Maleos: Rise of the Old Gods

Oxilian's Path

"Levi! Hurry up! You'll be late!" came the familiar voice of Levi's mother. Eyes open for another day. The morning blur clouded his eyes as Levi sat up, scratching his head and stretching out his arms to get that early morning stiffness fully straightened out. Blinking a few times to remove the gelatin from his eyes and the cobwebs from his brain, Levi looked around his room, becoming familiar with everything around him for the thousandth time. The sad detachment from dream worlds slowly crept in as Levi remembered this was real. This overly organised, categorically cleaned, beige bedroom that sometimes seemed so dull and pedestrian it may as well have been a retirement home. Between the awakening ritual, Levi felt the whispered slap of his dark brown hair against his cheek. Grabbing one of his hair bands, he pulled it upwards, tying it into a tiny bun on the top of his head, allowing him to get out of bed without a fuss and engage in his regular morning routine. Levi grabbed his fresh clothes from the desk opposite his bed and left the bedroom.

Arriving in the bathroom, Levi turned on the crystal light, and his eyes slanted a little as the bright light bounced off his pale skin in the mirror. Letting out a short sigh Levi grabbed his toothbrush, not wavering his stare away from his own bright red eyes in the mirror, and opened his mouth, brushing away at his teeth and making sure to catch the sets of sharp teeth he had at the top and bottom of his mouth. Then he took some gel and untied his bun, rubbing the gel into his hair and smoothing it down nice and flat before shaking his head for a few seconds and allowing his hair to naturally flow as it always did into its loose but still neat formation and touching it up slightly at the sides and front. He then grabbed his clothes and got dressed, pants and socks first, then shoes, shirt and tie already fitted around the collar, ready to be tied. Levi buttoned up his shirt and began on the tie, wrapping it around ever so deftly that it was almost as natural as breathing. Holding on to his tie, Levi stared more searchingly into the mirror as if looking for something.

"Two thousand, one hundred and twenty-five...." Levi muttered to his reflection, looking down at his tie and back into his eyes.

"When will it end? Probably at four thousand...". As he mulled over the mirror, Levi looked slightly down at his chin and groaned. A singular white spot sat near his bottom lip, blemishing what looked like a near-perfected presentation.

"Levi! Last time! Get down here!!" his mother yelled again.

"Yes, yes, I'm on my way!" Levi yelled back as he sighed and quickly expunged the spot on his face. Levi slowly descended the stairs, creaking the floorboards and making Levi's teeth grind, and toes curl. The little things like that made life at home continuously unbearable, the fact that he could always depend on these things happening. The creak of the floorboards, the squeaks of the doors, the intolerable sound of his Uncle Dominik's chewing, though that was a bit more come and go than the other things. Looking as aloof as ever, swanning into the kitchen, Levi sat down at the table where breakfast had already been made for him. He frowned slightly as he looked down to see it was his favourite, omelette, bacon strips and toast. Strange to see it on such a random day as there was no special occasion that he knew of.

"Levi Adonis Magnus. Mum, seriously, the students don't need to know my full name. Why not just Levi?" he asked with a discernible sense of disgust.

"Hey! You should be proud of your names! Your dad named you entirely, and you should respect his contribution!" she snapped back.

"Contribution?! That's a laugh. He stayed with you for a year after the twins were born and then just buggered off out the door!" Levi yelled back. Levi's father was never one for deep conversation when he was still around, save for "stay in school, study hard, get a good job", so Levi never heard stories about his father's past or any of the usual father-son talk. Even when pressing his mother for info, he'd get nothing. Now he was older, all he needed to know of his father was that he was a self-absorbed, uncaring asshole that liked weird ancient artefacts. The loft upstairs was the only thing close to a clue Levi ever got about what his dad was like. It was full of old stuff like vases, statues, books that he could never be bothered trying to peruse, and one specifically odd-looking rod with a giant jewel on the top. Levi had often asked his mother about it, but she would change the subject every time. After Levi's outburst, his mother merely shook her head and muttered, "Eat your breakfast...." Levi sat down and began slowly consuming the bacon and toast, leaving the eggs separate from everything else to enjoy that last.