Sunstroke

Moneo’s head hangs low as he comes back into conscious. He tries to lift it. His arms hurt and when he looks up, he finds that he is hanging by chains attached to the ceiling and around his wrists. He doesn’t reach the floor. What happened?

He tries to remember. He remembers being part of the fourth and final trial of Morningstar, which consisted of a bloodbath where the students from Morningstar needed to fight the students from the other six academies until sixty students from each academy remained alive. He remembers Icarus, his mentor, coming to save Beta and Kobo, his girlfriend and his best friend. He remembers Shin, a teammate, staying behind, helping Moneo survive while Icarus took Beta and Kobo to safety.

Then what? He lowers his head again, trying to remember. He saw a yellow flare in the sky. That meant that Morningstar had passed the trial. Shin and he ran out of the city of Zladale, where the trial was taking place. He saw each of his teammates arrive, but there were missing more than half. Kobo nor Beta were there, only his other best friend, Fey. He refused to believe that they were dead. He remembered needing to ask Icarus about them, but he drank from the cup of water that Morning’s, the lord of Morningstar, followers offered, and he blacked out.

Now, the door of the room, that doesn’t have any windows nor any other way out, opens. Moneo lifts his head again to look. A man with a gray cloak that has a hood and a gray mask steps in. “Icarus?” he asks, his voice coming rough. “Where are we?”

“Morningstar,” Icarus answers as he closes the door. He looks at Moneo. Moneo cannot help but stare into his eyes. They are blue, the color of ice, and are as cold as that. He knows that those eyes aren’t Icarus. He has a human character behind those eyes and the gray mask that covers his nose, mouth, and jaw.

“Where’s Beta? Where’s Kobo?” Moneo asks.

The next time that Icarus speaks, Moneo thinks that he is saying a script. “A few students of Morningstar from each team escaped the trials. They were among them.” He removes his cloak to expose his black clothes underneath with belts all around his body with knifes and daggers. He throws the cloak away. He pulls one dagger from one of the pockets. “Where are they?”

Moneo’s eyes grow wide. He knows what this is. This is an interrogation. “I-Icarus?”

“Where are they?” He repeats. “Where did they go? What do you know about them?”

Moneo stares once at Icarus’s eyes. Icarus was the last person to see them. He should know. He must have planned this. He must have helped them escape. Moneo looks away. “I understand,” he says. Morning must be forcing his hand to interrogate them. He must be trying to break Icarus and to see if someone from Draconic, which was Icarus’s team, is working with him. He looks at Icarus. “I don’t know where they are,” he yells.

He will withstand for Beta. He trusts that Icarus must have kept her safe.

Moneo feels Icarus’s dagger insert his skin.

***

Xeon glares at the door. His arms hurt from hanging. What is going on? He passed the trial. He remembered saving Zanna, and Wither, her boyfriend, running away with her. Then, when the trial was over, he didn’t see them. He didn’t see Zanna. Is she dead? Is the woman that he has always had a crush on dead?

“A few students of Morningstar deserted the trials,” he hears a voice. He lifts his head. He hadn’t noticed that Icarus was standing in front of him. He doesn’t have his cloak on. “Do you know anything about it?”

“No,” Xeon answers. If people escaped the trial, maybe Zanna escaped. Maybe Wither protected her until they managed to flee.

He feels a sudden heat on his face. Icarus has punched him. Now Xeon understands. They have sent Icarus to question him. Xeon chuckles even though he can feel blood in his mouth. “I should have known.”

Icarus punches him again. “Where are they?”

Xeon spits on the floor. He ignores what he asked. “Demetrio was right. You were my mentor and you never cared for me. You cared for everyone except for me. You were a lousy mentor.”

He remembers Demetrio. He was the mentor of Phantasmic, one of the teams of Morningstar. He has taught him how to be a more interesting man and trained Xeon with his scythe. He also said that Icarus was wasting his abilities.

Icarus punches him again, but this time to the right side of his face. “Where are they? Who is working with them?”

Xeon rises his wobbly head. He looks at Icarus. “I…” he whispers. Icarus leans in to listen. Xeon spits on his face a mix of blood and saliva.

Icarus pulls back slowly. He wipes his face with the back of his hand. He pulls a dagger and flips it in his hand. He then stabs the dagger at Xeon’s outer left thigh. “What do you know?”

Xeon screams. His breathing has accelerated. He tries to slow down his breathing, but Icarus then stabs another dagger at his other thigh. Xeon screams again. “I…” he says, trying to catch his breath. “I hope that you rot in hell.”

***

Ilya tries to shake the chains. She knows that she will not break free. She hates that her body is weak. She pulls on the chains. There’s no way to break them. She is there, which she doesn’t know where she is, trapped with no way out.

The door opens, and she spots Icarus entering. “Icarus? What is going on? Why am I here?”

“Some students of Morningstar escaped during the trial,” Icarus says.

“Escaped? How is that possible?” Ilya asks.

“That’s what I came to ask,” he says. She then notices his mask stained with blood.

“You… Oh…” she says. She knows that he is going to torture her. “You think that it was an inside job.”

