Asking Why [Int Spec Training/Solo/Plot]

In the dark forest, a girl was walking slowly there, looking for her way out since her eyes couldn’t see anything but lingering mist and shadows of the trees. The girl wondered how she came here but remained silent, not wanting to attract the unwanted. The only sounds were only the sound of trees rustling as the cold wind blow through it and the breathing sound of the girl. It was cold and she was only wearing a worn, frayed white summer dress. No shoes on her feet but only shackles that chained it but still possible for her to walk normally. Where am I… and those shackles… how…? The girl started to pant and her body was freezing, disgusted by the sight to see those shackles chained her feet. Where is…Haku…? And The King…? She looked around but noticed it was different from El Nagi village, but somehow she felt something, she was not sure but... why did she felt she had been into this forest…wearing the same shackles and worn summer dress. She stopped her step and looked down, gazing intently at the shackles and her body began to tremble, either because of the cold she felt or fear. No… this can’t be… I… I gained my freedom… I’m not supposed to be… to be like this again…

The girl was panicked and started to walk again hurriedly, trying to find the exit quickly before she fell into her own insanity. She didn’t bother to watch her step and suddenly her foot bumped into something and made her kissed the ground, she grunted and tried to see the obstacle by turning her head back. Her golden orbs stared at the thing, the body lying on the ground, with the dead eyes staring back at the girl. She recognizes the body and her eyes widened because she knew too much about that body, she was her friend, old friend from that slave ship. N-naja… She gulped down hard but before she could lift her hand and reach for her friend’s body, something heavy suddenly fall on her body from behind. She gasped and pushed the thing away but surprised again as the man, who she knew, was still breathing. “I-Ishaq…? Ishaq!?” She called the man who slowly opened his eyes after the girl called him, “N…oir…” Ishaq lifted his hand and cupped the black haired girl cheek, smiling peacefully at her, “You are safe… But…” His soft touch on Noir’s cheek moved down, caressing her neck and suddenly he choked the girl, “But you left us…! Alo--” Ishaq suddenly coughed blood, but his strength didn’t change and still making Noir gasping for air while trying to push the man’s grip from her neck. “We died… because of you! It’s your fault! You are not even worthy to be the person to die for!”

Her hands limped after hearing her old friend’s words and she stopped struggling. Why… She stared at the man’s eyes, it was full of hatred and regret. Yes… why… I’m not even…worthy… I should….just….die… She was ready to accept the death, it was supposed to happen sooner though, but the death was late. Well, now it was here, ready to claim her soul. She was gradually out of breath and her chest tightening because she didn’t have much air in her lungs, the girl slowly closed her eyes to accept it but the man’s hand fell on the ground, no longer choking the girl. Noir opened her eyes and looked at the man who was now soulless. The girl looked down at the man’s face, caressing his cold cheek slowly as frown was carved on her face. With a soft voice, she murmured an apology before she continued to walk.

A sigh escaped her lips as she found a wooden hut and without waiting any longer, she knocked the door and wondering if that old magician who gave her a wand was still living there. Much to her surprise, the figure she had been waiting for was different, it was not the old magician… but it was unexpected. The black haired girl couldn’t believe what she saw in front of her eyes, instead of the old magician opening the door, it was the purple haired magician who did that. “Miss… Ari…ella…?”

WC: 717 / 1000

The purple haired magician asked her to be seated while she went to get some food after she lit up the fire in the fireplace. Noir was confused but took the seat anyway, trying to think about anything she could right now, struggling to even thinking straight. “What… is going on…” she murmured, but gasped softly as another woman voice appeared, “You know about it Noir…” The purple magician was crossing her arms while leaning on the railing, “I was dead… protecting you… from…that….” Suddenly her body became limp and she fell down on the ground in instant, blood flowing out from the magician body just like in that island. “Why…should I die… for an unworthy person…like you…”

“Ahhh… I…. I…” Noir stepped back, her mind was not right; she didn’t know what to do right now as everything was confusing. Suddenly, a cold touch appeared from behind her, cupping her cheeks. The owner of the touch chuckles softly and whispered, “It is sad… isn’t it…?” The cold fingertips slowly caressing the girl’s cheeks, “For me… to die before you…” The hands slowly maneuvered Noir’s body to turn her back and the girl could saw a beautiful figure that looked like her but much older standing there, with all the grace she had. “Is there something wrong…. My dear daughter…?” she wondered while gulping down hard again, her body was not freezing anymore but how did she still trembling. “M-m-mo…the…r…?” She hesitantly called the woman and didn’t dare to move since her mother was gripping her arm tightly. “Come with me…” She said while dragging her daughter with her, and just when they were arrived at the bathroom, Noir could see that the bathtub was already filled with water and a female fanalis stood beside it, glaring at the black haired girl but didn't move or saying anything. 

