XĪNG HUA'S POV

My fingers tapped against the railing of the balcony as I waited for Atlas to come out, along with, mostly likely, Isabella. A multitude of emotions were running through me at that moment, but the largest one was anger. After finishing my dance with him and escaping the nobles’ grasp, I had talked to his parents and siblings for a bit where I found out he was planning on becoming an adventurer.

I wouldn't have been so angry had he simply told me. However, despite the fact he had likely been planning this for a long time, I had never found out. He had never spared the time to simply come and tell me he would be leaving.

And that made me wonder what our friendship even meant to him.

Atlas was a very mysterious person. His mind was a maze, and his thought process wasn't clear. Since we were young, he had always acted with wisdom beyond his years, as though he had lived an entire lifetime already.

I wasn't privy to his thoughts and feelings about me, but I had least was cast that I meant just as much to him as he did to me. But maybe I was wrong, and maybe I had misjudged the distance between us after all.

He had constantly kept himself at an arm's length away from me, never capable of touching. He did the same to everyone else, too. I wasn't blind. I could see the way he put up a front when talking to people, even me. Everyone but his bond, I noticed, yet that was because she was just as much a part of him as his own thoughts.

My tapping had slowly increased in speed, until I heard the opening of the sliding door behind me and footsteps approaching. Atlas stood to my right, gazing out across the city, which was lit up with lanterns and the stars twinkling elegantly in the night sky.

Turning to him, my gaze was nothing but cold. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it, looking back at me as Isabella leapt from his shoulder and onto the balcony, clearly more interested in watching the stars than listening to the two of us.

The silence was heavy and very weighted, blanketing us both until I broke it with a simple question.

“You weren’t going to tell me that you were leaving, were you?”

His gaze was cast downwards towards the floor for a moment, but he quickly lifted his chin up to look at me in the eyes, getting a little closer. However, I immediately kept my distance by moving backwards.

“Hua–”

I cut him off sharply. “Don’t ‘Hua’ me! You weren’t going to tell me anything! If your mother hadn’t told me, I would have been left in the dark, just like usual.” I snapped at him, but his expression still didn’t change or even flinch. He still continued to look at me. And to be perfectly honest, this part of him scared me. The way he always seemed to be completely composed, yet breaking on the inside, slipping ever so slowly into insanity…

…It frightened me.

“You always get treated like an adult. I'm the one that gets treated like a child. Because ‘Hua's too dainty' to be told anything!”

“I don't ask people to treat me like an adult, they just do. You should be enjoying your childhood!”

“And you shouldn't?!”

“Listen, there's something I need to do–”

“What is it, Atlas? What is it that it's so important you need to leave for?!”

“...Forget about it. You wouldn't understand anyway. I guess I was right in not telling you, then. You're too immature after all.”

His words stung, piercing my heart like a knife, twisting in before firmly lodging itself there. My entire world collapsed with the words he spoke, falling from the sky and shattering like glass, spreading into tiny little pieces across the floor. And with it, the glass ceiling that had been stopping my anger from boiling over had been broken, too.

“I'm not the immature one. You're not normal, Atlas. You act like an adult when you're a child, and you don't fit in anywhere you go!” I yelled at him. “I know what you did to those two in the tournament– it was crazy! Maybe I don't want to go with you… because maybe you'd do the same thing to me.”

If it hurt him, he didn't show it. But I desperately wanted him to, to prove my words wrong in that moment because the moment they escaped from my lips, I regretted them. But he didn't. He simply stared at me coldly, his eyes glaring icy daggers into the depths of my soul. It was hard to believe we were the same people who had danced together perhaps ten minutes before.

“Maybe I would.”

With that, Atlas turned on his heel, not even bothering to spare me a glance as he walked away. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but the words died on my lips as my arm, slightly outstretched, fell back down to my side. What had I done…?

But this wasn’t entirely my fault. No, he hadn’t told me what was going on! But I didn’t need to lash out like that…. My head had turned to a mess, and my breath was coming in short gasps as I attempted to hold back the tears. But as I gagged, it slowly dawned upon me that there was no point, watching my vision become blurry as I cried, anguished sobs ripping from my throat, guttural and absolutely painstaking.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I was thankful, for the first time that night, to the band for playing so loudly, as it muffled my agonised cries, with the knowledge I had just willingly hurt my best friend. It was my fault, all my fault.

And so the night ended, my crying finally subsiding as things drew to an untimely close.

—

ATLAS REYES’ POV

I had a feeling that Hua wasn’t going to show to see me off, but it still stung, my eyes instinctively searching for her amidst the group of family and friends. Even the Headmistress had come, yet she was nowhere to be seen. Yet perhaps that was for the best, after our argument the previous night. As much as I had refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing she had hurt me with her words, she had. Every time she opened her mouth, I had felt the fact sink in deeper that I didn’t belong.

