It turned out that Alder had never been meant to reveal himself, but after running into the overseer containment he had decided that a change of plan was appropriate. He had even gone so far as to make sure Pietro's body would be returned to them so that they could give him a proper burial.

  Weeks had passed in the blink of an eye and today Pietro would go to his final resting place. The sky was cloudy and gray that day, which perfectly reflected the feelings of those present. It was a small ceremony and everyone in attendance wore the colors of grief. One at a time they approached the casket and placed flowers upon it before giving their final words to the deceased.

  As Al approached the casket he could feel his heart aching. In life Pietro had caused him so much grief and yet some part of him still missed his father. Hate and love were two sides of the same coin and now he didn't even know which of them was causing him more pain.

  He was the last to approach the casket and struggled to even form words as he looked down at the box that contained his father. Jane's hand tightened around his as he stared at the pile of flowers atop the casket, but no beautiful words came to mind as he grit his teeth and raised his voice.

  "Don't think I'll ever forgive you, but I will avenge you all the same."

  "Not one of them will escape my wrath," he whispered as he threw the flowers atop the pile and stepped away from the casket.

  His mother had booked a dinner at a fancy restaurant for all the people attending the funeral, but that was still over an hour away. The workers at the funeral home would lower the casket in the ground in the coming minutes, but he couldn't even find the strength to stand up from the pew he was sitting in.

  "I'm going to make sure your mother is alright," Jane whispered before planting a kiss on his cheek.

  After a few moments he was left all alone in the funeral home as all the people in attendance filed out of the building in droves. The silence granted him no solace as countless thoughts rushed through his head. He heard footsteps approaching the pew. They seated themselves next to him just as he turned his head to look at them.

  The woman next to him looked eerily similar to an older version of Jennifer. She had long raven black hair and eyes like lumps of charcoal. Her dress was black like the clothes of everyone else in attendance, but the way they wore it made it look like was part of their everyday wardrobe.

  "There's no mistaking it, you really are Pietro's son," she said in the same monotone that Pietro always used.

  "So you're Ebony then?" he muttered as he leaned back in the pew.

  "I suppose you could call me sis or big sister, but since I've never known what it's like to have siblings I'm not quite sure how to do this."

  "I didn't even know you existed up until a few weeks ago..."

  "And I didn't know you existed until Pietro stormed the household," she said as she awkwardly leaned in a bit closer.

  "I guess you're just as emotionally stunted as me huh," he said as she put an arm around his shoulder.

  "Yet our sister seems to be quite normal, but I suppose there's still a bit of the witch in her somewhere deep down."

  Ebony seemed just as awkward as himself when it came to how she should act around family. Perhaps their birth mother was to blame for their strange nature, but Pietro clearly had a hand in them turning out the way they did as well.

  "That silver haired girl that was here before was the Winters matriarch wasn't she?"

  He narrowed his eyes at Ebony as she spoke, but kept his power under control.

  "Al, if you wish I can teach you how bind spirits to give you an advantage in the future."

  "I'm not interested in the magic of your clan when my own will suffice."

  She seemed hurt by his abject refusal to learn from her, but she didn't make a point to push it any further. Instead she just remained seated next to him in silence with her arm around him. He slowly raised his voice as determination burned within him.

  "Ebony, I'm going to spend as much time as possible away from it all as I possibly can, but the moment the Autumn clan gets in my way again I will not stop until they're all dead."

  "When that day comes I'll make sure my family stays out of your way," she said as she stood up and started walking away.

  "Remember this, Al, if you're ever alone there will always be a place for you in my household."

  The way she had spoken made it clear that she cared for him, but at the same time he would most likely never take her up on her offer. When the Autumns came for him he would take the fight to them on his own. Her faction could support him as much as they wanted, but he would never ask them for aid unless it was the only choice left to him.

  It was his war and he would be the one to finish it. No one else would try to do it for him and fail like his father had ever again. Never again would someone needlessly die for his sake.

  When he finally stepped out of the funeral home everyone had already left. They hadn't waited for him and that was just fine as far as he was concerned. It meant he could make his way to the restaurant in peace.

  The streets were empty as he walked. It had been a rainy autumn and now the asphalt was covered in deep puddles of water. He carefully avoided them to make sure he didn't get his shoes wet on his way to the restaurant.

  Finally he could deal with all the thoughts running through his head one at a time. There would be no reason to stay in school once the year was over. As a mage there simply wasn't a point in finishing high school. Next year he would turn eighteen and be free to do what he wanted with his life.

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  Maybe he would move in with Jane and spend all his time by her side. Money was no concern as a mage and the inheritance he got from his father would keep him afloat for years. Really there was nothing stopping him from leaving the ordinaire part of his life behind for good.

  He would still visit his family from time to time, but he wouldn't live with them anymore. His mother would one day grow old and fade like all ordinaires making Jennifer the last connection to the little family his father had started. Unlike him she had friends and connections that kept her tied to the world of ordinaires, but his connections were fading like a dying flame.

  Two months ago he had been ready to step off the edge and tumble down into the eternal abyss below him, but now it was different. Jane kept him tied to reality and without her he would be left to drift along aimlessly with the current. If there was something he was thankful for it was her.

  Magic still eluded him somewhat and he would endeavor to learn more as time passed. Perhaps there would come a day when he would actually master it, but that day seemed so very far away. Despite being a mage with three spells to his name he still felt like he knew almost nothing.

