The Wish Game

Mineva's Reunion

“I knew I’d find you here.” I said as I emerged from Mineva’s behind. With me was Mr. Lee, my translator and we were in the island state of Nova after five hours of travel from Lunamaria. But Mineva didn’t turn, her eyes were fixated on a specific house in front of her.

Mr. Lee tried to facilitate talks and came closer. “Stop.” I said pulling an arm to stop his advance. “There is something wrong…” Before I could continue, Mineva turned around. Her facial expression was far from the cool and composed one that I had known till then.

A strange eerie feeling came as a needle to me and I pushed Mr. Lee away. “Get A…” Before I could finish, Mineva unleashed an inferno upon us. “Whaaaaa…” I shrieked as I decided to use magic absorption again.

‘This is bad. Is she crazy, such a wide area spell here…’ Thoughts raced my mind as I stretched both my arms towards the raging inferno. ‘Magic resistance would be useless, please stay strong…’ I prayed as the inferno began to be absorbed and assimilated.

I could now feel the effects of my weakened body, the power from the spell felt overwhelming and ready to break through any defenses I had. I continued praying until the spell finished. “Aah…I thought it won’t be over.” I gave a sigh of relief but realized that the ordeal was far from over.

Mineva still had that mad look but I got an idea of what to do. I rushed to her and before she could cast another spell, grabbed her arms at wrist. My idea was quite simple, I’ll just bring her back to her senses.

“Hey, Mineva!!! Snap out, you can hurt anyone with those advanced spells of yours.” I shouted at her but it seemed she didn’t pay any heed. Her palms began to engulf in fire and that’s when I realized, “Crap!!! My Magic Resistance is not enough for this.” I murmured to myself as I tried to figure the flow of magic through her body.

“I must do something.” I said to myself and thought, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ I tightened my grip on her wrist and shouted at the top of my lungs, “Snap out of your rage, Flaming Berserker of Australia!!!”

Mineva’s eyes widened and closed. She slumped on me and I carefully lay her on the ground. Mr. Lee came forward and brought her back to consciousness by using some water magic. “Hey, you okay?” I asked as she opened her eyes and was startled to see the two of us.

“What are you doing here?” She asked innocently as she was helped into a sitting position. “Well, we just came here. It took a four-hour Tube Capsulet and another hour by cart.” I laughed trying to get her attention off the fact that she attacked us.

Her eye caught something though and she leaped to catch my arm by the wrist. I groaned in pain as she pulled it towards herself and saw the burns and blisters. “Did I lose control?” She asked and looked towards the injuries.

“Don’t worry about them. They’ll go away.” I tried to play it down but she immediately shot a glare. “Yeah, you did. I tried to pin you down at point-blank. But don’t worry, they aren’t anything serious.” I changed my gaze from Mineva to the house she was looking at.

“Hey Mineva, I was wondering if someone lives in your ancestral home?” I asked her trying to change the topic from my injuries. “I don’t know.” She replied almost instinctively before asking, “How’d you know about that?”

I thought for an attractive answer but Mr. Lee said, “She ran across some books about you in the library during her research.” I was clearly surprised at the answer but Mineva turned towards him, “They kept the records about me?” He smiled and helped her stand, “Why shouldn’t they? Your stories are what inspire our youth.”

“It’s been more than 150 years. But everything still feels fresh, like it happened yesterday.” She said and I instinctively knew what she meant to say, “On that day, when the selection was to happen. We were all taken to that open ground.”

She pointed to the ground behind us and continued, “There were about a hundred kids and they chose me out of nowhere.” She gave a chuckle and continued, “No one, not even my parents showed any signs of opposition to the selection.”

I understood how she would’ve felt; her situation was very similar to mine. “You felt betrayed by the country, not your parents. Right?” I asked and she nodded in agreement.

I sighed as we looked at the house for quite some time before I pushed Mineva towards it. “Go on. I am pretty sure that’s what you want to do.” She turned towards me with a smirk, “Aren’t you a hypocrite?” I didn’t take the comment seriously and asked, “Why would that be? I am telling you what you used to tell me, ‘Do what your heart says.’”

She looked at me seriously and said, “You never wanted to even see your parents. Even when forced, you didn’t talk to them and went out.” I knew what she meant and I tried to calm her down, “Well my situation and yours aren’t the same even if they’re similar.”

I held her hand in my burnt arm and smiled, “My parents chose my brother over me, yours didn’t have any choice. Plus, it’s already been 150 years even I won’t hold the grudge for that long. Maybe…”

She laughed at my maybe and gave out a breath of hesitation. Mr. Lee was already managing the crowd that gathered by seeing the momentary inferno and was perhaps telling them that a campfire went wrong or something like that.

Finally, after a long self consultation, Mineva moved towards the house with me following her. We walked to the door and Mr. Lee met up as well. “What’s going on?” He asked and I asked him to wait and watch.

