The market

[MasterZero]

"Of course! I eavesdrop on the old coot all the time. When you're a floating ball of magic with no penis, living in an old guy's library, all you can really do is eavesdrop and read. And I've read practically every book in this place!" Hoods chuckled as a dictionary floated pass the girl. "Even the dictionaries. Now then...One portal and..." Suddenly the blue being shot out a yellow, smaller orb, which turned into a rounds window, allowing the girls' to see Alex and D talking at a table. "Bingo! Man, I am good."

The two mages were sitting at a table, directly in front of one another, cups of water before both of them.

"No," D stated.

"You have to. I cannot defeat Arkurus alone!"

"Alex, when I taught you, I taught you to stand by yourself."

"You also taught me that if I ever needed help, you would help me!"

"I changed my mind."

"D! I need your help! At least talk to Arkurus! It's the least you can do after all the bullshit you've made me gone through..."

"...Is that what you think I made you go though? Alexander, I made you go through that training to make you stronger!"

"You tortured me! You sawed off my limbs, then you cast a spell so they would grow back. You broke every bone in my body, just to heal me and do it again! For almost a hundred years, you tortured me! Everynight I awoke I saw the dead corpses of my family! The family YOU took away from me!"

"I did not kill your family! Your family died, because that was the choice of life. I took you in! I gave you a home! A purpose! I saved your life!"

"You gave me hell. Everynight, when I fell asleep, I was forced to stare into my mother's dead eyes. I was forced to sleep in the same room as their rotting corpses! I saw maggots in their bodies, I saw their bodies decompose! My family! The people who raised me! When I was hungry, you made me eat the rats and insects in the dungeon! Every bit of suffering I went through, was because of you!"

"Everything. I did. I did to make you stronger," D whispered as he rose from his seat, his smile long gone. "Every torture, mental, physical, everything. Was to make you stronger...Maybe if you can't realize this, I should try teaching that girl. I could sense some magical potential in her..."

"..." Alex took a deep breath and sighed. "This isn't about me...This is about Tiff...Please, Master," he begged, getting out of his seat and walking to his master's side. He then went on his knees, placing his forehead against the ground. "I beg of you. Help me save her brother...."

"Get up. I did not teach you to be my slave. The Master of Magic serves no one. You're the Master of Magic now...If anything, I should bow down to you...Master Alex," D sighed, and helped the warrior rise. The old man gave a gentle smile as Alex looked at him. "Very well, Alexander. I will help you. But I hope you learn to deal with your own problems, by yourself in the future."

Hoods 'looked' at the girls, wondering how they would take everything that had just happened. The amount of torture Alex went through, forced to stare at his own rotting family's corpses, and having each piece of his body tortured. The thought that D might make Sarah go through the same. The fact D was now willing to save Zane. All of this.