Unknown Fate

A beautiful garden. There was greenery all around, as far as the

eyes could see. But alongwith the green grass, the ground was

filled with multicoloured patches, flowers filled the garden.

After

stretching out for endless miles, the belt of colours merged with

the azure blue sky laden with clouds. Soft fluffy balls of cotton

sailed through the air lazily, it seemed like they were enjoying

the scenery too.

There was a river on the other side, flowing with a leisurely

pace. The water was crystal clear, reflecting the azure blue sky

and showing the interiors of the river simultaneously. Silver

finned fished were swimming around. The water was clear

enough to even roughly discern the colours of the round stones

and pebbles.

Aquatic plants swayed their leaves in the direction

of the ever so gentle current.

Amidst the flowers which were slowly bobbing their heads,

dancing with the breeze, two figures could be seen.

A girl with

inky blue hair and eyes, kneeling on the grass. On her lap, there

rested a head with jet black hair. The inky eyes looked at the

face of the sleeping boy tenderly, sometimes ruffling his hair

with her hand while sometimes tracing her fingers on the face.

"Urgh..."

The boy's eyes started twitching, and he slowly raised his head

which was sunken in the soft thighs previously. The girl didn't

allow that, she pressed his head down firmly. After a minute, the

boy finally opened his eyes which had adjusted to the light.

"Mhmmm... I am..."

"Oh, you are finally awake!" the girl brightly smiled and turned

the boy's head over.

Mino found himself staring at an extremely beautiful girl. She

was by no means ordinary. Her face was not exactly round, but

very attractive.

The inky blue eyes carried an unfathomable depth in them, which made Mino feel as if he was immersed in

the ocean. But at the same time, it calmed his heart down.

Noticing the girl smiling at him brightly, he couldn't help but

smile too. It was as if he had seen the girl very recently.

And he actually had!

[W-wait a second... INKY BLUE EYES AND HAIR!!]

"Yaleena!" Mino shouted out as loudly as he could, his

eardrums shaking because of his own voice.

"Oh, i'm glad you remember me Mino. Please visit my home

okay?" she closed her eyes while smiling sweetly once again.

She had an aura of royalty around her which made Mino hold his breath subconsciously.

"..."

Mino stared at Yaleena blankly, confusion evident on his face.

But he found himself entranced by Yaleena's beauty. The snaky

blue locks curled around in the wind. It was too difficult for him

to take his eyes off her face, which looked perfect with the clear

blue background.

But he managed to make a question,

"What...do...you...mean...?"

Hearing his voice which a barely at whisper, Yaleena first

looked upwards, and Mino saw clearly that her eyes were

glistening.

"Is...she...crying?"

Then she turned to look at Mino again, some tears fell on nose

and forehead. She brought her lips close to his ears and

breathed, "I have lost all, but hope to start anew. Visit my

home..."

The sad and lonely voice wrenched Mino's heart.By the time she had finished her vague words, Mino saw that

her face was getting distorted.

"What!!!"

The distortion spread and soon the entire landscape started

disappearing, as if it was being sucked into some void. Mino

found himself surrounded by pure darkness. His vision which

was stained pure black. The eerie quietness was replaced by a

shout, and he felt that the shout was directed at him. He felt

jerks, as if someone was pushing him.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!"

Mino opened his eyes and sprang up while taking in a sharp,

deep breath. He was lying on the hard floor.

"W-what was that! A dream?! So I dreamt that I woke up from

my sleep?! Damn shit... a-and why d-did I meet Yaleena..."

An unfamiliar voice entered Mino's ears, forcing him to

straighten himself. At that very moment, he was reminded of his

earlier struggle against a brown furred wolf. Bringing his hands

to his neck subconsciously, he rubbed it over the area where

the wolf had previously sunken its fangs into.

There was a

rubbery feel. A collar was placed on his neck. His whole body

was covered in sweat. A brown coloured tunic covered his body,

which was clinging to his skin because of the sweat.

"Yeh sorese yeira?"

