“Would you get mad if I tell you the real reason why they signed you up under controlling your power even when they were too against it before?” Mr. Shin asks me during the break he gave me after my stamina exercises.

The things he makes me do are so out of the ordinary and it is just the third day! When he asked me to take it slowly yesterday, I was really half-expecting he would teach me to control the flashbacks of my memories that just came, but I was wrong. And actually, a lot more memories came back after that, none of which were alarming though. I did rounds of running and crawling instead I thought I was finally feeling want I have always wanted to feel; dying. Of course, I believe I am merely exaggerating though. Mr. Shin is one sarcastic and unreadable person – not that I plan on reading what is on his mind anyway. I would not go far as doing such a thing.

“I believe it would depend on whatever you will tell me,” I answer as I gulp in big lumps of water from my packed water bottle. I know I have a weak stamina, but he makes me do things that I believe would end me. I am so tired.

Mr. Shin nods and sits beside me. “Then I will only tell you one thing I think you wouldn’t go berserk on.” Is he pertaining that the rest would make me go insane? Is he out of his mind? Well, I believe so, yes. “Okay.” I reply not entirely sure I trust myself on this.

“Such a patient child you are…” He clucks his tongue multiple times and laughs at his own inside joke. It has been merely three days yet I am slowly getting annoyed by Mr. Shin’s bipolar personality, like one moment he looks so giddy and simply downright scary the next. “Well, I realize everything would make you explode one way or another so let’s just forget I asked, yes?” He cheerily says as he stands up from sitting beside me.

“Yes,” I answer, too tired to be annoyed by Mr. Shin as of this moment.

“Oh I remember!” He chirps and shifts into a serious face. “You should get yourself prepared for more memories of yours rushing back in; older, deeper, and more painful.” I feel tingles of shiver run down my body with Mr. Shin’s sudden solemnity. I do not know which is worse; his piercing eyes or my memories.

 

If you wonder what I have been doing to strengthen my stamina then I would gladly tell you all the details. During the first break of the sun, I run around the vast clearing a full hundred times. That is almost the same as running a hundred kilometers, if you ask. I was told I could stop but each time I do, another lapse would be added to my already tiring one hundred. I could walk whenever I am getting exhausted but I should never stop. And I do not stop because basically, Mr. Shin means I really should not. I could feel my legs wobbling until at one point I could not feel them anymore. I feel my lungs giving up on me many times but I keep pushing myself that after covering a hundred kilometer total distance of nonstop running, I immediately fall flat on the ground, dripping wet all over that I had to change clothes unless I would get sick. It is still a lingering thought to make it a reality though. You see, I would not have to go through this entire thing if ever I do happen to get sick. But of course the council will punish me if I do, so I stay strong.

One cannot forget to place in the image of Mr. Shin screaming at me words of encouragement and most of the time sarcasm, while he easily floats above me, following my every turn. Mr. Shin explains that through this, I could control my breathing, and at the same time strengthen my calves in case I would be up for a long run.

After giving me a fifteen-minute break, he starts another drill by locking in my ankles and wrists with a heavy metal bracelet weighing five kilograms each. The first time I tried to walk over it yesterday, I immediately fell back on the ground for how heavy the metalwork really is. I do not even want to know if I was merely underestimating the metal links, or overestimating myself. I have to cross the clearing however I can since running and even walking seems to be an impossible idea with crawling as the smartest choice. I was raised void of doing any household chore that I am fragile as glass. Mr. Shin knows this but he acts as if I have been doing this my whole life! He does not even consider the fact I have used up all my resources just from that hundred-kilometer run. I honestly believe that this training will be the death of me.

I feel embarrassed with the way I am handling these exercises knowing my guardians are merely on high places, with most – if not all – of their attention on me. As much as I despise how it makes me look so easy and vulnerable, I feel ashamed that they have to be stuck with a weak persona like me. I am sure they have their own dreams in life, but because of me, those dreams are crushed down into nothing but a mere remembrance it was once wanted. Maybe that is why I am still not giving up even when my body screams and begs for me to stop.

