By the time Arien calmed down, lunchtime rolled around.
Well, the alpha wasn't exactly in the right state of mind since he kept growling under his breath, aggressively tapping his fingers on the surface of his desk as a way to distract himself even though the windows were open.
Niven was hesitant to step forward, but slightly came closer every few minutes to see where Arien would draw his bottom line. There were a few gentle brushes of his fingers here and there, touching Arien's tail to move it over slightly or smoothing out some fallen strand of dark purple hair which fell over Arien's eyes since the beastman kept running his hand through his locks.
But Arien seemed to relax a bit when Niven nervously patted his head, or toying around with the tip of his tail. He still bared his canines at the slightest sense of someone trying to touch him, but knowing it was just Niven didn't feel so bad. They got their work done just fast enough before lunch.
And now, Niven ate silently inside the office, not wanting to slurp his apple juice too loudly since Arien leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, his tie a little bit undone and jacket completely discarded on the back of his seat. Even though he was halfway done with his work, Arien was restless and couldn't concentrate on his nap. He could still hear the omega snacking, though he knew Niven was being careful not to eat too loudly.
The blond then stood up and silently placed a small sandwich prepared from King on Arien's desk.
The alpha's eyes shot wide open, his pupils dilated. Niven quickly pulled his hand back. "Since... everything's done, I'll be heading off to my classes now. Y-You didn't really eat anything so you can have my sandwich. I-It's turkey, but if you don't like it then you can just throw it away. I don't really know what beastman like to eat..."
Arien was quiet, eyes slowly moving down to the neatly packed sandwich. He muttered, "It's fine, puppy. You... are full?"
"Y-Yeah? I don't eat a lot during lunchtime since I've been eating large breakfasts." Niven fiddled with his fingers, a bit nervous to have Arien's eyes trained directly on him.
Arien couldn't find the right words to say. He wanted to decline at first, afraid that he was ruining the omega's lunch by taking away some of his food. With how small Niven was, he felt somewhat guilty and wanted the boy to eat more. But he didn't have the heart to reject the food knowing Niven meant well, and it wasn't like he had breakfast in the mornings so he needed to eat something. It was partially the reason as to why he's so snappy during these times.
"Are you sure?" Arien's low voice became a bit meek. "It's yours..."
Niven nodded. "It's fine! As I said, I don't eat a lot for lunch anyways!"
It didn't make Arien feel any better hearing that response since he felt the need to shove the sandwich back in Niven's hands, but he quietly thanked the blond and took it, slightly sniffing the sandwich. His tail flicked in the air after that.
Niven gave the male a small smile before taking his bag. "Okay, I'm heading to my classes now. I-If you need me, you can always text me. I don't mind..."
"Wait." Arien rose from his chair and beckoned the male to come close.
Niven took a few steps closer to the desk, leaning forward a little. "Yes, Alpha?"
"Look up for a moment."
"Um... o-okay?" He craned his neck up a little to the ceiling.
Niven was uncertain as to what Arien was doing, though he didn't expect for the alpha to suddenly lean close to stuff his nose right at the base of Niven's throat. Niven accidentally moved away a little, surprised by the male, but Arien was quick and placed a hand right behind the blond's neck and applied some pressure to keep him close. Arien sniffed him for a few seconds before gently trailing his nose up to the Adam's apple, a small snarl erupting.
"Alpha?"
"I need to know your scent, puppy. Let me memorize you," Arien replied with a rasp, too focused on remembering Niven's scent. He kept his nose wandering, moving up and down before finally stopping right underneath the boy's jaw. For a moment, Niven felt the large canines of his alpha almost touch his skin, but he couldn't be too sure and want to say anything. And then Arien's grip tightened on Niven's neck, it was quick and lasted short, but it made the blond jump even more.
Arien pulled away after, huffing as his eyes glowed an unnatural hue of silver. Niven finally leaned away, letting the beastman's hand slip away from his neck.
"I... could never recognize your scent," Arien's began before Niven could say anything. "I've memorized the other Wolves' for a while, but never yours... it keeps me steady."
"Steady?" Niven awkwardly repeated.
Arien didn't know how to explain it well, and seeing the amount of confusion in the boy's face, he could tell.
"It's... erm, natural for wolves to memorize their pack members by how they smell. It's one of the ways we know they aren't our rivals or other strange beastmen. You're my omega, it's important for me to know you," Arien explained, the light in his eyes darkening. "When you're around, I won't get so defensive anymore. I won't need to bare my canines since you're a temporary member of my pack. You won't smell like an enemy to me."
"Oh, I see." Niven was relieved. He understood that. "You said it was one of the ways, what's the other?"
His alpha went quiet once again, still unsure what to say to give a satisfied answer to the boy in front of him. But then he sighed and answered, "A mark. Beastmen recognize others by biting them to leave a permanent mark, making them their mates. The mate's scent will change and they won't only just be a regular pack member, but their intended heart-mate."
