Whether it be from the sudden use of magic having finally taken its toll on the younger girl, the gentle swaying of the carriage (aided by Penny’s magic), Penny’s warmth, the fact that she had been reduced to tears fifty times today or just plain exhaustion, maybe even a combination or all of the above, Jasmine fell into a deep, heavy sleep. Out like a light, not even Penny’s movements as she went to wipe her own tears could have woken her. Not much could’ve in fact, not even any sudden movements from hitting particularly large rocks nor even if someone moved the fragile mage.
But despite this deep and heavy state of sleep she had found herself in, her mind was filled with various thoughts. Many emotions flowed through her, a sea of contrasting feelings and images mixing together in a constant blur. As fast as an emotion came, it was replaced by another. The moment a new image popped into her head, it was gone just as quick and replaced by yet another. But one constant seemed to remain. She had yet to be able to put her finger on this sensation, but it grew and grew as the moments passed.
She had felt this sensation just earlier this day. It felt nostalgic, yet it was a new sensation to her. It was hard to explain. But there was no doubt in her mind that she had felt this before. Somewhere, sometime, long ago….
Next thing she knew, she was floating in a large, open space. There was nothing here but white, neverending as it went as far as she could see; and further. She had no idea where she was, but instead of being gripped at by fear she felt safe and secure. Even this far deep inside her own mind, she could feel the warmth and comfort Penny provided and this settled the water mage. Though as to why she was here….this was a question that burned brightly.
Soon more images flew into her mind, these ones at a drastically slower pace than the ones previous. She was soon immersed in them, drowning in them. These were
her memories. Memories she had forgotten a long time ago, till now. They were certainly a... startling development to her.
“..long….child.”A voice, which had the warmth and comfort of a father talking to their young child, echoed throughout her mind as a light, accompanied the images and startled Jasmine. She had heard this voice before, yet no face came to mind when she thought of them. Instead, just a name.
“Ryujin…” Her voice came out as a soft mumble, both in her mind and in the carriage. How she knew this name was associated with this deep, distant voice, she didn’t exactly know or remember. But it was beginning to dawn on her that she had indeed forgotten something important.
“I’ve been trying…..you.” The voice sounded closer, close enough that she could tell by its tone that the person attempting to speak to her seemed half-asleep. Yet something seemed to be interfering with her ability to hear it properly.
“I’m….many questions….seal.” Jasmine attempted to move closer towards where she heard the voice come from, but her body simply wouldn’t move. Her body suddenly felt like it was made of lead, every simple movement taking considerable effort. She could see where the source was, it was from a bright light that only grew brighter and brighter. It was even brighter than the white she was surrounded by.
But just as it seemed like the light was about to reach her, it vanished, causing the young girl to blink a couple of hundred times.
“W-wait! Come back!” Calling out into the white void, she frantically tried to move. But once more, she found the going tough and even for any ground she gained on where the light had once been, she had no idea if she was going forward, backward, up, down nor even left or right.
After what seemed like an eternity of attempted flailing, the white around her seemed to change slightly. It began to form images, of a young blond haired girl. Surrounded by plushies and dolls in a lacrima, room shaped cage. The girl seemed bored, distant and lonely.
The images only lasted a moment, before flashing to the same girl. But this time in a poorly lit room, strapped to a table and surrounded by blurred, humanoid shapes that somewhat resemble humans, yet to both Jasmine and the girl seemed more monster than man. She felt a familiar fear grip at her heart at the sight, and it only grew as the girl cried out. She couldn’t quite make out what they were doing, but somehow she knew they were injecting the girl. With what, she couldn’t quite remember, but her body was overcome with a bad case of the shakes.
Even as the next one came in, she had already worked out what these images were. They were her own memories, that girl was
her. Her arms ached at the thought of the injections, the painful needles that felt like had been stabbed right through the frail arms, at the cold voices of the doctors that spoke of her like she wasn’t even human. That she was just ‘another experiment’....but yet she couldn’t place these memories anywhere. They felt more like an incredibly bad dream.
But the next one confirmed it was her own memories. The girl seemed a little older, this one more like herself just a couple of years ago. Even with the various bandages across her arms and head, she could still make out enough of her own face to recognize it. She also knew there were more bandages, just not visible. She was with her parents, and another man she didn’t recognize.Yet she knew this man; he was the one that had saved her from that place….
