The Unknown

Room, 19

I am up and ready, hair tied back by the time someone knocks at my door the next morning. I open it to find Mr Fassy standing there.

"Are you ready to go, Miss Eve?" Mr Fassy inquires.

I nod and follow him out of the room and into the corridor. He leads me to yet another room, which is bigger than any I've seen here until now. It has various kinds of equipment and weapons lying all around. Some I recognize-- like pistols, swords, daggers and some I don't.

I also notice that Irene, Tyler and Arden are also present there. Interesting. I thought the training was exclusively for me.

"This is the sparring room," Ivan clears his throat and speaks out loud, to no one in particular. He has his hands behind his back and he seems to be pacing the room. "This is where I will train- coach all of you. I hope you remember the way you came because, after today, no one's going to take you to places. We will gather here at six O'clock sharp every day until you are ready. And I would not entertain latecomers. Is that clear?"

I notice he isn't making eye contact with anyone and his body is unnecessarily stiff. It wasn't like I said anything wrong yesterday. When no one answers, Ivan stops pacing.

"If and when I ask a question, you should reply with a yes or no. I will repeat my question for the last time. Are the instructions clear?" Ivan has reached an all-new level of coldness- one I didn't think he was capable of and yet here we are. I can't understand what he's playing at.

All of us say 'yes' eventually and he nods in approval.

"What do we start with?" Irene asks.

"Hand to hand combat," is all Ivan says as two Oclorians lay down mats on the floor.

*****

"A correct stance is the most important part of a hand to hand combat," Ivan announces while we listen. "Without a correct stance, you may even injure yourself while fighting and then you'll be as good as dead. Or, your move might not be effective at all."

"Now, if you want to throw some good punches at your opponent, you might as well use the boxing stance," He separates his feet by a few inches. "Let's start with foot positioning first. Like so, spread your feet apart. Just imagine that there's an invisible line touching the toe of one foot and the heel of another. And bend your knees a bit so that most of your weight is on your legs. Go on, try it."

I open my feet a bit and try to do as he says. It's a bit weird because I have never had practice for any kind of martial arts. I see the rest doing the same.

"Now, if you are right-handed, your right foot would be ahead of the left one and vice versa. Understood? Show me perfect foot placements."

He goes around the room to check everyone's stance and corrects them if they are wrong. He comes to me at the end. "Turn your leg a little. Yeah, that's it." With that, he goes back to the front to instruct about other particulars of the boxing stances.

Irene and Arden seemed to get into it right away. Well, not really. They needed to not out their secret so they had to pretend that they were really fast learners. I know better. I and Tyler had a bit of a problem getting it down.

Once, the stance was down, all the moves and punches Ivan taught us, came naturally to me. Like they had been pre-programmed into me. Maybe they were.

After almost two hours of sweating, Ivan called for a half an hour break. After that, we practised a bit more and that was all for the day.

"Hey, Ivan!" I catch up with him as he was leaving the room.

"Yeah?"

"Uhm, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for last night. You weren't technically wrong to say that. It's just-"

"It wasn't your fault, Nia," He sighs. "If anything, it was mine- saying all that. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"Is this not why your mood was off today?"

"No--I mean, yes. I was more worried about how you were feeling about it. I'm glad you didn't take it to heart."

"No, of course not."

He smiles at me and walks ahead of me with a slight nod. Strange. He was definitely going to say something else but he stopped himself before he could.

While I am still wondering about Ivan's sketchy behaviour, Tyler catches up with me and starts walking at my pace.

"Nice practice?"

"Definitely. I was so good, you know?" I laugh along with him.

"Seriously though, you were,"

"If you say so."

"Also, what's with your nightly rendezvouses with Ivan?" He wiggles with eyebrows.

"That was one time- wait, how do you even know?"

"Well, I've made some friends who are very willing to lend me their eyes and ears, metaphorically of course. It would be too bloody otherwise."

"--How?"

"That's my talent. A sweet word here, a humorous incident there. Who doesn't like a good story, right?" He winks at me and nudges me with his elbow. "So you and Ivan?"

I sigh, "He just wanted to take me on a walk. A night walk. It was a bit relaxing and he made me coffee."

"Right, who can refuse to a handsome guy offering coffee," He grins, clearly enjoying. "That's all?"

"Yeah, that is all. When did you get the time to make friends?"

"I'm not Elisa's favourite, remember? I have plenty of free time on my hands. I even borrowed a smartphone-like device. Alien tech! Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah, right," I lower my voice. "What about our escape plan?"

"We're working on it, slowly. I'll let you know if we need inside help. See you later," he slightly nods towards me before entering his room. Just next to mine. I didn't know that. The room on the other side of mine was Arden's. Sometimes, I really wish that they'd involve me a bit more. I stand there for a moment and finally enter my room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After some inactivity, I'm back to updating this story and hopefully others. 

Let me know your thoughts about this and thank you so much for reading!

Regards

~Tanz