I awoke to the sound of whimpering and crying. My head spun as I pushed myself up. My vision was wild and hazy, and all the colors just seemed to blend together into a mess of vague shapes and images that made no sense. My hearing was just as worse; whatever sound I heard was simultaneously muted and loud, incoherent and reverberating noises. The only thing I could perceive well enough was the crying sounds, whose sources were uncomfortably close to me.

I pushed myself up and noted the dark figures around me. I blinked and shook my head, wiped my eyes, and still the haze remained.

My hearing returned first, confirming that, indeed, there were crying children around me.

“Uriel,” I turned to my left and saw a hazy, but somewhat familiar figure. The voice itself belonged to Olga, which meant she was here with me. The other figures must’ve been the other Neophytes. She laid a hand on my shoulder. “Uriel, are you alright? You were unconscious when they brought you in; did you mentor do something to you?”

“I’m fine… I’m just….” I muttered and shuddered at the memory that flashed in my mind’s eye. I huffed and pulled my knees close to my chest and hugged them and buried my face in them. “She… my mentor… she made me do… horrible things.”

“Lady Valaya made me burn people,” Olga began, her hand still resting upon my shoulder. “She wanted me to learn how to control my fire so that it doesn’t burn. Five people… I burned five people, before I figured out how to control my magic… it was… horrible. I still hear their screams in my head… and they kept begging to be let go.”

I nodded dumbly and stared into the hazy expanse ahead of me. I leaned into her and rested my head on her shoulder. I felt Olga’s head resting atop my hair. She breathed out a long and weary breath. I sighed as well. Everything felt so heavy. I wanted to disappear into the darkness and never resurface. But I couldn’t, no matter how much I wanted to. I was here now and all I could do was move forward; all I could do was learn and grow stronger. We stayed like that for a while, two weary souls finding comfort in each other. I was going to sleep for very long time when this was all over.

Eventually, however, the both of us had to face the reality of the situation. I swallowed the lump in my throat and sighed, “The other Neophytes are here as well?”

Olga nodded, “Once everyone was finished with their mentors, we were brought here, the Neophyte Dormitory. I was waiting for you to wake up. Our personal rooms are upstairs. Thus far, not one of us has had the strength to walk up.”

I leaned away from Olga and rubbed my eyes one last time and flinched as the world seemed to clear up immediately. With a shake of my head, I pushed myself up onto my legs and stretched. I felt exhausted and sore all over, but that might’ve been due to the fact that I slept on the floor. I turned to Olga and held out my hand for her. She grabbed it and I pulled her up to her feet. She leaned on me for a moment, before she regained her bearings.

“Thank you,” She said. I nodded and glanced around us.

We were in a strangely pleasant chamber with simple furniture, a couch, a hearth, a single dining table that was large enough to seat more than ten people, a cooking area with a strange stove and several cooking pots and vessels, a massive oven, several empty bookcases that lined the walls themselves, and a flight of stairs that led upwards. The floor itself was made of some soft material that almost felt like cloth. As loath as I was to admit it, this place was actually quite nice. It was certainly better than the dumps and alleys I usually slept in, and far better than the times when I had to take shelter inside trashcans in the pouring rain.

“This place seems… nice,” I commented. Still crying and whimpering on the floor were the other Neophytes; I recognized both Antonio Chavez and Iwahashi Kaede almost immediately. Though physically unharmed, their eyes screamed in pain and horror, and the way they both seemed to stare out into the void itself told me enough of what they were forced to go through – what all of us were forced to go through.

Sighing, I walked towards Antonio and held out my hand to him. He didn’t seem to notice me, but I spoke to him anyway. “Come on; we need to rest if we’re going to survive this place. There’re rooms upstairs, I think; we should go and check.”

Antonio swiveled his head and gave me a blank look. He blinked and sighed and reached out to grab my hand. I pulled him up and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Are you well enough to walk?”

He nodded, but otherwise stayed quiet as I leaned away from him.

