“Help!” Anna screamed at the top of her lungs and the other student looked up. It was a girl with a face that reminded her of strawberries. Covered in acne, her cheeks were rosy red. She continued frantically. “Come here! Now!”
The other girl ran over, and Anna thanked the Goddess once she saw her uniform. It was a long-sleeved red dress with a small white cape that covered her breasts at the top. Pinned to the side of her neck was a rose-shaped white button. The telltale sign of a student who is studying to become a healer. The girl looked panicked at first as she came closer. But her training kicked in and her face was methodically turned into a porcelain mask of emotionlessness.
She rolled her sleeves and got down on her knees, giving Anna a firm look that indicated she needed to step aside. The strange girl outstretched her hands and positioned them right above Lizbeth's body. Her olive palms turned steamy as the magic within her cooked up. On both of her fingers, painted right atop her fake nails, was polish. Every single one of her nails was an activator that she used to direct her body’s natural magic at Lizbeth. The poor sickly girl stopped shaking and Anna watched her face relax as she fell unconscious.
After this, the healing student looked at her with confusion. “I could feel the heat coming off of her body when my magic seeped in.” The other girl’s voice was kind of scraggly in a way that made Anna wonder if she was sick. “I can help you carry her to the infirmary. I think her body's going to be hot though.”
“Her body was hot from the inside?” Anna asked, to which the girl nodded with a solemn expression. They both knew what that meant, but didn't want to voice it.
She cleared her throat and nervously asked the girl. “Are you sure that she was burning? Are you positive?” Her whispering voice petered off as the stranger nodded her head and made the raven's stomach drop.
That meant only one thing; Lizbeth’s body was rejecting her magic. This could only happen two ways, and both made Anna feel stressed. One was that Lizbeth had been improperly using her activator. Anna could see that with the constant pressure being put on their shoulders. She must have been using it without taking breaks to eat or sleep. Constantly casting spells in an effort to finally form a proper fire arrow to present to their teachers and classmates. Another way was that Lizbeth was just not right for the combat course.
To use combat-based magic, you had to burn a lot of your energy and magic. You had to eat more calories, drink a ton of water and get as much sleep as possible to keep going. This was because their magic abilities from the Goddess were based on fire. And fire burned quickly and uncontrollably within their poor, prepubescent bodies. If they didn't take care of themselves, they risked several things from spontaneous combustion to burning your organs into sludge.
She didn't want Lizbeth to die in such a horrible way. But she knew that once the healing apprentices and priestesses that worked in the infirmary found out, they would contact her family. Who would immediately remove her from the combat course, or worse, the academy entirely? While Lizbeth wasn't someone she saw that amounted to the love she had for Alice, she still did care for her. Anna knew how important being in the academy was to the redhead. If she was taken out because of her disease, she would fall apart.
And more importantly, she would be without a close ally for the rest of her school years. Anna was shaken as this possibility hit her full force. The healer looked at her expectantly, and she hurried to help her lift Lizbeth up. The dark-haired girl had paled as she realized that Lizbeth could be gone permanently if the worst happened. If that happened, she would really be an outcast and would be seen as the weirdest girl by all her other classmates.
“How long was she sick?” She blinked slowly, hearing the stranger ask her a number of questions. Only a few she actually heard clearly as she mentally fell apart and erupted into blind panic. “Was she vomiting before class today?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Anna bit her lip and decided it was best to continue with her earlier lie turned to truth. “She got sick after being scolded by our teacher and collapsed soon after.” Lizzie’s deterioration had happened so quickly she really couldn't say when exactly the ruse had turned into reality. She had blinked and Lizbeth had started seizing.
The girl readjusted her hold on Lizbeth’s underarm area and bit her lip. “The way she sucked in my magic means she must have been sick for hours.” She looked at the redhead sympathetically and added. “I don't know how she managed to withstand the pain for so long. She must have felt like her entire body was bubbling inside.”
