Brayden sat in the chair beside his bed patiently waiting as he read through his book, hoping that Aleron would come and visit. He usually came every second day, which meant he could arrive at any moment. He still couldn’t remember a single thing, which made him feel very uneasy, but every time Aleron visited he felt a little more relaxed. Maybe it was because he never forced Brayden to talk or do anything he didn’t want to do. In two weeks that Aleron started visiting, Brayden had been feeling a lot better. He finally had an appetite and started eating. At first, it made him feel ill, leading him to vomit after every meal. However, for the last few days, he never felt sick after eating and had moved on from plain buttered toast and noodles to soup and more heavy sitting meals. Most of the things he had were very bland and sometimes disgusting, but he didn’t complain. Not that he could if he really wanted to since he couldn’t talk to anyone but Aleron.
Brayden sighed as he turned to the next page, really wishing Aleron was there. He was lonely and wanted someone to talk to. There were many times he attempted to talk to the main nurse who looked after him called Sophia. However, every time he tried no words would come to his mouth, and his heart began to race so much that it made him dizzy. So, he spent most of his time reading. Most of the nurses believed that he was just looking at the book and flipping through the pages, pretending to read because it was his only possession. However, he could actually read it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know what it was about, it was a book filled with magic spells, most relating to the element of fire. He didn’t know how but even without his memories he knew what every word was and what it meant. He had asked Aleron about it, who told him that it must his instincts kicking in, whatever that meant. Regardless, Brayden had enjoyed reading so much that he read his book three times already. Although he would be lying if he didn’t wish he had another book.
Brayden sighed again as another hour past, and there was still no sign of Aleron. If he didn’t come, then he wasn’t looking forward to the night ahead. Whenever he didn’t come, Brayden would have a panic attack that night. It was better than waking up every single night screaming like he used to, but he still hated it. He hated not being able to breathe and he hated the pain in his chest. He could never remember what set off his panic attacks nor could he remember what the nightmares were about, but he always felt extremely afraid. Starting the feel a little sick in the stomach from thinking too much about it, Brayden shook his head until he felt dizzy then slapped his cheeks with his hands.
After that, he heard the door open. He turned his head to find Aleron entering the room.
“Y-you c-came!” Brayden exclaimed with relief as he closed his book and placed it on his lap.
“Were you waiting for me?” Aleron asked. “I see you are out of bed, I guess you are feeling a lot better today.”
Brayden nodded as he watched Aleron grab the second chair near the window and brought it closer so he could sit next to him.
“Does that mean you can walk on your own now?” Aleron wondered, patting his head before sitting down.
“A l-little,” Brayden replied, looking down at his feet. “I c-can only walk f-for a few seconds th-though.”
He believed he could walk a little longer than that, but just that short distance caused the side of his torso to sting so he didn’t dare to even try. When he looked up again, Aleron smiled at him, so he smiled back.
“You don’t need the IV drip anymore then?” Aleron asked. “I bet that’s a relief.”
“N-no, they o-only put it on during the night,” Brayden explained, pointing to the bandage that covered the needle in his arm. “I d-don’t mind though, I k-kind of like watching the blood and stuff go into m-my arm.”
“I see,” Aleron sighed. “You’re a very odd kid. Well at least you’ve started talking more, the things that come out of your mouth sometimes never fails to amuse me.”
“Y-yeah…” Brayden muttered.
He had come a long way even if he couldn’t communicate with anyone other than Aleron. At first, he could only say a few words at a time and could only talk very quietly. Eventually, he found the confidence to project his voice, but he still couldn’t say anything without stuttering first.
“I heard you started therapy to rebuild your strength,” Aleron stated.
“R-right…” Brayden mumbled.
He really didn’t want to think about his ‘lessons.’ He had only been taking them for three days, but he was already sick of them. He liked the parts when he got to walk, but he hated the rest of it. The nurses just kept asking questions he didn’t know the answers to, and there were a lot of them. He couldn’t get through a two-hour therapy lesson without feeling tight in the chest and trembling violently, which often led to them cancelling it halfway through.
“How’s that going?” Aleron asked, seemingly oblivious to what had been happening.
“I-I don’t like i-it,” Brayden sighed, looking away from him. “It’s … a-annoying.”
“Really? Why’s that?” Aleron asked.
