They each picked a training sword and faced the one in front of them, determination written on their faces. Instructor Rock spoke after a short pause.
"You can use every technique and ability you can to win the dual, I will stop you if I sense that things are going too far, now begin."
"Today I will be in your care, Iseul. Go easy on me… please." Li wasn't sure about his chance of winning. While Iseul might seem meek and the more forgettable of the three, she is the most dangerous. Li hadn't seen her fight but with her Aspect, things were going to be tricky.
Looking at her, he realized that the light around them refused to touch her like she didn't exist.
"Hah, you wish" She was very amused that he was this wary of her. And he would be right of course. 'Now let's see if you can really see me' With that thought, she disappeared from Li's vision completely.
Li's eyes widened as he lost sight of her, he couldn't feel her presence at all, not even with his essence sense. "Shit—" he cursed as a sharp pain pierced his side, She was fast.
She didn't wait as she slashed her sword, cutting Li's face as droplets of blood gushed out, some landing on her shirt. Blood… it was blood. Like that time when...
As the event of the past flashed through her mind, Li felt a sharp sting in his head, It was blood.
THUD—
Iseul was awoken by the sound of something crashing to the ground reached her ears, it came from outside her room. The six-year-old rubbed her eyes as she got out of bed and wobbled to the door.
Her room was nice and colorful like any kids her age. Drawings covered her walls, most she had done on her own and some were with her parents. Yawning she stopped to look at a recent drawing of her mother. She has been sick lately so she made the drawing to cheer her up.
Finally, she reached the door and tried to open it, but it didn't budge. She pushed again but it was to no use. Frowning she tried again, that is when something touched her foot, it was wet and warm.
Looking down she saw… a red liquid. It was slowly seeping from under her door. Kneeling she touched the liquid with her fingers and brought them to her nose. They smelled like iron. She wanted to taste it but something told her it was a bad idea.
Slowly as the strange liquid found its way through, she felt more and more scared. What had happened outside her door? 'Where is Mother?' she thought to herself.
'What if something happened to mom while dad is away?' her dad was currently away on a business trip. He wouldn't be back till two weeks from now.
"MOM?" she screamed, pounding on the door.
"MOM WHERE ARE YOU?"
"PLEASE ANSWER… Mom?" looking at her hand again, a thought slowly crept its way to her mind, 'Blood, it's blood' She tried again and again but she couldn't move the door. Her mother needed help, but she couldn't do anything, she was trapped.
***
The wail of sirens cut through the downpour, stretched thin and ghostly by the rain, its cry like a wounded animal hiding from a predator as the spinning colors of its cry illuminated the surroundings in a flash of blue and red.
Standing there wet and soaked, was two police officers, talking while eyeing a kid.
"I can't believe this." the officer said to his colleague, voice shaken.
"The girl had been trapped there for two weeks, with her mother's corpse." The officer said while looking at the girl, who had been sitting inside an ambulance.
"Why had no one checked up on her? Where is the father?"
"He died when a gate opened near his office, it was so bad that we had to call an Awakened to identify the body." The officer answered, face distorted in disgust as he remembered that incident.
"Poor girl, how did she survive there without food or water?"
"I have no idea but by the state that the medics found her in, they she might have drank some of the blood." Officers looked at the girl with pity, and that's when he noticed that the girl was staring at them.
He hurriedly looked away as the girl sat up and began walking toward them. Reaching them, she tugged at the officer's pants and asked in a hesitant voice, looking directly at him with her empty black eyes.
"Where is my dad?"
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Kneeling on the ground, Li clutched his head as memories rushed through his mind, this had never happened before.
'What was that?' the memories were short but full of emotion, full of sorrow and longing.
'But for what… what does she desire the most' shaking his head he sat up as another swing came his way. This time he blocked it.
'Tell me… all of it' giving in to the pull on his mind, he welcomed her emotions, he would not look away.
Surprised that Li had blocked her attack, Iseul wanted to pull away but at that moment, she felt a sharp pain in her heart, old, buried memories came rushing in but she didn't want to resist them. So she let them pass through.
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"Hi," the girl's voice came out as sudden as her appearance, scaring the old caretaker.
Surprised by the sudden appearance of the tiny human, she screamed in horror. The plates slipped from her hands and exploded against the ceramic tiles, their shatter echoing like the shrieks of a ghost trying to scare off children.
The crash was louder, more jarring than her own scream, ringing through the empty kitchen. Shards scattered across the floor, and the food they had carried was now just a splattered stain—a messy, sharp drawing etched in sauce and ruin.
"Gosh girl, you are like a ghost. Just don't go hunting me."
Standing there in her grey sweatshirt and pants was a young girl of about thirteen years old. Looking innocently at the startled caretaker.
"Sorry, did I scare you?" she said "I'll help clean this up"
With a sigh, the old woman spoke, "Why aren't you with the other kids?"
"I don't like them, and they don't like me. Those jerks always make fun of me."
"It's about that again?" the woman asked as she knelt to the girl's level.