“I will show you… what that killer did to me…after he slit my throat…” The woman let out a sinister, crazy laugh and with a powerful move, she forced Noir to kneel and pushed her head on the bathtub. The girl was surprised and tried to struggle while suddenly her hair was pulled up and the woman said while Noir was coughing out the water from herself. “I will make you feel… how unworthy you are… such an invaluable being…. I’m disgusted…” Then she pushed the girl’s head again to the water. This time she was not full prepared yet and struggling while trying to free herself from the water, she could feel her chest started to hurt and tightening again. She was pulled up again and she tried to gasp for an air, but the woman forced her head again before she could fully inhale the air, making her swallowing water instead. At this point, she could no longer feel her face skin and cannot hear or even breathe properly. The water in the bathtub was icy cold and she couldn’t stand it anymore. Suddenly she felt no pressure on her head for a second before a powerful force pull her hair, she could feel a warm breath right beside her ear and when she saw who that was, she stayed quiet. She knew that somehow, Ayero will kill her, she knew the fanalis woman hoped her to die. She remembered what Ayero said to her when they finally meet again, she said, ”That manticore should have killed you.” At that time everything was just....trying to make her accept the death, Should I… give in… But she tried to shook her head, refusing to give in and kept struggling to be free by kicking her legs to behind and moved her hands around. She even used her hand to push herself from the bathtub but she didn’t know why her mother’s hands were very strong. It was hard to keep herself to not give in, since it had been around 1 hours since the woman did this, making each head forcing to be much more longer than before. I am… unworthy… to live… right mother…? She began to not struggling much while thinking about that, Will they get their lives back… if I lost mine…? She stopped moving at all, starting to accept her own fate and wanting to die, ending herself. Such… a disgusting invaluable being… as I am… was not worthy… to be protected and…to live...I am sorry… I am so sorry… Then everything was black.

WC : 739/1000

Noir quickly opened her eyes and sat down while breathing heavily, she was sweating and because of that, both of her cloth and bed sheet were wet. It was not a pleasant way to woke up and moreover, the sky was still dark and she had no idea why her body was trembling so much. She tried to slowly inhaled and exhaled the air, making herself to calm down but she seemed cannot to do it right. He heart was also beating very fast and her mind kept rewinding the scene in her dream before.Don’t give in… stay calm Noir… She spoke to herself, trying to command her own body to stop trembling and her mind to stop rewinding the scene. She wondered what happened and remembered her last word before she woke up, she shivered and closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head but the scene wouldn’t go away. Suddenly she felt the urge to throw up everything inside her stomach, disgusted by everything including her and the voice which keep echoing inside her head. “Why don’t you kill her…” The voice said over and over again, telling her to strike her lightning to her own mother in her dream. “Control the water… turn it into a sharp, deadly ice… save yourself…kill her!”
 
Noir hurriedly threw up everything inside her stomach just in time after she arrived at the bathroom, she panted and gasped for air after she thought she had vomit everything but it seemed has not over since she threw up again. The voice echoed again, she recognized the voice, it was her own voice. “Don’t be such a weakling…!” Suddenly her hand was moving on its own and pulling out her wand from its cover. In an instant, Noir’s body twitched and her eyes turned into blood color. She couldn’t contain her anger and she felt like she had to destruct something that was not even her desire to do so. She could notice the water in the bathtub began to slightly move by itself and she felt that her energy was drained out a little. “Yes yes, destroy everything…  I am you… you are me… our desire is the same…” The girl could hear her own chuckling voice and she quickly covered her ears, not wanting to hear it anymore. “Stop… stop it… I don’t even know you…”
 