“I-it evolves q-questions I c-can’t answer,” Brayden replied. “T-they say I need to be able to t-talk to about my memories, b-but I can’t.”
“Sophia told me you don’t talk at all,” Aleron said.
“Yeah… I j-just don’t feel like t-talking,” Brayden lied, not wanting to tell Aleron the real reason he didn’t talk. “Just b-being here makes me f-feel uncomfortable.”
“I’m guessing you’re starting to get bored being stuck in here,” Aleron stated. “You have been here for a month now.”
“W-well… yeah…” Brayden sighed, using the tip of his fingers to trace the outlines of his book. “I w-want to go outside. I’m s-sick of b-being sick.”
“It’s alright. If you keep doing your therapy lessons, you’ll be better before you know it,” Aleron said. “Then you’ll be able to leave here and do whatever you like. I know they make you feel uncomfortable, but if you work really hard, I may even bring you a new book when I come to visit next.”
Brayden smiled, feeling encouraged by Aleron’s words. Although he would have loved another book, it was the fact he would keep visiting him that made him the happiest. He didn’t know why but he felt more at ease when Aleron was around. It made him want to give his all into improving his health. Even if it meant forcing himself to do his therapy lessons.
“O-okay, I’ll t-try my hardest then,” Brayden nodded, clenching his hands into fists in determination. “I’ll w-w-work hard, and I’ll be better in no t-time.”
Aleron waited patiently outside the meeting room for the leaders of the MLC to let him enter. While visiting Brayden, he had received a call from the MLC. On a normal day, it wouldn’t have been anything unusual as they would often call his with a mission. However, they were suddenly asking him to visit, and he had no choice but to drop everything and go. Immediately after hanging up the phone, he told Brayden that he’d be away for a few days and headed towards the MLC headquarters in Espoirs Lumineux. It took three days by foot as Aleron did not trust public transport.481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4nSb7nmmC
As he waited, he pulled back his long golden hair into a ponytail and made sure he looked as neat as possible. With a sigh, he took out his hair again and redid it. He had already don’t that six times over the last two hours that he had been waiting. He wanted to get this meeting over with as the sooner he got back to Brayden the better. After talking through his progress with Sophia, he knew that he had improved quite a bit since he started visiting him. Sophia warned him that on the days he didn’t come he would suffer from panic attacks. It worried him because the last three days he had been away would have been very hard for him. Since he was the one who found him, Aleron felt it was his responsibility to make sure he got back to health and found a good family to live with. Brayden had a rough childhood, so although it was horrible, his amnesia was actually a blessing. It meant he had a chance to have a normal life and Aleron was going to make sure he got it no matter what.
“Aleron, we are ready for you now,” a woman who seemed to be a secretary.
Aleron entered the room behind her. Much to his surprise most of the MLC politicians were there, including some of the Starlight Knights. He looked around at all the people who attended. He sighed, when he noticed the person, he had hoped to see was absent. If anyone knew what to do with Brayden, it was his little sister Azaliea. Yet it wasn’t surprising that she wasn’t there as she also went missing fifty years ago, about ten years after Brayden’s supposed death.
“Aleron, I’m glad you could make it,” the president of the MLC named Edmund Ansel bowed before taking his seat.
Despite looking like he was the age of twenty, Mr Ansel was nearly in his late eighties. The way he pulled his black hair back into a messy bun made him look a little older, but he still seemed unbelievably young. If Aleron remembered correctly, the MLC president had an accident attempting to mimic a phoenixes immortality, which caused his age to go backwards and trapped him in that body forever.
“What did you need of me,” Aleron asked. “I have a lot on my plate my right now.”
“We’ve heard a rumour that you come across an interesting discovery,” Mr Ansel replied. “Is it true that you found a small kid named Brayden Valero?”
“How did you hear about that?” Aleron wondered, shocked that they already knew about Brayden.
“We have our ways,” the vice-president Sir Arnold Richardson said. “So, I wouldn’t bother lying to us.”
“I did,” Aleron said.
Murmuring filled the room before Mr Ansel put up his hand to silence them.
“Truly fascinating, it’s sad our little lady Azaliea isn’t here to receive this fantastic news,” he claimed. “How is he doing at the moment? I bet he’s been through quite a lot.”
“He’s getting there,” Aleron replied. “His injuries were quite severe and he still struggling mentally, but he’s slowly improving.”