The healer's words echoed in Anna's head as the girls carried her to the infirmary. Since the academy was part of such a vast campus, the infirmary was packed with many medications and concoctions. Students had to complete a form before each year that was about five pages long. This form had to detail any allergies they had, what medication they were prescribed even if it was vitamins and if they required any days off for medical reasons. They also allowed healing course students to work as apprentices to help pay tuition and get more experience during their third and fourth years.
The girls were met by a handful of these students, who immediately told them to lay Lizbeth down on a nearby loveseat. They asked them a number of questions such as what the redhead ate that morning and if this was a normal occurrence. Each was eventually directed at Anna, who could see their faces becoming more serious with each answer she gave. After what had to be ten minutes of questioning, they told both girls to return to their classes and not to worry.
That was easier said than done. Anna jumped as the infirmary door slid shut and was locked from the inside. The girl beside her looked over and gave an awkward smile, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I'm sure your roommate will be fine.”
Seeing that the combat student looked glum still she changed tactics. She began to introduce herself, moving her hand out for a handshake. “My name is Genevieve.” Her cheeks puffed out as her dimples bounced with her voice. “From the way you and your friend are dressed, I'm assuming you were in field training?”
“Target practice,” Anna and Lizbeth had been in dark-colored tank tops with leggings that were made to be fire resistant. She took Genevieve’s hand and gave it a nice, hard shake. “Thanks for helping me. I had no idea she was sick like that.”
Genevieve gave her a look. “Hey, don't beat yourself up about that. I wouldn't have noticed either if it wasn't for me having these on today.” She slipped her hand out of Anna's hold to show off her nails. “Your friend hid her sickness really well.”
The midnight-haired raven looked at each hand with wonder. Anna had heard of activators like this before, but she had never seen one in person. It was a rather invention created by a healer by the name of Ava Evanson. The woman had been a healer who had worked in a village stricken by a terrible plague. She noticed that her magic was being used often, to the point of being sucked away in minutes. This frustrated her as her activator, a wand, wasn't helping.
After her work with the village, she went onto research with and contact companies that worked on creating activators. They made a few prototypes and after six years of presenting the nails to multiple investors; they went on the market. Unlike regular activators, these nails made it so you could only use up to fifty to sixty percent of your magic. The other fifty to forty percent would be kept locked away to help you stay energized and healthy on the job. Because of this restriction, combat students never used them.
It was fascinating to see, and Genevieve noticed. She flexed them for the priestess in training, their golden hue shining under the ceiling light. “I can take them off by just popping them. But they're extremely durable and easy to use.” They looked like they were crafted from solid gold to Anna by how thick they were.
But despite her curiosity, the nails did little to fix her somber mood. “They're beautiful. If I didn't love my staff so much, I'd get those.” Thinking about her beloved activator reminded her of how she and Lizbeth got here. Nothing could help distract her from the redhead’s current predicament.
Anna sighed and watched the rosy-cheeked teen frown. She felt the atmosphere shift with her tone as she thanked Genevieve once more. “I'm sorry. I'm just really afraid for Lizzie. She's my best friend.” She swallowed thickly and looked away at the ground. “I don't know if she'd even be breathing if it wasn't for your help.”
“I did my best, but I'm only a first-year student. If I had been stronger, I could have kept her more stable. I'm not even sure if I did the correct thing, adding to the flame.” The girl confessed with an embarrassed shrug, to which Anna did a double take.
She could have sworn by her height and way of talking, she was way older. This made her appreciate the healing course more. A first year combat student would have puked all over their shoes at the sight of Lizzie. “Please. You helped her a lot.”
The two teenagers probably would've talked for another hour, but the bell rang. Their classes were over and if they didn't hurry, they'd be late to another. Anna blushed and thanked the girl again before walking away. Her chest was heavy as she thought about Lizbeth and how sick she must be. Her mood sunk even deeper as she looked around the corridor to see the students boarding a bus. It was their lunch period, and they were all probably going to eat together as a group of friends.
Anna felt a cold gust of wind go through the air as her eyes met a familiar face. It was Edwin, standing on the sidewalk looking straight at her. He opened his mouth, but she was too far away to hear anything he was shouting at her. She turned her head and her back to him. There was nothing about that bastard that could sate her rage and disgust at his behavior.