Children of Elisium

With his Persequor spell still in effect, Michael Caelum walked towards the bookshelf Aria was leaning on while keeping the female’s outline in the corner of his vision. He pretended to read the titles that were written on the countless books that were lined in front of him. The moment he noticed the little girl move, he grabbed her arm and held her firmly in place. If anyone saw him, they would assume that his was holding on to air, or talking to an imaginary friend – both were scenes quite common with Elisium’s more eccentric and special researchers.

“We need to talk,” Michael said quietly to the little girl who didn’t offer any resistance. “Your life is in danger.”

The female stayed silent. After a few seconds, her small voice escaped the confines of her lips and two syllables came out from her mouth.

“I know,” she replied. Michael could only see her outline, but not the expression she was making as she spoke.

“You know…?” Michael’s voice trailed off. His eyes widened. The youth stared down at the small female who was oddly still. He blinked a few times as her words echoed in his mind. Then, he shook his head in incredulity as he said, “You can’t possibly know.”

Silence fell on the library annex that they were in. There were no sounds of flipping pages, no sounds of footsteps echoing in the room. It was almost as if they were the only inhabitants in the world, that only the two of them existed in that point in time.

Michael moved first and brought her to his room with a single adicio spell. His persequor spell ended as soon as his foot landed in his bedroom. Her concealment spell faded and her small fragile form gradually took shape. Michael released her from his grasp.

The wound on Aria’s face had healed and only a slight blemish remained. There were new scratches and new bruises on her arms and legs. An indignant gaze was on her eyes. A pout was on her lips. Her cheeks were puffed out. Her eyebrows were knit. Her expression wasn’t downtrodden. If anything, she was extremely pissed at him for pulling her to an unknown place out of the blue.

“Where…?” Her black orbs surveyed the room and Michael couldn’t help but feel keenly aware of how bare his bedroom was.

“My quarters,” Michael replied. He glanced at the female who was standing stiffly in the middle of his room. Aria’s head was turned to the side like she didn’t want to look at him. He sighed. “There’s something you should know.”

He knelt on one knee so that they were roughly the same height. Michael tried to keep his voice even and calm as he said, “In a few days, they’ll bring you to Elisium’s Sanctuary. And the Sanctuary isn’t what you think it is. If they do manage to take you away, you will die.”

“I told you. I know,” she replied as she emphasized each word that left her lips. When Michael thought the girl wouldn’t say anything else, Aria turned and finally looked at him. Black eyes narrowed and became even more piercing. Her voice was slightly hoarse, her words filled with daggers, as she continued to speak.

“I know what you do. I know what you do to the children,” Aria began without knowing that every word that left her mouth stabbed at Michael’s conscience. “I know that you open them up, tear them apart… all because of their Talents.”

Michael felt his mouth go dry. His strength seemed to leave his body. He swallowed the lump that had managed to lodge itself inside his throat. Under Aria’s scrutinizing gaze, Michael couldn’t find the will to talk. After a while, he managed to ask, “How did you know?”

“I heard the adults’ thoughts,” she said. “So, I went down to see things for myself.”

The young male remembered how he had first met the little girl, how she had always been careful and wary of him, how Aria had reacted where she knew he wasn’t part of Elisium – when he had revealed that he wasn’t part of the Elisium Aria was supposed to know of. The reason why the child had always been cautious of him – was it because she already knew of Elisium’s secrets? Did Aria avoid him because she believed that he was a threat?

“You can’t go down there again, No – you don’t need to go down there again.” Michael Caelum corrected himself. He met her gaze and found himself staring at black clear orbs that were deep and endless like the night sky. “I’ll help you escape from Elisium. Trust me.”

Michael couldn’t conceal the tremor in his voice or the slight shaking of his hand. But the girl looked at him with a steady gaze that attempted to see through him.

“Tell me the truth. Answer me.” The words came out as a soft whisper from her lips while her stare was piercing. Prodding. “Why are you doing this? Who am I? Just what am I to you?”

“What’s more important is I get you out of here, okay?” Michael replied quickly and flashed her a smile that felt so fake, even to him. “It’s not a pleasant story. It’s not really something you need to know. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Not something I need to know?” As if considering something, Aria closed her eyes and lapsed into silence. When she opened them, there were stars dancing in her black orbs.

The furrow between the female’s eyebrows relaxed and disappeared as she looked at the male in front of her with renewed purpose. “That’s something I need to choose for myself. I can read your mind… and decide things by myself.”

