The Shock of Adolescence [Private/Famine & Family]

Clarity. That is what Ahote felt when he gazed upon this clear sea and sky. Clarity. The quality of being clear. Waters so reflective, your soul could be seen. All of its hardships, all of your pains and sadness, all of your fears and sins, were reflected so perfectly with these waters. This ocean was so clear, that the beautiful blue skies above were mirrored. No ripples if he did not move, there was no salt in this ocean air, no movement. Ah, he remembered this dream. He remembered how beautiful it is. That same dream, from just a few months ago. Something felt… off, though. Something felt different. Something has changed. And he… could not put his finger on it. He…. he? Who was he? Who was Ahote? A boy? A son? A wizard? A nobody? A somebody? A tool? A weapon? A spirit? A child?... The possibilities were endless, and he didn’t realize how questionable his existence was until he saw himself in those waters. He didn’t realize just how unsure he was of his identity.

Ahote stared down at the water that he stood on top of like any of surface, and like usual, there was no bottom that he could see. His blank expression, his wide, reddish-orange eyes. He stared at them. He stared at himself. He stared at his flaws, his accomplishments, his failures, his being. He wondered what would happen if he just disappeared? Would anyone care? Would anyone notice? Would anyone miss him?

…

No.

Ahote did not want that! He wanted them to notice him! He wanted to be a son that Sol would be proud of! He wanted to finally protect Famine instead of being protected! He wanted power, he wanted strength, he wanted the kindness and the capability to heal a heart instead of breaking one, and he wanted the ability to take a life in order to save another he wanted… Ahote wanted…!

“Gyah!” He woke up with one big jolt. Sweat covered his body, his arm had reached out to the ceiling unconsciously. “What… was that dream?” Ahote asked himself, as if he couldn’t quite remember how it ended. He remembered this feeling of falling, and falling, and falling, endlessly. Was it a nightmare? He seemed to be having this same ‘nightmare’ all month. It tormented him, loomed over him in the dreamscape like stormclouds over a town.

Ahote sighed and leaned back into his rackety old bed in his room, and breathed the dusty and pale air in and out. He took his one arm and wiped the sweat off of his forehead, though his body was covered in it. It was a terrible feeling of uncertainty, like someone had just punched his empty stomach. “Ugh… huh?” Ahote would look up and find the usual dusty mirror ahead of him, but he saw something different. He saw a boy, taller than he was, with raven black locks that went just past his neck, pretty purple eyes and pale skin. His hair was messy but beautiful and his eyes just as beautiful as his hair. He had one arm and was covered in bandages… “Is that… me?!” Exclaimed Ahote as he thrusted out of his bed, onto his feet, and stomped over to the mirror with a look of fear in his eyes. “No way… no way!” His voice had gotten deeper, and his vocabulary had expanded a bit. He knew words he didn’t know before and pronunciation improved.

Ahote would stare into the mirror in silence and horror, as his one hand ran through his alien hair as if he were a beast. It took a minute or so for him to calm down, as it was when he realized what could've happened. “My… magic. That could be it… magic… my parents always did say that it was strange. Mother told me I had an aging enhancement when I was born as well… I just need to calm down.” He sighed and took a seat back on his bed, and looked down. “I just need some clothes. Yeah, clothes is what I need.”

NOTE: Ahote is now physically and mentally 14. Expect a sudden change in pronunciation, personality, and interests.

AND NOW ITS ENDING IN MY RESURRECTION

The recently returned guildmaster padded down the icy halls and dim corridor, dragging pale fingers against the  rough hall wall as she moved until her hand stopped at one of the doors

A visit with Ahote from Famine was certainly overdo… especially with how she’d left him in the others care Here at Basilisk Fang. She could hardly blame the boy for being upset or  even angry with her for not being home, Even though Famine had no control over the circumstance. Afterall, He was rather attached to her as his mother.

Again she was hesitant at the idea of rejoining with her son what would she say--- maybe hello or sorry was a good place to start...Gingerly she turned the knob and swung open the door that would lead into Ahote’s room, a long obnoxious creak resonating from it’s hinges as the scene inside unveiled itself to her. A wave of surprise hurled into her at the sight of the boy blinking into the mirror.

This was not what she had been expecting, This wasn’t the tiny child she remembered-- but...

“--Ahote?” Famine gasped out his name as she went rigid with shock. She knew she had been gone for a long time during the course of the incident… but this long? No.. She couldn’t of-- Why wouldn’t Sol have informed her of the time that passed. It couldn’t be but there he was, her son. He was just seven the other day, now, she didn’t know how aged he looked. Ahote seemed about as old as Famine had been when she joined her first Wizards guild. Back before she got a real taste of how bad the world was and back before she wanted to change it to her liking. She could only pray his purity and obliviousness remained

The mage scrambled over to the mirror, disregarding any reaction he held as Famine walked into the room. Famine grabbed him and gave Ahote a long once over. She held him by his shoulders and bore into those eyes of his, despite the absence of that orange hue they were his. Once she confirmed this, her tattooed arm laced downward and around his back yanking her into her embrace despite how sweaty Ahote was from his sleep and her chin fell onto his shoulder. The boy was just her about height now...still small but not the boy she would have tucked in days ago with his dingy but well loved stuffed rabbit. It was alarming to think he could still grow more and that she’d already missed out on this much.