A beautiful garden. There was greenery all around, as far as the
eyes could see. But alongwith the green grass, the ground was
filled with multicoloured patches, flowers filled the garden.
After
stretching out for endless miles, the belt of colours merged with
the azure blue sky laden with clouds. Soft fluffy balls of cotton
sailed through the air lazily, it seemed like they were enjoying
the scenery too.
There was a river on the other side, flowing with a leisurely
pace. The water was crystal clear, reflecting the azure blue sky
and showing the interiors of the river simultaneously. Silver
finned fished were swimming around. The water was clear
enough to even roughly discern the colours of the round stones
and pebbles.
Aquatic plants swayed their leaves in the direction
of the ever so gentle current.
Amidst the flowers which were slowly bobbing their heads,
dancing with the breeze, two figures could be seen.
A girl with
inky blue hair and eyes, kneeling on the grass. On her lap, there
rested a head with jet black hair. The inky eyes looked at the
face of the sleeping boy tenderly, sometimes ruffling his hair
with her hand while sometimes tracing her fingers on the face.
"Urgh..."
The boy's eyes started twitching, and he slowly raised his head
which was sunken in the soft thighs previously. The girl didn't
allow that, she pressed his head down firmly. After a minute, the
boy finally opened his eyes which had adjusted to the light.
"Mhmmm... I am..."
"Oh, you are finally awake!" the girl brightly smiled and turned
the boy's head over.
Mino found himself staring at an extremely beautiful girl. She
was by no means ordinary. Her face was not exactly round, but
very attractive.
The inky blue eyes carried an unfathomable depth in them, which made Mino feel as if he was immersed in
the ocean. But at the same time, it calmed his heart down.
Noticing the girl smiling at him brightly, he couldn't help but
smile too. It was as if he had seen the girl very recently.
And he actually had!
[W-wait a second... INKY BLUE EYES AND HAIR!!]
"Yaleena!" Mino shouted out as loudly as he could, his
eardrums shaking because of his own voice.
"Oh, i'm glad you remember me Mino. Please visit my home
okay?" she closed her eyes while smiling sweetly once again.
She had an aura of royalty around her which made Mino hold his breath subconsciously.
"..."
Mino stared at Yaleena blankly, confusion evident on his face.
But he found himself entranced by Yaleena's beauty. The snaky
blue locks curled around in the wind. It was too difficult for him
to take his eyes off her face, which looked perfect with the clear
blue background.
But he managed to make a question,
"What...do...you...mean...?"
Hearing his voice which a barely at whisper, Yaleena first
looked upwards, and Mino saw clearly that her eyes were
glistening.
"Is...she...crying?"
Then she turned to look at Mino again, some tears fell on nose
and forehead. She brought her lips close to his ears and
breathed, "I have lost all, but hope to start anew. Visit my
home..."
The sad and lonely voice wrenched Mino's heart.By the time she had finished her vague words, Mino saw that
her face was getting distorted.
"What!!!"
The distortion spread and soon the entire landscape started
disappearing, as if it was being sucked into some void. Mino
found himself surrounded by pure darkness. His vision which
was stained pure black. The eerie quietness was replaced by a
shout, and he felt that the shout was directed at him. He felt
jerks, as if someone was pushing him.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!"
Mino opened his eyes and sprang up while taking in a sharp,
deep breath. He was lying on the hard floor.
"W-what was that! A dream?! So I dreamt that I woke up from
my sleep?! Damn shit... a-and why d-did I meet Yaleena..."
An unfamiliar voice entered Mino's ears, forcing him to
straighten himself. At that very moment, he was reminded of his
earlier struggle against a brown furred wolf. Bringing his hands
to his neck subconsciously, he rubbed it over the area where
the wolf had previously sunken its fangs into.
There was a
rubbery feel. A collar was placed on his neck. His whole body
was covered in sweat. A brown coloured tunic covered his body,
which was clinging to his skin because of the sweat.
"Yeh sorese yeira?"
