During the past month I had finally shattered the space in my room to the right conditions I needed to practice the Internal World technique, but I wanted to wait until after the meeting with my parents before I started to practice the technique. My waiting to practice it until after was purely a logical decision and had nothing to do with my inability to focus, my focus was razor sharp and I could practice the difficult technique if I wanted to, or at least that’s what I told myself.

Instead of practicing Internal World I decided to go to The Archives to relax and get away from my restless thoughts and stop worrying about the meeting happening not too long from now.

After arriving in my room in The Archives I put on some comfortable and relaxing robes before truly entering The Archives. Looking up at the ceiling was a habit, and this time I saw a giant planet that took up a large portion of the celestial view of The Archives. The planet had many rings and moons around it, and it was mostly land with some large portions of water dotted around it. On the dark side of the planet I could see what looked like the lights of a civilization lighting up the dark. On the poles of the planet there were dancing walls of multicolor light, and I could also make out multicolor rivers flowing through the sky of the planet.

As always the ceiling of The Archives was breathtaking and I just stood there looking at it for quite a while. It really helped me put things into perspective and realize that I was definitely scared to meet with my parents no matter how much I tried to deny it. I didn’t have an answer as to what I should do about these feelings, but at least I understood that I was feeling them.

I habitually grabbed a tablet and went to my usual seat, but even after I sat down I didn’t look at my tablet and just continued to think while I stared into space for who knows how long.

Then a voice came from beside me interrupting my thoughts, “What are you thinking about?”

I was taken out of my thoughts and turned towards the speaker. It was Genesis, obviously, no one else had ever talked to me in The Archives besides her in this life. “It’s nothing big. My parents are coming to visit me and I’m just a little nervous. I haven’t met them in a long time and I’m just not sure what to say.”

“Your parents?” She sounded a little surprised, “I thought that you were doing some kind of isolated training or something where you couldn’t meet with anyone.”

“Yeah, for the most part that’s true, but not for my family.” I sigh, “But even then, this is the first time anyone besides my sister has come to visit me. I’m worried that I might say something I shouldn’t during the meeting and ruin everything.”

“Ruin everything? What are you going to ruin?”

I can tell that Genesis is trying to help me but I responded, “I could ruin everything. If I mess up my parents could try and pull me out of my ‘training’ and I would lose my chance to obtain a Tier zero talent orb. I can’t risk that, I need that orb if I want to awaken a Tier nine talent. So I need to make sure that I convince my parents to let me stay, but I worry that no matter what I say they’ll still try and take me home.”

Genesis seems to ponder what I said for a moment before saying, “Why don’t you just tell them the truth? Surely they’ll let you stay if they understand that you don’t want to give up on your training.”

“I can’t do that, it won’t work.” I shake my head.

“And why can’t you do that? Will they still try and take you out despite knowing that you want to stay?”

“I-” I stop and think about it. Would they let me stay if I told them I wanted to? Maybe, but I would have to tell them everything if I wanted to convince them. I continue, “No they probably would let me stay even if I told them I wanted to.”

I pause for a second wondering what I should say next, but Genesis takes the opportunity to speak, “Hmm, I think that you’re just afraid that they won’t listen to you.”

Afraid? I shook my head, “No I’m not a-”

“Don’t dismiss it so casually.” She interrupts, “I know I have a hard time talking to my parents about the things I want. I mean I always thought that they wouldn't listen to me or that they were too busy to care, and maybe sometimes that was true. However I’ve found that I just need to have the right conditions to get them to listen to me.”

“The right conditions?” I raised my eyebrow slightly at her.

“I know it sounds a bit skeptical but it’s true. For example, whenever I want my Dad to do something for me I have to make sure that nobody else is around or else he’ll immediately say no. He cares too much about rules and traditions and says he can’t show favoritism to one of his children.” She has a sour face as she says that last part. Then she continues, “So what I’m saying is that you need to make sure the right conditions are met and then you can get your parents to listen to you. I don’t know what exactly those would be, but you’re smart enough, I think you’ll be able to figure it out.”

Now that I think about it, maybe she’s onto something. I always thought that there was no way to get my parents to understand because the prison would be listening in on everything and I couldn’t risk exposing my escape plans, but maybe if I can get the right conditions like Genesis says, then I could convince my parents despite the prison listening.

