Salnys flies awake, and the first thing he feels is pain, pure, unbridled, pain. It feels as if someone has driven a blade of white-hot metal directly into his chest. He tries to scream, but his assailant pulls the knife out of his chest and drives it into his throat, he still tries but instead chokes on blood and steel. He writhes, trying to throw off the form stabbing him, but he’s too weak having lost too much blood. In his final moments, despite the pain he’s in, he comes to peace with his fate. He closes his eyes and stops squirming. He accepts death’s sweet embrace and falls into his final rest.
But he doesn’t. He feels strange as he feels his very being, his soul, get dragged, despite having no senses, he’s discombobulated. What’s happening feels fundamentally wrong. He opens his mouth to try to yell, scream, talk, breathe, do anything, but he has no mouth, in fact, no form at all, it’s only himself...
It feels like it’s been forever, but also as if the pain he has felt was only a moment ago. He finally feels the tug at his being again, he doesn’t try to struggle this time, not like he could if he wanted to.
He finally feels sensation again, the wind on his skin leaves under his feet, and the sun on his skin. Though he’s too disoriented to keep himself on his feet, and he collapses. He hears murmurs around him, and someone approaching him. He tries to get himself back up, but he feels too weak and collapses again. He hears someone grunt.
“You really looked like one of the fitter ones here,” He heard Cecillian, he was sighing, “But I guess not," Cecillian pauses for a moment, assessing Salnys, "Are you okay? You look pale and like you’re getting ready to cry.”
Salnys started thinking to himself, what the hell’s happening? He was stabbed multiple times and the blade drive into him and his flesh was displaced, and he was... dead? He’s not sure how to describe it, he just knows he saw nothing, and felt nothing, left with only his meager thoughts to accompany him. Now he’s back here on the trail where his group was hiking? He’s really not sure what he should do, but he decides to just go with it.
“Oh, I’m fine,” Salnys gets up, trying to play it cool, “Just a little bit winded, that’s all.”
Cecillian looks him up and down, trying to assess Salnys’s situation, he nods and goes back to silently leading the group.
The trip to the academy went the same as it had last time, except for a few more glances in his direction, one of the people there studying him intently, and one of the third-years checking up on him to make sure that he’s fine. Salnys’s clearly sweating, checking the forest around him, and is looking apprehensive overall. He’s also practicing his basic shield spell, trying to fully memorize the hand movements. Someone approaches him during his practice, though he doesn’t notice them until they talk, and he jumps causing him to mess up his casting.
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“Sorry about startling you there,” It’s a guy, around Salnys’s age, it’s the same person that was staring at him before, he’s wearing plain clothing, and has a leather bag slung over his shoulder, he smiles at him, “My names Salniun, mind if I join?”
“...Uhhmmmm, Sure?” Salnys says, kind of awkwardly, he wasn’t expecting anyone to kick up a conversation with him considering no one did the first time he went through this.
A bit more time goes by during the hike and Salnys starts putting more thought into what’s actually happening, he doesn’t stop practicing the shield spell though, he’s gotten into enough of a rhythm that he’s able to keep it up while deep in thought. It feels like he got sent back in time, and he knows time travel shouldn’t be possible, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t. More realistically, what he experienced was an extremely realistic dream, which he’s had once or twice before, but he wouldn’t discredit either theory.
The rest of the hike is uneventful, he helped the other guy cast the shield spell, and they made very little progress, but it was a good distraction from his situation at hand. The group arrives at the academy, and Salnys starts sweating again.
‘I really don’t want to go in there again, I should try to get away from here, even if just for a little bit. ‘ Salnys thinks to himself, really not wanting to go back into the academy after dying in there once. He thinks he died at least, but he still isn’t sure about that, and he doesn’t want to repeat what happened. They had stopped, and Cecillian turned around to give his speech. As Cecillian is giving the speech, Salnys positions himself towards the back of the crowd, so he could split off without anyone noticing him gone. There is a risk of someone like Elijah alerting academy authorities causing the academy to send out a search party.
“...to see you in class, and good luck.” Cecillian finishes, and the group walks off.
Salnys separates running off into the woods. He keeps running for 5-10 minutes before stopping to catch his breath, he knows these woods aren’t safe, but if he really did go back in time, then staying inside the academy is almost guaranteed death, at least for him. He sits down on the ground and decides to take in his surroundings. There are many plants sprouting from the ground, the bushes have blooms of violet, red, and green. There are berries of many vibrant shades of blue and orange, and fruits are dotted in trees and bushes, accompanying the blooms. It's rather peaceful here, it really puts his mind at ease. Though nothing good can last, he hears some twigs snap, and he sees a bush rustle. He puts himself in a ready position and casts his magical shield, he's not going to be unprepared this time.