Sebastian’s eyes shot open as he awoke with a jolt.
As if on cue, the fluorescent lights in the room turned on, almost blinding him as he tried to look around him, following the smell of sterile air. Together, he now knew exactly where he was. Well, where he probably was.
Triumph General Hospital.
And if he was correct, that meant he was in one of those stabilization chambers they used for recovery. While waking up in a stabilization chamber was not what he had expected to happen this week, but it wasn’t the worst. His father’s tantrums still took the cake on that.
The technological marvel he was strapped into had a glass dome covering him, allowing him to see the various medical equipment he was strapped to. Tiredly, he tried to, but his body, now wearing one of those ugly hospital-gowns, was strapped to the stabilizer, flat on a bed, with a few straps around his arms and legs.
Usually, Sebastian had to go every month to this hospital to pick up his father’s medication. When he did, the doctors would always ask him to lie down for some tests, something about the “nature of the medication” or whatever excuse they threw at him at the time. Maybe they thought he was a druggie?
After the tests were finished, the automatic systems would always fail to dispense the right prescription, so someone had to help him every time. There was always something about the expression on their faces when they learned about the medicine. Disdain was probably it. It would explain the scoffs they would try to hide as he left.
The sound of knocking from the door interrupted his thoughts. A few moments passed before the door opened, revealing a doctor carrying a POD. He seemed to be a little on the older side, with an older style of glasses, as well as having a well-trimmed silver beard and ponytail. While he looked quite sharp, his expression told a different story.
“Good morning, Mr. Rutherson,” he greeted, giving Sebastian a tired smile as he tapped a few times on his POD as he made his way over to the chamber. “I see you’re finally awake, and notably, not panicking. Wonderful. My name is Dr. Fitzgerald, and I’m a B-class healer here at the Triumph General Hospital. I’m here to run some checks on your body, just to get an idea of how you’re doing. How are you feeling?”
He tapped on one of the screens of the chamber a few times. The chamber whirred to life, the straps on Sebastian’s arms sliding back into the machine as the machine rotated him into more of an upright position, leaving the glass dome covering him. “Well…I feel fine, I think.”
Dr. Fitzgerald sighed, writing some more on his POD. “That’s good to hear.”
“What happened?” Sebastian asked, screeching out on the bed.
The doctor continued to write as he spoke, not even looking up. “So, Sebastian–if you’re fine with me calling you that–you got hit by an excess of energy, so your body has reacted in a manner that hasn’t been seen before. Currently, the nanites in your body should hopefully help stabilize your… condition. ” He finally looked up, his eyes barely focused as he looked at Sebastian. “I’ll be removing the restraints, but you need to stay in the chamber. We don’t know what’s going on with your body, so we’re waiting for more help to figure out what’s going on with you. I assume you have some questions?”
“Yes, actually,” Sebastian confirmed. “What did you mean by my condition? That doesn’t sound too good.”
Dr. Fitzgerald nodded, as he started to lean on the wall next to him as he crossed his arms. “Good question. Well, as I said before, you got hit by an excess of energy.Quite a lot of energy, actually. When people are hit with the amount of energy you were hit with, the type is what determines the outcome. If this were a common type of energy, we’d have given you a remedy already and had you on your way. However,” he continued, adjusting himself. “To put it lightly, what you were hit by… isn’t common.”
Sebastian crossed his arms. “So you don’t have a treatment?”
“I do. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, Sebastian,” he gave Sebastian a polite smile as he stood straight up, typing more on his POD. “It’s just that the hospital can’t guarantee that it won’t have any side effects. So, we want to make sure that our treatment works correctly by keeping you here for a bit.”
Sebastian nodded. “Is there anything I should be worried about? Like, how major are the possible side effects?” he asked.
“Nothing too major,” Dr. Fitzgerald replied. “At worst, some nausea, maybe some vomiting or indigestion. It just wouldn’t be a fun experience to have.”
“I... guess?”
The doctor was silent as he studied Sebastian for a few moments. “Any more questions?”
Sebastian shook his head. “That’s all I have for now. Thanks, doc.”
