I learned that the whole building was divided into six chambers and the training hall was in the first. But our room was at the far edge of the dorms and the dorms being located at the last chamber of the building meant marathon racing to the hall and a long distance to cover. I was running late so I had picked out whatever gear and clothes that I found and ended up looking very unprofessional for the task.
Katy explained that this was an institute for those with the special ability to use the power of the soul, a rare talent. Such people are characterized by, not fitting among society, outcasted everywhere for their strange character or approach to things, unique traits, or way of thinking. They looked like every other ordinary person, but it was their beautiful way of thinking that set them apart from others. This place was a haven for all those people who had no place to call their home, it was a place for them to relax and be themselves while fostering their latent talents.
I was purely amazed by this ideology, my whole life I felt, I had no place to call my home, and so I wandered aimlessly searching for exactly this. I didn't remember my past but I knew what it felt like. This place, from the moment I stepped in, felt like my home, even though I had lost all of my memories. Feelings always remain stronger than thoughts, and I knew my gut never lied. As soon as we approached the training grounds I pushed away my thoughts to focus on the task in front of me.
What I saw was probably the most intense training course, I liked thrill in general and it seemed pretty challenging. But this was probably not the challenging I preferred as it consisted of a climbing frame. I was wondering why they had put up something like this on the first day. On seeing the training course Katy's face turned white, she wasn't really a fan of heights and generally liked sticking to challenges including everything but heights, regardless of which she was renown as an excellent fighter from what I heard from the others.
I however continued to get stares of disbelief from people, I wanted to know why. I didn't want to force Victor and Katy to explain everything on day one. I would rather have them explain things to me slowly and clearly.
The course consisted of a climbing frame that went higher and higher until you reached a large iron rod or bar which I assumed was about seven feet high, from which you had to swing yourself onto a trampoline placed some distance away from it, to finally land on a rubber platform. Well... I was not prepared for this, it was only the first day, but they seemed to want us to push our strengths, maybe it only looked intimidating and was meant to test the courage of the mind. I still sucked at climbing frames and that wasn't going to help.
Katy was panicking, but I told her that we'd just give it our best, and anyways it was only the first challenge of the year. Just then everyone quieted down as Ms.Aslome made her way into the room. She wore a stern expression that scared the souls out of us and started giving instructions to which I wished I paid more attention as I heard a thud right after the first person went for the challenge. She had fallen off almost immediately, the next person following her a few seconds later. I just prayed that I wouldn't have broken bones on the very first day.
We were the last ones to go, I went first followed by Katy and got past the climbing frames making sure not to look below, surprisingly I was able to keep going, just then I heard Katy call for help. I caught her just as her hand had slipped off the frame. I had only nearly escaped pulling us both down as my hand had nearly slipped off the bar too. As we continued to go higher my hands felt like they were being ripped apart from my shoulders, but I still hadn't fallen which was a miracle, I didn't know I was this agile.
I was finally at the last bar, all I had to do was swing, but every muscle in my body was running out of energy. This was the step was that would decide whether I would land on my butt or end up being tossed in the air. I looked back at Katy and she mouthed 'you can do it!', I finally swung from it with every last bit of strength I had and managed to fling myself onto the trampoline. I was fast approaching the ground and saw the rubber platform below me, as I landed I heard a crack, but luckily I could still walk which meant no broken bones. Thank the lords, I honestly didn't know that I was capable of doing such feats.
Katy followed me and we high fived each other on our successful landing despite heaving for air. Ms.Aslome smiled at us and congratulated me and Katy for being the first ones to have completed the course and everyone else as well for the hard work. She told us that we were free to relax and celebrate the start of the year with a hearty dinner. As everyone departed to the dining hall, Katy and I were talking about how surprising it was that we ended up being the first successful pair to complete the training. I was more surprised that I didn't fall off the frames, I had never in my life gotten past them.
Just then I realized that certain people were missing, people that mattered a lot to me, it would take a while for me to remember, but I wanted to fill my very empty stomach first. As I was going to shut the door of the training room behind me I saw Ms.Aslome looking at me, confusion, and worry in her eyes.
After a nice dinner, I was more than ready to sleep especially after today's training session. My whole body felt limp, but I was keen to clear my doubts about the missing people with Katy. As I was helping Katy in setting up our beds, I asked her about the subject that had been on my mind for a while. I also realized that I remembered things as and when I fed clues into my mind. Katy, upon hearing that fact decided to tell me right away about them. She mentioned two names - Evin and Isla. "Mez, are you ok, you're crying...."
I woke up with a jolt, gasping for air, and felt damned relieved that I wasn't in the middle of a burning forest. I was still shivering from the stark terror that gripped me in my dream. Was that just a dream? No way, it felt, almost too real..."Mez! you're up! we need to head towards the main hall, it seems that Ms.Aslome wasn't entirely done with her speech."
Katy, me, and Victor had been waiting for about an hour, outside Ms.Aslome's room, for Evin to step out. I assumed that Ms.Aslome had a lot to tell him, however, I was rather curious about him too, I recognized him right away, even though his face wasn't very clear in my memory. He seemed to have given everyone quite the shock with his sudden reappearance, Katy and Victor seemed confused, angry, and baffled.As soon as the morning speech was dismissed Victor came up to us completely furious, insisting that we don't let Evin get away with this and that he owed everyone a good explanation. Thinki
I followed Evin through the quiet corridors of the institute, beautifully lit up by moonlight that shone through the narrow glass windows on the ceiling. He told me that we had to be completely silent so that we didn't attract unwanted attention especially since it was midnight. This was basically not the best of ideas to calm the mind, but I was really curious about this place after what Evin kept saying. Despite being the one who told me to stay silent he kept whispering random details of the place we were going to visit to me every now and then.
It looked like a beautiful summer evening, the sky, a deep shade of orangish-red, with hints of purple and pink. I could hear the crashing and falling of the waves as I closed my eyes to feel the moment with my soul. It was truly a serene sight, the turquoisewaves highlighted by the sunlight and the crisp, light wind on my face healed my tormented soul.
"You have a lot of questions, isn't it? Now's your chance, ask away." Evin said."Hmm, ok firstly, what was that rose, in the garden, it definitely didn't seem like some ordinary plant to me, and you said you did a healing spell? And also...""Whoa
"YOU'RE THE REASON THEY KILLED HIM!" Isla yelled, I honestly had no clue what she meant by that, or 'him', I was just extremely shocked to see my best friend again, unfortunately seeing her face stirred up another attack of memories again. A thousand memories and images flew in front of my eyes, god! Not now! This was the worst time for my memories to hit back, my head felt heavy, with the overwhelming amount of memories that returned. As I buckled to my knees, I could hear Evin yelling my name in the background, it grew fainter with each second, damnit, I had to come back!
As I stood in the middle of the sunflower field trying to make sense of what was happening I saw a small girl, sitting amidst the flowers, she looked like a younger version of Isla, wait, was I seeing her past? She was being ignored by her friend and was on the verge of tears, just then someone tapped her shoulder, he asked "Why are you sad? Hey! Would you like to join me in a game of tag, it's fun!" Isla who looked like she didn't want him to notice that she was crying agreed to his innocent request. The boy leaped in joy and asked,