Right after she said that, she felt pain from her eyes like it was burning. She groaned painfully and stood up, slowly opened her eyes and surprised to see her eyes had changed into crimson, this time it was very dark crimson and not like the usual one. But when she examined her own eyes and wondering why her eyes became like that, she didn’t notice that her wand was slightly glowing and behind her were several sharp ice stalactites that were ready to pierce her. Noir had a shivers and when she looked behind her, those stalactites pierced her borg, attempting to shatter it but only gave a slight crack. She looked down on her hand which was holding the wand and tried to control it, but she couldn’t move it at all. It was too late when the water floated and engulfed her after changing into a big water ball, she could feel her magoi was drained again and she knew exactly that something inside her must be the cause of this bizarre situation. She tried to not being panic and tried to gain control of her hand, but the scene where her mother drowned her replayed again and causing her to lose focus. This is… not right! she mentally shouted to herself, anger began to crept into her heart, How dare you control me… I supposed to be the one who control you, whoever you are… I won’t let you… to do anything you like…
 
She gritted her teeth, not going to give in. She hated the feeling, she felt helpless and weak, just like when she was a slave. She despised those feelings, but she knew she had to accept it and be grateful since it made her desire to be free and stronger rose. She accepted her fate, but never again she wanted to feel the same thing, she had enough. This is my own life… I will be the one to decide whether I should live or not… So she closed her eyes and didn’t move, gaining her concentration and convert all her rage into power to break out from the water prison. She despised everything happened, all the pain inside her heart, all the guilt she felt, she hated everything. She opened her eyes that glowing bright in red but full of determination, Obey me…! In an instant the water bubble turned into an ice from inside and shattered into pieces, making the girl fell on the floor. “Nngggh…” She whimpered and panted heavily, greedily gasping for air while weakly lean her body on the floor. After she got enough air to fill her lung and make all the water out from it, she covered her eyes and gritted her teeth. The pain inside her heart was unbearable, she didn’t expect all the pain would be this painful and like choking her up. “I’m sorry…. I will be stronger….I—“ She broke down in tears and wailed loudly, crying just like a child while trying to redeeming herself. She was sad, very sad because she knew nothing, because she didn’t get to learn anything she supposed to learn when she was growing up. That made her followed what she saw from other people and turned out it give a problem to her surrounding, that very thought made her weak. She vowed, I will definitely learn everything… and become stronger…
 

---

 
It has been several days since she vowed to herself to become stronger and started to train herself hard. She chose to make water magic as her second magic type because of a very simple reason, water was the element that made her create the vow and she wanted to control the water. Noir whispered her wish to the rukh and focused on the spring in front of her, trying to control it. She knew it was not an easy task since she could control it before because of her rage but nothing more. The girl knew the best that she shouldn’t depend on her rage to be able to control the water, she needed to use her own natural power to control it and bonding with the rukh. All she could now was only control the water to move for at least several minutes but that was it, she couldn’t transform it into an ice like she did before. She sighed and decided to call it a day since it was already midnight.
 
The next day was supposed to be the 8^th day since she trained, and she woke up early in the dawn to continue her training. She was stubborn enough and she was not going to stop the training until she could do it. “O rukh… turn this water into icy shards…” She commanded the rukh and concentrated hard until some of the water on the spring turned into ice, but still not becoming shards like she wants. Noir shakes up and slaps her cheeks lightly, then sat down for a while. Meditating was one of the method that her old mentor taught her, it allow her to stay calm and think clearly, as well as making her able to communicate with the rukh. She would spend several hours before she ended the meditation and practiced again, now she had a clearer picture of what she want to do. Once again she whispered to the rukh to freeze the water and turned it into icy shards, at first it was too fragile and the shards were easily shattered right after it was made.  Until the sixth time she tried, finally she could maintain the shards shape and moving it around like she wanted. A small, unnoticed smile rose on her face, she felt very happy and proud that she was able to do it. After that, she would practice again until she satisfied with her progress before finally thought that she was ready to use the new magic type she learned. But she wondered about some things for certain, she would like to know more about that voice in her head before... who and how was that occurred. But for now she knew for sure, that she would continue to live, despite of what everyone said to her.

WC: 1431

Total WC: 2887/1000