Something sharp, long and pointed stabbed my thorax with violence.

The point entered my flesh, pierced the walls of my heart without mercy.

My heartbeats began to run wild.

So fast.

Spasms spread all over my body.

My body jumped up by itself, in a vain effort to fight the convulsions and sit me in the hard surface I was lying in.

At the same time, my closed eyes stretched wide open. And a hideous cry, carrying all the air that was inside my lungs, came out of my mouth.

However, a strong and heavy hand intercepted the involuntary movement, pressing me down. Forcing my body back to lying position.

My heartbeats were thumping against my ears. Their impact against my ribs made my chest ache a lot more.

My body shook more, vibrating without control.

The trembling of the muscles made a sharp pain in my chest burn.

I tried to touch it.  But, again, the heavy hand held my wrist, forbidding my own fingers to inspect the aching wound.

A strong feeling of choking made me cough.

The hand continued to force me down. I realized another pair of hands restraining my movements, by holding my ankles down.

Since my pupils were dilated, even the dim light around me was enough to hurt my eyes.

Everything looked like a collection of blurred and moving shapes.

I was beginning to regain full consciousness and analyze all those feelings, to understand my real situation.

In a glimpse everything made sense.

I was being rescued, and I needed to help that rescue attempt.

I had to focus, to control my anxiety, and to quiet my mind.

That would make easier for my helpers to treat me.

Breathing slower, I centered my feelings in the air filling my lungs; instead of the pain.

Relaxing my muscles, the way I was told by my old master.

I started to regain control of my body. The seizures and trembling were fading away.

I could listen to his words playing in my memory like he was there with me:

“Pain is a trick of the mind. Control the mind and the pain will go away. Your focus must be in the air that keeps you alive and all the energy around you. Be the master of your body.”

The cough subsided, and my vision began to clear.

I felt thankful to my master by his wise teachings.

Now I could see some silhouettes. Silhouettes that I recognized as being the people from the school. Mother Ana, standing beside me; Sister Paula by her side; and Dr. Rochard, leaning to me.

The doctor moved his head away for a moment and I saw his gloved hand deposited a very big and metallic syringe somewhere below us

His other hand, also wearing gloves, was applying pressure to my pecs and using a white wet piece of cloth.

The contact of the cold liquid made the puncture stung. It seemed like an entire beehive decided to attack my naked chest in the same place at once.

Tears of pain left my eyes. And I ground my teeth.

But, I would not let the pain rule over me.

I opened my mouth again. This time, in an attempt to say something. Yet, all that we could hear was a soft growl.

The doctor talked to me instead:

"Listen, Roger. We barely lost you. You received an adrenaline shot directly to your heart. Don't touch it, I am now disinfecting the wound. Stay still. I know it hurts like hell, but it is almost done."

Everyone was there, looking at me laying down. My chest was naked, and my body resting in what seemed to be some kind of table. 

Their eyes stared me with concern.

Even that Colonel and Ramiro were present: they were the ones holding my ankles.

Everyone was there.

Everyone, except Voluptia...

I could not see her anywhere. I examined the room in full detail.

What happened? Where they took me? Where was my partner? My mind started to wander again.

"V...v.vol?", I mumbled.

"Your girl is not here, she brought you to me and then vanished. We didn't see her since then. You need to recover your strength first", the doctor whispered in my ear, he worried about me.

“I am sure that she is ok”, he tried to calm me.

That could not be happening, where was my girl? Why would she leave me like this?

I tried to reach her with my mind...

No answer.

“VOL”, I was screaming using telepathy.

Not a trace of her, not a single hello in reply. No concerned talk, no reprimand: only mental silence and my own thoughts.

The corner of my mind, where she used to be, was now empty.

Losing her like that, was enough to make me lose my concentration.

The choke sensation invaded me again. My chest hurt a lot more, because of the tremendous force that I was doing to keep breathing.

“Vol for God’s sake, talk to me!!!”, I cried aloud. And everyone in the room heard it.

I was getting very agitated.

Doctor Rochard had no choice, but to give me another shot.

I felt some dizziness and my body became so heavy that I had to lay down again.

Defeated, humiliated, and worried, my mind quieting...

Vision blurred again.

The doctor voice came from nowhere:

“Roger, listen to me. You gave me no choice. You would end up hurting yourself. I gave you a mild sedative, it will also help you with the pain. But you won’t be able to move for a while.”

My mind was taken by a state of numbness, I could not focus on anything.

“Please honey, I know you can hear me”, I cried...

Then everything around me got covered by a dense red mist.

The scenery changed.

I found myself standing at the top of a giant elevated platform made of red rock.

Below the platform, a huge vast plain spread all over the place.

It was a vast valley, composed of red and black stones. The valley disappeared in the horizon in every direction.

A myriad of craters, carved in the surface of the valley, emanated crimson tendrils of smoke.

I had seen this place before. Yet, I could not remember where, or when...

The narrow platform was the only thing that separated me from certain death.

Yet, I could feel I was not alone...

I was sure that I was not alone.

The red tendrils of smoke swirled up. All those red threads merged together in the sky to form a giant cloud.

