Chapter 4: Life Goes On
"He might actually be worthy"
"Yeah, he's tougher than he looks. He might make it"
"Finally, after all these years we finally have a suitable candidate"
"Haha, you really do have an eye for talent"
"Hoho, what did you expect? This old man still has his charms after all".
Who's there? Why does he sound so familiar? Argh! This headache is killing me. I think I'll just sleep for another five minutes...
"Erik... Erik... Erik! Erik!! Wake up!"
"What?". I open my eyes, squinting, trying to adjust to the light.
I could see Jeremy bawling his eyes out next to me.
"Sissy"
"Oh, shut up. Did you know how worried I was? Look at all these scars... Normal people shouldn't face these kinds of things"
"Too bad we're assassins huh"
"Not yet" said a stern voice.
I was looking for the owner of the voice and found him standing tall behind Jeremy. It was the martial arts instructor.
"I truly apologize for what happened. You were my responsibility yet I betrayed your trust".
Apparently he was the one supposed to be in charge of us.
"Well, what's done is done. Just tell me who was responsible. I'll hunt down those bastards myself"
"Well, I'm afraid that's classified information"
"What?! He deserves to know after what he went through!" Jeremy exclaims.
"Jeremy, it's okay. I understand".
The instructor left silently.
"Five months huh. You look bigger"
"Well, I was training all this time determined to save you"
"Trying to be hero huh? I still appreciate the sentiment though"
"Don't underestimate me!".
I gave Jeremy a huge pat on his shoulder.
"Did I miss much?"
"Well, you could say that. There's about 50 trainees left"
"What? What happened while I was gone?"
"A lot. After you went missing a lot of trainees were questioned. Turns out quite a few of them were spies from multiple organizations. Some offed themselves after hearing about your disappearance and the torture you might go through. There are a lot of people wanting to take down The Order after all. Some caused a fit and the institute let them leave just like that"
"They just left?"
"That's what they told us anyway. I highly doubt it. You should be happy though, there was a test and you just barely missed it. They made you pass because of your circumstances. No more biology"
"Thank god"
"Well, they said they'll give us a huge test by the end of the year though. I heard you need to be ready in every shape and form for it"
"Well, another few months of hell then". I took what little free time I had left and just decided to sleep. I'm going to miss it.
~
97... 98... 99... 100! Well, I'm done for the morning. Just in time for breakfast. Jeremy's still not back from his morning run. Maybe I'll look for some actual martial arts. I'll just have to be satisfied with anything since I lost a lot of precious training time. But man, there's way too many disciplines I have to adhere to.
Just as I was grumbling about, Jeremy walked in.
"What're you so upset about?"
"Nothing. Let's get some grub. Working out in the morning sure builds an appetite".
We head to the mess hall. As we were heading there, an old man grabbed my hand. Apparently it was the same one who gave me the ring. He seemed like he wanted to tell me something.
"You go on ahead".
Jeremy left us with a face saying "Well, don't mind me then. Just starve there".
Man, he gets on my nerves. At least he's the same as always.
"So, whatchu wanna talk about?"
"I see you kept the ring safe. Good for you. Who knows what would happen if those guys took it"
"Wait, how do you know about that?" I ask nervously. Flashbacks were coming back uninvited.
The old man grips my thigh. Surprisingly it helped me calm down.
"Hoho, traumatized, are we? Relax, everyone knows. Better for you to just move on. Trust me, you will be stronger after you learn to get past your trauma"
"Well, let's hope so".
I took off to the mess hall. The old man waved at me with a satisfied face. Weird guy.
I quickly arrived at the mess hall. Seems so empty now that all the people are gone. I took the tray and looked around for Jeremy. I saw him sitting with a girl.
"Who knew this sissy got a girlfriend" I jokingly jerked at him.
"First, I could whoop your ass in an instant. Second, she's our classmate. Marie, remember?"
"Well, first, you won't be able to do that for long. Second, I've been gone for five months, remember? How am I supposed to remember your girlfriend whom I haven't even acquainted with yet".
I just sat down when Jeremy's girlfriend spoke to me.
"Hello, I'm Marie. Nice to meet you. I'm sorry by the way, for what happened to you" she says politely.
I smack the table.
"Please don't talk about that" I say while smiling sarcastically at her.
"Hey come on, don't be like that. She was just trying to sympathize, she didn't mean anything by it"
"Sorry, Marie. Its just that scars don't really heal"
"Well, I hope yours do" she says while smiling at me naively.
After everyone finished up we decided to head to classes together. Ah, I sure miss classes. I wonder how many people are left in our class. Oh yeah, I always wondered, but where are all the other seniors?
"Hey, Jeremy. Do you know where all the seniors are?"
"Hmm, I'm not so sure. They did say something about them being somewhere else but I'm not really sure. Why?"
"Nah, just curious". Weird. Well, whatever.
Ahh, here we are. 1G. Can't really say I missed you to be honest but this is fine. I took a seat at my old table. Class seemed pretty empty. Including us, there were only four people in class. The other person looked like a really gloomy girl. My instincts say I best avoid her.
"Hey, where are all the others?"
"What do you mean? These are all the ones left".