  There were countless things out there that he didn't know, and it made him want to discover more of the world he had found himself in. Maybe he and Jane would travel the world once he had destroyed the Autumn clan. He could even visit Pietro's home country of Italy.

  That thought made him pause. Even now he couldn't keep himself from thinking about his father. The things the man had done were unforgivable, but like any child there was some part of him that still wanted his father to be around. The man was gone and would never come back. All that remained was a corpse resting in the ground and countless painful memories.

  During his time in the realm he had heard his father speak to him. He had told him that he had never doubted that he would find his way back to the light, but now he didn't know if he even preferred it over the darkness. If he slipped back into the dark he would suffer only a hollow pain and if he remained in the light he would have to truly embrace all his feelings both good and bad.

  Feeling nothing was easy, but feeling everything was unbearably difficult. One was a hollow victory and the other a constant struggle. Life in the light was a constant battle and he didn't know if it was one he could ever win. If he stayed in the light he could be with Jane, but it also meant he would have to fight to protect the things he cherished. If he returned to the darkness now he would be all alone, yet he would never have to fight again. He could slip into the night without a sound and never return. It would be a quick end.

  He stopped at a fork in the road. Taking a right meant getting his shoes soaked by the countless puddles in his path, but he would get to the restaurant faster. The left would take twice as long and he would end up being late, but his shoes would remain dry.

  "I guess even the world wants me to make a choice..."

  "We've been putting it off for far too long," the shadow whispered to him from a puddle in front of him.

  "It's difficult because once I make the choice I feel there is no going back."

  "One is easy and the other hard, but no matter which one we pick it means we'll have to stick to it," it muttered somberly.

  Nothing would change if he took the left path. He would be back where he had started two months ago and only the world would have changed. If he took the right path he would be forced to walk it until he reached the end and that meant he had to embrace changing with the world around him.

  "This is the first time you're making a choice on the spot, which you haven't thought through and decided on ahead of time, Al."

  "All your previous choices were either made for you by your circumstances or happened in the heat of the moment, but you've avoided thinking about this one for quite some time."

  "This choice is truly your own and no one but you can make it," it whispered.

  The reservation was in twenty minutes and he would have to run even if he took the shorter path, but he would get there in time. On the left he could take all the time in the world because he would be late no matter what.

  His heart was beating furiously and the stress was growing with every passing moment. It hurt so much to think about it, but he had to make the choice here and now. There was no way to delay it anymore.

  This was his last chance and he couldn't mess it up. Either he ran away from it all like he once had or he would have to accept all the choices he had made and embrace the emotions in his chest.

  "To not make a choice is a choice too," it said as he stared at his reflection hovering next to the shadow in the puddle.

  He was always so weak. The moment things got difficult he stopped and did something else. It didn't matter if it was school work, sports, or friendships. Once he had reached his current limit he always gave up and without even trying to overcome it. The only exception had been the conflict with the Autumn clan.

  When he fought for his future with Jane he had never given up. He kept going no matter what even as the wounds on his mind and body kept growing. Even when he was trapped by Road and it had looked completely hopeless he had just grit his teeth and kept fighting until he finally managed to break free.

  "I don't fucking care..."

  Time seemed to stop as he looked at the path in front of him. For people like him there was only one true choice and there was no escaping it. They always fell back into their comfortable little shell they made for themselves the moment things got hard and that infuriated him.

  He reached for the headphones in his pocket and turned on the music player. It had belonged to his father and he had ended up taking it when they were looking through all of his stuff. They were from the eighties and the music player only took cassettes, but his father had never replaced it. He had just started burning tapes with new music so he would never have to get a new one.

  There was something off with it because it would change music in the middle of songs, but for some reason the track switching never felt unwelcome. It was like it always knew what song you needed to hear and would make sure you heard it no matter what.

  "It's my fucking life and I'm going to fucking live it no matter how hard the world tries to fucking stop me!" he screamed as he sprinted down the path to the right.

  The cassette player buzzed as it switched over to hard rock in an instant. He ran with all the power he could and made no attempt to avoid the puddles in his path. Water splashed splashed all around him as he went, but he could care less about his clothes getting dirty when he had somewhere to be.

  He was leaving the darkness in the dust and he finally felt alive. If the world wanted to stop him then it would have to kill him. An unburdened and genuine smile creeped onto his features for the first time in a very long time.

  "God fucking damn it!" he howled as he saw the traffic on the road ahead of him.

  There was no way he would ever make it if he waited for the traffic to die down and that left him only one choice. His legs didn't fail him as he dashed across the road while narrowly avoiding one car after the other. They honked furiously at him as he ran past them, but he couldn't care less. This was his world and nothing would take it from him.

  Just as he was about to reach the other street he heard the deafening drone of a massive truck only a few paces away from him. There was no way he could reach the street before it hit him so he raised his hand in front of him and drew as much air into his lungs as he could.

  "Nil!" he shouted as he snapped his fingers.

  The world zoomed past him in an instant. One moment he had been a second away from death and the next he had reached the street. They would think some teen had just narrowly avoided being splattered all over their truck and that would be the end of that.

  He panted heavily as he reached the restaurant. Everyone waiting for him turned around the moment he burst through the door. His clothes were soaked in water and he had big dumb smile on his face, but none of it mattered because he had finally made his choice.

  "Hi, mom, looks like I wasn't late for once."