I sat on the edge of the bed and watched an incoming international call light up the display of my phone.
My mother.
I picked up the phone and brought it to my ear. "Hello, Mom."
"Mephisto! Oh my goodness, I'm so glad to hear your voice!" her voice came through the speaker, a mixture of relief and immense pride. "We watched the whole festival on the live stream... My hands were trembling the entire time! When you defeated that boy with the explosions and stood on that winner's podium with the gold medal... All our friends haven't stopped calling and congratulating us ever since!"
I smiled faintly, though my voice remained calm. "I'm fine. The matches went exactly according to plan. You had nothing to worry about."
"I know, I know... but you know how I am," she sighed. "Your power... those daggers and those black creatures that appeared in the arena. Even your father was completely baffled by it and called me. He said you've changed since you left for Japan... that there's something majestic radiating from you. I'm a little worried about you."
"You're worrying over nothing," I replied, standing up and walking to the window, where I watched the evening lights of the academy. "I control my power better than ever before."
"I believe you, dear. And how is dormitory life treating you? Do you have everything you need? Are you eating properly?"
"I have everything. The dormitory is safe, and the cafeteria food is fine. Seriously, you don't need to worry."
"I'm glad to hear that... You know, Mephisto, when you were younger and so withdrawn into yourself, we worried about how you'd manage in the outside world. But now we see that you know exactly what you're doing. Just... be careful out there, okay? The hero world can be cruel."
"I know what I'm doing, Mom. I'll talk to you again soon. Give Father my regards when you speak with him."
"I will. Take good care of yourself, son!"
When the call ended and the phone screen went dark, I remained standing by the window.
"Family ties... A peculiar sentiment..." Agron's dark, deep voice spoke in my mind with a light trace of cynicism.
"They keep the human part of my mind balanced, Agron," I answered him in my thoughts. "And besides... unlike someone I know, I don't let my own wife and daughter get killed for political games and a thirst for power. Now that is what I call a true failure of control."
Dead silence fell over my mind in that exact second. Agron froze for a split second. The memory of his own past—of Sylvia and his wife—struck him precisely where it hurt most. His aura within me darkened slightly, but he did not dare talk back.
"Directly to the point, my lord..." Agron muttered after a moment, a mix of dark respect and suppressed bitterness in his voice. "You have a sharper tongue than becomes a Monarch."
"Just reminding you who's in charge here," I said matter-of-factly, turning away from the window to look at the desk, where the unopened stack of internship offers from professional agencies lay. "Tomorrow, the selection of my path begins. And I don't intend to make a single mistake."