The next morning, Zander was up at 5:30 sharp like he always was and decided to leave Sophie a note before leaving for his run. He prayed and then took off at a much higher pace than normal. He seemed to be able to run faster, further and it seemed much easier than it normally was.
"Hey system, do my stats make it easier to run or something?" Zander asked.
With no reply, he decided it was worth a shot when he noticed a new tab, "daily quests," and decided to check it out.
"Daily quest 1: drink a gallon of water a day. Reward, 10 experience.
Daily quest 2: work out for at least two hours. Reward, 15 experience,."
Zander noticed from his hour run the work out quest was 50% complete and decided to go wake Sophie and get her home, so her parents wouldn't get suspicious.
When he got home, she had just woken up and welcomed him home with a big smile and hug and asked how he felt today.
"Better than yesterday, did you sleep well?" Zander asked.
"Yes but I think we should get me back home, it's early enough so my parents shouldn't have noticed," Sophie said and with that, they were in her room, kissed each other and Zander was off and teleported to Cyrus' house.
He knocked on the door and surprisingly Cyrus' mother, Rose, answered the door and when she saw who it was, immediately broke into tears and hugged Zander. Cyrus' father Janus came over and immediately shared his sincerest condolences and offered any assistance Zander needed.
"I was actually wondering Mr. Hart, do you think you could accompany me to meet my parents lawyer on Friday at 2 PM? He said he's known my parents for over thirty years and everything's been given to me with people in place that have been running it like my parents wanted and I remembered you actually helped my parents a lot when I was younger," Zander politely asked.
"Absolutely Zander, I'd be happy to and what was the attorney's name if you don't mind?" Janus Hart asked.
"Attorney Frankfurt, do you know him?" Zander asked.
"Oh wow, that's great to hear! Jim is an old friend of your parents and a big time lawyer. Now I know you won't be swindled so it'll be nice to see him and help you out with some of the stuff he explains," Mr Hart said.
"Thank you so much." Zander said with a bow.
Cyrus came running up to his house from his jog and waved and asked how Zander was doing. Zander told him about how he and Sophie were an item and Cyrus said, "No way, Claire asked me yesterday if I'd officially become her boyfriend and I was shocked, but agreed," Cyrus said.
"And when are we going to meet this new, mystery girlfriend you all of a sudden have my darling?" Mrs Hart teased her son.
Zander and Mr Hart laughed and Cyrus couldn't properly answer. It was a good moment of relief for Zander.
With that, Cyrus was off to school. Zander thanked the Harts' and headed home.
He decided to text Sophie and ask if everything was ok. She didn't respond so he kept walking home. He could have easily teleported but he wanted to walk and clear his head.
When he got home he saw that Sophie said she was good and that her parents took the day off, which made Zander smile because after talking with Cyrus's dad, he figured Attorney Frankfurt would follow through on his request.
Zander dozed off and took a nap and woke up around 1 PM to his phone ringing. It was Cyrus.
"What's he doing calling me in the middle of the school day," Zander wondered.
"Brooooooo, Claire just texted me. Apparently the principal of her school came by her house today and her parents asked her if she was interested in transferring to our school due to her high academic and extracurricular profile, how cool is that?" Cyrus basically yelled into the phone.
"That's awesome man, what did they agree on?" Zander asked and couldn't help but smile.
"She's transferring next week. Her parents agreed to let me take her to school as long as our dinner meet and greet goes well on Saturday, wish me luck!" Cyrus excitedly explained.
"Just be yourself and you'll be fine. Dress nice and stay polite, heck actually I need to buy a suit for myself. Do you want to come with me Wednesday? I can buy you one for dinner, it's the least I can do for always being there for me." Zander asked.
"How can you afford that? Don't worry about it, I'll ask my parents or something." Cyrus politely refused.
"My parents left me a small inheritance I have access to until I turn 17. I meet with their lawyer Friday with your dad, so let me buy you the suit. If you tell me no, I'll have to make sure the transfer for Claire doesn't go through," Zander jokingly said.
"Fine we'll go but how could you even do that? I mean I know you're the top student and all but that would require some serious backing," Cyrus said.
"I was just messing with you buddy, I'll see you tomorrow after school alright?" Zander said and after Cyrus agreed, he hung up the phone.