Dr. Fitzgerald nodded, turning to leave. “Please don’t hesitate to hit the button on your right if you need help. I’ll be close by if necessary.” he quickly left, leaving Sebastian alone as he closed his eyes again, trying to remember what happened to him.
The doctor said that he got hit by a lot of energy. How would that even-
The memories flooded back into his head. The sounds of plasmafire roaring through the air. The smell of burning flesh. Professor Philips hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
Everything that happened flashed before his eyes. Sebastian lurched forward, grabbing at his head, feeling every emotion hit him at the same time. He tried to relax, but it only made the memories more vivid. All he could think about was the pain, how he couldn’t feel his body after, how close he was to dying.
Sebastian shuddered. It was exactly how his father described it to him. How death was. What being powerless to stop what was happening right in front of him.
It was a horrible feeling. Sebastian felt his throat tightening, a paralyzing feeling coursing through him as he tried to breathe. He closed his eyes, trying to grasp just a single breath of air. He felt like he was going to pass out as he clawed on the glass.
Pain exploded from his chest as he felt something bounce around, blasting through his soul. Sebastian’s heart pounded harder than he’d ever felt before, as if it would rip through his chest.
Grabbing his chest, he tried once more to breathe. Nothing. Why wouldn’t his body listen to him?
Why?
Sebastian felt his consciousness drift once more, hovering over the same cliff he felt when he was first shot. The comfort of nothing, to just give up and let go.
But he didn’t. As he laid there, unable to breathe, struggling to stay conscious, Sebastian refused. Nothing else mattered to him. He’d been worthless. Forced to follow the path laid out to him by Fate, by those he’d never seen or heard of before. Just a number in a casualty report!
He would hold.
The agony continued to rage within. Right when Sebastian felt the last drops of his willpower pour out, the pain receded. He could slowly breathe again as the rest of the pain faded away.
But it didn’t fade entirely. His chest still didn’t feel quite right, as if a weight was placed directly inside his lungs.
Curiously, he closed his eyes, meditating. Sebastian hadn’t done this in years, so he didn’t know exactly what to expect, but he was sure it was normal–.
Sebastian’s eyes widened.
There, sitting in his chest, was a small ball of purple energy, right in the center of his chest. It was small, barely the size of his thumb, hovering. But it was there.
And that shouldn’t be possible.
When Sebastian was in primary school, he was taught to meditate, to scan the body for possible Aether. While it was said to be important for public health reasons, he learned many years ago that there was a more important reason–it was also a way to discover if one had affinity to the Aether in case the various tests failed to detect it.
But Aetherites were always born with the ability to manipulate and store Aether in their bodies. People didn’t spontaneously get that power, they either had it or they didn’t.
He didn’t. Or at least, he didn’t until now.
As soon as a kid turned 2, they were placed into the school system. Tests were run almost every month, with lessons catered towards helping the kids awaken in the off-chance they had an affinity with the Aether. But after a certain age, if you hadn’t awakened, then you weren’t going to.
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At the ripe age of 5, a kid would either show their affinity or fail to awaken, and would be separated between the Aetherite class and the human class.
Sebastian was part of the latter.
That was also where he met Lawrence.
Lawrence was… unusual. Every day, starting from when the classes split, he would bombard the teacher with questions regarding the Aether, about the Republic, about everything. It got to the point that teachers just stopped answering him, only asking him to settle down and do the day’s task. While they were good teachers, they just weren’t equipped to handle him.
Funnily enough, he was the first one to finish everything. Tests, projects, and in everything he did, he was the best. This, combined with his carefree attitude, had made him a decisive figure in the class. Over the years, Sebastian had grown more and more tired of this loud and boisterous kid in his class that just wouldn’t stop bothering everyone around him. Sebastian at the time didn’t understand the motivation to be so curious and so annoying. There wasn’t anything left to discover, there wasn’t anything left to do, except to fight for the Republic. So when they graduated to the next school at 11, Sebastian swore to beat him on the academic leaderboards just to shut him up.
He never was able to. Lawrence always took first, with Sebastian always taking second on everything ranked. Even in the physical competitions, Sebastian still could never beat Lawrence. And every time, it stoked the flames of Sebastian’s anger. There wasn’t anything he could do about it.
