After the captain's announcement, the orphanage ceased to be a civilian institution and became a paramilitary one. The reason was simple: most of the children involved in training were nearing adulthood and probably had no one left to care for or adopt them.
Meanwhile, the younger children were relocated to a safer region near the city of Victoria, and with them went Director Highever, who, before the overwhelming power of the state, was unable to stay at the orphanage to fight for the lives of the older children.
At least… that's the version I chose to believe, for my own sake.
Months went by. All of us were trained in hand-to-hand combat and the effective use of arcane energy.
Of course, some stood out during the tests; one of them was Lara, though she was already a monster of her own in both magic and combat. But there were others too, and one of them surprised me completely. During the martial arts drills, there were two names that kept alternating between first and second place: Letho and William.
As for me… I found myself in a rather average position when it came to martial arts, and even worse in magical ranking.
It sucked. That feeling of being terrible at everything I tried to do, especially when watching Sirius and William improving so fast.
It made me feel left behind, like standing still on a platform while a train departs, watching everyone else move on without you.
Time went by, and nearly two years had passed since the guard training began. That day started with a freezing dawn, about eighteen days after my fifteenth birthday, which we'd celebrated on the twenty-second of the third month. I was wrapped in every layer I could find, even pressing close to the thermoregulating crystals, yet nothing helped in that miserable cold.
Awake and with nothing to do, I tried to get out of bed but failed. Caught between the eternal debate of going back to sleep or grabbing something to eat, I suddenly heard a loud noise:
Bam! Bam!
My brain, half-asleep, disconnected from reality. Who the hell would knock on the dormitory door when everyone had their own damn key?
Bam! Bam!
The sound came even stronger this time. I glanced at the bed beside mine, Sirius wasn't there.
Is he with William?
I finally got up, still groggy and confused, the loud banging echoing through the dorm. As I staggered forward, my head throbbed with a dull ache, but I forced myself toward the door.
When I opened my room's door, I realized the sound came from the main entrance leading to the dormitory hall. Rubbing my eyes to chase off the drowsiness, I hurried over and peered through the peephole.
A girl stood there, her hair a dark shade of wine-red, her eyes silver like the moon.
"Lara…?"
I whispered to myself. She looked around in desperation, glancing from side to side. Without thinking, I opened the door, and she rushed inside, locking it behind her.
Breathing heavily, she finally lifted her gaze to mine.
"Thank you…" she said, her voice weak and tired.
"What the hell happened? Are you okay? What..."
Before I could finish, Lara abruptly pressed her hand over my mouth, silencing me. We both froze. Footsteps echoed in the corridor—several of them. Pressed against the wall, we stared into each other's eyes, our breathing falling into the same rhythm.
"Find the girl! Don't let her escape!"
The voice came from a man, deep, commanding, the kind used to giving orders. A moment later, the footsteps moved farther down the hall.
Lara slowly removed her hand from my mouth and whispered,
"Not here. Can we go to your room?"
I raised an eyebrow but didn't see any reason to refuse. I nodded and led her toward my small, humble room. She gradually calmed down as we moved away from the main door. A few seconds later, I opened my door and stepped aside.
"Ladies first, especially thieving ones," I said with a smirk, trying to ease the tension.
"How chivalrous," she replied with a faint grin before stepping inside and sitting on my bed.
I closed the door and finally asked the obvious question.
"So, can you tell me what the hell that was about, Lara? Actually, wait, let's get something to drink first."
I fetched two cups, poured her some water, and handed it to her.
"Yeah, I agree," she said slowly. "Sorry for not saying much… I'm just… really tired from all the running."
"I get it. Drink first, it'll help clear your head," I said, waiting for her to continue.
"Alright," she sighed, taking a sip. "To make it short… I saw something I shouldn't have, in the orphanage library. Then I had to run before those men could catch me, and I..."
"Wait," I interrupted. "What were you even doing outside the dorm? You know how strict they are about curfews."
I studied her face, trying to piece things together. How could a girl with silver eyes, pale skin, and a delicate face straight out of a fairy tale be chased like that? Something about it all felt off.
Noticing my stare, she chuckled softly.
"You know it's rude to stare at a lady like that, right?"
Realizing what I was doing, I looked away, scratching the back of my head.
"To answer your question," she went on, "I heard voices coming from the library. You know how close it is to the girls' dorm, right?"
I nodded.
"So I went there to check what was happening… and I found five people opening a hidden door inside the library."
She paused. Sweat trickled down her forehead, her hands trembling slightly, her breathing growing uneven.
Noticing how uncomfortable she was, I interrupted her, the same way she had silenced me earlier, but this time, I just raised a finger to my lips.
"You know what?" I said softly.
Lara froze, surprised.
"Let's leave that for tomorrow. You can sleep on my bed. You've clearly had one hell of a night, and I'm not going to force you to talk about something you don't want to. You're holding something back, so…"
She nodded silently, then let herself collapse onto the bed, her body relaxing. Before closing her eyes completely, she looked at me one last time.
"Thank you, Mordred. Really."
"No problem," I said. "Oh—one more thing."
I walked over to my chest, took out my thermoregulating crystal, and handed it to her.
"Use this. It's freezing as hell tonight, so you might as well use this."
"Thank you," she murmured, turning to the side before drifting into sleep.
As I turned to head toward Sirius's bed, she reached out and grabbed my arm, keeping me there beside her.
-Stay beside me, please. I need to see your presence.
"Good grief…" I muttered with a small smile, still worried, and with that...I sat close to her.
And once she was asleep, I couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened. Who were those people? What were they doing inside the orphanage? What was hidden behind that library door?
So many questions, and not a single answer. The only one who might know something was Lara… but she seemed far too scared to talk about it.
"Damn it," I muttered under my breath.
Sitting on the floor beneath the bed where Lara slept, I slowly let my thoughts fade away until sleep finally took me.
Even though I wished that night would simply end, my mind still had something to show me…