Chapter 12 - Part 3

[What's going on? He asked himself in self pity. He fell asleep as he thought back at the few memories he retained with clarity. The day of the accident.]

Haiden found himself in a small house, in a modest kitchen, sitting at a wooden table waiting for his food. Everything was too familiar. In front of him a woman hummed a pleasant tune he knew. From the sound of it she was chopping vegetables and paid him no mind. He looked around the room noticing it was eerily empty side for a few things the general concept of home would have. Nothing personal, nothing his or familiar. A fat mat slowly descended on the stairs taking his usual spot at Haiden's right at the end of the table. The man stared blankly at Haiden, not saying a word. This deeply disturbed Haiden. He knew this was a dream or nightmare. He had this exact same dream so many times before but this was the first time the man that Haiden labeled as his father stared so devoid of life at him. He usually is rather vocal right from the start.

Haiden wasn't scared, nothing was real, just a figment of his imagination. His guilt manifested by his subconsciousness. Or at least that's what he told himself. He tried to close his eyes shut, squeezing as much as he could and telling himself it was a dream and when he would open his eyes he would be back in his room at the Academy. But, of course, the easy way out never worked fo

A clank of plates made him look away from the man. Fresh cooked food appeared in front of him. It smelled amazing. The woman at the counter never stopped humming, never stopped chopping. As usual, she had her back at Haiden. He looked back at the man that still had his intense gaze on Haiden's face. The man reached and grabbed Haiden's hand making him jump with fright. His grip dug nails into his arm.

"You're hurting me!" Haiden said trying to pull his arm away.

"Hurting you?" The man spat at Haiden. "You killed us! And you're killing us again! Look at your son, woman! A killer!" The woman turned only to meet Haiden with the same disgust. Her eyes were identical with his but unsettling. Her constant humm distorted in a guttural sound that made Haiden sick. It was too similar to a certain creature he wished to forget. She inched close to him with a maniacal smile.

"Get away! You're not my parents!" He shouted and pulled his arm free scrambling for the door.

Haiden woke up in a sweat. His bead and covers were soaked. He felt a pang of pain on his arm and brushed his other hand over it only to feel four indents. He quickly made a light and he saw four fingernail marks dug in his skin.

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Haiden had not been the same since Screech had told him that his memories were not lost but stolen. Someone purposely had taken Haiden's memories and he had no clue who or why. He had continued sparring with Tasgal, going to classes and be his usual self around everyone to to not give any hints that he knew. Master Rwoy and Headmistress Vice had confirmed the first day he got to the Academy that there were very powerful people that made it possible for Haiden to be here. They never once gave a hint at who it was. Haiden tried to stay after class with Master Rwoy and try to pry some information out of him but he either doesn't know anything about who it was or he was very guarded about the subject. He had to find a way to get more information but he didn't know how. So, he continued his everyday routine.

"Go Haiden!" Camila shouted from the stands along with a few onlookers. Haiden prepared to grapple a half naked Tasgal and with his right foot forward he lunged towards the Ash'en grabbing him by the legs. Haiden tried to push Tasgal to the ground but he didn't have enough strength to even budge him. Tasgal's chuckle made him purse his lips in annoyance, he sent a small force blast to knock his legs right from under the Ash'en. He lost balance for a moment and Haiden took advantage of the moment and jumped over Tasgal pining him to the ground and straddling him. He laid on top of the hunk of muscle using his Fios to hold his wrists to the ground. With his current strength he would never be able to hold Tasgal down.

"Clever." Tasgla smirked. His blue eyes locked into Haiden's ambers inches from one another. Haiden felt his breath wash over him, his stomach flustered with anticipation increasing with every breath. He wanted so badly to just lean into it, but he would never be able to go back from it. Maree, Camila, and a few Ash'en were watching their every move. Going against every fiber of his being he pulled away and helped Tasgal get up.

"Six!' Camila and Maree both shouted and screamed excitedly at Haiden.

"At least no more threes." Haiden laughed.

"No more threes." Tasgal gave him a flash of his teeth that didn't last long. He glanced over to their friends and back at Haiden. "Haiden, is there something bother you?" he asked, closing in, hoping the other wouldn't hear. Haiden got caught off guard and stumbled on his words. He was certain he didn't let his worries show but somehow Tasgal caught on.

"It's nothing important, let's go for one more round than get something to eat" he replied hoping that Tasgal would drop it.

"You know you can talk to me, Haiden. You're acting strange." Tasgal squared up standing firm showing Haiden he won't budge.

