Story Of My Life

Chapter 17 - Just One Day Left

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Click. Click. Click.

"Wake up, my apprentice." I hold out the plate of bacon and eggs and knock on his door. "Come on, ###."

"Can't I sleep for a few more minutes?" says a pouty voice. I smile, but switch it to a frown. I don't want to lure him into a sense of false security just in case I die.

I don't want him to feel the pain.

"Don't make me count to ten," I say in an irritable voice. I just need to keep on acting for a few more years.

"I'm sorry," the voice says softly behind the door. The creaking of a bed suggests that he's got up. Good. "Coming," he calls.

He opens the door and looks up at me with some fright in his eyes. No. He's not supposed to be scared of me. He's not even an adult yet. Only sixteen years old.

And I'm already planning my death at twenty-eight.

Instinctively, I crouch down and hug him against my chest. This may very well be the last time I can hug him. If he knew what feelings I had inside my mind...

"Teacher?" he says in a confused and sleepy voice.

"Nothing," I straighten up and hand him the plate. "Eat up," I order, "I'm going to train you on how to use your powers on the battlefield."

His eyes widen, and fear takes over his facial expressions. He's so small. So soft. Just like every other being in Externalism. He's still young. When he's twenty, he'll understand what I meant.

"Not on a literal battlefield, but kind of," I amend. "If you're ever thrown into one, then you'll know how to use your powers to protect yourself."

"O-Oh. I thought you meant we were going to war today," he says, and then rubs his eyes. My heart flutters.

So vulnerable, my heart whispers, so small, so weak, so easy to kill.

That's right. He might die the next day if we don't get this lesson over with. Then I can leave in hopes of creating a better world for him.

He doesn't know my power either, I think helplessly, as if I'm watching sand pour through the gaps in my fingers. And in this case, the sand represents his life, and my fingers represent my plan.

I won't let him die. He has a future, unlike me.

I need to save this world from complete domination.

But, I think, you know that you won't be able to conquer Him. So why even bother? No. I will at least cripple him for, say, twenty years. That's more than enough for him to find my book and end the cause of this problem.

But for now...

I think I'll return to the present and hang onto the only thing keeping me sane.

"Teacher?" he says, fully awake now. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I tell him. "If you behave well today, and you try hard enough, and if you succeed in accomplishing my assignments, then I might tell you what my power is."

Telling someone your power is a big honor to that person, because they know how much you trust them, because they could work through what vulnerabilities you have, and control you.

Except that...

I don't have any vulnerabilities.

"Really?" he asks.

"Really," I tell him. "Your first assignment is to shoot me."

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"'Really,' he told me. 'Your first assignment is to shoot me,'" I say mockingly. "How was I supposed to know that I was supposed to use my powers to shoot you?" But I did. I knew that I was supposed to shoot him using my power. A child at that age would be confused, but not me. I went through enough training to know.

I think that's why he believed in me.

I think that's why he still does.

I won't fail him.

Not after I spent so long digging through his books and trying to find the right spells to cast.

The consequence and cost of casting all those spells would be my life.

I'm tired.

I'm so so so tired.

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"Good job," I praise him. He's sweaty, and his plump, red lips are parted to gasp for air into his withering lungs. His cheeks are from pushing his power to the limit, and his eyes droop, threatening to close.

"Don't fall asleep," I say, "or you'll never hear what my power is."

"Hah..." he pants, "I can hardly hear you through the pounding of my head anyway," he says cheekily.

"Cheek," I mutter.

He makes a pouting noise, "I'm sorry! Tell me, please."

"Tch," I say, and grasp his waist to drag him up to a sitting position. He squeezes his eyes shut at the contact.

"Okay, the first thing you need to know is that I have multiple powers," I say. He gasps, and clasps his hands together.

"Wow, that's so cool!"

"I know it is, ba- I mean, yeah obviously it's cool," I say. Shit. I almost called him baby.

I've always wanted to call him baby, though.

"So what are your powers?" he asks him, flopping down so close to my lap.

I take in a deep breath, "Destruction, and -"

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"You are not continuing that list."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to hear what happens at the end of all of this."

"Why not?"

"Please, I just don't."

"When you say 'please', it's rather hard to ignore what you've requested."

"Teacher!"

"Hm?"

"That's... out of character!"

"Well... haven't you heard that if your age gap is less than twenty, it's legal for you to get married?"

"H-HUH??"

"You'll know soon."

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