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GET OUT OF MY HEAD

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HE DIDN'T SAY  a word for a moment, eyes studying me.

"I-I think she said she wants to follow Omkara," Lira interpreted glancing from me to Harvest momentarily.

Harvest didn't look back at her, however, his eyes remained steadfast on me. 

I was ready to fight, to defend myself, say- a dilect shouldn't be the only show of strength but he nodded slowly, eyes studying mine-

"Fine," he stated with a sigh turning to Lira, "You'll stay here, make sure they regroup once they have been trialed," Harvest stated to her, handing her the books, to which she nodded, still with a surprised and dumbfounded look on her face, mirroring my own.

Neither of us had expected his quick approval when he had only just refused to let me do anything.

He turned back to me, dipping a hand in his coat pocket.

"Take everything you need, and follow," he stated plainly, his tone blunt before turning away and walking towards the forest.

It was safe to say I was confused as I watched his dark figure tread down the green grass toward the Fareborn Forest, my eyes trailing to Lira who was at a loss for words for a few seconds, before seemingly snapping out of it.

"C'mon, reddy! Put your stuff down, take only what you need, before he disappears," she rushed, a warning in her tone.

At the sound of that, I too snapped out of it, rapidly setting down my bag, taking out all that I thought I needed, glancing from time to time at the figure as it disappeared amongst the trees.

I panicked slightly at this but took out my essentials which were a plain black notebook as my pink notebook seemed to never wish to return, and a pen.

I opened a page and quickly jotted down something.

"Seriously red? Can you write some other time?" Lira huffed glancing at the place that Harvest had just disappeared to with what I would only describe as a concerned look displayed on my features.

I paused staring at her and she gave me a look of disbelief,

"Hurry!" she sported and I quickly shut the book once again coming back to reality, about to zip my bag when I spotted an ivory glare hidden between.

Without giving it much thought I took it out, hiding it between the pages of my book, not that it hid very well thanks to its length and breadth, but I figured I would find a better spot.

"Talanda!" Lira quipped and my eyes widened nodding, zipping the bag up and setting it with the rest of the bags before jogging after Harvest.

"You better be quicker than that!" Lira yelled after me, and I hid down a chuckle, knowing that little by little she was starting to show how much she cared.

I slowed down as I approached the large shadowy woods of the Fareborn forest, swallowing dryly.

I turned slightly, Lira a distance back staring back at me before gesturing me to move. Looking back, I took a deep breath in walked inside the forest.

The trees rose like giants all around me the farther I headed into the forest, the wind blowing through raising the dry crunchy leaves that littered the ground a little bit as if the forest was letting out a deep sigh of relief.

This was the first time I was journeying into the Fairborn forest during the day, and it felt like only now could I see its true magnificence.

But such beauty came with a feeling of insignificance and danger the farther the deeper I walked through.

My eyes were on the lookout for the dark figure that was supposed to be in these woods waiting for me but there was no trace of him.

No footprints or his fascinating scent.

It was almost like he had been a ghost and I was the only living thing that had dared enter this forest.

Something dashed in front of me so fast, that I froze in my footsteps, my heart beginning its usual pound within me. my breathing harsh.

I wanted to call out for him, For Harvest but a voiceless being like myself had no defense as minimal as that.

The feeling of the wind part a few feet to my side caused me to switch directions, eyes darting to and from, heart racing, taking a step back, the sound of the crunch of leaves from my footsteps startled me, and just when I thought to relax momentarily, an arm clamped around my waist, as I held my notebook against my chest, his hand around my throat.

The cool feeling of cold metal around my skin from the rings on his fingers, his scent engulfing me in an instant as did his warmth.

His breath was a low whisper against my ear.

And let out a short startled gasp at the sudden transition. I hadn't even heard him come up behind me, and I knew my listening skills were unmatched

I couldn't understand how the dry crunchy leaves surrounding me seemed to have absorbed his secret and allowed his silence.

My heart was hammering within me as the feel of his warm breath against my ear sent a shiver down my spine, his arm effortlessly holding me in place.

"A simple ambush," he stated, his tone low, accent heavy "Something very common in these woods, in these times," he added, "You said you were ready," he added, stepping away from me, moving to the front, but his hand remained on my neck, tilting my head slightly upward yet still looking up into his blue prisons.

"Had this been the real game, you would be on your way to the sick bay, and had this been the real world," he continued taking a step closer, eyes boring into mine, " you would have been dead.' he finished.

My heart skipped a beat at his stale remark, but my head drifted off to places I had been in my dreams.

