"Okay, where should I start?" I asked her.
"Let me see. You should start with the reason why you want to join the Purgers?" she said.
"Oh, there, straight to the point huh. Okay, so the Purgers have information about the artras that I need. I am not sure yet, but…" I paused trying to find the right way to proceed with the story.
"Kevin," she yelled startling me, "don't sugar-coat anything."
"I'm not going to. You asked for this, remember. So anyway, I'll just start at the beginning. The day when I first bumped into Ryan. On that day, he called me a legacy and made it clear that he wanted me to join them. I was in a hurry to get away from him that day so all I cared about was getting out of the conversation. naturally I thought that was the last time I would have to deal with him and that the next time we ever met I would decline his invitation into the Purgers.
The next time we ran into each other was that day when I was given a purgers' escort. That was the day when he played his ace in the deck. The Purgers have a scrapbook of sorts where they keep pictures of all those who were ever blessed enough to join them, but now I don't know what that book is all about. Anyway, I didn't care much about the book, but he insisted I look through the book starting with the last updated page. I kept going backwards through the book until he got bored and made me flip through to the very first page which bore a very vivid portrait of Daphne Coalle, the first Homage," I paused and watched as Ciara's eyes went wide.
"Didn't see that one coming? What does she have to do with the Purgers?" she asked.
"I have to join him to find that out," I said.
"Okay, go on with your story then," she said.
"Okay, so then he flipped to the second page of the book and there was a portrait of Jekyll. It still doesn't make sense, but everyone I have asked right now is telling me that they have no authority to reveal to me anything that is going on with the Purgers at the moment. Only Ryan has the power to disclose that information," I said.
"I see, but then why haven't you joined them yet?" she asked.
"I was met with some complications yesterday. Ryan took me along with him and the Purgers to the place where the initiation was to take place," I said.
"There's an initiation?" she said in an inquisitive tone.
"I think so, he told me if I was to join them then there was something I had to see first. And with that we got into their cars. They took the path that goes to the estates," I said.
"You're narrating this like you didn't get there," she said passively.
"That's because we didn't."
"What happened?"
"On our way there, my memories of my cousin before we were seven started coming back to me. I made Ryan stop the car and ran," I summarised not wanting to recount the memories that had come back to me.
"Um, Kevin, I thought we agreed you wouldn't skip anything," she reminded me.
"I know, but.."
"No, I want to hear it," she said sternly.
"Fine, it was a memory of us in the woods playing by a makeshift swing. Charles wouldn't stop pushing me to swing even higher because he was trying to get me to overcome my fear of heights. While he kept pushing me higher the rope snapped and I fell a great distance from where we were. The memory ended with him trying to apologize to me," I said as a stray tear came down my cheek, "From that moment, flashes of different moments of with my cousin kept going through my mind really fast. I wasn't pleasant in any way. That's when I forced Ryan to stop the car and I ran out of there as fast as I could. Naturally, I was shivering when I got home. I couldn't even think clearly for a while."
"Was that when I teleported into your room while you were in the shower?" she asked and she nodded. "So are you going to join them?"
"I don't know. Wherever they were taking me would only bring more memories to my mind. And I am not sure if I am ready to go through that," I said.
"Well, my advice is that you go. Face your past, probably get back some of the happy memories you had with your cousin. Because if you ask me, it wouldn't be worth it to go through rehab only to end up without memories of how you got there in the first place," she reasoned.
"If only facing the past was as easy as you make it sound," I chuckled.
"How long can you hold time?" she asked.
"I am not sure."
"Save your strength for the training you have with Bergstrom. We'll talk about this more when we have actual time," she said. I was glad she wasn't asking much more from me. With that said I went back to my seat and resumed time.
.............
I would like to say that lessons flew by quickly, but the internal clock I had recently developed from over manipulation of time would not allow me the luxury of time passing me by. I was clearly aware of every passing second. Well soon enough the bell for the start of lunch went and we were off to kill one hour of relaxation. Well at least that's what everyone was supposed to be doing. I on the other hand was going to be spending next to four hours training with Mr Bergstrom.
I got to his room after having dodged a couple of Purgers. I wasn't in the mood to run into them yet considering the fact that I displayed my powers in front of them yesterday. "You're more punctual than usual. Would you do the honours?" Mr Bergstrom said once we were done exchanging greetings. With that said, I froze time and went for the seat I had used for meditation yesterday.
"No, you are not meditating today. We are going to Armensia today. There is someone you are going to meet. I wish you're generation was trained from the time you were kids. This would all be much easier," he said as I got up to open the portal that led to the Artarak.
