I heard a familiar voice ring out around me. I opened my eyes and saw the bottom half of two figures. One had baggy ivory white pants which had an absurd amount of folds and the other figure was wearing a beautiful turquoise dress. I felt drowsy and my entire head felt like it was inside a pool of syrup. I could barely see and it felt like that dream…..that dream I had so long ago. Why am I dreaming right now?

But my attention quipped when I heard one of the figures speak. I assumed the person in the dress was a woman and judging by their voice I was right. Her voice sounded smooth but commanding, authoritative, and confident. She sounded like she was a military general—ready to give orders. Meanwhile the other figure sounded like a man—and he was much more…..carefree.

He sounded like he didn’t really care about anyone or anything. He sounded calm, cool, confident, but also so apathetic it made you feel like giving up on everything you ever dreamed of. I paid closer attention to their conversation, “Listen, don't worry about it, I can deal with some human kid,” the man spoke to the lady while tapping his feet.

“No actually, I don’t think you can. You’ve been dropping all sorts of responsibilities, tasks, and even the allotted land you were given. You have failed to take any sort of measure for any of your consequences,” she sounded stern and serious as she stood her ground. Even though she was much more dignified I could tell that this other guy was an absolute powerhouse. More than any human I’ve ever known—it almost felt like he was…..something else.

“Yeah well, I got the kid right?“ the atmosphere changed. He straightened up and stopped tapping his feet, “I’d also like to remind you that I was the one who successfully implanted the test-print into the peasant boy’s body. Your team and your family have actually given the credit to yourselves though,” the woman was suddenly the jittery one. The man now talked in a terrifying voice which seemed calm on the surface but secretly felt like an ice pike slowly poking into my chest.

“We…..covered that up. You couldn’t have known since we—“

“Since we kept that information private until I left for Nitala? Yes I know. Except for the fact that I am one of the four and have access to the know-hows of all meetings. Also, it’s not hard to filter out the situation. You guys are in need of positive public attention after last moon’s whole fiasco and there’s only one man who lets people past the border—who happens to be your relative,” the woman’s body visibly slumped and the man’s voice was now even more clear and intimidating. “So you keep my little secret or your positive press goes out of the metaphorical and physical window. Because if you tell the high throne my plans you will die by my hands, do you understand me?” The woman seemed to nod and walk away. Suddenly the figure turned towards me and I felt my insides turn to ice. “How is this possible,” he sped up and kept getting closer to me. I was curious about this dream and this person’s secret but it really felt like it was time to go. I felt myself waking up and being sucked back into reality. The figure stopped and seemed to be staring back at me before my vision went completely black.

I sat upright at the speed of lightning and looked around to find myself in a hospital bed. I had a back of liquor connected to my arm through a small tube and some water bags hooked up to my arms as well. I looked around the white hospital room and it wasn’t the most exciting room in the world. There was one table by the window and a couple of cabinets in the corner of the room. There was a large window along the front wall—letting me see everything that was happening in the hallways.

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Next to my bed was a small cabinet with a picture frame on top of it. The picture frame had a simple picture of a heart and a get well soon message on it. Well that must be a hassle…putting all those paintings in for every room must be cumbersome. But then I saw a small bouquet of flowers in a white cloth that rested beside the picture frame. The flowers were blue—with soft white middles and a bright green stem. They came in clumps of 5 and were fairly large. I picked them up and leaned back into my bed. We didn’t have a lot of nice flowers in my hometown–they were mostly weeds but we had the occasional rose or two. But I still couldn’t help but admire how pretty it was. The soft petals seemed to dance around my fingers as their delicate touch eased my emotions. I looked at the small tag placed around one of the stems. I squinted and looked at it closely.

To: Evay Maver

From: Aurora Maple

These cost a lot so don’t kill them.

Ps: Don’t die.

I smiled and read the letter again. I looked out the window and pulled the flowers to my chest—holding them close to my heart. After my joys though, I did have to wonder. Is what happened such a big deal? People pass out all the time right? I wondered why everyone was so jumpy. I wasn’t complaining about the flowers but still…..

Then suddenly a nurse with blonde hair came into my room and gave me a smile, “I see you awake, that’s good. I’ve been meaning to tell you about well….your situation,” he came near my bed and sat down in a chair. “You passing out had no effect on your health whatsoever. This is confusing since your vitals and your overall wellness are actually very good. Way too good for someone who passed out just a day ago. More than that, you passing out seems to have been caused by the overuse of your blueprint. Have you been training too much by any chance?”

“No, I actually haven’t even started yet,” she gave me a nod and wrote something down on a notepad. “Ok well you might be using your blueprint unknowingly. Having it activated enough to cause someone to pass out means that you’ve had yours activated all day,” I sat there in confusion.

I don’t even know what my powers do. How am I supposed to be able to know if I’m using them too much?

“Um well….this is all pretty new,” I gave her a nervous laugh before she gave me a reassuring smile.

“Yes, but we believe there is some worse news,” she had a solemn look on her face and I was prepared for the worst. “Your……case is not abnormal but it is severe in the sense that your body seems to be physically deteriorating from this overuse. We don’t know why this is happening as your blueprint is basically part of your body but we know that if this keeps happening…….you will die very quickly. Liquor ability overuse is a very common cause of death amongst warriors,” I sat there and looked at her a bit before leaning back in my bed.

“So I have to know how to control this or…..I die?” she gave me a nod.

“You will most likely pass out several times before you can control your blueprint. You will need to go to your supplemental classes right away as well. Right now you aren’t in the worst condition but you will be missing classes for a couple weeks. Just focusing on the matter at hand is more important than regular school,” I gave her a look that told her I wasn’t ready to miss a whole two weeks of classes.

She sighed and put her hand on my hand, “I’m sorry Evay, but your time here is limited if you don’t start this therapy. It’s a miracle you haven’t passed out at all before. Please understand that we need you to recover first, ok?” I looked at her and gave her a small nod. She smiled sadly and got up out of her chair.

“Your friends will still be able to visit, but there won’t be a lot of time. We’d still like for you to be happy even in this environment. Please tell me if you need anything,” she walked out of the room and I was left with my thoughts.

Why was this happening all of a sudden? What was my dream? What was my skill? I haven’t had any liquor ever so how could I control my abilities?

What was I? I have so many questions but I just keep getting more questions as an answer.

I’m tired. I just slept but I felt like I was trying to carry the weight of a mountain upon my shoulders. I rolled onto my side and stared out of the window. One step at a time…..one step at a time.