After another exhausting day, lying down is such a treat. My muscles and my brain are both fatigued, so very fatigued that I've been struggling to think straight since the middle of my session.

I could care less about keeping things neat. The warmth of my bed and support of my pillow is the comfort I need to ease my anxious mind and tense body. Training with Umber seems to be growing more difficult as the days go by, and Lady Gisela's lessons are certainly no better. I know I need to change, take care of anything needed to be done before dinner, and then rest, but my body can't handle the exhaustion. My pitiful attempts to hold on to my consciousness fail as my eyelids grow heavier, and my exhaustion is greeted by the soothing darkness of sleep.

That day is engraved in my memory so clearly that anytime I think about it, it's like I'm there all over again. Being raised by a human family was certainly an experience, especially since I never knew anything about who I truly was for years. Korea was certainly a different place to grow up, though Korean culture is something I miss since being in the Lost Cities prevents me from embracing much of it.

Strangely, growing up, there always seemed to be a missing piece in the puzzle of me. It was easy to tell that I was different, at least to younger me. Most normal people weren't able to make a room darker or feel inhuman emotions. However, my understanding of myself ended at "I'm different." It wasn't until I was whisked away to the Lost Cities that I began to understand who and what I am. My family had always been kind and accommodating, contrary to other Korean families we knew, and after they learned that I was flying through school, they had arranged for a tutor who would help nurture my extremely accelerated learning pace. I would go to the nearby library every morning at 9am, studying until 1pm, take a lunch break, and continue until 4pm, after which my time was my own.

That day, I had gotten up late, so I ended up just drinking a glass of milk before sprinting out the door and onto the street. I scampered across the road, ignoring all the honking vehicles, rushing to get to the library on time. Even if my tutor was always late, it didn't matter, I still hated to be late. It was clear something was off, I could just tell at I set foot in the library. It was quiet, almost in an eerie sense, but I brushed it off, thinking it was just my imagination.

Yet when I arrived at the corner of the library we used, I knew it wasn't just a feeling. What was normally a simple swivel chair instead seemed regal, almost like a rotating throne. The more surprising thing was the fact that someone was actually sitting in the chair.

Though it seems like common sense to be expecting my tutor, I could immediately tell it wasn't. For one, the person sitting in the chair was clearly a woman, while my tutor was a man. It was easy to tell that her hair and face were supposed to be covered by the hood she wore, but I could see the glistening dark blonde locks, her pointed nose, and her lips, painted the darkest of reds. The other was the fact that my tutor was never ever on time. The mysterious lady in the chair seemed to realize I had come to the conclusion that she wasn't my tutor, and chose that moment to spin around and greet me. I could then see her full face, and it was the epitome of cruel elegance. All the lines of her face were cut sharply, in such a way that she seemed to pose a threat. There wasn't a hair out of place as she smirked and looked me over before addressing me.

Her voice was warm and slightly threatening as she finally said, "Hello, my dear Nuri."

At that moment, I was beyond confused, but looking back, the memory brings a warm feeling. Back then, I had never seen this lady before, never in my life, so why was she acting like we knew each other previously? My confusion was evident, yet the lady still looked at me, waiting for me to say something. I met her gaze, and held it for a few seconds before finally giving in.

"Who- who are you?" I asked, stuttering out the question through my confusion. I didn't know if I was supposed to be scared, but I was fairly concerned.

In response to my question, the lady half-smirked, half-smiled, giving an unfriendly but not threatening feeling. It was as if she knew something I didn't but was willing to tell me.

"Someone just like you," she said cryptically, making me even more confused. Did she mean the photographic memory? Or the inhuman emotions I could sense? Or the slight darkness I could bring with the blink of an eye? Or was there something else that I didn't know about? It was as though she read my mind as she stood up and spoke.

"Let me show you, darling. This is your legacy, my protege."

It was as if the word was the key to a vault I didn't know existed. It triggered a flood of information, and suddenly I knew who I was. Nuri Cho, the heart of the Neverseen's deepest secrets. The key to a better future for all elves. There were still obvious gaps in my memory, but now didn't seem to be the right time to address them. The lady, who I could now identify as Lady Gisela, our organization's leader, gently took my hand. She held a blue-green crystal to the light, and the light whisked us away.

The leap was draining, and seemed to stretch me out and then clump me back together. I felt rather disoriented when we landed on an island in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, some random ocean. I'll admit it seemed rather weird at the time, but this feeling convinced me to keep following Lady Gisela. I stumbled as we walked to the other side of the small island, and as I attempted to walk, I took in the surroundings.

The island had an air of elegance and felt vivid and bright. Looking at the color of the sand and ocean, and the minimal vegetation, I had come to the probable conclusion that we were near Barbados, or as close to near as you could get when there was nothing to see for miles except for the ocean. As we reached the other side of the island, and my legs had finally recovered to an extent, we walked towards a small cave. We entered, and Lady Gisela used the hard edge of her garnet ring to make a small, thin slit on her right palm. Beads of blood came to the surface, and she swiped them onto her finger without even a flinch. She looked around the cave for about half a second until her she found what she needed. She moved forward just a little and pressed the blood on her finger to a rune carved into a rock that I never would have noticed. We took half a step back as a boulder slid out of the way, making a path for us to head inside. It wasn't exactly as I remembered but it was familiar enough to bring a sudden warm feeling that I couldn't identify.

Speaking of remembering, I turned towards my mentor.

"What's my ability?" I asked her. It was so odd, considering I could remember almost everything else about myself but not my ability. After all, an ability is an essential part of who we are and the gift we can give to the world.

Lady Gisela sighed.

"You are a polyglot and shade," she said, but almost remorsefully, the tone barely noticeable. She sounded as thought it shouldn't have been the way it was. Her voice faded towards the end of her sentence, and we continued walking, now in silence.

Of course, the trigger word didn't tell me everything. There were plenty of questions I wanted to ask, but Lady Gisela intimidated me. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't entirely sure if I'd want all the answers. I was sure the holes in my memory would be filled as time went on.

Yet some things felt far too important for me to wait. Like when was I moved to the Forbidden Cities? Why was I moved in the first place? Why did my memory have to be wiped in the first place, couldn't I have achieved my mission, whatever it was, faster and more efficiently with my memory? Why was I so important to the Neverseen? I knew I should have asked, but fear got the better of me and we continued forward. The journey felt long, probably due to the lack of light, but after what felt like an hour (in reality, it was just shy of 10 minutes), the tunnel finally started to lighten.

As we moved forward a couple of meters, I could finally see a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing what waited there for me, I started walking faster, and Lady Gisela attempted to keep up with me. I was eager to see the society again, and excited to see how much it had grown, knowing the amount of time that had passed since I had last been here was a lot.

I finally reached the light, and the second I stepped into it, I was ambushed.

The flurry of people that had surrounded me brought a large smile to my face. It had been so long and I had really missed it, even without technically knowing about this relationship. I guess my subconscious had remembered, and patiently waited for this reunion to come.

Umber, my mentor was the first to reach me. She scooped me up and gave me a crushing hug. She was the one who trained me and cared for me for as long as I could remember. She basically raised me.

Next was Trix, Umber's partner. He's a guster, who's helped with my training so often, simply because Umber didn't want to be alone. He and I had worked together on many missions, though I wondered if that'll be the same now.

Finally, the only one my age appeared.

Anemone had been my partner for all of time, it was like we were destined to be close. Whether we were training, raiding the pantry for potentially good food, or going on missions, the two of us were inseparable. We were stronger together too. She beamed at me and reached for me, squeezing the air out of my lungs.

Nothing really needed to be said. The looks on our faces had said it all.