Chapter 15: Chapter 18

The sacred sky blossom arts from my mother’s word is an ancient technique. You must first come to satisfy three requirements before even using the technique. First is a stable affinity with both wind and thunder, second is to master an advanced form of Qi control called aura transformation which shapes your Qi into various forms for this technique I specifically needed Katana aura and lastly a sound understanding of the martial art it is based on. I’ve heard from her that there are other techniques that aren’t limited to just Katana arts. There are also spear and longsword versions.

I was still in the middle of practicing when I heard footsteps approach from behind me. Turning around, I noticed it was my mother. She peeked under a low branch, locking eyes with me. Those dark violet eyes stared at me with a softness and strong familiarity. Her long wavy red hair would fall over her eyes, breaking our line of sight, and I would soon hear her mumbling about cutting it before approaching me.

“There you are Atsumi,” she said. “What are you doing out here so late?”

At hearing these words, I look towards the horizon. The sun, which looked to be way bigger than its normal size, rested upon the mountain side. I was training so absent-mindedly I didn’t even notice the time.

“Hello mom, I just thought I would practice since I had nothing else to do. ”

She looked at me solemnly, and then at the weapon I held firmly in hand. “Ever since I gave you that wooden sword, you can’t seem to part with it.”

She walked up to me and placed her hand on my head. “You practice so much. Why don’t you go play with the other children once in a while?”

“I prefer to be on my own.” I replied.

She let out a sigh, taking to training Katana from my right hand, then lifting me up into a bear hug.

 

“Mom, put me down. I’m already nine years old. I’m not a baby anymore,” I said, struggling from her unbreakable grip.

“Aww, but you're so small and adorable I can’t help it.”

“Mom!”

“Not unless you tell me the real reason.”

“Alright fine.” I blurted out, almost of breath.

“They give me strange stares, as if they’re afraid of me or something. I looked up at her, wondering if I should continue, but her gentle gaze urged me to go on.” It’s because of what happened the other day, isn’t it?. It’s because I hurt those around me.”

My fate soul just awakened a few weeks ago and even though it was hard to fit in before, things had changed drastically ever since that day. I Didn’t know what happened exactly. All I could remember was excruciating pain and a white light, but people had gotten hurt because of me. No one had said it to me directly, but it’s obvious what happened.

She put her hands to her head as if she had just gotten a headache. Letting out another sigh.

“I can understand caring for those around you, but that doesn’t mean you should isolate yourself. Your friend timothy doesn’t seem to care, so that doesn’t mean that thing won’t get back to normal given enough time.”

“What if the same thing happens again?” I replied.

“It won’t happen again. You can trust me on that.” she said with a smile.

“What should I do then?”

“Just be yourself.” She replied. “A common answer, I know, but that’s just all it takes. I should know, I’m the most popular shrine maiden here, after all.”

I chuckled upon hearing this. “I never knew we had a competition for that.”

“No competition needed. it’s an obvious fact.” She said.

She Then turned her head around suddenly and looked into the temple, looking a little annoyed.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, as if speaking to someone.

She then turned to me and ran her fingers through my hair a few more times. “I guess I have to go now.”

“Wait, go where?” I replied, wanting to follow her.

“A place you can’t follow, if that’s what you're thinking. You don’t have to worry, we will get more chances to speak like this.” she said before kissing my forehead. “My charming, smart, pretty, all grown up little Atsumi. The gift that I do not deserve. You don’t have to be afraid, just be yourself. I’ll always be here with you.”

Her smile was all I could focus on so much that I only then noticed the world churning and twisting around us. The sun quickly vanished under the horizon, and the evening sky gave way to midnight. The moon that was nowhere to be seen now stood proudly at its zenith.

My mother then stood up and turned around to head back into the temple area as the world continued to twist and warp. I took a step forward, fighting the sudden drowsiness that chained me down. I tried to say something; I tried to call out to her, to tell her to come back, but my mouth wouldn’t move an inch.

I was moving further away from her as if I was being pulled back by an invisible force; the air become warmer even though it was now nighttime and the sudden stench of something burning would soon assault my sense of smell. At that point, I could no long move. All I could do was watch as she walked up the steps into the main temple.

“Oh, and another thing. She said before disappearing into the darkness. We all grow at our own pace so you don’t have to rush to get stronger. You don’t want to have weak foundations, do you? Take your time. Don’t overexert yourself and have fun. It’s your adventure, after all. Enjoy it when you can.”