“Wait...what was that place again?” Mumbling softly, she held her head in her hands as she thought hard. However, the harder she thought the more her head began to hurt. Her memories were fragmented more than ever, yet they were starting to make more and more sense now.
Yes...it was all coming back to her, slowly. She couldn’t remember any further back, but her first memories were of being at this place. She would’ve only been four or five at the time, she was one of many children being held here. At first, all the children were playful with one another. They acted like
kids with each other, they were taught many things by the adults and undertook many tests, some written but others of the more physical and painful kind. Those who did well were rewarded with sweets and toys, those who didn’t….vanished. Never to be seen again.
She was never one of the top kids, but she was also never near the bottom either. They hadn’t known at the time, but they had all been handpicked for an experiment. They were all children of mages who had been persecuted by the council and imprisoned for practicing their craft, or by their various local courts, who would miss them. Under the guise of an orphanage, they let the ones that failed go to families but those who still had the potential to continue the experiment stay. Listed as ‘problem children’ scared off most potential adopters, and those who weren’t scared off by that were probably just denied and given other choices.
However, the time eventually came where it was just a small group of children left in the experiment. The ‘final ten’ so to put it, with Jasmine somehow sneaking into it as ‘Nine’. The group, despite being competitive with one another, was tight-knit bar a few individuals.
These special children were given an entirely different set of experiments, ones bordering more and more on illegal experimentation. 'Three' was the first one to die, a girl a year older than Jasmine with bright red hair that went with a bright and cheerful attitude. The older sister of the group of ten. Suffering a fatal allergic reaction to some of the injections they were given, a grave mistake on their part.
Yet the experiment continued undeterred. A year passed, Jasmine thinks most of the group was nine at the time when the next lot of children expired. This time during an obstacle course mishap, Five and Tem perished when a section of the course, the climbing wall that was twenty feet tall and they had to scale with their bare hands, collapsed during a test. The two boys were crushed almost immediately while Seven, the youngest member of the group a year younger than them all and a girl with purple hair, was hurt badly enough that she could no longer continue the experiment and thus was cast aside.
Jasmine paused for a moment, waiting for the slow trickle of memories to flow into her mind.
How would she have known this? The children hadn’t been informed of Three’s death, just that she had found a new home. Five and Ten made sense, but how did she know Seven had been disposed of? How did she even know about the more specific parts of the experiment? What was the experiment for anyway?
She didn’t dwell on it long as the memories began to flow more and more now, dragging her attention back to them. Maybe she would find out the reason soon enough through this mess of memories.
She was dragged right back to when she was eleven. She was the only remaining member, the other five having perished during tests that became more and more hazardous. How her fragile body survived many of them was nothing short of a miracle, with many close calls along the way. Like during one test, where they all had to test their reaction speed by dodging
arrow traps. She had tripped over, grazed by an arrow before the rest of the volley she had triggered had slammed into a brown-haired boy’s, Eight’s, chest.
Or when they were all thrown
literally into the deep end of a large body of water, she didn’t drown only because of One, a boy with strawberry blonde hair, had helped keep her afloat. He fell victim to hypothermia, for being in the water for too long after also helping out the others. Two and Six, a boy with black hair and a girl with fluoro pink, got into a tussle and ended up fatally injuring one another. Falling down seventy-seven flights of stairs will do that, while Four, yet another boy with brown hair but he stood out because he was
covered in freckles, simply couldn’t handle the stress and expired.
Thus, left with no other options to continue the experiment left she was left horrified at the memory of them cutting her open and inserting a lacrima inside her was revisited. If she wasn’t currently inside her mind right now, she would probably have fainted or been throwing up right about now. Even so, she absently traced over where the scar should be on her abdomen.
“Ah, I see you’ve….remembered.” Once more she heard the voice, this time far, far closer and it startled her. Looking around frantically once more, she couldn’t quite find the source at all despite her twisting and turning. At the same time, the memory began to change once more. It was back to the ‘cage’, as she stood over her younger version. She wanted to reach out and comfort her, tell her everything would get better...but couldn't. Even if she did, she was in her own memories. Like her past self could hear it.
