Mind's Eye

Atasha's Point of View

It was clear as we entered the sixth day of our training that we would have better days ahead of us. We didn't want to waste any more time after waking up from our deep sleep in the small cave. My eyes popped open when I noticed Elijah preparing a meal for us. I woke up because the smell was so enticing. So, I was just sitting here waiting for my name to be called. Eventually, I felt soft kisses on my cheeks, followed by the familiar sweet voice of a man.

"Let's go and grab some breakfast, mettle,” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded and shifted my position so I could give him a kiss on his cheek too. I then got out of bed and joined him for breakfast. I became aware that I already had different clothes. I recall that last night when we returned home, I was unable to change clothes because I was too drowsy, and I simply decided to throw myself on the bed instead of fixing myself up. However, he was able to change my clothes even though I was already in my deep sleep. I was not really aware nor felt what he did but his sweet gesture made me fall in love with him even more.

"Do you think you are ready to go mountain climbing?" he inquired while we were in the middle of eating our breakfast.

I smiled widely at him, gave him a kind nod and prepared myself for the new day ahead.

I could not help but recall what happened in that small cave yesterday. Aside from making love to Elijah, we discovered that there was a living creature who went to the cave before us. We talked about a lot of things like normal adults. Then after that, my mother appeared in a bizarre dream that I had right after I fell asleep. To be honest, she was someone I hadn't thought about in a very long time, and her passing was likewise heartbreaking. Day by day, I was becoming more and more concerned about the direction in which I would be traveling, with the knowledge of what had happened to my family, and knowing that only the Moon Goddess knew what had happened to my twin sister Astrid. As for me, I just hoped that wherever Astrid went, she would be in a safe place.

We completed a couple of stretches then decided on a lengthy run. After an hour, Elijah asked me to stand straight as he would blindfold my eyes. He wanted me to find him, solely utilizing my heightened senses.

"Don't move, mettle," he uttered when he put on the blindfold.

"Are you sure I can find you by not using my eyes?" I questioned him.

"Yes, after all, you're my mate. You should be able to find me," he added then moments had passed and I could no longer hear his voice.

My initial impulse was to sniff around and look for his footprints, and this was proved. My attention was drawn to the footsteps, and I began to take little movements; afterward, I decided to walk faster than before when I detected his scent near me. I tried to run faster, but I felt someone grip my body, so I immediately took off my blindfold and looked around. In front of me, I noticed a tree.

"You should be careful since you're almost going to knock your skull," Elijah said. I was then told to return and do it again, this time making certain that I could locate him without crashing into a tree or anything that could hurt me.

I searched around and placed my objective near his scent on our second attempt, and the next thing I did was become acquainted with the woody smell that was surrounding me. I did not move because I observed that Elijah's scent was all over the place; he might have torn his shirt into bits and scattered the pieces around the woodland, I thought, I guessed he did that intentionally. It was also difficult to locate him because his footprints were all over the place, and the noises I heard were him racing around in circles, scattering his presence across the forest, making it difficult for me to locate him.

“I don’t think it’s fair for you to run around and scatter your scent everywhere. Can’t you stay in one place, El?” I asked as I tried to concentrate.

I heard his soft chuckle but I couldn’t tell where he was exactly. “The enemies would laugh at you if you told them to stay in one place just because you couldn’t figure out how to find them.”

My lips were pressed together and had formed a thin line. He was right. I wanted to scold myself as that logic idea did not cross my mind.

“Fine!” I said firmly.

I wanted to prove to Elijah that I could do this and so I breathed heavily and relaxed my body. My entire senses became active and the silence made me concentrate from my place. In a few minutes, I was just standing and trying to get used with the scents and overwhelming noises that surrounded me.

I didn’t make any move and focused on my surroundings until something weird occurred. I managed to detect even the aroma of insects’ saliva from a long distance, even their after sex smell. . . I slapped my cheeks as the memory of what happened in the small cave crossed my mind. I should not reminisce about how Elijah pleasured me right at this moment!

I inhaled sharply. One thing was certain: I would be able to locate him with relative ease if I employed this method. Despite the fact that my eyes were closed and that I was blindfolded, my mind was suddenly providing me with a mental picture. I was able to generate a mental representation directly from my mind. Elijah was easily visible from the top of the tree a few steps away from me. I walked gently and raised my head to the sky.

"You're right here!" I said this before taking off my blindfold.

His eyes were wide open as if he hadn't expected me to look up to the top of the tree and find him. After that, he descended off the tree.

"Wow, that was really good. I didn't realize you would pick up on all of that so quickly, I was really surprised," he exclaimed.

I huffed in disbelief. “I am not sure what happened but all of a sudden, I can see a clear picture of my surroundings even if I was blindfolded. Perhaps because my vision was enhanced, guess?”

I didn’t even know how to properly explain it. It was as if my mind had acquired a special ability, making me envision my surroundings even though my eyes were closed. It was the same when my eyes were opened and I couldn’t exactly tell if there were differences.

"You just unlock something within you, Atasha!" Elijah held my shoulders, looked at me proudly which gave me more confidence.

We took a rest for a few minutes and then decided to go to the mountains to test my endurance to do rock climbing.

"Let's get familiarized with these mountains first then you will be climbing them blindfolded," he explained.

I was astonished upon hearing what Elijah said. Blindfolded, again? Was that even possible?

"Climbing a mountain without seeing anything, are you for real?" I exclaimed and gave him a wide-eyed look as we trekked towards the rocky mountains.

"Don't worry, if you ever stumble on your feet, I will catch you," he explained. "But I am sure that you will be able to do it, mettle! With your enhanced abilities, I'm confident enough that you can accomplish this training," he added and gave me a wink that made me roll my eyes.

"Fine, it sounds like I don't have a choice," I said and shrugged my shoulders at him.

When we reached the mountain which Devon suggested for our activity for today, I couldn’t help but worry as it was very huge and high. . . there were rocks on its body but I wasn’t sure if it was strong enough to depend on if I started climbing.

“Excited?” Elijah teased me.

“Not really when I know my life is at stake,” I responded sarcastically.

He chuckled a bit but afterwards, he explained how we can carry out this activity. I was listening to him carefully as I didn’t want to fail on this. I was all too aware that it was dangerous but I wanted to challenge myself and accomplish this with all my might.

Elijah then showed me how to climb the mountain. I was astounded that he was able to do it without a single sweat for only a couple of minutes. From the top of the mountain, I saw him tying a rope from an old large tree. He then let the rope hang all the way down where I was standing. I assumed I would be using it to climb to the top.

Using the rope, he then slid down back at the ground as if he was just playing like a child. I shook my head, thinking that there was no way I could do the same knowing that I would climb a high mountain for the first time in my entire life.

“You’re going to use the rope as your support so you can climb, then I will be staying down here and watching you. You have nothing to worry about as I will catch you if you ever fall.”

I nodded. “Just make sure to catch me or else—”

“Or else what, mate?” He gave me a wide grin.

My eyes narrowed as I stared at him. “I will punish you!”

He laughed and then kissed me on my lips. “Depending on how exciting the punishment will be, I might have a second thought about catching you.”

“Elijah!” I scoffed.

“Just kidding!” he said and then tapped my shoulder. “Whenever you’re ready, Atasha,” he said and gestured to the rope hanging just beside me.

I let out a huge breath and inhaled deeply afterwards. Elijah stepped back and leaned his back on the rocks.

“You can do it, Atasha,” he said, voice so confident.

I smiled at him. I shook my arms and held the rope as tightly as I could. I swallowed hard and tried to lift my body up and climbed little by little.

It was nerve racking, I had to say. My feet were quivering so bad as I tried to step on the rocks while praying so hard that I would not slide. I looked at the top of the mountain. If Elijah could do it, I should be able to do it as well!

With the gathered courage and strength I had, I focused on climbing without minding my surroundings. My eyes were pinned on top of the mountain and that was the only goal I had in mind right at this moment. I gripped on the rope more tightly and I was engulfed by creating a critical plan to make sure each step I made would not result in me stumbling all the way down.

“You are doing good, mate!” Elijah screamed down the mountain.

It was only then when I realized that I climbed half of the mountain already. I let out a huge sigh and made a couple of steps forward. However, the air blew stronger in my direction, which made me unable to see clearly because of the dust which came from above. I tried to climb forward but one wrong step ruined everything.

I screamed when my whole body slid down the rocky part of the mountain. I could feel my cheek hitting the rocks which caused it to bleed. My grip on the rope loosened due to the pain my body instantly felt and because of my imbalance position. The next thing I knew, I was screaming out loud while falling.

I thought I was going to die. But then, a swift arm caught me before I even felt my bones crashing down the ground.

Elijah caught me like what he promised a while ago. My heart and pulse were pounding wildly because of what happened. My knees and arms were all quivering to death.

“Alright, that made me freak out for a moment, but you’re safe now,” he said with a ragged breathing. “You’ve done a good job, mettle! Let’s take a rest and then we will try again.”

I huffed out and buried my head on his chest. “Thanks for catching me, El.”

I felt his hand caressing my cheek, particularly the wound I got when I slipped earlier.

“You’re healing faster, Atasha . . .” he said, which made me look up at him.

In an instance, the sting of pain I felt from my cheek was gone.