Aria's POV
"I Like you! Would you like to go out with me?" The words even though, were so simple yet ringed in my ears for a while before making me let out a little laugh. I distanced my lips just to free the lock of hair that had been stuck on my mouth. The wind, felt like that it transited its pace to a somewhat softness and the humming of waves into louder clashes. The vibrant rays of the sun illuminated the very movement of the waves creating a hallucinating view.
My subconscious admiration of the surroundings made me notice the tangerine reflections from the glassy surface of the water body in front of me. From the horizon where the sun was already half-sunk, it shone its rays into the aquatic body, tinting it into shades of orange and filling the atmosphere with a gloomy orange, twinning the inner turmoil of mine.
Now bringing my drifting mind back to the question at hand, I decided to tease a bit rather than responding with an actual reply. Followed by a chuckle I said, "Maybe yes, if you overgrow me".
"Is that the only condition?", he said, with a hint of relief and resolution.
"Yes, maybe for now", saying to my own self, I let another chuckle out.
"Please, take me seriously. I have worked hard to build the courage up to confess my feelings for you and you're letting it away with just some laughs? "He complained.
"Take you seriously? hmmm...I had great expectations and didn't want my first confession to be like this-
Cutting me off, the guy abruptly said, "Is there something wrong? Did I do something to upset you?"
"You know it too well what's wrong", I replied with an expressionless face, surprised by the boy's ignorance or rather innocence.
The boy's face turned into a confused one on which the lips mumbled, I thought, was because of me not explaining things thoroughly.
"I mean I didn't ever think that I'd ever date a younger guy", I said and as soon as I saw the boy's lips preparing to produce some words I immediately responded, "wait, wait, let me speak first. I was trying to say that even though it's not much of my expectation or an ideal proposal, but I would like to give it a shot".
Ethan's POV
"...now to conclude the 63rd Passing Ceremony I would like every single of the trainees to take Oath of working righteously for this country, for the betterment of it and for it's security even if it costs you your life...."
The hall felt brutally suffocating where everyone wore frustrated expressions. A wave of joy and laughter ran through the huge crowd of trainees who were just set free of what felt like prison. Everyone was so full of joy yet saddened that they had to leave their friends, roommates, partners, seniors or juniors behind.
These past 5 years were no less than a prison for me. I had worked my ass off in my training years and now I am finally going back to the only place which feels like heaven to me. "I wonder if she's still waiting for me". "No, no, she might already have kids by now". "She did promise me though?" Weird thoughts took over my mind. I was so confused and had a weird intuition about the things. Curiosity and eagerness also resided in me which itself was a source of the thoughts and feelings surging in me. I inhaled a deep gust, sorted my mind out, and let my lungs loose back into their contracted form. The wind felt so heavy and cold that with each blow, ran a shiver through my body due to its freezing coldness. Putting my hands in the pockets of my blazer, I hurried my way to the dorms. When I reached my room, I opened the door furiously, took a single suitcase, in which I had my stuff, out and set myself on the way to the railway station. Just as I reached the station, I heard the announcement of the train's departure. Holding my belongings tight, I ran down the stairs and towards the train which was just about to get its gate closed. Fortunate enough, I got in at the very last moment, found my seat number and rested myself on it. Gripping the ticket in my hand I was waiting for the ticket collector.
The next thing I remember was a man, who looked like the ticket collector by his dressing, violently shaking my body to bring me to conscious. "This is your stop, Mister", the man said, with a frustrated look on his face. "Oh, thank you for waking me up", I said, while getting up from the cushioned seat. Extending my arm, I reached the shelf just above the vehicle's window, gripped my suitcase and got out of the train. First step out of the train and my mind could make the very feeling of a place which feels like home. The air felt like, was different from how it was in the city. I got out of the train then out of the station's territory and onto the country road. The smell of the wind, the sight of the rich, grassy fields, the view of snowcapped mountains blurred by the fog, and the faraway sounds of birds, sheep, goats and cows brought humidity into my eyes along with a reminiscent feeling. That was the place where I spent my whole life except for those prison-like years in which I lived in the city. "Now to the work at hand", saying to myself I started walking along the road which I remembered where was headed. On the way to the destination which I had in my mind, I saw that everything including environment and infrastructure was almost as same as it was when I left this place. The only change that was yet to be seen and I was scared of, was of the people of this town or to be specific, the people I cared for.
