Darkness enveloped my senses. All I could see now was the inky nothingness of the void.
Huh? Am I dead already? Feels like I started burning only a second ago.
Meh, at least it was painless.
I read somewhere that fire hurts like hell before your nerve endings burn away. So, maybe I blacked out before actually feeling anything?
"Here," someone said.
"Huh?" My voice sounded croaky, and my throat felt dry. My eyes felt like they were rusted shut as I forced them open.
"Water." A cup was floating over my head. "Can you move?"
"Who…" I struggled to sit up and bumped my head on the cup. Its cool, clear contents splashed all over me. "Blurf! Pfft."
"Ah." The cup floated away. A moment later, it returned, full of water once more. "Drink it. You can wash yourself later."
"Sorry," I muttered, grabbing the cup. It was surprisingly heavy. Stone, maybe? I almost spilled it again.
The water disappeared down my throat in a flash. Maybe the fire dried out my throat? It felt like I hadn't had anything in forever.
"It's almost time," the voice said.
"Time for what?" My voice was still hoarse, but I felt like I could move again. So I turned towards the source of the voice – AHH!
"You! It's…" A rush of emotions struck all at once, too fast for me to process. Why would I be happy to see her again?! Why do I want to blame her for everything that happened? What actually even happened…?
"Ungh." My eyes opened again. It was dark out. Or, wait, wasn't it dark at first? I sat up, still disoriented.
"I checked your credentials," the Witch told me. "Kendel Warling, third-year at Eonis Social University. Average build, average intelligence. An unremarkable young woman in most rights. Not that that's a bad thing."
I just stared at her, my mind revving up again. Her hard white mask, her flowing crimson hair. The same color hair as mine…
"I bet you're wondering if we're related," the Witch said. "Red hair of this luster and hue is rare, but it seems to run in your family. Most likely recessive."
"W-well…" I trailed off, remembering my grandma Burnice. I'd kind of hoped we were related somehow, but alas. Maybe it was better this way, though? I dunno.
"My desire is to be friendly. I hope you'll oblige," she continued. "My name is Galis. And, as you may have surmised, I am a witch of the void."
"Yeah, about that," I replied. "What were you doing at my college in the first place? And what was up with those androids?"
"They have long departed," Galis stated. "I brought you here to apologize about that whole… um, incident. I was asleep up until the Witch hunter began rallying troops."
"How did you survive for so long?" I asked, curious. "Are Witches really unkillable except via ritual fire?"
"Hmm? Ritual fire?" Galis looked confused.
"Yeah. You know, the banishing war?"
"Uhm…" Galis tapped her fingers on her arms, deep in thought. Then she half-whispered, "What world is this, again?"
"Huh!? You're an alien?"
Galis looked back at me. "You should rest. I'll send my gift to you after I drop you off," she told me. "Hopefully it will aid in your physical and mental recovery."
"No, no, there's no need for gifts, honest," I sheepishly replied.
"If not a gift, then consider it restitution for your suffering."
"Aw, I'm fine! Just a bit parched," I assured her. "But I'll live."
Galis looked like she was about to say something else, but stopped. "I see. Are you ready to return home, then?"
"Y-yeah." I still couldn't tell where exactly I was, but I guess it wouldn't matter pretty soon. It was kind of cozy, though. Like a cross between a hermit's cave and an apartment.
Whrrf–
My eyes popped open. I was in my bed.
In my… not my dorm. Where was this? This was definitely my bed, but…
"Ohh." I sat up fully, looking around my room. "Home. She sent me home."
My old posters still covered the walls. My window was still full of sticky notes, though by now some of the oldest ones had fallen off.
"Hey! Kendel, you awake?" Mom was downstairs. Was Dad also home? I hadn't seen their faces in over a year.
"Coming," I called.
"Oh, don't push yourself! I'll bring dinner to you," she replied.
Huh?
I looked down at myself, and almost screamed. My skin!? Covered in scars!
Wait, no, that checks out. They DID burn me to death, after all…
My eyes widened, and I doubled over in my bed. I probably would have vomited if I had anything at all in my stomach.
