VICTORIA'S POV

Someone was shaking me.

Xeris.

"Time to get up." He said and walked away.

He was already in his training attire. His expression was back to the way it was when I first got here. To think that that was just a couple of days ago. It felt like I had been here for longer.

I got up, showered, dressed, ate and was in the training room in no time. He stood in the middle of the room with glasses similar to the ones I wore yesterday and gloves.

"I'm surprised you decided to continue with the training," he said.

Yesterday's conversation came back to mind. He told me that I had the power. I could decide whether I wanted to continue training or not. When he left me alone after having told me everything, I spent the whole night thinking about what to do. I was glad he didn't come back before I went to bed, because I was having trouble deciding what to do. I could either stay on this ship comfortably, enjoying years of travelling and dying of boredom, or I could improve myself. I had gone and stood in front of the mirror for a long time. I wanted to change. I wanted to be better. I knew that I was like this because I made myself weak. I let myself go and flourished.

No more!

I chose to take advantage of my captors. I decided to make the best out of this opportunity. I would be like a sponge, but in a healthy way. I would suck up and absorb everything that could make me better. I was going to throw away all the excuses and barriers I used to make myself weak.

"I figured there was nothing better to do around here." I said with a shrug of my shoulder.

He didn't react to that.

"So what am I supposed to do today?" I asked as I looked around at the different training paraphernalia, my gaze hovering a little longer on the death trap I was on yesterday.

He noticed and tilted his head towards it.

Great. Another episode of 'let's see how long the fat girl can run'.

I sighed and walked towards it. He handed me glasses and soon I was struggling to stay on my feet. I could hear sounds behind me. I figured he was training as well. I soon tuned everything out and focussed on the path in front of me. I wasn't sure how long I was expected to run.

"How long...am I suppo...posed to run?" I said in between breaths. Would he answer me today?

"We have an hour and a half left for training."

An hour and a half!

Surely, he didn't expect me to run that long.

I'm going to do it. I'll run until I drop. No more excuses!

I reminded myself why I was doing this. I wasn't doing this for anyone. I was doing this for myself. I had to give my all no matter what. With this renewed energy, I kept at it.

* * *

I opened my eyes and saw him sleeping. I was in his arms. A quick glance down confirmed that we were in the cleansing water, again.

Dang it, blacked out again.

I shifted a little, trying to signal to him that I was awake and he could let me go now. But he didn't budge. I observed his breathing. He was breathing deeply.

He must be sleeping.

Now that I think about it, I didn't hear him come back to bed yesterday. Did he even sleep at all? Wait, did he even eat breakfast? I had assumed that he ate while I was in the bathroom.

I stayed still, letting the water do it's job. I could still feel the ache in my shins. I must have woken up earlier than I did yesterday. I didn't want to wake him and decided to let him get some sleep. I was comfortable anyway. His arms held me firmly, which was a surprise because he was fast asleep. He didn't snore.

Thank God.

I wouldn't say I was a light sleeper, but I got disturbed easily. At least I would be getting some peaceful sleep while I was here. Not knowing what to do, I did the only thing I could without waking him.

I stared at him.

He had this beard which I thought was a work of art. A lot of guys on earth tried hard to develop beards, but few of them could actually pull it off. He wore his beautifully. He had a straight nose, like something sculpted by Picasso himself. His lashes were pretty long for a guy.

Who was I kidding, his lashes were longer than mine.

His skin was smooth. I wondered what it would feel like to touch it. I stopped myself just before I did.

Are you trying to get yourself killed?

I continued looking at him and eventually nodded off. When I opened my eyes again, he was awake.

"Had enough sleep?" he asked while looking forward at the door.

You're one to talk.

I just got up and out of his arms and went to get changed. From there I had my lunch with him.

"There's one more room I have to show you."

He walked out and I followed him. We were headed in the same direction as the training room. But we passed the door and continued down the hallway. It looked like a dead end. Then he turned left and a door opened.

How does he know where the door is? It all looks like one wall. Or can the door open wherever he stands?

"Are you coming?"

"Huh? Oh, right."

I followed him through and my eyes went wide.

"Wow," I whispered as I turned around in slow circles. This place was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was full of plants, trees and flowers all of different colours. Some species I recognised from home, while others looked otherworldly. Well, I guess they were.

I had watched movies of rich and royal people with mansions and castles that had green rooms. None of them compared to this. This place was huge. I looked up and saw stars. They created an amazing backdrop...or updrop.

"Wait, don't they need sunlight to grow?" I asked and noticed he was observing me. More like studying me.

"If you look carefully, you'll notice tiny lights emanating from above. They act as mini suns."

I looked up again and saw what he was talking about. "oh, oh, I see them." I looked back at him and he was still looking at me. "Do I have anything on my face?"

He averted his eyes and showed me around.

"Stay on these paths if you do not want to get lost. Our plant specialists only come here once a day, in the morning. You would only be found the following day if you were to get lost." He continued showing me around until we came back to the door we had used.

"You can explore the rest of the greenery on your own." I nodded already formulating a plan of how to explore it. I looked up again and noticed something I hadn't noticed before.

"What's that?" I pointed at the object on the ceiling.

He followed my gaze and saw what I was pointing at.

"A camera. More specifically, a heat sensitive camera. It only activates once something with heat passes by."

"Wait, I thought you said if I got lost, no one would come for me until the following morning."

He looked at me waiting for me to continue. I thought he would acknowledge what I had said by saying something or nodding his head. But no, he just kept looking at me. I rolled my eyes and continued. I noticed he reacted to my rolling my eyes at him.

Hah!

"Why not just use the cameras to find me?"

"The cameras only focus on the paths. If you were to stray off the paths, they wouldn't be able to detect you."

"Oh, I get it."

He turned intending to leave me to continue exploring.

"Wait, who is on the other end of those cameras."

He turned back to me. "The security team."

"Can they hear what happens as well as see it?"

"No, they cannot."

"Why not?"

"Would you prefer it if they could hear as well as see you?" He said with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head no.

"It is for privacy reasons. As much as them seeing our activities is a breach of privacy, it cannot be avoided. The only remedy is that they not be able to hear what we discuss."

"Where else are there cameras?" I asked as I thought of myself in the bathroom or the closet.

"There are no cameras in our chambers or training room if that is what you are asking."

I heaved a sigh of relief.

"I shall leave you to your exploration."

He left and the door closed.