The Dragon Alchemist

Chapter 23

Shiro and Hunk trained first with Mizu. This dynamic was as interesting as the first. A quiet, enclosed girl paired with a confident leader and a marshmallow that don't like to pick a fight. So how did Mizu start the lesson... 

"Okay... what is your goals?" Mizu's question had both Paladin's jaws on the ground. 

Hunk stared bug-eyed, "Excuse me?"

Shiro blink a few times before pulling together again, "Not to be rude, but how is this relevant to training?"

Mizu stated back at them, "Knowing your goals keeps your mind firm and stable. Without know what you want in life or what you want in a portion of that life, how will you know what you need to fight to. With that question being blank within your mind, how do you know when to stop fighting? How do you know why you fight? How do you know if you'll get through it?" 

Hunk got a far-off look in his eyes as they got fuzzy and started to water, his panic has got to him. All the questions that he didn't know the answers to was scaring him, and his mind slipped. Shiro wasn't any better, his eyes also fuzzy as his memories of the past chased him. 

Mizu's expression showed pain as she lowered her head to hide her eyes behind her long, black hair. A drop of water fell from behind her curtain of safety. "This is to fight your interior demons..." 

~

The room Shiro and Hunk's training is in looked just like the normal training room. White blank walls, some light blue accents. Mizu sat on the ground with both Shiro and Hunk sitting with her, both looking down at the floor like Mizu. A gasp broke the quiet room's silence. Shiro's head snapped upward after his gasp. His eyes were a little dazed but he quickly shook it off. He looked at Mizu as he caught his breathe. He had felt like he was underwater, swimming, trying to find his way through the pitch blackness, and he, at the end, was drowning. "What was that?" Shiro managed to breath out.

"The mind state." Mizu stated. 

"Wait..." Shiro stated, "Hunk," Turning to the boy who's head was still down, "What are you doing? Get him out of their!!!" Shiro panicked, grabbing at the young boy's shoulders and shaking him. 

Shiro's movement froze completely though and was glowing a golden color, Mizu's hands had the same color surrounding them. "Calm yourself." Her voice seemed calming to Shiro, yet it wasn't her voice that calmed him. Shiro removed his hands from Hunk and faced Mizu who's hands stopped glowing after the glow around Shiro dissipated. "The mind state is a plane of your own mind, were your thoughts, memories, emotions within those memories, and how your brain thinks, is all made into existence. Depending on how these all affected you within your life is how the plane appears to you. Yours was dark and flooded with unknown depths... You are uncertain on were you go after this." Shiro looked at the floor underneath him. He pushed off the ground with his left hand and walked silently from the room. 

~ 

After Shiro left the room Hunk slowly opened his eyes calmly. A sigh escaped his lips, his return to the real world way calmer than Shiro's. Hunk, confused in not seeing said man, looked up at Mizu who's gaze was still on the floor. "Where's Shiro?" Hunk questioned the Elite cautiously. 

Mizu continued her staring contest with the flooring yet answered the Yellow Paladin, "The Black Paladin isn't as steady with his state of mind as you are Hunk. While yours is full of a calming air, his is void of everything but darkness: he has a fear of his own mind." Hunk stayed quiet as his brain started to work up a storm. His eyes brightened and sparkled with a child-like joy, an idea has found itself within Hunk's brain. 

With a smile on his face, he jumped to his feet and ran towards the door, "I've got an idea!" And with that comment said Hunk was running down the halls of the Castle. Mizu, who was still sat in the room, chuckled at the paladin. A small smile broke its way onto her face. Her session has begun. 

~

Hunk was dancing in front of the very Altean oven within the kitchen. A shuffle in his step, as he flipped and shifted the pan over the stove, his mind set on his goal. He slide to the pot over the hot stove, looking into the clear lid as he started to hum to himself--- totally in the zone.

A smile never left Hunk's face as he continued his work in front of the stove. Not even the slide in the door could stop his joy, but it did paused him as he glanced at the door, checking who's the new guest within the room. Aura smiled at Hunk from the doorway, but after a sniff of the air had got to her nose she bolted at the stove and halted beside Hunk. Aura's face-splitting smile had Hunk smiling as well, "Can I help?" Aura offer was excepted with a bright smile from Hunk as well. 

Both beings got to work, Aura following the instructions that Hunk gave her. Hunk grabbed a bamboo roller and turned to Aura as she made a comment about other ingredients that they could also include. Hunk, at this point, was beaming at the energetic Elite, and yet they haven't even gotten to the best part of their hard work.

~

Within a dimmed room a silhouette sat hunched over their knees, a look of distress on their face. Their eyes hazy as they tried to find their grip on themselves. Their door opened and light gently poured into they room. Darkness no longer shrouding them in shadows. The figure in the doorway slowly walked into the room with the hunched being, the door quietly shutting behind them. "I heard you walked out," the new figure stated calmly. 

The hunched being hasn't moved from their position, not even the opening door had them flinch. Their eyes slowly dragged to the female who just entered their room, their hunch uncurling as they sat up with their head loosely hanging backward. A distance was within their gray eyes as they started to water. The female quietly sat beside the being who was sitting on their bed, lifting a silence arm and resting it on their shoulder. 

"The fog can't be cleared by one alone," the female stated as they gently set the person's head on their shoulder. The being turned their face into the female's shoulder, quietly sniffling and trying to conceal their face. Their black hair ruffling and their white fluff flipped gentled from the person's movement.

"But I can't see anyone within it... and I know I can't do it alone," Shiro was interrupted by one of his sniffles. "It's just as dark as it was there..." both beings knew what he meant, since both of them suffered from the evils of the place. 

Without a word being said (Name) gently wrapped their metal arm around Shiro's head and stuffed their metal hand into his hair, gently ruffling and smoothing it out. 

The room fell silent as the shadows quietly shifted, no one broke the silence for a long while. Quietly, as if to whisper a secret to him, (Name) spoke up within the darkened room. 

"Well now we both have lights that will shine for us within our darkness."

Well, I hope you like it and I hope everyone is well. Lots of stuff is happening and I hope everyone has at least someone to talk to during this time of isolation. Again hope you enjoy and caught you in the next chapter. Bye.

-Jade

7/17/20