Scars

Nila sat in front of a stone grave. It was marked differently than the other ones surrounding it, with a small circle of rocks around it. On the stone marked the initials K N. She put down a small bouquet of flowers collected from the neighboring field.

It had been a couple of days since she had finished the makeshift gravesite. Now, she was preparing her own things to follow after Ren. She wanted to commemorate the place a little bit more, but knew that what she said to Ren, also applied to herself. If she lingered any longer, she might never leave.

She was glad that he listened to her. The melancholic look on his face that grew day by day was hard to bear.

“You’ve always told me to move on,” she whispered to the gravestone, “no matter what happens, as long as you’re alive, you can do something. And hopefully, I’m doing enough to convey that to your son.”

The wind whistled by as she got up, guiding her to the entrance of the ruined town. Casting one final gaze behind her, she gathered all of her strength into her legs, propelling herself down the valley toward Gatton.

“Tch, there you are. Who the hell-is that the guy who beat Inila? You actually found him?”

Another student, Ren surmised, eyeing the person sitting on the steps of the inn. A single light decorated the top of the door, highlighting his freckles and messy brown hair. His slightly gravelly voice was much rougher compared to Kitan’s.

“Yeah I did,” Kitan replied, “I ticked him off a bit though, probably shouldn’t have attacked him. He’ll be staying for the night alright?”

The student rolled his eyes, not seeming the least bit fazed. “Whatever. What’s your name, hood boy?”

Ren introduced himself.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, courtesy of this idiot here. My name’s Shalka,” he said as he stood up and pointed at Kitan, “Chyro went to go look for you, to make sure you didn’t make any trouble but I guess he failed. He probably won’t be back for a while, so we mind as well just head in.”

“You’re not going to wait for him?” Ren found himself asking. “Won’t he be wandering the night alone?”

Shalka waved him off and started to make his way through the inn doors. “He was the one who decided to do it. Besides, he’ll be fine, no two-bit thug can take him down.” Ren turned his head to Kitan, who just shrugged slightly.

As they followed Shalka in, Ren noted that this inn was far fancier than most of the buildings that he had passed by. The high brick walls were decorated with large, golden framed paintings, while all the seats had been fitted with leather cushions, on both the seat and the backrest. A wooden stage sat in the middle of the inn with various instruments resting upon it.

This, plus the more central location, caused Ren to realize that the person these students were studying under was probably more important than he realized. Something clicked in his brain, suddenly remembering the name of the teacher. Jederico. It was also a name on the list the barkeep gave him.

Walking up the stairs settled on the side of the inn, they carried themselves to the door at the end of the hallway. Opening the door revealed six more doors, presumably the bedrooms.

“You can have the room at the far right end for now, Ren,” Shalka pointed, raising his head in a yawn, “just a heads up though, we got to kick you out once our teacher comes back, which will probably be in a week. Or a few. Or whenever he finishes doing whatever he’s doing.”

“Wait, I thought he was supposed to be back tomorrow,” Kitan said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, well, who knows what’s going on in his mind.”

Kitan held his mouth slightly open but closed it as one of the doors creaked open. A familiar face came into view, dressed in a black, sleeveless top and shorts. Her straight hair, pulled out of a ponytail, fell down past her shoulders.

“What’s with all the noise?” Once the owner of the voice turned to Ren she took a step back and pointed. “What are you doing here?” She then pointed to Kitan. “Did you-argh, you absolute fighting nut! Why would you invite a stranger to our inn?”

“Well, you can look at it this way. I’ll get to avenge your loss against him tomorrow,” Kitan smirked. 

She pulled down her eyebrows and wrinkled her nose. Ren thought she was going to shoot a retort, but instead pulled her attention away toward him. “Are you going to keep that hood on the entire time?”

He didn’t reply.

“If you really want to see what he looks like, I’ll knock it off him tomorrow,” Kitan laughed, moving toward his bedroom, while Shalka had already disappeared into his own room.

“That’s not the point,” she rolled her eyes and shook her head, “unlike these guys, I’m not too keen with the idea of a stranger staying the night with us. Someone who won’t even show their face to us, is not someone I want a few rooms over.”

“Relax Inila-”

“I’ll only be here for the night,” Ren interrupted, “once Kitan fulfills his end of the deal tomorrow, I’ll promptly be out.”

She still seemed unsatisfied. “Fine. Just keep in mind, if you try anything funny, you won’t have to worry about hiding your face anymore.”

“Wow, good threat. It’s not like she’s the one who’d be defacing you either,” Kitan snarked, but did so at the cost of receiving a kick in the back, courtesy of Inila. He quickly dashed into his room and shut the door before she could land another hit.

She clicked her tongue and shot Ren a glare, then left into her room, slamming the door. Ren couldn’t help but let a small grin enter his face. They seemed like good friends.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ren tried to reach for air but nothing answered his call. Yanking his hands out of what felt like sand, he relentlessly struggled against the unknown force that was preventing him from breathing. A loud drumming pounded in his ears, distracting any thought that attempted to penetrate his mind.

He became desperate, attempting to claw out of his suffocating prison with whatever means possible, yet control of his body started to fail him. He screamed, but nothing came out. The confined air stuck inside his body started to feel like poison.

His eyes, where were his eyes? He pried them open with all his strength only to be greeted with darkness. Maybe he had tricked himself, maybe they weren’t really open. Renacting the same action, flames grew ablaze in his view. Some of the fire branched off to form humanoid entities, slowly dancing in the hellfire. The searing sounds of burning air paired with the drumming, created an orchestra of pain. This wasn’t what he wanted. Anything but this.

Abandoning any effort to breathe, Ren pulled all of his available energy to close his eyes once more and suddenly, he shot up in his bed. Beady sweat swam down his face as his body heaved in and out, gasping for as much air it could handle. His eyes shot around the dark, moonlit room, reminding himself where he was.

A few moments passed before he pulled his knees in, and wrapped his violently shaking hands across his body, praying that they would stop.

Part of him believed that this nightmare had left him when he left his home. Another part of him knew he was a fool.