Soulless

2. The Boy Who Saw

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"You should've seen the look on your face," Tobias Berkley said. He leaned against the doorframe, a wide grin etched on his asymmetrically round face. "I know you aren't from around here but I didn't actually think you'd be that stupid."

The dorm room was dimly lit, the wall lamp near Tobias casting a low incandescent glow over a small portion of the entrance and not much by the beds. Besides the lamp, the only other source of light was the streetlamp outside, the open window letting as much light in as possible, and bathing Alexander in its soft, tinted glow.

Alex didn't reply. After toweling himself dry, he pulled on an old gray shirt, shucking off his trousers and replacing them with a ratty pair of shorts. No underwear, Tobias wrinkled his nose in distaste. Still, there was no response from the boy. What had he expected anyway? It had already been three weeks since the start of school and not once had Tobias heard him say anything outside of class.

What's more, Tobias noted, Alex barely even had any manners at all. A savage brute, Tobias had thought the one time he'd caught Alex sniffing primroses at the garden. He'd plucked the flower off its stem right after. If he'd known this was the kind of person he'd be sharing his room with for the entire year, he wouldn't even have bothered staying at Chauncey's at all. Let's see if he'd live up to his reputation, he thought sullenly. 

The room was one of the bigger, comfortable ones in the dormitory, usually reserved for the faculty, although Tobias's father had made them change their mind. The room was lavishly decorated, the size big enough to fit two twin-sized beds, a couple of closets and two desks. Before the start of the semester, Tobias's mother had pampered the room, replacing the wallpaper and upgrading the flooring. She'd also bought a pair of armchairs, tucked away neatly in the right-side corner. "For you and your friend," she had said.

The faculty had administered one condition upon leasing the room and that was to share it with another person, which wasn't a problem, initially. Of course by then Tobias already had one idea in mind on who to room with and that was the best student of their year.

Alexander Wells, exceptional magic user at the ripe age of sixteen.

And after that, it was only after a matter of time that they would become friends, he'd thought, although Tobias knew that wouldn't be an easy feat. Still, sacrificing a few months' worth of discomfort for a life of appraisal and prestige had sounded much better than flunking school and facing his father's wrath. If there was anything Tobias Berkley was good at, it was faking it until he made it. And if that meant putting up with Alexander Wells' bizarre attributes, then so be it.

Tobias moved from the doorway to settle on his bed, not taking his eyes off Alexander as the boy took parchments of paper from the cracked leather bag that sat just beneath his desk. The floor croaked and groaned under the heel of his boots, expensive as they were, until he sat down on the soft mattress; the room was once again enshrouded in silence.

It was always like this every night. Alex would be left to his own devices while Tobias was out mingling with the other students in the living room, the common rooms or the dining hall just right after dinner. Tobias didn't understand. Alexander was already top of the class; why couldn't he just...let loose once in a while?

Must be the culture, Tobias supposed. Alexander wasn't from around Capitol, he knew that much from the file he read during class orientation. Whinnisberg County, just near Sanction 11, out far in the East District, was what it said in the address. He was admitted to Chauncey's Institute of Integrated Magic at age twelve as an apprentice under the Great Sorcerer Noah Hill until he was allowed for secondary classes when he was fifteen.