The Reaper's New Beginning

9. Breakfast With the Family

After a relaxing bath, Allon helped Asher into his outfit with only a bit of difficulty (a lot, actually). Even after taking a bath and getting dressed, the sky was still dark. The only difference was that the sun was slowly starting to ascend, creating a beautiful swirl of purple, blue and red in the seemingly endless sky.

Without wasting any more time, Allon ushered Asher out of the room. Pithos decided to accompany Asher to breakfast to calm him down and to also serve as a warning to Alejandro that there was always someone watching over their every move.

Finally, after a few minutes, they had reached the dining room. Asher's erratic heart wouldn't calm down. His hands were clammy as he stared at the ground while trying to control his breathing. Allon wasn't paying that much attention to the young boy and was only focused on what he needed to avoid doing in order to not lose his job.

Pithos, who was by Asher's feet, purred while rubbing his head against his leg as a way to comfort him. Asher smiled gratefully even if the kind gesture didn't help him much in calming down. Breathe in, breathe out.

The doors were opened as Asher came face to face with his family. His father Alejandro was sitting at the end of the table and hadn't bothered about waiting for his youngest son before starting to eat. Ian, in order to appease his father, had begun to do the same and only sent Asher a menacing glance before turning back to his plate. Kio sat beside their mother Nikola and waited alongside her for Asher to arrive.

What Asher didn't know was that whenever the past Asher came to eat, Alejandro, Ian, and Kio would have already begun to eat. Also, Kio always sat beside their elder brother and never sat beside Nikola. This time, not only did Kio wait for him to arrive, but he also sat beside Nikola so that Asher would have to sit beside him. Also, this served as a test.

The Asher Kio knew would always stick to their eldest brother no matter how many harsh comments were thrown his way. However, Asher was now trying to get closer to Kio. While this is not a bad occurrence (in fact, little Asher has begun to grow on Kio), Kio still didn't trust his youngest brother. He left the seat beside Ian empty. If Asher chose to sit with Ian, then Kio would figure out what his true intentions were.

"Good morning," said Asher quietly before sitting beside Kio. These few actions surprised everyone at the table. The young boy always kept his head down and never said anything to them. Also, Asher had never approached Kio and was always following Ian around like a lost puppy.

As soon as Asher sat on the table, food was immediately brought out. However, probably due to Ian's presence (and him wanting to bother Asher), Asher's food was brought out cold. As soon as Asher bit into the scrambled eggs, he couldn't help but shiver. What was this? Why did it taste so disgustingly cold?

Ian grinned. "How's breakfast, little brother?"

"Cold," replied Asher almost instantly. In order to forget about the horrid taste of the scrambled eggs, he sipped on his fruit punch flavored juice. The juice was definitely not fresh. In his old world, this taste would be considered as the cheapest type of powdered juice.

Asher decided that it would be best to eat after his family was all gone. So, he stood up to excuse himself. Seeing this, Alejandro was furious.

"You useless child! After I ask you to eat with us, this is what you do? Insult the food you are given and walk out before we are finished? I didn't raise you this way!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, a fireball was flying straight to his face. This being his first encounter with magic, Asher froze up not knowing what to do. However, before the fireball was able to reach him, a shard of ice and stream of water blocked the oncoming attack. Despite this, the fire managed to burn the tip of his nose.