“Genesis I think you’re onto something there.”

Genesis sits up straighter with a faint smile, “Yeah I know. It’s not often that I teach you something is it?”

I give a small laugh and say, “Thanks Genesis, for listening to my problems, but you’re the only one I can really talk to.”

“Don’t mention it. Besides, you've helped me out whenever I’ve needed it, so I’m happy to help.”

I smiled and felt a notification go off in my mind. It was time for me to leave so I said, “Well I guess I need to leave now. I’ll see you later then.”

“OK, see ya later.” She waved to me.

I left The Archives with a thought, and waited in my room for the guards to come get me.

-Break-

I regained my senses as the guards left through the door leaving me alone in the room I would be meeting my parents in for the first time in more than a century. The room was barren and devoid of any color with only a table and some chairs in the middle of the room. The only source of light in the room was a flat pane of white right above the table. There was a sort of finality in the lighting of the room, like there was only one option for light.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Luckily, or maybe unluckily, this wasn’t one of those rooms with glass separating the two people who were meeting. Maybe it was because I was only ten years old and nobody thought I could do any harm, or maybe that was just the law and had nothing to do with me personally.

In any case I walked over to the circular table and sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs. You would think that such an advanced society would make all of their chairs comfortable, but people tried to save money wherever possible. Besides, who would want to spend more money than necessary when dealing with criminals, even if they were only just potential criminals.

I was used to this kind of treatment by now though, since I had dealt with it for most of my life, but I could never fully accept it. Maybe if I didn’t have my memories of my life back on Earth I wouldn’t find as many problems with my situation and would just quietly accept it, but although my life on Earth was short compared to my life in Epidas, it still showed me what a life without constant anxiety and struggles was supposed to look and feel like.

Not long after I sat down the only other door into the room opened and two people walked in. One was well built and tough looking, wearing a dark but fancy looking suit with a no-nonsense look on his face. The other was shorter than the man, with a thin build. She had a bright smile and colorful clothes that made her look like the shining sun coming to light up the dull room.

They were Reinbeck and Dawn Shadow, my parents.

“Radiant!” My Mom’s smile got even brighter when she saw me. She rushed over to me and wrapped me in a hug making it difficult to breathe.

My Dad calmly closed the door behind him before walking over and sitting down on his own chair. He said, “That’s enough dear. We have important things to talk about.”

She continued to hug me, “He’s my baby, I can hug him as long as I want.”

“Dawn, please.” My Dad sounded like he was used to my Mom’s antics but was pleading for her to listen.

My Mom sighed before reluctantly parting with me and pulling over a seat to sit almost right next to me. The whole situation felt awkward to me and made me feel a slight lump in my stomach for some reason.

Reinbeck almost immediately started talking after Dawn sat down, “So Son how have you been doing? We’ve been receiving reports of course, but we want to hear it from you personally.”

“Everything’s fine.” I didn’t really know how to answer, “I guess I’ve mostly just been practicing magic? Life is really boring here, besides my visits with Mystdell, but my classes about magic and stuff are at least somewhat interesting.”

My Mom said, “Classes on magic? Since when have you been taught magic?” My Dad also nodded to my Mom’s question with a bit of a squint in his eyes.

“It just started not that long ago after I told Radix that I wanted to know more about dungeons and stuff.” I only gave a cursory answer, but that didn’t seem to satisfy my parents.

My Dad asked, “What exactly are they teaching you in these classes?”

“Just simple stuff.” I said, “Things like the different types of dungeons, different magic fields, but my favorite was the one about power rankings.”

“Hmm, it’s great that you’re learning the basics at least.” My Dad seemed to ponder for a moment before slightly nodding to himself then saying, “Well moving on, we came here to talk to you about taking you home.”

“Taking me home?” I hardened my look ever so slightly, but my Mom seemed to pick up on this slight reaction.

“What’s wrong Radiant? Do you not want to go home?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go home…” Of course I wanted to go home, but I absolutely had to get my hands on the Tier 0 talent orb. I continued, “It’s just that I think I need to stay here for now. I don’t think I’m one hundred percent stable yet.”

“For what reason? The Mentalist said that you’re still a little unstable, but he also said that you’ve improved greatly since you’ve come here.” My Dad said, “If that’s what you’re worried about then we can get you to see a different Mentalist at home. You don’t have to stay here to be treated.”

