A pang of guilt twists in my chest.
The sharp realization that I had doubted her skills just a second ago. For someone who has been under others’ scrutiny, I should fucking know better. Sakura worked so effortlessly that within ten minutes, I was nearly as good as new. The pain, fading to background noise that won’t survive painkillers. But that swift recovery only makes the weight of my father's condition heavier; the contrast jarring.
I can’t afford to waste time.
The urgency to find a solution, to fix this, claws at me. If they've been battling demons since the beginning of time, how come it’s the first time they encounter a situation like this? I’m sure someone somewhere knows something about this virus.
Sakura also tests me, her touch gentle as a whisper, fingertips resting lightly on my temple. And she slips into a trance, her eyes losing all colour, enveloped in an otherworldly white hue. Meanwhile, my body buzzes with energy.
"Curious, yes...verycurious," she murmurs as she blinks back into focus, her eyes back to liquid gold.
"What? What is it? What am I?" My voice hurries out, panic leaking out.
“Oh, don’t worry. You’re a mundane who has thesight. But you’re not a witch, and not an elf... Though, in a way, you are.” The words’ bury deep’ stopped my lungs from working for a minute. “What does that even mean?”
Sakura offers a soft smile, trying to soothe my growing unease. “I don’t have full access to your essence. Actually, I am sure I only got a glimpse of ten percent, so… my analysis reflects that. But rest assured, with training, you’ll come into your full potential.” Her words hang in the air, but they don't calm me.They only feed my thoughts, making them run faster, echoing my father’s last words to me:Trust no one.
I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as that warning floods back, louder now.
Noticing the shift in my expression, Sakura quickly adds, her voice dreamy and almost carefree, “Oh, don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. My ancestors on my mother’s side were mundanes with thesight,too, but some of them had a stronger affinity with one of the elements. So that eventually made them witches. If you think about it, we’re all mundanes, in a way!” After a brief pause, she adds, “Have you awakened yet?”
That word again.
I feel it lingering in the air.
“I don’t know what that means,” I say, the frustration clear as day.
“It’s when your connection to Kvirr is confirmed. It can happen any time after you turn seven, but for some, it never comes. That’s why they’re simply mundane with thesight,” Sakura explains, her voice calm, almost detached.
Simply.
I scoff.
“No, nothing like that has happened.” How would I even know what that looks like? I’m done being the cluelessnewgirl. I’ve had enough of feeling like I’m floating, untethered. “So… There’s no need for you to tell anyone about this, right?”
“Of course not, as a healer, I take the trust of my patients very seriously,” Sakura says, her ethereal voice carrying a weight of sincerity.
“Thanks.” Relief slips through the cracks of my composed exterior. This is the last damaged control. From now on, it’s game on.
Time to get some answers.
Rejoining Nalaka,we make our way toward the dormitories. To my surprise, they’re not segregated by gender but by departments: Healers, Alchemists, Strategists, and the Legion. Each faction has its own aisle. I still can’t quite wrap my head around why I’ve been assigned to the army aspect of the Institute. Seeing all those soldiers around, I realize I’ve got serious work to do if I even want a chance at fitting in here. I thought I was in good shape, but now? I’m already exhausted, and I haven’t even started. Guess cardio isn’t optional anymore, no more shortcuts, no more excuses.
“Who was that man at the head of the council?” I ask, still trying to process everything.
“General Brackwell? He’s in control of the Legion, and that’s pretty much like ruling Kallahan.”
Alright, he’s the big boss, noted.
But why does that name sound so familiar? Isolde probably mentioned him. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m too overwhelmed to keep track of names at this point.
“Like a president? And aren’t we in Elgar?”
“More like a wannabe king. Elgar’s the name of this realm; you’re from the Mundane World. And we’re in the kingdom of Kallahan. They haven’t had time to elect a new ruler yet. Hard to do that when the entire royal family was slaughtered,” she says it with a shrug, completely unfazed, in disagreement with the shaken state I am in at the casual mention of a massacre.
Just for a moment.
It’s strange. I shouldn’t care that a kingdom I didn’t even know existed is in political collapse. And yet… It unsettles me.
