The woman smiled, authentic and gentle as her voice soothed everyone around them. Nonchalantly, her hand reached for a strand of hair, her fingers intertwining as she locked it behind the girl’s ear. Her blue eyes pierced into hers, without an ounce of bad intentions. Juliana always had a warm heart, and she missed her daughters more than anyone else. Isabel was letting herself be swept away by the view of the woman who always took care of her. Slowly, Juliana started humming a lullaby, for no specific reason. 

“Feel the breeze on your skin, and the blue jays singing well. Inhale the scent of the roses, enjoy the touch of fantasy. Escape reality, in your dreams and in your worlds.” 

Around them, the background changed to reveal a gorgeous forest with blue jays singing softly as flowers flew in the air, the breeze becoming aggressive. Yet Isabel didn’t notice it just yet, her eyes glued to her mother. She was mesmerized, gasping as she saw the landscape. She tried to speak, but all that could come out was: 

“How can you do this? It’s nearly impossible to make this happen! I thought you were dead!” 

“It’s the case.” She said gently, pulling away as her lips curled into a smile. 

“How are you here, next to me then?” 

“It’s all in your head, little princess. This is a dream. This isn’t real. It’s time for you to wake up. The campus needs you, right here, right now. You’ll have to take care of them very well. I know you can do this. Save them for despair.” 

Puzzled, the teen tilted her head and frowned, trying to lean forward and stop her deceased mother from fading away. Tears formed in her eyes and her eyes widened as she realized she couldn’t stop what happened. Although this was a dream, she wanted to reach out and hug Juliana tightly, the woman that gave birth to her. 

“What despair? What do you mean by that? You can’t leave me hanging like that, mom, tell me!” Isabel implied, watching the adult fade away slowly, her eyes filled with longing and affection. 

“Danger awaits. Save them all...” 

*** 

The Italian woke up in a startle, her breathing heavier than usual. She knew her eyes were wet again, and she was shaking. Wiping her tears, Isabel tried to regain her composure by taking deep breaths. The whole dorm was sleeping, or so she thought. She wished that she hadn’t woken anyone up. Glancing at her watch, the girl realized that it was 7:30 o’clock. She didn’t have to worry about anything just yet. She was rethinking what happened, a terrible headache attacking her. 

Isabel sat up, glancing around. She could train a little, at that time. Yawning silently, she changed herself to a sporty fit, tying her black hair in low half up half down haircut. Standing up groggily, she let her feet guide her to the training area. She then picked up a bow and an arrow, aiming at the target. The oldest was incredibly good at this, as if she had done this for her entire life, although she wasn’t this experienced. She tried to be as silent as possible, yet every time another arrow flew, it would hit the wood loudly. 

Isabel was hitting the target repeatedly, focused. The sun was rising, giving her a minimum of light to see everything properly. Squiting her eyes, the girl ended up using all her arrows. She stepped over, with the intention of removing them one by one and trying again. If she wanted to go into the higher league, she’d have to practice very well. Suddenly, she felt a hand reach on her shoulder.  

“Isabel? What are you doing at such an early hour? Don’t you prefer going to sleep? It’s not healthy.” A masculine voice spoke. 

The voice wasn’t familiar enough for her to guess immediately who it was, but she remembered as soon as she shifted to him. The boy was towering over her, about six foot tall, having onyx eyes and curly ginger hair. Isabel looked at him to figure out what his name was, but she couldn’t remember. He glanced at her curiously, his eyes holding a bit of worry. 

“Flynn.” The teen said, exhaling sharply as she lowered her bow, “What are you doing out there?” 

“I asked you the question first.” The tall boy retorted, folding his arms over his chest as he glared at her coldly, his black eyes piercing through her soul, “I’m not answering you until you answer me, alright?” 

Isabel looked away, looking guilty although she had nothing to hide. Her eyes flickered and she shook her head, glancing back at the target and the bow she held, lowering it slightly. 

“I don’t know, I wanted to train a little, that’s all. Nothing to hide. I wasn’t sleepy enough to go back to sleep either so I’d rather practice. 

“You don’t look like you need training.” Flynn replied simply, gesturing to the tree, where all the arrows were pointing at the center of the target directly. 

Is he sarcastic? Is he trying to annoy me or is he simply stating facts? The young girl wondered as her eyes wandered all over his face, trying to read his expression. Unfortunately, he had that blank expression, glazing at her with no thought. Isabel sighed and shook her head, rolling her eyes, acting like she was given a compliment.  

