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Alley near Cromswerth Higher Education Institute Eastern Branch

10:47 AM, Tuesday, May 14th

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Beyond anything Arlo felt sore, more than anything he had ever felt before, like his insides were starved of essential nutrients that it needed to sustain itself. An emptiness, like his body was devoid of something that he didn’t even know was present before. His mind trying to make sense of everything that happened, but all that he could feel was this overwhelming pressure that felt like it was trying to crush him from every angle. All he remembered was this flurry of noise, panic, warmth, the smell of burning, and… and the firehounds.

Remembering that firehounds were just about to pounce on them moments before he passed out Arlo’s mind started racing, becoming on high alert for the potential danger. Opening his eye’s he searched about rapidly in searching for any potential threats, facing immense pain he tried to move his body in order to be able to respond in case the need arose, only to find his mussels seemed extremely weak and the overwhelming pressure he felt from before still weighing over his body. Letting out a large groan he tried to move, to see what’s around him, taking shallow breaths to try and reduce the pain that came every time he took a breath. Turning his head slightly he was able to see that he was in a alley somewhere and his friends looking very concerned at him.

“Whoa, easy there,” Emily said, squatting next to him.

“Yeah, you just passed out on us,” Bill added, who turned out to be what he was resting on.

“What happened? Are we safe?” Arlo asked with a sense of urgency, his mind racing with the thought that they were previously about to be killed by firehounds.

“Yeah, the rift relief force turned up shortly after you passed out, and they really kicked some ass,” Bill said with a bit of laughter and admiration.

“Yeah, and this knucklehead wanted to just hand you over to get checked out,” Emily commented before looking over at Bill with a side eye and a hint of disdain.

Jeez, something terrible must have happened while I was out for Emily to be giving him that look. “And… why would that have been such a bad thing?” Arlo asked, not seeing much of a problem with his friend getting him help.

“Well I mean we were just in a situation where by all accounts we should have died, but right before they were able to get to us you had your arm raised toward the alley, then suddenly we were all here and then you collapsed,” Emily explained before continuing,” I have no idea why you passed out but by the looks of it but sure seems like you teleported us here, and we literally just had a conversation saying that you wanted nothing to do with the power squabbles that come with being a space mage. And since you’re likely to be one now the best way to prevent that for the time being is to not let other people know about it, or at least give you the chance to choose what you want to do.”

As soon as Emily put all those pieces together the penny dropped in Arlo’s mind, only space mages can teleport things without using a teleportation circle. And if he did in fact teleport them then that meant that he had just awakened and with a spatial magic affinity no less. If other people found out he would almost certainly be forced to join an organisation that would see him as an asset over seeing him as an actual person. His mind began to spiral with all the implications and repercussions that would come from this before being interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. Looking up he could see it was Emily giving him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, we’ll do the best we can you help you through this, it’s the least we could do after all,” Emily said, trying to stop him from spiralling.

“Yeah, but the ministry of the awakened is going to find out I awakened from the burst of mana that happens after you awaken, then they are going to trace that back to me. And once they find out that I can use spatial magic I’m going to very quickly get high-level mages and augurs trying to get or trying to force me to join their organisation, and some of those will be threats on family, or or you, and I-” Arlo started trying to explain.

“Sorry to interrupt your venting, but would you mind getting off me, it’s starting to get quite uncomfortable, you’ve been on me for like a half hour now,” Bill asked, it seeming to have slipped Arlo’s mind that through all the soreness and pressure that he was experiencing that he was still laying on his friend.

As soon as he attempted to move Arlo was once again reminded of all the pain from the soreness and pressure his body was feeling. Pushing through the pain for a moment he slowly sat up before moving against the same wall Bill had been sitting against. The pained groans he let out causing both Bill and Emily to grimace slightly at the state of their friend who by all accounts had just saved them.

“Jeez dude, are you actually hurt or what? The relief force should still be nearby if you want to get looked at,” Bill asked, looking over at Arlo next to him, before pointing out the end of the alley at the people about 80 meters down the road over to the charred remains of the school they came from, people from the relief force still cleaning up, helping the injured and going through the wreckage for any survivors.

“I don’t think I’m actually hurt anywhere, but it’s more like my body has exerted itself to the point of failure and is being very vocal about it, along with I'm still really feeling the pressure that’s coming from the rift so I'm still struggling quite a bit,” Arlo responded, breathing in sharply in pain as he adjusted himself.

“What do you mean?” Emily asked looking confused,” After the relief force dealt with the firehounds they used a magic item that stops mana flow through the rift everything should be back to normal now.”

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“Well it could have something to do with the fact that my insides feel like they are missing something I didn’t know I had before,” Arlo suggested before remembering something, “Hey Bill, you seemed to be deal with the mana pressure in the rift the outbreak quite well, why was that?”

“Oh that, my dad got me a pendant of mana protection, it only offers minor level protection, but at least it was something,” Bill said, getting the pendant out from around his neck and showing him.

“Mind if I borrow that for a moment?” Arlo asked, Bill taking off the pendant before handing it over. Arlo took the pendant and put it on through a great deal of pain. As soon as he had it on he could feel that that overwhelming pressure subsided significantly although not completely. Letting out a sigh Arlo felt relieved that although he still felt both sore and drained, at least he was no longer feeling crushed as well. “I don’t know why I’m feeling like this but the pendant is definitely making it feel much better. Mind if I hold onto it for a bit?”

“Sure, be my guest,” Bill replied with a smile,” if it weren't for you none of us would be here right now. How are you feeling though, still feeling sore?”

“And weak, but yeah, I’m not sure I'll be able to move on my own as I'm still in quite a bit of pain,” Arlo said, grimacing slightly as he shifted again to try and get a bit more comfortable. Seeing this, Emily started looking through her bag that she brought with her during their escape, seeming to find what she was looking for before taking out a small water bottle and a small pack of something.

