Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

"What's wrong with me, Burt?!" Alaric asked in a nervous voice. The nurse and Eli had their mouths wide open.

Burt told the both of them, "leave us for now please."

Eli and the nurse both left, leaving Burt and Alaric alone in the medical room.

Alaric's face reflected fear as unknown feelings and abilities assaulted his body and mind.

Burt took a heavy breath and said, "I need you to stay calm Alaric and listen to what I have to say. What you're going through has never happened to anyone before, but there was someone very similar I knew who gained a lot of knowledge about monsters. His name is Inian, and he is your father."

Alaric's eyes bulged out of their sockets, "my...father? Is? Is he still alive?"

Burt nodded, "he is. Your father is the one known as the Demon King."

Alaric's mind flashed back to his dream and the sight of the figure that wrapped itself around with its wings.

'That...was my father?!'

Alaric's mind swirled around, and his thoughts became jumbled as he stared at his changing arm.

Burt spoke again, "I knew your father better than most. It was a little different with him, but he had every ability of any monster as long as he could see them. I think it's a bit different for you. You are born naturally with every single ability and power in you. You need to understand and learn more about them."

Alaric's heart began to beat faster as he became worried, "what about my arm? How do I fix this?"

Burt raised a hand, and Alaric stopped talking, "first, calm yourself. Inian always was the worst when he lost control of his emotions. I'm guessing you lose control of yourself when your emotions go rampant. So calm down first."

Alaric took several deep breaths, each one slowing his heartbeat down.

"Good, now feel the blood running through your body. You are in control, the bed you are sitting on, and the ground beneath your feet are under your control. Your body is under your control, will your arm to turn back to human, and it will be so."

Alaric continued to take deep breaths as he did everything Burt told him to do. He envisioned himself controlling every element in the world entirely. He willed his arm to change back to normal, and slowly it did. His arm turned back into a human's arm, and he felt normal once again.

Alaric smiled with relief, "thank you, Burt. How long have you known about all this? That this would happen to me?"

Burt replied, "I wasn't sure anything would happen with you. I knew that Inian was your father, but I wasn't sure whether or not you would turn out as a regular human. Inian obtained all his powers because he obtained the heart of the king when he was a baby, but you were born with all your abilities and powers. It's never happened before. You are the first one to be born with the powers of the king, except for the very first king."

Alaric tried to register all this information in his mind at once, but there was too much going on in his mind.

"What should I do Burt?"

Burt answered, "I'm going to teach you the best I can to control it. Because we aren't going to stop it, I have the bright coin arena all to ourselves now at night, and I'm going to be training with you every night. Starting tonight."

Alaric wasn't sure what to say, "but what about my classes? Can I tell Eli?"

Burt shook his head, "don't tell anyone...but Eli may need to know because he saw you anyway and there's nothing we can do about it. Plus, it wouldn't be harmful to have a friend on your side. Anyway, make sure you come outside around midnight. Try not to be seen, but if a teacher spots you, they have special orders not to stop you. Don't tell them why, though."

Alaric nodded, "alright. I'll see you tonight then."

He hopped down and left the medical room. Outside the door were the nurse and Eli. Eli jumped back as soon as Alaric opened the door, and Alaric realized that Eli had been trying to listen in on the conversation.

Eli stammered, "I...uh, I swear I didn't hear anything."

Alaric didn't believe him for a second, "uh-huh. Let's head back to the room; I have some things to tell you."

The two of them left, and the nurse walked up to Burt, "so, do I get to know anything that's going on?"

Burt responded, "nope. You are under orders not to disclose anything you've seen here, understand?"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, never listen to the nurse, but you always need him!"

The nurse went back into the medical room, muttering about stupid school policies and how he never gets inside information.

Burt sighed, 'I hope you're ready Alaric. I'm not going to make this easy for you.'