Annwn - Cp02 - Name

The dwarf-like man lead the eight of us out of the room. We were all shaken up, shocked by what had just happened. The girl who'd kicked the door in followed us, helping one of the other girls who seemed so shaken up that she had trouble staying upright. The man led us down a hallway to what appeared to be a hub for the building, though we didn't stay there for long, in spite of the fact that we clearly needed a moment to rest and collect our thoughts. I knew I did.

My body just followed at this point. Not wanting to be left behind and knowing that this man was trying to help us in some way kept me going without voicing any of my questions. Bursting through a large door we entered a room. A group of people, all wearing robes like the dwarf and fighter girl, sat around a table, looking through files.

"ALEX! What is the meaning of this?!" A robbed woman asked, rising to her feet.
She was a tall woman, her long, black hair tied tightly into a bun above her head, a pair of spectacles resting before her eyes. Judging by her reaction and the fact she was at the centre of the group, my money was on her being the leader.

"Look, these people have just been attacked by one of them. I know there's a backlog, but they are being seen to now!" the dwarf guy, apparently the Alex she had shouted at, fired back.
The fighter girl bowed and made her leave, leaving the eight of us, Alex and the other group of hooded people. The leader and Alex simply stared at each other, waiting for one to blink or look away. Before long, the look on the leader's face frowned as she looked down, defeated. Seems like she figured Alex wouldn't back down. I just hoped it was actually a good thing for us.

"Fine, they'll have to wait a moment while we gather their files. You go and sort out the mess this is going to cause," she said to him.
Alex nodded and turned he looked at us all, we were gathered around each other, "Now relax and you'll be taken care of, you're safe now," he spoke warmly.
There was something calming about his gruff voice. My heart finally started to return to a normal rate as he left to 'clean up the mess'. The group of hooded people began to set to work, shifting through papers, talking between each other. One even stood and rushed out through another door for a moment, before coming back with a few files and handing them to the woman who glanced at them. The eight of us stayed silent all the while. A few had slipped to their knees, finally able to rest for now.

A few minutes passed before the leader spoke up. "I'm sorry for making you wait so long," she said, her voice calm and relaxed as any anger she had towards Alex had gone, replaced by her soothing yet authoritative voice. "However, we don't normally need to deal with as many marked people as we have right now. We also apologise for the accommodation you had to spend the night in. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people needing to be processed and space for people who haven't been processed and had their mark's weakened yet is at a premium."

She was picking her words carefully it seemed, yet she spoke clearly, making her whole speech a whole lot more convincing and believable. Glancing around the group, it seemed that she'd managed to relax and possibly even convince them. I looked back at her, wanting to hear more before making up my own mind.

"My name is Victoria Knowles," she introduced herself. "Now, before we continue and explain to you more about who we are and what is going on, I will be listing off your names and some background information about you that we have found, and you will then confirm this information. With that, we will be able to weaken the mark." She paused for a moment before adding, "What we do today will only weaken the mark. It will not remove it. There is no way we know of to remove it completely, so all we can do is make it a lot harder for you to be found by them and increase your chances of living."

The room fell silent. It sounded like we really were screwed. That thing that attacked us in the cell, it sounded like there were a whole ton more of them after us because of this unknown, invisible mark, which we all seem to have 'caught' sometime on our stupid school trip. I wanted to ask them some more questions, but I guess I hoped that they would indeed keep to their word and explain some more afterward.

"Now then, please step forward when I call your name." She looked at a clipboard before calling out "Number 1, Philip Lench..."
Phil stepped forward a bit, away from the group as Victoria began to list off a large amount of information on Phil, such as when he was born and his parents' names. I wondered how they gathered that information on all of us so quickly. Phil looked confused, wondering the same as I did. Before we could question it, though, the four other hooded people stepped forward and surrounded Phil, who looked at all of them confused and worried as they all pointed the palms of their hands at him.

"Don't worry, Mr. Lench," Victoria reassured him, "We are simply weakening the marking."
She began to chant, watching ball of light start to form an inch from the palms of the others. As the markings on Phil's neck begun to show again, it was odd looking at the smoky, black lines. Their pattern reminded me of Celtic markings. The markings slowly began to fade away, becoming greyer and harder to see. Victoria stopped chanting as the orbs of light from the others faded, as did the marking around Phil's neck. I guess the 'weakening' had worked.

Phil blinked ,touching his neck for a moment before looking at Victoria. She smiled back at him, then motioned with her head to move to the side as she called another to step forward. She went down the list, before getting to number 5, which she looked at the list for a moment before simply skipping and calling out, "Number 6, Charlotte North." Taking a moment to think about it, I guess it was due to 'baggy eyes' being moved away as they seem to be going in order of boy, girl, boy, girl, as she continued down the list.

"And finally, number 9, Eliot Fox..." My turn. As I stepped forward, I found it strange as Victoria seemed to pause a bit between calling my name and the rest of the information. She continued after a moment "...Born 21st of September, 1995 to Aled and Maria Fox." It did creep me out slightly that they knew all of this about me, but I guess it wouldn't be that hard to find at the same time. Watching the spell be cast at me, I expected to feel something, yet nothing seemed to happen. I questioned if it'd actually gotten done properly, but Victoria and the others seemed fine with how it went.

I returned to the group, guessing that shy girl from before was number 10 as Victoria nodded, putting down the clipboard with all of our information on it. "Now, I'll give you all a brief overview of who we are." She paused for a moment and sighed, "Firstly I would like to apologise once more for the things we've put you through, without providing the information about who we were earlier. We are simply swamped by the amount of people to deal with, so much so that we are even using trainees such as the girl who brought you here with Alex, to help with guard duty."

"We are a group called Annwn, we work to keep the world safe from itself and from things that most people would deem to be myths or make believe. As you might have guessed, we use magic as well as technology to help us achieve our goal of helping people, and now that we've helped you all, we would like to offer you all the chance to join us."

"If you join, you'll be taught some basic magic, training and other skills, and later we'll help you hone what skills you seem to excel in. If you join, you'll live here with much better accommodation than before." The look on her face as she said that made it seem that she really disapproved of the idea of putting us in the cells in the first place. "And if you change your mind later, you will be able to leave if you wish." She paused for a moment, giving us all a chance to take all of it in before continuing.

"If you do not wish to join us, then we shall return you back home. However, we will ask that you do not speak of us or what happened. We will even offer you the choice for us to cast a spell on you to make you forget what happened on your trip."

There was a long pause afterwards, as she gave us time for the information to sink in. The silence was finally broken when Victoria spoke once more, "Before I ask whether or not you would like to join, I will allow you to ask some questions." The silence returned for a few seconds before a question came to mind.

"What happened to the two who left before?" I asked them.
Victoria blinked and smiled, "The boy was forced to leave. We weakened the mark on him before removing his memory of the trip and sending him home. The girl was given the same offer as all of you but with another group." She paused for a moment and answered my next question before I even asked, "We don't need someone who would turn to panic so quickly. It was for your safety. As for the girl, some thought it was best to reward someone who had so much faith in us" she said.

A slight pause passed before Phil asked "What if we change our minds?"
Victoria smiled and nodded in understanding, "If you join us but decide that it isn't right for you or you're not enjoying it or whatever might be the case, you are free to leave at anytime. You will be given options to help you return to your old lives." There was another pause before she added, "If you change your minds about joining us, then there is very little you can do I'm afraid. That said, there's always a chance that we might cross paths sometime and you may request joining at such a time. Then you'll be put through our normal method of application." She replied. I wondered what their normal method was but thought best not waste time right now asking.

Charlotte asked a question next, and judging by the reactions of some of the others, it was on a lot of their minds, "What about our families and friends?"
Once again Victoria replied, "Unfortunately you will not be able to see them very often, you can visit your home once every three months, however sometimes the trip might have to be delayed due to different circumstances. We understand that for a lot of you, leaving your family behind would be difficult and we do allow you to still keep in contact them via letters, e-mail and so on." Victoria gave a pause and once again, as if sensing the question we had on our minds, she replied, "If you want to join us, you will be saying goodbye to your old lives."

Silence filled the room as all eight of us thought of what to do, taking in all the information she'd given us. Some of us where perhaps thinking of more questions. However, I had all the information I wanted. Looking back at Victoria, she seemed to be giving us some more time, after a minute or so she nodded.
"Okay, well I guess it's the time to decide. All who wish to join us, please stay here. All who wish to return home, please follow Michael," Victoria gestured to one of the men in robes standing next to her.

With a bow of his head, Michael headed to a door on the left side of the room, and waited for those who wanted to leave to follow him. I wasn't sure about the others, but I'd made my mind up after Phil's question. People began to move as one by one our group slowly started to shrink down until only two of us stood, wanting to join the group. I looked at Phil, standing next to me as the other six walked towards Michael. Charlotte was the last to join them as she looked back at the two of us, giving us a small wave as I raised my hand, wishing her a goodbye as well. Part of me didn't want her to go, but in the end it was her choice and not mine. Phil and I looked at each other. Each probably had the same question in our heads: 'Why did you stay?' Yet neither of us asked it right now.

Looking at the two of us, Victoria smiled. "My, first time we've had two from the same group join, normally everyone leaves or only one stays," her tone was slightly happier than before, obviously pleased with the two new addition to the group. "You two must be tired. While I would like to properly go over some things with you, I think it would be best for you if you retire to your new rooms and rest for the remainder of the day."

She thought for a moment as she looked at the papers before her, "Hmmm, can you call for Zoey?" Victoria asked, directing the question at one of the other members who bowed and left through the same door we came though. After a few moments, the fighting girl from before reappeared, slightly confused on why she'd been called back. She went up to Victoria, bowed and the two talked for a few moments. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it seemed like Victoria was instructing the young woman.

"Right then," Victoria said, clapping her hands together, "Let me introduce you two to Zoey. She'll be the guardian on your floor and will be staying with you in your apartment. She will now take you there where you can ask her some more questions, get to know each other and just chill out for the rest of the day."