As I was making my way on the bumpy pathway I made my surroundings out, each after a few seconds, hoping to find someone I knew, but something didn't feel right. Not only could I not find someone I knew but not even a single human. The smile I wore started to fade away. I approached the door of a nearby house, just out of curiosity, and knocked it. No answer. Tried another one. No response. Went for one a little further. No response there too. Panic took over me. I, like a mad man kept rushing to each and every single door there existed but got no response from even an individual one. My heart started to beat so aggressively, bumping the inside of my chest. I then, throwing my case away, entered a field looking for someone, if by any chance someone was there. What even happened there? I asked myself.
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"..but I would like to give it a shot", she said, with a smile so angelic, so mesmerizing, that one would even die for it. The orangish rays when shone on her petite face, added splendor to it. Her wavy, brownish hair, which were about her shoulder's length, when caught the blazing sunshine, sparkled. As I looked into those round, huge eyes of her which held brilliant hazel eyeballs in them, my own ones got humid. Tears started to make their way from my eyes down to the jawline, from where they dripped. That's when she closed up the few-feet distance between us and pulled me into a hug. My eyes could not stop producing any less tears, due to which even her wooly sweater got moist.
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The thought of the girl I loved and was dating when I left the country crossed my mind. 5 years ago, I gave it all to confess to her, and to my surprise she even accepted me. I wanted to protect her, I wanted to always stay by her side, but dad got me into the military. I, when was about to leave, with a heavy heart and with great sorrow made an unfair request to her to wait for me, and she, being as cheerful as ever, promised me so. I dedicated all those years improving myself, developing both my physical and mental capabilities, only for her, to give her the best ever version of myself, to not let her sacrifice down, but seemed like everything I did, every second she spent waiting for me, all were in vain. There was nothing left. That was just a town, or rather just its people vanished, but to me, the whole universe was starting to lose its meaning. Was there even something left for me to do then. Should I just, with a hand on the other, sit there hoping it all to be back to normal like how nightmares end. But even if I wanted to move, what would I even do. Who would I go to. WHAT EVEN HAPPENED THERE. My insane mind couldn't stop generating any less questions to which even it itself didn't have any answers to. I was going mindless. Every single cell of every single tissue of my body started vibrating, so hard, making me tremble. I started running. Running from particularly no one but from my own thoughts. From my own self. My own mind started to haunt me. I was losing my mind or had lost it already. Was my body even in my own custody or was it being controlled by someone else, whom I didn't know about? My limbs, could I feel them? My eyes, could I even make anything out in front of me? My brain.MY BRAIN. MY BRAIN!! Was it even there? Who knows? The sliver of the sight had left in my eyes started to dim. The green color first went blurry then to a different color. Black color. Not as black as coal, but as dark as void. My mind finally started to put a rest to things only when it, itself was shutting down. My limbs gradually lost their functionality as my mind drifted to the realm of nowhere. Every muscle went weightless and the little life that my nerves had in them made me feel myself fall down, I didn't know where. I could not see anything but dark. It felt like I was teleported to a whole different realm, which wasn't even known to me. I was hopelessly waiting for things to end in that miserable state of mine, but my mind just wouldn't sleep.
