I woke up on Monday morning in a cold sweat, even though I had no nightmares. In fact, one could even say I had gotten a really nice rest. Still, I woke up drenched in sweat, feeling like I had just come back from the frontlines of an intense battle. And to be honest, that wasn't too far off from what had really happened over the weekend. We hadn't gone home from the Chisaki Estate until last night, so it was a very awkward and tiring two days.
Pulling myself out of my bed, I sat on the edge and just stared at the wall for a few moments. It was 5:15 A.M. I had woken up late, which wasn't like me. It must have been because I was used to sleeping in until 9 sometimes when I was at the hospital. Even the day before today, I had slept until 8:45. Pushing myself out of bed, I opened the door to my room and walked towards the bathroom. On the way there I walked by Kami's room before peeking my head inside.
Usually she'd be on her phone, and I'd have to tell her to go to sleep, but this time she was just lying down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. When she noticed me peeking my head in, she turned to face me before saying, "You're late. Raiden." She flashed a smile, and I could do nothing but shake my head.
"I'm still getting used to the routine. It's been a while since things have been 'normal." I continued on my way to the bathroom, but in truth nothing was normal, and I doubt they'd ever go back to normal. Yes, we'd probably be able to fall back into the routine of academy life, but things would be different. As students, we had seen too much for things to remain the way they did before the attack. Just how much things would change was something I was still waiting to see, however.
Stepping into the bathroom I looked at myself in the mirror for a few seconds as I began to brush my teeth. I had completely skipped over the part of my routine in which I analyzed and spoke to myself in the mirror. Before, I had done it because it helped me remain grounded to the mission I was given. Doing it made sure I never forgot my goal or purpose. But now that I had decided to no longer be a slave to that mission, I didn't need to use my morning routine to reaffirm it.
Instead, I spent the time brushing my teeth and thinking about everything that had happened these past few days. From waking up for the first time in the hospital to spending my time in mana therapy, slowly but surely regaining my abilities. Talking to nurses and doctors, going through checkups, and sharing interactions with Yuri and the others. Then there was the whole incident of waking up and seeing the mob of people that surrounded the hospital. Confronting that mysterious man with the red eyes and then seeing the white knight who was still ingrained in my memory to this moment. After which, returning home and confronting my parents and spending the rest of the time resting and talking with Yuki.
A lot had happened in only a short week, and I still couldn't believe that I would be returning back to Theta Magic Academy today. I was nervous and apprehensive, wondering whether or not things would even go well. How would things go? Taking hundreds of traumatized students and shoving them back into classes? I couldn't imagine it going well. And that didn't even account for all of the students who weren't coming back. Either because they had died bravely in battle or because they had received life-threatening injuries.
With everything that had happened, it would be tough for things to ever go back to normal. Maybe they never would.
After brushing my teeth, I showered and headed towards my room, in which I put on my clothes. Oddly, I had ended up putting on my socks before my pants, and before I put on the rest of my clothes, I spent a few seconds in the mirror admiring my figure like a narcissist.
Ariel: Sorry. That's a bad habit of mine.
I had a lot of questions, but I decided that I didn't have time to ask them, nor did I have time to listen to the answers. Finishing dressing, I stepped outside of my room to see that Kami was waiting for me, already completely dressed in her school uniform.
"You really have gotten slow, brother. Normally you'd be the one outside my room pestering me about how long I was taking. But now, look how the tables have turned." She sounded overly proud of herself, and she was even shooting me a self-satisfied grin. I just walked past her and continued on my way down the stairs.
"Good for you. Come down for breakfast when you're ready." I didn't wait to see her reaction, but I could tell that it was gold as she came scrambling down the stairs after me.
We sat down at the table, sharing a breakfast of cereal, since I hadn't woken up early enough to make anything. As we ate in silence, I stared at the paintings lining the wall. Every time I looked at each of those paintings, I was given an immense feeling of deja vu that I couldn't shake no matter what. Something about those paintings felt oddly familiar. At the moment, I just equated that feeling to the fact that they reminded me of the museum within the castle, specifically the portrait of Kami. But at the same time, I felt like there was a deeper meaning behind this feeling that I was consistently having. Something about this felt too familiar. But I could never put my hand on it.
Kami noticed me staring at the paintings. "Hey Raiden, you've been getting distracted while staring at those paintings a lot lately. Especially the one of me." Suddenly a sinister smile appeared on her face. "I get that my looks are ethereal and all, and you really can't help but stare, but come on, at least try and hide your awe and amazement."
I stared at her blankly for a few moments before getting up.
"Where are you going?"
"To the bathroom," I replied. "I think what you just said made me sick."
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Arriving at the barrier that led to the entrance of Theta Magic Academy, both I and Kami stood there for a moment in silence. We were both hesitant to enter. It felt like if we stepped back into that barrier, we would find ourselves back in a war zone that was under attack. We would turn around, and the barrier would be shut behind us, and we would be forced to fight for our lives once again. There was a massive sense of foreboding that arose just from staring at the barrier from the outside.
I was 100% sure I would step through and see the faces of Eve, Pride, and Greed once more. I was 100% sure that at any moment hundreds of Fangless Python soldiers would appear from the underbrush, and we would be once again locked in a fierce battle for our lives. I wanted to just turn around and head home. And I might have actually done it had it not been for the fact that turning back and going home would mean walking through the main streets.
That meant passing through crowds of people, in a Theta magic academy uniform, during a time when magicians were more hated than ever. I and Kami almost had to take a separate path to school because of the volume of hateful stares and comments we were getting. All around us, on the billboards and playing from radios, were interviews done by Huyan Zhou. After the whole Spark incident, as well as the riot situations that sparked up across the world, he and other pro-human activists had been given material to speak about for days. Even now he was in a heated argument with people who disagreed with him on opinions about the riots. And despite their attempts to argue, they were shut down at the mention that during each of these incidents with high death counts, magicians were present.
He even went as far as to show clips of Magic Knights using brutal methods to 'control' the riots, while police used more sympathetic ones. Even more incidents, even bloodier than the one at Ujishima, had begun to pick up, and every time, there was the common factor that where Magic Knights had been present, the situations escalated faster and more violently, and the death counts were higher. All people like Huyan Zhou did was capitalize upon and push forward the Fangless Python propaganda and ideology that had already managed to spread all throughout the world.
But it was effective. And soon, without a doubt, the whole world would be engulfed in the Fangless Python ideals. They would become more than just a rebellion group, and they'd hold true power in the world. And it was evident in the way that people looked at magicians walking down the street. Without a doubt, Kami and I would have to change our route unless we wanted to end up on the head of the next news article. Because of that threat, we couldn't turn back and had no choice but to enter Theta Magic Academy.
As soon as we were let through the barrier with the help of our magic stone/key, I was half expecting the terrain and atmosphere itself to change. I expected the sky to darken and heavy rain to begin to fall. I expected to see a destroyed and charred place, pocked with destruction and fallen structures and debris. I was expecting to see something that looked like a war zone. Because that was the last image of Theta that I had before I passed out.
However, in reality, things were harshly different from that. Instead, what I saw was an academy in pristine condition, so much so that it looked like a fairytale castle. Everything was clean, and the ground all around the academy resembled what you would see in pictures of Wonderland. Everything was vibrant, bright, and clear. The sun shone down brightly, creating a happy atmosphere. The academy itself was shining brightly, standing tall and looking better than it ever did before. I had to seriously commend whoever cleaned this place up, because they did an incredible job. It looked so good that I could almost believe this academy had never seen a day of combat before.
Almost.
Continuing to walk inside, I looked over to Kami, who was admiring the scenery as well. "Before I forget. Good luck. And would you like me to walk you to class?"
Kami looked at me before smiling, impressed by that callback.
"Thank you. And I'd love that."
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After walking Kami back to class, I made it back to my homeroom class with minutes to spare, only to walk in and find a substitute sitting in Mrs. Elmer's seat. I hadn't seen my homeroom teacher in a while, and even though she was unrealistically strict on me, I couldn't lie and say I wasn't excited to see her. I enjoyed her unforgivingly sardonic and real personality, and I enjoyed talking to her.
As I sat down next to my friends and greeted everybody, Hikaru filled me in. "Unfortunately, Mrs. E was one of the many who were trapped in Greed's vault and never woke up. It turns out that a lot of staff who were in the vault have yet to wake up, leading to the school having to scramble to hire subs and replacements."
My hopes fell from that. I didn't want to believe it, but even now we were still feeling the effects from that whole siege on the Magic Academy. We spent a few more minutes waiting for the bell to ring in silence, but the atmosphere had shifted considerably. It was tense. There wasn't much chatter going on. Everyone seemed ready for an attack at any moment. There was no laughter either. Just tense seriousness.
Even the main culprits for rowdy activity in our class were not up to any shenanigans this time around. Erika, Jayden, and Luka. All of the usual culprits of loud noise activity were quiet. It really reflected how much things had changed. No one was comfortable, and everyone was tense. Everyone was either in deep contemplation, sadness, or simply just silence. And even though I noticed all of it, I could do nothing to change it. So I just sat in silence.
After the bell rang, the sub stood up and introduced herself as Ms. Christmas. After getting the introductions out of the way, she informed us that our main assignment for this week would be to decide what branch of magical facility we would want to enter.
I remembered my first day at school, when I had walked around the academy and seen all of the different rooms and facilities. Magical Engineering, Magical Research, Photography, Magic Composition, Magical Basics, Magic Spell Creation, Processing, etc.
There was a wide category of different facilities to choose from, all of them boasting their own tech and gear and interesting lessons. It wouldn't be an easy choice to make. I had no idea how I was going to start.
Ms. Christmas wrote a list of our options on the board, and then she handed out a selection form. She gave us the rest of the period to discuss and make our choices. She told us that the form was due at the end of the week. So we'd have until Friday to make our choices. We had to choose at least 2 classes, and there was no limit, but 3 was the recommended amount.
I spent a long time staring at the paper, and so did everyone else. I'm sure I knew the same thought that was going through their head currently. What does all this matter? Why are we doing all of this? We just fought in a fight for our lives, so going back to play academy felt wrong. People had died. So going back to this routine just felt wrong.
No one voiced it, but that sentiment was all throughout the room, hanging in the air like a storm cloud. I talked to Hikaru and Nova about the class selection, and they recommended to me that I choose one of the classes around magic spell creation or composition. They said that those classes usually had the most interesting lessons and teachers. Apparently, workshops for those classes would be held throughout the day and after school. I would seriously have to check it out.
Walking through the school during transition made me see how the atmosphere was off. Eating at lunch made me realize the atmosphere was off. There was no denying it.
People were traumatized.
Uncomfortable.
And tense.
And those feelings didn't look like they'd ever go away.
And why would they?
We had just seen the realities of what life had to offer.
And none of it was pleasant.
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After going through a whole day with what felt like a permanent dark cloud hanging around the school, I walked into the final class of the day. Training ground.
This class probably had the worst atmosphere of all. For a class that encompassed the entirety of the second year, there was not a single side conversation going on. Everybody was just waiting in stricken silence.
I stood in the corner and waited in silence as well. This class used to be lively. And that was because of the teacher. A lively person always full of energy named Himitsu. But he had received a fatal wound in the final battle and was caught up in the ray of the teleportation gun that sent the Fangless Python into the cold waters of the Southern Ocean.
There was no word. He was all but confirmed dead.
Because of that, they had to hire a new teacher.
And from what we had heard from previous classes, the man was enigmatic. Brutal. No nonsense. Completely the polar opposite of Himitsu. According to them, it was hard to explain the man's attitude. He was someone who didn't hold back with his words. Didn't pull his punches in any way, and they said he was more military general than teacher.
That was everything we heard about him. The combination of those two factors rendered the class waiting for his arrival in strict silence. Not a single word. It was so quiet that you could hear a feather hit the ground.
All we knew was that his name was Credo.
That, and judging by the footsteps getting louder and louder:
He was on his way here right now.