Part 1: Asfalia Chapter 10: Five Miles to the Woods

Needless to say no one was on time the next day. We were woken up by the sound of gunfire and explosions. Now it was clear why these cabins were far away from the permanent buildings.

“What’s happening!” Sage fell to the ground and ducked behind her bed.

“I think we missed sunrise.” Dreyma was also cowering and I was just about to join them when the door burst open.

Men in full war gear were marching in and taking us by the arm. We were still in our clothes from yesterday and looking disheveled from the busy day. My stomach was growling and knotting at the thought of missing breakfast but it was clear that we were not going to meet specifications in time.

Back on the hard cobbled stone, some of us weren’t wearing shoes, some of us had managed to change into bed clothes last night but everyone, except Gallo of course were completely unprepared.

“Your instructions were clear last night!” Sargent Lagate barked. “I had two soldiers here before sunrise; the rest of you have no excuse. You will run five miles until you hit the woods and then you will turn around and come back. Then you will break for lunch. No one eats until everyone returns!”

Ten miles. We were fucked. We all noticed too that the instructions didn’t include a reprieve to get dressed and put on shoes so this was going to be challenging.

We all made it as far as we could but Dreyma, Sage, and I were determined not to lose track of each other and stayed together. When the sun was high in the sky and we noticed we hadn’t reached any woods yet we sighed. Lunch was going to be stricken from us as well it would seem.

The sun started to dip and that’s when we heard the sound of vehicles. We were covered in mud, sweat, and Sage was in the middle of throwing up when a large van pulled up next to us driven by Cronus.

“Get in. You have counseling.”

We didn't disobey and noted that several others were also already piled in so at least we weren’t the farthest behind. We continued to drive straight ahead and I was shocked to see even Gallo hadn’t made it to the woods yet.

When we were all in the van Cronus took a moment to explain, “You will be pushed to your limit. This was your first day and we didn’t expect you to wake up on time or be able to run this distance. However, it does tell us more about you. Tomorrow you will be given an alarm that will sound in the morning to wake you up. Eventually, you will not need it.”

They wanted us to fail. I sighed and looked down. This was ridiculous and manipulative. Maybe if we weren’t marked for death at the end of this we would have put up more of a fight.

Back at the large brick building we were taken inside to different rooms. These were far more private compared to the medical rooms from before and actually had solid walls and doors. Each of us was assigned a counselor, which were just therapists who we were meant to talk to every day. I guess they wanted to keep notes on our slow decent into madness.

“My name is Doctor Friese.” She was short similar in stature to Sage. She was sitting with her legs crossed at the ankles in a chair that swivels around to follow me as I walked into the room.

Taking a seat in the chair across from her I nodded my head and looked around. It was a plain room, very little detail but it was clear she had just been brought in. The bookshelves were empty and I saw a few boxes in the corner that were still closed. “You weren’t expecting me?” I pointed to the boxes.

She smiled and let out a light laugh, “I arrived late. I was expecting you today but I was not expecting to be late.”

I nodded.

“That’s not what I’d like to talk about though.” she had a clip board in front of her and was jotting down something as she continued to study me, “I heard you all had a rather surprising morning.”

“It’s been a surprising last few days.” I rolled my eyes.

“Tell me about it.” She leaned forward.

I shrugged, “not sure what you should know.”

When she nodded she leaned back tapping her pen on the edge of the clipboard, “I know a great deal about this plan going on. I’m in no way an expert but if you’d like we can talk about it. My job here is to make sure you’re okay.”

“Make sure I’m okay?” I let out a short laugh, “Do you really think any of us are going to be okay?”

She shook her head, ‘No, but this close to ther barrier can bring out some latent magical abilities which can negatively impact your mental health. What I’m concerned with is making sure you have someone to talk to. You’re going to be pushed to the limit in every way. If you lose sight of yourself and lose your sanity than this investment would be a waste.”

“Thank you,” I smiled back feeling slightly more relaxed about the entire ordeal.

“For what?” Her head turned to the side.

“At least you’re being open with me. We are an investment.”

“Oh I didn’t-”

“You didn’t mean it like that but it’s true though. After hearing that entire plan it’s clear we’re nothing but tools. If we fail then all this work is for nothing.” I looked down wondering why tears weren’t something that were trying to make their escape. By rights tears should have been flowing down my face. “So you’re who I’m going to talk with for the next five years?”

She nodded but note taking was out the window. She was just staring at me now leaning forward her hand resting on her knee. “I really am just here to help you. You can think you’re a tool being used all you want but let me reaffirm: you are a person.”

I shrugged and felt myself opening up, “I haven’t felt like a person since I was told it’s this or die.”

“Do you think it’s because you’ve been given such a powerful mission? Maybe you feel like you’d never be ready for it.”

My head shook, “Whatever the reason, I feel broken right now. I feel like I’m watching myself from the back seat of a car and I have no control over anything.”

“I want you to do something then.”

I looked up at her and saw she really hadn’t been taking any notes but now her hand had reached out and was on my knee.

“I want you to close your eyes and I want you to take a deep breath in. Then when you exhale I want you to relax your shoulders.”

I did as she said letting my lungs fill with as much air as possible. Then with a closed mouth I exhaled through my nose with each second my shoulders fell farther and farther until I was empty and to her credit I didn't feel as tense.

“Now,” She smiled, “I want you to do that for me every hour. Even if someone else is in the driver’s seat you are still the owner of your car. This session was just us getting to know eachother, inside this room you have no obligation to anyone. I want you to know that my job is strictly to help you. Think of me as your passenger okay? If you need help at all tell me. I will be your guidance system.”

I nodded.

“Now, do you have any questions for me?”

I looked up at her, “You told me that being this close to the barrier can have side effects?” she nodded, “like what?”

Her shoulders shrugged and she finally went back to note taking, “Can be any number of things. Some people experience odd dreams. Some experience abilities like they can run faster. It really is just the fae magic seeping out. The idea behind you all training here is that it will prepare you for being closer to the barrier. Even the men who are trained are trained this way because we learned if you don’t get a tolerance for the latent magical radiation before getting close it will have worse side effects.”

I nodded and heard a knock at the door.

“Times up unfortunately.” Friese put her pen down and got to her feet, “I will see you tomorrow Ashai.” that was the first time she used my name, of course I knew she had to know my name but still it felt odd. Maybe because I was being called Sumter too much recently. It just felt good to be recognized as something other than my father’s daughter.

“Thank you.” I nodded, “I guess I will see you tomorrow Doctor Friese.”

“Please call me Dara.”

I nodded and left in much better spirits.