"Why couldn't we be trained from the time we were kids?" I asked.
"I am not in the best position to answer that question," he said.
"Is this similar to the spell that prevents anyone, but Ryan from telling me about the Purgers," I asked letting a bit of my irritation to seep through my voice.
"No, it's nothing like that at all," he said laughing before he went through the portal and I followed through soon after. These guys were becoming annoying with their bottomless secrets. The biggest we faced now seemed to be our fathomless ignorance. It didn't come as a surprise when Ciara revealed that she too lacked memories of anything before she was seven. My friends at least knew who they were before then, but I didn't have a shred of my memory before then. I knew the adults from the previous generation of artras was hiding something, but after going through the memories from Bergstrom, I had learned not to ask too much of the past.
I followed into the portal after Bergstrom through to the lobby of the Artarak. "Welcome back, Sieges," Jeremy piped up once we were in. I almost forgot he was around, but how could you blame him.
"Is the visitor here yet?" Bergstrom asked him.
"Odd reference, but yes, she is currently in the control room for the training room.
He beckoned for me to follow him and off we were through the never-ending hallways of the castle. If this thing wasn't enchanted to project a mental map, it would be impossible to navigate. "How long does it take one to memorize the layout of this castle?" I asked him.
"Oh, that is impossible since the layout of the castle is always changing to suit the occasion. It is a defensive measure that was put up. If the castle was to ever be infiltrated, then the castle itself would be able to defend its inhabitants by constantly changing their location and making the enemy lose their way in the halls of the Artarak. You must also know that if Jeremy doesn't want you to meet someone within the castle, then there is nothing you can do about it." He explained as we got to the door of the control room, my mind immediately becoming aware of a presence within the control room.
He turned the door knob and we got in only to come face to face with the eyes of the same elf we had helped rescue in the cave we found Travas. "We meet again, Kevin Johnson," she said making a curt nod.
"It's good to see you again, Kalifa," I said searching my mind frantically for her other name, but coming up blank. This was bad, I was bad at names, but I hadn't expected to meet her so soon.
"You forgot my name, didn't you?" she asked indifferently.
"Aha, you got me," I laughed nervously.
"Oh, so you two know each other?" Bergstrom asked.
"Hardly," she said before I could claim otherwise, "introductions are definitely in order." She was clearly angry at me for not remembering her name, but in my defence, I had left all these responsibilities to Ciara since she was the alpha and the one who was supposed to stand for all of us.
"Okay, Kevin, this is Kalifa Myers and is next in rank to Jovenor," he said casually as if I was not standing in front of the deputy of one of the five major factions in Armensia.
"Oh, second in command, huh," I repeated sheepishly, "aren't you supposed to be older?" I said regardless of my implications. Don't blame me. Jovenor is called an Elder for a reason. He may be the most powerful, but he was also among the most powerful mages in Armensia. His deputy, in my assumption, was meant to be slightly younger than him.
Bergstrom gasped when he heard what I had just said to her. Her face immediately transformed from irritated to furious in the blink of an eye. Oh boy, this was not going smoothly at all. "You have a sharp tongue, Johnson," she fumed.
"I'm sorry if that offended you," I said sighing, "I am aware of the slow aging among elves, but even so, Jovenor looks a bit old somewhat like he is in his mid-forties for a human."
"Does he not know anything," she turned to Bergstrom.
"No, forgive his ignorance," he said passively as he went through the setting for the training room that I assumed he was going to torture me with, "Kevin, try not to annoy your future magic teacher any further."
She let out a long sigh, "Fine, I'll explain. The Elder of the mages has a lot of responsibilities, and as such, he is almost always straining his magic. In doing so, he ends up looking much older than he actually is. By this I do not mean that elves don't age, but ever since the rise of the Dark Seven, there has never been an elf who has lived that long. It is usually because they end up dying in battle eventually."
That might have said a lot for the elves, but it still meant she was much older than I was. I kept my mouth shut to avoid myself from asking another insensitive question. I was only more curious as to how old she actually was. "I'll be sure not to forget."
"Good, so Bergstrom, how is this going to work?" she asked him.
"You're the professional. Teach him the best way you can. You have two and a half hours," he said.
"Okay then," she said before snapping her fingers. In the blink of an eye, our surroundings had changed into what looked like the fields behind the castle. In my opinion, the artras had been given way too much land. I didn't have time to think about it as my stomach started performing gymnastics to signify we had just teleported.
I leaned against a nearby tree to stead myself and let the dizziness pass, "A little warning next time would be nice," I said half to myself.