The Lost Paradise

Chapter 42

"What do we do now?", I asked him after long minutes. Uvan was still weeping beside Giggi. He didn't answer me but kept crying.

"I want them to pay for what they did", he finally said. "I want to find the truth of who did this to her", he said, now wiping down his tears. "Reek", I started, softly. "What if they did something to him?", I voiced my concerns. He didn't answer to that. "What do we do with her?", He asked again. "How do we tell Reek?", He brought his hand up and pushed his hair back, trying to swallow back his tears. He was overwhelmed, with all the things that were happening.

I took him out of the red room and made him wait in the hall, the very place where I collapsed a few minutes back. We both sat there in silence for a long time. None of us spoke. We both were processing what happened in our own way. "What is that?", he asked finally, pointing to the fallen painting. I remembered looking at it the other time, I had felt something familiar about the face of the portrait, but couldn't point it out back then. "Something looks familiar about this face", he said. "I thought the same", I nodded.

"What is this place? How did you find it?", he questioned me. "I do not know what place this is", I shook my head. "I got here the day, I had my first test. When I told you I had witnessed the talk between you and Reek. I had tried to get a cover back that day and accidentally fell down here", I explained to him. "This is the perfect place to hide things", he added bitterly, taking a look around the huge hall.

"It's just a replica of the level above. The entire Welcimson replica lost", I told him. He stared at me for a moment. "Does that mean?", he said, and then paused. "Come with me", he said sprinting. I followed him behind. He made his way to the...library?

"History of Welcimson", he reached for a book that was just left down on the ground. Right on the first page was the picture of the head professor of the Welcimson. Kloviny Krikon was labeled under a man's picture who did not look anything like Kloviny. But rather he was the man whose ripped portrait we had seen a few minutes back. I and Uvan stared at each other as realization hit us. "Kloviny is not Kloviny", I said. I knew that it made no sense at all. It was someone else running this place under his name. The truth was truly unsettling for many reasons. It could mean that everything was a lie, everything was fake.

"Does that mean that all the professors who work know about it and are helping him?", I asked, doubtfully. "For one, I'm sure Gregory is working with him. But what for? What is their plan?", I asked him.

"This is...insane", he stammered. "This is absurd", he kept saying. "So everything we have done? what does that all mean?", he asked me wide-eyed in a state of shock. We reached the gathering room back, in a state of not ourselves. It was too much to take in for us. I opened the door and we started setting off into her own rooms. He had agreed with me to not tell anyone for now of what we saw and what we learned together. I had many things on my mind now. I wished my mind got some rest, or I could just forget everything for a while. It was too much to take in. I was tired.

So, I went to my room and slept.

*****

"This is the most crucial part of your stay here", Gregory said, with his hands wrapped against his chest. "Three faction tests have been completed by you. There are two more tests, that are left", he showed two fingers now. "Ehite and Tram factions", he said. "These two will be different now", he said, starting to walk to and fro. "The first test was an illusion-driven test for Urich. The second and third were semi-illusion driven, with some parts of reality and some driven by magical illusion. The fourth and fifth will be in real life, completely", he said.

"I know it's confusing", he nodded, looking at our puzzled state, "Let me explain to you more clearly", he said. "These two tests won't be taken or cannot be taken in a specific time or specific day. These qualities are tested in your day-to-day life", he said.

Professor Fyun now approached us, giving each one of us two badges. One in yellow and the other one in orange. I went to pin it on my beret, but she gestured me to stop. "No, Place it on your left wrists. One below the other", she said, demonstrating on my hand. She kept the badges and gently tapped them. With some golden specks, the badge got tattoed onto my skin. I looked at in awe. "You can do your daily activities, and your badges will get charged based on it. When it will be complete and you prove yourself worthy. You will achieve the faction elements", he explained to us.

"But this again won't be easy. There are still students from the batch before you and the one before them. Still waiting for their faction elements. The faster you complete these tests, the earlier you finish your fieldwork and then take your oath to become a full-fledged protector", he told us.

I smiled at him. Gregory wore a mask so perfectly that no one would notice that easily, I thought. This whole place was a scam. But Rhitozar had told me to focus on the tests, these tests, I wondered looking at my zarkis. Where was he but? I wanted to ask him so many questions. I wanted to talk to him.

"Are you fine?", Lianna asked me after the class got over. "Yes", I gave her a small nod. "You look tired", Henry observed. "Did someone suck your soul out of you?", Yivan laughed. That brought a small smile to my face. All this while, I saw Ryan observing me too, from a distance.

When everyone left he still stayed back. "What is it?", He asked me, slowly. "Is it the task or our mission that's stressing you?", He asked me, with furrowed brows. "No", I shook my head. "That idiot of a boyfriend that you have, then?", He asked me, and I looked up at him.

"Ryan. I need your help", I told him. He smiled broadly. "What do you want to break? How about his nose...?", He started, but I gestured him to stop. "I want to know about him. Everything. From which clan he comes and who are his parents. Everything", I told him.

He looked at me wide-eyed for a moment. "What is happening Eliza?", He asked me after a while. "I think he is...", I paused, not knowing how to put my thoughts out. "He is someone, I don't know", I said finally. "There is something odd about him", I told him, shaking my head. "I have to know who he is", I repeated, not knowing how to express how I felt.