Zander realized he needed to drink some water so he filled up a water bottle and went for another hour jog.
"Daily Quest complete. 15 experience awarded. 115/300 experience. Keep up the good work," the system pinged and Zander really wasn't used to having this system in his head. He already had Zintan and began to feel like he was stuck in some crazy dream.
He still hadn't heard from Sophie, which he half expected because her parents were home and she was faking sick. Finally, around 7 PM she texted Zander, "Hey babe, I'm really sorry I couldn't talk more today. I hope you're doing well. Do you still want me to stay the night? My parents are going to work early tomorrow so we can actually spend the entire day together if you'd like. If you want some space just let me know,"
Zander couldn't help but smile and texted back, "Of course I'd love for you to stay over and don't worry, I figured with you faking sick, your parents would probably encourage rest and stuff so I wasn't worried. Same time tonight or what time do you want to pick you up?" Zander asked.
"In an hour, my parents went to sleep early because they have to work early. See you soon," she sent with a kissy face.
"Sounds great, I'll see you soon," he responded with a winky face on a misclick and felt embarrassed. "Hopefully she doesn't get the wrong idea, oh well."
Zander noticed his water quest was at 80%, so he used the time to force himself to complete the quest, granting him 10 experience and he figured he would burn some of it off with a quick 15 minute run.
To his surprise, he quite literally sprinted for the entire 15 minutes, which caused him to break out in sweat, something he didn't do when jogging earlier.
"This thing is kind of amazing," he thought with a smile. He quickly took a shower, put on a plain black t-shirt and some nice black joggers and some black and white sneakers and realized he still had 30 minutes before he had to go.
He made his bed, made sure to leave Sophie's suitcase zipped up, but did move it neatly over by his closet and started to think about what he was going to do with his parents room.
As he walked inside, he started to tear up as he noticed the bed neatly made, pictures of the family all over the dressers, night stands and even some hanging on the wall. He didn't want to change it at all. Part of him wanted to lock it and leave it to commemorate his parents and the other part of him wanted to clean it completely out.
He'd have to talk about that on Friday.
With that it was 8 PM and Zander surprised Sophie and was in her room at 8 PM sharp. She jumped a little, and Zander said, "I'm so sorry I was just excited and wanted to surprise you."
"It's ok babe you're right on time and I have an even bigger surprise for you but I'll explain at your house. I wanted to talk about it with you before I made any commitments." Sophie said and Zander smiled, knowing that someone must have talked to Sophie and her parents as well about transferring school.
"If it's about what I think it is, I'm great with it and would love for you to come to my school. It'd be great to have someone to protect me from the wolves," Zander said as he blushed.
"Wait, how do you know and what do you mean wolves?" Sophie asked.
"Cyrus called me earlier and told me how excited he was that someone from Claire's school approached her about transferring and she accepted. I can only imagine if you're the top student, they came and asked your parents as well. I mean all the girls who flock around me and flirt with me. It's quite annoying and Cyrus always thinks I'm too oblivious, but it's really no one, until you, I found interesting or nice enough to consider dating," Zander said with a shy smile.
"Well, since you approve, can you stay here for five minutes and if you hear me yell something like, "can I have some soup," that's your cue to teleport out for a bit until I can text you.
Zander nodded and Sophie, almost running, went to wake up her Mother. She told her she thought about it and didn't want to keep them waiting and had the letter for her mother to sign. She will also start next Monday.
"I'm so happy you made that decision sweetie I'm sure your Father will be thrilled. Go get some rest. I know you're not feeling well. We will see you for dinner tomorrow," Mrs Grace said as she kissed her daughter on the forehead before going back to bed.
Sophie quickly went up to show Zander the letter, to which Zander had the biggest smile on his face. He had changed the lives of two people, and it made him feel good. "I wonder if this is why Mom and Dad kept doing what they were doing. It feels really good to know I helped two top students get into the Gifted school, which will ultimately give them opportunities at top universities and with the scholarship program for top five students, they should be able to have a great University experience without worrying their parents about the financial burden," Zander thought.
"I'm so happy for you, you deserve it. Now all you have to do is graduate in the top five and you'll be set, I believe in you," Zander said as he gave her a big hug.
After Sophie put the letter back on the table and wrote a note to her parents to please drop this off on the way to work, they were back outside Zander's house and they walked in together.
