the academy that day. Tella swore to him that if he didn’t, she would go to Glassus’ office and wait for him.
