The Prince of Nothing

Chapter 9 - [Brother]

Having Saphryn around nearly all the time was... difficult. He had become a friend to me, which was great. He seemed both trustworthy and reliable, but he was somewhat nosey and always curious. He asked a lot of questions... which would have been fine if I didn't have so much homework to do. It didn't help that his existence here had literally shattered my perceptions of the world and what I believed to be true.

I mean, there was such things as monsters and magic and other crazy things like that. I saw a dragon for crying out loud! That changed everything.

So one can imagine... that walking down the halls of my high school suddenly felt more mundane than it did in the past. Sitting in class and listening to my teachers teaching me lessons on science... or math... or even English... all of that felt... so weird now.

There was this whole different world out there that no one knew about.

No one but me.

Without thinking much, I found myself throwing my hand into the air in English class.

Mr. Hill turned and looked at me with a smile. "Yes, Nyla?"

"This is a totally random question, Mr. Hill, but I was doing some reading yesterday and was reading something about a people called Vahriyans," I said. "Have you heard of them?"

Mr. Hill leaned against his desk, thinking. "No... I don't think I have."

I looked around the class and saw the usual looks of confusion and boredom. No one seemed to stick out. No face said: Yeah, I know them!

So I smiled back at Mr. Hill. "Just curious."

He smiled back. "Curiosity is good."

When classes were over, I rushed out quickly. Like I said before... everything felt different. I didn't find the need or have the desire to be side tracked. I wanted to go home quickly. After packing my bags, I said goodbye to my friends and left.

As always, Saphryn was waiting outside for me. He wore more normal clothes, as per my grandmother's orders. She was quite determined to make things easy for me. So today, Saphryn had on a pair of dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt... looking kind of cute, to be honest.

Whenever he wasn't with my grandmother, he was with me. It was both good and bad. Good, because I got to ask questions, bad because I was falling behind in my work.

But today, he looked more roughed up than usual. His hair was a mess and he looked tired, dark circles prominent under his bright blue eyes. "What happened to you?" I asked, walking over to him.

He shrugged. "Your grandmother isn't going easy on me anymore."

"Is she really that good?"

He looked embarrassed. "Yeah."

I chuckled.

My grandmother didn't train him anywhere near here, which made sense because they'd of course cause a scene. In fact, she used that weird small mirror of hers to take them somewhere else.

When I asked once if I could see this other place, she adamantly refused. Even going as far as saying not to ask her again. She didn't explain why. "So what's it like?" I asked.

"Getting beat up by your grandma?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No," I said, though I laughed. "That place in her mirror?"

He shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it," he said. "It's... kind of... nothing, really."

"Nothing?"