Nonetheless, I had to forge ahead. It didn’t matter what she said, nor what she believed. The way I lived my life was my business, and mine alone. However, the way Isabella looked at me led me to believe she had something to say, and I wasn’t wrong.

‘Aren’t you even going to try to make up with her?’

‘Why would I? She started it.’ I replied indignantly. ‘She should be the one apologising to me! It’s not like I care, anyway.’

‘You say you don’t care, but you’re clearly taking much more offence from her words than you’re trying to convince yourself you are.’

‘I’m not.’

‘Look into my eyes and tell me that, then.’

‘...’

‘See what I mean?’

‘Whatever.’

Isabella rolled her eyes, and I turned my attention back to my parents and sisters. Lucynda tugged on my shirt, looking up at me.

“Big brother’s leaving?” She asked, her eyes wide and staring. I almost wanted to lie, to tell her I wasn’t going anywhere and that I’d be right by her side.

“Not for a long time. I’ll be back before you know it, Lucynda. With souvenirs, too!”

“Promise that you’ll be back soon?”

“I promise.”

My mother wasted no time, once Lucynda had made her way over to my father, enveloping in a big hug, burying her face in my neck. We stayed like that for a moment, my arms tentatively wrapped around her back before she let go, hands resting on my shoulders.

“You’re going to be fine,” She said reassuringly, though I was certain she was trying to convince herself of that. “The ring won’t ever go off, and– oh, why are you leaving?!”

I smiled sadly. My father placed his hand gently on her shoulder, pulling her away from me and by his side, the way he looked at her saying everything. Then, he looked at me, and he wasn't messing around like he usually did.

“You're going to stay safe,” He said, “And you're not going to make your mother or I worry. You're strong, son. But I worry about you.”

I could understand his sentiment. In the future, I would be facing stronger and stronger enemies, and perhaps my current power wasn't enough. I had been nothing more than a big fish in a small pond, and perhaps soon it was time I'd have that hammered into me.

“Yet I'm not going to leave this on a sad note. We'll be waiting to hear from you, and when you return, which I know you will, we'll train together again. Your father isn't going to rest, either!”

I smiled, nodding, turning on my heel and approaching the carriage that was at the end of the path. Before I could, however, I was stopped by Claire.

“I will do my best to protect your family,” She said simply, “just like you were a friend to mine.”

And with that, I joined the Lizards inside of the carriage.

It trundled by slowly, travelling through the city at an even pace as we passed various fields of crops, the others speaking amongst themselves. It reminded me of the first time we were heading to Xīng– except now, we didn't have an egotistical maniac out to kill us. If I faced him now, would I have the strength to win?

It was something I thought about often. If I faced them all in my current state, would I be strong enough? Fast enough? Smart enough?

Isabella snored in my lap, and it was one of the only times I caught her at peace. It was nice to see, especially since she was normally the one comforting me. Makko’s voice immediately drew me out of my own thoughts, however.

“Have you come up with an idea as to what your adventurer name will be? I mean, you've got the mask, so calling yourself by your actual name would be a little redundant.”

Taking out the mask I had found in Meryll's attic, I ran my finger over it. It was white and smoothed, made out of some kind of polisher bone-like material. It had two, sloping eye holes, being completely and utterly featureless. I pondered it for a moment with a gentle yet monotonous hum, placing a hand to my lips.

“How about… ‘Anonymous'? We can call you Anon for short.” Mari's voice piped up, quiet yet as firm as usual. She had grown, noticeably, from a shy girl, to confident– or maybe she'd always been that way, yet being hidden in Jasper’s shadow, she hadn't had the chance to shine.

“That could work, actually… Anonymous. It has a nice ring to it, and it has nothing leading back to who I actually am.”

As an adventurer, I knew that I'd be making enemies, and as such, I wanted to give them nothing they could use to find out who I really was, and therefore, target my family. This way, I'd become a whole new person.

Slipping the mask onto my face, I exhaled. Even my breath seemed to be a semitone deeper, my eyes widening as I was unused to the new sound of myself. Pulling the strap of my bag tight, I could hear the carriage slowly coming to a halt outside a small building on the outskirts of the city.

Pushing open the door, Makko stepped out onto cobbled pavement, which led up to the front of the building. It was a small, unassuming place, with an old look that would keep those that weren't meant to be there away, but I had no doubt it was that way for a reason.

“This is the site of your adventurer's exam,” Nessa declared. “They change them every year, so not even we can be sure of what's going to happen. However, we'll be spectating elsewhere. Good luck.” She patted me on the back, as she and Makko re-entered the carriage and it proceeded to leave me and Isabella all alone.

The wind whistled around me, and it was… quiet. Unusually so.

'Well, that's not ominous at all.' Isabella muttered from within.

'...Yeah.'

Weren't there other participants? Or were they already inside, perhaps?

It was time to find out, I thought, as we approached the building, pushing open the door.