RELICS

Chapter 11 : Mistakes

Mistake:(/mɪˈsteɪk/)

An act or judgement that is misguided or wrong.

That one word can bring so much dread into one's heart.

There are several kinds of mistakes that an individual can make. Mistakes due to carelessness, due to anger, due to over-sight etc.

Then come those ones that you make due to over-confidence.

They hit you like none other. They have the power to make you feel weak in your gut and bring you down on your knees in an instant leaving you confused, dazed and slightly alarmed.

You turn into the very embodiment of 'What in the freaking world just happened'

It was probably the best thing that happened to us.

After all, the worst sort of mistakes pave way for the best of lessons. We had learned the hard way that reality indeed threw sucker punches. I was glad that for us that said 'reality' was just a simulation.

Ironic, I know.

It was silent as I sat up in the same ring we had fallen asleep in twenty-four hours ago.

"On a scale of one to ten of screwing up I'd say we scored a fifteen." Noah said letting out a deep sigh not meeting my eyes.

"I don't know why all of a sudden I could only feel anger towards the others. He just tried to help and I just....snapped." Dean said voice filled with shame, gesturing towards Levi.

"You and me buddy. You and me" Levi said consolingly. " I felt it too by the way. I didn't care that we were a team."

"I don't understand why at the drop of a hat we were at each others throats" Emma said, frustration evident in her voice.

"We messed up from the start itself" I thought out aloud. "Our first move should have been to secure the gym. That way we would have atleast had the upper hand"

"Upper Hand?" Ajax roared. " I'm sorry Luna is that really all you have on your mind? Did you really forget how barely two minutes ago you had your best friend of twelve years pinned by the throat?"

I looked down, shame taking over my body like a tidal wave. It was not that I didn't care, I myself was coming to terms with the very fact that I had the potential to hurt one of the most important person in my life.

"And you four" Ryan continued glaring at Emma, Raven, Dean and Levi. If looks could kill, they would definitely be six feet under.

"What in the whole freaking wide world were you doing? Fighting each other for no reason. Getting in each other's way, Letting anger take over your minds?" she shouted.

"I don't know"

"It just happened"

"I mean one minute I was perfectly fine, and then suddenly Emma killed a raider I was fighting and all I could think about was how insulting that was" Raven said, her voice small.

"Exactly" Noah echoed. " That's exactly how I felt when Lu refused my help.

"Me too" I said, still terribly ashamed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ryan said, confusion evident.

"What we mean is , one minute we were perfectly well oiled, and then suddenly something switched. All that anger I had towards the raiders suddenly shifted onto Dean" Levi said, his voice hard.

"Exactly" Dean agreed.

"There's something fishy about this guys. There's no way we could have suddenly just turned." Noah said, voice full of worry.

"Wait wait wait hold up" Ajax interrupted. "I have no idea what 'sudden anger' you guys are talking about. I didn't feel anything like that"

"Neither did I" Ryan continued.

Confusion filled the room. We couldn't figure what went wrong. Everything was inconsistent.

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At that moment, Dell walked in along with Master Shiro and Enigma. Immediately we were up on our feet in attention.

"Do I need to emphasize on how big a disaster that was?" Master Shiro thundered.

"Fighting with each other. Did you think I trained you for entertainment purposes?" he continued

We bowed our heads and kept our eyes trained on the floor. The guilt was unbearable.

"Wash up and head to your dorms trainees." Dell ordered, slightly sympathetic

We lined up, bowed and began walking out of the gym. Just as we reached the door, a stern voice reached our ears.

"You may be the last collectors, but please by no means let that get to your heads. You are the last collectors only due to circumstances, not because of anything else. It would do you well to remember that." Enigma said, his voice as soft yet menacing.

I was taken aback at this and it seemed that so were Master Shiro and Dell. Enigma was always known to be supportive.

Failing at the sim never meant that the trainee was incapable. It was the best opportunity for us too learn. We knew that too.

This was the first time we had ever heard such a tone from him and it threw us over the edge.

The reality of what we had to do finally hit us hard. The next four days were all the time we had to learn from our mistakes. If we didn't, we wouldn't last a day.

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Dun Dun Dun, cue the drama. Learning curve I guess. And our little collectors are the fastest learners in all of Panagea......hopefully xD.

Fact of the day:  If the embarrassing mistakes were currency, I'd be a billionaire by now haha.

Anyways, Thank you for giving Relics a read.

                                 -Yours Truly, Lilempress