The Messenger of Death

Alex didn't know what to do while he was being hugged by her. He could feel her warmth breaking through the emotional walls that he had in him. He closed his eyes again and forced the tears that were threatening to fall back into his eyes.

He kept his hands by his sides and stood straight.

"You know, it's alright to cry once in a while. You are still a child, crying is part of your growth process. It is healthy for you." Nana added.

Alex didn't say anything. He stood still and made sure that his tears remained in his eyes and heart. Although he was holding his tears in, his body was shivering. While he refused to cry, his heart cried for him.

Nana sighed when she saw that Alex wasn't going to open up nor was he going to cry in front of her. 'A strong front he has, he refuses to break even after he has already been broken.' Nana reasoned. She used her hand to stroke his midnight black hair.

'But don't worry, with me, no one will bully you anymore. And those people that caused you pain, I will find them and kill them all for you. Their crime is unforgivable, they touched you without my permission. I swear this to you.' Nana was even more determined to destroy Death's Door. She was determined, however, she couldn't force Alex to speak about it in details, and her only choice now was to be patient with her disciple.

Alex stayed in her arms for quite a while. When she let go of him, he still had his eyes closed and now his breathing had stabilized.

"You can go back and rest if you want to. I'll come to fetch you later." She said.

['Alex, let's switch. I think I know how this telekinesis thing works, if I can figure out what you had been missing then I would be able to complete the task. After that, I can begin on the poison, but if I'm wrong about being able to use telekinesis then I'll leave here.'] Al pitched an idea at Alex.

At the moment, Alex felt like it would be a big relief for him if his alter took over.

['Sure.'] He agreed shortly.

-Switch.

As soon as Al was in control, he took in deep breaths then opened his eyes. He looked at Nana and said; "I will give it a try one last time for today. If I can't do it then I'll retire for the night."

"Huh?" Nana was shocked to see that his demeanor had changed so quickly. The rage and emotions that were evident in his gaze disappeared and was replaced with a calculated gaze.

'Was he lying to me? His acting skills are good. No, it's not possible to fake something like that. This should be his way of coping with his pain.' She thought.

"Alright then, go ahead and give it another try." She permitted.

Al looked at the ingredients, he raised his hands.

['Rise.'] He said in his mind.

5 seconds had gone by before the ingredients rose into the air. Al flashed a little smile at his achievement. He wanted to flaunt and boast to Alex that it only took him seconds to learn it, but he knew that Alex wasn't in the mood now. So decided to cheer him up and said;

['Hey rabbit, I think I've figured this thing out, very soon we would be able to kill whoever you want to kill.']

['Thank. Thank you.'] Alex still sounded dejected when he spoke.

Al left it at that and returned his attention to the cauldron. Instead of using the stone that Nana and Alex used, he chose to use his fire elemental ability.

He lit the cauldron on fire and rinsed the ingredients. After that, he threw the first ingredient into the cauldron and waited for it to melt and break down.

['This is where the hard part starts.'] He thought.

['I have to divide my telekinesis somehow.'] Al added.

['What do you mean by that?'] Xander questioned.

['it's a bit hard to explain, but I'll try to put it in simple terms. At the moment, my telekinesis is like one huge hand, I can carry a lot with it. For this task, this big hand is almost useless. Just like sewing, you need a needle and thread to sew parts together, it is the same here, I need to make my needle and thread, but that's like trying to think about 3 things at the same time.'] Al explained.

['Oh, I understand.']

Al tried his best to divide his telekinesis, nonetheless, he kept on failing and it was taking a toll on his mental strength.

"I can see that you have figured out what you are meant to do but you do not know how to do it. I commend you for being smart and figuring it out on your own. Many wouldn't have been able to do that, this shows that you have a lot of promise in alchemy." Nana could feel the fluctuations in his control of telekinesis, immediately she could tell that he had already figured it out but still had a hard time making it happen.

"Since you have already figured it out, I can help you with the rest. Tell me, what did you envision when you tried to change the form of your telekinesis?" She walked closer to him.

"I imagined that it was a needle and thread," Al replied and Nana smiled at his attempt.

"You are right about changing the form, but you were imagining the wrong form. What you need to envision is a bubble, one that strong enough to protect and suppress. To protect the components of each ingredient after extracting the impurities and strong enough to suppress the explosive reaction when the ingredients come in contact with each other. Come on, give it a try."

"Imagine a strong bubble encircling your ingredients, the bubble should be thick enough to be strong, but also thin enough not to obstruct the heat from your flames." She was giving him directions.

Al gave it his all and focus on following her directions, he imagined a bubble that fit the description she gave, and then he started to morph his telekinesis to what he imagined.

When Nana noticed that he was doing it, she smiled. 'He's a natural, he just needs some directions.' She thought.

What Al didn't know was that everything that she was teaching him would have taken some people years to learn. It was something that many students in the academy that has been practicing alchemy for as long as they can remember, still can't do. And here he was, a complete learner that just started alchemy but is still able to achieve this feat.

Nana was proud and happy that she got herself such a talented individual as her disciple.

"Good, you are doing well, Alex. Now protect the components of the first ingredient from the second one. Let them mix little by little and as they mix, suppress the explosive tendencies before they emerge."

As Al attempted to do that, his consciousness started to fade. "I don't feel too goo-" He passed out.

Nana caught him before his body made contact with the floor. She removed the strands of hair that stuck to his face due to him sweating profusely, and placed a pill in his mouth.

"Your journey with me has just started, I will make sure that you don't regret it, I will make you the strongest that you can be. After seeing your eyes, I suddenly feel reluctant to put you through any pain. However, it is what I am meant to do, if I don't let you experience some more pain, I will be cheating you and will fail to do my work as your master. Bear with me, my dear disciple." She whispered and she looked at him…

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IN A SECRET HOUSE IN CEREVAUX, THE CAPITAL CITY.

"I went into seclusion a week ago, and before I left, I gave directions to all of you. Now, somebody tell me how those fools caught on to us!!? I had the prime minister and the mayor right where I wanted them. Who ratted us out!!?" An old man standing in front of hundreds of people in animal masks bellowed at the crowd. He was furious at what happened a few days ago.

He looked at the man that had a goat mask on, the same one that Al encountered in the halls of the House of Representatives.

"When you went there, why didn't you take the daughters away!?" The old man shouted.

"Calm your anger grandfather, if there wasn't an unexpected obstacle then I would have done even better. I met an unusual opponent when I went there, and this opponent was ready for me. I tried using my bloodline to suppress him but I failed. If he was just another person with a class-3 bloodline then I wouldn't have let him escape. But this person's cultivation was only at the mid-stage of the nascent realm."

"What!?" The old man exclaimed in shock.

The crowd started to murmur and clamor, they all knew what that meant.

Duna's elder brother, the person in the goat mask, removed his mask and looked at his grandfather. On his grandfather's face was a glint of fear.

"You know what it means if his cultivation is that low and my bloodline cannot suppress him that means that he is either a class-2 or class-1 bloodline bearer. If I had attacked, then I might have doomed everyone in our family. And even with his cultivation, he was able to injure me." He showed his grandfather the injury on his left shoulder.

"Do you know anything else about this person?" The old man asked.

"Yes, I met him a few days after you reclined into seclusion, at an apothecary. He was wearing the severance academy uniform."

"Quickly, contact your brother and tell him to investigate this individual. We must not make a catastrophic mistake at the last stage of our plans."

"Yes, grandfather." Duna's elder brother answered…