“You brought your bag with you!! Why’d you do that?” Arlo asked in exasperation as that was an additional thing that got teleported along with them.

“What, it’s not like we knew you would awaken and would end up teleporting us out, and if we survived I would have rather had my things with me,” Emily explained defensively, “Anyway, there are some painkillers and some water, I usually keep some on hand because… you know, but you seem like you could do with some right now.”

Taking the painkillers and water he managed to get them down, but he knew that they would take at least 15 - 20 minutes to start kicking in. Now that Arlo’s mind could finally start to calm down a little, his mind turned to what should his next steps be. The ministry of the awakened will come knocking for me sooner or later, the thing is what should I do in the meantime? Where should I go? What should I do? I can't let them find me in this state at least, otherwise they would help me get better only for me to be indebted to them or someone else, because as soon as they find I have a spatial affinity my life would cease to be my own anymore as I become a high-value potential asset with high amounts of resources and expectations placed against me, and like this at least, I don’t think I would be able to meet any of them any time soon.

“So yeah, first off, what’s the plan of action from here? After the painkillers kick in at least? I mean I'm not just going to self-report, especially not in the state I’m in. And I don’t exactly want to go home either, I don’t want to worry my mom needlessly, as well as it would lead a mana trail straight to them,” Arlo pondered, leaving the question open to suggestions, not knowing what would be the best to do in this situation.

“Yeah, both those options sound like they kinda suck, from things that my dad has said if guilds or other organisations found someone like you in your state, they would try to recruit you, practically at any costs necessary,” Bill chipped in.

“You're supposed to be helping, not making his worries worse,” Emily shot back.

“I know, but I’m just trying to say that his concerns are accurate,” Bill responded before looking back at Arlo, “ Well if you don’t want them finding out, being 80 metres down the road from the people you don’t want finding out and in literal line of sight of them probably isn’t the best idea, is it?”

Hearing that Arlo’s mind went back into high alert as he looked back over and out of the alley, seeing their college campus that was still smouldering somewhat and all the people moving about, with at least a decent few actively casting spells. Looking to the closest end of campus, or at least what’s left of it they could see someone turn to look at them before giving them a small wave before giving a thumbs up and thumbs down before repeating it again. Both Bill and Emily gave a thumbs up as Arlo's mind started to race a bit.

WAIT A MINUTE, PEOPLE KNOW I’M HERE!! Calm down, calm down, I should at least ask what that was about before freaking out, both Bill and Emily seemed to respond like they were aware it was coming. “Hey err, guys? What was that about?” Arlo asked, slightly alarmed that someone from the rift relief force had seen him.

“Oh, When the relief force arrived, after they took care of most of the firehounds, they started focussing more on rescuing survivors and healing any of the injured, the person that we just gave a thumbs up to noticed us in the alley and with you passed out, this knucklehead was about to start explaining what happened. I told him that you would probably prefer to wake up first rather than being surrounded by tons of people,” Emily explained, “So seeing that we had things handled he said that things should be fine, but keep checking to make sure you had a pulse and to come get someone if things got worse, and that he would periodically check in just to be sure. I guess he figured you just passed out from the mana pressure, which worked out quite well for you I guess.”

Hearing that explanation Arlo calmed down a little, “Good, Good. In that case, now that I’m awake we should get out of here quickly. I don't want him coming down and asking us too many questions. That would make me wayyy too easy to identify later. Wait, you didn’t give them any names, did you?”

“No no, you don’t have to worry about that, Emily cut me off before I could really say anything, and all she said really is that you wouldn’t really do to well suddenly waking up around a bunch of strangers and if we could keep watch over you,” Bill said, putting his hand on Arlo’s shoulder, causing him to groan in pain, “Oh, sorry about that.”

“But yeah, you're right we should probably get on the move if you don’t want anyone asking too many questions, how are the painkillers coming along?” Emily asked, trying to gauge where he was at.

Moving his hand, Arlo could feel a surge of pain and soreness, it was rather intense but at least still bearable, or bearable enough for now for him to get out of the risky situation for the state he was currently in.

“Bearable,” he said through gritted teeth, “Although I'd much prefer to deal with this somewhere else, there’s that park about 15 minutes down the road, why don’t we get there and then go from there?”

“Sure, we can do that,” Emily replied, standing up out of the squat she was doing next to him.

“Alright then, you need a hand up?” Bill agreed before asking, standing up himself, revealing all the dirt that clung to his trousers from the ground in the alley.

“Would be mighty appreciated,” Arlo responded, reaching out both his hands as much as he could considering his arms felt like a ton of concrete trying to be moved by mussels made of jelly. Taking his hands both Emily and Bill helped him up, having to help keep him upright as he struggled with his balance. Arlo let out an almost continuous grunt of pain as they got him in position, ending up with him in the middle with his arms spread over their shoulders as they took up most of his weight, “you know, this is going to be a lot better when those painkillers kick in fully.”

Slowly moving out of the alley, when they got to the point where the alley met the street they looked around to see the carnage the firehounds had caused, it wasn’t just the college campus that got burnt down but the surrounding houses next to it at the other end of the street also seemed to have some severe fire damage as well. The campus seemed to be in ruin, although the art building seemed to have held up reasonably well, able to see through the burnt-out doors to where they were about to meet their demise.

Not wanting to dwell for too long, they started to go down the street adjacent to the one that led to their campus, doing so as fast as they could which proved to be not that quick since having to help him walk slowed them down quite a bit, now that they were out of immediate danger and risk they started heading over to the park relatively nearby, and to figure out how they could help him get out of this situation he had found himself in.