"Eh?" The same unfamiliar voice entered his ears once again.
This time Mino turned his towards the direction of the voice. To
his surprise, he saw that a teen, a little bit older or as young as
him was sitting beside him. Mino was still feeling exhausted
even after sleeping for quite some time, so he rested his back
against the wall.
Then, he decided to take a good look at the
boy who was calling out to him.The boy had a face which could be accurately described as
'feminine'. Even though his face was soiled with dirt, he looked
quite nice. Grey hair which reflected a bit of black from certain
angles. His lead coloured eyes showed extreme patience,
which was reflected in his behaviour too.
That boy had been
trying to get Mino to talk but didn't seem to be angry even
though he was being ignored. And the most surprising thing
which caught Mino's eyes were, a pair of triangular reddish
things coming out of the boy's head, with the edges silver in
colour.
Mino towards the boy and told him, "I'm sorry, there's a
language barrier between us. I can't understand anything even
if I wanted to. By the way, I am Mino." he said this while pointing
towards himself, hoping that the other party would get him.
The boy looked genuinely surprised, and after a few seconds,
that surprise changed into confusion.
He raised his voice and let
out a shout, "Heiii yeiraaaa!"
Just as he finished shouting that,
Mino felt chills run down his spine. In a matter of seconds, he
was surrounded by a swarm of boys, most of them older than
him.
As soon as they rushed over, the pungent smell of sweat entered Mino's nostrils, making him cringe his face. It was
absolutely intolerable. A group of boys had crowded around
him, fighting to see glimpses of him.
The boy who initially raised
the cry was being pushed backwards!
[Damn! Where in the fucking hell am I?!]
Subjected to all sorts of stares, Mino squirmed uncomfortably,
he was feeling like a zoo animal.
[I'm sorry to every zoo animal I've laughed at! I apologize, so
please get me out of this mess!]
In order to distract him from the curious stares, he started
observing his surroundings.
The room was moderate, but it was not at all large enough to hold thirty people together.
So, it was
most definitely cramped, and the musty smell of the dirty room
combined with the body odour of its residents polluted the air of
the room. The air was stuffy due to the lack of proper
ventilation, just a thin slit in the top.
A white coloured crystal
was glowing brightly, much like a 15 watt LED. That light was
not enough to illuminate every corner of the room, but nobody
cared about it.
The floor was hard and grey in colour, grooves
crisscrossing the surface. Walls a darker shade of grey, the
entire room just screamed of a prison cell. If not for the white
light, the atmosphere was surely claustrophobic.
In the midst of the curious glances and hushed whispers, a
clear loud bang resounded, the sound of metal hitting against
metal.
Mino turned backwards to see that there was indeed a prison
cell like bar formation.
A man was standing behind it, or rather
outside the room. He had a baton in his hand, most likely he
had used that to bang the bars.
Mino looked at the man with a
blank gaze.
The man soon cleared his throat and began, "Who is Mino Clair?" he started running his eyes through the entire
crowd, scanning it.
Hearing his name spelled out in full by a
stranger, Mino grew extremely wary. He didn't respond at all.
But in the next moment, the man fished out a bunch of keys
from his pocket. Unlocking the door, he went inside.
Nearly all
of the boys retreated away from the place, clearly scared to go
near that person. Most likely becuase that person looked angry and displeased. Some were even frozen in their places.
The man glared at Mino, grabbed him by his arm and started
dragging him along the rough uneven grooved floor. The grip
was so strong that Mino seriously thought that his bones were
about to break.
"STOOOOOOOOPPPP!!!!" he frantically cried out and flailed,
trying to break free. The man's glare intensified, sending a wave
of terror in Mino's heart.
However the man didn't stop there, he
strengthened his grip further, making Mino wail in pain, straightened his arm and moved it in an arc.
Mino was slammed
into the hard ground face down, with an impact that cracked the
concrete.
It pained like hell and Mino no longer had the energy
or guts to protest. He allowed himself to be dragged by the man
towards his unknown fate.