Ways of the Spirits (2)

Thorjen POV

Thorjen awoke to the familiar surroundings of his beige walled room. The room was oddly silent, the only sounds being the gentle metal hooks he used to hang his drawings on, softly turning with the formless wind entering his room. ‘Why am in bed?’ he thought to himself. Thorjen made efforts to move but quickly discovered his body was currently nursing a great deal of pain,

“Arghh! He sounded roughly. His voice was hoarse, and his throat felt itchy, his dried throat was a sign he had not drunk any form of water in a while it seemed. Once he finally found the strength to sit upright, he felt an incredible heaviness against his head. As though he could feel a heartbeat pulsing inside of his skull.

The last memory Thorjen recalled was the spar he had with Marco. Thinking back he was surprised he made it out of that alive. He had bandages wrapped around his entire left arm, and even his fingers were tightly wrapped making him look like a mummy. His torso was heavily strapped, as well as the ankles on both of his legs. Looking at all the bandages, he resembled something crawled out from the novels of an undead; the thought brought a stiff chuckle escaping his dried mouth.

‘Well...maybe alive is an understatement...water-I need water!’ he thought loudly. He carefully placed his foot onto the ground and managed to steady himself upright. Thorjen found this a little odd, with all the bandages he was expecting a few broken bones, but it didn’t seem like that was the case. His muscles were incredibly sore of course, and he still felt a throbbing annoyance against his head. But other than that, he found himself in a better state than he looked. Thorjen placed on a long robe and proceeded out his dormitory door. As soon as he stepped out into the corridor, he was startled by a sudden scream, following close after was the tumble of utensils and medical equipment.

An Elven girl with short pink hair and round framed glasses looked as though she had seen a ghost, Thorjen wasn’t expecting to meet anyone at this time but noticed she was dressed in medical robes.

“Oh...thank you for tending to me. But I'm feeling great now. Do you know where everyone is?”

“Y-y-you're f-f-feeling fine? But that’s I-I—mpossible. You had broken so many bones.”

Thorjen cocked one of his brows up, ‘broken bones? That’s unlikely considering my bones feel fine.’

“How long was I out for?”

“Al-almost two weeks.”

‘WTF 2 weeks, what the fuck did Marco do to me’ a dark light flashed across his eyes. Being in bed for so long meant he must’ve missed the spiritual awakening ceremony. And if that was the case, he wasn’t going to be able to join the youths venturing towards the mainland.

A frightening realization dawn upon him, could all his hard work be in vain? His mind could only make sense that it was all over, but his stubborn heart refused to let it go. Without giving the Elven girl a second glance, he turned on his heels and painfully walked away.

“H-h-hey where...where...are....” Thorjen heard the young Elf chattering away to herself, slowly her voice was drowned away the further he walked. His eyes were filled with nothing but his desire to succeed. Thorjen limped along the silent corridor, he didn’t know where he was going but he just walked. Soon without realizing he had ended up on a restricted floor for the boys dorms. Restricted because this floor was personally given to the noble sons.

The smirking face of Marco flashed within his thoughts. By instinct he ended up clenching his bandaged fist so hard he heard his knuckles crackle. Thorjen limped towards Marco’s room door, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do here. But his body moved on its own. He stood behind the one thing keeping him and Marco apart. This was all because of him. Thorjen knew it deep down this was probably Marcos plan all along to keep him for being with Threyja. That thought only sent a wave of torrid emotions swelling inside of him. ‘If I killed him…this would all end.’ For the first time in his entire life, he played with such thoughts. He felt a twinge of pain from his bandaged hand, his eyes trailed down and noticed small splatters of blood against the floor by his feet. His knuckles were in fact bleeding from his earlier clenching of his injured fist too hard.

His eyes softened upon seeing the slow droplets of blood falling, and the patch of carmine staining his bandage. ‘What am I even doing?’ He couldn’t help but chuckle at his own pitiful state. His own weaknesses were down to him and no one else. Thorjen felt quite embarrassed that he had limped all the way here. He swiftly twisted back on his heels to turn around back the way he came, when suddenly he heard voice’s faintly coming from one of the nearby rooms.

It sounded as though two people were doing something. He heard a deeper voice groaning. Followed by wet sounds filtering in between the moans.

“Yes...suck it...hmmm-yes-take it all down your throat... just the way I taught you...that’s it...that's a good girl” moaned the voice behind Marcos door

‘Huh why does that sound like...like Marco.’ For some reason Thorjen felt a sudden tightness inside of his chest. His curiosity led him towards Marco’s dorm room, he started to hear that constant slapping sounds clearer. Thorjen knew it was against the rules for any of the girls to be venturing into the boy's dorm area, but he also heard rumours that the noble youths or geniuses were an exception to this rule. So, the question remained...which one of the geniuses was daring enough to come here.

Thorjen could feel his mind swirling with countless thoughts just when his curiosity was starting to lead him back towards Marco’s room, his attention was suddenly captured by the sounds of sliding doors opening from his rear.

“Thor-Thorjen? Oh my gosh Thorjen it’s you!”

He heard a familiar voice laced with gladness. Once he turned on his heels to meet the owner of the voice, he was pleasantly surprised to see a face he hadn’t seen in a while.