"Yes," the girl answered, clearly embarrassed.
"Why are you embarrassed, there is no shame in asking for my help. Come, you haven't had dinner yet, right? I'll deal with those boys later." The old woman said as she nudged the girl to a table nearby.
She grabbed a plate and filled it with the stew she had prepared. Placing it in front of the girl, she went and got a mop to clean the stew-covered floor.
After some time, the girl finished her food and thanked the old woman for caring. Kissing the girl's head, the old woman ushered her to go and sleep.
Walking along the empty, white-colored halls of the orphanage, she traced her usual path to her room, like a ghost unseen, before she passed the play area. It was a few rooms away from her room.
There were still some kids playing there. The kids that made fun of her before were there too. She wanted to slip past them but tripped and fell, that's when they noticed her.
One of the boys pointed a finger at her and shouted, "Look, the corpse eater is here, run for your lives." They all laughed and made dying gestures and gaging sounds to imitate a corpse.
Before she could say anything, a boy with brown hair opened the door and ran towards them. Reaching them, he started to beat them up one by one. He beat them till they began apologizing.
"I'm sorry, I won't—YOU WON'T WHAT?—I won't make fun of her I swear, please stop hitting me." Dropping the crying kid like a sack of potato. He got up and straightened his sweater.
Iseul watched in awe as he got up and walked towards her. 'I've done that before and I got in big trouble for it, and here he is beating up some kids like it's Tuesday' She did not recognize the boy, he didn't look like the kids here.
Standing in front of her, was a boy around her age, with broad shoulders and strangely gold-colored eyes. She couldn't stop looking at them.
Clearing his throat, the boy asked, "Sorry about earlier, I just can't stand these kinda things. I'm Gael." He said as he offered his hand, a bit embarrassed.
"What are you apologizing for? That was so cool, You have no idea how much I wanted to do that again. I'm Iseul."
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Pushing her sword away, Li tried to pinpoint her location. His head throbbed as if wanting to burst open, but he didn't give up. Finding an inconsistency between his vision and senses, he slashed at the spot where he thought she was.
He was proven right when his sword landed on something solid. Blocking the strike Iseul gritted her teeth and redirected the sword to her left and answered it with a downward slash of her own.
Li Barely dodged at the last moment when another flash of pain ran through his head. With a deep breath, he assumed a defensive stance, waiting for her to come to him.
"Come on, I found you. Aren't you slipping up, Iseul?"
His provocation had worked when he got a kick to his stomach.
'What do you know?' Iseul thought to herself. It wasn't like she didn't want to remain invisible. She didn't want to be alone, she wanted someone to care.
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"Found you" Iseul was startled by the voice of Gael coming from a distance. He shouldn't be able to find her here, not with her Aspect and Flaw.
"Why are you hiding?" Gael asked calmly.
"Go away." She said in between her sobs.
"…"
"How do you always find me?" Iseul slowly tilted her head up from her lap and looked at Gael's eyes. Today they seemed more… beautiful.
"Stop." Gael covered his own eyes with his hands. "Don't look at my eyes."
Frowning the girl completely forgot about why she was crying and asked, "Why? I'm not allowed to look at them?"
Hearing that hurt Gael a little, "No it's just that… it's my flaw. If you look at my eyes for too long, you will forget that I existed, like the others."
Wiping her tears away, Iseul looked at Gael, she was stunned by his Flaw, it was worse than her own.
"What kinda Flaw is that? And how did you find me here… you can't even look at me because of my Flaw." She was hiding here after her first Nightmare, where Gael was also being kept as well.
Grabbing his hands, she gently pulled them down and said to him in a small voice. "Open your eyes." She said, "I want to look at your eyes"
"No, no no no, you will just forget about me like the rest of them, even the Awakened assigned to me forgot I existed. I don't want you—I won't forget… I won't forget those I love, remember… you told me that the first time. So no, I won't forget you, you are the one I love" Iseul told him the first thing he had told her when she first ran away, when he found her in that cold ally behind the orphanage, he always finds her, no matter what.
Opening his eyes slowly, he looked at her, unsure still. She looked back at him her eyes locked on his. A moment passed, and then another, and a dozen more still. He asked her, voice shaking, "Iseul…?"
"I'm here Gael." She said to him as she held his face with both her hands, she embraced him as their foreheads touched, each looking at the other's eyes.
"I won't forget those I love."
***
Gael held Iseul's hand as they approached the Academy's gates. He looked at her, unsure but excited. She nodded as they held each other's hands tighter, and they began to enter the academy.
That's when they heard it—THUD—the sound of something hitting the ground followed by a muffled curse. A boy with hair as white as the snow around them was sprawled on the ground, he had slipped on a patch of ice.
Reaching him, they helped him up and as they did, he began jumping up and down and asked them, "You two look strong, do you want to spar with me? I'm Dante, what about you?"
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[A/N: how was the chapter? i put a lot of thought into it so i hope you like it as well.
the next one will be the continuation of this chapter and have some Lore drops as well. that's it thank you for reading :).]