Shadows Rising

Chapter Six Stories of the Past: Eve

I'm pretty sure I made Bui understand that he should not go easy on me because I am a girl. I might have bruised him pretty hard. Maybe I should have gone a little easy on him, but to be honest it seemed like he was holding back. Well after the training and fight we had we later packed all our things we needed and headed out to Celestial City. Jayson told me that it should take us about 3 days to get to the city but the good thing is that we will be able to stay at a few inns along the way. It's already been a couple hours since we trained.

Jayson decided that we should take a break and eat. I helped him make a fire while he cooks us some food. I watched him take off his bag and parts of his clothes while he grabs the food. I could see a lot of scars on his arm and back that made me wonder what happened to him before all this. He put the meat on a stick and set it close to the fire and let it cook. He laid back on the log listening to the fire crackle.

"Hey Bui?" I asked

"Yes Eve?" Jayson looked at me

"I wanted to ask if I could know a bit about your past. I um...saw your scars and just got curious. I just wanted to get to know you more and maybe try to be close."

He looked at me a bit confused to the sudden request but smiled and sighed a bit.

"You know you're the first person to actually ask me personal questions without hesitation." He chuckles. "It's a long story if you're willing to listen for that long"

I smiled and laughed quietly nodding.

"I actually grew up in Celestial City. I grew up during the war. My parents joined the army to support the nation while my sister and I stayed home with relatives. They actually were Paladins for the city."

"Woah Paladins?! That must mean they were very skilled and elite!"

He chuckled and nodded.

"Yes that's true. I've always wanted to be like them but the road to become a Paladin was very tough. I trained very hard to be prepared for the test. Then right when I was about to become a Paladin, I was informed that my parents died in battle."

He paused and stayed silent for a bit.

"When I got the news, I had to focus on my training so I tried my best to ignore it. After I finally achieved the rank of Paladin I wanted to be happy but how could I? Going a few weeks later the training when becoming a Paladin was much rougher than I expected. As you go through your training, they whip you or even cut you making you bleed. If you died during training from it, it just proves that you were not enough. It was more so of the survival of the fittest. Going forward a few more months I was prepared for my first mission. My teammates and I were not ready for it. We thought it was just like how training was but we were very wrong. To cut the story short, we had to escort a cargo to an allied base but we got ambushed and my entire squad got killed. All but me."

"How did you survive?" I asked

He clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

"I ran. I abandoned the team out of fear of dying. Of course the enemy came to kill me but I still survived. Then going a few more months after that I just became a mercenary for the time being. And now here I am, trying to live a normal life but got stuck with the Law and gotta head to the city where I was born and trained."

I could tell there was a lot he wanted to say but at the same time just didn't want to say more. I came over to him and held his hand sitting close to him.

"I guess we both didn't have a good and normal past huh Bui?"

"What happened to you?" He asked.

"Well ever since my parents found out that I have not unlocked my powers they believed I was born without a power. So everyday I would be beaten down and be treated like a loser or a slave. It was hard to live from those years, but I was thankful for my brothers and sisters that cared and loved me. Then present day I was going to become a monster since they were going to put serums inside me."

"Couldn't they just use the serums to give you powers like your sisters did?" He asked.

"Yeah they could have, but they didn't want to waste it on a weakling like me. Who knows though, maybe I do have an ability. I just haven't unlocked it at the age most kids do."

"I'm sure you will unlock your ability Eve. Maybe the ability that you haven't unlocked yet is a special kind of power. Whatever it is Eve, I know it will make a difference to everyone." He says patting my back and smiles. "Well I believe our food is ready so let's go and eat shall we?"

I smiled and nodded and grabbed my food as he grabbed his. After we finished eating, the sun was slowly coming down. We were still a few ways from the next town so Bui decided to set up camp here. He set up the area where we were going to sleep and climbed up a tree.

"I'll keep watch from up here. You go on and sleep first, I just want to make sure that we are in a safe area." He says.

I nodded and laid down looking up at the night sky. Hmm...I wonder what I will dream about this time. Will it be the same nightmare like last time? Or could it be something better?