Head pounding, breath ragged, I shakily stumbled to my mirror.
It was true. It really did happen.
I could barely recognize my face through all the scars. By some miracle, though, my hair was perfectly intact. Kind of ironic, now that I thought about it. Funny, even.
I slumped down to my knees. The headache wouldn't go away! What happened? What did they… why did they…
I slowly stood up, rubbing my face. My hands felt rough and foreign.
"Oh! Kendel, you're walking," Mom excitedly said as she entered my room, dinner plate in hand.
As I looked at her familiar broad frame, tears began streaming down my face.
"Oh, honey. It's okay," she said, hugging me with her free arm.
"What happened? It's all muddled in my brain," I murmured. "I don't know if I'm even remembering it right."
"You mean the ESU disaster?" Mom furrowed her brow. "I know it's been a while, but… well, if you believe you're ready, then you're ready." Then she offered her free hand. "Can you make it down the stairs okay? I can carry you if you need."
"Can you even still lift me?" I gave her a funky look. "I've gained a good bit of weight, you know."
"What weight? You were comatose for six months and bedridden for four more," she replied, then effortlessly picked me up scruff-style.
"Huh!?" I exhaled, trying not to panic.
Incident, Galis had called it. The ESU Disaster? Shit, right! I almost forgot about the androids. Their kill count alone easily warrants disaster status. Still, I feel as though I've forgotten something important… or, traumatizing? As if getting burned at the stake wasn't traumatizing enough…
As we settled at the dinner table, Dad stood up, surprised. "Ken, you're up!"
"Sure am," I nodded. "Still feel like I went through the hells, though." I started eating – I haven't had Dad's griddled bits and bobs in ages. "Mm. I should visit home more often."
"You don't remember when you first got back from the hospital?" Dad wondered. "Though to be fair, it's not like you were able to really feel at home that whole time."
"Okay," I sighed. "I need to know. What happened at Eonis? If you guys know anything, please tell me."
"Well, of course they told us," Mom nodded. "You were just as much a victim as the other women."
There were other victims?
"The gist of it is, some psycho started a riot in the school, then used the chaos to blow up almost a hundred people with some kind of experimental military weapon."
Just one psycho?
"The killer also jammed communications on the day of the attacks, then got together a riot squad to burn the entire campus to the ground," Dad continued, "starting with every red-haired girl there."
I thought they were let go…??
"When Special Forces arrived, the kingpin was arrested along with every compliant follower. They tried to rescue as many people as they could, but… among the red-haired women in ESU, only you survived."
What about the androids?
"Large-scale murder, arson, domestic terrorism, and obstruction of Special Forces activity," Mom read from the document she found. "Death would be a mercy for this head case. Arleana Ose, that's her name. Wild that one student could wreak this much havoc."
Arle? MY Arle?
"Apparently she's also clinically insane, which is the main reason a verdict hasn't yet been reached," Mom said, skimming over the rest of the document.
"Wait, that's not true!" I sat forward. "Arle just believed I was a Witch."
"Witches aren't real though? Though it seems she put up a convincing argument," Mom replied. "According to this, her insistence on being a 'Witch hunter' was what led to her sanity being questioned in the first place."
Something's missing.
"Additionally, the only thing she pleaded guilty to was the arson," Dad added. "Not that it really makes a difference. She was the only one causing trouble that whole time."
Was she framed? A scapegoat? It doesn't add up.
"Some good news did come of all this, though. Check this out!" Mom showed me a large envelope. "You got your degree! Now you can get into archaeology."
"Yours was among the last degrees the dean prepared before closing down the school," Dad nodded."Apparently he really liked your capstone project."
I don't remember finishing it, though.
"You know, graduating early will look great on your resume. Once you fully recover, I can introduce you to my pal in Medalia. He does history documentaries, I bet you could learn a lot."
This is all wrong!
The parents' voices began to fade out. A flash of hot, cold, tingly pain ran through my body.
"I'm… gonna go back upstairs," I said, getting up.
"Anything you need, just let us know," Dad said.
"Yeah."
Were the stairs always this steep? My legs hurt. Maybe I should've had Mom carry me again. No shame in that, right?