3/16/54

ALEXANDER GALDUR

The hours seemed to fly by like minutes. With nothing to do, I found myself thinking and spinning myself into a whirlpool of worry. I was in the middle of the DME’s medical bay, and at any moment, they could realize I was not Lucas Greymore, the polite orphan with light magic. Instead, they’d find I was Alexander Galdur, the runaway orphan with light and dark magic. Extra emphasis on that dark magic part as that is all they’ll care about.

Hopelessness swallowed me as another panic attack threatened to set in. My heart beated louder and louder when the curtains surrounding me swung open to reveal the girl named Anna Andrushko. The name suggested that she was from Ukraine, or at least, from a Ukrainien lineage. Apparently, thirty or so years ago, Russia was invading Ukraine, but when magic was introduced, Ukraine managed to beat and take over Russia. As they say, karma’s a bitch.

Now that I think back to it, a lot happened back then with magic being introduced because we managed contact with another world. Somehow, someone came into contact with humans from a parallel fantasy world with all sorts of fantasy tropes: dragons, monsters, medieval times, dungeons, and, of course, magic. The contact suddenly made it possible for our world to start to freely create magic, and all beings and materials became imbued with the stuff, to an extent.

Back then, things really spiraled out of control when magic was introduced. People from all over found themselves with magical abilities, and some people tried being heroes, villains, others stayed on the down-low, and others used magic to make their lives more convenient. The queen also died back in the 2020s, but someone managed to revive her with the sacrifice of Russia’s old leader, Putin, and make her immortal and a demi-god. This was the same reason Ukraine and the United Kingdoms of Europe, or UKE, signed an alliance.

America also fell back then when they tried to suppress magic. This led to the creation of the Magicians’ Society of America which also fell because of destruction caused by various mages, many of which were presented by the media as dark magicians and other unsavory types. This is the main creation of the stigma against dark magicians, but I digress as my mind ceases its wandering. My focus sets back on the situation at hand in which the girl named Anna is next to me, fidgeting nervously.

She’s a resident, so my assumption is that she’s nervous about taking care of me because of her lack of experience. I watch her as she takes deep breaths, steadying her nerves, and walks over to my damaged body. She looks over some notes in hand, and walks over to a small moveable cabinet. She opened the cabinet and began searching around. Eventually, she emerged from her crouched position with a small bottle. She then disappeared behind the curtains again, soon coming back with a bottle of water.

She got out two pills, put away the rest of them, and opened the water bottle. She handed over the pills and water to me and stuttered, “Here, these are antibiotics. T-take these along with water, and I’ll start heali-” She stopped suddenly as she turned away with a whimper of pain. Did she just… bite her tongue? I confusedly asked, “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah,” She managed out, “I’m fine.”

“Alright.” I gave way, and I put out my hand. She placed the pills in them which I quickly placed in my mouth, soon followed by the water. I guzzled the liquid down, nearly choking on the water as it was in a full-tilt. The water carried the pills easily into my stomach, so before I actually died of drowning via water bottle, I pulled the half-empty bottle from my lips.

“Alright then, I’ll begin the healing now!” Anna nervously said a little too loudly.

I responded, not wanting to show I noticed the rise in volume she clearly did notice, “Alright.” She nodded, still somewhat visibly embarrassed by her little outburst, and she put out her hands. A color somehow both a warm orange and a pleasant green started to appear in her hands. The magical energy washed over my body, quickly bringing the pleasant familiar sensation of warmth and calmness to soothe my mind and body.

Like before, the magic had some strange effect on me, making myself feel engulfed by fire, but in a pleasant, cozy way. It’s impossible to describe to someone who hadn’t felt the sensation before as I felt my wounds heal by the second. She could only hold the magic for a little while before she had to stop in exhaustion. Even in that time though, I felt immediately better and refreshed.

“Thank you.” I expressed my gratitude happily.

