INITIATION ULTIMATE, Chapter 10.1: Narrated by Tharseo

Tharseo's dream.

I had a dream last night, once I was able to stop a pattern of falling asleep and waking up a few minutes later.  In this dream, I was holding on to something extremely valuable.  I was running through a city where children starved, and I was ducking behind lamps and hiding behind doors to stay away out of sight.  I didn't want anything else, just the valuable item I was carrying.  I had one pistol, two daggers, and three bullets.  My goal was to find my way back to my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  There were many horrors in this city that if they faced, they would most likely die.  I had to guarantee both their safety and mine.

"Come here," says a starving girl my age, as I hide behind a lamppost.

"You come here," I respond, staying where I am.

"Well, you asked for it," the girl says.  Two other children step out from behind her, and come closer, and closer, and closer.  I turn to run, but then see that my back is up against a brick wall, and my hands and feet are suddenly in shackles!

The three girls stop about three paces away from me.  The first holds out her hand, and another places a pistol, just like mine, in it.  The pistol is aimed at my heart... I break from the shackles as if they are water, pull out my own pistol, and shoot the girl in the leg.  She falls against the opposite wall, and the other two run away.

Soon, I have cleared the city.  When I reach my cousin's house on the outskirts, I immediately see that it has been overrun by starving people as well.  No.  No!  I fly into the house, calling, "Amor!  Answer me, Amor!"

When I get into the house, everything is charred.  There are three piles of ashes on the floor... Mom and Dad, and the Creatorian guard that I had killed with my katana.  What?  I must be in a different dream.  But I still have my one pistol, two daggers, and three bullets...

In this dream, instead of holding on to something valuable, I am looking for it.  "Ion!  Ion, where are you?" I shout into the afternoon sky.  Suddenly, I know where he is.  Growing wings, I fly to the hidden torturing facility, where I cast them away and break into the underground lab.  "Ionracas!"

He's on the table, shouting at Red Robes that he doesn't know anything, and he hasn't done anything.  I don't think he even sees me, he's so panicked.  Red Robes draws bloody lines across his chest, mocking him, grinning at his pain.  He's bringing the bloody lines closer, ever closer to Ion's neck.  I take my gun and aim it at the torturer's head, and I shoot.  Red Robes collapses to the ground.  "I'll get you out of here, Ion!"

"444!" Ion cries with jubilant relief.  "How did you get down here?  I didn't think...I didn't think I'd..." Joyful tears prick at his eyes, and despite his skin torn up and bloody, he still still looks so happy.

"Long story," I tell him.  "I'll tell you later, but all you need to know now is that we've lost everything.  Everything but each other.  Now that I've found you, I know we can make it!  Let me break your shackles.  We can run to Old Sofos, and be safe."  With one touch to the shackles, they disappear.  "Can you stand?"

"I can stand," Ion confirms, and I help him to his feet.  He takes a step forward, slightly limping.  "I thought they were going to kill me, 444... Thank goodness you found me..."  

"We're not safe yet."  I take off my coat, and give it to Ion.  "Hold this to your chest to stop the bleeding, and let's run to safety."

He takes my coat.  "Let's get out of here."

We take off from the torture facility, relieved that there are no other people there to stop us.  Sprinting into the forest, we run until Ion can't run anymore, and by that time, we're half the distance to Sofos's large house.  "I have so much to tell you, Ion.  First of all, my name is Tharseo.  Courage, like you wanted..."

"I like that name," Ion compliments as he regains his breath.  He presses my coat closer to his chest.  "Courage suits you well, and the way that you proved your value was very impressive.  You saved my life, Tharseo.  I just don't remember one little thing, because I don't have an excellent memory like you do." He gives me a kind smile before asking, "when did I tell you to choose the value of courage?"

"When..."  I remember Ion's last breath, when he had whispered the word, 'courage' to me.  "When..."

It was only a dream.

________

New Year's Eve.  A knock at my door alerts me of company.  Going to the door, I move the light construction bell and then look through the door's peephole to see non-Creatorian maid standing outside with a tray of food.  Warily, I open the door a crack and peer out.  "Have you come to feed me?"

"Yes, sir," the maid says with a nod.  "And give you a change of clothes."

Taking the clothes, I observe the meal, which is ham, eggs, and a plate of salad.  "Eat that piece," I tell her, pointing to a salad leaf hidden under a layer of dressing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes.  Do it."

The maid takes the leaf I'm pointing to, careful not to touch anything else.  She eats and swallows it, all the while looking at me curiously.

"Okay, now that piece of ham right there, and that egg."

The maid gets a pleading look on her face.  "I'm afraid I can't do that, sir."

"Why not?" I ask suspiciously.

"I'm," the maid's face flushes red, "a vegetarian."

I frown.  "Well, someone has to do the sampling for me.  I'm not eating until I watch these pieces get sampled.  If you want me to eat, you better get someone."  I step away from the door and shut it in her face.  Looking through the peephole, I can see the maid's bewildered face, and for a second I feel quite rude.  I shrug the feeling off; I'm sure she would understand if she was in my shoes.

As I wait for the food situation to be settled, I dress myself in the new clothes,  including a white shirt with a Creatorian insignia on it and white pants.  Then, I sit on the couch, musing over my dream.  If only.

________

After they finally get me to eat, I'm taken back to the testing room.  This time, they sit me down on a chair.  Like yesterday, the lights dim down around me, and sensors project a yellow light table in front the chair.  I'm again asked endless, useless questions.  Unlike yesterday, an unusual white glow has been projected around my head, making circular motions in my periphery.  What is the purpose these tests? I ask myself.  Why me?

Eventually, the lights turn on and the doctor returns, a notepad in her hand.  "You said your number is all fours, didn't you?" she inquires gently.

"Yeah," I nod.

"Were you telling the truth?"

"It's the only number I've ever been called."

"You have a superior memory, don't you?" the doctor asks.  To this question, my lips are sealed, but the doctor goes on.  "Try to remember this, Tharseo, your true number.  4801195."