This position triggered something in me as I stared into those eyes, a certain feeling draining inside me.

I was looking up at him, but not in the forest, in the confines of my crib, that feeling gripping me stronger while I was there, making me trapped and scared, fear echoing through me in tidal waves as I felt that unwanted power suck everything out of me, as I watched my life force drain, little by little.

A tears streamed from my eyes, whilst in this moment I felt trapped in my own body. Unable to move.

The same feeling I felt in that memory caging my soul as I stared into those now more than familiar blue eyes of his, my breathing shortening as he talked-

Yet not fully pay attention to much of what he was saying as all I could see was that bluish hue rising from me, that feeling growing, gripping my heart, that Shadow taking over my soul.

"Your dilect is still in its infancy, therefore you don't even have the bare minimum defense in a forest of Dilectus. I need every one of my players ready Talanda, and you are not ready. So when I say you stay by my side, I mean you stay by my side," he gritted out the last part tone daringly and I nodded, my body shaking as the memory passed stronger within me, my heart seemed to be torn from its roots.

Harvest's eyebrows furrowed suddenly, eyes trailing down my face, studying it for a second.

But I was far to go in that memory that surrounded my reality like an illusion.

Trapped in my head and I couldn't get out. I couldn't move.

His gaze shifted,  and his thumb gently caressed my cheek, wiping the stray tear that escaped from my eyes.

His own softened into an unrecognizable look, the other hand coming towards my face and I immediately flinched, heart racing causing him to pause.

His eyebrows deepened into a crease, and he stepped away from me as if I suddenly burned him, he seemed genuinely confused for a second.

At the loss of contact, I snapped out of my haze, gasping, taking in heavy breaths as I stared wide-eyed at him.

His gaze narrowed on me, his tone sounded low and broken for a minute, his demeanor completely shifting as if he had just realized something.

"You would think I would hurt you?" he spat, disbelief in his tone.

He stared at me as if I was an Alien, his eyes dropping to his hands, his open palm for a second, eyebrows arched before fisting them closed again.

He shook his head in disbelief, eyes snapping back to mine.

My heart rammed against its cage at this, and a surge of anger whipped through me at what I went through, the fear oozing out of me, of momentarily being trapped in my own body, yet again, opening the notebook and writing something down angrily in it,  ignoring the obvious shake in them.

I showed it to him, breathing out heavily.

[GET OUT OF MY HEAD].

Now he probably knew everything, whatever I had seen. While those memories flashed he had probably been peaking. That's why I couldn't move.

His eyes traveled down to the words, a heavy scoff in his tone,

"I didn't have to look into your mind to see anything when it's all in your eyes,"  he grunted back, his tone rising the more he spoke, "you're always either angry or scared around me, but you've never once flinched," he stated dryly, his tone getting lower with the last phrase.

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

"There is always going to be one thing after the other with you," he huffed, his tone stale and yet it dripped in anger, "you're never going to see are you?" he added, eyes trailing down at me as my own arched.

"The only thing you see is fear, and despite the progress I thought we were making, your fears are only growing," he gunted, his breathing short and ragged.

He looked away, jaw clenching, and he cursed underneath his breath, in repetition, before those turbulent sea eyes met mine in a hardened gaze, his tone calmer but only more vile.

"You just frustrate the hell out of me Talanda," he grunted,

He looked up at the sky covered by leafy branches of the tall overhead trees.

"I know I'm not... Easy.." he trailed off as if searching for the right words before his eyes found me, darkening slightly,

"But do you really have to hate me?"

He runs his hand through his locks cursing again at my silence before stomping off into the forest, leaving nothing but a gust of wind and his diminishing scent in the air.

I stared blankly at the direction he had gone into, successfully disappearing in no time as it seemed he was pretty good at it.

I stood there dumbfounded for a moment before the load came crashing down on me.

Had he gone through my mind?

I mean the feeling wasn't the same as it usually was whenever he did control my body. This one was way darker and paralyzed even my thoughts to only one moment.

I stared blankly in the direction he had gone.

My jaw tightened.

Whether he had done it or not what right did he have to get frustrated? He was the one who ambushed me in the middle of a stupid forest. If he hadn't, I would have never gotten that flashback and acted the way I did.

I was frustrating? Had he met himself?

Well, good riddance! If I hadn't hated him then, I-I certainly do now! Stupid boy!

My hands were shaking as I looked down at them, opening the book and revealing the white tusk.

I took it in my hands, gripping it freely, before turning the other way into the forest, my eyes narrowing down on the trees.

I would show him.

I could survive on my own.

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Well this will end well...

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