When I woke up, my eyes as my legs collapsed without a warning. I had Syrda"s cup in my hands. While the others were on the ground pa.s.sed out next to each other, elves swiftly came through the door and took us to the infirmary. After several checks, Ms Aleinher came in."You pa.s.sed the haras," she said.
"And I thought I made a complete fool of myself," I whispered.
"Sarah, you are the reymir," Robert said.
"We"ll be the joke of all the academy. Ms Aleinher there must be a way to change this," Nathan yelled.
"No there is not. The law speaks for itself, she was the last one standing and she has the mark of Nyr."
"What? Where?" I asked.
"It"s on your left wrist," Robert said.
As I looked at my wrist, a figure of a dragon with wings of fire and nine tails entwined on them had appeared.
"Ms Wilson, the reymir mark represents Nyr"s dragon, since you do not belong to a royal dynasty, it means he might have given you his own," Ms Aleinher said.
"Who is this Nyr?"
"He was a Drakoon, the dragon symbolises courage, you don"t see them nowadays, not as much as before," Mitsuko said.
"Yes, and the white means-" Ms Aleinher said.
"Could it mean death?" I asked.
"Yes, it could, however, in this case, the white comes from the unicorn of the Ukreni family, which symbolizes pureness."
"I might be overthinking then."
"The flaming wings are from the Ziz the emblem of the Zirken, meaning stubbornness, and the nine tails-" Ms Aleinher said.
"It"s from my n.o.ble family and it means wisdom," Mitsuko added.
"So?" I asked.
"It means your group has the right elements, courageous but pure, stubborn but wise. The reymir Ms Wilson must always nurture and sacrifice for what the group stands for," Ms Aleinher persisted.
"This is a nightmare!" Nathan shouted.
"Nathan, stop," Rob said.
"Why? Are you two both mental? She was brought up in a nyrae society. Rob, a rae yirai like yourself cannot become a reymir, why should a metin rae be mine?"
"I feel you should just take it as the world is changing and now everyone has equal opportunities," I said.
"I"m going to kill you," he said.
"No, you won"t," I insisted.
"And what makes you think, I won"t have the pleasure of burning your pretty face."
"How kind of you, but as far as I know you can"t kill your reymir. Isn"t it one of the rules?"
"You should know your boundaries metin rae."
"Stop it you two!" Robert screamed.
"I would, but I don"t see him trying to cooperate," I said.
"I might not be able to kill you, but I don"t recall no one telling me I can"t torture you," Nathan whispered.
"Oh my G.o.d, you really are some twisted creep," I said.
"You know what? It"s better if we go to our rooms and we"ll see Sarah tomorrow morning," Mitsuko said.
"Yeah, but you can leave the Zirken dog outside," I said.
I had to stay for the night, even though I would have preferred to be anywhere else. The nurse sat near me, while she prepared a special drink as she called it.
"You need to drink it," she said.
"Thank you, but I"m okay. I don"t really need it."
"You have to, or you might faint once you get out of bed."
I drank steadily what smelled like a month-old pair of socks, "what is this? It smells so bad and the taste is even worse."
"I never said it was delicious, but it will make you sleep."
"I really don"t need-"
"What you need is bandages on your wrist and for all to sink in while you sleep and recover."
"Sink in? It"s not easy. It all seems unreal to me."
"Life is never easy, we might stumble and fall, however, we need to always have the courage to get back on our feet."
"The dragon means courage, but I"m not brave enough."
"Every soul which goes out of their comfort zone is brave. What do you believe brave signifies?"
"I don"t know. Saving someone? Sacrificing yourself for the ones you care for?"
"What you"re describing is love, my dear."
"What about death? Do you think people know if they"ll die?"
"If we knew, the mystery which surrounds death wouldn"t exist."
"What if we find a way to trick death?"
"You will need to deal with it one day. A wise man once told me how death is connected to life by an invisible thread, they are both adventures we will need to face one day. However, you can decide how you will live until that moment comes."
"What if we look death in the eyes?"
"It would make you the bravest of us all and utterly foolish. But now your choice should be to sleep! Alumin," she said. At the sound of her claps, the lights went out. My eyes were still wide open in the dark, while my mind kept contemplating on the doppelgänger with those pitch-dark eyes. If she was indeed a part of me, then who was I?