Aida took the route to the Lake, with Ezra accompanying her. The moon, lovely and full tonight, had risen above the horizon and was reflecting off the Lake’s glassy surface. Her month at this school had helped her acclimate to her new mana sense, and now she was able to easily tag the bright mana auras walking around in her vicinity, even if she couldn’t see or hear them. She wasn’t surprised that there were several auras floating after them - they were likely Ezra’s underclassmen fans, with less control over their auras and who (unlike Levi’s fans) seemed to see Ezra as more of an unattainable celebrity, and wound up stalking him because he refused to talk to them.

As they came closer to the Lake, Aida noticed a disturbance in the water. She slowed her pace, Ezra slowing with her. “Do you feel that?” Ezra nodded silently, slowly sliding his wand out.

Following his lead, Aida slipped her wand out as well, casting her mana senses into the Lake. The Lake itself was largely undisturbed, seeming to not notice the ominous mana percolating through the environs. Focusing her search, she began sifting through the depths, trying to find the source of the tendrils.

She froze - more out of fear than deliberation. Just as she had found the source of the tendrils, so had the source found her.

“Aida,” Ezra’s voice came out as a whisper. His fingers slowly slipped around her elbow. “Back up.”

She let Ezra pull her away physically, step by step, but was unable to pull her mana away - the monster in the depths seemed to have wound around her spirit itself, and she had the feeling that if she made any sudden retractions, it would squeeze so that she couldn’t escape.

“Can you let go?” Ezra’s voice echoed distantly.

“I don’t think I can,” she whispered back, her voice muffled in her own head. “It has me.”

“I’m going to channel some of my mana through you,” he whispered. She was barely aware of his breath on her ear. “Don’t do anything.”

Gently, carefully, Ezra reached around her front, placing his hand over her core, where the bulk of her mana was generated. He kept his wand arm raised, pointing into the center of the Lake, effectively enclosing her in his arms, though he wasn’t touching her aside from his hand. She felt him begin feeding his mana into her, bolstering hers the way Professor Kozu had when he helped her heal Shon Yanamo. But unlike Kozu’s mana, which had been almost too hot for her to handle comfortably, Ezra’s mana was cool and smooth, like a metal pipe that a water droplet ran down.

Carefully tracing along her own mana, Ezra slowly encased her wavering mana with his own stronger mana. She felt herself relax slightly as Ezra fortified her, no longer having to withstand the monstrosity’s pressure by herself.

“On the count of three, pull your mana all the way back,” Ezra said quietly. She was dimly aware of his heart pulsing strongly and steadily, steeling himself for what was about to happen. “…one, two, three.”

So many things happened at once - Ezra’s mana formed spikes, stabbing the foreign energy, creating a thorny barrier around Aida’s own mana as she fled. The unknown force writhed and twisted, malevolent aura evolving into murderous intent as it tried to spear at her fleeing spirit. The bulk of Ezra’s mana followed closely, closing off behind them as they escaped. She withdrew into herself, clutching at Ezra’s arm as they were both thrown back from the water by the force of their own energies collapsing back into their souls.

The water erupted immediately after them, a feeling of blackness engulfing Aida’s senses. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t even feel anything with her mana senses. The only thing she could feel was an immense feeling of wrongness, and - at the edge of her consciousness - Ezra’s hand, gripping her own fingers tightly.

The feeling disappeared. Aida slowly opened her eyes, to be greeted by Ezra’s palm laying before her. She pushed herself up, feeling something jostle against her waist. She looked down, seeing Ezra’s limp arm hanging over her. Panicking, she twisted, taking stock of her surroundings.

Ezra was knocked out cold, his arms outstretched in front of him as if he had curled his body around hers to shield her from the blast. His wand had dropped from his fingers at her hip. Feeling lightheaded, Aida quickly got to her knees, putting her fingers on his neck to check his pulse. Still alive. Releasing a quick prayer, she probed for his mana. Weak, but flowing.

“What happened?” Aida heard several shrieks increase in volume. She looked up, seeing several second- and first-year girls running down the grassy bank towards them.

“Did you see what happened?” she shouted. Her ears were still plugged, making her own shout seem muffled. The girls shook their heads, expressions ranging from confusion to terror. “You, go get one of the professors! You, go find Healer Luk!” She pointed separately at two girls at the rear of the pack: the first a small girl with deep green hair and fear shining in her hazel eyes, and the second a girl with sky blue hair and stormy gray eyes. “Ezra needs help!”

Nodding, the two girls scrambled back up the slope, clearly relieved to escape from the unerring wrongness of the locale. “The rest of you, stand perimeter here,” she snapped, pointing at the edge of the water. “Don’t stand too close, keep an eye out and make sure nothing else comes up. I’m going to try to heal Ezra until Healer Luk gets here.”

The remaining five girls took positions in front of Ezra and Aida, bringing their shaking wands out to shield them from whatever else might come up.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Aida focused on Ezra. She sure hoped a level 6 Heal was enough. The ever-helpful heat map appeared over Ezra’s prone form.

Oh no. His body was a healthy, fluorescent green. Not even a hint of yellow, where he absorbed the impact of the ground.

“Is Ezra all right?” one of the girls asked, her voice trembling.

“He’s not hurt,” Aida replied tersely. She rolled his body, so that he was laying on his back. Still no signs of injury. Why isn’t he waking up?

“What happened?” Professor Kozu’s voice cut sharply through the night.

“I don’t know! He’s not injured!” Aida’s voice sounded high-pitched, even to herself. The cotton that was in her ears seemed to have cleared up. “But he won’t wake up.”

“Healer Luk is here. Please make room,” Kozu commanded.

Aida stayed on her knees, her fingers pressed to his faint pulse below his face and her other hand hovering along his body, hunting for his mana flow. She was unwilling to step away…the first friend who treated her well in this world, with no expectations. She didn’t know how else she could help him, but she knew she didn’t want to not be there if he slipped away.

“Miss Loreh, he will be fine.” The words cut through the fog in Aida’s mind. She looked up at Healer Luk with blurry eyes.

“What?” She rasped out. She blinked, and Luk came into focus, though still a bit fuzzy at the edges.

“He will be fine,” she repeated. She patted a handkerchief to Aida’s eyes with one hand, the other hand circled around Ezra’s wrist. “Get ahold of yourself. His mana pools are very low, and he’s nearly depleted his usable mana, but as long as we can get him into the healing ward and I can perform my treatments on him, he will wake up soon.”

Numbly, Aida accepted the handkerchief, dabbing at her eyes. She sat back on her heels as Professor Lloyd squeezed past her, easily lifting Ezra up.

“Miss Loreh.” Aida turned toward Kozu. He pulled her away, separating her from the girls who were currently speaking with Professor Gemma; several of them were sobbing. “Are you able to share what you witnessed?”

Aida nodded, stumbling over her words as she tried to convey what happened - until Kozu lifted his hand to stop her. “Not right now; let us wait until all of the other students have been sent to bed.” He nodded towards the lakeshore where Professor Bruce was standing, his head bowed. “We will need Bruce’s observations as well to try to put together what happened.”

Aida nodded again, taking a deep breath to hold her sob back. What did happen though? There was so much nothing. Her eyes widened, and she extended her mana senses again.

“Is something wrong?” Kozu asked quietly, tensing as he felt her mana wash over him.

“…No,” Aida replied, her voice cracking. Her brows furrowed as she swept her mana around her in large arcs. Her range had improved so much compared to when she first arrived, but she still cursed at how short it was - surely the monster couldn’t have disappeared already. “There was a monster here…in the Lake. But I don’t sense it anymore…”

Kozu pressed his lips together, looking towards Bruce. “We will know more when Bruce is ready.”

Aida shivered. Now that her adrenaline had worn off, she felt drained, and cold…which was odd because she usually appreciated the Lake’s coolness. Kozu created a small fireball in his palm, holding it out to her. She huddled around it gratefully, pressing her fingertips against the heat. They stood there in silence for what felt like hours, waiting for Bruce to finish communing with the surroundings. The girls who followed Aida and Ezra had already been escorted back to the building, and Lloyd, Gemma, and Havi came back to join them on the shore, waiting for Bruce to reconvene with them.

Finally, Bruce raised his head. The moon was high in the sky, reflecting a perfect crescent on the Lake’s surface. He came back to them, his face grim. He glanced at Aida. “Has Miss Loreh been questioned yet?”

“Not yet,” Kozu said. “We were waiting for you, so we could all get the story together.”

Bruce nodded. “Let’s speak back in the office.”

“Are there any precautions we should take?” Professor Havi asked gruffly, his eyes tracing the treeline in the distance. Bruce shook his head.

“Whatever was here…it’s gone now.” Without another backward glance, Bruce began traipsing up the grassy embankment.

“Come,” Kozu said quietly to Aida. He held out his hand, indicating she should go first. She followed Bruce without fuss, the rest of the teachers falling in behind her.

Lights were already out by the time they reached the teacher’s lounge. Professor Bruce unlocked the door, holding it open so the rest of them could enter. Kozu offered Aida a chair around the giant circular table in the middle of the lounge, then excused himself to go make tea as the rest of the teachers populated the table.

Everybody sat in silence as they waited for Kozu to come back. Aida avoided all of the instructors’ eyes, and held her feeble mana tightly against herself, wary of giving away her thoughts and emotions. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she blurted out, “Can I go see Ezra?”

The four instructors in the room exchanged glances. “It’s late,” Gemma said soothingly. “You can see him tomorrow.”

“It’s my fault,” Aida mumbled. “I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“If Healer Luk says he’ll be fine, he will be fine,” Lloyd reassured her. “Please be calm.”

“Would you like to share why you think it’s your fault?” Havi asked sardonically. Even Bruce glared at him for his remark.

The door opened just in time, Luk and Kozu entering together. Kozu was bearing a tray with several steaming mugs, and Luk was carrying a blanket. She placed the blanket on Aida’s lap, then held her hand out. Knowing the drill, Aida handed her wrist over for Luk to take her pulse while Kozu placed a mug in front of her, sedately circling the table delivering drinks.

“Is Ezra okay?” Aida asked Luk in a small voice. Luk nodded, before releasing Aida’s wrist.

“He will be fine, but he will need a few days’ rest. I’ve never seen him exert himself to that level before.” She shook her head in bewilderment. She looked at the rest of the professors significantly. “I won’t clear him for any classes for the rest of this star cycle. He needs to rest.”

“Can I see him tomorrow?” Luk hesitated at Aida’s question, before she slowly nodded.

“You can see him at lunch. Only after you’ve eaten a proper meal, not those baked convenience goods you’ve been having the kitchen make,” she said threateningly. “I can tell from your mana levels that you haven’t even had a proper dinner.”

Aida winced at Luk’s ire, before promising she would. Giving her one last severe frown, Luk departed. Aida turned back to the professors, now the center of attention.

“Very well…Miss Loreh, if you please. From the beginning.”