Chapter 17:Kenta and Sage

Darkness has swallowed me.

There's nothing, there's nobody in here.

I call for Chitose and Toya, only the echoes of my voices reply me.

I'm all alone.

Tears begin to flow from my eyes again.

Boys don't cry.

I'm not crying because I'm scared, but I hate to be alone.

Not again!

'Pro...ceed… Proceed…'

Suddenly, I can hear that annoying voice in my head. It always tells me to proceed. Perhaps it's trying to tell me something, but every time it tells me to proceed, my right arm hurt. At the first time, it doesn't too hurt, but as time goes by, it calls me more often, the pain also getting worse. Even sometimes on my sleep, it calls me. I never told Toya nor Chitose about this.

'Proceed…'

The voice also becomes clearer than before. I'm thinking to try to talk with it.

"Hello?"

No answer.

"Who are you? Why you always keep telling me to proceed?"

Long silence with no answer.

'At…suma…'

I hear someone is calling my name.

"Can you hear me?"

'At…suma…Proceed…'

"You know me?"

'I've been with you for some times now. I'm you and you're me. I know everything about you.'

"You know everything? Can you tell me then?" I hope it'll explain my past.

'The time… will come… for the Awakening. Follow my order…'

"What? I don't get it."

Suddenly I can hear someone's voice, a woman voice. The voice is not soft as Chitose's. It's strong and clear. But I can feel a love and affection from that voice.

"Kenta? Are you there? Kenta?" A woman is calling for somebody. I don't know who she is nor who she is looking for.

"I'm here." A cheerful young boy voice replies.

After a while, I can see a young woman is walking by. It becomes so bright, my eyes hurt because of the sudden light.

"What are you doing in here Kenta?"

A little boy with silver hair runs toward the woman. He's beckoning me. I can't see his face. He looks really small, smaller than me. Maybe he's on his four, so his body is still small.

"Sage, I found these beautiful stones in there. Look, they're glowing with so many colors. So I think to collect them for you."

"Kenta…" She pats his little head.

The boy takes one of the stone from his left hand. It's still glowing for a seconds, then the glow stops. It becomes an ordinary stone. An 'hmm?' comes from the boy.

"Sage?" The boy asks with confusion. He needs an answer and so do I.

The woman smile kindly, and open her mouth, "Kenta, the stone was enchanted, it contains with lots of ether, and so you can't touch it with your right hand."

"Eh?" The boy more confused with that answer, and so do I.

"You're special, Kenta. Your right arm can absorb ether and enchantment power from anything enchanted."

"Is that so? Can I absorb ether from others too?"

The woman nods slightly.

"Whoa, I am special!"

The woman's smile vanishes from her face. Her eyes don't shine as brighter as the time the boy showed her the glowing stones. She breathes deeply.

"Kenta, you are special, but sometimes people are afraid of it."

"Why?" The voice is sad yet confuse.

"…Because… People are afraid of something different from them."

"But I'm not different, I'm special…"

The woman called Sage pats Kenta's head again. "Yes, you're not different from others. You're Kenta, a boy with a special power."

Kenta nods several times quickly, satisfied with Sage's answer, contented with his special power.

"But…" she interrupts, "your power… you can't use it to do any harm to others. Once you touch someone, you'll absorb his or her power and make them can't do any enchantment again."

It fills with silence for a while.

"Um… I don't get it… So… Am I dangerous?"

Sage laughs softly then inhaling. "Maybe… but as long as you've friend who believe in you, you'll be fine..."

That is the end of the conversation. I don't get it, why he shows me this. I don't know who Kenta is, but I feel I've seen Sage somewhere, a long time ago. I also have feeling that I've been in that place before. It feels like… I'm home.

'…ou… … not… re…mem…ber that…'

I can hear that voice again.

"Sorry, I can't hear you very well. Can you say it once more?"

'...on't… h…ve... to... re…...m…ber… it…'

"What?"

"Atsuma? Atsuma, are you sleeping?"

I hear someone's knocking my door. I open half of my eyes. My consciousness isn't fully come back to me. I move my right hand to rub my eyes; I feel a strong pulse around my hand, it hurts me so much.

"Argh!"

I bit my lower lips and grit my teeth tightly. I want to scream loudly, but I'm afraid that Chitose will be panicking too much. I hate to see that worry face of Chitose.

"Atsuma?"

I can hear Chitose's footsteps are coming near to my door. She then knocks it.

"Atsuma? Dinner almost ready." She knocks several times before calling my name again.

I try so hard to open my mouth, but when I open it, heavy breath coming from my mouth.

"I…"

"Atsuma?"

"I'm awake." I tell her faintly.

"You OK?"

"…yes" I almost lost my strength and consciousness.

"Ok…" She says like she's confuse. "Ah, dinner almost ready, we'll wait for you in the kitchen."

"OK." That is my last strength, but it sounds assuring.

Chitose walks away to somewhere. I hold my breath, lock my lips tightly and close my eyes. In hope to surpass this pain. I can feel my sweats flowing from my head to my cheeks and finally united again in my chin and when it's heavy enough, the sweat drips into my bed. I throw myself to my bed still closing my eyes. My breath slowly becomes normal and my lips slowly open to breathe the fresh air. The pain is gone. I can feel my right arm still trembling, but at least the pain is gone now.

I stand up and change my sweaty clothes with the clean one. I look at the mirror, my face is like a death man, white and cold.

How I can go out with the face like this. Chitose must be worried to death if she saw this. What should I do? What should I do? But if I stay here too long, Chitose will be worried too.

It's not the time to be worry in here. I'll find some reason if she asks. Hope she doesn't ask though.