Mountain of The Suns • Book 2

Chapter 8

I had been studying in the library and it was unusually quiet today. It was always empty in here, but typically there were always another person or two that would be shuffling around. I guess everyone had decided to rest when Toshiro let us out early. I had been there almost two hours and not a single person had come in once.

I got pretty deep into a book Jun had asked me to read. It was on the next chapter we were covering in classes, but he had wanted me to work ahead because it was a lot easier for me to fall behind given this was a lot more advanced than I was ready for.

As much heat as I gave him for his training regimens he had done a good job not letting me fall behind. I shouldn't be hanging in there as much as I was but he kept me ahead and surprised even myself. He had a way of teaching me things that just made it click where it normally wouldn't have if I was on my own

I was quite comfortable as I read slowly trying to take it all in. I was sat with the book held up in front of me and my knees tucked in tight. I was getting towards the end of the book and I could tell my mind was shutting down. I usually burned out after two or three hours if I didn't have some sort of change in activity.

I was tired and things weren't making sense anymore. My mind wandered to my time here so far. I had been here maybe 3 or 4 weeks now and I had made friends which was something I didn't really do at Yabune. Ollie and Akira were younger like I was and seemed to be who I clung to most. Even though Akari was an Elite student with the others she was closer with our group. While Ollie was loud and boisterous and I was reserved and quiet she was right in the middle.

They had taken me in and made me feel like I had a place here. Even the few other Elite students like Goro and Suni had been kind. Goro was quiet but Suni was really talkative once you got past her cold and tough outer shell. She didn't talk much about her past just that she came here from a rough situation.

She had showed me some of her fighting techniques when Jun had to go to a meeting with the Masters and had to miss our training session. She had invited me to join her and Ollie and it was a lot different than how it was with Jun.

Suni had intense training and I was almost scared to mess up her teachings. Jun was definitely strict when he would teach me but he was very aware of my mood and feelings. He could tell when I was tired or over worked or even when I was confused. He was very receptive which made a lot of the harder stuff easier to understand but Suni could be harsh.

I felt at ease here though and I was able to learn a lot more that I had at Yabune. I was happier here and felt welcomed which was odd. I had gone into both temples with the same mentality but this time felt so different. I guess a lot had changed in the short time since I had showed up at Yabune. It just felt right here, I was calmer, the whole temple just felt more relaxed. It just felt right when frankly everything should feel wrong.

I flipped through to the next page and rubbed my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. I closed my book and nearly jumped out of my own skin as I dropped my book. Goros face was right behind my book as he was leaning in inches from my face.

"Goro!" I called out feeling my heart pounding in my chest.

"You haven't actually been reading for the last 5 minutes." He said observantly and I saw him look at the book that I dropped and back up to my face  still only inches from me.

"Do you often sneak up on people like this?" I asked placing my hand on my heart as if to try and calm myself.

"I wanted to see if you'd notice. I've been doing research on the Oracles and they have been said to have pristine senses when their powers are active." He said looking at me before leaning back and away. "I see you haven't mastered that yet."