The boy was dreaming.
In his dream, he was surrounded by many doors of different shapes and sizes, all locked. He went over to one and yanked on the door handle, no luck. Walking over to another one, he felt the surface of the door. Completely smooth, with no markings to betray what possible material the door could’ve been made of. As he grabbed the handle, the door suddenly vanished before his eyes. All at once, all the doors started disappearing one by one, and with them their secrets, a door appeared at the far end of the room. Crimson red, the colour of blood, and with strange symbols marking the edges. He tentatively approached the door and gingerly placed his hand on the handle.
“XEO AURUS TALASTIA,” a voice boomed from behind the door.
“ASPHENSIN DE FLOUEN DECHASTENSILSA,” the voice continued.
The door swung open and dragged the occupant on the other side into whatever lay on the other side with no warning. The boy gave a scream as he felt a blade enter his chest and go through his heart.
Xeo Talastia woke up from his dream in a cold sweat, gasping for breath and clutching his chest. He looked down and tentatively forced his hand to let go of his heart and stared at his palm as though unable to believe that there was no blood. Swinging his legs onto the wooden floor of his dorm room he got up and walked past the room’s other occupant still snoring soundly into the bathroom.
Once there, he looked at his reflection in the mirror and gave himself the one over. With jet-black hair which stuck out every way in the mornings, piercing bright blue eyes, a small nose and mouth on an angular face, he looked older this morning than what his age of seventeen would suggest.
Xeo gave a sigh and splashed some water on his face to wake himself up from the nightmare that plagued the back of his mind and put some toothpaste on a brush.
“Yo X…” a voice sleepily called from the other room.
Xeo made no response and began rinsing his mouth with water after quickly brushing his teeth.
“X...” the voice called again.
Sighing, Xeo decided that ignoring his roommate would not be a good way to start off the morning after getting stabbed through the heart.
“What’s up bud?” He called back.
“Do you remember if we have a test in alchemy today?” the voice asked.
“And even if we do you’re not ready either way so why bother asking?” Xeo said curtly and stepped into the shower.
“Alright bro no need to be a smartass,” the response came.
Shrugging to himself, Xeo peeled his nightwear off tossed it into the laundry basket over the shower curtain in one fluid movement and turned the water on.
As the warm rain washed over his body, Xeo thought back to the dream. He had been having the same one every night and at the end, he saw the exact same door and got pulled in after the door made a proclamation after saying his name. There were a few differences he’d began to notice. The first was the words said before he got pulled in and the second being what happened after he got dragged into the abyss. Last night he’d been stabbed in the chest, the night before he’d been submerged underwater, there seemed to be a pattern that he couldn’t recognize. Odds are if he paid attention to the symbols on the door it’d appear different each night as well.
It’s just a dream, a constant reoccurring dream, get it out of your head already.
Xeo placed his hands in front of him on the ceramic surface of the shower and looked at his reflection, contemplating the events of each night.
There’s a pattern here and that dream means something, I know it does. I’ll get down to the bottom of it my own way.
Scrubbing his body out and then stepping out of the shower he took a moment to walk over to the medicine cabinet and removed a bottle from the many contents within. Opening the bottle, he grabbed a few blue pills, valium, and popped them into his mouth, chewing them to hasten their effect and then swallowing dry.
“Alright buddy, the porcelain throne is all yours,” Xeo said giving a mock bow to his roommate who sat expectantly on a couch across from the door.
“Alright alright, geez you’re a wisecrack today, what the fuck happened, dreams still bothering you?” said the red-haired fellow as he walked past Xeo.
“No Inis you’re just a pleasure to see every single day!” Xeo said with a smile and walked over to his bed, throwing himself facedown onto the mattress as he heard a sigh behind him.
“Go see a dream councillor, for all we know you could be an oracle in disguise, albeit being the first male oracle seems unlikely, maybe you’re just going mad bro,” Inis said with no hint of sarcasm in his voice and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Xeo thought over those words for a moment face down and rolled over onto his back, grabbing his phone from the bedside table next to him and looking at the notifications.
“Solaris Academy Practical Examination Today” his phone proclaimed in bold letters at the front above “Alchemy exam at 2:00” and his eyes widened.
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“INIS!” he yelled, fist slamming against the bathroom door.
“I swear to God dude if you have to take a dump right now just as I’m about to take one man I’m gonna…”
“Solaris is coming today! Also, we have an alchemy test at 2:00!”
“Fuck alchemy! Solaris isn’t gonna look at one ‘F’ grade after we ace their practical!” Inis said giving a whoop.
Xeo grabbed his glasses and put them on while tossing his bag over his shoulder.
“I’m going ahead to get some practise in without you!” Xeo called towards the bathroom.
“You son of a-!” Inis began before Xeo slammed the door shut.
Xeo found himself in the hallway, students flooded the common area going about their daily business. Ignoring all of them, Xeo walked to the end of the hall to where the practical applications room was. Hoping it was unoccupied he pried the door open and stepped inside.
“Oh joy it’s Frosty the Iceman,” a female voice said drily from a short distance away.
Xeo looked across the room and his ice-blue eyes were met by a pair of twinkling green ones that he hadn't seen in a few years.
“Taya, what's a nerd like you doing practicing your magic in here?” he asked with a grin and put his bag on the ground next to him.
Taya pouted and put her hands on her hips, her medium length blonde hair bouncing a bit as a result.
“Well excuuuse me, I bet right now one on one I have better control and variation over my refraction than you do over your little chill,” Taya said haughtily and gave a pout.
Xeo gave a laugh and gestured with his left hand.
“Come on then Light Show, show me what you’ve got, I need to warm up before I ace this practical and get into Solaris,” Xeo said with fake mockery in his voice.
Taya grinned and stood erect, putting her hands in front of her, Xeo noticed her fingertips glowing green and immediately went to cover his eyes but the room had already been turned into a lush rainforest.
“Not bad, I don’t know where anything is, you’ve gotten faster,” Xeo said appraisingly.
“I’m not gonna be behind you and Inis forever Xeo, I’ve been working twice as hard these past few years to catch up magically and now’s my chance to prove it to you!”
Xeo’s eardrums were suddenly filled with an ear-splitting shriek and he immediately fell to his knees clutching the sides of his head.
“You little… since when can you manipulate audio waves as well?” Xeo asked, gasping a bit.
“You wouldn’t know since you’re too busy for me nowadays X, I’m not the little girl who needed you to protect her from playground bullies, I’m not the girl who helped Inis pass his classes in exchange for magic lessons, I’m just as good as you two!” Taya cried.
Xeo looked up and looked at his childhood friend, she hadn’t grown an inch above 5’4” since middle school, and he could see her diminutive figure shaking slightly with tears in her eyes.
Some reunion… I didn’t realize how hard she’d taken it when we stopped talking two years ago. But if she thinks she’s the only one who’s changed she’s got something coming for her.
Xeo concentrated, feeling cold seep from the centre of his body outward and towards his hands, within seconds, he had earplugs of ice in his ear canals and stood up, hands by his side.
“You know, we missed you too, but being in different academic studies makes it hard to get together don’t you think?”
Xeo could see Taya’s mouth moving but couldn’t hear what she had to say, but he could guess as to what she was saying.
“So you’re saying that not even once in two years you could reach out to me? You think I’m stupid or something?”
Rolling his eyes Xeo lowered his body and dropped his glowing hands to the floor, ice sprang forth from where he touched the surface and raced towards the girl in front of him.
Taya’s eyes widened in surprise, his range had increased significantly from the last time she saw him use his ability.
That’s not the only thing I’ve got now, check this blondie. Xeo thought with a grin and focused on the ice that was now around Taya’s legs. The ice began creeping up her legs, holding her fast, and began crawling up her body steadily.
Panic visible in Taya’s eyes, she looked at Xeo incredulously until she noticed the earplugs Xeo had in.
Taya immediately dropped her hands down, cancelling the illusion and bringing the room back to its normal state.
What is she doing, I can move around with no fear now. Xeo thought to himself until he saw Taya bring cupped hands to her mouth and felt the vibrations through his body, within a second, cracks appeared on his glass lenses.
She’s trying to shatter my earplugs!
Xeo immediately pulled them out of his ears, stopping the growth of ice on Taya’s body and the very next second the ice in his hand exploded, causing cuts to be made all across his palm.
Ignoring the stabbing pain in his left hand he walked towards the girl who had begun directing waves at her own legs in an attempt to break the ice that held her prisoner.
Xeo reached Taya and grabbed her throat with his bloodied hand, tendrils of red ice forming slowly.
“You really don’t know how to hold back after all these years?” Xeo asked dryly.
“Says you,” Taya said, a slight smile on her face but Xeo could see the defeat and tears in her eyes.
“I still… can’t hold a candle to you, can I?” Taya asked sadly.
Xeo opened his mouth to respond but then the door opened behind him.
“Alright buddy! Let’s get going, I gotta practise by kicking your ass a few times you feel?” Inis said rambunctiously before noticing the scene in front of him.
“Whoa, bro, is that Taya? Dude she got cuter, wait why are you choking her out after foreer? She say something? Huh?”
Xeo sighed and let go of Taya’s throat, immediately she fell to the floor gasping for breath, the restraints on her legs shattering.
“Hey! You okay?” Inis exclaimed and ran over to Taya, upon giving her the one over he noticed the red ice on her neck and immediately turned to Xeo, eyes flashing dangerously.
“What’s your deal bro? You run into each other for the first time in two years and you pull this shit?” Inis asked, fireball already in his right hand.
Xeo pushed his glasses up on his face and looked straight at his best friend. He opened his mouth to say something but was immediately cut off by Taya.
“I challenged him first, Xeo merely did what he had to,” Taya said quietly from the ground.
“That doesn’t excuse what he was about to do to an old friend-“ Inis began.
“Old friend, because now it’s you two and I'm old news, right?” Taya cut him off, voice still low.
Inis stood there, mouth agape, he had nothing to say to that.
Taya slowly brought herself to her feet and looked at the duo, tears in her eyes.
“Not that it makes a difference because you two were always better than me in everything that wasn’t studies. I was just a tag along and when you two went into practical applications of magic and I went into magical theory it proved how different we were. Do you know how it felt to be near you two everyday with your skills and abilities and knowing I couldn’t catch up? Huh? Do you?!” Taya practically screamed, tears streaming down her face.
“Taya…” Xeo started to say.
“Cut it Xeo! I don’t want to hear any form of consolation from a person who just took everything I had to throw at them and still managed to walk away. It’s so frustrating to always be looking at your back! I want to walk ahead of you for once!” Taya yelled and grabbed her bag, storming out the room.
Xeo turned to Inis but the latter merely turned away.
“You didn’t have to go all out, and you definitely didn’t have to do what you were about to. Learn to hold back a bit bud,” Inis said simply and extinguished the fireball in his hand, walking out of the room. Leaving Xeo on his own.