The Radiants Chronicons : Vol. I & II Of The Radiants Duology Series

Radiant (Vol. I) - Chapter fourteen

Chapter 14

My long tour with Kóre was already almost over and he showed the secluded last room in the building. "Welcome to the ICT facility"

My gaze roamed round the medium sized room. About twenty number of people in total were seated in front of computers, searching through it with so much intensity. We stood at the entrance of the door watching them, as they seemed not to notice our presence. "What are they doing there?"

"They do a lot of things, even I don't know about. But primarily, they are hackers. They hack into the security officers database and let us know where next their target is. They give us the information on where to go to and the fighters rescues them."

"I had no idea. Wow."

"Let's go now. So we don't distract them. They like to live in solitude and spend 90% of their time in there. It's a real hands-on job."

"Thank you for the tour. Really."

"My pleasure. See you later, Tamar. I'll send you some books on guns and gun powder that you can read on, before we start. You remember your way to your room?"

"With my eidetic memory? Of course. I'll surely read those books. Thanks. Adiós."

......
I changed into casual outfit, early that morning and unsurprisingly, Laurena was awake. She had this usual meditating routine she did each morning and it seemed to be a habit she didn't joke with.

As I opened the door to leave for training, Laurena's voice had me pausing. "How long would you be off for training?"

I blinked. It felt odd that she was talking to ME. We hardly spoke to each other. It wasn't something either one of us wanted to go into and it was fine by me. I whirled around to get a clear look at her. Dark blonde hair was braided into a low ponytail and her bronze-orange eyes had a gentle glint to it. It didn't look as angry as usual. Her stunning face was relaxed and her legs were crossed in its regular meditating position. "A couple of hours. I would be back by ten hope fully."

"Can you wait till twelve? Red would be coming over and I'd love to have some alone time with him. Can you do that?"

My mouth hung slightly open and I couldn't find the words to say. Laurena Jacques was ACTUALLY talking politely to me. I had to be in a parallel universe or something.

But then she spoke sharply, reminding me once again, how impossible it is for her to change. "Are you going to talk? Or are you going to stand there like a corpse."

"Do whatever you like. I'll be back by lunch." I walked out, without letting myself hear a response from her. I swiftly walked to the dojo and already met Levi there.

As usual, he had his crimson red jacket on, paired with black trousers and a white t-shirt. He turned his head to my direction, when he saw me walk in. His eyebrows scrunched up, when he saw the look on my face. "What's wrong?"

"I'm always very tolerant of people. I'm good at enduring. That's my speciality. But this time, I think I can't take it anymore."

He folded his arms and curled up his lips. "Laurena?"

"Is it that easy to tell?"

"You're pretty easy to read. I'm sorry about Laurena. She can be a bit of a handful. I understand. I made a promise to you and you've held on for so long. Do you want to get a new room?"

I hesitated. Laurena was a pain in my ass, but I knew she was trying to be better. In her own fucked up way, she really was trying. "No. I'm good. I'll hold on much longer."

A smile tugged his lips and I felt an unsettling feeling seeing him smile. I was used to him grinning, but seeing him smile had a different effect on me than I thought. "I'm glad you said that. It's this kind of positivity the Clandestine needs around here."

I spoke quietly, a smirk rising on my face. "Speaking of the Clandestine, I heard a good number of people have decided to join the fighters now. It must be a huge turn around from how things used to be."

"What can I say? You're an inspiration to many now."

"Oh come on, I'm not stupid. You made me your trainee on purpose, so you could make others join in as well. You knew how people would react to this and you strategically put it in play. What I don't get is why you did it? I thought you hated the idea of any radiant fighting. You made it clear the first day we met."

His face darkened immediately. Any hint of his previous smile completely dissipated, leaving behind a stone-cold look. "I still hate the idea. Training you still makes me so angry. The thought of putting my people out there terrifies me. But I'm a leader. I'm not allowed to be scared. I can't be seen as a coward. I needed to step up for my people. It's bad enough the things the other colonies used to say behind my back and now, they see me as a cowardly leader. My people deserved alot better than that and then I thought of you. The craziest bravest person I've come around and it made more sense to train you. My people had the chance to see that there was nothing to fear anymore. If I could face my fears, so could they."

"I'm not the craziest bravest person you know. I'm practically too cool tempered to be called crazy."

"Are you kidding me? Every person who joined the fighters always had an experience in any basic form of fighting. You came before me, with an exception I couldn't really use and a complete lack of experience in fighting. You'd have to be crazy to do that. A lot of people withdrew from being fighters and joined other domains, after Arnold died. Seeing you do something other people feared, is definitely crazy."

"I guess it is crazy. I just wanted to do something crazy for once and I like it."

"Wait till you're on the field and I'm sure your opinion would change."

"You really have no faith in me, don't you?"

His lips parted and his face softened. Taking few steps closer, his eyes searched mine for a couple of seconds, then he spoke. "I've had a bunch of people do the same thing. They would get interested at first and back away when things get too intense for them. I'm hoping you aren't offended in any way. It's just something I'm used to."

I didn't know where I had the confidence to say this, but I needed to prove that it was something I was committed to. "Take me along to the next operation. Let me prove my sincerity."

Levi said, clearly bewildered by my statement. Maybe I was really going crazy. Who knows? I didn't care right now. I just needed to let him see my point. "You're not ready. Not even close. You've barely had a week of training and I still haven't given you time to practice on your weapon choice. No, I can't risk that. I can't blindly put you in danger, just to appease your stubbornness."

"I promise to stay away. I'll just watch. Let me see how it's like being out there. I'll be on my best behaviour."

Levi paced around, saying nothing. Watching him move around, obviously deep in thought, was completely distracting to me. He finally paused and gave me a wry look. "Okay. Just watch from afar and we'll see if you would still stay or not."

I fought the urge to run and hug him in excitement and instead, chose to plaster a bright smile across my face. "Thank you. Thank you. I promise you won't regret it."

Levi closed his eyes for a second and rubbed his temples gently. He REALLY didn't like the idea one bit but it was something he was willing to work with. His expression became serious and his voice turned authoritative soon after "Grab a stick from that corner. We're going to spar."