"So what would you like to do tonight Sophie," Zander asked as he grabbed her and gave her a gentle kiss.
"Whatever helps you get your mind off things." Sophie said.
Zander felt like he wanted to make this night special but he wasn't really sure how, so he decided to show Sophie his parents room with all the pictures he saw earlier. Sophie took her time, smiling each time she saw a photo and when she came across a particular photo, she asked, "is that your parents with the sons and daughter of the Father?"
"Yes, it is, and the man is the actual Father. No one but you and I on Earth, well aside from Theo, knows what he looks like and we should keep it that way. They chose my parents based on the prophecy I told you about. Apparently Leo and Luna were my "nannies," when I was a baby and the reason Tej looks younger is he saved my moms life after she gave birth to me. I miss them, but I pray a lot so they know and I'm sure they miss me too. I wish the children of Solace could meet you, I'm sure they'd be as impressed with you as I am," Zander explained.
"That's so amazing. I'll pretend I never saw it and I'm glad you're so impressed with me, but I don't see why they would be impressed with me." Sophie said with a slightly red face.
"Then why did Soraya tell me to stay by your side and make sure to take great of you and Tej told me to make sure we stayed close no matter what, even if something happened that caused us to not be together in a relationship, he insisted I never lose someone like you," Zander countered.
Sophie literally fainted from this. Fortunately for her, Zander swooped in and grabbed her as she fell. When she finally came back, her face was bright red.
"Was I dreaming or did I just faint from you telling me the oldest child of the Father and his mate thinking I'm someone you should take care of and never lose?" Sophie asked.
"You definitely aren't dreaming, if you were, could you do this?"
Zander turned them both invisible, sprinted with her outside and teleported to the roof of the highest building in all of Harmonia.
"It's. So. Beautiful," Sophie said in awe of the view. The sun was finally almost set and the moon and stars were coming out. Sebastian remembered a blanket and they laid there, just taking it all in and talking about each other.
"Wait, won't someone see us," Sophie asked in a panic.
Zander knew they didn't have much time left anyway, so he took out his phone and asked her to take a selfie with him, to which she gladly agreed.
Zander teased and said, "make sure you look really good, this could be my new screensaver," and Sophie smiled and Zander took the picture.
"Let me see it," Sophie excitedly asked, to which Zander responded, "When we get home we should go," and with that they were outside the front door. Zander opened the front door and let Sophie in, handing her his phone.
"Wait, why is there only a picture of the roof and the blanket?" Sophie asked in confusion.
Zander had saved 30 minutes to show her, as he turned invisible, walked over, touched her, to which she jumped, and he said go look in the mirror over here.
"Wait, you can turn invisible and make me invisible," Sophie said with a beaming smile.
"Yes I can, it happened after that night I burst into flames and you held my hand and helped me get through it, you're the only one who knows. That way I can protect you if you're in trouble," Zander said with a big smile.
"You are truly amazing Zander, " Sophie said, as she returned to normal and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Not as amazing as you," Zander returned the kiss on her cheek.
Zintan told Zander that those two were cheesy and he needed to stop being such a lovebird, to which Zander laughed and responded, you know you can sleep and not pay attention to this."
"Nah, it's more fun to make fun of you but I am truly happy you're happy. You know your mood does kinda impact me you know? She's a good one, Zander. I mean it you should meet her parents."
"Well Sophie, how about a movie before we sleep?" Zander asked.
Sophie smiled, grabbing his hand and sprinting up the stairs with him but this time, she just turned on the TV, let whatever was on play and pushed Zander on his bed and jumped on top of him. They shared a very passionate night, nothing more than making out, but for the two of them, and especially for Zander, it was exactly what he needed to keep his mind off his parents and trainers deathes. He eventually flipped her over and was on top of her, and after about an hour or making out, Sophie's phone rang.
"Oh no," Sophie said. She rushed to her phone and thankfully it was just Claire.
"Hey, what's up why are you calling me so late?" Sophie asked.
"I couldn't sleep. Have you decided yet, I mean did you talk to Zander and was he ok with everything?" Claire couldn't hold in her excitement.
"Is everything ok, do I need to take you home?" Zander whispered, being careful not to be heard.
"Yes everything's ok, it's just Claire," Sophie said and Claire, in a shocked and jealous tone asked "you aren't at Zander's are you? That's so unfair I want to spend the night with Cyrus."