"Like... a soulmate?" Niven was really fascinated with the information Arien was giving him. "I-I've heard about those just a little bit. Isn't it... different with wolf beastmen?"
Arien nodded, grabbing the sandwich and carefully peeling the wrapping away before continuing, "It is. I'd explain more but you might be late for your classes."
Niven looked up at the clock, almost widened his eyes at the realization. He quickly bowed his head back to the alpha and stammered as he walked out the door, "I-I have to go. Goodbye, Alpha!" He shut the door before Arien could say anything and dashed through the halls of the building, passing a few of the guards and headed outside.
He didn't plan on going to Vasili's class since Mirren was sick and Agustine had a pile of homework to finish, and who knows where Silas is? He wasn't that close to the male so he doubted Silas would like to accompany Niven to their professor, someone who disliked the presence of the Wolves.
But in the end, he decided to go anyways since he didn't want to disappoint Arien. Though he could tell his pack members disliked the thought of Niven actually going, they were hoping for the professor to bring out something within Niven.
And so Niven walked through the familiar doors of Vasili's building, still surprised by the changing themes of the classroom.
He was up in the sky, above the clouds.
Everything thing had a tinge of bright yellow and pink, a bit of purple and some blue coloring the clouds as they floated into random spots in the area. Vasili sat on top of one of them, a table made of blue clouds right in front of him. The man lazily swished his cane around several times to poke one of the clouds before tearing a piece off from the table, tossing it into his mouth like cotton candy.
Niven glanced down at the floor, noticing he could plummet down through the air. He was sure if he took one step forward, he'd be falling for a very long time. He doubted there was even ground at the bottom.
"Take one more step and you'll be falling for quite some time, dearest," Vasili commented in a bored tone, still munching on parts of a cloud.
The pink haired man clapped his hands twice before Niven stumbled, feeling the cloud underneath his feet shake and move up. The student fell to his bottom at the speed the clouds was going and held on for dear life before he stopped right in front of the table across from Vasili.
"It's... just clouds?" Niven hesitantly questioned, watching the table rumble and darken like thunder.
Vasili sighed, "I ran out of creative juice and the best thing I got was this useless theme."
"It smells like cotton candy—are these really clouds?" Niven kept poking the table and leaned close to sniff it, scrunching his brows together at the familiar scent of sugar.
Vasili groaned and slumped in his cloud seat. "I don't know, I don't know—I was too busy decided whether or not to push you out of your seat or keep you up here to figure out what these clouds are made of."
"Wait, what?"
"I have decided to go with the first! Good luck, hehe!" And then his mood changed so abruptly, that frown quickly replaced with an unknown emotion as Vasili grasped his cane and shoved the bottom of it against Niven's stomach. He pushed the boy off, letting him plummet toward the bottom of the classroom.
Niven yelped as he fell, his body breaking through several clouds and coughed up some sugar. He kept flipping through the air, letting out small groans every time passed through the cotton candy clouds. He was prepared to teleport himself back up to the entrance when he roughly landed on a pink cloud, getting mouthfuls of sugar once he landed face-forward.
Groaning, Niven flipped himself around. He could see Vasili popping his head down to loo at the blond. His professor waved at him, slightly hollering, "How was it? Was it fun?"
Niven would rather fall again before going back to that crazy man, but he didn't have much of a choice before the cloud he landed in zoomed up toward the ceiling and over to his professor. Once he returned, Niven stubbornly looked the other way with a glare, not wanting to speak to the man anymore.
What was he thinking coming back to this place? He can never understand this man no matter how many times he tries to do so. Vasili was such a wild card, and the fact he despises the Wolves unnerved Niven—actually, why did he agree to help him? It wouldn't be beneficial for the professor to help Niven, what would he gain out of this?
Niven took a glance at the professor, watching Vasili rap his manicured fingers and fix his crooked tie.
Was he doing for just for mere amusement? No, that can't be. There was a conflicted emotion in the man's eyes, and Niven couldn't figure out why. Vasili did say it was to play around with his Paradox Manipulation, even this room was used just for his ability. But that can't be it, right?
"As expected, you didn't get down as far as I assumed you would," Vasili muttered out loud, breaking apart more pieces of the cloud table to munch on.
Niven frowned. "What?"
"I purposely arranged this room just for you," Vasili admitted, leaning back with a dark look in his orbs. Niven flinched. "I decided to think a little logically this time, the room was bare and there's no ground. I pushed all the clouds out of the way. I even had an idea not to make clouds, just a void for you to keep on falling and falling, but I figured it'd be too much for you to handle."