"Eh?" The same unfamiliar voice entered his ears once again.

This time Mino turned his towards the direction of the voice. To

his surprise, he saw that a teen, a little bit older or as young as

him was sitting beside him. Mino was still feeling exhausted

even after sleeping for quite some time, so he rested his back

against the wall.

Then, he decided to take a good look at the

boy who was calling out to him.The boy had a face which could be accurately described as

'feminine'. Even though his face was soiled with dirt, he looked

quite nice. Grey hair which reflected a bit of black from certain

angles. His lead coloured eyes showed extreme patience,

which was reflected in his behaviour too.

That boy had been

trying to get Mino to talk but didn't seem to be angry even

though he was being ignored. And the most surprising thing

which caught Mino's eyes were, a pair of triangular reddish

things coming out of the boy's head, with the edges silver in

colour.

Mino towards the boy and told him, "I'm sorry, there's a

language barrier between us. I can't understand anything even

if I wanted to. By the way, I am Mino." he said this while pointing

towards himself, hoping that the other party would get him.

The boy looked genuinely surprised, and after a few seconds,

that surprise changed into confusion.

He raised his voice and let

out a shout, "Heiii yeiraaaa!"

Just as he finished shouting that,

Mino felt chills run down his spine. In a matter of seconds, he

was surrounded by a swarm of boys, most of them older than

him.

As soon as they rushed over, the pungent smell of sweat entered Mino's nostrils, making him cringe his face. It was

absolutely intolerable. A group of boys had crowded around

him, fighting to see glimpses of him.

The boy who initially raised

the cry was being pushed backwards!

[Damn! Where in the fucking hell am I?!]

Subjected to all sorts of stares, Mino squirmed uncomfortably,

he was feeling like a zoo animal.

[I'm sorry to every zoo animal I've laughed at! I apologize, so

please get me out of this mess!]

In order to distract him from the curious stares, he started

observing his surroundings.

The room was moderate, but it was not at all large enough to hold thirty people together.

So, it was

most definitely cramped, and the musty smell of the dirty room

combined with the body odour of its residents polluted the air of

the room. The air was stuffy due to the lack of proper

ventilation, just a thin slit in the top.

A white coloured crystal

was glowing brightly, much like a 15 watt LED. That light was

not enough to illuminate every corner of the room, but nobody

cared about it.

The floor was hard and grey in colour, grooves

crisscrossing the surface. Walls a darker shade of grey, the

entire room just screamed of a prison cell. If not for the white

light, the atmosphere was surely claustrophobic.

In the midst of the curious glances and hushed whispers, a

clear loud bang resounded, the sound of metal hitting against

metal.

Mino turned backwards to see that there was indeed a prison

cell like bar formation.

A man was standing behind it, or rather

outside the room. He had a baton in his hand, most likely he

had used that to bang the bars.

Mino looked at the man with a

blank gaze.

The man soon cleared his throat and began, "Who is Mino Clair?" he started running his eyes through the entire

crowd, scanning it.

Hearing his name spelled out in full by a

stranger, Mino grew extremely wary. He didn't respond at all.

But in the next moment, the man fished out a bunch of keys

from his pocket. Unlocking the door, he went inside.

Nearly all

of the boys retreated away from the place, clearly scared to go

near that person. Most likely becuase that person looked angry and displeased. Some were even frozen in their places.

The man glared at Mino, grabbed him by his arm and started

dragging him along the rough uneven grooved floor. The grip

was so strong that Mino seriously thought that his bones were

about to break.

"STOOOOOOOOPPPP!!!!" he frantically cried out and flailed,

trying to break free. The man's glare intensified, sending a wave

of terror in Mino's heart.

However the man didn't stop there, he

strengthened his grip further, making Mino wail in pain, straightened his arm and moved it in an arc.

Mino was slammed

into the hard ground face down, with an impact that cracked the

concrete.

It pained like hell and Mino no longer had the energy

or guts to protest. He allowed himself to be dragged by the man

towards his unknown fate.