I hear distant voices. They're calling me.
"Roman!"
"He is passed out, I'll wake him up when we're done."
"I can't believe how much that boy sleeps."
I hear two female voices faintly speak. Hearing the voices makes me feel nostalgic.
I'll get up in a second...
I wake up with a short inhale and my eyes open slowly.
It's a room that looks familiar but I can't pinpoint from where. I get up from the bed and it feels like I'm teleporting very short distanced instead of walking. I'm in one spot then after I blink I'm in another.
Yet, I find nothing odd about this and continue teleporting until reach the bathroom. I brush my teeth normally but I never look into the mirror. I stare into the sink while I brush my teeth.
I finish brushing my teeth and as I walk out the door of the bathroom, I'm suddenly deep underwater.
I'm sinking, all around me is a blue abyss.
I don't struggle. I don't try to swim, I just sink as my body slowly falls through the water but I don't feel any water around me, I feel weightless, I don't feel myself struggling to breath, I can't feel anything.
Am I dead?
Suddenly, I hear the voices I heard earlier.
"He's doing it again. He can't save us. Look at him."
"How sad."
As soon as the second voice ends her sentence I feel a pain in my head and chest. It feels like a headache but it stings. It stings so much. It grows more and more until I'm screaming in pain but I can't hear myself scream. I silently flail my body in this blue abyss until I reach the bottom.
My body feels like it wants to struggle; it wants to try to swim to the top but my mind won't let it. My mind has no struggle. No reaction to any of this.
"Roman!" I hear another voice yell out my name. I know this voice. Who is it?
"Roman!" The voice is screaming my name. It sounds scared.
Suddenly, everything changes.
I'm in a nice room. It's really nice. I'm in a comfy bed, it has a bunch of soft pillows.
Then, everything comes back to me.
Oh, right. I'm here now. That was all a dream...
A strange dream.
"Roman?" Liliana speaks to me in a concerned tone. She probably noticed it when I had the dream. I'm sure I rolled around in bed.
When I think back on the dream I feel that same pain in my head and chest, except its intensity was nowhere near where it is right now. Usually this doesn't happen to me...
"Yea sorry. Had a really crazy dream." I reply to her.
I can't remember much from it now. I never have been able to remember my dreams except for the fact that I knew I had one; but this one, I remember a lot more than I usually do.
"I figured, you were rolling around and mumbling a bunch in your sleep. It was weird."
I grin slightly from her comment.
"I'm sure it was."
I roll out of bed and walk over to the bathroom.
One thing I notice as I'm walking across the room is that I feel energized. In fact I haven't felt very tired since Liliana woke up after she fought that scary bear thing in the forest.
My train of thoughts leads me to another realization. I'm not hungry. Like, at all. Which is surprising considering all the physical stuff I did yesterday.
"How different is my old body compared to this one?" I ask Liliana as I lift my head and gaze into the mirror.
"Well, as you can see," she says as she notices that my eyes are glued to myself, "My power allowed me to alter your body to a stronger, healthier version as soon as you put on the ring in the forest."
I barely comprehend her words because of the distraction in front of me. Looking at the difference of my forearms from my own point of view really didn't show the full extent of the changes my body went through. I wasn't an unhealthy person at all before I ended up in that forest. I'd say I took care of myself pretty well actually. But, now, now I'm in a whole other league then I was before.
My body fat is really low, I can see veins riding up my forearms and arms. My muscles feel lean and dense, I flex my arm and feel the muscle tense up. It feels so, powerful. I touch my core section, feeling all the defined shapes and muscles. I'm not very large as my body structure has never been like that, but I feel so much more in tune with my body. I've never felt this way before.
"If you're about to make out with yourself, let me know so I can look away." Liliana quips at me.
I smile.
"This is, crazy." I say to her with my eyes widened. Crazy is all I can seem to say lately.
"Where's my thank you?"
"Thank you!" I say with a large grin while staring into the mirror.
I walk out of the bathroom while bouncing on the heels of my feet. I sit down on the bed and talk to Liliana.