"You're... disappointed I didn't keep on falling?" Niven snorted, kicking himself away from the table and floated out. "If this is about yesterday's incident, perhaps Agustine's Jinx-"
Instantly, Vasili stood up, slamming his hand on top of the cloud to revert the whole room back into his own version of a classroom. But the trees no longer floated and laid limp on the ground, withering with dead roots and the animatic objects were scattered, not even moving. The floor didn't produce any strange patterns, no green polka dots moved about. The whole room which was previously filled with life was now dead.
Vasili leaned across the table and snatched the boy's face, inspecting him closely. "It's exactly about what happened yesterday," Vasili blurted out. "I'm not going to beat around the bush, but no one should have more power over me when it comes to my own creations. How'd you do it? Will you tell me now? What are your abilities? I can sense your magic, but they aren't like the other Wolves. They're different, much weaker. I couldn't sense you using it at all yesterday."
Niven pulled his head back a little. "What are you talking about? Of course I didn't, remember what I said? Agustine's Jinx could've acted up."
"It's not his!" Vasili shouted back, using his own magic to remove the table and let it suspend midair to walk toward Niven. He braved his hands on the boy's shoulder, gripping it tightly. Vasili looked down at him, pure curiosity and madness filling his eyes. "I didn't sense your magic, I couldn't sense his Jinx! Agustine has another ability but Archdemon Physiology wouldn't have made sense in yesterday's little stunt!"
"I thought you liked nonsensical things, Professor?" Niven nonchalantly replied, reaching up to remove the man's hands off from his shoulders. "You... seem a bit flushed. Are you alright?"
"Tell me how you did it!" Vasili began to drop to his knees, pulling the boy forward by his hands and gripping his palms as if he were praying to some sort of divine God. He rasped, "I have to know—I-I don't understand how you did it. Those clouds, I pushed them all the way to the corners of the room and they shouldn't have even moved without my orders, but the minute you fell they somehow floated around to save you? That can't be! Everything created here are under my orders! Who are you? You shouldn't have more power than me. Even the vice-principal couldn't go against me!"
"Professor, p-please let go..." Niven struggled to push Vasili's hands away, but the male wrapped them around the blond's waist and edged closer to settle himself between Niven's knees. Vasili looked even more crazy if that was possible, a slight color of red dusted his cheeks as he continued to bombard the student with furious rants and questions.
They haven't known each other long, and have met just a couple of days ago, but Niven managed to get Vasili on his knees in a matter of hours. The professor knew it, he sensed a difference in the blond.
"You're so weak against the other students," Vasili said as he continued to ignore Niven's attempts at pushing him off. "But the moment they attack you, none of their attacks seemed to work. Just how did you do it? What sort of ability do you have? What magic did you use?"
"P-Professor..."
Vasili gripped the boy's arms desperately in an effort to know more. He stared so deeply into the boy's crystal blue orbs, memorized the way Niven winced and let the small set of fear creep inside those eyes. The man gave a wide smile, thinking it was funny for the boy to be so scared when it was obvious Niven had no problems on possibly dominating this school!
But he wasn't sure, he was never sure when it came to Niven if he could possibly go against the other council members. He was too timid, a stammering mess and could hardly stand his ground when it came down to an actual fight—or so he's heard from the Silver Guard. To think Niven could fight against a purebred alpha beastman like Arien, considering his ancient bloodline of a wolf... how absurd was that? But this was Vasili, and nothing ever seemed to be too peculiar for him given the amount of strange things he's seen and created!
But Niven was such an anomaly, even during the moment he stepped in with Agustine and didn't get hurt.
"There are students who went against you before, but none of them could win. You didn't even have to do anything! For anyone going against you, they can never win, but it's not like you're the true victor either! So what makes you special? Hell, even Agustine's Jinx doesn't work around you! No matter what anyone does all they receive in return is nothing! What house did you come from? Your noble house has fallen, it's on the verge of being nonexistent! Are these students really that weak against someone with a broken bloodline? Do they have bad luck or something-"
Vasili froze.
Was that it? Was... that the answer? No... that couldn't be...
"Professor!" Seeing Vasili stunned, Niven used that as an opportunity to shove the man away and stand up, prepared to just head back to his regular classes. The blond snorted, "It's only been a few days of coming to your classes but I really can't do it anymore. My apologies, it seems I won't be returning from now on."
Niven was prepared to step away, to walk out of those doors and go back to the main building of the academy when Vasili abruptly snatched his hand, preventing him from leaving.
Niven looked down, trying to pull his hand away. "Professor, please let go-"
"You're a blue-blood, aren't you?"
Niven stopped fighting the man's grip, watching Vasili get up from the ground and hovered closer to the blond. Niven went pale at the sight of a widening smile on the man's face.
"I... what did you say?"