The red-haired male shook his head. “I can’t let you do that, Aria.”

The female replied, “I don’t need your permission.”

Before he could react, he felt her two small hands touching his face. In a split second, the defenses he had built crumbled under he hands. The memory he had tried so hard to hide in the deepest corner of his mind was suddenly unearthed. With a breath, he was in a familiar field with the sky looming above him and the sun shining down on him from above. With a single breath, he awoke to a familiar open field that was embraced by an infinite blue sky.

Michael Caelum was no longer a bystander looking in an old memory. He was there as his nine-year-old self, his heart thumping loudly in his chest with his hand firmly holding on to a smaller, softer hand. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks. He could feel a smile forming on his face as his gaze fell on a familiar mop of brown hair.

The sun was brighter than Michael remembered it. The sky was bluer than how he imagined it to be. The girl with deep unfathomable eyes was more real than the girl in his memories. Everything from her smile to her laughter sent a comfortable warmth coursing through his veins.

Every single moment with her flashed through his eyes: from the random strolls in the park and her eating ice cream under the hot summer sun, to the day she cast her first spell, the moment she taught him his first incantation, the moment he realized he wanted to stay with her forever.

Light turned into darkness. Warmth turned into a torrid cold. He was screaming. His throat felt hoarse as his lungs expanded and contracted with every shout. He was ten years old with his mother’s arms firmly wrapped around him, stopping him from chasing after the man with dark red locks and a sharp orange gaze while the man and his men wheeled out metallic box that the earthen-haired girl was in. Her eyes were closed, lips were unsmiling. There were no other signs of life from her aside from the rise and fall of her chest.

Years passed by in front of Michael Caelum’s eyes like flickering flames. Then, the scene changed. He was no longer a child, no longer a powerless ten-year old. He was wearing a lab gown and an ID Card on a sling that hung on his neck. His eyes met with endless black pools and a familiar shade of brown. After almost a decade, he had found her.

The gaze in Aria’s eyes told Michael that she only saw him as a stranger. Still, relief flooded through his veins. An unexplainable emotion rose to his chest as he hesitantly approached the little girl he had wanted to see for so long. He wanted to embrace her, to pull her into his arms and tell the small female how much he missed her. Yet he restrained himself and after a moment of hesitation, he ruffled her already messy hair and promised to see her again.

The frustration, the loss, and all the tumultuous emotions Michael didn’t want to feel were forcefully wrenched and pulled out from the deepest recesses of his head. He was thrust back into the hell he had thought he had survived. It was only when he felt an odd warmth on his cheeks that the male realized the memories had ended. Two small hands were busy wiping the tears that had managed to escape his eyes. In front of him, the girl he had searched for had red-rimmed eyes and a steady flow of tears running down her cheeks. The sound of her sniffling filled the room.

“Stupidus,” He muttered as he enjoyed the feel of her hands on his face. He cupped her face in his hands and wiped the teardrops making their way down her face with his thumb. “This is why I didn’t let you see my memories.”

“Memories? I… don’t understand.” Her small hands fell to her sides and curled into fists. “Why…?”

“Your Talent was never about reading minds. It’s a Talent over memories.” Michael Caelum sighed. He sat down on the floor ungracefully and crossed his legs. “When you were young… you could see and experience the memories of people, animals – even objects. If you wanted to, you could bend, change and erase memories… as well as take those memories for yourself. That’s the full extent of your Talent.”

“But I- I don’t know how.” The child’s delicate eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t remember anything.”

“I don’t know what the Great Apothecary did to you but there were probably complications – side-effects, from his research. That’s a possible reason to why you don’t remember anything.” He propped his hands behind him and looked at the ceiling. “No one in Elisium remembers what had happened… According to my mother, there were records of the experiment happening but there were no records on who or what they were experimenting on. Everything else, like their memories, magically disappeared.”

“All they know is that a female child was involved in Silas Fidi’s secret research and that he’s been doing everything to figure out just what had happened.” Michael Caelum glanced at the girl as a sad smile made its way to his face. “But on the bright side, it means no one from Elisium knows you’re the girl that went missing years ago. No one knows you’re the girl they’re looking for.”

A flash of insight reflected in the child’s orbs. “You weren’t in Elisium… That’s why you didn’t forget.”

“Maybe. I guess that’s case,” He replied with a shrug. “But right now, I need to get you out of here.”

Her gaze turned serious. “When?”

“A few days to a week.” Michael spoke with urgency. “I’ll do everything I can in my power to get you out of here. I promise.”