"So, what now?" I ask her while feeling the soft blanket of the bed with the tip of my fingers.
"Have you already forgotten?! We're going to meet the king," Liliana exclaims to me "I really can't wait to see who it is and what kind of person they are."
"Yea..." I respond dryly.
From the time I ask my question to the end of her answer, I realize something.
Just what is next? I was given a goal to survive right from the start. I had things to figure out and things to achieve short term but now what? What is the goal now? I want my family back. That's ultimately my biggest goal but where do I even begin with it?
"Thinking about your family?" Liliana asks me.
"Yea... What's next? Would the king know anything about what happened?"
Liliana is silent for a moment as I stare at one of the paintings, it's a painting of the back of a woman as she stares out at a majestic lake.
"Well, no matter how much I think back on my life I can't remember ever seeing or hearing of such an ability that could do something like what happened to you, but I'm sure asking the king wouldn't hurt. He might know something I don't." Liliana says to me, her excitement about the king is not there anymore. It's replaced by a slight feeling of sorrow. When she shows it, she can be really caring. It's nice.
I nod my head and get up from the bed. I guess next thing to do is go to Camila and ask her when we can see the king.
I walk out of the door of my room and walk down the hall. To my left is railing which leads to the main staircase; I go straight ahead to the door at the end of the hall. I would've assumed this was her room from her directions but I didn't need to assume as her name was inscribed on the door.
I knock on the door 3 times and take a small step back. The door opens a few moments after I knock and Camila greets me with a bow, her dark brown hair is tied up in a bun.
"What do you need sir?" She asks me.
"Is it possible for me to see the king today?" I ask her.
"I can go ask Sir Vaneer, follow me downstairs."
I nod and follow her as she walks down the hall and to the bottom floor.
She tells me to stay near the main door as she goes gets Sir Vaneer.
After waiting for a minute or so Camila walks back with Sir Vaneer.
"The king is able to see you today, would you like to go now?" He asks me.
"Yes sir."
He nods and pulls out a small green crystal from his pocket. It glimmers against the lights of the ceiling. It looks like the same one he complained about Bale using too much.
"Please huddle close." Sir Vaneer says as he waves his hand, signaling me to come towards him.
I follow his instruction and come closer to him. As soon as I do he crushes the crystal and it releases a small flash of green light.
I feel a familiar feeling of being teleported. My body feels tingly all over until it reaches a peak and I instinctively shut my eyes.
When I open my eyes, I am in a large room. It's even more royal looking than Sir Vaneer's home. My eyes scan the whole room, both out of amazement from the look of it all and out of instinct to make sure there are no dangers.
The only person I see in the room is straight ahead, sitting on a large throne. It's a man draped in blue robes, with a gold highlights. Above his head on the wall behind him is the same symbol I saw at the camp with Bale. A circle made up of several different weapons.
The man sits with a laid back posture and as he notices I'm in the room he gets up from his throne.
He steps down the steps that his throne is elevated on and he walks right up to me with a straight face and extends his hand for a handshake.
I reach out my hand to accept it and as soon as my hand touches his I feel a surge of power release into the air. It's suffocating, like Bale's, but it's much more overbearing. The power difference is apparent right from the start.
My body starts to crumble under the force. I feel my feet sink into cement floor.
"Liliana?!" I call out her name for help.
No response.
I slowly begin falling to a knee.
I need to get up.
I call out Liliana's name again. No response.
You're kidding me. What's going on?!
I fall to both my knees. I realize my body is going into a sitting bowing position.
Is this some sort of sick hazing?
My anger starts growing. This man was supposed to help me. Why is he doing this?
The pressure from his power makes me go crazy. I need to fight back. I start gripping my fist until my nails dig into my palms.
I start screaming and as soon as I do I feel a relief of pain.
The pressure stops.
I slowly try get up from the bloodied ground and fall back on my back. I can't stand up.
I look in front of me, wondering what happened.
The king is back on his throne, smiling at me.
"Well done." He says to me in a calm tone.