KotLC Unlocked

Chapter 13- Keefe's POV

A/N This chapter briefly mentions fighting. Just a warning! It's not too bad but ya know, just in case if that's harder for you to read about. Stay safe!

His mom wasn't kidding when he said Vespera would wake him up early to practice on his new ability. The sun hadn't even fully risen yet, and Keefe was still exhausted, despite sleeping for most of the day on the previous day.

She walked into the room, looking even crueler than when he last saw her. Though he memory was kind of iffy still, he remembered her.

"Up you get!" she yelled at him. Keefe got out of bed, and she left him alone to get ready. He found himself staring in the mirror. Keefe was surprised to see his own reflection looking back. He looked more tired than usual- and was that another scar running down his face?

Keefe didn't have time to worry about this, because Vespera was waiting for their illusion training- whatever that was. He finished getting ready, and dreadfully walked out of his room, not quite ready to train yet. He knew he manifested not that long ago, and though he did not remember manifesting, he remembered the pain that came with it. Maybe that was why he felt so miserably tired.

Vespera led him through a bunch of hallways, twisting and turning throughout the large establishment. Some of the walls had portraits, filled with gruesome scenes. At one point in the long trip, Keefe saw a painting with someone who looked vaguely familiar. He realized it was the girl in his dreams. It looked like she was mid-leap, but there wasn't ground beneath her, it was just a large black hole. Like a void. He came to a sudden stop and stared. Vespera quickly turned around, with a worried look in her eye.

"I think I know her," he said slowly, while pointing to the painting.

"Oh really? I don't think so Keefe, you've been with the Neverseen your whole life!" she said, though her tone was kind of fast-paced.

Things started to piece together. He remembered his life with the Neverseen, starting from when he was very young. The girl made no appearances in his life whatsoever.

"...maybe you're right," he told her," I don't know her."

"Good. Well come along!" she sharply told him.
He didn't fully drop the idea of the girl, though. He kept trying to remember her anyways.

Keefe followed her until they finally reached a large door. The door itself was large, but it didn't reach the already high ceiling. There was a little plaque to the right of it that said "training quarters," and Keefe assumed they trained abilities there.

They entered the large room- about the size of a gym, which had four walls, each painted differently. One a dark green, one a soft grey, the third was almost silver, but it looked like it was glowing, and the fourth was almost black. Around the room, he found a various amount of melders, and other elven bits of technology. In the corner, he saw one person, who he knew was Ruy, fighting another. He couldn't see who it was, though, because they had a cloak blocking most of their face. But he did catch a glimpse of dark hair.

Keefe could hear them arguing about something. A couple of times he heard words like "flasher" or "illusion." Even though illusion controlling was his ability, the topic still made him feel weird. Before he knew it, the person in the cloak was punching Ruy in the face. Ruy fought right back. Vespera caught him watching to two fight, and whisked him away to a back room.

The other room was much smaller, about the size of his bedroom. Still a large area, but much smaller than the last room. The walls were bare here, with no distinction of anyone ever even going in there.

Vespera began telling him the basics of illusions. She told him that he might not be able to see them at first. She set him up with random scenarios where he would need the illusions. At first, she was right. He couldn't see anything that he produced. But overtime, he could catch small fragments of them forming. Vespera told him that he was actually doing okay. By the end of the session, he could see them almost fully, things like fake people appearing.

The illusions couldn't hurt the enemy physically, but if he got strong enough with the illusions, he could trick them into thinking it was real. At the end of the training, Vespera introduced Keefe to two people.

"I'm Glimmer," said the woman. She had long black hair. He immediately recognized her voices from earlier when she fought with Ruy.

"Why were you arguing with Ruy? Keefe asked. He genuinely wanted to know.

"Oh that doesn't matter, now does it?" she told him.

A new voice spoke up, a boy about his age who had black hair, with bangs that were tipped silver. He had a creepy resemblance to Glimmer. Maybe she was his mom.

"And I'm Tam," he said.

A/N Sorry for the evil plot twist haha