I woke up and sat on my bed, I eyed my room for every detail, the light coming out of the wooden window, the small toys I never play with, and the familiar ceiling.

I’m… I’m back. I thought as I kept looking around, recalling the vision that I saw.

I rubbed my face a bit and got up from bed.

In the last five years I had gotten used to nightmares, but the vision that I saw was different. I was able to feel everything, the taste of the food, the beating heart, everything was so clear, as if I was really there.

I kept standing in my room, hearing voices coming from beyond the door, but I kept standing looking at the floor with furrowed eyebrows.

Until realization came to me. the language wasn’t foreign to me, I understood it perfectly, the same with the cars. I gasped. Cars! Steam cars! They don’t exist in Inyslian.

I sat back on the bed and started to hold my head as I thought a bit more.

That… Was that me? From before? But why do I remember it only now? How? I asked myself.

The door to my room opened, Amara stood at it.

“Child? Are you alright?” She slowly approached me, to which I nodded, slowly discarding my thoughts.

“I don’t feel bad.” I lightly shook my head. “Wait, Amara? What are you doing here?”

“You have slept since yesterday, since you fell asleep on my shoulder” she sat with me on the bed. “You made Charlotte and James a little worried about you.” She solemnly said, making a ping of pain run through my heart.

“How are you feeling? Tell me the truth.”

My mind turned cold as I remembered what happened when I told Jamas and Charlotte about my nightmares.

I shouldn’t tell her about what I saw, It will only make them worry more. I thought to myself.

After a couple of silent seconds I looked up to Amara to tell her that I’m not feeling bad, only to feel a pain in my stomach as it growled.

Amara looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I felt my ears get warmer.

She chuckled, “I guess that answers my question.” She patted my back, “come on let’s get you something to eat.”

A moment after we exited my room, James peaked from a corner, his eyes were half closed but he still managed to give us a smile. “Hey, kiddo, you are finally awake.” He wobbled towards me, kneeled, and gave me a long hug.

With a pat on my head he broke the hug and looked up to Amara “Charlotte had just fallen asleep, thanks Amara.”

Amara nodded. “In that case I’ll prepare a meal for the both of you.”

James shook his head. “I need to go to the guard duty, could you probably take care of Dante until Charlotte wakes up? We will of course pa-”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Amara held her hand. “There is no need to pay anything James,” she scoffed. “Come on child, I will make you some herbal salad.” She said as she walked to the kitchen.

James, who was still kneeling on the floor gulped. “Well kido,” he looked at me and held my shoulder. “Good luck.” He said as he got up and left me to face my destiny.

I felt a small smile rise to my cheek as I looked at his back. I thought about something to say for a moment as he started to prepare for the guard duty.

“When mom gets up, I will tell her the recipe for the delicious salad I ate.” James flinched and looked at me with a mouth open.

I smiled at him with a cheeky smile and in return he stuck his tongue out and smiled.

“Child!” Amara called from the kitchen. “I have a test for you, come here.” I left the corridor and went to Amara, I saw her mixing all types of herbs with a couple of cut vegetables inside a bowel.

She pointed at the three herbs that she was mixing in the bowel. “I saw you read ‘102 herbs for body regeneration’ in my shop, do you recognize any of these herbs?”

I looked at the herbs and tried to recall the content of the book that I didn’t really read. I shook my head, “No, I don’t really remember.”

Amara nodded and looked at me patiently.

“The red one is Farianis, the dark one is Bemarel, and the green one with dark blue spots is Siburon.” She pointed at each one. “They are healing herbs, each with their own small benefits, this will help you regain a bit of energy.”

Amara kept on toiling with the salad as she added a bit more ingredients.

“So that was the test? To see if I knew the herbs?”

She looked at me, gave me a small smile and turned silent.

Until James left saying goodbye with a wink.

“You read that book right after our first lesson, you stayed on the first page, when I had the talk with James and Charlotte.” Amara broke the silence. “the first page talks about these three basic herbs, and it has a drawing of them.”

She turned her head from the mixture inside the bowel to me, and gave me a small gentle smile. “You also moved closer to them, it was quite obvious, I simply wanted to know if you really read anything.”

I felt my ears burning, she knew that I was trying to hear them. I thought as I looked her in the eyes I felt my chest get heavier.

“It’s alright to keep secrets, by the dragons I sure have some of them myself. But sometimes they can get heavy, do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I do,” the words left my mouth and the weight on my chest lessened “but. It’s not like I am feeling bad. Or something like that.”

Amara pushed her lips to a thin line. “you are saying that you are not feeling bad, but are you feeling good?” She asked and I found out that I couldn’t answer her.

“I’m not telling you to start opening up to everyone on everything, but maybe as a start you could open up before your mother and father. Not only that, but children your age should be going around shouting and crying at every corner they go, and yet you are often very quiet and somewhat mature. It's as if I’m not truly talking to a child sometimes.”

Amara paused for a second and looked away, slightly biting her lips, she raised her hand and waved it, as if a bad smell was in the air.

“Forget what I said child.” She said while putting the salad bowl on a wooden table “come and eat.”

I did as she said and sat on the table, looking at her tense back as she returned to the kitchen. I thought about what she said and kept looking at her as she cleaned the kitchen.

“Is being quiet a bad thing?” I asked her and she flinched in return.

Amara didn’t turn to look at me, “that’s not what I meant, what I said wasn’t right, so don’t mind it.”

As I stood there looking at her back, silence took the room, the type of heavy silence, one that screamed for words to fill it.

She helped me so much, and I gave her nothing in return. I thought

“I apologize if I angered you in any way Amara.” I quietly said.

Amara sighed heavily and turned. “Why are you apologizing, you did nothing wrong I just…” she stopped to massage her nose “I was just mumbling nonsense, you are perfect the way you are.”

She looked at the table and then at me. “Now come on, start to eat,” she lightly nudged my shoulder towards the table.

Although it felt lighter, I could still feel the heavy silence in the room as I ate.