An inextricable feeling rushed through my veins as I looked at the countless young people lying beside me. They were all bleeding as well. Strangely enough, someone had bandaged me and I knew this someone better than anyone else. He was sitting beside me.
Arghhhhhhh
My heart ached. Not from the scars not from the traumas..But from the memories of the fight that happened in that hellish cave.
I tried to get up even though I was damn weak. It felt impossible but with my hands that vibrated I got up.
'Za..Zam.'My voice trembled.
He looked over immediately. The expression on his face was somehow surprising.
He was smiling..
Not rediculously this time.
With both eyes inact, gazing at me with a look I can't fathom.
' Brian!.'
' Zam..Where is this..?.'
' Just some ancient tower owned by some geezer in the middle of the lingering flame that never fades.'
Zam as usual used his unique talking style. But..Why do I feel so uneasy? He clearly has both his eyes..So I fought somebody else? What about them? Did they die?
' Brian!'
' Yeah!..right.' I quickly turned towards Zam.
'Did you fight in a cave as well?'
' Sadly yes,I had to.'
'Were you able to see your opponents face?'I asked as I observed my wounds.
Maybe it was just me over thinking but for a split second I saw Zam's smile fade.
But yeah..He smiled again.
'No,apparently TIA chose to hide everyone's faces in order to create emotional tension.'
I didn't take my eyes off him. There wasn't even a ounce of lie in his eyes. I sighed. I guess I will believe him for the time being.
I got up and started moving around 'So, did we pass?'
He moved along with me ' About that...Obviously!We did!'
'Yeah,right.' I mumbled.
'Wow!Brian Alhemaht , Can't you atleast act like you are happy?'
He was unusually energetic.
This time however I felt like I wanted to play along with him at least for a bit.
And so my usually dull face formed a smile.
I don't know if it was because of the fact I was smiling but as the corners of my face tilted downward to form my unique smile , I could see Brian's eyes dilating.
He stepped back dramatically.
' Are my eyes fooling me?Did Brian Alhemaht just smile?!!.'
I felt extreme cringiness swelling up within me. I immediately stopped smiling.
' You're right for the first time. Your eyes were indeed fooling you.'
'Yeah,right. I believe you,dear.'
He was acting all cringey that I somehow felt like throwing fists..but yeah I controlled myself.
' Brian,there's someone you gotta see here.'
Zam tied his loose hair together.
' Who's this honourable person that I gotta see ?.'
I enquired as I cleaned my bloody sword.
' Someone like my father.' He chuckled.
' Ain't no way I'm gonna see him. I'm already fed up with one geezer and now..You Want Me To Meet Another!!!.'
' HAHAHAHAH!!!Okay,dear. You prolly won't have to go to him. He will surely come to you."
Maybe just to prove Zams absurdism, someone walked in,long silver strands danced in the hot breeze,just from a glance I could tell he didn't belong here,yet he seemed to have grown old here.
'Pardon,I'm not that old.' The man smiled cunningly.
...Another geezer who's tryna read my mind.
He doesn't look like a geezer though. I observed the man who stood tall in front of me.
My face stiffened naturally.
' So,now what?.'
He tilted his head ' Well, the others are still recovering , not all are healthy brats like you and..'
He walked as he pointed his fingers towards Zam and added ' Him.'
Anything but healthy...
' You should eat something to recover and yeah , as soon as the others wake up , there won't be anytime.'
He patted our shoulders and walked away into the distance.
Maybe to break the silence , Zam sighed.
' What are we supposed to here?Maybe some tongue melting lava soup!.'
' Yeah , we should.' I placed my sword steadily at where it belonged.
'Wow!..What the hell!Yeah!Right,let's go if you eat I will eat as well.'
We walked and walked inside the tower hoping to find something to eat and also in order to find more information about the examination. I'm glad we won the first one.If the first one was this troublesome , the second one would be...
'Brian!.'
'What?.'
He pointed towards a tree , one that stood tall even with its leaves burning.
'Can you see it , the fruit ?.'
'Yeah,but the shape..ahmm..whatever who cares as long as it fills our stomach.'
' Right , still,isn't this shape too much?.'
' I don't know , let's eat .'
' Brian sorry to break it to ya , but ain't tall enough to reach the tree on your own.'
He smirked as if to mock me.
'I know that and yeah I'm still taller than you and for us to get the fruit.' I politely pointed towards Zam.
' What ? What should I do ?'
' Obviously , kneel and will stand on your back.'
He started clapping his hands out of nowhere
' Wow!Such a perfect plan! But it's not gonna work.'
'Then, what else will work ?.'
'Let stone,paper,scissors divide the one to kneel and the one to stand.'
He said that damn proudly.
'Nah,my luck is the let's thing I trust.'
I said as I was damn confident about my bad luck.
'And mine is the only thing I trust.'
He was right. He was or is indeed lucky to have a father like Master , a mansion like house with servants and a mother like....
Maybe he isn't so lucky after all and not so unlucky like me either...
He played three wasteful rounds of stone,paper,scissors only for me to the out as the loser as always. I knelt down elegently and diligently on the torrid soul of roxinbey.
Hot!!!...
Zam stepped on me and plucked some of those weirdly shaped fruits.
My face was dripping in sweat. I waited and waited for him to get the fuck off me. Darn!..I can't even look back.
I shouted ' YOU IDIOT , ARE YOU PLUCKING THE DAMN FRUIT OR CULTIVATING IT ?!!.'
I somehow managed to get a peek at what he was doing. That jerk!..he was eating the fruit joyously as I was turning into a hot chicken right here.
Well, I had the perfect plan prepared for my long term friend. I got up from the ground , causing Zam to fall down.
And yeah , even after my so called unexpected action he was calmly eating those fruits.
And finally he looked at me , with his cheeks all puffy and dirty , he extended his hand towards me with three fruits in it. I took one of those fruits.
' Take it all. You will prolly need three of them.' Zam got up and tidied himself of the dirt.
As soon as I took a bite from one of the fruit , I came to knew why Zam mean I would need them all. It tasted smooth and sweet... like honey. Without realizing I ate it all up in one go.
' I knew you had want it all if you knew it tasted like honey and that's exactly why I ate four of them before giving ya.'
I didn't reply. I just glared at that idiot.
I ate it. It was sweet. And the sweetness reminded me of the words the apothecary relied on to us. "Even sweetness can become poison , if used abundantly "...It's not something new to my ears, But the current situation might have something to do with her words. Well I guess I can't do anything about it as I already finished eating.
And soon enough I could feel it , a sudden reaction took place inside me and outside me as well. Sounds of cracking and breaking filled the air and once again I think I'm separated from Zam.
My senses were slowly giving into slumber and the fog around me had made my eye sight terribly bad. All I could do was sigh. Only if it was a sigh of relief.
I think I have become used to Travelina Imperial Academy's sly and scheming acts. I'm not even surprised anymore. I hope me along with Zam would be able to open our eyes one more time , so we could try so hard to achieve each of our goals together , without breaking down or breaking away.
I wanted to ask him why he was enduring this blazing land of fire with me.
Why he had came along ?
What his purpose was and how long he will continue to be like this ?
And with that all I could do was to simply let my eyes rest.