Olga walked past me and did the same with Kaede. The pale-faced girl was barely able to stand, even with Olga supporting her up. Still, she did as best as she could. And so, one by one, we helped the other Neophytes up, wringing them out of the stupors they’d placed themselves in, even if only a little bit. Some were harder to wring out than others, but Olga and I never stopped. Eventually, every single one of them stood up.

Unfortunately, the all seemed to turn to Olga and me, and waited expectantly. Eight children, whose dead eyes clung to me, waiting for something.

I had no idea what was going on, but they were not my responsibility. I could barely take care of myself. Still, maintaining good graces with all of them would be good for my overall wellbeing. If I allied with all the Neophytes, then there would be more bodies between myself and any possible danger, more people to watch my back when I’m in a position where I can’t defend myself. They were useful – or, they would be. “There should be enough rooms for all of us upstairs; find one, rest, and – if possible – clean up. Tomorrow might be even worse than today; we all need to survive. And we can do so if we help each other, alright?”

They were all waiting for me to say something, apparently, because that was all it took to get them moving.

Like prisoners of war, forced to march in the heat of the sun, starving and thirsty, the other children began walking up the stairs. I followed after them, with Olga in front of me and Kaede limping by her side. Olga turned to me and smiled – a quick one, lasting not longer than a second, but it was still a genuine smile. She then turned away just as quickly.

My eyes widened. I froze on my next step as my mind seemed to take a pause.

Did she seriously just smile?

Oh, she really did.

For a brief, but powerful, moment, I found myself smiling as well.

We all went up the stairs to the second floor and found, surprisingly, a very normal-looking linear hallway with rooms on each side. I counted over twenty doors. At the end of the hallway was a small table with a potted plant atop it. Hanging from the ceiling, was a column of glowing crystals that shined a faint pale light that reminded me of moonlight and starlight on a clear summer night.

The other Neophytes stood in place, likely caught in a moment of indecision and fear. And, considering everything that has happened to all of us in the span of just three days, their fears and doubts were more than a little understandable. I glanced at Olga, who was stuck in the same trance as everyone else.

Sighing, I turned to the nearest door, grabbed hold of its knob and twisted it, before walking right into a pleasantly simple room that was still a thousand times better than any place I’ve slept in. There was a single bed to the right, covered in crimson cloths; it looked large enough to fit at least five people in it. To the left was a massive wooden cabinet that was at least three times taller than I was. I opened it and marveled at the clothes inside. Well, said clothes being in the form of black robes, the same black robes that every Black Mage wore, but they certainly looked much better than the hospital gown I had on. Directly in front of the front door was another door with a sign that, even though I didn’t know how to read, I recognized immediately. It was a bathroom! An actual bathroom that I had all to myself!

Despite everything, I felt giddy at the prospect of having an entire room with an actual bathroom! This was the best thing that’s ever happened to me, ever!

I closed the door behind me, ignoring the other children, and rain straight into the bathroom. When was the last time I’ve had an actual bath? Dried blood and crusted gore still covered quite a bit of my skin; with everything that happened, stopping to remove them just didn’t seem all that important to be considered a priority. Now, I had some time to myself. I didn’t know how much time I had, but I’d be damned if I didn’t try to take a bath.

The bathroom itself was massive, filled with soaps and shampoos and perfumes that only rich people would’ve had access to back home. There was a shower area and a toilet – an actual toilet! The floor and the wall were made up entirely of dark red tiles that looked almost akin to blood, but was too flat and too smooth to be identical. The bathroom also had a pleasant smell to it that brought a smile to my lips, like the scent of flowers and fresh dew. It reminded me of the few moments of gentle happiness I had before all of this.

I laughed, hearty and hale, as I disrobed the hospital gown and threw it onto the floor. I still laughed as I stepped into the shower area. I still laughed when the first droplets of water hit my face and turned the dried blood and gore into crimson waterfalls around me. I laughed when I rinsed myself with soap and washed my hair with shampoo.

And, by the end of it, I was on the floor, curled into myself and hugging my knees, crying and crying and crying until I ran out of tears and simply wallowed in the shallow pool of water that'd slowly accumulated under me. And I stayed there, staring out into the emptiness until sleep took me.