The cloud in the sky above me was feeding on them. Pulling the smoke that disappeared inside that giant red body.

But that was not all of it, my senses were also confused by the ever-changing surroundings.

I could swear that there was something ethereal trapped inside those threads. Every time, that I focused on part of the red tendrils, that part changed before my eyes.

And I felt this ”thing” that was there with me.

This time, it was not a hitchhiker that I sensed; nor my partner.

It was a strong presence.

All around me, blurring spectral figures started to come out of the red smoke. Laughing loud, dancing in the air and spinning around of me.

When one of them faded away, another one took its place, in a never-ending cycle.

All but one...

One of those patterns were increasing in size and getting closer.

It was taking the form of a translucent giant head.

The shapes of that spectrum were swirling and condensing in an organized pattern.

The figure stopped in front of me, floating a few inches from my face.

I recognized what it had become.

Staring at me, with a defiant look, was the face of Sarah: the girl from the interview.

Her arched eyebrows were pointing down, and her heart-shaped lips bowed in a half smirk gaving her a dangerous aspect.

When the figure was almost touching me, an unknown male voice come out of nowhere, by my left side.

The strong voice echoed like a rumble of thunder, startling me, while Sarah’s head faded away.

"Two symbols...desecrated do you remember what he said?"

Then again, this time coming from my right side:

"Two...not one. Can you see it?"

Then everything faded and reality blinked.

I was now sitting in a chair in the inner chambers of my master's mansion.

Ambrosius stood severe in front of me, the black iron cauldron was behind him. His messy grey hair, that he never bothered to comb, was covering the top of his head. Those small, deep and almost colorless eyes were looking at me, as if they could read my soul. The light of the few candles, that was the only source of light in the chamber, reflected in those pale blue eyes.

In fact, they could see inside my soul, if that was his desire.

His hand moved the cane in my direction. The rubber of the tip touched my nose.

I didn’t feel menaced. I was relaxed and paying close attention to what he said.

His grumpy voice was giving me another important lecture:

“Sometimes the answers are in front of us, but we refuse to see. And why is that boy? Because a magician makes you look to the wrong side and do everything in front of your nose. You see my cane because that is where I want you to look now. But you can’t see what I just did, because you are not looking where you were supposed to look.”

He opened his hand and showed me my father's pocket watch. I always carried that watch inside my pockets. I examined the pocket were I kept it and the watch was gone.

I was impressed.

He smirked, gave me the watch back, and continued with his lecture:

“What is the only thing that no true magician can hide from another true magician?”

I wanted to answer "Mana", but, no sound came out of my mouth. I could only rewatch my memories, not interact with them.

Yet, I heard him saying:

"Good, very good. Very good indeed. So, you were paying attention. “Follow the mana”. Remember kid, every kind of mana have their own natural source. If you follow the flow of mana you will never be surprised again"

Then that weird voice coming out of nowhere again:

"Every kind to its own source. There is no way to hide this"

Voluptia winked to me in the chair behind us, and I winked back to her.

Ambrosius faded in front of me followed by her and the chamber.

I remembered that she always backed me up during our classes.

The voice sounded angry now. And it didn't want to stop this time. It was throwing some disconnected phrases at me: one after the other:

"He was inside the doctor all the time..."

"All the time..."

Then the voice came from behind me, I turned my head to see from where it was coming from. But, I could not see anything.

"The tree is a trap..."

"Trap to catch whom? Luciano or YOU!!?"

"His best friend... Quite a coincidence"

Now it was coming from above me. But there was nothing to see, only a grey fog that was now engulfing everything.

"The library is a prison..."

"Amber Moon ...The Amber Moon...is coming"

“Two symbols...so why wait for the Amber Moon?”

When the fog dispersed I was back to the school grounds in front of the church.

The same red cloud from before was covering the sky.

Red was covering everything.

The only thing, that opposed that crimson tone, was an enormous yellow disk. The full Moon dominating the middle of the sky.

The Amber Moon was starting.

The ground trembled ripped by invisible knives. Those cuts opened wide.

Blood began to rain from above. The liquid smelled like rotten flesh.

The bloody rain covered the streets, soaking my clothes with the sticky substance.

Human figures started to come out of the fissures in the ground and gather all around me.

The voice from before started to laugh in a menacing way.

I recognized some of them. Those people moving close and extending their hands to the air as if they wanted to grab me.

Their faces were covered in blood, but I knew who they were. As they closed in, I could hear that they were laughing.

Luciano was laughing, Voluptia was laughing, Sarah was laughing, The doctor laughed.

EVERYONE WAS LAUGHING OF ME!

Even Mother Ana with one of her eyes held by a thin thread of nerves and dancing in front of her face.

Dead, they were all dead.

Surrounded by them. It was impossible to run.

They were everywhere.

The dead bodies of everyone in the school laughed at me and closed in. Their laughs hurt my ears.

I didn't want to hear anymore, but I had no hands to close my ears

In a sudden burst of sanity, I finally recognized the voice that laughed like thunder with them.

It was mine.