The Sorcerer [ON HOLD]

Chapter 2

Angelo POV

He was shaken awake at dawn by the same man who'd been there the day before. He groaned and nestled deeper into the blankets until suddenly memories of the previous day flooded his mind and his eyes snapped open.

"Come on," the man said, "It's time to get moving."

The man tossed some clothes in his direction and and told him to get dressed in the bathroom. Inside, Angelo took a good look at his face in the mirror. It was thin and pale, the skin tired and transparent, cheekbones sticking out prominently. It was odd seeing this face and knowing it was his but not recognizing it. After a yell from the man outside, who's name he still didn't know, he hurriedly put on the basic military clothing and stepped outside.

They walked down multiple flights of stars before emerging at a big lobby space. He gawked in awe at the scale of it all. People everywhere in uniforms like his sat, having breakfast and morning coffee. The man in front of him, however, wanted nothing to do with it. His pace didn't slow a bit and we continued briskly straight down the center of the room. Angelo could feel the weight of stares on his back.

After a harsh left and through another hallway, the two reached a room with a sign on the door that read "Authorized Personnel Only." The man didn't hesitate before pushing the door open confidently and entering. Inside, a long meeting table was mostly empty except for the Captain from yesterday at the head and two others sitting beside him. The first was a blond man who looked almost young enough to be a teenager, and the second, a surprisingly glamorous woman. Her hair was long and her lips were bright red, but Angelo could tell she was strong. She turned her head his way and he quickly averted his eyes.

The captain smiled and said "Eugene, good morning."

The man next to him, who's name turned out to be Eugene, immediately pulled himself into a rigorous salute. "Morning, Captain."

The captain nodded and then turned to Angelo. "Very nice to see you in the meeting room again Angelo."

He scrambled belatedly into a messy salute and could feel his cheeks go red from embarrassment.

"You may both be seated," said the Captain, and Angelo followed Eugene, sitting next to him on the opposite end of the table from the two others in the meeting.

The captain continued, "Now that we're all here, let's start the meeting. The main purpose is to just give Angelo a recap since he's having some issues with memory..." he paused briefly and looked at everyone before continuing, "and the second purpose of this meeting, is to discuss our future plans for this squad. First things first are introductions."

He turned his attention to me. "Angelo, I'm correct in assuming you don't remember these people?"

He shook his head. He told everyone's names. Aside from Eugene, the young looking guy was named Hunter and the girl was Maria. Apparently, everyone had worked together for a long time before the incident in which he'd lost his memory. Angelo felt terrible for somehow having forgotten.

The Captain continued to say that it was largely because of Angelo that they were able to suppress an extremely "problematic" uprising from a group of rebels, lead by an extremely powerful but secretive leader. With the leader gone, the group was essentially dispersed, unable to organize themselves. He said that there were inklings of plans for another uprising and it was our job to investigate and stop it before it began.

Angelo hesitantly raised his hand. "Sorry but...I'm still confused," He began. "How come there was an uprising in the first place? Wouldn't it have been better to maybe listen to what they had to say?"