The Lost Paradise

Chapter 53

In a few minutes, we were set to leave Welcimson. We were taken to a section of the Welcimson where we have never been before. We took so many turns that soon I lost track of where we were going. "Are we sure they aren't taking us somewhere to kill us all off?", Yivan joked. The tension in his voice was very obvious. "What are the odds? We are more in number than them", Henry replied back, softly.

By the end of the hallway that we were walking in, a small wooden door was present. That door looked totally out of place. It looked old and its wood was in a rotting condition. Professor Oran looked at us expectantly, but we looked back at him perplexed. "What are you'll waiting for?", he asked us, looking at us in a disapproving way. We opened the door and passed by one by one, without a single word. Ryan threw a dirty stare at Professor Oran and entered in.

I stared at the identification card that I wore. "Jihn...ikin Fris", I said, starring it. "How am I supposed to pronounce it?", I shook my head. "Role-playing?", I sighed, walking around in the small space. Behind the small wooden door was a small house. Something that would look like a hut from the outside. The house looked old. It was a small space made of decaying wood. Other than that there was nothing in that room, except a small window that faced towards the back of Welcimson.

I felt something in my stomach suddenly. The room was getting airlifted. "Wh...at is happening?", Vanya asked in a panicking tone. "All the best", Professor Oran said from the outside. "Have a safe journey", he said. The room started gaining altitude after that, it soared higher and higher. I couldn't ignore the weird sensation that filled my stomach. "I don't like heights", Lianna said, looking sick. "Same", I told her.

When an appropriate altitude was attained, it then started flying ahead. The motion made us lose our balance and so we fell to the floor. I did not like the feeling at all. I and Lianna sat silently in one corner, whereas Ryan, Henry, Yivan and Vanya were enjoying the ride. "I love it", Vanya said excitedly. "I'm flying", she kept saying. Henry silently looked out and enjoyed the scenery. The look from the height. He looked serene and quite absorbed in his thoughts. Ryan too looked excited.

The ride was long and difficult for me. By the time the room settled down on the ground again. I and Lianna rushed out, opening the door, trying to get some fresh air. I laid on my back on the grass facing the wide-open sky. "Did you enjoy it?", Vanya asked me teasingly. "I don't want to do that ever again", I told her. I lay there for several minutes. Finally, when I felt like I was fine, I stood up again. Lianna was still feeling sick somehow. "I'm fine", she said, looking at me getting up. "Let's leave", she clambered onto her feet.

We then started making our way towards the white building that sat in the middle of the small clearing of the forest. "Huntington", I said, looking at Henry's card. "We should learn each other's names first", I said suddenly coming to a halt. "Yeah that's right", Henry said, coming forward and having a look at each of our cards. "Prinhjon", he said, looking at Yivan's card. "Jinnon", he said looking at Ryan's. "Ursula", he said looking at Vanya's card. "Finuscula", he said looking at Lianna's card. "I will spend the next six days learning your new names", I said, to which the others laughed and agreed.

"Do we have a plan?", Henry then started again. "In case one of us gets caught?", he asked, nervously. "Can't we use our zarkis and escape? If anyone comes to attack us?", Lianna suggested. "We can try. But what if it doesn't work?", Henry asked doubtfully. We gave it a thought for a moment and then nodded. "And I think us escaping this place using zarkis would not look good", Lianna added.

"Since this is like a test. They might test the way we tackle these situations using magic?", She suggested. "Yeah, like as if they allow to use magic after that?", I rolled my eyes. "But then what else can we do?", She replied dryly. She had a point.

We then set ourselves towards the hospital. We tried to look as if we belonged to that place. With raised chins, I tried to look confident and enter. At the entrance was a huge board that consisted of caretakers' names and the ward they were in charge of.

I looked for my given name jihnikin Fris, and found out that I was in charge of ward number 21. I quickly looked through my friends' names and found out that they all were in different levels and wards. I gestured to them good luck and made my way in search of my ward.

Before coming here, Professor Oran had warned us from talking with each other in front of anyone. "The people there did not like or talk with each other", he had said. "They must be doing service, but the caretakers working there are not protectors. They do not make friends. They are the biggest problem that you will face. Intrusion is taken very seriously there. Remember that you are going to the edge of the light world, that means very close to the dark world", he had said.

I did not understand what he meant by that. I had seen the dark world. It's darkness and the light that it contained. I didn't know if there was any distinction between both worlds anymore, so his words failed to scare me.

My long-sleeve worked well in covering my zarkis. I cannot let people know that I was a protector here. I saw the numbers written above each door as I passed. 17...18...19...20...and 21. Gotcha...I exhaled deeply before opening the door and entering.