Her eyes widened as the girl looked at him with a conflicted gaze. “Can I… bring someone along?”

“That’s a bit-” Michael stopped mid-sentence. He had planned on saving Aria, but not the other children of Elisium. As he thought about how he should answer the kid, he crossed his legs and massaged his temple as he felt his head throb. “Who were you planning on taking with you?”

“Le-Salamander,” the girl said with a serious look.

Michael’s mouth turned dry. “Salamander? The young boy with bright blue eyes and blonde hair?”

Aria nodded. “I call him Leon.”

“It’s difficult. Probably impossible.” The young male closed his eyes and released a very deep sigh. When he opened his eyes, black orbs gazed at him with both sadness and unwillingness that left Michael speechless. “Aria, Salamander is one of the Great Apothecary’s prized possessions. Getting past the guards that watch over the underground cells is one thing. Destroying the enchantments on his chains, on the other hand, is nearly impossible.”

“It is?” She looked crestfallen. After a few seconds, her eyes brightened. “Then, if I can break the seal, can we save him?”

“Aria, it really isn’t that simple. The seals were personally crafted by Silas Fidi and his successor.” Michael pinched the bridge of his nose and ignored the urge to sigh for the nth time. “Look – Once we get out, we can ask for help and come back to save all the other children in Elisium. How does that sound?”

“I know I’m not strong enough.” The youth placed his hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. “With my strength alone, we need luck if we want to make it out of here with all our limbs intact.”

“I can fight,” Aria offered. With one look at the girl’s black orbs, Michael knew the little female was serious.

“No,” Michael stated firmly. “We can’t win against an army or researchers and high-level Spellcasters, Aria.”

Black eyes stared at him with incredulity. “Then, what’s the plan?”

“We sneak out.” He answered slowly while studying the girl who appeared ridiculously unimpressed. “Every Tuesday, Elisium returns the wooden crates and storage containers used for deliveries. A carrier service picks up the containers and delivers them the various stores where Elisium gets its supplies. I’ll cause a diversion, pick you up and then we’ll try to sneak into one of the crates that are going to be shipped back to Myron’s public market. If nothing goes wrong, we’ll get out of here unscathed.”

Aria plopped down on the floor and crossed her legs. “But you’re not a teacher in our class.”

Michael cleared his throat. “Interns aren’t allowed to get involved in actual operations and research procedures, but we’re allowed to assist and observe. As for the diversion, I’ll figure it out once we get to that point.”

The child looked down at her two hands which were clasped together. When she looked back up at him, there were unshed tears pooling in her eyes. “We really can’t take Leon with us?”

The young man released a long breath and rubbed the top of her head. “I’m sorry.”

“I guess I can’t take Astaroth’s body with me, then,” the girl mumbled under her breath as her small hands rubbed her eyes. When she saw the confusion on Michael’s face, Aria explained the scenario with, “There’s a demon in Elisium.”

Michael was completely lost. He was surprised that the Great Apothecary had managed to hid a demon in Elisium. But he was more amazed at how Aria was talking about a demon like she would about a pet. Just what exactly did Aria do before she met him today? What exactly was this little fragile-looking girl do when nobody was looking?

Aria looked at him expectantly, her black eyes slightly wide and still slightly moist. She was no longer trying to read his mind, no longer trying to get inside his head. She was like a stray pup who had found her long lost human. It made Michael momentarily forget Aria was heading into more dangerous situations than he could count. The young male ran his fingers through the girl’s long brown hair, pinched her cheeks, and pushed his other worries aside.

“We’ll meet up at your classroom and change locations every now and then.” He looked at the clock and met her gaze. “For now, we should get you back before someone notices you’re gone.”

The child nodded and instantly disappeared from his sight. Michael felt a small hand tugging his shirt. “Let’s go,” she said. She was back to saying short replies limited to ten words or less.

Michael began to stand when a thought occurred to him. He held out his hand and glanced at the space where his sleeve was still being tugged. “Hold my hand. It’ll be easier for me to cast Adicio on you if I know where you are.”

The tugging on his shirt disappeared. Michael could feel small fingers wrapping around his bigger appendages. Warmth permeated into his bones. And as they made their way back to Elisium’s classrooms, the heat had made its way up to Michael’s chest, and up to his face which had turned into a shade of red that was brighter than his hair.

She was late.