“Julien!” He called out.

A slightly chubby faced Elf appeared through the sliding doors which connected the upper dorm to the lower halls. Julien was one of his friends, he carried a flop of black silk hair, chubby cheeks and a slightly burly but tall frame. When they were much younger, both he and Julien spent a great deal of time exploring the gardens and looking for secret caves around the sect grounds. After his mother and Threyja, Julien was perhaps the only other fellow who was warm towards him. Which in truth was a little odd to Thorjen at first, considering Julien was in fact the youngest son to the High Chief of the tribes. Uncle Raziel.

Thorjen had expected the chubby Elf to eventually adopt the expected cold and pompous attitude expected in the noble Elf kids. But Julien proved to be an anomaly. He was shy, caring and funny at times. Forgetting about the woes which brought him to this floor, Thorjen approached his good friend and the pair of them shared a brief embrace, gently patting one another against their respective backs.

“Wait, how comes you’re walking around the noble dormitory zone? I heard you were hurt pretty badly a few weeks ago too.” Julien lowered his gaze, there was a sadness glazed in his dark eyes as he gazed at his bloodied stained, bandaged hand. Thorjen couldn’t help but slightly smile towards this.

“I’m fine now! You know how I am I tend to overcome my injuries quite quickly. I had a running with Marco and…” his voiced trailed away remembering the brutal defeat he faced at the hands of his nemesis.

“Its…ok, you don’t have to talk about it. Grrr Marco is such an ass, I cant wait for us to go to the mainland! Dont you worry Thorj he'll get a taste of what's coming to him when he meets the other knights. Then we’ll see if he can hide behind his daddy!”

Thorjen chuckled, he was always glad to meet someone else who hated Marco just as much as he did. Julien also looked like he gained more confidence in himself, which was a delightful change compared to how he used to be.

“Ah say Thorj did you…”

“Hm? Did I what? “

“ Happen to take part in the blessing ceremony? I heard 45 Elf’s successfully managed to receive a blessing which means…”

“They’ll be granted a chance to venture into the mainland and become knights. Sigh… no I’ve been injured for quite a while it seems so I missed it.”

The mood quickly soured once Thorjen said that. Julien looked as though he wasn’t quite sure what to say to him.

“Oh, by the way how comes you’re still up at this time of the night?” Thorjen asked him in a bid to change the awkward atmosphere.

“Ah...oh yes- well you see…err I was…my father n-needed me for something. I just left the blessing hall not too long ago.” He responded jovially as usual.

“ Oh right and how did it go?”

“Hehehe guess what Thorj I managed to receive 5 blessings! Can you believe it even Marco and Threyja the top genuineness didn’t get that many.” Thorjen was taken aback. 5 blessings? He thought to himself, that was unheard of ! Which could only mean that Julien’s talents were seen as one of a kind. As far as he understood no one in recent history had received 5 blessings, There was a small sense of shame nestled in his own heart. But he quickly shook away the dark thoughts and creased a warm and charming smile. He was truthfully very happy for his friend. If anyone deserved a change of fortune, it was certainly the kind hearted Julien.

“Well done my friend, I always knew you could do it. Now nobody will be able to bully you, even Marco cant compete with you in terms of talent now.” Thorjen meant every word he said. He studied a lot compared to his peers, and one of the most extensive topics he delved into was concerning the spirits of the ancient Elven ancestors. They would only bestow a blessing or two to chosen fellows who possessed the will to become strong. All the heroes he read about in history received a blessing from young, before venturing and exploring the great world. A blessing was similar to receiving a power increase. Many of those who received a blessing tended to awaken innate powers in the future.

Julien scratched his head feeling embarrassed by the praise he was receiving. “But Thorj its all thanks to you. If you hadn’t advised me on the proper way to train and what arts I should focus on…I would have never been able to make it this far. Threyja feels the same! We owe our growth to you the most.” Julien wasn’t completely wrong, Throjen recalled the structured advise he gave to his two friends during their childhood. For some reason despite his lack of talents in the field of cultivation, his mind was as sharp as a pristine blade. When he was younger he was able to read the constellations of stars, and advice the elders on the changes in the atmospheric cosmos. The genius of his intellect astounded everyone, to the point they were eagerly awaiting for his awakening as a cultivator. Expectations that one day he might be the strongest cultivator to ever exist from the blue mountains.

Thorjen could only wear a wry smile whilst he recalled the day he was dubbed as a cripple. Very quickly did all those star struck eyes turn into ridicule.

Julien seemed to sense the downcast mood within him, he patted his chest and placed his chubby hand against Thorjens shoulder.

“Listen I have an idea. Look at this”

Julien took out a small sized plate, it was made out of stone and carried a jade triangle on its front with glimmering silver runes wrapped around it.

“This…this would grant us access to the spiritual halls. It’s not your fault you missed out on the ceremony so why don’t we sneak in and have you do the test yourself?”

Throjen’s brows lifted. Julien was usually the the timid one amongst their small group, but now he was proposing they do something which is classed as a taboo. He couldn’t help but feel a warmth towards his friend, who was willing to go through such trouble for his sake.

“Let’s do it!” He willingly voiced, the pair left the dorm halls and made their way quietly towards the blessing hall.