“Ryujin...why must the white coated people be so mean?” Her own, raspy voice surprised her even as she watched her younger version talk. Wait, where was this ‘Ryujin’ she spoke of?! She couldn’t see him anywhere in the room…
Despite that, her past-self seemed unperturbed and nodded seemingly to herself.
“I..I see. But if so...why aren’t we allowed outside? I miss the others….” The present Jasmine was confused as the eleven-year-old her continued to seemingly talk to herself.
She should know where Ryujin was, but she couldn’t quite connect with that thought at this present moment in time. It was an important fact, she knew it. And to add to her frustration, it was on the tip of her tongue. So tantalizingly close, yet so far. All she could remember was that he close….very, very close. And he was talking to her, though she couldn’t quite remember the words he spoke.
Watching as the conversation dragged out a little longer, mostly consisting of younger Jasmine quietly mumbling to Ryujin about her various aches, pains and urges, the older, present Jasmine was startled as cracks began to run around her. Soon the scenery around her shattered into tiny pieces, much like her previous memories of her parents as everything finally began to fall into place.
Memories of her talking, laughing, crying, training, trying her damndest to pass various tests designed to push her to her very limits in the new magic she had unlocked…..it was all coming back.
She really was a...
“About time young one. I was growing impatient, why must humans be so incompetent?” The voice echoed around her once more, but for once it was crystal clear. And it was...coming from...behind….her….
Slowly turning around, she was startled at the sight of a
creature of such a monstrous size that it made the guild hall look small in comparison. Its long serpentine body was covered in scales that would make any armor envious of its toughness. Opening its mouth, revealing rows up rows of sharp, sword-like teeth, it exhaled deeply. There was no doubt about it; it was a dragon.
“Even after all this time young one, this form still frightens you? Though it has been a couple of years and some….different circumstances. So I’ll allow your insolence to slide this time.” Training an eye on Jasmine, it seemed to let out a heavy sigh. Almost as if it was used to this from the young girl.
“But regardless, despite what I said before my slumber it is good to see you again. You sure have grown little one.” Taking on that same fatherly tone she had heard earlier. This was definitely the same as the voice that had been trying to speak to her this entire time.
“Ry...ujin?” Speaking slowly, she cautiously reached out to touch the dragon. Her nervous tone and obvious body language made the ancient creature chuckle. It had only been a couple of years, but despite her obvious changes physically she had barely changed personality wise. Other than she seemed far more mentally stable, something he was glad for.
“Yes, young one?” Patting the top of Jasmine’s head softly with one of his antenna-like whiskers, Ryujin spoke fondly.
“I’m...I...I’m so sorry!” She tried her best, but she couldn’t stop the steady stream of tears that flowed as it began to hit home. She had forgotten all this, nine whole years of her life just gone from her memory. Her old memories seemed distant, broken. They were all fake. Fourteen years worth of falsified memories with her parents, but the illusion was as fragile as glass. All it took was a pebble, and it came crashing down all around her.
“It's ok, child. It is not your fault, but mine and that man who are to blame for sealing your memories and magic away for your own protection. You did not forget about me, I instead replaced myself with fake memories. We thought you deserved a proper, normal life….but alas I didn’t expect you to ever come into contact with a magic with such a pure concentrated source of ethernano.” Despite Ryujin’s attempts to comfort her, she still couldn’t stop once the dam had broken.
Not sure what to say to calm her down, the dragon gently stroked the top of the blonde’s head. Not exactly like he could embrace her, it wasn’t his fault her mind had envisioned him to be the size of a skyscraper. That and his lack of arms, and his talons the size of her would make it very uncomfortable.
But, after some more time, she eventually calmed herself. Still a few sniffles here and there, but it was certainly a huge improvement on the whole bawling her eyes out she was doing just a moment ago. A huge tick there, her old self mightn’t have stopped….
“So all this time...I’ve admired magic, desired it….and I had it the entire time.” Even the timid and meek Jasmine couldn’t help but have a small chuckle at that. It was laughable, pathetic even. Her memories were a huge mess now, but with the help of Ryujin, she managed to filter out the fake ones. Though in the end, she felt a few were still missing….like how she had escaped the experiment. Who the man who had helped her was. Why Ryujin and the man had decided to seal away her magic and memories. And these were just a few. Her and Ryujin spoke for some time, with him dodging questions such as those.