Leon didn’t know why, but the girl called 373 was late. She was almost always never late. On the rare occasion that she was late, the girl would explain that something had happened. But as soon as she arrived, the only thing the brown-haired girl did was stare at him in a daze. There were no explanations. Leon could only stare back at the female who either had her head in the clouds or had left her head in a completely different place.

“Ah,” When she finally noticed him looking at her, her blank expression turned sheepish. “I forgot to get bread.”

Electric blue eyes blinked. Leon felt his heart fall. The boy tried to keep the disappointment from showing on his face and crossed his arms around his midsection. “It’s okay,” he said with a tone that said everything was beneath him. “After all, stealing is wrong.”

“I won’t steal food for you then.” A brown eyebrow shot up and Leon could make out a smirk on the little girl’s face as she emphasized the word ‘steal’.

“No… NO! That’s not what I meant,” He scrambled. The more he stuttered, the more satisfied 373′s expression became. “I meant that I’m,full- that’s right! I’m really, really not hung-”

A gurgling noise coming from stomach cut him short. The corner of his lips twitched as he slowly looked away to keep the girl from seeing the blush creeping up to his cheeks. He tried to sneak a peek to look at the female’s reaction. His curious gaze found an empty space and nothing but air.

“This was outside.” 373 appeared right next to him with sparks dancing around her.

Leon’s hands automatically went up to his mouth to silence the scream that attempted to escape his lips. The chain’s restraining him clinked at the sudden motion. His eyes were as wide as watermelons. His heart was beating so fast it sounded like a stampede of horses was running on his chest. When he felt that the yell in his throat had faded, he shot the female a glare and hissed. “Stop doing that!”

373 shoved something towards him. In her hands was a bowl filled with sloshing liquid. The girl’s face was scrunched up, probably because of the disgusting odor coming from the bowl. As she eyed the blobs that were bobbing up and down in what looked like soup, the girl’s complexion turned slightly green. “Are you going to eat this?”

The boy took the bowl. When his stomach growled for the second time, he opened his mouth and gulped the questionable liquid from the bowl. He ignored the odd stench coming from the soup. Having something to eat was better than dying from starvation.

He finished everything without leaving a single drop in the bowl. The girl’s lips were pursed tightly as she took the bowl. She disappeared with the container and reappeared without the bowl. Her gaze met his gaze and for a few seconds they stared at each other in silence.

“Those things,” she said quietly as she pointed to the shackles on his hands. “Are they really indestructible?”

He replied with a shrug and plopped down on the rough concrete floor. “I guess. Even the adults need a special key to unlock the fetters when they’re pulling me out of the cell. And the special key is mostly in the hands of Silas Fidi.”

Her eyes scanned the restraints that kept him shackled to the wall. The chains were long enough for him to move around in his cell and were made of a special material Leon couldn’t identify. She made her way towards the wall, her hand slowly inching towards the chains. The scene made Leon’s heart thump harder than when 373 had appeared beside him like a ghost.

Her fingers were only a few centimeters away from the wall when the girl suddenly stopped. She inhaled sharply. Her eyes widened in shock. The girl instantly withdrew her hand and took a few steps back. Her breathing was heavy, like someone who had just stared at death and had narrowly avoided it.

“What’s wrong?” Leon’s heart still hadn’t stopped rampaging and now it seemed to pound against his ribcage with a war hammer. “Hurry up and tell me.”

“A detection spell overlaid with a tracking spell is on this part of the wall.” The girl exhaled and stared at section of wall with a gleam in her black orbs. “Amazing. If I tried to cast a spell on the chains or the fetters, we would have been found out.”

“Amazing? Amazing?” Leon hissed, his voice a low whisper. “Are you insane? Why do you still have time to admire that?”

She didn’t answer him. Instead, her eyes seemed glued to him as 373 stared at him intently. There was something about the way she looked at him that told Leon the girl was probably thinking of something difficult.

“What? Is there soup on my face?” He joked. The girl shook her head and looked beyond his cell, towards the never-ending maze of hallways that led to the rest of Elisium.

“Someone… is going to help me escape.”

Leon’s ears perked up at her statement. “Who?”

“A friend,” was her half-hearted reply.

The golden-haired boy’s eyes narrowed. “A student? Someone from Elisium?”

Brown hair swayed as the little girl shook her head and looked at him. “He’s an outsider who’s an intern here.”

“An… adult? A white coat? Is he a researcher here?” The boy blinked. When she nodded, a scowl made its way to Leon’s face. “Why would he help you? He doesn’t have a reason to.”

