A Failure

Finn slept for many hours and finally came around at midnight. When he opened his eyes, he saw himself lying on a couch but he was still in the library. The librarian was sitting opposite him with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"You finally decided to wake up, huh?" She asked him and then dropped the cup of coffee on the side stool. "Care to tell me what happened in there?"

Finn hesitated. He had no clear understanding of what happened to him back inside that secret chamber, as such, he refused to say anything concerning it.

"You don't want to tell me?" The librarian asked him, narrowing her eyes.

"It's not like I don't want to tell you," he said. "I don't remember anything."

"Is that true?" She asked him.

"True," he replied firmly. "I don't know what happened to me back there so I have nothing to say, I'm sorry."

"Well, if you say so," she agreed. "You have been asleep for hours and it's midnight already," she notified him.

"Did my friends come to find me?" He asked. He suddenly felt bad for how he spoke to them earlier during the day but was hoping they would understand him and let it go.

"Yes, one came to look for you," she replied and his face lit up.

"Only one?" He asked her. 'I guess it was Ryan'

"He is outside. You should go and rest, tomorrow is another day to try again."

"Thank you."

After Finn was dismissed, he left the library hoping to apologize to Ryan for how he acted earlier but upon reaching outside, he saw someone else.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in a voice that spoke of how shocked and disappointed he is.

How could Tim be the one?

"You are finally awake," he said and got up to his feet. His eyes were dull, indicating that he had been waiting for him for a long time now. "The librarian said you fainted out of exhaustion, I wanted to stay with you but she couldn't let me because of my..." He trailed off as a sad look appeared on his face.

Finn understood. No one wanted to be close to him because of the curse, they were scared of either contacting it or being affected by it.

"Here," he said and brought out a small bottle from his pocket.

"What is that?" Finn asked him, staring at the bottle with a raised brow.

"It's a pill for strengthening. Take it and you'll recover your strength," Tim replied. Seeing that Finn was hesitating to collect it from him, he dropped the bottle on the ground and moved away. "That should be fine now, so take it."

As Finn stared at the boy, he felt defeated. Before, he believed that his friends were everything he ever in wanted in life. He believed that they would always be there for him whenever he needed them, he believed that they understood the kind of person he was and were ready to tolerate his stupid characters. He also hoped that it was one of his friends who would come looking for him tonight but unfortunately, it was a whole total stranger.

"I saw what happened back there at the training field," Tim spoke, drawing Finn's attention to him once more. "You know, sometimes shit tend to happen and then we will loose our right sense of thinking. You hoped your friends understood that point, right? Sorry it ended up like this."

"..."

Speechless, Finn was totally speechless.

How could someone who didn't know him understand him so well?!

"I don't know exactly how hurt you are because I have never had a friend myself but I hope you don't let it get the best of you. They will probably come around in the morning and then you three can go back to being friends that you are," Tim said although inwardly, he wished it wouldn't happen. 'If they can't cherish their friendship, I can as well do that for them'

Finn silently bent down and picked the bottle. After all the sermons Tim preached to him, how was he going to reject his kind gesture?

"Thank...you," he mumbled, though not sure why he was saying it.

"Let's go back to the hostel. If we are seen walking around by this time, we might get punished by the curfew master," Tim said and began to lead the way. He purposely kept a safe distance between the two of them.

"Is the school under curfew?" Finn asked. He didn't know anything about it.

"Yes and it's for the safety of all the kids here. You see, many beasts roam freely at night and our school is prone to their attacks. The school doesn't have many beast masters to help them so they placed a curfew which starts by ten and end by five in the morning," Tim explained.

"That's strange," Finn said and Tim stopped and waited until he was close.

"What is strange?" He asked him.

"It's strange that the school is lacking beast masters," Finn replied and Tim sighed. It was strange indeed but what could be done?!

"After the first attack, many beast masters created organizations and schools to train kids and individuals to be beast tamers, of which we are part of it but unfortunately, we were not lucky to be blessed with even one beast masters. We only have a few beast tamers — Arin, Lyra, and the librarian are intermediate levels while the teachers are only at the advanced level."

"We need to get strong," Finn muttered and clenched his fists. If only he was able to master resonance, becoming strong wouldn't be a problem for him.

"The only problem I have is this curse of mine," Tim said regrettedly.

"Is it restricting you or what?" Finn asked him.

"Something like that," Tim sighed. "The curse blocks me from gathering pure energy around and without it I can't be able to practice resonance."

"Hmmm," Finn sighed. "What about your family?" He asked.

"My family? Tsk!" Tim clicked his tongue at the mention of his family. "Those idiots abandoned me the day they realized that I was cursed. Fortunately, Arin saved me and brought me here but due to the curse, I could not make friends."

By the time he was done speaking, they had arrived at the doorstep of their room.

"Thanks for the company," Finn mumbled but it was loud enough for Tim to hear.

But before he could even reply, the latter had pushed open the door and went in. Shrugging his shoulders, he also went in and walked straight to his bed.

When Finn entered into the room, he glanced over at Ryan's bed and saw him sleeping soundly. He wanted to go and wake him up but as he got close, he shook his head and instead went over to his own bed. He decided that he was no longer going to force things between them — that whatever happens, he would accept all of it, gladly.