“What do you know about it?” Icarus asks.

“Nothing–” Icarus’s fist clashes against her face. She feels her eyes watered. She looks at Icarus.

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know a–” Another punch to her face. She feels some tears fall. She looks up at Icarus. What happened to him? What happened to the mentor that gave her the shield for her to use along her rapier? What happened to the mentor that always wanted to talk about knights with her? Was he faking all of that?

He pulls a knife out. “Who is working for them?”

“I don’t know…” He stabs the knife into her left arm. She screams. “I-Icarus. What is wrong with you? Why are you–” Another knife lands near the first. She screams and he pulls her head back by her hair.

“Where are they?”

She thinks of what would Tilray, her best friend, do, but she didn’t see her after the trial. She knows that she must be dead or gone, but if she escaped, why didn’t she take her with her? Ilya has always be so dependent of her, but she is not there anymore. Ilya must now become her own self.

She looks up at Icarus, glaring at him with the deadliest look that she can create. She had imagined being a knight. She had stopped in front of her room’s mirror and imagined herself in knight’s armor. She had imagined herself working with Icarus, defending people together, a knight and an assassin. “I don’t know.” And the next time that he stabs a knife, she doesn’t scream.

***

Icarus leaves Rin’s interrogation room. She blacked out during the interrogation. He wants to take a break. He wants to breathe. He couldn’t believe the look in Rin. She had the look of betrayed. She asked about Phoenix and Zanna, her two best friends. He wanted to scream that they are all right, that they are fine. He wanted to assure her that he will always protect Phoenix. He loves her, even though he never said it.

He never though that he was going to remain behind at the trial. He thought that he could find a way to ensure the retreat of every member of Draconic. He never thought that nine members of his team were going to stay behind. He made a decision once he saw the yellow flare. He decided to not flee with the rest of the team. He decided to stay to find a way to rescue the rest of his team. But he should have waited for the worst. He should have expected that Morning would have made him hurt them.

This wasn’t Icarus plan. He and two other mentors were going to infiltrate Morningstar. The other two mentors were Kemba and Pym. Unfortunately, Pym didn’t make it. Icarus knew that they were going to have some tough trials, but he didn’t expect Pym to face someone as strong as Demetrio. He thought that Pym, Kemba, and he were going to leave Morningstar alive. Only Kemba made it out.

Icarus tries to stay with his face expressionless. He moves to the last interrogation room. There are only eight interrogation rooms, which means that Morning must have made someone else interrogate one of his team members, either Fey or Slier. He opens the door.

A woman is hanging inside. She has her long blonde hair covering her face. She looks exhausted. Icarus knows that this is Fey. He approaches her as she lifts her sight. “I-Icarus?” she asks.

Icarus repeats the speech. “Some students of Morningstar escaped during the trial, including some of your teammates, Quin’s, Demetrio’s, Signe’s, and Kemba’s.”

“Why?” she asks. “How?”

“That is what I am here to ask,” he says as he pulls one of his many knives.

“Icarus,” she asks when she sees the knife. Her brown eyes open wide. “What are you doing?”

“I need to know if you know anything about it,” he says.

“I don’t know anything about–” Icarus stabs the knife in her thigh. She screams. “W-What the fuck are you–” Icarus stabs another in her arm. She screams.

“Where are they?”

“I don’t–” Icarus presses the knife that is in her thigh deeper. She screams louder. He picks another knife and is about to jibe it, when she looks at him furiously. “Don’t you dare!”

Icarus sees a hint of gold in her eyes. His knife falls from his grip. How could he not see it? How could he not know it? “I…” I am sorry, he wants to say. How didn’t he know that she was blessed? How didn’t he notice that she had magic? He tries to recollect himself, leaving the knife on the floor. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know!” she yells. Icarus grabs her leg and twists it, taking the knee out of place. She screams louder than ever. He places his hand on her knee. I am sorry. I’ve failed you. He squeezes it as he hears her scream.

All that she did was flirt with him. He thought that she was an obvious person. He thought that he knew her already. He was wrong. She is more than what the eyes meet. She is more than a woman with a silly crush, and he didn’t see past that.

He failed her. He failed her as a mentor. But he will work it out. He will make amends. He will save her.

He proceeds to break her other knee.

***

Slier is standing beside Morning at his cathedral in his academy. Morning is the lord of Morningstar. He is cruel, even though his appearance doesn’t show it. He always wears a yellow cloak that has golden suns and stars imprinted on it. He has dark skin and eyes but darker hair. He never smiles. The closest thing to a smile that Slier has seen from him is a curve in his mouth.

“Sit down, Miss Lord,” he says, barely moving his mouth. One of Morning’s followers, which always wear red robes and never show their face, brings a chair for Slier to sit beside the throne at altar where Morning is seated. She sits down. “Something is troubling you. Speak.”

“I…” Slier begins. “I understand that some students from each team escaped the trial, my lord, and I understand that this could have been an inside job, but… why interrogate my teammates? Why spare me? I assure you. We do not know anything about it.”