I sat there dumbfounded. I expected more but I guess this is still the worse class in our grade. Miss Sinclair walks in. She stared at me for a while before saying anything.
"Well, welcome back Erik Moonstone"
"Yes, ma'am. Didn't miss me too much did you" I said nonchalantly.
"I see being tortured also gave you an attitude".
Man, that stings.
"Well, your luck sure is something since you passed my tests without even having to do anything. And as a bonus you'll even get to learn less boring things". I'm not really sure what she meant by that but I just laughed as a reply.
Man classes felt like forever. The only thing I won't miss. At least we learned some pretty cool history about assassinations. There was this cool dude named Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. He seemed pretty chill.
I told Jeremy I had something to do before lunch and left. I was trying to find somewhere secluded so I could try doing some moves. Our rooms are way too small to do large movements. Simple exercises are manageable though.
As I was looking for somewhere good, I could feel like I was being stared at. I quickly glanced back but couldn't see anyone. Somehow I got this weird feeling of someone tailing me. I couldn't really ignore this feeling since being kidnapped just made me more cautious. I decided to walk in weird patterns while running about for a while. I think I managed to lose my tail but somehow even I got lost. The compound really is big. I don't think I've been here before.
As I was walking around I saw the other girl in class. As if her instincts had been triggered, she immediately looked my way with glaring eyes.
"Found you!!" she yelled at me while running towards my direction.
Oh shit. I knew my instincts were right. This girl is really dangerous. I immediately turned the other way and ran as fast as I could.
After sprinting at full speed for a good 30 minutes, I was starting to run out of breath. I should really do more endurance training. I slowed down as I quickly looked back. Wrong decision. I could see the girl leaping head first towards me and shoved me to the ground. Man, that hurts. What's her problem?
"I got you!" she exclaimed while looking at me with the eyes of a predator.
I'm screwed.
"What do you want? Chasing me all the way here? And can you get off me please?" I said as I was lying flat on my back.
It was quite uncomfortable having a girl sitting on you. Is this the so called lucky lecher I often see in shows? Never mind.
The girl carefully eyed our surroundings before getting up. I followed suit.
"So, what was so important that you had to chase after me like that?"
"Wait, too dangerous. Must go to secret base first" she says with a serious expression.
I once heard that the only way to deal with crazy people is to take them seriously so I just followed her along. I really wanted to get this over with as soon as possible to train my moves. We were walking around for a while so I was getting impatient.
"Are we there yet? Oh, I forgot to ask but were you the one sneakily following me around after class? You know you could've just approached me you know?". Not like I was willing to engage in a conversation with her anyway.
"Sneak around? I did no sneaking around".
Huh. That's weird. I could've sworn someone was following me. Might've been just my feelings then. After a few more minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the end of a hallway.
"Dead end. Is this your secret base? Sooo secret" I say sarcastically.
"Wait, must input password". I left the girl up to her delusions while I was thinking of ways to escape. Just as I was about to sneak away I could hear a mechanism activating. I looked at the dead end only to see it opening up.
"Cool" I said in awe.
There was a pathway behind the wall. It seemed like it was the inside of a cave. The walls were very cool and the place just felt overall very humid. The mechanism closed itself after we entered. We walked along the path for quite a while. The cave, or more like the tunnel was illuminated by the light at the end. As we entered the next section of the cave my eyes took a while to adjust to the sudden bright light.
After squinting and blinking furiously I could see a large garden with an old dojo in the middle of it. The scene was truly.. serene. There was a pond with a small waterfall generating a peaceful ambience. There were green trees as well as cherry blossoms decorating the beautiful land. There was no ceiling or whatever you call it to the cave. Light showered everything and the shade under the trees felt really cool. It was like a scene straight out of an eastern fantasy world.
"Come, follow. Introduce to master".
Master? Is there a person living here? Well, I don't really find anything surprising these days so, whatever. I followed her to the dojo. She told me to bow at the entrance before entering. After, she opened the fusuma door and led me inside. There was an old dude sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the room all mysterious like. The girl kneeled and bowed in front of him, greeting her master. I didn't really feel like doing it so I just stood there.
After the girl finished her greeting she turned my way.
"Fool. Greet master"
"Haha, no worries, no worries. He is the other one selected, you know"
"Yes, master" she obediently follow her master's instructions.
She does look a bit mad at me though for some reason. I'm obviously superior. I make a smug face. After feeling proud for a whole second, I ask "So, what exactly am I chosen for?"
"The right to enter this dojo, of course"
"That's it? So I just wasted a few hours doing nothing?"
"Haha, no time is truly wasted. Every second in life is meaningful. Even when taking a shit".
Damn. Another crazy one.
"How about when I'm contemplating whether to shit or not to shit?"
"Haha, seems you have a point there young man. How witty. Seems like he was right to choose you"
"'He'? Who is 'he'?".
The old dude points to the ring on my finger though it took me a while to realize what he was pointing at.
"Wait, so you know that old man?".
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SmilingFrog
SmilingFrog I feel like this chapter is a bit chill. Well, we just had to give Erik a rest, am I right? Life truly goes on. I hope everyone can move on with life during these harsh times :)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone