Chapter 8-Khione's Past

I stand across from Old-Man F, same as before, huffing and puffing, with bruises and blood covering my body.

"It's almost midnight," Old-Man F comments, "You're almost out of time."

"No!" I cry, "We can still do this!"

"Right, Khione?" I ask as I turn to face my ally, where I see Khione snoring peacefully on the ground.

"KHIONE?!" I cry.

Old-Man F sighs. "Alright…I suppose that's it for the night…" he orders, "Noah, help me set up the tents."

"R-right," I stammer as I jog over to Old-Man F.

And so, I help Old-Man F set up our two tents, one for us, and the other for Khione.

"Alright…I'm hitting the hay…" Old-Man F yawns with a stretch.

Old-Man F then narrows his eyes at me. "If you sneak into Khione's tent…I'll kill you."

"N-noted!" I stammer as I recoil and hold my hands up in surrender.

"Now, go wake Khione up," Old-Man F orders as he turns around and slinks into our tent.

"Y-yes, sir!" I stammer as I salute Old-Man F.

I then turn around to face Khione, seeing that she's now sitting up, and staring at the sky.

"What's up?" I ask as I approach Khione, causing her to flinch.

"Oh…hey, Noah," Khione says as she turns around to face me, "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad," I answer as I take a seat next to Khione, "But I am a little disappointed that I didn't really make any progress during my first day of training…"

"You didn't make any progress?!" Khione cires, "It's your first day, and you already discovered your Charge Stance! It took me YEARS for me to be able to E-Charge!"

"Yeah, but I've been using my water powers all my life that I can remember…" I sigh, "I figured that if I learned how to E-Charge and control my water powers, then I'd be another step closer to figuring out who I am, but it's not as easy as I thought…"

"You know…I kinda' envy you, Noah…" Khione replies as she stares at the ground with a sad smile.

"Huh?" I blink, "How come?"

"You don't have any memories, and therefore, if anything tragic happened to you in your past, you can forget about it," Khione explains, "I wish I could do the same…"

"Excuse me for asking, but what happened to you in your past that was so harsh you want to forget about?" I ask.

"My parents…were killed by bandits," Khione answers as she peers up at me with tears in her eyes, "The bandits killed them because they felt threatened by my parents' powerful Ice Charge…"

My eyes widened.

"After that, I became hungry for revenge," Khione continues, "I had heard about a powerful E-Charger in the next town over, and I headed there, where I met Master F. Master F took pity on me, probably because his own parents were killed by bandits, and so, he took me in and taught me how to E-Charge. I figured that he could teach me how to E-Charge since both of our elements have wind as one compound, while my ice is made up of water for its other compound, and Master F's sand is made up of earth"

Khione then looks to the sky and laughs, with tears forming at the edges of her eyes.

"I never did meet those bandits again, though!" She laughs, "And on top of that, Tanhatam Village was plagued by famine, so Master F didn't even have enough strength to teach me how to E-Charge! I haven't trained in years!"

Khione's tears glisten in the moonlight.

"I'm…sorry…" I softly say.

"Hm?" Khione asks as she peers down at me, "For what?"

"I was selfish," I explain as I stare down at the ground with my own sad smile, "I initially refused Master Flint's calling to join him in his quest. All I wanted to do was help people, but when it came time for me to put my life on the line to do so…I froze up. Even though there are people like you who are suffering due to this world…the world that only I can save…"

Khione smiles at me. "It's alright," she says.

"The truth is…I'm terrified," I continue, my voice shaking, "I'm terrified that who I was before…is a terrible person. And because of that, I'm trying to do as many good deeds as I can to make up for that."

"That's pretty noble of you, Noah," Khione replies, "but you DO have memories. You have your memories with Master F and I…"

My eyes widen.

"Yeah…" I reply with a small smile, "I do…and I hope that we can continue to create even more memories…"

"Yeah!" Khione answers with a wide smile, before standing up and dusting herself off, "Well…this is embarrassing! But now that we've shared our deepest secrets, I think we're a little more motivated now, right?"

Khione extends a hand out to me.

"I think we are!" I answer as I take Khione's hand, and she helps me up to my feet, "Let's get back to training, and we'll WOW Master F with our progress once he wakes up!"

"Right!"

Khione and I pause.

"I'm thirsty…" she says.

"Want me to make you some water?" I ask.

"Yeah," Khione answers.

"I'll trade you for some ice," I add.

"Can't you drink your own water?" Khione asks.

"Would you drink our own piss?" I grumble as I narrow my eyes at Khione.

"I suppose not…" Khione sighs.