Normally, 373 would roll her eyes and flash him a bored look. But she didn’t. She spent a few breaths mulling over the words she wanted to say before she uttered three syllables.

“He knew me.”

“He’s lying,” Leon mumbled.

“He’s not,” she replied.

“All the white-coats are liars,” the ten-year-old boy said. Although his voice was barely a whisper, his tone was sharp. “All the adults can’t be trusted.”

“He’s different,” she rebutted calmly.

Her eyes left his face as footsteps echoed in the hallway. The two children kept their silence as a researcher passed by them without sparing them a glance. As soon as the white-coat was out of earshot, Leon glared at the girl hiding in the shadows.

“You’re defending him. Why are you defending him?”

373′s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not.”

“You’re defending him.” The boy huffed and crossed his arms.

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not.”

“I said he was a liar, you said he isn’t. I said that he’s like the white coats, you said he’s different”, he recounted. He stared at her intently. “Do you like him?”

“Idiot.” This time, the girl rolled her eyes. Because of the darkness of the room, Leon missed the slight tinge of pink that rose up to her cheeks. 373 crossed her arms and quirked up an eyebrow. “What’s my talent?”

“You can read- … oh.” He nodded. Leon finally understood why 373 was defending the white-coat. Her Talent told her everything she needed to know. “What’s his name? If you trust him, you should go with him.”

“Michael Caelum,” She muttered quietly as she took a glimpse towards an empty part of his cell.

Leon expected to see excitement and hopefulness in her eyes. But her black orbs were dark and unfathomable like the underground prison he and the other unlucky children were fate to live the rest, and the last, of their days. There was an emptiness in her gaze and an unwillingness to leave the boy couldn’t understand. If he had to make the choice, he would run away from Elisium the second the opportunity exposed itself. If he could, he would run away as far and as fast as he can towards the ends of the earth.

“You found someone you could trust and a chance to save yourself. Aren’t you happy?” He asked as he studied 373′s face in the darkness of his cell. “Shouldn’t you be happy?”

373 met his gaze and he found himself drowning in her black orbs and a sudden tempest of emotions that surged through his entire being. He felt an inexplicable sadness coursing through his veins as he couldn’t help but feel waves of loneliness pulling him under.

Soft feathery eyelashes fluttered as the little girl blinked. The emotions disappeared as quickly as they appeared. There was a tremble in her voice that was difficult to catch. But in the silence of his cell, Leon heard it quite clearly.

“I want to leave with you.”

Six words. They were so simple even a four-year-old would understand them. Leon was at a loss to what he was supposed to say. But at the same time, he found himself asking her, “Why?”

“We’re friends.” She replied with a seriousness that made Leon sober.

“Ah,” the boy muttered dumbly. He felt a tingling feeling in his chest and a longing he had never felt before. All his life, the children around him had avoided him because he couldn’t control his Talent. He didn’t have friends – had never met someone who wasn’t scared of what he was capable of. His lips curved upward but his eyes were melancholic.

His smile was like his favorite dark chocolate: it was bittersweet.

“Leave with him.” There was a firmness in Leon’s voice that surprised the young boy with bright blue eyes. “This godforsaken Talent won’t let me die easily. It’s fine if I stay here a little bit longer.”

Pain flashed through her obsidian colored eyes. “Maybe there’s a way to break the chains-”

“I… already tried. I went ballistic. It didn’t work,” he admitted as he cut her off. He could make out the guilt and stubbornness that was written all over her face.

There was a lump in his throat that made it difficult for him to speak. He wanted to go with her. He wanted to know how it felt to be free. He wanted to try to break free from the shadows of his cell and leave Elisium. But the words never left his lips. Leon closed his eyes and swallowed. He forced the lump back down to his stomach, opened his eyes and faced the truth – he couldn’t escape Elisium, not unless all hell broke loose, not unless Silas Fidi let him go.

Not unless he died.

Leon looked down at the blasted fetters on his wrists and the chains that clinked and clamored as he moved his arms. He didn’t hold her hand. He was too afraid he’d find her warmth comforting enough that he couldn’t bear to let go. “You won’t forget me, right?”

The girl’s eyebrows knit. “Of course.”

“Then, if I’m still alive in a few years,” Leon turned his head up to gaze at her and gave her the most beautiful smile he could muster, “- promise you’ll come back and save me, alright?”

Black orbs widened, and Leon could almost see tears pooling in her dark eyes. 373′s expression remained indignant – irritable. But her eyes reflected strength, resolve, and brutal honesty as she opened her mouth and said, “Of course.”