Ryujin simply answered
“In time, I shall reveal the rest to you. But as it is, the amount that has returned in such a small frame of time will take its toll. But if you ever request my assistance, use your pendant to contact me. For I am always with you, remember that.” Just as Jasmine was about to ask what those words meant, she felt herself being dragged away from Ryujin. The dragon, seeming unperturbed simply made a note that the ‘Phoenix’ had finally decided to awaken Jasmine, and wished his young charge luck. He also granted her a ‘gift’ of sorts.
Memories of how to use spells, in case they were needed for the perils that no doubt plagued this small town.
It took quite a bit of shaking to wake the girl from her slumber. Groggily, the younger girl looked around the carriage as if dazed. Where was she again? Oh right, she and Penny were on their way to help a village with a flying fish problem. That was when she had fallen asleep and…
And what? Her mind was clouded, her concentration shot. She barely made out what Penny had said, her glazed over eyes slowly blinking a few times before she finally registered what the older girl was saying. So they were in the village then? If she didn’t feel so under the weather right now, she might’ve been sick from nerves. This was her first mission as a Phoenix Wing mage, after all, she didn’t want to screw it up….
But with Penny here, there was no way it could go that badly….right?
Slowly coming to her senses properly, the younger girl slowly got out of the carriage and looked around. Well, the scenes around her woke her up quite nicely as she visibly flinched. So much destruction, bloodstained streets and buildings...and the people resembled mummies with the number of bandages some had, so many wounded….and who knew how many were dead.
With shaky hands, she grabbed the bottom of Penny’s shirt tightly and hung close to the older girl.This wasn’t what she had expected one bit, and was starting to have second thoughts accompanying the older girl. If it wasn’t for the fact that the realization she had made along the way here had begun to resurface in her mind and distract her, she might’ve screamed at the sight of the vet running over to them and the frantic manner in which he began to talk to the two girls.
Which if she had freaked out, he probably would’ve lost the plot entirely so it was lucky for both parties her mind cleared up right then and then. Though she still hid behind of Penny as the man talked, keeping her mouth clamped shut tighter than a vice grip. She wanted to tell Penny everything she had remembered while she slept, about Ryujin, about her magic...but even she knew when to wait for the appropriate moment. And now wasn’t that moment.
The man seemed desperate, and even more panicked than Jasmine thought as he essentially shouted the situation at them. His tone and frantic actions made the girl try and shrink even further away from him and behind of Penny. Were these fish really so dangerous? They could
kill people?! What had she gotten herself into…?
She was never that good at hiding her feelings, but the man’s departure caused quite visible relief to Jasmine. The man was frightening, in more ways than one, despite Jasmine now having the knowledge he wasn’t a threat to her in the slightest. In fact, she was more of a threat to him….but regardless, the man’s fear and panic were almost contagious. His actions, wild and unpredictable.
“I...I can see why..” At Penny’s mention of the man being on edge, Jasmine looked around the town square. With the town doctor out for the count and so many wounded with virtually no supplies left as well….it was a miracle they all hadn’t gone mad. She couldn’t help but wonder, even if they got rid of the fish if this town would ever return to what was probably a happy, prosperous rural town with kind, friendly relations with each neighbour….
“I’m...not sure.” Nervously, Jasmine licked her lips at Penny’s next question. How could she explain this? Right here wasn’t the right place, nor was it the right time. But she should give Penny something, anything to ease her worries about the water mage.
“I...remember more now. I-I’m not sure about fighting, but I can help these people at least! Ryujin...my dragon….he showed me….I can heal and defend.” Speaking softly and slowly, she looked downcast at her feet. She wasn’t sure how much she could help, but even a little bit of help was better than nothing!
“W-we should go see the doctor. If we can help her, then it should ease the people’s nerves. And she might be able to tell us some more about the situation!” Looking up at Penny, for the first time her eyes had a hardness to them. She had found a purpose, finally understood what was happening to her. She was determined not to let down Penny’s faith, or anyone else’s for that matter. Though the tone that she spoke with didn’t quite match the determination she was trying to give off, it was a start.
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