Mira was sweating again. Even the blanket felt too heavy. But she couldn't bring herself to move it from her body. She felt paralyzed.
" Mira... What happened? Are your dreams getting worse? "
Braze flipped the blanket away and scooped her up in his arms. He supported her head with one hand and held her waist with the other one. He gently shook her several times trying to wake her up.
Mira woke up as if she was choking.
Kian rushed in with a glass of water.
" Mira... what's happening? " They looked genuinely worried as her face continued to turn red as if someone had cut off her air supply.
Mira spit the water out as they tried to feed it to her.
" She is out of breath. Should we make her lie down? CPR? " Xen asked anxiously.
" She's awake , can't you see... " Logic wasn't working because all of them were getting paranoid.
After what seemed like some intense seconds, Mira gulped down air as if she was just back from underwater.
She held tightly onto Braze and caught up on her breaths.
Kian and Xen watched her and exchanged worried glances.
" He was right... " Mira finally spurted.
" Uncle Kilian was right about my father. " Her eyes looked like they had seen a million horrors in one moment. " He was mad. He looked terrible. He was angry. He warned me against it.... the Heartstaff... "
Mira looked around at their faces.
" Do you mean your father? Did he do this to you? How? How does he have this control over you? It never happened to you before... What is giving him this power over you? "
Xen looked angry.
" We must find the Heartstaff. Maybe then we will be able to confront him properly... He is too strong. I can feel it. His power comes from the Darkness like Uncle Kilian rightly said... Let's inform Guardian Yvonne and get back to the Mountain of Forgetfulness. "
" Why do we need to tell him? " Kian asked.
" Masking potion, Kian. We might need barrels of that. We will have not only the Dark Mages but the Watchers after us as well. "
Xen pulled his cap and walked towards the door with swag. " What? I thought this was urgent. Why are you still sitting and watching? "
***
Somewhere in some distant caves, not far from the core of the Mountain of Forgetfulness -
George opened his eyes as the sunlight stung him.
It must have been months since they last saw any sunlight. He immediately looked around for his sister.
" Rozelle..... Elder Sister.... Rozelle.... "
He yelled, frantically looking here and there.
They were in the middle of some wilderness. There was a network of caves behind them.
" I am here. Stop yelling. My ears hurt. "
Rozelle lay a few feet away from George and he scrambled on all fours towards his sister.
" You alright? " He asked her , helping her sit up.
Rozelle rubbed her eyes adjusting to the sunlight.
" How did we come out? Did you do something? Did anyone come for rescue? "
She asked.
George scratched his head and rubbed his neck.
" I don't remember much. But I think... I think they let us out. "
" Let us out? Just like that? Why the sudden generosity? You must be out of your mind... Did you see anything or are you just guessing? " She asked, rubbing her bum as she stood up.
They had been abducted by the Dark Mages.
Neither of them knew anything about those creatures.
For months they kept them inside those caves, tormenting and torturing them in ways they did not know was possible.
They had effectively broken their will power, their strength to fight back. We are not even counting the physical pain and irreversible injuries that they had to forego.
Rozelle touched herself up and down. There wasn't a single scratch on her body, no pain, no bruise, nothing. It was as if she had been dreaming it all up. Apart from the dirty clothes , it was as if nothing that they had been through had actually happened.
She pulled George up by the collar.
"Hey! What are you trying to do? " George looked puzzled and shocked as she suddenly started patting him down, like running a thorough check up.
" Do you feel anything? " She asked, punching him here and there.
" Of course. Stop hitting me! " He yelled.
" No, you stupid. Our injuries. They are all gone. There isn't a single wound on our bodies. " She pulled his clothes apart.
" Dang it! It's true. Great. "
George looked elated. "The pain is gone. It feels so good. "
George stretched to his heart's content.
" Ouch! " But his glee was short-lived as his sister punched him hard in the stomach. " Why would you do that? " He complained, rubbing his stomach.
" Don't you get it? There is something fishy about all this. We don't know anything about those creatures that got us. They have Chemorian traits but weren't exactly like Chemorians. They kept us for so long and suddenly let us go. Now we don't even have our wounds and scars. They beat the sh*t out of us. Will anybody at the headquarters even believe us when we report what we have been going through? "
Rozelle sighed.
" Of course they will. We are eyewitnesses. Let's head back immediately. "
George grabbed Rozelle's hand.
" Wait! We must head back. We need to call them here. We might have alien contamination. Let's look for a phone and make a call. I am sure Robert will be able to help make sense of this mess. Aaahhh! Never did I imagine I would be missing that freak. Let's go. "
George and Rozelle walked towards the mountainous roads, trying to find their way towards the locality. They were completely oblivious to the fact that the Robert they were rooting for was gone for the entire stretch of time they had been missing as well. He was no longer working for the Watcher but was engrossed in a mission of his own.