That is, until that fateful project.
When they were both 13, their class was tasked to create a presentation to compete against all the other secondary schools, in ways to improve the design of their respective city. It just so happened that they both were the final two choices to lead the class, with the winner being decided by the initial proposals of the two leads. Sebastian had already known this was going to happen, as the leads of the project from the previous years always had been someone within the top 2-3 in the academic rankings. But right after the choices came out, Lawrence immediately backed out. For the first time ever, he stepped away from the spotlight.
Enraged, Sebastian had confronted him after class that day, after most of their classmates had left for the day. Slamming his fist into the locker next to Lawrence, Lawrence only turned and shot him a charming smile.
“Hello, Sebastian! How are you today?” Lawrence had cheerfully greeted him.
“Why did you do it?” Sebastian had spat, glaring daggers at him. “Why did you turn it down?”
“Quite the hostility, no?” Lawrence raised his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t even do anything this time, either. Not even a greeting?”
“Stop playing dumb! Answer my question.”
Lawrence had shrugged. “Sure, sure. I was actually hoping to talk with you about this, funnily enough.”
That had thrown Sebastian for a loop. Lawrence usually never answered questions directly, so Sebastian didn’t think he’d actually respond. “What?”
“Tell me, is it worth it?”
“What?” Sebastian repeated, still confused.
Lawrence turned away from him, putting on his backpack, walking away from him towards the door. He stopped. “Is it worth it to spend so much time on this silly competition? You’ve been trying to pass me for years, for what? An accolade? A sense of accomplishment? To ‘put me in my place’?” He turned back to Sebastian, the sunset shining behind him. “You know damn well it means nothing. Nothing we do will ever change anything. We’re not Aetherites. We’re expected to be the backbone of the Republic without any complaint. This project? Just another competition to pit us against each other. You don’t see the ‘advanced’ classes competing like this. Only us. They don’t have their rankings plastered all over their schools.”
Lawrence pointed towards one of the ranking posters near the door as he started walking towards Sebastian again, his face no longer carrying that stupid grin he always had, with a more serious look on his face. “I’ve already seen your proposal on designing public transportation. You care for Triumph, as much as you pretend to hate everyone and everything.” Sebastian opened his mouth to reply, but Lawrence held his finger up. “You try to hide it, but deep down you care. You care about the appearance of this school, the students in it, everything. That’s why you want to take me, the class buffoon, down. And honestly, I wanted you to. But you could do so much more. We could do so much more. Could you imagine? Your work ethic and my talents. We could actually make a difference!”
Sebastian, dumbfounded by what he heard, could only stare back at him. The egoist of Jain Secondary School, willing to give up first? Unheard of.
“Here, this is my POD ID. Text me if you’re interested!” Before Sebastian could respond, Lawrence was already gone.
And that’s when the partnership took off. They developed a network of rail for the mono and high speed rail, combining it with AI that Sebastian personally had no idea existed, to beat the 16-year reigning champions, Old Haven Secondary School, securing them funding for both the school and for them personally, allowing the school to get some much needed repairs.
They then used their newfound money and time to volunteer at the local orphanages and animal shelters. While Sebastian first disagreed with working, saying that they should tackle the more important tasks, Lawrence wrangled him into the process.
The next year, they won, once again, with improvements to their original plan as well as a new proposal on the design of the very city itself. But when they tried to get actual backing for their plans, they ran into a wall.
The buzzsaw of not being an Aetherite.
“Kids, I love the enthusiasm, but this has been considered before. People smarter than you have thought this through.” “Get out of here. You aren’t supposed to be here.” “Your ideas are great. But it will take an Aetherite to really make it work.” “While this is nice, the Wang family’s heir had quite the similar idea. Are you sure you didn’t take this?”
Everytime they tried to step up, to prove they could make a change, they were beaten down. Sebastian wanted to quit by their last year, but Lawrence had one more favor he wanted from him.
“No more, Lawrence. We fought. We tried. Nothing changed! There’s nothing, nothing at all!” Sebastian grabbed his cup with a death grip, almost throwing it. Lawrence only looked on with sympathy. “You were right. This system is broken. But we can’t do anything about it.”
