Chapter 32: The End Of Training. (Part 1)

As Dawn and Aella locked eyes, words failed to leave him. Aella, for her part, did nothing to break the heavy silence, her gaze fixed firmly on him and adding to the tension.

The silence stretched on until Dawn felt compelled to break it. 

"...Um, how long have you been here?" He asked, mustering a smile. His nerves betrayed him, however, turning his smile into a strained grimace rather than a genuine expression of friendliness.

"...When your eyes were closed." Aella replied.

At her words, Dawn's frustration with himself became too much, and he let his head fall back to the ground. 

'She arrived after I lost consciousness, but how did I not sense her presence when I awoke?' His eyes narrowed in realisation as he stared at her. 'Oh, she's still concealing her energy—that's why I had no idea she was here...'

"D…Did you see?" he ventured cautiously.

Aella responded with a silent nod, intensifying Dawn's anxiety.

As Dawn scrambled mentally for the right thing to say next, Aella spoke, her voice cutting through his thoughts. "You…"

Dawn tensed, bracing himself for questions he wasn't ready to answer. Would she inquire about the core in his chest? Or perhaps the phoenix feather? These were topics he desperately wanted to avoid.

"Your injuries, they're gone," she observed quietly, gesturing towards his arms.

Her comment caught Dawn off guard, bringing a slight sense of relief. The possibility of her focusing on his healed injuries hadn't even crossed his mind, yet in hindsight, it made perfect sense. 

The last time Aella had seen him, his injuries were severe, and he was hardly able to walk. Now, he appeared completely healed.

"Yeah… they are," Dawn acknowledged, processing her words.

"That's fine, but that girl who wanted to heal you, they'll think she did it when they get here. She might get in trouble," Aella pointed out.

When he heard this, Dawn glanced down at his arms and then slowly rose to his feet, scanning the area for something.

"I know. I've already considered that, which is why I planned to injure myself so that they wouldn't notice. Hopefully, you can keep this a secret." Dawn muttered.

He quickly diverted his gaze, spotting a long, sharp rock on the floor. 

"Ah! This will do." he muttered as he picked it up.

Dawn glanced back at Aella, who was observing him intently, and scratched his cheek while smiling nervously. 

"Um… this is going to look ugly, so you might want to look away."

However, instead of heeding his suggestion, she continued to fix her gaze on him, curiosity evident in her eyes. 

"You're really going to injure yourself for her?" she asked, her stare unflinching. "Why would you go that far?"

Dawn's nervous smile turned somber as he considered the rock in his hand. "I'm not doing it for her… I'm not that good of a person. I'm doing it for myself. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if a kid got hurt or was tortured because of me."

After voicing his thoughts, Dawn met Aella's gaze once more, offering her a nervous smile as before. For the first time, he noticed a flicker of emotion in her eyes as she slightly raised her eyebrows, seemingly taken aback by his honesty.

"So, do you mind looking away before anyone else arrives…?" he asked softly.

This time, she nodded in understanding and averted her eyes.

With that, Dawn raised the stone high into the air and brought it down onto his arm with force.

Splatter!

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"Fuckkkkkk!!!" Mason's voice echoed through the cavernous interior, cutting through the silence like a knife. As he landed, his momentum carried him forward, and he stumbled across the room before colliding with the rough stone floor.

"Am I still alive!?" he asked, his gaze darting around the area in an attempt to orient himself.

In the room, he found Dawn and Aella, both seated silently against the wall. They watched him with quiet scrutiny, their gazes prompting him to scramble to his feet and click his tongue in annoyance.

However, just as Mason was about to articulate his thoughts, Blaise burst through the veil into the cavernous space, crashing into Mason with unexpected force. 

"Where is this place? Did I make it–" Blaise's question was abruptly cut off as Mason shoved him off of him with a grunt of frustration. "Get off of me, damn it!"

"Ah, didn't think you'd survive that one. It was intense. I can't believe you got here before me," Blaise remarked, brushing off his encounter.

"Shut up, how is that surprising when I went in before you? I'm also clearly the stronger one between the two of us." Mason retorted with a mix of pride and challenge.

"You talk a lot for someone who lost to Freya," Blaise jabbed back.

"I told you I didn't lose to her!" Mason protested, their bickering growing more energetic despite their apparent injuries.

From their seated position, Dawn and Aella watched the boys argue, yet, Dawn's mind was elsewhere, preoccupied with his recent actions.

'I couldn't perfectly recreate the melted and charred effect that the "Hollow's" attack had inflicted on me, but I did make some gruesome cuts around the area and roughed myself up a bit. If questioned, I can claim that the Nightmare Fish attacked the same spot, hence why it might look different.'

Dawn then focused his attention on the wound, channelling his energy to the area to stanch the flow of blood. Even though the wound was fresh, his efforts were effective, stemming the bleeding without the aid of the Phoenix Feather. 

This exertion of energy was significant, but with his current reserves overflowing, it was a manageable expenditure.

'Now all that's left to do is wait for everyone to arrive…' Dawn mused, shifting his gaze toward Aella. Silence had settled between them since their last exchange, and she appeared lost in thought.

'Is she thinking about the prototype? It was concealed beneath my clothes, but she must have seen it. So why hasn't she asked about it? Does she genuinely not care?' 

These questions circled Dawn's mind, stirring a mix of hope and unease. If Aella chose to share what she saw, the consequences could be dire.

Dawn could envision figures like Rek and Xylon using him for experiments, given the prototype's unique nature and origin from his old world. 

Among the other awakened, no one seemed to possess anything comparable to the 'prototype.' This uniqueness made Dawn a potential target for those willing to exploit his undiscovered abilities for their gain.

'These individuals are ruthless enough to abduct children, forcing them into spy training to use them… If they learn about the prototype, there's no predicting the extent of their actions towards me.' 

This fear haunted Dawn, causing him to cast wary glances at Aella while also staying alert to the dark veil through which the others would arrive.

As time progressed, more of the awakened arrived one by one. Kiara, then Ayleth and Freya. Even Penelope made her way in. 

Each of the awakened individuals showed signs of injuries as they entered the cave, their appearances marked by exhaustion and a desperate need for rest.

Seated against the wall, Dawn's face displayed surprise as the last awakened passed through the veil. It was Karol, but what astonished Dawn wasn't his appearance; it was the total number of awakened that had made it through. 

Out of the 46 awakened, only 14 had perished. It was possible that more had survived, but from the ensuing discussions among the awakened, Dawn understood that Karol was the final arrival.

'Less than a third of us perished—that's 14 out of 46. That means 32, in other words, over half of us survived that ordeal... What exactly are these kids made of?' Dawn mused, his gaze sweeping over everyone in astonishment.

He hadn't expected them to navigate past all the 'Nightmare Fishes' on that narrow path as he had. Perhaps their experiences differed from his? Contemplating this possibility, Dawn rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.

'Rek wanted me to go first... The Nightmare Fishes lock onto a target and pursue it... Wait, could it be that being the first in line put me at greater risk? Considering this, it's possible that I attracted most of the fishes, leaving fewer for the others to deal with.'

'If that's the case, then I'm rather irritated. If he did it out of concern for the others, that's one thing. But knowing him, there's no way that was the case…' Dawn pondered, clenching his hand into a tight fist. 'Damn him and that parasite…'