Like yesterday, I managed to crawl my way across the clearing, my whole body aching of soreness. I can hear Mr. Shin’s blatant laughter but nods with the way I am slowly coping with all of this. I cannot even decipher if he loves it when I suffer or if he just does this because he cares. But I suppose it is far too much for me to ask.

When Mr. Shin unlocks the metal links from my wrists and ankles, I once again fall lying on the ground, desperately catching my breath. My guardians show up one by one after Mr. Shin calls them out. I swear sometimes I think my guardians are ghosts.

“Are we done now?” I ask Mr. Shin since I remember we ended the exercises after this, yesterday. He gives me a knowing smile but shakes his head. “Oh milady. This is just the beginning.” He stomps on his feet as a collection of winds come swirling in like tornado, bringing him high above in the process. I am left with eyes stung from the little sands that came along the pool. Mr. Shin really does all he can to annoy the hell out of me. When it clears down and I could not see Mr. Shin anymore, I let out an exasperated sigh as Jaejoong pulls me up into a stand. I cough out the dirt that has gotten in my lungs thinking how one day I would really even it out on him. It is too childish, but I either live for revenge or running away. I do not even want to know what he will make me do this time.

“I can’t believe you didn’t even stop the sands from coming at Soojung,” I hear Kyuhyun whisper to my other guardian, Joon Young. If I remember correctly, Sungjong has acclaimed that Joon Young is one hell of a rude bastard. He comes from the House of Sands, controller of the earth. He is also lazy, and very temperamental. He is the second guardian I fear most after Jaejoong.

“Should I say sorry then?” He remarks sarcastically. Kyuhyun only rolls eyes at him and lets the issue go. My guardians stand around me, trying to feel any incoming danger as usual. I sometimes wonder if they ever get tired of doing this, because their faces are always void of emotions except the rare times they would show annoyance.

“Where did Mr. Shin go?” Daehyun asks over Peniel, my guardian whose uncle is Mr. Shin, also from the House of Winds. Only Peniel shrugs for an answer.

“I can still sense his presence around,” Sungjong claims.

“Be alert. Who knows what he’s planning to do now.” Jaejoong calls out as all my guardians come in a defending stance while I gaze over them in awe. I do not think I have ever seen them like this before. There was never really a chance to do so before, since whenever I am in danger, it is not so dangerous enough to the point wherein all of them would come out. One or two would be enough, you see. It is kind of amazing, and I feel so happy… which is weird. I keep on feeling happy whenever we are all together these days.

It is silent for some minutes and I continuously grow paranoid because of it when ever so suddenly a whip in the air coming from above us come smashing right around me, encircling me as it pushes all my guardian off-course from the impact. I never truly realized how strong Mr. Shin is until today. Obviously, no one expected such a move.

“Oh dear, I know you’re all new to this stuff since I heard you never really trained together but please don’t make it so obvious, yes?” Mr. Shin’s voice looms all over the clearing but we still cannot see where he is at. “If you’re fighting against a wind controller, it is best to scatter. Trust me with that one.” He beams and just as my guardians recover from the heavy impact, arrows of wind go flying down to all of us, coming from different directions all at once. My guardians’ eyes turn to their respective colors as they all try to dodge the arrows away, once in a while projecting them on me whenever they feel an arrow wants to hit me too, and flicking the arrows away from my line of sight. I have always been impressed by their strength but never have I seen them actually doing multiple moves at once. It is very fascinating how the clashing of colors looks from my point of view.

“Now, now, milady! Don’t you think it’s time for you to get a move on it too? This is, after all, meant to train you!” Mr. Shin’s voice bounces in and out as if there are speakers in the clearing. He is still nowhere to be found though.

I take a deep breath and clear my mind as I close my eyes.