"You know you could have just asked. I'm sure Zander wouldn't mind teleporting you there," Sophie laughed.
"Well anyway are we going to be going to the same school or not," Claire impatiently asked.
"Yes, my parents are dropping the form off on the way to work tomorrow," Sophie said with a smile and even Zander could hear Claire celebrating.
The call finally ended and Sophie shook her head and said, "I thought that was my parents. Maybe I should leave a note or something just in case. Like saying I got a ride to the walk in and to call me."
"That's not a bad idea, we can worry about that tomorrow, let's get some rest," Zander suggested.
After praying, together, they cuddled up and Sophie was the one to drift off to sleep first this time. Zander watched her sleep for a bit before he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Zander grabbed two water bottles after drinking a full one and decided to go for a two hour run instead. He woke up at 5, thirty minutes early and went for a run. He was finding it more and more surprising and he decided to take a break to check his system out some more. He hadn't paid too much attention to it yet.
There's a skills tab too, I wonder what it has. To his surprise it had his unlocked skills in a tab, then his fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, ice, and light magic with every spell he knew. To his surprise though, there were still several spells greyed out and a tab of "Chosen-One Skills" that could not be accessed. After playing around with it for 15 minutes he sprinted the last hour and got home around 7:15 and Sophie was still sleeping so he took a shower.
Ping! Daily Quest complete, 15 experience awarded. Ping! Daily quest complete, 10 experience awarded. 150/300 experience rewarded.
"New Quest received: There is someone in your parents circle pocketing money now that they know your parents have passed. Find out this person and bring them to justice. Reward, 300 experience," the system notified him.
"Woah, that's by far the most experience I've ever been offered but how do I even begin to find out? I guess I'll have to meet with them on Friday after my meeting with Attorney Frankfurt. I should let him know as well," Zander thought.
He made breakfast for the both of them and Sophie walked down, gave him a good morning kiss and thanked him for the breakfast he made.
"Don't you think you should go back to school tomorrow so you can spend two more days saying goodbye?" Zander asked.
"Yes, that's probably a good idea and it will allow me to go out this weekend since I won't be 'sick,' anymore," Sophie said. "Do you need help preparing for the wake and funeral?" Sophie asked.
"If I do, you'd be the first person I'd ask, but knowing my parents, they'll probably want a quiet burial. I'm meeting their attorney Friday with Cyrus' dad," Zander said with a smile.
"Oh, ok, by the way you never told me when your birthday was," Sophie said nervously.
"March 28th," Zander said.
"So, you're some sort of chosen one who just happens to be born on the day the way humankind keeps track of time started over. At least our birthdays are close together," Sophie said with a smile.
"Yes, yours is Saturday, and I've never really thought about it that way but ya, that can't be a coincidence," Zander said while he scratched his head.
"I'm impressed you remembered, seeing as I only told you once. My parents want to throw me a party but I told them I'm too old for that. I think that'd be a good dinner date and a good day to meet my parents," Sophie said with a blushed face.
"Well you've already met mine, I just hope I make a good first impression and don't give away that I can teleport," Zander said with a laugh.
They spent the rest of the day relaxing and when it was time, Sophie texted her parents that she was feeling better and was staying at Claire's to catch up on homework. They agreed and they got to bed early, as Zander would be taking Sophie to school the next day.
"Quest received. Impress your girlfriend's parents. Reward, unknown, failure, loss of level," the system pinged.
"The system expects me to do poorly then, that's just great," Zander shook his head as he and Sophie had their usual make out session before they fell asleep.
The next morning Zander completed his daily quests, bringing him up to 175/300 experience and got Sophie to school. With the day free, he spent it in his training room and got a nice surprise from his system.
"Congratulations, your hard work is paying off. 125 experience given. 300 of 300 experience. You are now level 3. A stat point has been given for you to assign. Skill gained, Master of Language. You can now communicate in any language and speak with animals, beasts and more. No mana will be needed for this skill," the system stated.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised I didn't get a stat point for every category this time, all of them are currently at 6 so I think I'll hold onto this one for awhile," and Zander quickly ran to a mirror, only to be disappointed he looked the same.
He finally went to sleep, missing Sophie but he fell fast asleep, knowing tomorrow was a big day.