“Hey, come on now, I’m just stressed out about training the higher leagues, you know. They’re much better than me, and I’ll probably be saying things they already knew before. I don’t know if I should take Lazarus’s offer as a compliment or a dare.” The girl admitted, sighing softly. 

The boy smirked, his eyebrows arching, finally showing some emotion. Amusement, of course. At least it wasn’t hatred nor disgust, but for some odd reason, Flynn was hurting her pride. Was he mocking her, playing with her feelings, or was all of this in her head? 

“Oh, about that. M. Jalikee has found the talent within you, and he can see it within everyone. The tests are just passing like that, but he can read your mind.” Flynn then paused for a second, thoughtful, then corrected himself. “Well, not read your mind, considering how he doesn’t have magical powers, but he’s good to read emotions. Also, the camp is waking up and it’s time to go to the cafeteria.” 

*** 

After a delightful breakfast and an exhausting day of training, five in the afternoon came. It was the time for the training of the Platinum League. The second most powerful, right before the Diamond League, which is quite a league of legends, people in their adulthood. Yet the ages aren’t always specific each time, since it does arrive that younger folks end up being good enough to reach Platinum League or Diamant League earlier than their comrades. 

Isabel walked there and noticed that the people in the Platinum League were all around her age, maybe older, some of them were adults, but not yet. They were obviously older than her. Taking a deep breath, the teen adjusted her hair and stepped over, clearing her throat. The coach of the Platinum League immediately presented her and her role. 

The trainees watched her silently, in surprise and shock, but none of their faces expressed disgust. They were curious, eyeing her up and down. The girl didn’t feel like they thought she was a puppet to Lazarus, they seemed to believe that she was quite muscular and could handle the job. Well, that’s what the oldest thought they were thinking of her, and what she was hoping. 

Knowing what to do, they all started to do their training, getting in their positions, and fighting each other. For about five minutes, the Italian stood there silently, feeling useless. She couldn’t stop herself from overreacting and overthinking, thinking she wasn’t good for that job. It’s fine, they know my value well. I just must focus just like I did with the lower leagues already, right? It’s not that hard at all... 

Even though it wasn’t that complicated, it was for her. Her hands joined behind her back, she remained there awkwardly, trying to keep a professional expression on her face although she wasn’t even that much of a professional. Isabel never had a job in her entire life, her who was busy being bothered by some jerks. But that wasn’t what mattered for now. She then took deeper breaths, watching everyone one by one.  

In fact, she didn’t dare tell them that she didn’t see any flaw and that she thought that their fighting was incredibly good. Technically, in the way they were seeing it, she knew what she was doing, and could see the problem in every situation, because there is always a problem everywhere. If the camp wasn’t working well, it’s that some of the leagues weren’t working the way they should, and that there was a flaw. Yet the deeper she looked through, the better she thought those teens were.  

She would look pretty much like a newbie if she said this, as if she wasn’t searching for the right things. But what could she say? The sixteen-year-old girl couldn’t add a flaw where there wasn’t one. Most of all, she couldn’t pretend that they had a bad posture if they knew that they had a good one. That would leave them all confused and would leave them to judge her harshly afterwards. 

Isabel decided to speak her very own opinion. Honesty was the key, right? Hopefully, they wouldn’t judge her. She was overthinking things very much, perhaps she was the issue in this. But...Was it if I’m wrong? What if there is indeed a problem? The girl slammed her hand against her forehead, shut up, just walk to them already and tell them. 

“Platinum League, I think I have discovered something within your league. Can everyone shift to me just this instant?” 

Right away, they looked at her, dropping their weapons and watching her intently. All eyes on her. No exceptions. They were focused and really wanted to make things better, and they were all ears for what she was going to say. Oh, sh*t, they really expect me to come up with a huge speech of minimum three hundred and fifty words telling them how bad they are? I’ll just do my best, I guess. 

“Okay, so it’s not that I didn’t look deep within the training. Lazarus has mentioned that there was an issue with the training in the camp, alright? Sure thing, but perhaps there are problems in some leagues, and not in every single one of them. This would be quite exaggerated, don’t you think? And so, that’s what I believe. After watching everyone of you fight, I believe that you do not have any flaws. I believe that this is quite odd said like this, but please be open to my ideas.” 

Every teen and adult on the Platinum League stared at her for a moment, thoughtfully. For an instant, Isabel thought that everything she did was wrong, and that she made a mistake deciding to express herself honestly. Fortunately, their expressions softened, their confused gazes becoming ones of admiration and agreement. The girl felt like she could breathe now. It wasn’t half bad as she thought.... 

***