“Has he asked about his siblings?” Sir Richardson asked bluntly. “Did you tell him what happened to them? It will be a massive issue if you have.”
“No, to both of those questions,” Aleron sighed, a little annoyed at the vice-president’s rudeness. “Brayden is suffering from a severe case of amnesia. He cannot remember anything at all, including his family.”
“Really? All of his memories are completely gone?” Mr Ansel asked.
“Good. That makes things easier for us,” Sir Richardson claimed.
“Pardon?” Aleron growled, shocked at how rude a person could be.
“Richardson, please watch your words,” Mr Ansel sighed. “I’m sorry about that. Would you mind telling us more?”
“I don’t mind, I guess,” Aleron said, turning his gaze back the president. “Other than his amnesia everything else is easy to explain. His worse injury was caused by Kazmir, which has been sewn shut and has started to mend. He’s still a little weak, but he’s begun therapy and is walking again. Sadly, he’s hardly able to speak due to an extreme case of anxiety.”
“I see, and his magic?” Mr Ansel asked.
“Hasn’t returned yet,” Aleron replied. “As I said his memory loss is very bad, he doesn’t remember anything about his magic, except for spells he’s been reading in a book he had with him when I found him.”
“Fantastic we have time,” Sir Richardson exclaimed. “There is no way we can leave the power of a Phoenix Hunter in the hands of Shadow Beasts. We should go through with our plan as soon as possible. I say we start tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” Aleron asked, suspecting the MLC was up to something devious.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but we have decided to take Brayden Valero into our care. We will be transferring him to one of our hospitals where he will be prepared to become a soldier,” Sir Richardson stated.
“Let me guess, you plan to start training him the moment he arrives,” Aleron said, gritting his teeth.
“Well of course,” Sir Richardson scoffed. “The skills he needs to fight needs to be drilled into his body since he can no longer remember how to be the warrior he used to be. The best time to do that is while he’s still recovering from his injuries.”
“You can’t be serious! He’s just a kid!” Aleron shouted.
“Oh please, he’s a Valero,” Sir Richardson laughed. “It’s not every day that a Fire Elemental from the royal family just falls into our hands. He could… no, he is the key to pushing back the CSOG for good. When we’ve done with him, he will become the best soldier the world had ever seen.”
“Brayden is no condition to quench your selfish needs!” Aleron yelled, enraged that they only saw Brayden as a tool. “He is extremely ill, and he’s only just started to get better! You need to give him more time to recover!”
“All the more reason he needs to be transferred to one of our hospitals,” Sir Richardson continued. “We need to monitor his condition ourselves. He will become a soldier, so it’s up to us to determine when he’s ready or not.”
“Do you not remember what I told you?! He’s not mentally stable right now, and he suffers from regular panic attacks!” Aleron yelled. “He can’t even talk to the nurses who have taken care of him this past month, there is no way he’ll be able to cope with such a sudden big change!”
“This is non-negotiable, Aleron,” Sir Richardson barked.
“Now hold on a minute, Richardson,” Mr Ansel interjected. “Aleron may have a point. We may need to consider waiting for a bit longer. It really doesn’t sound like we should move forward with this plan while Mr Valero is in his current state.”
“We all decided on this, it’s happening,” Sir Richardson growled.
“You mean you decided on it as Starlight Knights,” a politician complained. “We never agreed to this.”
“You have to do as we say so I don’t see the problem,” one of the Starlight Knights snapped.
“You are expecting us to put all our faith in a child,” a gaudy politician yelled. “That is not going to happen.”
“I agree, he’s a child. We shouldn’t be asking the poor little thing to do this,” a female politician stated.
“That is why we’ll be training him,” a Starlight Knight rolled his eyes. “Once he’s grown up, he’ll be indispensable to the MLC.”
A loud clutter of arguments and insults filled the room. It seemed no one agreed with each other which went on for five minutes without showing signs of stopping. Aleron’s phone started to ring while the politicians and Starlight Knights continued to argue between themselves. One look at the number he knew it belonged to Sophia.
“Aleron, it’s Sophia,” she said as he answered the phone. “We need you to come back as soon as possible.”
“Is something the matter?” Aleron asked.
“It’s Brayden, he collapsed during his therapy today,” Sophia claimed. “He has a massive fever, and he isn’t doing too well. We really need your help.” 481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMfHFxEkmC
