"Shadow, silence and -" I click my tongue, looking at the glyphs scratched into the dirt surrounding me, "Uh, oblivion?"

Imagine my surprise, waking up after a fever dream involving a hit squad attacking the school, battling the new transfer student and shooting me by accident in the bargain. Even better is waking up on the campus grounds somewhere behind the manicured bushes, lying in the middle of a crudely carved ritual circle.

"Close enough. The last rune signifies sleep." the rat lounging on the ground next to me squeaks, "Don't think literally. Magic often works through symbolism rather than straight up literal intent."

I give Maus a withering look, "Oh wonderful. You're still here."

"I never left though?" Maus rolls on her belly, scratching her back against the cool dew laced grass.

"Just hoping last night was some kind of nightmare," I pinch glabella in resignation, "I got drunk on cheap convenience store beer after detention and passed out babbling."

"If only you were so lucky." Maus snorts, her coal black eyes winking in the morning light, "Last night, you made the choice to open your eyes Robert. You're going to have to live with that choice, whether you like it or not."

I shudder at the memory of Maus towering over my cringing form, declaring that I had committed some kind of unforgiveable sin for desiring to live through that cursed night. That sneering face and the undeniable power Maus held when she confronted me at the moment of what should have been my death. It had shaken me straight to the core. My cheek begins to ache again, a reminder of the wound I had suffered.

"Eat your breakfast." Maus gestures at the packet of biscuits she had offered to me, "Then I can get started on your first lesson."

"Lesson?" my eyes boggle, taken off guard by Maus's sudden declaration.

"Yes, lesson." the rodent sighs, "Maybe I shouldn't have let you sleep so soundly last night. Your brain clearly hasn't woken up yet."

Huh, so Maus was the one who carved out the ritual circle around my body. A rat mage, how about that. I sluggishly open the packet of biscuits and slip one into my mouth. The pain is excruciating, my torn up cheek makes biting absolute torture.

"Hurts." I mumble, glaring accusingly at Maus. If I wasn't so scared of her right now, I would have told the rat to stuff it and headed straight for the hospital.

"I don't teach from a textbook Robert." Maus eases back on her haunches, "I'm more of a learn by doing sort of woman."

"And what am I supposed to be learning now?" I bite back a groan, refusing to give Maus the pleasure of seeing my discomfort.

"How does your cheek feel?" Maus simply asks while watching the clouds.

"Bad. Numb." I droll as I slowly munch on another biscuit, "Is there a point to this?"

"Keep eating. You'll understand soon enough." Maus stretches herself and goes back to lounging idly about in the grass.

With nothing else to do, I doggedly much away at my impromptu breakfast. My cheek hurts like crazy but the pain gradually dulls, turning from red hot torment to a monotonous nuisance.

"Good. Your wound is mending." Maus nods in satisfaction.

"What the hell?" I prod my cheek and bits of scabbed blood flake away, revealing smooth new skin beneath.

"Lesson one, Robert." Maus gets on to her hind legs and lectures, "Thanks to rejecting your soul last night, you're no longer human. Human rules no longer apply to you."

I scarf down the biscuits, savoring the relief of the pain almost magically lifting. No, this is way better than magical healing. Its faster, doesn't need a catalyst and there are no complicated chants involved.

"Your body no longer actually needs food or water." Maus continues, "But if you do decide to eat, your body will immediately mend itself of any wounds it has suffered."

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"For real? Any wound?" my eyes nearly pop out of their sockets in disbelief.

"Yes, in theory." Maus says.

"In theory." I roll my eyes, "Of course there's a drawback."

"As far as I can gather, our bodies absorb the mass of the food we ingest, using it to fill in any damaged parts in our bodies." Maus shrugs, "That packet of biscuits isn't going to fix a broken arm, Robert. Its simple conservation of mass."

I finish off the biscuits, turning over what Maus said in my head. Her theory seems logical but also reveals several flaws in this power she's teaching me about.

"The food fills us up?" I frown, "And does nothing else? So what about diseases and the like?"

"Very astute, Robert." Maus answers approvingly, "Our bodies can't mend this way from disease, since our mass remains constant throughout. However if let's say you start puking blood, then its a separate matter."

"So we can't treat disease, but we can stave off death as long as we have a regular supply of food." I muse, "We could even cure ourselves by cutting out infected organs and -"

"No, don't do that." Maus warns and quickly cuffs my knee, "Repairing catastrophic damage usually results in, let's say, consequences."

"Consequences?" I balk at the sinister warning.

"Poorly fused bones, unsightly scars," Maus stares at me with utter seriousness, "I've seen fractured arms being mended so badly that the arm might as well have remained crippled."

"Damn." I whisper, shaking my head.

"This ability helps keep us alive," Maus explains, "even in the most dire circumstances. But don't push your luck with it."

"So, I suppose you've got plenty of experience mending your mouse body then?" I ask the rodent, "No other reason for you to be so confident in surviving a terror attack."

"Actually, no." Maus makes an embarrassed noise, "What I taught you is based on observations on other people like us. I've never needed to mend my body. Ever."

"You must be really good at running away." I dourly shoot back, "Or you've been feeding me a line of bullshit."

"The wound on your cheek healed, did it not?" Maus refutes in annoyance.

"That doesn't explain why you never needed to heal," I point out, "especially given your hobby of spectating hitmen engaged in school shootings."

"The reason should be obvious, Robert." Maus folds her forelegs defensively, "You even remembered it during your ego bleed."

Vague memories of a woman talking to me. Images of ash and fire. I've no idea how those visions mean, but my first interaction with Maus was what stirred them up.

"Because you possess the ultimate power?" I hesitantly say that ridiculous phrase from my memory.

"Yes. Just so." Maus smirks triumphantly.

"And what is this ultimate power?" I quirk my mouth skeptically.

Maus stands on her hindlegs and raises both forelegs to the air. She takes a deep breath, grandiosity radiating off her diminutive figure.

"Robert."

"Yes." I whisper, taken in by the moment.

"The ultimate power. You want to know what it is?"

I nod repeatedly, curiosity killing me.

"I do not need to mend my body, Robert, for one very simple reason."

"Yeah?" I urge Maus to continue.

"Robert." Maus stares straight at me with complete seriousness, "I am INVINCIBLE."

"What?" I grunt.

"I am INVINCIBLE." Maus repeats patiently.

"OK." I sigh and get up to my feet, "I'm going home now."

"Hey!" Maus squeaks in an offended tone, "You don't believe me, do you?"

"You spent most of the night assuming the position to hide." I groan at the bald face lie, "No shit I don't believe you."

"Just because I'm invincible doesn't mean I don't feel pain." Maus protests, "Hiding is the smart thing to do."

"Well, at least now I know there are other people out there like us," I retort, "So this conversation wasn't a total waste of - whoa."

I stop short, taking in the utter ruin visited upon the campus the night before. A large part of the grounds have been torn up and the SUV Burke crash landed on is still parked by the side of the driveway in all its flattened glory. Large craters have been gouged into the ground and I can see bloodstains everywhere.

The abandoned SUV is surrounded by yellow police tape and the school building has been sealed as well. Other than a single broken window, the exterior of the school is in good enough condition, though I expect its insides to be a complete wreck.

"What happened to Burke?" I ask Maus who is busy scampering up my trouser leg.

"He died." Maus answers flatly, "And after your friend Paul persuaded Carl to let the rest of the attackers go, they loaded Burke's corpse into their remaining car and fled."

"So Paul and Sara were there as well." I muse, "Didn't dream that part up."

"Oh, Paul and Sara were most certainly in attendance while you were having your existential crisis." Maus scoffs, "In fact, they are always there whenever a Purge Cycle begins."

"You keep using that term, but I still don't know what it means." I huff in irritation.

"Well, you'll get intimately familiar with the Purge Cycle if you live long enough." Maus shrugs, "In a perverse way, its the highlight of our existence."

"So many people have already died in one night." I grimace while leaving the campus, "Not sure I'm going to like the Purge Cycle."

"Understandable." Maus agrees, "This is the first Purge Cycle where you survived and Burke died during the commencement."

I stop short right at the gates of Rutger's in shock.

"What are you saying?" I whisper to Maus.

"Something you already know in your heart." Maus grins as she sidles into my shirt, "What do you think your ego bleed memories are?"

"It can't be." I breathe in disbelief, "Those are just visions, dreams. I've never lived through any of those events."

"Not in a single life time at least." Maus comments offhandedly as she settles in.