"I never thought that I would enjoy it so much."
"Yeah! That was fantastic."
"And what about you, Sam?"
Sam's eye blinked as if he got out of the daze and stared blankly at the sight before him.
The students were chirping and their faces showed how much they enjoyed, but his thoughts were instantly brought to reality as he felt someone shaking his body.
"Sam! Where are you lost?"
Blinking his eyes, an unconscious word escaped his mouth.
"What? What are we doing..."
And before he could even finish his words, the memories clicked in his mind.
'I finished breakfast, then after that we visited 'The Abalone – The Mighty Abandoned Ruins' but why am I not remembering anything?'
His hollowed eyes tried to comprehend the reality, but his friend seemed annoyed by his behaviour.
"Hey Sam! Is something bothering you?..
Why aren't..."
Rahul's scrutinizing eyes scanned Sam several times up and down, and Piyush was just sitting on the seat, confused, unable to analyze Sam's behaviour.
Shaking his head, Sam forced a smile.
"Nothing. Just remembering the scene..."
Piyush suddenly narrowed the distance and rubbed his palms.
"Hey buddy! I never thought that you would be so hidden," and bringing his mouth near Sam's ear, he whispered,
"Can't you teach me your fighting technique?"
"Count me in,"
Rahul also joined.
But unknown to his friends, he really couldn't remember anything as if his memory was cut off from that point, and he also didn't have any answer, so he simply put down the question to avoid the conversation.
"Have you recorded it?"
"Is there even a need to ask? Your killing technique seemed like you were born to kill and the movements you were using seemed like you trained for decades..."
The nonstop words almost made Sam unable to even open his mouth, and seeing that only Piyush's mouth was working instead of his hands, his hand hovered above his shoulder to Rahul and he felt the weight at the palm of his hand.
Without delay, he opened the folder and his videos were displayed before him and he clicked.
Swish!
In an instant, the monster's head flew in the air and blood was spurting from the neck. As his feet were leaving the ground, a head was falling on the ground and red crimson hue was painting the ground. Pure show of instant movement technique as if teleporting and the sword reaping the lives of the monsters.
Incredulously, with his widened eyes, he watched and even forgot to take a breath for a moment and was unable to even believe he was the one reaping the life of the monsters. The phone was shaking as if it could fall down at any moment.
But his eyes stared intently to not miss any details and soon he noticed a very minor difference in his eyes: a faint flicker of blue flame resurfacing at every moment, leaving the previous one to extinguish.
'What's this?'
Instantly, his thoughts moved to the Lost-Golden Sanctuary.
'This appeared only once when he was helping the soul to be freed from the monster's body and when the monster's body imposed the constriction on the soul, that time the flicker of blue flame resurfaced in his eyes so ..
This is controlling me?'
His back soaked with sweat and his breath hitched for a moment.
'No.. No. It can't be... This is impossible..'
Continuously shaking his head a little bit left and right, his heart pounded ferociously, almost leaping out of his chest, and he could almost hear the beating sound of his heart which went unnoticed only because every student seemed busy with their activity.
Controlling the urge to scream at the sky, he watched with his ragged breath.
The figure seemed non-autonomous with only one goal in mind: to kill as much...
'Wait!'
His pupils almost constricted.
The figure isn't mindlessly killing but rather freeing the souls from the monster's bodies which confirmed his suspicion that maybe every dungeon, sanctuary, or ruin operates upon human souls, but throwing back his conjecture, a doubt resurfaced in his mind.
'Why? Why is that figure helping the souls..'
His instinct took over as he got a cue and whispered under his breath.
"The blue flame originated from origin fire, and as much as I know, origin fire is meant to free troubled, poor beings, and in the dream-world, the contract was also about helping as much as he can, so this figure... No, the blue flame entity took over my body and is helping the souls.
But still why? What is it getting from helping?'
Numerous questions and doubts surrounded him but there was no one to answer them.
'Will it take over my body?'
At the end of the day, he had no one to share with or even beg for help, and could only pin his hope to the merge ability which seemed to be the reason for his condition today, but what could he do?
Nothing. Just follow the same path, knowing that it carries hidden thorns and poisonous fog where even the future seems to contain only uncertainty.
The things happening to him are all impossible but still happening, so he can't reject the odd outcomes in the name of excuse: this is impossible to happen.
"Urgh! It would be better to focus on things which are under my control."
In the end, he decided to follow the philosophy that one should leave all uncertainties to the future and focus on the present, which can be controlled.
Giving a bitter smile, his body slumped into the seat, exhausted in mind, yet his eyes showed determination to not let go of this opportunity.
After getting a clear head, he noticed that Piyush and Rahul had fallen asleep and most of the students were also slumped on their seats, calmly enjoying the dream, with only a little whisper and a song reverberating in the bus.