Gold eyes

One thousand two hundred kids were standing outside a cave that was covered by a water screen, they were all excited when they first came, but orders where given for them to stand outside and they have stood under the hot sun for awhile now, some kids were already complaining.

"We have been standing here for so long, we should just go back to our rooms and wait till they're done", a lean kid complained while wiping sweat off his forehead. The sun was pretty hot as it was high noon, the hottest time of the day.

Alex and William kept silent while staring at the other kids around with blank eyes, they had nothing to do so staring at the others as they complained was the only thing of slight interest. William was thinking about the spar he had with Arthur and ways to improve himself, he looks at Alex and asked.

"Alex, at what stage is your sword mastery?, Arthur has reached the 1st stage he's now a strong competitor". William also explained the reason he asked his question, he wants to let Alex know that Arthur has upgraded and Alex should not treat him as before and he has not seen Alex train recently, maybe something was going on but he had to warn his friend. His spar with Arthur was a loss when Arthur decided to use his mastery. Alex glanced at William and patted his shoulder with a confident smile and said"my dad said I was born with a high affinity for the sword, and without training I can still reach the 6th stage by 30 years, so back to your question, I am at the 2nd stage". At the end of his words he smirked proudly.

William eyes widened'2nd stage', he thought, what Alex said was mind blowing, how could alex reach the second stage at this age, it has not been more than two years since Alex started training, even with a sword master affinity it was supposed to be impossible."how is that possible?", William asked in shock.

Alex shrugged indicating that it just happened, William was jealous of Alex's luck, he was still struggling to reach the 1st stage and Alex was on his way to the 3rd stage. Alex lowered his head, he had lied to William the reason he reached the second stage so quickly was after the outburst he had at the training ground, Alex could feel it, that rune was changing something in him and when it's completed something may happen and he was afraid of that. From what the professor said he knew there was no natural rune as powerful as the one at his back and it was just an uncompleted rune!.

A woman wearing white robes with a small green leaf symbol on her chest came out from the water screen which had divided itself, she glanced at the kids and said

"You can go in now".

The kids ran into the cave with some of them passing through the part where the water screen still covered but they couldn't be bothered by the cold water as the bath was more important. Alex just stood at his position and watched the kids run towards the cave with fervour, the scene before him flashed and he saw ten of thousands gigantic beings running towards him with intense bloodthirst, the view also flashed and his vision returned to normal, Alex staggered and fell on his butt, his body was shivering with fear, Asher and Derek noticed it immediately and carried Alex through the crowd into the cave, if any of their inspectors saw Alex like this it would not be a small case. William was surprised to see Alex in such state, Alex was okay just now what happened.

Inside the cave they continued moving till they found a hidden spot in the enormous cave, no kid bothered them, they all ran towards the rejuvenating bath. When they laid Alex on the ground his body was shaking with much intensity, his eyes opened wide with his pupils glowing bright red. Asher and Derek looked at themselves in horror, Asher rushed and removed Alex's shirt and saw red throbbing veins has covered his body and it was moving towards his neck and soon appeared on his face, Alex looked abominable. The moist walls dried up as the heat in the environment increased drastically, the white part of Alex's eyes were getting covered in blood.

Tears filled Derek's eyes, he screamed in both anger, fear and helplessness"he's dying!, That rune is killing him!!". He was angry at that hateful rune and afraid because his best friend was dying right in front of his eyes .

"We need to get him to the commander now!" William shouted, Asher and Derek nodded and faced Alex, at this point white mist was already coming out of his body, the rune at his back had grown till it was almost completed, but the more it increased, it's host was dying.

"I have never heard of a natural rune that kills it's user, this is an impossible existence!" Asher screamed as they tried to carry Alex, but his body was too hot that it burned their skin.

"I will go call the woman at the front", William said to Asher and Derek, but when he took a step they all paused, even Alex who was screaming in pain paused .

At an unknown distance, on a high mountain, so high that it reached the clouds an old man wearing gray robe opened his eyes, it glowed with golden light as he smiled and said "it's not time".

Immediately at the cave Alex body began healing with golden light, the red veins receded back to the rune, the rune also reduced till it was non existent .A voice entered William, Asher and Derek's ears "don't worry, he's fine". They all regained their movement and looked at Alex sleeping peacefully.

"What just happened, did you hear that voice?", Derek asked William and Asher while staring at them, they both nodded and stared at sleeping Alex. What just occurred could not be explained, they just kept it under buried for now, but they will surely notify the cheiftian if they get a chance. They carried Alex deeper into the cave, the cave had different directions, so they went through a smaller path and the place was pretty silent only a few kids Where inside the large blue liquid. Asher shook his head towards Derek and William, they understood and took Alex deeper, soon they found a pool with no one in it.

"I'm really happy that the rejuvenating bath does not need a person actually breathe, It's really miraculous, who created such a thing", Derek said relieved while he laid Alex at the bottom of the pool. The pool was not deep it just reached their waist .

"I don't really care who invented it", William said slowly, he sat at the edge of the pool.

"The best news right now, is that hateful rune at Alex's back is gone!", Asher was so happy and relieved, the presence of that rune was torture to both Alex and them. Asher noticed something was amiss with William's current behavior so he asked"what's wrong?", while placing his hands on William's shoulder.

Hitting away Asher's hand William questioned with anger"why did you not tell me about Alex's case?!".

"Because we had to limit the news from spreading, the less amount of people who knows the better", Asher said his reasons.

"You are telling me that I'm not supposed to know!, Alex is my friend as well as yours, what gives you the right to decide on such matters, you kept it to yourselves as what!, His aide and his best friend", William's eyes blazed with anger.

Derek knew that if this case was not resolved it will cause a fight between Asher and William so he said slowly"no William, it was to deprive ourselves from watching you crumble in fear and helplessness while watching Alex suffering from that rune, the way we did". Derek's words dissolved the tension. William calmed down while he looked down, Derek was right what could he have done, he was powerless to stop something like that, he understood Derek's words vividly because when he watched Alex earlier other than fear and helplessness there was nothing he could do.

"In my anxiety I awakened a side power of my rare phantom, mind reading, well I can only read surface thoughts, but I could feel Alex's pain and madness, the intense negative feeling that rune had almost drove me crazy, seeing Alex sane is a shock to me", Derek said with closed eyes.

"I'm really grateful to the man that helped us". He added.

"Do you think he's in the camp?", Asher questioned.

"I don't know but if he is, then he may come for Alex soon and if he's not from the camp, then we shall keep it hidden, from what I heard from my father not everyone supports Alex and giving them an advantage should never be allowed", Derek said with a low voice.

After awhile, they all laid in the blue liquid with closed eyes, their bodies began to glow and they fell asleep. A woman appeared from the wall and silently walked to the pool, she took Alex and flashed out of the cave, not even the woman outside the cave knew someone passed her.