<>14<>

10 1 0
                                    

I wake up in a cool room on a soft bed with a soft blanket spread out over me. A wooden door creaks open with the sound of rust against rust.
Rin steps through the doorway. He smiles at me with a glass of water in his hand. He puts a tiny pill in my hand and tells me to swallow it. I trust him so I do.
Afterwards we chit chat for a few minutes until Cier and Doe come knocking.
"Come in!" I shout. They burst through the doorway and rush to my side. They engulf me in a big warm hug, but not for too long.
"Can we ask you some questions?" Doe says to me, hesitation relevant in her soft, tinkling voice.
"Sure, fire away." I invite them. And off they go, talking faster than a bullet train.
"Where'd you guys go that night when we lost you?"
"Downtown."
What happened to you after that?"
"We were kidnapped."
"How?"
"Guess."
"Okay...who kidnapped you guys?"
"Two guys named Griff and Matt, but this other guy Dak was in charge of the whole thing."
"Why?"
"I think they were doing it cause it had something to do with some heritage of mine and Rin's."
"Oh, what's heritage?"
"Our past"
"I see."
"Uh huh." And that's the end of those kind of questions. There are a few more, but they don't compare to what Cier asks me next.
"What'd they do to you?" My throat starts to close up and I have to calm down for a while before answering.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that-"
"No no, it's okay, I...I have to tell you."
Right? That's the right thing to do? God I hope so.
"They uh, c-cut me up, s-so you might say." I stutter, not really sure how to answer. But I pull off the blanket and show them scars, both old and new, some white and some still all bothered and red.
"And Rin?" Doe says, looking up from my knees, ankles and hands, and looking into his face.
"Pretty beat up, and I still can't run well." Rin answers. Unsurprisingly, he has a much better grasp on things than I do.
"So, you want to get dressed and then meet everyone?"
"Sorry, I'm under bed arrest for the next two days." I answer. They both sigh and grab Rin. I protest, asking him to stay, but he tells me that I need to rest.
"Alright, I guess." I answer, slightly disappointed.

So bored.
And that's the majority of my next two days.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

"Yay! Come on come on come on!" Shouts Doe as she pulls me along down the hallway.
"Sorry to be a bore, but Rin's not the only one who got beaten up." I mumble.
"Oh sorry!" She grimaces, blushing.
"Nah, its fine," I smile, "just taking it easy, yeah?"
"Yeah!" Her optimistic attitude never seems to disappear. I like it. My shoes echo off the walls and my outfit matches exactly with Doe's. It's a gray jumper with a black and blue sailors collar and it goes down to just above my knees and to my elbows. I wear black pixie boots with hard soles that slap evenly against the floor. It's kind of satisfying, in a weird way.
She leads me past doorways with a multitude of different patterns on it. She stops me in front of a door with a pattern that looks like wooden dragon scales. She pushes it opens and it swings without a sound.
"This is your room!" She says, "and here you have your different outfits for different things!" She tells me that the jumper I'm wearing is for free time only and that each color will be assigned something once I get my schedule. Sounds fun.
Closing the door I follow Doe down the hall. She start walking past even more doors and windows that peek just above the ground. I'm busy staring at the earthy colored walls and rock floors that I bump into her when she stops.
"Pay attention!" She scolds, as if I'm a child.
"This is the cafe, or cafeteria. And over down that hallway is the rec room." She points left and I see a short hallway with a doorway with nothing in it, but a big R on the wall above it. Ten minutes later were back at the room with the dragon scales and she shoves a map in my hand.
"Here, use this to get around, I'd like to stay and chat but I have cafe duty. Bye!" She waves and runs off down the hall. I shut the door and study the map. I'm in what's labeled as the east barracks.
I click a pen that I found on my desk and label my room. The cafe is in the center, rec room next to it, and then there's the military rooms to the west. The kitchens and the cleaning supplies closet, always one of those, I guess, are located south. And then there's the North barracks too along with a room labeled as the initiates hall. I decide that that's where I'll go once I get familiar with the people closest to me.
I knock on the door next to mine, it looks like a beehive. Rin opens the door.
"Hey buddy!" He exclaims and wraps me in a hug.
"I see our little tourist gave you the run down?" His arm wraps around my shoulders.
Yup." I nod my head and smile.
"So, you know who your neighbors are yet?" I ask.
"Nope! Not a clue!" He laughs and rubs the back of his neck. Seems like that's the thing that guys always do when embarrassed or something.
"Well, I'm off to find out so, feel free to come along." I offer.
"Oh yes please!" He says. Now it's my turn to laugh.
"Okay, you socially awkward penguin, lets go." His mouth opens and closes for a minute and I start to walk away.
"I-Im not socially awkward! I just don't like people!"
"Same thing!" I shout as I knock on someone else's door. It's got a line down the front.
"Hey. You're new, aren't ya?" Says a guy as he swings open the door. He looks to be in about his late teens, maybe early twenties. He's got short cropped black hair and small glasses that rest low on his nose.
"I'm Q, how're you?" He laughs to himself.
"I'm good! Thanks. Kenta, by the way." I offer him my hand to shake. He grabs it and then pulls me into a hug.
"I'm a hugger." He says.
We go around to all the other doors in the vicinity, only three more,but nobody is there. That's okay though, I like not having to talk to a bunch of new people.

"Hey! Wake your lazy butt up!" A loud voice shouts outside my door and I groan.
"Newbie!" Three rapid knocks bang loudly on my door.
I groan and turn over, throwing my blanket off. I pull my hair up quickly with a hair tie and rip off my pj's. I pull on my jumper and shrug on a black leather jacket.
I walk to the door after more knocks and yelling.
"Oh, so you got dressed and then opened the door, huh?"
"Yes sir." I say. His stern face looks down on me. I may not be tall, and I ain't short either, but this dude, is like a giant. I estimate maybe six foot five? Six foot six?
"Neophyte! Stand tall!" I straighten my shoulders and claps my hands behind my back, snapping my chin up and feet together. Let's hope this is good.
"Better," he nods, and looks in my room. "Clean up this mess!" I nod my head and turn around.
"Do it later, just follow me." He says stiffly. I turn back around and walk next to him.
"At ease." He says, once he looks down at me. Surprisingly his voice is much softer now.
"I was testing you, neophyte." He says and chuckles gruffly. He's now that I have the courage to look directly into his face I notice the wrinkles and slight gray mustache and hair. He has a sharp, yet friendly face, and I'm not entirely sure weather or not I really do like him. But I think I do. I think.
We arrive at the doorway to the rec room, plain as plain can be.
He steps forward and twists open the handle. It swings open, creaking slightly. Noise of a few people talking makes it's way to me.
"Welcome to training, neophyte!"

❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇❇
So guys! Sorry for not updating yesterday I had soo much homework and I had gymnastics so it was hard for me to finish it so I decided to let it drop and publish it today, so here you go! Also, not to upset anyone but I won't be updating for a while because I joined the Young Authors Club at my school and I have decided that juggling two stories is a bit too much but don't worry, I wont stop updating COMPLETELY, but it will be less frequent. Love you guys though!
So, bye for now, see you on Sunday friends!

Devil's KnotWhere stories live. Discover now