She knocked on the door twice and waited, muttering “I don’t feel it’s a good thing.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder only to comfort my arm after that, “Don’t worry, even if you had some issues with your parents; I don’t think you had anything with your ancestral home.”

“Would you say that for your home as well?” She asked giving a disguised smile and I sighed, “All right, after the Wish Games, the first thing we’ll do is try to have a civilized talk with my parents at my ancestral home. Deal!!!” I pushed a fist towards her and she bumped her into mine.

The door opened a few minutes later, and it was a young boy about my age. Mineva surprisingly talked in the local language with the boy and Mr. Lee translated what they said.

The boy asked first, “Who are you? Are you looking for someone?” Mineva replied with a smile, “Are your parents around?” The boy looked at the three of us for a while and said, “Yes, please come in. Mom, Dad there’s someone who wants to meet with you.”

We went in and were greeted by a normal family of six people. Two kids – a boy and a girl, their parents and grandparents. We were seated on a couch while everyone gathered. The head of the family began, “Hi Miss! I am Daniel. How can I help you?” But no one spoke anything for quite some time.

I asked Mineva, “Are you sure this is your ancestral home?” She replied, “I don’t know for sure. The place looks similar from the outside though, but here…” She was stopped in between when Mr. Daniel began, “Ancestral home?”

“You know our language?” I shrieked but apologized, “Sorry about that…” Mr. Daniel smiled, “No need to apologize. I am a translator by profession. So, I know all languages and my kids know them as well.”

Mineva began, “I used to live here quite a while ago. But maybe ownership has changed since then or maybe it’s another place similar to this.” Mr. Daniel smiled, “Don’t worry about that. I know how it feels when you come to your ancestral home after a long time. The excitement usually causes a lot of problems. So how long has it been?”

I joked with an awkward face, “You’re probably better off not knowing that.” Suddenly the girl came towards me and asked, “You’re from India. You speak Indian tongue, do I know you?” She gave a quite creepy smile that had me worried for real, “I don’t think so, we’ve met before.”

In the meanwhile, the boy who greeted us looked at our interactions perhaps suspiciously. Suddenly, he shouted out of nowhere, “Hey dad, doesn’t that big lady seem like the one from the stories?”

Mr. Daniel and his wife quickly hushed him up, “Sorry for his rudeness, it’s not like that. Please don’t mind him.” He said while his wife scolded the kid. From the expression, I guessed it would be something like, “Shut up. Don’t be so mean.” Mineva however walked to the boy and asked, “From what story?”

The boy began, “We’re told this at the school. Once upon a time, there was a lady warrior from our country. She was very powerful and had won the Wish Games for our country. After she won, she was gifted eternal youth as per her wish. But she disappeared after that and was never heard of.”

This story was something I was expecting, but the boy’s expression showed that he omitted some things. “Hey kid, is there anything you wanna add?” I asked walking to him, wondering if I should put him under True Investigation Magic or not.

He nodded timidly and added, “She was said to be only 18 and was exceedingly powerful in fire magic. Her fire magic even got a new branch called Inferno magic and we performed the shortest ever match of the Wish Games.”

I was satisfied that it was her place because, in the library, I read the part of the education curriculum that had information about her. There wasn’t anything in so profound details but only what seemed like a brief summary.

I gave a nod to Mineva and wanted to convey telepathically, ‘It is your home and family, Mineva.’ Mineva smiled and asked Mr. Daniel, “How does he know this story?” He stammered and replied, “Well, part of it is school curriculum while part of it is passed down generation to generation in our family.”

I inquired, “Wait you mean that warrior was from your family?” Mr. Daniel nodded in agreement, “Our Family Legend has it that Mineva wished for eternal youth and then went in solitude. She watches us from a distance and stays with us in every moment, joyous and sorrowful.”

“We even have a room that contains all her belongings. It was her room when she used to live here.” The girl added excitedly getting another set of glares from her parents. I asked Mr. Daniel, “If you don’t mind, can we see it? We won’t take long…”

The grandmother said something in their native tongue which Mr. Lee translated, “Yes, you may. It’s been a long since anyone believed this. Everyone says that it’s a tall tale.” Mr. Daniel led us upstairs and unlocked a room on our right.

We entered the room and found it quite clean and well maintained. However, the furniture and the décor style seemed quite old. I went closer to a chair and looked at it a bit closer, it wasn’t a new chair or any based on an old design. The chair itself was at least a century old.

The grandfather again said something that Mr. Lee translated, “For over a century, our family took care of this room. Nothing in it has been removed or added, just cleaned and maintained in the fine state so that if one-day Mineva comes back, she won’t feel homesick.”

Hearing that, Mineva finally gave in and burst into tears. She sobbed and said to herself, “I was so wrong about that…they did love me…for hundred fifty years, they waited for me…” The family seemed confused but tried to console her when I stopped them.

“It’s better if we just leave her be. She’ll come around that soon.” I said as I led everyone out of the room and left Mineva with some time for herself. I wiped my eyes to find tears in them. “It’s been quite long since I cried for someone else.” I said to myself and wiped them off.

The family turned towards me for questions but before the onslaught could begin, Mr. Daniel said, “Let’s get back down before we continue the talks.” All of us went down and sat on the sofas when Mr. Daniel finally began the question, “Who is that lady? Why was she so much emotional about that room?” I began sighing, “Your son picked her correctly. That lady is Mineva, The Flaming Berserker of Australia.”

His wife asked the next question which was translated as, “Who are you?” I didn’t want to give away my identity, so I thought for a while and said, “I am just an acquaintance of hers. She sponsors a contestant in the group battles and for that came here.”

I added before anyone could add another question, “She came to this country after almost 150 years. So she’s a bit emotional…” “Why didn’t she come earlier?” Mr. Daniel asked and I replied, “Well, she…” I thought for an answer but couldn’t find a convincing one.

I finally said, “I don’t have much of an idea. But she must’ve felt traumatized during her Wish Game battles. So, maybe she was avoiding reliving the trauma, or just as you saw, maybe she was avoiding this emotional outburst that she’ll feel.”

No one spoke anything for a while; I and Mr. Lee were offered water. Mineva came back wiping her tears as we finished our glasses. She sat with us and said, “Sorry about that but I couldn’t control myself.”

The family greeted her with tears of respect and joy. The reunion was extremely emotional as Mineva finally met someone from her family after one and a half centuries. Even if she was like the great–great–great grandmother of the kids, they treated her like their elder sister.

I signaled Mr. Lee with a gesture amongst the chaos, who perfectly understood that we should not be staying there poking our noses in their family matter. As we left the house, I said to Mr. Lee “Let’s get back.” He asked, “Isn’t she your mentor? Let’s take her with us.”

I nodded in negative and said, “For the first time, I saw her so happy and in such high spirits. It’ll be better if we leave now, she might not wanna come.” Mr. Lee wanted to ask some more questions but stopped. “Yeah let’s get going.”

We barely began walking when the girl from Mineva’s family came running, “I wanted to ask you if you’re an angel?” I was taken aback, “Angel?” The little girl innocently nodded, “Yes, like the one who guides lost people to their homes.”

I sighed and gave a chuckle, “No, I am not an angel. I didn’t guide her here, she came on her own. I just took her loneliness away from her and let her live her life with her family.” I was pretty sure that the girl would tell Mineva this if she ever inquired about me.

After another five hours journey, I was back home. It was past sunset and Mira and Rita were worried about me and Mineva. As I went in, they began bombarding me with questions. Mira went first, “So, did you and Mineva meet?”

“Yes, we did.” I replied shortly. During this entire time, my mind was constantly revolving about the fact that Mineva would perhaps no longer come back. It was disheartening as she, Mira, and Rita were the only people who were like family to me. They supported me when I was at my lowest and celebrated my victories and defeats together.

But I held my heart steady, knowing that it was best for her. She had her own family, someone who cared for her even when she wasn’t with them. I was snapped out of my thoughts through a violent shaking by Rita who asked, “Is she coming?”

“Well, she met some old acquaintances. Probably not today…” I said and tried to hide the truth from both of them. “I am a bit tired, so would you mind if I rest for a bit. I’ll be in my room.” I asked and as they nodded, I left for my room.

Inside the room, I lay on my bed after applying medication on my burnt hands and bandaging them. It was a miracle though that Mira and Rita didn’t observe the serious burns on my hand. My memories of the previous year with Mineva flashed in my mind. It was truly a wonderful year and… Before I realized it, I was asleep due to exhaustion.

I woke up the next day and went downstairs. Mira and Rita were having breakfast when they saw me, “You sure slept like a log. You must’ve been really exhausted.” “Is it because of the medication you took?” Rita asked and I looked at my bandaged arm, “Maybe…”

A third voice came from behind, “That’s what you get trying to negate my inferno magic at point-blank.” I turned around in astonishment to get a punch in my gut followed up by another on the face. I fell down and complained, “What was that for?”

Mineva was standing in front of me and smirked, “The first one was for leaving me alone back there.” I got up as she continued, “The second one was for the crappy message you left behind. ‘I have taken her loneliness.’”

I comforted my jaw as the duo left us for a chat. I began, “I thought you weren’t coming back?” I held back my tears of joy. She smiled, “i***t…why do you think I’d do that?” I turned away and wiped my tears before beginning, “Well, you had a family to return to. There was no reason for you to come back.”

Mineva turned me towards her and asked in an irritated tone, “And why would that be?” I looked away to avoid eye contact, “Well, that’s your life. You have someone looking for you even after so long and I really wouldn’t mind if you decided to stay with them.”

She smiled and led me to a chair while taking a seat in the next one. “I really appreciate that you thought so much about me. But right now nothing takes priority over you. Once we’re done with all this, we can come here to live as well. What do you say?” I smiled and replied, “Let’s see what happens…”