Back To The Training Zone II

As early as four in the morning, Luke was up. As if woken by something, Luke jerked up.

He looked around the room. Everywhere was quiet.

Tic. Toc.

The clock on the wall kept sounding and Luke could hear it so clearly. He looked at the time and noticed it was four.

He walked to Obed's couch. "Hey, it's about time we left but we're just waking up." He tapped the sleep out of Obed's eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm up." Obed rose from his couch and walked into the bathroom.

Luke stood there for a minute, processing what had just happened.

"Well, that was fast." Luke walked to the room to get the items he would be taking with him on the trip.

He had disposed of his old black backpack and this time, he went with one that was as close to black as brown was. One by one, he placed his clothes inside the bag, and then, he placed the jar containing the pills into the bag too.

Luke zipped his backpack and brought it out of the room. At the same moment, Obed walked out of the bathroom and saw Luke with a backpack.

"What's that for?" Obed asked.

"This? Oh, it's a list of all my necessities I'll be going there with. I don't think I need to list them one by one." Luke replied, placing the backpack on one of the chairs available.

He hadn't told Obed their main destination. The only thing Obed knew about the journey they were about to embark on was that it was the same place as the place he'd gone before.

"How long are we staying there?" Obed asked out of curiosity.

"Probably about two weeks. We need to get you in shape before we return." Luke scratched his belly. He took off his white shirt. "You can choose to admire the bag while I go wash up or you can choose to pack up your bag." Luke walked into the bathroom.

Minutes later, Luke was out, drenched in cold water with a blue towel wrapped around his waist.

"Feels good." Luke smiled. It was becoming a normal phrase for Luke after every bath.

"I'm done with my backpack." Obed was already wearing his red backpack.

"Anything else you might be forgetting?" Luke asked to be sure.

Obed thought for a split second. "No, I don't think I am."

Obed was fast with his response, but somehow when he finished speaking, Luke was already done with his dressing. "Sure. Let's head out then."

Luke picked up his backpack and they left the apartment, locking the door behind them and walking out of the building.

"Even though you haven't come there, you should know the road there. You should've at least heard of its description." Luke stared at Obed as if suspicious of him as they walked away from the building.

"Yes, I have. We should hurry already, or are we not late?" Obed asked.

The duo continued their talk on the way to the portal until they finally arrived.

The portal was the same as the last time, but there were two differences. The second difference was the number and identity of people who were present and the first difference and most serious one was the number of guards on duty.

The two of them quickly joined the crowd of people waiting to enter the portal, many of which would not return.

"ID?" The guards who were in charge of supervising asked.

One by one, they submitted their IDs.

Ding!

The machine in their hands beeped and the owner of the ID sighed in relief.

The verification was fast and all but occasionally, one would still hear buzzes. Those were failures and they were all told one thing or another.

It wasn't time for Luke and Obed to be verified so they stayed behind.

*****

"Wake up already. It's almost time we left for the portal." Kyne went around waking everybody one by one.

"We heard you the first time so stop repeating it." A figure as tall as Obed but wider, scolded Kyne after he had repeatedly woken them up.

Kyne turned his head to the muscular figure. "Sorry about that Dhino, but we need to get there on time. I'd rather get there earlier than later."

Dhino was over seven feet. His hair was cut extremely low and black, just like his eyes. His muscles were so in shape that Kyne couldn't find a better person, not that he had met that many people.

"Fine, I'll be waiting for the rest outside." Dhino stood up and turned to leave the room.

"You should stay and have a meeting with the rest of us." Another person suggested. It was Yord, and just beside him was his woman, Raela.

"I thought we were leaving?" Another person complained.

"Now, now, calm your horses there Rin." Yord smiled slightly. "It'll be a very brief but important meeting, so I suggest we all have it now." Turns out, Yord was the team leader.

"Fine." Kyne sighed and dropped to the ground in a cross-legged sitting position.

Yord began his explanation that went on and on.

'It'll end soon right?' Kyne thought as Yord kept speaking after five minutes, not looking like he was going to stop anytime soon.

"That's all I was going to say." Yord ended his explanation.

"Understood, now can we get going?" Kyne was the first one to stand up, patting his butt.

Yord smiled again and rose from the floor. "Yes, we can start moving out." He picked up his huge backpack and an extra bag off the floor.

Everyone had huge backpacks that contained all they would need but Kyne opened his backpack one last time to keep check of all his items and it only contained a new dagger, some sets of clothes, and candy. Why candy?

Kyne zipped his backpack closed ignoring the eyes of the others on him. They had obviously seen the heaps of candy in his bag but he didn't care.

They all headed to the portal.

*****

Kyne's team had just arrived when they met others being gathered for departure. "We'll probably be in the next three groups to leave after this set. Takes twenty minutes to set up for each teleportation." Kyne began explaining even though no one asked him.

The others just nodded and they walked closer to the other people waiting for their turns.

"Hey, who the hell is he?" A guard asked amid the people currently being verified.

Kyne looked in that direction but he couldn't see who it was because there were people in his path.

"I'm Luke…" Luke smiled and pointed at Obed. "...and I'm his escort. You might be thinking I'm not up to the task, but I can assure you, I can defend myself perfectly."

Kyne heard Luke's name and was more eager to see who was speaking. The voice was familiar and the name was. Luke's name wasn't all that rare but Kyne still held hope that it was the Luke he knew.

"If your young master is fine by it, then it's settled." The guard looked at Obed for confirmation and Obed nodded. The guard turned to the squad leader. "Captain, they're ready to be transported."

The squad leader was the same person as last time. He just nodded and activated the portal.

Luke and Obed were the first to move toward the shining multicolored square-shaped warp in space. The portal device stayed horizontal on the floor and those who wished to be teleported had to step on it.

A few stairs led to the portal platform so when Luke climbed the first one, his head became visible among the others.

Kyne spotted Luke and immediately knew it had to be him. "He's here." Kyne was shaking in excitement.

"Who's here?" Yord asked.

"Luke's here. The person I always talked about, he's here." Kyne smiled so brightly. If it wasn't for Luke, he would be anywhere near his current level. He wouldn't even be alive.

"Where's he?" Yord asked.

Before Kyne could point, the portal finished activation and the people on it vanished.

"He just left with the others," Kyne answered.

"That's a shame. We just missed our chance." Yord sighed.

"No, we'll be meeting him soon, because I might know where he's headed to." Kyne chuckled.