Suddenly, something rang in my ears. A sharp sound. A sound which I thought I remembered. The extremely low-pitched sound, which even in my half-conscious state managed to grow a pain in my brain, finally smoothened into an actual voice. That was it. The voice my soul was dying to hear. Out of nowhere some colors started to pop up before my eyes. I could finally see some actual colors other than just dark. The colors started to move, blending themselves into one another, finally resulting in something I was so shocked and yet so relieved to hold sight of. Her lips moved but the sound produced was so faint, rather I didn't know was even produced, that I couldn't make a single word out. Disappeared. She was no longer there. The colors deformed from her to someone else. My dad. He wore that same warm look that I had seen him my whole life in. He had always been an amazing person. But why was he not there anymore? Before I could ask myself any more questions, the color orbs deformed once again, this time mixing to create a living mannequin of Ray. He was my best friend. His form didn't last longer than the previous ones. The orbs kept on shifting, forming a different person every time, but with a gradual decrease in the interval they lasted too. After some tens of figurines formed, it started to hurt. I couldn't process those colorful orbs moving so fast. My pain grew worse every time the colors formed someone. My vision started to go all blurry again, not because of my brain going insane this time, but due to the tremendous speed, and the brightness the orbs shone with. It was getting unbearable. I couldn't hold that pain anymore. My head was about to burst. That felt like the only possible way I could be freed from such pain. Just when I was about to reach my absolute limits, it all stopped. The orbs stopped moving and then blasted into tiny fragments. The star-like bright particles started to fly up, gradually losing their radiance before completely submerging into the dark. I felt great solace and my eyes relieved, when gone, the sharp colors. Just when I was starting to think that everything had ended, a warm, orange light started to course through the dark. Dim at first, it was getting brighter with each moment. Something I could see, a little further from me, was headed towards me. That looked like the source of that excellent light too. It, in a random motion and not too fast too, was approaching me. When I could finally see the real thing, it looked like those color orbs too, but with a difference in size and the quality of light it emitted. The warmth increased with the distance being closed up by that thing. After just a few moments, it was just a few arms' length of a distance from me. When I could finally see it clearly, it looked like a fire, enclosed in a hollow glass sphere. That was not actually a glass but something even smoother, even more transparent than it, that at first sight I couldn't even tell if it was there. The fire orb made its way to me. I raised my hand up to hold it and feel it's texture, but it got through my hands and then my arms too and went straight for my solar plexus. It went in my body. I twisted my neck to see if it passed through, considering myself just a hindrance, but it wasn't there anymore, except its warmth was still there. Not in the atmosphere this time, but in me after all. That was the most intense, I could feel it's warmth. The light being emitted from it, disappeared. The fire was dissolving into my solar plexus from where it was travelling all over my body, coursing through my veins. I started to feel myself, my body, more. Every muscle felt stronger than before. There formed an orange tint on my eyes changing the whole sight of them, from normal to extremely sharp. My ears could hear my own heart beating. My head felt lighter too. Every one of my senses felt more powerful and sharper. That was all the result of that fire orb. My all questions got answered. Actually, I became the answer myself.
My mind started to shift, drifting me out of this conscious. Everything went blank for a moment before I was in my own human body and not in that void, in some borrowed form. My brain was back to normal. My body wasn't even in a least bit of pain anymore. I got on my knees, then on my feet. I opened my eyes. I was still in that same grassy field and on the actual spot, where I blacked out at, which concludes that I didn't just randomly travel to some other realm but was in my own mind instead. The thought of that fire orb crossed my mind. "Was it a dream?", I thought. That was too real for a dream, but was it one actually? I looked at my hand. I was definitely feeling something in me, as if there was something, some kind of different life force inside me. Of my one hand, I rubbed the fingers against its palm. A flame. Not an ordinary one, but a plasma-like, translucent flame, at the core of it, was crimson red, smoothly transiting to a tintype blue, as reaching the peak. From the looks, it looked like, it was capable of toasting anything to a crisp, but to me it was friendly. I curled my fingers up again and when straightened them, the flame was gone. Curiosity took over me, out of which I raised both of my hands up, rubbed them for a few seconds and then distanced them. This time not just a raw flame, but fire shaped into a sphere. A fireball, of the same flame which I previously induced in my hand. I threw that ball away, curious of its impact. It travelled to a distance before gradually losing its weight and then got completely vanished. Out of my pants pocket, I took a handkerchief out, generated a flame in my other hand and hung the piece of cloth above the flame, slightly contacting the fire. In an instant, the handkerchief burned into nothing. The fire it caught also gone. My brain went back to some moments ago, when I was traumatized, trying to sort things out, to when I entered into the realm of dark where this anonymous power was given or rather rewarded to me. This destructive power, I was curious why, was even given to me. Was I supposed to do something with it? I was certain, rather sure that it wasn't just a free get, but had some reasons with it too, which were not yet exposed to me.