Chapter 65

NONE TO REMEMBER

ELENA

He stood at ease and raised his blade then adroitly, he whisked the sword in the air, made few turns, and landed the edge of his blade in the soil. He'd stood upright and repeated the process about thrice. "Go," he told me.

I learned the three basic steps in four tries. My knife was shorter so, it was easier for me. I crashed the first and second times but tried to do well other times.

I began to heave with tiredness. I was hungry, I had used up all my energy and I became light-headed. I has been a day since I ate; I filled my stomach with water before I set out but that didn't sustain me. Atom asked me to go again but due to the fact that I was famished, I crashed.

I stood up immediately, to repeat the moves but I refused to succeed.

"Stop," he told me but I couldn't let him see me as weak again. He had told me to prove myself and that is what I would do, even at that, I was failing. I stood to my feet again to try, but he caught me, held me in place, and stared me in the face "do you have a death wish?" He asked. Yes, maybe, at one point in time but right now, I just wanted to survive.

He took the blade from me and tucked it in his own pouch. "You are weak," he said "you can't continue..."

"Parvo...” I steadied my breath "pantenco tu survivo" sweat streamlined down my face and my hair was all wet from it.

"That's not how to survive" he was scolding me again like an errant child. "Let's take a little break" His voice drained. But there was no such thing as a break here at Elsewhere. He knew better. Just then, a blackguard came to us.

"Master" he acknowledged Atom by bowing a little then, he stood upright to speak. "The black commander asks you to pay her a visit. She says you should bring the creature along"

I saw a frown pull in Atom's face then he glanced at me and turned his face back at the guard "we'll join her in a while" Atom told the black guard who immediately dismissed himself but bowed before doing so.

"Come with me" he had an urgency in his eyes; urgency mixed with worry- maybe. At least, that was the impression he gave.

He led the way and we returned to his living space.

"Sit" he commanded as he searched the shelves; he was sounding like a prick again.

A visit to Disha, to him sounded like bad news.

I settled in a chair carefully and he finished rummaging through the shelves. He turned to me quickly and handed me a brown paper bag. I glared at him, wondering what the bag was for and my look turned into an amused one when I saw what it contained.

"You need it," he said retrieving the bottle from earlier.

Food? My subconscious rolled her eyes and hissed but I was hungry, it was like he read my mind.

He eyed me, trying not to show emotions "hurry up. We certainly don't want to keep Disha waiting"

This was really odd. He was meant to be mean to me, and treat me like a slum dog but there he was giving me food; he should treat me like the creature that I am. But who was I to question him? I munched quickly on the bread and gulped down as much liquid as I could. I wasn't going to get a share ever like this again, so it was better that I used the opportunity because with people like Atom, such an opportunity came only once. I never learned to eat slowly because, I had little to savor and little time to do so.

Atom might have been a total jerk to hit me, and he might be sounding even worse when he spoke to me, but at least, he had a sense of responsibility towards me, unlike the other commanders. But even at that, I shouldn't get comfortable.

As soon as I finished, we headed to the black-house where the black commanders resided. I had my head bowed for the fear of staring into one of their faces and stood closely behind Atom so, I don't get apprehended for trespassing.

We soon got to an inner chamber and Atom asked me to stay outside, seated quietly on a bench in the company of two-unsmiling-black-guards.

I sat patiently in silence for a while and the chill of eagerness swept up and down my spine. What could they be talking about that was taking forever? I sat upright and tipped my head towards the door and to my luck, it wasn't fully closed. I saw Disha pacing and Atom wasn't in sight; probably somewhere inside. She had a frown on her face and she reeked of restlessness. Was I in trouble again? I wondered. I have done nothing wrong this time; or did Den come to her again? My head ached with questions - questions that had no answers.

I bowed my head trying to process everything and licked my lower lip which was dried and beginning to crack when, something or someone tugged at my neck.

Immediately, I looked up and met the glare of one of the black guards. "The black commander wants to talk to you" he pulled me to my feet roughly and pushed me indoors to meet whatever wrath awaited me.

The black-commander wasn't the only one in the room, she had the company of two other women. She stared at me for quite a while then took solid steps towards me.

"You can't last," she said only then turned back to Atom. "This is a waste of time."

"You should give it more time"

"We don't have that time. It's either I dispose of it or sell it off on the next caravan going to Africa. You should be doing something else, not wasting your time with this thing!" She pointed to me

"If this is a load for you Disha, give it to me. Let me do to it whatever I please, let it be mine. We can't keep killing every creature that comes here from Athena"

"You can't own a creature. I can't let you throw your life away!"

I saw Atom scoff. He looked exasperated; he heaved a sigh and spoke "we don't even have a life. I can't let you kill this one Disha without seeing what it can do."

"You don't understand Atom. It is not like Jonas. You can't protect what is already destroyed" Disha had pure compassion in her voice; at least it was what it sounded like but a spark of anger ignited in Atom. I could see it in his eyes, pure anger mixed with guilt- that was what my eyes were trained to do.

There was a glow in his eyes that glared straight at Disha.

"Don't you dare bring Jonas up" he said through clenched teeth in a husky voice.

"I want you to wake up Atom. The only way you can do that is to sever all your ties with Athena!"

"It is you who need to wake up."

"Don't you dare start with me!" Her voice rose

"You started it when you brought up Jonas." He said in the same husky tone "you said I should handle this one. You gave it to me yourself so, let's see in five days black commander" then, he turned to me sharply "let's go"

"You will not treat me like this in front of the creature" I heard Disha rant but Atom didn't look back. He grabbed me by the hand when I hesitated, defying all protocols, and pulled me along leaving Disha stunned and upset.

An angry Disha is definitely someone we shouldn't mess with.

As soon as we got a safe distance away, away from the searching eyes, I yanked my hands out of his tight grip, and immediately, he turned to me.

My voice got lost somewhere in my throat as soon as we made eye contact, then, I looked away and summoned a great deal of courage to speak.

"Disha know I won't last," I said gently hoping he would trash-talk me like he always did but to my amusement, he came close, hands on hips and he spoke

"We’ll prove them wrong" he had determination in his voice, something a normal master won't give his slave but I knew that somewhere deep down, he didn't have that much faith. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

It was only a matter of time before, we arrived at Den's pit.