“Is this it? All we fought for? To just give it all up?”
“What are you talking about? We weren’t even close. Yes, I’m tired! We’ve been at it for years.”
“That’s slightly melodramatic, don’t you think? That’s my thing. Plus, it’s only been 4 years.” Lawrence said, reaching for his cup. “But would you give it up for a chance to find your mother?”
“Don’t bring her into this!” Sebastian almost jumped on Lawrence, but his sad expression made him stop. “This won’t lead me to her! She abandoned me. Just like how we should abandon this stupid dream!”
“Alright.”
“I just- wait, what?”
Lawrence merely had a dejected smile on his face. “I know you expect me to push back, but there’s no point. We’ll quit. We’ll stop this… stupid dream.” He stared into his cup. “Just do me a favor, please.”
“Uh… yeah? Sure.”
“At least get into Halcyon Academy. It doesn’t matter which class, just get in.”
“That academy?” Sebastian asked, an incredulous look on his face. “The one that preaches equality, and puts Aters and humans in the same class? The highest ranked academy in the city? ”
“Don’t give me that look. You’d easily make it if you tried. If you truly decide to go through and give up, at least this academy will give you a headstart in life.”
“Fine.”
It had been 2 years since that incident. They had both ended up in the same “advanced” classes at the Academy. Lawrence still ranked highly in their class, but Sebastian no longer pushed for the top, staying right in the middle.
But it was different now. Now, he had something to push for. He was an Aetherite! Or at least, he might be. Maybe he could move it, manipulate it, like a true Aetherite. The ball wasn’t in a color he recognized…
The sound of knocking on the door disrupted Sebastian’s thoughts.
“Huh- oh, come in.”
Dr. Fitzgerald walked in, with his POD in hand, closing the door behind him. “Hello, Sebastian. Just wanted to check in before I sign-off. How are you feeling now? ”
“Much better,” Sebastian answered, his body still trembling from the revelation. “I… remember what happened now.”
Dr. Fitzgerald smiled as he continued to write on his POD. “I see. I don’t know exactly what emotions you’re feeling right now, but just know it’s natural. What you went through was emotionally charged, and it’s perfectly okay to reach out if needed.”
Waving off the reassurances, he tried to sit up in the chamber. “I said, I’m fine. Did anyone named Lawrence Alfonso also get hurt?”
Dr. Fitzgerald walked over to the console, his eyes focused on the screen. “I see. Like I said before, there’s no weakness in seeking help.” He continued to study the screen as silence descended on the room.
“...And what about Lawrence-” Sebastian began after the silence became too much to bear.
“No records indicate any Lawrence Alfonso checked in for injuries, nor do I remember any kid like that.” Dr. Fitzgerald confirmed, now looking back at Sebastian. Sebastian sighed in relief. “However,” Dr. Fitzgerald continued. “You’ll have to stay in that chamber for the time being. Your condition is still quite intriguing, and quite a mystery…” he trailed off as his eyes wandered back to the screen.
Sighing, he wrote more on his POD. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait just a bit longer. In the meantime, I’ll be elevating the chamber just a bit as well as giving you some control over the direction of the chamber.”
As Dr. Fitzgerald moved towards the machine, Sebastian noticed the morning sun reflecting off his face. “Hey, Doc, how long exactly was I out for?”
“Two days, I’m afraid,” He replied, tapping on the screen, causing the chamber to rotate up with a holographic screen appearing in front of Sebastian’s chest. “You’ll probably be stuck for a couple more days, while we wait for more doctors to work with.” He looked up from the screen. “Your parents have been contacted as well, but I haven’t received a single response from either of them. I don’t mean to pry, but is there any other person I can contact?”
Sebastian knew this would come up at some point. He sighed, taking a deep breath as he looked at Dr. Fitzgerald in the eyes. “My father is currently unavailable, and my mother is… not present.” That was an understatement. If his father had taken his medicine, he would’ve been stable enough to respond. Sebastian had to go home quickly and find out what happened. “However, you can contact-”
The door swung open as another man walked in. “That will not be necessary, Dr. Fitzgerald.”
It was Professor Li.