That’s was the last thing i heard before everything faded to black.

 “Hey get up!”

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I awoke to Senna shaking me furiously.

 “You sleep like a rock, god damn, get up already.” 

“Uh where am?” I said, still dazed.

“These assholes lit the place up. We gotta go, now,” she said before pulling me up to my feet.                                                       

I had come to my senses soon but still too dizzy to walk properly, I slowly inched my way towards my belongings.

Another one of those strange dreams. Ive always had these, but they became more frequent shortly after I left the shrine. They were always weird or cryptic and sometimes just downright terrifying, but this one, in particular, was the exact opposite. I didn’t feel confused or scared. Everything felt calm, familiar, and too real. It was like I was really back in Haakuni speaking face to face with my mother.

I have been brushing them off and thought they were just your standard strange dream, but this one made me think, maybe there is a deeper meaning. Was this just my mind playing tricks on me in my sleep, or was I really speaking with my mother? I decided that once I was done with the trial that I should ask Allan about it.

“Hey, what’s up with you?” Senna snapped. “We need to leave now.”

Sensing the urgency in her voice, I chased her out of the earth dome. The campsite was brighter than I had expected it to be. Thinking it was morning, I looked up and out through the branches. It was indeed morning, and it was still very early, so early that the sun had not yet risen. The orange glow the leaked through the branches and vines above signified at a different light source. From Senna’s words and the pungent smell of charcoal, I would soon connect the dots. It was a forest fire.

 

Everything after that was a blur. I was moving mostly on instinct, not really giving thought to what I was doing. Several minutes had passed when we came to a small clearing on a hill and looking off into the distance. This was more than just a simple forest fire, pillars of billowing smoke towered into the sky as the forest crumbled beneath them and every mountain in the distance had erupted into volcanoes spewing molten rock unto the forest below, what had started out as a lush, vibrant rainforest had transformed into an apocalyptic landscape.

We gathered everyone up, contemplating what we needed to do next. We all concluded that it was the examiners that caused this. I mean, who else could it be? They had full control over landscape like this, but to cause destruction like this, the thought was alien to me.

“Man, are the really ending the trial in such a flashy way?” Bale said.

The last day of the trial was to escape this and make it to whatever end point they had prepared for us. Luckily, we had gained enough points with both teams sitting at a comfortable amount of points. My team had gathered about 6132 while they had gained about 5980.

 

 

“Guess our only option now is to get the hell out of here.” Ennan said.

“It won’t be easy, though,” Senna replied.

He turned a questioning look at her, unsure of what she meant. Senna, upon seeing, clicked her teeth while scratching her head as if the answer was obvious.

“Everyone is gathering to one location, so the closer we get, the higher the chance of meeting other teams. Honestly, I expect us to be fighting multiple teams at once, just like last year.”

She pointed to herself, almost confident in what she was saying. “As I’ve said, I’ve already taken this trail last year and even though last year was an everyman for himself kind of thing, forming alliances was still a allowed. It’s just that this year teams were mandatory, and every member lost means the points go with them. I assume they did this to avoid the problems of last year.”

 

“And what problem might that be?” Lyria replied. Senna eyed her for a moment. It would seem that the very presence of the elf irritated her to no end.

“People backstabbing their teammates and stealing their points near the end of the trial. Like I said, it’s going to be tough, as there will be people not only gunning for the top spot but those who haven’t gotten the full 5000 points. They won’t have anything to lose and will be desperate enough to attack any team.”

“It was on the last day I got eliminated. There was too much pressure on us having to fight so many teams at once and I croaked.”

“I guess it’s the Procyon academy for a reason. Only the most elite make it in,” Lyria said as she shrugged.

“And what do you mean by that?” Senna said.

Lyria simply scoffed while looking down at her. “Interpret that however you want.”

 “How about you interpret this backhand?”

“Hey that’s enough, you two, now’s not the time,” Cedric interrupted. “We need to get moving. The fire is closing in.”

We all started descending the small hill. Sharp-eyed and focused, we can’t afford to make mistakes.

Just before we moved under the tree line, Senna turned around to look back at the oncoming Inferno.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who noticed, as Enan and Cedric stopped to look at her as well.

“I find it strange, though,” she continued. “They didn’t go all out like this last year, literally lighting a fire under our asses. What are they even trying to do?”

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