Worthless Joy

Chapter 10

Alexio was pretty proud of himself. He had just managed to get Akrios and himself, with all their luggage intact, onto the plane set for London without any issues. Other than the fact that Alexio had to keep about fifty eyes on the kid since he kept looking around, and straying off, it was fine. They were currently residing in a first class seat, and Akrios himself was seemingly drowning in ice cream- after he had some lunch, of course,- occasionally closing his eyes, and pressing his hands to his head to overcome a brain freeze.

"Slow down, kiddo. You'll have hypothermia in your brain, soon." Alexio laughed, motioning for a flight attendant to come over so he could order some wine.

"But choco'ate's goo'." Akrios mumbled, nodding to himself. He swallowed his ice cream, and let out a sigh of content.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, child." Alexio chided quietly. Akrios looked like he was about to pass out.

"Uh, huh. Sorry, sir." He yawned, rubbing at his eyes. Akrios leaned against Alexio as far as he could, considering the seat belt, and closed his eyes, smiling slightly at the feel of flying.

After a few minutes, Akrios had fallen asleep, but Alexio knew he was going to be hyperactive when they got to his place. The man eventually got his wine, and stared out the window across from Akrios. The boy insisted on sitting by the window; he had claimed he wanted to see the clouds, and birds. Alexio was looking out, when he saw some geese fly by. He let a small smile grace his lips, as he watched the birds communicate, and then dive away from the airplane. He thought nature was very relaxing. This final thought in his head, he put his wine glass away, and closed his eyes, sleeping away the nine hour flight.

***

Akrios was jostled out of his thoughts when the loud voice from the speakers announced it was only a few minutes from landing in London. Akrios felt really refreshed, and hyper. He smiled widely, and poked Alexio in the side tentatively. "We're landing!" He poked the man's side harder, causing Alexio to groan, and open his eyes blearily.

"Yes, child. I can see that." Alexio glanced out the window to see the ground approaching. He stretched, feeling a bit sick. He had always hated mortal transportation. Alexio ruffled the boy's hair, as he was practically jumping in his seat. Akrios apparently had a sudden thought strike him, since he turned and looked up at Alexio.

"How do we get to your house?" Akrios stated the obvious.

Alexio blinked, and calmly replied. "I have a way of quick travel for a mortal to be okay with. It's called Blinking. I'll show you later when we get to a safer area." He smiled. "It doesn't work over seas, of course, so we had to fly by plane. It shall work once we get off this wretched thing."

He heard the boy mumble under his breath, and smiled to himself. "I think it's cool."

The plane had landed a little while afterwards, and Alexio had grabbed their luggage. Akrios had managed to keep up with the man, and they eventually came to a secured spot, where Alexio was sure no one would run in on them.

He set the luggage down, and snapped his fingers, sending the luggage to his house. The Liberatos Manor was currently Unidentified- meaning, nowhere on the map of anything, so Alexio was confident on the luggage sending. He laughed at the boy's reaction, which currently rested on the emotion between shock, and awe. "Our turn!" Alexio laughed.

He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You must grab a hold of me, and we shall Blink outside the wards around my Manor, alright?" The boy nodded, and hugged Alexio tightly.

Alexio secured the grip by holding him tighter. He then whistled, and snapped his fingers for show. He smirked as he heard the faint "Cool!" reach his ears before he felt like he was on the top of a whirligig. He reappeared many miles away, outside the wards of Liberatos Manor. He held onto Akrios as he was completely sure the child would likely fall over and expel his ice cream on the grass. After a while, Akrios seemed to control himself, and looked up at him. "I hate Blinking. Rather use a bike." Alexio whistled innocently, and gestured to the Manor.

It was beautiful. About three stories high, with a large garden in front. The yard was extremely large, and even held a small lake. The back of the premises had a very large- well, forest. That's all Akrios had to explain it. It was huge! The boy could immediately see where the magical area of the forest was, considering it was practically glowing red. Akrios stared at the forest for a while, before noticing the very large apple tree in the middle of the yard. There was a small infant swing on it, and Akrios felt pity towards the other man. It didn't last for long, because he himself did not like pity, so he didn't believe anyone else liked it.

Alexio, meanwhile, had been concentrating on changing the wards enough so that Akrios was recognized as family, and was allowed admittance. Alexio didn't want the boy to be burned to crisp while trying to enter his possibly new home. That would, as the kids say now, suck. Alexio suddenly felt really old. The man cleared his throat, gaining the attention of Akrios, who had to pry his eyes away from the magnificent scene before him.

"Shall we go, then?" Alexio asked, smoothly. Without waiting for an answer, Alexio walked through the open gate, and gestured to Akrios to follow, who - to great relief - didn't burn to a crisp while walking through. "This is the Liberatos Manor, child. Again, I think you know where the magical side of the forest is - I like to call it Magikos. You can probably guess what it means, but it's the root word for Magic. I can not stress this enough, child. Do not. I repeat it, do not. Go in that forest. You will die. Horribly."

Akrios knew the man wasn't trying to scare him but it worked, and he nodded frantically. "Yes, sir! No going near the forest. Got it."

Alexio nodded and led the boy up on the stepping stones to the Manor's doors. Akrios noticed a large knocker on the door, and it looked like some kind of snake. He studied it for a moment, and Alexio let him, before realizing it was hopeless, and looked up at the man. "What is that?"

"It is a Winged Serpent." Alexio explained. "They symbolize Healing, and Protection. For the most part. There are many interpretations. But yes, it is my Family symbol. Do not be alarmed, you do not have to know all the symbols."

"Oh." Akrios uttered, looking up at the serpent for a while more, transfixed. He had once found a snake in the garden while he was out working. He had been  5 or 6. He found it very cool to see the snake slither around without a care in the world. He had just let it wander away, but not without saying hello to it. He had been pleased to hear a hello back, and now, thinking back, Akrios wondered if that was normal or not. He certainly did not want to bring it back up now. What if Alexio thought he was a weirdo, and kick him out now?!

Akrios took a deep breath, and regained his thoughts as Alexio opened the door. "Whoa.." He breathed.