By the time I open them, multiple wind arrows comes spinning towards me and since I am still too weak, I am only able to stop around three of it, with the rest covered by my guardians. My body was never used to fighting that I can already sense it weakening after a few more minutes of stopping painful wind arrows. I have not been hit by one but I heard Daehyun scream when one had managed to graze his skin. He does not usually scream so easily, you see.

I am already experiencing ragged breathing when the wind suddenly holds all my guardians making them unable to move or even use their abilities.

“What the heck?”

“Hey!”

“I’m stuck!”

“I can’t move!”

“Damn it!”

They cannot move, but there is another batch of sharp wind arrows coming down like rain towards me. My guardians cannot help me with this and I can sense how panicked they are for not being able to do anything about it at all. I could hear them trying to tell me to focus and use my ability but I am also tired and kind of in a trance of simply letting all of the arrows hit me at once.

I look up and see the arrows coming closer.

“Soojung, you better use that ability of yours! Mr. Shin is in no way of wanting to stop!”

I hear Sungjong’s voice inside my head, together with the thin line of desperation he desperately tries to conceal that I close my eyes and focus on one thing; sunsets. When I open them, my eyes are shining bright in blue and a wave of signal immediately erases all the arrows that were once on the run to kill me, as I felt a huge explosion burst out from inside me. My guardians are as shocked as I am. I do not know where I took all my energy from. I do not even know how my ability ended up becoming like a wave of rays. Though the faintest I could remember was seeing a sunset and imagining its ray of light blindly shining all over me.

I do not think I ever felt so dead like this before. By the time everything has cleared out, and my guardians free from Mr. Shin’s hold, I fall on my knees then on my back, worn-out and unable to breathe well. I could hear my guardians rushing to my aid before I drop unconscious and everything turns into a chasm of darkness I feel like I am falling into.

 

 

“Mommy! Mommy! Look what I found!” I screamed with my voice so little like a child. It felt weird. It is as if I am inside someone else’s body. I looked down into my palm wherein a butterfly freezes into place.

“Soojung-ah, how did you freeze the little butterfly?” A woman with blurry features asked me, walking so quickly towards me. “I do not know, mommy! It just did when I touched it!” I exclaimed, showing her the frozen butterfly in my palms.

“Don’t be silly, Soojung-ah. Tell mommy, quickly!”

The memory warps into something new but I still feel weird. The setting changes but I can feel how I am still in someone’s body.

“Soo-ah! Can you read what’s on my mind?” A little boy came running towards me with dimples on his cheek.

“Ice cream, Beanie, ice cream!” I screamed, again with the voice of a child’s. The little boy frowned, but nonetheless sat beside me in the gardens. “You didn’t even try! Come on, Soo-ah!” The boy exclaimed. It hurts how he looks so familiar to me.

“Okay then, hmm… Curry again? With…what the—Beanie!” I screamed just as the boy made a thumbs-up as he laughed almost hysterically with the prank he succeeded on doing. I do not understand. I crawled towards the little boy and lightly smashed him with the pillow I was holding. “I will not read your mind ever again!”

I am confused. If this is a memory, then why do I not remember this ever happening? Why was I able to freeze that butterfly? Who is that little boy? My thoughts come crashing in and I feel as if I am being up from a whirlpool.

 

 

I could hear the chirping of the birds from a distance as well as the faint voices of my guardians. When I open my eyes, I realize I am back in the clearing, my forehead filled with beads of sweat, and my lips pale.

“Milady, will you—”

“Mr. Shin, what... am I?”

 

 

ANOTHER UPDATE , YAY! I THINK I HAVE INTRODUCED ALL OF HER GUARDIANS ALREADY.
I'M SORRY IF IT'S SO CONFUSING BUT I JUST LOVE CONFUSION, LMAO.
ANY SMART GUESSES ON WHAT HER ABILITY IS? HEHE.
ANYWAY, IF YOU HAVE TIME, PLEASE DO LEAVE COMMENTS. I LOVE READING COMMENTS.
//I STILL HAVE A PLATE TO FINISH NOW SO BYE//