She looked back at me, exhausted, but with a bright smile showing in her eyes, “It was no problem; just doing my job.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

We laughed a little before a surprisingly not-awkward silence filled the room. Maybe she was uncomfortable with the silence, but just knowing someone was here and helping me made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

3/17/54

Another day went by, and Anna came by again. She repeated the process from before, and I felt just as nice and fuzzy as before. The warmth flooded me and was nice and all, but I quickly realized something: I was bored. Back when I was on the streets, I didn’t find myself with much free time at all, so I was quite unfamiliar with the feeling. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to hide from, nothing to steal. Completely free.

I don’t even know what people my age do for fun. My experience of the world and others’ experience of the world were so astronomically different, that I don’t even know what’s appropriate to do or not. My mind wandered back to a show I remember watching back at the orphanage. It was called Digimon, and it was quite old. It first appeared back in 1999, but it did get a reboot in 2020.

Honestly, for something so old, it was a masterpiece. While it’s being shadowed by Pokémon still, I was blown away. It quickly became a point of nostalgia which my mind wandered to and associated with good times. I quietly started humming to myself, “Digimon, digital monsters, digimon are the champions~”

As I hummed to myself I saw as Anna went still when she heard my humming. I must’ve been too loud, and she heard me. She turned around and asked, “Is that the theme to the first season of Digimon?”

“You know Digimon?” I asked, slightly shocked.

She vigorously nodded, “Yeah, my dad had series on dvd.”

“My orphanage also had the dvd. It was amazing!” I declared, joyfully.

“Right? It was so good!”

“I wish I could’ve watched the other seasons; the first one was so good that I can’t help but have high expectations for the rest of them.”

“I have the rest on dvd, and I have a dvd player. Next time I come around, we could watch it together.”

“Really? I’d love that!”

“Alright, I’ll bring it around tomorrow!”

We continued to talk about our love of the show. All the embarrassing things we did back then, acting out scenes and imagining the digiworld, we talked about things we didn’t think we’d share with others. While the silence yesterday was pleasant, nothing could beat talking with someone with shared interests.

3/18/54

The next day was slower than I’d like. After she left because of her job, I found that her leaving had also left an unpleasant emptiness. I could barely wait for the next day to come, in anticipation of spending another couple of hours talking with her and watching the next seasons of Digimon.

As per usual, she came around, prepared the pills and water, and I took them. Soon after, she pulled out a plastic bag and pulled out a couple dvd cases with Digimon art and a dvd player with a built in screen.

“Oh, it’s time!” I exclaimed, excited.

She nodded, “Yep!” With a couple of cords being rearranged, a dvd being slid in, and a couple of buttons being pressed, the dvd player turned on. We watched as the screen lit up and started playing the beginning of season two, and I was enraptured. The nostalgia kicked in, and I felt myself completely hypnotized. Anna was going into a similar state because when a call came from Dr. Whitaker, she was startled to the point of knocking over the closed bottle of water she had left there.

It hit the ground, bounced, landed on its other side, and started to roll away. She fumbled around, but eventually got it, picking it up and placing it carefully on a counter near her.

“Sorry, I gotta go, doctor-stuff.” She said, beginning to pack some stuff, “The rest of the dvds are in the bag.”

“Wait, you’re not gonna take it with you?”

“No, I’ve already seen them, plus, you should be healed up by tomorrow, so you should get in as much Digimon-time as you can for now.”

Oh right, I was gone tomorrow. For some reason, a feeling of sadness washed over me, a feeling of emptiness until Anna suggested, “You could always stop by every now and then. I work everyday but Sunday from 7:00 Am to 7:00 Pm, and I’d be happy to watch it with you when I get off.”

“R-right! Yeah, I-I’ll do that! Definitely!”

“Alright, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye!” I said, slightly too loud. She laughed and walked away, but even though she was gone, my mind kept wandering back to her.

… Let’s ignore this train of thought and just focus on Digimon.