"Shadows are ethereal beings made of dark material, whose purpose is to feed on souls, whether from humans or magical creatures."

- The Book of Creatures, multiple authors

He was not in his room anymore. And it was not night. Emyr jumped from the bed. He had a training session with the Algeman, he was surely late by now.

"You should rest," he heard. The boy turned around and saw a Serzhant staring at some papers in her hands. "We still don't know what happened to you."

He opened his mouth a few times, prepared to argue, but the woman didn't let him say anything. "The Algeman is well aware of your situation, and your practice was rescheduled for tomorrow," only then she lifted her eyes from the papers and glanced at him.

He had lost it, his first day of training with the Algeman. Emyr sighed and sat back on the bed. There was nothing he could do now. He looked around and quickly recognized the healing center. There were only some curtains separating his booth from the rest of the room, but it was usually empty. Hardly someone would catch him there.

"Your roommate told me this is not the first time this happens," she approached the boy. She pulled his lower eyelids delicately and examined his eyes before he had a chance to roll them.

"I've been having some weird dreams..." He shrugged. Emyr didn't want to share it with anyone, but Bernard already had the pleasure to do that.

"About a girl," the woman added. He snorted and turned his face to the side, so she wouldn't look at him.

"Yes, but it has nothing to do with that," He lied. It obviously had. Emyr had heard a voice in his head, he felt she was in danger, it was almost like he could feel her pain... But who was that girl? Wasn't that all in his imagination? "I just felt a pain in my chest. Probably due to my training last morning. I overdid myself."

Emyr did have to work harder than anyone else to get a shot at that place. Or, at least, he felt like he had too. He would do that even if he didn't have too. The Algeman's preference for him didn't help him at all, as people figured it would be easy for the boy to just rise his way up climbing on the man.

But he was used to his heavy training, he liked it more than anyone else. He felt thankful to be there, and he would always seize every opportunity he had to make it worth. His episode of pain and fainting had nothing to do with his amount of work, but rather with that unknown woman that dwelled in his mind.

The nurse stared at him suspiciously. "People can often be controlled by outside forces and never know..." she started, but Emyr interrupted her.

"I can assure you it's nothing like that," he replied, leaving the bed again. "I just felt sick. If it's something, I'm sure it's just physical."

She raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, I recommend you talk with Gal, the spiritual..."

"I know who she is," Emyr interrupted her again while walking toward the nearest curtain. The coach of the class he had just missed yesterday. "I'll talk to her," The man said. And for the first time, he thought that would be a good idea.

Emyr had no clue of what was happening to him, but worse than that... He knew the girl from his dreams was in real danger. She had to be real. And there was nothing he could do about it, he didn't even know where to start.

A hundred questions wandered through his mind. Where could he find her? What had happened to her? Why was she in so much distress? He had to do something, he couldn't just stand there and watch as she...

The boy shook his head, trying to get that thought out of his head. He would find out who she was and he would make sure she was okay.

And then... He would find out why he couldn't stop thinking about her.

"Do you remember when it started...?" the coach asked, her eyes wide open as she stared at Emyr. She had always been a little odd, and with a face like that, she could easily scare a man of the size of Emyr away.

He had told her about the dreams, even the part where he fainted after hearing a voice in his head. Gal seemed strangely interested in what he had to say.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The boy sighed and stared at the tattoo on his forearm. He stretched his arm to her and stared right into her eyes. "Since I got this."

The woman leaned to him, grabbed the boy's arm in her hands and pulled it to her, glancing at it carefully. He felt a shiver down his spine as her breath touched his skin.

"Interesting..." She said it like there was something really entertaining in his arm and only he couldn't see what it was.

She released him and straightened her body again. "You say you felt what she felt?"

He nodded. "I'm sure of it. She was scared. And it hurt so much. I need to know if she's okay."

The coach shook her head. "I can't tell you that," she said. "I've heard rumors of it, but I've never seen this happen in my entire life," she was not talking to him, but to herself.

Emyr frowned and nodded, waiting for her to say more. Gal stared at a point behind him, as she was lost inside herself.

"Coach...?"

She suddenly moved and glanced at him.

"Oh right," the woman mumbled. She turned her back to him and started searching something on the shelves behind her. She put away a bunch of books, before finding the one she was apparently looking for. The coach put it on the table and opened it, flipping the pages so fast it made Emyr wonder if she memorized the entire book.

Gal pointed at one page when she finally stopped flipping them. There was a drawing of two men standing in front of each other, holding each other's forearm, like they were greeting. There was a black inked line around their hands, making spirals that circled almost their entire arms.

"This book is ancient, as old as our Order itself. It says that ancient kriegers had the power to link their souls, their minds, to someone else. They would see what the other saw, hear what the other heard and feel what the other felt. But this magic has been lost for centuries, I didn't even know it could be performed."

Emyr stared at the book, his eyebrows became one as he frowned. He opened his mouth a few times, but no words were said.

"You, boy, are a living proof that we are more powerful than we think."

He raised his face and stared at her. "No," Emyr shook his head. "You don't get it. I didn't perform anything. I didn't do it on purpose. And I don't think she has a clue about it either," he moved away from the table, taking a few steps back.

Gal chuckled at him. She found something funny, but he didn't know what. "You surely have the power within you. Somehow it connected you to her. She is supposed to be in your life. For some reason, you two have a link stronger than yourselves."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them again and stared at the coach. "Let's say it's true..." the boy started, taking a few steps forward. "That I did it with my powers, that she exists and we're supposed to meet," she nodded as he spoke. "How can I find her? How can I make sure she is okay?"

Gal's eyes died for a brief moment. She turned her head to the book and started flipping the pages again. Emyr suspected she wouldn't have the answer he was looking for.

If that power was so ancient the Kriegers didn't even think possible, how could they know what to do with it? No one there would ever understand what was going on with him.

Gal sighed and raised her head. "I'm afraid that's something you'll have to find out. I think if..." she motioned a lot, not even looking at him. "You accept it. Embrace this power, you'll be able to see a lot more, to understand it. I can try to help you, but you'll have to help me help you."

Emyr gulped and nodded. He knew there was nothing else he could do, he wasn't much help by himself, and the coach was undoubtedly the best person there who could assist him. And not finding out everything he could about the woman from his dreams was not an option anymore.

"I'll do whatever it takes. When can we start?"

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Heeey what do you think of this chapter? I'm loving writing about Emyr hahaha

Do you think what Gal said about his power is true? That he can connect with the girl from his dreams?

I think it's pretty clear by now who is she, right? lol

If you liked this, please consider voting!