Till the End: A Journey Together or Alone?

Ryvin

Ryvin found himself in a familiar yet unsettling place. He was thirteen now, then why was he looking at himself when he was nine? His surroundings were recognizable, yet distant—a vivid memory he hadn't revisited in years. 

He was back in his classroom, back in the days of the academy. He was a new student at this time. Judging by the lesson, it would have been his second week in. Typically kids gifted with magic enroll early at the age of five. However, his early upbringing was a tad-bit different. He wasn't even in the nation of Rydonia at that time, enrolling at around nine.

 He took a few steps around the room, nobody seemed to notice his presence. This entire scenario was suspicious, most likely an illusion casted by someone. He was unsure. Last thing he knew, he was with his squad at the bar, waiting around for orders. And now he was here. 

There was one other explanation to the situation… but he put that thought aside.

Well, he couldn't do anything about the situation. For all he knew, he was trapped in here. He looked up towards the back of the classroom. These desks were arranged into rows with each row of desks behind slightly elevated than the one ahead. 

 Ryvin then looked at the chalkboard up at the front. 

In big neat letters, it said, 'Intro to Magic.'

In his opinion, this class was stupid. Every year, for the first week or so, they had to retake the class. Ryvin's eyes drifted about on the board and he came across a few magic spells inscribed in a few forms. Spells could be written in the form of a magic circle, or a sentence, or in verbal incantations. Incantations were rare. 

Though similar to math on paper, casting magic was an entirely different experience that non-magic users could never fully understand.

The instructor addressed the class, "Listen up, as your teacher, it is my job that you all graduate with the skills you need. Now this does include another introduction to magic…"

The class let out an audible groan.

"But hear me out. This year we'll be officially starting elemental magic."

Ryvin watched as the class cheered in excitement, except for his younger self. He looked around and noticed a few of his friends. There was the purple haired Fiona sitting in front of his younger self on the row below. Jason, Adrien, and others scattered about in the room. 

He smiled , being able to see his friends again like that. He'd forgotten how it felt to be all alone. Something he wished to never go back to.

Ryvin walked across the room, up the steps towards the table he used to sit at. His seat was near the very back, but not all the way there. 

He paused when he made it to Fiona. He couldn't lie to himself, the cheeky girl had only gotten cuter through the years. He tried to playfully mess with her hair, but his hand phased right through. Ryvin sighed, realizing he couldn't interact with anyone.

The girl that sat beside her was already fast asleep. Her black hair pooled all over the desk like a void. Ryvin laughed to himself, that was a new sight seeing her sleep in class. The two of us never talked much, haven't we, Ryuko? 

The instructor said something about elemental magic. When he turned around, the instructor had finished drawing a simple spell circle on the board. Bare bones, just the skeleton of a fire spell.

"Now, the spell on the board is an elemental fire spell. Not all of you will be able to cast it. Anyone know why?"

One hand was raised.

"Go ahead, Luke."

Through the few years, he'd only managed to beat Luke once in a duel. Luke was on a whole other level.

"Elemental magic is distinguished from non-elemental magic because it requires the user to have affinity for the element. Without the affinity, it would be either impossible to conjure the element or simply cumbersome and pointless."

The instructor grinned, "Excellent! Now, how many here already have their affinities?"

A good chunk of the class raised their hands, the children of clans or 'noble' families mostly. He didn't know his affinities at the time. His younger counterpart kept both hands steadily on the desk, laid flat. 

It was getting unsettling. Ryvin had no idea how long he'd be stuck here. He wondered if it would be possible to go explore outside beyond the bounds of the classroom. Maybe the rest of the city was free for some whimsical adventure. Looking at the opened door, a figure quickly loomed over and walked past the door. 

The figure wasn't anyone he knew, but it wasn't the first time he'd seen it. An all white body and face, no identifiable facial features, but still in the figure of a man. He'd seen it in the background of other 'dreams' he'd had before, it's always kept its distance. So Ryvin had never had any reason to fear or anything. It was just a little creepy.

The class fell into an eerie silence, he looked around to see if anything had happened.

 A girl with the white hair from the other side of the room looked intently at him. She, Lisa, noticed him?

Ryvin was taken aback but he didn't react. Maybe it was just a coincidence? No one else had noticed him being there. He stepped out of the way but her eyes only followed his movements. This illusion was getting freaky. Then she spoke to him out of the blue.

"Ryvin, you're not supposed to be here, you know?"

"Lisa, where am I?" Ryvin asked. He didn't have any choice on being here or not, he just appeared here without an explanation. 

Normally illusions aren't able to actually pull that deep into the memories of the victim. This was different– interesting. Everything here was getting deeply personal.

A deep and profound silence rang through the room. The instructor stopped talking long ago, and the students were motionless. 

Another voice spoke, "You're in a forest, dummy," it was Ryuko. Her head was still down on the table, but that was definitely her voice. 

Ryvin closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, massaging the bridge of his nose. He wanted to leave whatever was going on here. Putting his annoyance and frustration aside, he regained his composure.

"What fores–" Ryvin opened his eyes only to be greeted by the sight of a foggy and gloomy looking forest. The classroom was gone. No trace of it was left. 

She wasn't lying.

The soil under him was wet. He shifted his weight around to hear squeaks and squish. There were a few dark silhouettes among the fog moving around in the distance. Trees jutted the area. The canopies of such drooped over the ground, bringing in a cascading darkness. It left just barely enough light when combined with the haze that spooked between the trunks to see.

Through the fog, there was some light. Ryvin trudged towards the light. It was a safer bet than dealing with those shadows.

It didn't take long for him to leave the forest. Stepping out of the fog, he placed his foot on some firm ground again. The fog cut abruptly at the edge of the tree line. It was nice not having the haze obstruct his vision anymore.

Now he was in some sort of training ground. It was an open and wide camp. It wasn't just any training ground, he'd been raised here. An old sight that he hadn't seen in years ever since it got attacked and burned down. It was a miracle he managed to slip away during the chaos. He had left this place years ago, but the cruelty and trauma never left him.

Looking around, there were several kids sparring. Just by seeing the large number of kids around the same age group, he could discern roughly when this scene was taking place. He was maybe 5 or 6 during this time– somewhere around there. As the years passed by, the number of kids dwindled for various 'reasons'.

 Watching over every spar was one of the masked instructors. As expected, no one noticed him. He was a ghost.

This wasn't a place he was keen on seeing again. He hated his time here. He strolled around, mumbling his disdain under his breath. It was kinda surprising at how skilled some of these kids were when compared to Rydonia. He'd gone soft.

 Before long, he was able to locate himself in the distance. That version of him seemed to be around six or seven, and so was the kid he was sparring. Even at that age, they were already fighting with training knives.

He drew closer and he saw himself pin the kid to the ground, knives lay bare on the ground. But the instructors hadn't stopped them yet.

His eyes widened.

The kid continued to squirm around under the pin. The young Ryvin was on top and looked confused and turned towards the instructor overseeing the match. No response yet. 

"Ryvin, it's about time." The voice was devoid of emotion. The instructor tossed a knife to him. A real one. Steel and all.

Ryvin caught the weapon, still keeping the kid locked beneath him. It only meant one thing. 

The young Ryvin hesitated, "Are you sure?" His voice wavered with uncertainty. 

The instructor offered no response. The pinned child began to scream for mercy, drawing the attention of those around them.

Ryvin watched, and he remembered this scene very well. He rushed forward but stopped himself, there was no point. 

The kid's eyes pleaded to no avail at the young Ryvin, before the knife was brought down through his throat. Blood splattered.

His first kill at the age of six.