Morning looks at Slier. “Miss Lord, you’ve always been loyal to me. Only once you defied me, but you learnt your lesson.” Slier feels the urge to touch her long scar at her back, but she fights it. “You’ve followed me blindly after that, and that’s why I spared you. I know that you wouldn’t betray the academy.”

“But and pardon my questioning–”

“I allowed you to speak,” Morning says. “You are not a student anymore. You drank the elixir. You graduated. You may ask whatever question you want as long as it is respectful.”

Slier nods. “Why are my teammates being questioned? They do not know anything.”

“It is not a punishment for them but for Icarus,” he says. “He has formed an attachment with his team. If he worked to help them escape, this is the way to break him.”

The doors of the cathedral open, and Slier and Morning change their focus to the entrance. Slier sees Icarus entering. He doesn’t have his cloak on. He has it in a roll in his hand and it is looked to be stained with blood. Even his mask is. He approaches and stops a couple of meters away. He doesn’t kneel in front of Morning.

“It is done,” Icarus says. He doesn’t look at Slier. Is he disappointed by her?

“What did they say?” Morning asks.

“Nothing, lord,” Icarus says. “They didn’t know anything.”

“What measures did you used?”

“All of them. I broke them down, heard them scream, watched them cry, made them bleed, inflicted pain until they blacked out. They didn’t know anything.”

“Very well,” Morning says. He moves his hand. A follower moves towards Icarus and hands him a brown bag. “Here is your pay for your contract. You are free to leave Morningstar.”

Icarus nods. “One other thing, lord.” Morning sits more straighter than he was. “Usually, mentors can make contracts with one or more graduates. I am asking to hire someof the graduates to work for me.”

Morning stares at Icarus. “You are right. I am allowing you to pick one. Who do you want to hire?”

“Fey,” Icarus says. “Fey Aven.”

Slier tries to hide her curiousness. Why is Icarus choosing Fey? He thought that he was indifferent about her. He seemed closer to Ilya and Rin than to Fey. She knows that Fey has a crush on Icarus, it was obvious, but that shouldn’t be the reason why he chose her? Or was it? Was he waiting for her to graduate to take her with him?

“Very well,” Morning says. Icarus pulls some golden coins from the brown bag that the follower gave him. The same follower takes it and hands it to Morning. “I’ll send her out the gate in twenty minutes.”

“My most gratitude,” Icarus says. He turns and leaves without giving a single look to Slier.

“How is he going to take Fey if she has fainted from pain? She won’t be able to move if she wakes up.” Slier says. She feels odd asking questions to Morning. She never got to do that.

“Sonny,” Morning says, ignoring her question. Sonny moves closer. She is Morning’s closest advisor. She always holds a book and has a pen inserted in her blonde bun. She wears a round pair of glasses and always a red blazer with a long and tight red skirt. “Heal them. Fast. Begin with Miss Aven and tell her to come here afterwards.”

Sonny nods, bows, and leaves the cathedral. Slier looks at Morning once before moving her sight away. He won’t answer her question. She can now ask questions but that doesn’t mean that he will answer them.

After minutes of silence, the cathedral doors open again. This time, Fey steps in. She doesn’t seem damaged. She doesn’t have any visible cut nor scar. She is holding a backpack and a staff in her hand. She stops meters away from Morning and kneels. Slier knows what happened. Sonny is a witch. She must have healed her.

“You may stand,” Morning says. Fey doesn’t. She looks as Slier once, and Slier sees the sadness in her eyes. Whatever Icarus did to her must have been horrible. “You’ve been bought. Your buyer is waiting at the gate to establish a contract for your services.” He waves his hand. A follower moves closer to Fey and hands her a goblet. “Drink. After you finish the drink, you have officially graduated from Morningstar.” Fey drinks the liquid before handing the goblet to the follower. “You are free to go.”

“It was an honor, Lord Morning,” Fey says. She bows and leaves.

***

Fey heads towards the front gate of Morningstar. Someone bought her as if she is a piece of food or an animal. She is a human being. She didn’t know that someone could buy her after graduation. She didn’t know anything that could happen after graduation.

She stops once she sees who is waiting at the gate. Icarus is now wearing his gray cloak and he has changed his mask. He is also wearing a backpack. He must be the one who bought her. She doesn’t want to go with him. She has always had a crush on him, but now she is a little scared of him.

“No,” she whispers.

“Come,” he answers. He begins to walk away.

“I don’t want to,” she answers.

He stops and takes a second before turning. “I bought you. Now, you will come with me and we will negotiate a contract for your services. Otherwise, I would have to send you back to Morning and he will kill you.”

“No,” Fey answers. “I am not a prostitute! I don’t do services like that!”

“That’s not the services that I am talking about,” Icarus says, not showing anything in his voice. “You either follow me and survive or go back to Morning and die because you didn’t accept the offer.”

Fey stares for a second. She doesn’t want to be with Icarus after what he did. He almost killed her while she suffered. She looks back at Morningstar. If she comes back, she will be killed. What choice does she has?

She follows Icarus towards the forest.