"Look, I don't want you to get involved with this. It might be dangerous." Haiden whispered agresivley.

"Even more reason for me to get involved!" Tasgal whispered back in the same tone.

"It's about my memories. I don't think i just lost them, I think someone took them away from me." Haiden lowered his whispering voice even more and glanced over to Maree and Camila, they were chatting among themselves and with the other Ash'en about Creators knew what. Tasgal was stumped at the information.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I just do. And I think those in high places who're financing my stay here at the Academy are in on it, and probably Master Danil as well. They sent letters to the Headmistress about me." he continued in a whisper.

"Did you ask her about who those people are?"

"She won't tell. I ambushed Master Rwoy about it the other day and he kept quiet. They never acted like they knew. That first day, they hoped I knew something more." Haiden thought back on how Headmisterss Helena pushed Haiden over the edge. He was glad now he had control over his power.

"Maybe there's a sender address on the letter, that should give you a hint, right?" Tasgal proposed. "No, that's too dangerous. What about if - "

"Tas, you're a genius!" Haiden wanted to hug the overly muscled man. "I can sneak in the Headmistress' office and look for the letter and get more information."

"I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of genius. It's too risky! Promise me you won't do that. We'll find another way." Tasgal folded his arms around his chest. He gave Haiden a stern look and said between his teeth "Promise me."

"Alright! Alright. I promise." he lied. He had no other leads, he had to do this, but the problem was how?

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Young Wielders chattered between each other throughout the class making sure they got their ratio of chemicals correct, otherwise risking creating very dangerous concoction. Master Omnelia kept busy putting out fires and venting out the room whenever a student strayed too far away from the recipe. One of the most important lessons they had to learn was not to synthesize the wrong compounds or solutions. Haiden had found out from Master Omnelia that there are a lot of useful substances out there that, if used correctly, would turn the tide of the battle or even enhance the effect of a spell, while others were strong and harmful. Today they were trying to synthesize a cleaning substance that was very potent. A Wielder's secret she called it. It was indeed impressive as she Wielded the cleaning agent on a dirty cloth resulting in a white stainfree towel. Granted, it wasn't as exciting as the other day where through a silver compound they had created released into a cloud made it snow or rain. It had many wonderful uses that saved crops and millions of people from starvation. Haiden's interest in these substances grew the more he knew, especially hearing that later in the year they will be learning how to synthesise anesthetic substances that were used in the process of healing and allowed Wielders in dire situations to battle even when wounded. Master Rwoy confirmed that in order to become a Master Healer, like Master Coner, you needed to understand the most basic and complex substances which intensified Haiden's resolve to commit to memory every reaction in the his book and then some. He had scoured the library making sure he had every book on the matter, making for his nights to be sleepless and his days sore from sparring and class. But, at least he was glad there was not a lot of time to get bored or dwell on other darker things.

Haiden was gently synthesising the next substance as Camila slowly stirred the beaker. Maree watched confused at the two not wanting to cause another disaster as last time. His unstable Fios had energized a lot of flammable liquid creating a bomb. Were it not for Camila and Haiden's quick reaction, they would have been committed to the infirmary for a number of days recovering from burns.

Over to their right, on the next station over, Maliticia and her cackle argued on what chemical was supposed to be added next in hushed tones, but everyone heard them.

"Give me that!" She hissed at her friend. "We need to add the ammonia after the synthesise the dissolved salt in the water!"

"Malticia, no! That's not what it says in the recipe!"

"Trust me, Justinia, I know what I'm doing." Malticia grabbed the beaker and with a shaky hand started pouring the ammonia in the sodium hypochlorite. Justinia and her other friend Bekka backed down and quickly covered their mouths and noses as Maliticia dropped to the ground out cold. A series of squeals came out of the surrounding people when she fell down taking a good amount of the tools from the station down with her. Master Omnelia rushed over and shook her head.

"My, my. Someone did not follow the recipe, did they?" She looked over at Malticia's friends for an answer and they just nodded in defeat. Master Omnelia tuted them and rolled the sleeves of her dark robes. Haiden felt the static bounce on his skin when she effortlessly vented all the harmful gases that were created. "There we go. Children," she said as she liked to address them even she, herself, was younger than every Master Wielder at the Academy. "This is why we always, always follow the recipe. What Miss Malticia created was a trichloromethane, if inhaled it will knock someone out like that!" She snapped her fingers with a loud crack.

Haiden and Maree managed to stifle a laugh with a jab from Camila and they went back to work. For the first time in a while, Haiden wasn't the one passing our in class.

Suits her right for all those rumors likes to spread.