Prisoner.

Prisoner.

Havillah took a step into the room and sighed.

"As if things couldn't get any worse." She smiled. She had to get used to this, she knew, the suspicion that came with being a stranger. Wherever she went she knew that the reactions would probably be the same and where she was lucky, she would get to meet a person who was just like Killion or as innocent as little Sophir who thought her capable of no harm. Killion, she thought with a bitter smile on her face. Had he found out about her departure or was he still oblivious to the fact?

She took another step forward and surveyed the room in which she had been locked in. The room was a typical bedroom. Typical in that it possessed the one thing that qualified most rooms into becoming a bedroom. In this case, this thing presented itself massively and pushed back to one one wall it stood out like a dark silhouette covered in a white sheet with one pillow and a dark folded fabric square that had to be a blanket or something of that kind. In this dim light she could see that the floor around the bed was bare. It had no rugs to cover it and was essentially made of wood. To be precise, faded wooded panels that unlike the firm terrazzo on the corridor outside, creaked with every step or move that she made forward.

Apart from the bed and the bedside tables, there was no other furniture to be seen in the room. None that she could see in the dim light that was provided by a single overheard light fixture mounted on a white cardboard ceiling. It was strange really that despite it being just a mid morning, with the sun high up with the approach of midday, the room remained darkened as if it were already night.

Curious Havillah looked around. Was there no window in this room? It couldn't be that she was underground? No. She shook her head reminding herself of the journey and the steps that they had taken inside the house. It was quite clear to her that at no point had they descended from the main floor. In fact, the corridor outside was a straight line probably a few metres from the main door and that left the options that the room was either windowless or..."boarded up." She said recalling what had been the bungalow's appearance all the way from the outside.

With this now in mind, Havillah took another look around the room, peeling her eyes open for anything that might standout along the walls. Then she saw them. The dark curtains that covered a part of the wall that was parallel to the corridor and opposite the bed.  Slowly, she approached the corner and pulled the curtains apart only to discover a fifth a wall that had been hidden behind those curtains, one that was quite narrow and also, all window.

"No wonder I had not seen it." She quietly mumbled to herself even as she looked up to study the glass window that she could now see was partially broken with impact cracks on some of the areas. "Probably explains why it is also boarded up from the outside." She added thoughtfully as she noticed how the boards kept out the light perfectly, light that should have been streaming in from the bright sun outside.

Exploration done and mystery solved, Havillah now realised that there was nothing else to do and with a smile on  her tired face, she approached the bed and put her knapsack down on one of the bedside tables. Surprisingly, it had not fallen off when Jharey had accosted her. He had handled her quite roughly but his hands had not once strayed to her knapsack, which also meant that she still had her food with her and also some water left in the bottles she had refilled. At least with that, she thought, she would have enough for the next day or two, long enough to find out what was really happening there.

"When did I become a detective?" She grimaced as her fingers traced the headboard coming off with a line of dust. "This won't do." She sighed at the dirtied sheets that were not meant to sleep on but rather, to preserve the mattress that was lying beneath them. The blanket though and the pillow appeared clean. Therefore she took out the sheet and used it to wipe off the dust. Next she took out the blanket and spread it before resting her form on the wooden surface of the bed's headboard.

"What do you think is happening here?" She chanced a question to her Guide not sure that he would actually reply.

"Like you said, it is best to wait and found out. They may not treat you like one but I believe that you may carry the salvation that these people are looking for." Her Guide surprised her with his reply. He had already proved to her that he was not something that she could control and Havilalh guessed that her sanity would only remain intact in not trying to understand him or the reasoning that was usually behind his actions.

"If you didn't notice, I am kind of trapped here. That man thinks that I am a spy and hence I am now his prisoner. Also, what really can I do behind these locked doors?"

"For one, you can practice. New Glory always unlocks a new gift and you can only find that out if you practice with your Virtue."

"I suppose that you already know what that gift is?" She chanced the question. She was a little hopeful that he would eventually tell her, but then again, this was her Guide she was talking about and making her life difficult seemed to something that was hard wired in his brain and was rather evident in his way of doing things.

"I believe that you already know what is the answer to that. I may Guide you Havillah, but in no way am I supposed to interfere in your process of learning, unless..."

"Unless?" Havillah perked up.

"Never mind, you are not yet there yet. When the time comes, I believe that knowledge will  be unlocked as well."

"You are really something. You are enjoying this, aren't you? Seeing me all distressed and confused by your cryptic words?That is what you live for right?" She cried out in exasperation not expecting him to answer her like he had always done before.

"On the contrary. There are things that you must do yourself, and even though it does not look like it, there is a lot at play where you and some others are concerned." He replied as thoughtful frown made its way to her face.

"A lot at play? What could that possibly mean?" She thought as she turned over his words in her mind.

"You talk like I am meant for something great. Something important. Like whatever it is you are Guiding me to is hinged on the very decisions that I am going to make." She finally decided to voice out her thoughts.

"In the other dimension, decisions unlock a series of paths that usually lead to an ultimate calling. There are normally detours that are meant to slow you down or take you completely of course depending on the choices you make but with a Guide most of those can be avoided if you are not too stubborn. It is the work of a Guide to make sure that the fastest and most productive path is taken especially when certain matters are at stake. Otherwise you may strive hard only to find out that you have worked for nought. That said your journey is also important but let that not make you conceited. It takes more than a Calling to actually be Chosen."

Like any of that made any sense. As usual her Guide was talking in that cryptic way of his that only he could understand. Sure some of it made some sense but Havillah found that she was now more confused than she was when she first asked the question.

"Does that mean that this..." She spoke with hand gestures. "whatever it is works like some sort of a tournament?" She had just remembered his mention of the word others.

"No. Being in a tournament means competing with others and usually that also means walking down a similar path, but that is not the case here. No living being ever walks down the same path seeing as experiences are rather a unique event. Even when you are going through the same thing together, your uniqueness as a person makes sure that your perception of things is not totally the same. So you always come out with a different experience." He said as Havillah's thoughts went back to the situation on Triberias. How different they all were despite living the same paradise. Did that mean that all in that city were also called? But why was she the one who was chosen? Why when she was clearly not the best? No, not chosen. She corrected that phrase. She was not yet chosen. She had to somehow earn that and if she was interpreting his words right, then what she needed to do would not be an easy task to accomplish. "However," her attention was snared again. "Well in this case you are competing against yourself."

"What? Against myself? What of the others you mentioned?"

"Them too. The idea in this case is to attempt to out do yourself, your previous efforts, hit your limits and push them to grow. All in all what is needed at the end of it is your best effort, your willingness to grow and the rest will be Supplemented."

Nothing that her Guide was now sayings was making sense to her, but it pleased her to know that at least the voice was making an effort. As cryptic as it had all sounded she processed it, storing it away for a later time when probably she would have the bigger picture and it would somehow finally make sense. Overwhelmed by her exhaustion, Havillah's eyes finally drifted shut. She had nothing else to do, but to sleep now so her Guide let her be and hopefully at the sound of dusk, she would finally have an idea of what she was dealing with here.