"The only people who could match up to my abilities are the ones with blue-blood running in their veins. Some students here are descendants of royal families, but their magic isn't as potent as the imperial family. You... have the bloodline of a king, don't you? The emperor himself?" Vasili's eyes seemed to grow darker by the minute which frightened the boy.
Niven stuttered, "I-I have no relation to the emperor..."
"But that doesn't mean you aren't the descendant of a king," Vasili scoffed, the smile stretching out wider. "Is that the reason why the headmaster accepted you into this school? No one could've gotten inside, not even the most prominent families. Even a child from a king would have difficulties getting in, so that still wouldn't make sense... but the House of Cantillon had connections to the Kingstons, didn't they?"
"So what if I have blue-blood?" Niven ripped his arm away from Vasili, bitterly admitting his bloodline. "What's it to you if I got saved by some clouds, or was saved by a few schools of fish?"
"It still doesn't make sense." Vasili grew frustrated. "Just because your family has connections to Headmaster Kingston doesn't mean you're allowed to enter this place so freely! Your family is on the verge of no longer being called nobles, even trying to find your background is difficult. The House or Cantillon was such a powerful family eighty years ago, but when their lands were ravaged by ongoing wars, their influence and powers should've ended a long time ago. What makes you so special? What abilities do you have?"
"Magic," Niven snapped. "I told you and the others it's the only ability I ever use."
"Yet, you don't use it at all!" Vasili glared. "What's so wrong about showing it off? Why not just use it and stop rejecting the duels from other students? If you're really a descendant of a king then you should have no problems in dominating the school."
"Just because I have these powers doesn't mean I have to use them to put students in their place," Niven argued back. "Why are you so interested? You're... just supposed to help me survive through Ludos."
"Can you even think about surviving through the Royals first?" The pink haired man snorted. "I have to admit, they're quite powerful, maybe your alpha could even take one of them on. But the Royals are damned brats, running around and doing whatever they like. The moment you step in for Ludos, they won't listen to you. What makes you think you'll survive The Game?"
"Because I'll help him."
Niven and Vasili stopped for a second, looking at each other in confusion before hearing the small steps of another male entering the room.
Silas joined in.
Niven went quiet at the sight of his pack member, wondering why he was here. Silas didn't say anything and merely walked forward to them, putting himself in front of Niven and holding up a gloved hand.
Agustine's brother glared. "It seems Alpha Arien and I have made a mistake sending our omega to you. You've done nothing but mess around. Did you even try to help?"
"S-Silas?" Niven didn't know why he was here. Why did he come?
Silas crossed his arms, giving off an imposing stare to Vasili, who looked back unamused at the third party interrupting him. "Since you're of no help, I'll be taking Niven under my wing. We won't be bothering you again, not that we should have in the first place considering your... eccentric personality."
"I never did like you," Vasili gritted out. "Watching over your little group and having to teach you brats was such a waste of time, but the Royals are no better. They're even worse, going around thinking they're Kingstons... what a disgrace. Absolutely disgusting."
Niven suddenly looked up, completely surprised.
The Royals... what? What did Vasili just say?
"If you didn't want to help our omega then you shouldn't have even agreed. You've wasted our time. Ludos will be coming shortly, and Niven won't be prepared," Silas stated with a sneer. "If you weren't one of the teachers in our academy, I would've killed you for being so useless."
"With what? Your broken ability?" Vasili let out a low chuckle, mocking the dark skinned male. "You can't touch me, you're too scared to. You think you're so great just because you received the ability as an angel, but guess what? Your personality is also shitty as well. Even more than Mirren, because at least he doesn't hide behind that disgusting facade you wear almost everyday. You're no angel, don't try to act like a saint when you're just a devil, boy."
Silas furiously glared, wanting to say something but couldn't. He looked away. Vasili was right.
"Omega, come." Silas turned away and began to walk out. Niven stayed rooted, still focused on what Vasili said before about the Royals acting as if they were Kingstons.
Silas stopped, tilted his head back to stare at Niven's shocked face. The male sneered, "Niven."
His daze was broken through by the sound of Silas' agitated voice. He looked at Vasili, who seemed hesitant in letting Niven go... and even the blond was reluctant to actually leave after what Vasili said.
But Vasili sighed, calming down from his rants. "Just go," he muttered. "You... you can come back anytime..."
Niven didn't know what to say, but he gave a stiff nod instead and hurried over to Silas, who seemed impatient. When Niven came over, Silas sent another glare to Vasili before escorting the both of them out of the building, leaving the pink haired man behind to contemplate.
Vasili stood there in the middle of a messy room, watching the two of them disappear through the doors with dark and erratic thoughts.
Niven had blue-blood. Only a few students were from royal families. If anything, Niven should be up to par with them, but how come he was considered a low-tier ability user? The more Vasili knew about the student, the more confused he became. It just didn't make sense to him.
Vasili began to hum a low tune, letting it resonating throughout the desolate classroom.