I clenched my teeth unconsciously and started to move my leg up and down as I replied in a somewhat clipped manner, “It’s nothing, you don’t have to worry about it. I just think that it would be best if I stay here for now.” A pit formed in my stomach as I said that, but at the same time I felt a small burning sensation begin to build in my chest.

My Dad leaned forward in his seat and rested his arms on the table, “Tell us Radiant. Is it about us? Whatever it is, we won't be upset with you.”

“It’s not about you, it’s personal.” In truth I wanted to talk to someone about my grievances, but I didn’t think I could do that without at least somewhat ruining my plans and possibly coming across as slightly crazy.

My Mom tried to reassure me, “Radiant, if you don’t tell us we can’t help you. Just tell us, nothing bad can happen to you if we help you.”

I felt my anxiety building as I recalled the past, trapped inside my own body not in control of most of my own actions. If nothing could happen to me if my parents wanted to help me, then why was it that I ended up like that in the past? Did they not care about me in the past? Was my Mom lying to me? Or was she just saying what she thought I wanted to hear?

I tried to control my breathing and actions as I answered, “Would you really help me? Even if you knew you couldn’t do anything to help?”

“Of course we would try to help you.” My Dad said, “But if we don’t know what’s wrong then how are we supposed to help you?”

“If you don’t know…” Of course. I thought. It wasn’t because my parents didn’t care about me, it was because they didn’t know I needed help. My anxiety and the pit in my stomach didn’t fully go away, but it did significantly recede. It all comes back around. If I was stronger back then and was able to ask my parents for help, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to suffer like I did. I grit my teeth and my eye twitched slightly as the burning in my chest grew hotter.

My Mom interrupted my thoughts, “Talk to us Radiant. Tell us what’s on your mind.”

“What’s on my mind? Hehehe.” My bottom lip quivered. I tried to keep up my calm and collected persona, but my Acting skill failed. I started to quietly laugh to myself. Why was I trying to act calm and collected? I'm in a prison for crazy people after all!

My Mom furrowed her brows slightly at my actions, “Radiant why are you-”

“You want to know right? I’ll tell you. I don’t want you to bring me home. There, I said it. But it’s not because of you, I wasn’t lying when I said that.” I moved my hand to my face to cover the smile that grew on my lips, “It’s because of the crazy government, and this stupid prison, and everyone else that wants to lock me up and control me.”

I moved my hand and openly displayed an aggressive and mischievous smile, “They think that they can lock me up? No, no I’ll show them.” I clenched my fists tightly as I thought about my escape plans. Was I saying too much? Should I continue talking? Who cares! It’s not like they’ll take me seriously, they never did in the past. “Hah! I’ll escape from this place on my own. I’ll be free on my own terms, not because someone else decided to give it to me.”

I took a glance at my Mom, and I saw a look of concern on her face and she was looking towards my Dad. Looking over at him he looked like he was meditating or almost praying with his forehead against his closed fists.

My Mom looked back at me and said, “Radiant, that’s not…” She looked like she was trying to find out how to phrase what she wanted to say, then she gave a deep sigh before saying, “You’re not going to be able to escape from this place by yourself Radiant. This is the best prison in Tallen and it’s surrounded by extremely dangerous wilderness.”

My Dad interjected, “That’s enough Dawn. Radiant, just give up on that foolish thought and come home with us.”

“I’m not going to give up Dad. Just thinking about the look on everyone’s faces when I manage to escape from here makes me shiver with excitement.” Truthful to my statement a shiver ran through my body as I thought about it. Most of the time I was very logical and didn’t let my emotions cloud my judgment, but some things just made my blood boil and drove me forward even if it wasn’t the most ‘logical’. I made a final statement, “In fact I urge you to give up Dad. I’m not leaving this place unless I escape from here on my own, and no one can convince me otherwise.”

Both of my parents tried to convince me to come home with them, but even if I didn’t want to rub my escape in the government’s face I would still need to stay here to get the Tier 0 talent awakening orb.

Needless to say, the meeting with my parents didn’t really go anywhere after my statement, and they failed to achieve the intended goal of their visit. I felt bad about losing my composure, and I guess that, maybe, I’m not as stable as I thought I was. But I’ve heard that the line between genius and insanity is a fine line, and who but a genius could figure out time travel almost solely on their own?