Mira Arvaith
Bright lights beamed down from above, blinding me as I opened my eyes. It took a few blinks for my vision to adjust and my bearings to return.
I was lying down in a hospital bed. An IV was buried deep in my right arm, and several monitoring wires were attached to my chest. Looking down, I realized I was dressed in a dull grey hospital gown.
My body felt weak, and my head was foggy.
Where am I? The last thing I remember was fighting that creature with Cyrus. How long was I out?
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and ripped the monitors off, setting off multiple alarms.
A nurse rushed into my room, breathing heavily, her voice frantic. But the moment she saw me awake, her expression softened with relief.
"You are finally up! Welcome back, Mira."
"What do you mean finally up?"
"Well, you have been out for a few months. After you suffered extreme cosmic energy backlash, sending your body into shock after a fight with Cyrus Bennu. Don't worry, though he is up for expulsion, you shouldn't have to worry bout him again," the nurse said, her voice hurried, as she came to tend to me.
"Wait, wait a moment, you're speaking too fast. What do you mean by a few months? Don't tell me I missed my Rift Exam?"
The nurse's head drooped a bit, and she nodded.
"So does that mean I have to retake the entire year then?"
"I'm afraid so."
I slammed my fist into the bed, bending the frame.
I couldn't believe all that hard work down the drain because I fell victim to some stupid creature.
"And another thing. You said Cyrus is up for expulsion for beating me up? That's not true. An astral behemoth attacked us."
The nurse had a conflicted look on her face as she reached to pat me on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but that just can't be true. You must be suffering from a minor brain injury. Why don't we lie back down?"
I swiped the nurse's hand away.
"I'm fine, and I know what I saw. No one would forget that. Now where are my things?"
The nurse sighed and pointed at the drawer across the room.
In the drawer were my dress from the dance, my communicator, and my dimensional storage, and a fresh academy uniform.
I picked up my communicator and looked at the date.
It really has been a couple of months. Mom must be worried sick about me.
The nurse stepped out while I changed my clothes and called my mom.
The communicator would ring for a while, but then would default to the signal being lost.
This happened four times.
Wait, is something happening with the servers again? Just like the night I got attacked.
I needed to find another staff member, besides those who worked in the medbay, to help me with this issue.
I ran out of the room, past the nurse and the rest of the medbay staff, and headed outside.
When I set foot outside, I was met with a torrential downpour. The sky was on the verge of turning black, while long, vibrant flashes of lightning crackled through the air.
Just like that night.
I searched the grounds of the central isle. I didn't see a single student, just guards and some other staff members who must not be involved in the rift exam.
I ran up to one of the guards I recognized.
"Sir, I know you are busy, but the servers seem to be down. Do you know why that is?"
He positioned his umbrella over me. "We have been having trouble communicating with people outside of Xhatal Academy for the past couple of days, but not with internal communication with our devices. Most likely just due to the storm, I would presume. Just gonna have to wait it out."
As the guard finished his words, I felt a slight rumble.
Not from the sky but underneath me.
I looked back at the guard.
"Is the storm affecting anything else?"
The guard tilted his head and stroked his chin.
"Nothing out of the normal standard deviation," he said as his communicator began ringing.
He answered.
"This is John, go ahead. Oh, Nurse Jude, how are you? Oh, you are looking for a student who has red highlights. I think I have found the girl you are looking for; I'll bring her to you. You're right, she does look a bit ill."
She really won't take no for an answer.
I began to walk away from the guard.
Then he turned his communicator on speaker mode.
"Mira, if you do not comply with the medbay protocol regarding your coma, you are at a high risk of falling back into another one."
I gritted my teeth and turned to the guard.
"Oh, and John, we were contacted by a group trying to use the teleportation terminal. They said they're here to finish some work on the reactor, but they need your permission first."
"Ahh, yes, Head Master Naga put in an order for the maintenance to be handled while he was away visiting family on the moon colony. I'll grant the access; thank you for informing me."
The guard tapped his communicator a few times and ended the call.
"Now that we got the squared away, let's make sure we get you back to the meday. Can't have you falling out on us."
Just as he stepped towards me, an oddly shaped bolt of lightning split the sky above us. In its wake, a bright oval object fell toward us, trailing a faint tail like a comet.
"Sir, do you see that?" I said, wiping rain out of my eyes, to get a better look at it.
It was hurdling down with great speed.
With a clear view of the object, I realized the oval-shaped object was actually a person.
The figure had brown skin and white braided hair.
Clouds rushed toward their body, swirling around them as they descended.
Jace?