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2024-10-29 19:42:56Another day had started in the Academy.
Elio Freyr was enjoying his lunch alone in the Academy's cafeteria when a group of students entered the hall, and sat on the next table across from him.
They were all quiet, and it seemed like there was a tension in that circle of students in front of him.
A woman in a black blouse and with silver hair named Thea caught up staring straight at him as soon as she found her own seat. Her eyes were beaming with longingness, and concern registered all over her face.
Her sudden action caught everyone's attention, and one by one, they followed where her gaze was fixed.
The quiet and heavy atmosphere in their circle has become even more obvious, and got a lot heavier. Everyone knew what had happened between Ayden and Elio a day before, but no one had ever spoken about it since.
Elio Freyr and Ayden were quite famous back then. They were friends, the best of the best, and no one could separate them once they had started doing something together. But everything changed suddenly in a blink of an eye when the attack happened two years ago.
They never had the chance to meet after that. While Ayden was trying to cope up with the changes on his own and got back to the Academy to continue his life, Elio Freyr was doing the same thing, but away from everyone.
They never heard about him for once. No one knew where he was for the past two years, but then he appeared again in front of them like nothing happened, and a big gap between Elio and them started since then, and no one knew the reason why.
It just happened, and no one has dared to talk about it for once, except for Ayden who had dared, but ended up not being able to control his own emotions and accidentally poisoned Elio with his wind.
Their gazes didn't affect Elio at all, even the tension was too high not to notice. However, his gaze was fixed on the vacant chair across from him, in the middle of the people in his past, where they had left empty.
Furrows formed in between his brows as he analyzed what he was seeing there.
"Esther." He said quietly in his mind. He couldn't bring himself to eat his food as he couldn't stop staring in front.
The people on the other table were dumbfounded at what he was doing, and without asking, one by one, they looked back on the empty chair where Elio was looking. No one didn't see anything there, and that alone made them feel both uncomfortable and worried at the same time.
"What are you looking at now, dude?" Xandros, a caller and user of Lightning and Thunder asked, frowning. He was seated on the nearest chair from Elio.
"I was just intrigued with you pulling a chair from another table when you still have one empty seat there." Elio's attention was still fixed on that empty seat and didn't even bother to give Xandros or any of them a quick glance, as he put a playful smirk on his face.
"We're giving Esther a seat, that's why. Even though she's not here, we still value her as a friend, unlike others there who are physically present but didn't want to be with us anymore." Cassiopeia said, rolling her eyes as she looked away from Elio.
The smirk on his face didn't leave him and became even wider.
"Esther is not here." He said playfully, with a slow nod. "Anyway, enjoy your lunch."
He placed his utensils on his tray of food, and pushed his seat backwards before standing.
All of them were looking at him in disbelief with furrows in between their brows, watching his every move. And to some extent, they couldn't understand what he meant with the words he just said along with his gesture.
"What the hell was that?" Cassiopeia asked in her very irritated voice as soon as Elio went out of the Academy's cafeteria.
"Let's just not mind him. He might still be suffering from his loss." Atlas stated as he crossed his arms on the table and placed his head on them, closing his eyes under them.
"We can't force someone to do something he's not ready to face. Let's wait for him to heal." He added.
"If we only just wait for him to heal, nothing will change. He will just suffer over and over again, and will likely live the rest of his life in the dark." Ayden sighed.
"Is that why you forced him to fight you? Look what you have done Ayden. You almost killed him. And if he just didn't control his anger like you did, you would be dead by now." Aislah said who was seated in front of him.
"And now Madam Loury is also suffering because of him." She added.
"What happened to her? Why is she suffering?" Thea asked, looking at her with a deep lining in between her brows.
"Elio has a great mind and we all know that. And knowing that he hasn't healed from his past wounds yet, Madam Loury was afraid that if he let Elio come inside the Infirmary, he might summon darkness that could affect the whole Academy." Aislah heaved a sigh and crossed her hands over her chest as she leaned her back flat on the backrest of her chair.
"And as you all know that the Infirmary uses the subconscious mind of people, it scared her more. So she used her light to alter that, but it consumed her energy too much and now she's a patient of her own Infirmary. I will go there later to help Nurse Viv."
Ayden was left speechless after hearing what had happened because of his actions. Guilt ran through his blood, as he bowed his head, avoiding everyone's eyes.
"I didn't know." He said, and closed his eyes. "I'll come with you Aislah. I will help you with anything there to pay for what I did." He added as he raised his head to meet Aislah's eyes.
"Alright. We'll leave after lunch."
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"Elio!" Aislah rushed towards him and kneeled beside him. The first thing that came to her mind is to cure him with her water. Samson got beside them and get Esther back to lessen the weight Elio was carrying. A drop of water was floating on Aislah's palm, getting bigger as seconds went by. When it was enough, the water floated towards Elio and came straight to his mouth. "You're over using your power." Thea and Ayden stayed in front of them and tied the two people towards the golden statues on their right. They were both tied using Thea's ice with spiky edges. However, they couldn't contain the other one just like the two. He can use teleportation, and he easily got away with them. "We need to get out from here. There were ten of them and we can't fight them all." Elio said as soon as he recovered a little. "What's really happening? Who are they?" "People who shouldn't be alive at this time. And they're coming. Let's go."Elio pulled himself up with Aislah's help. It was st
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"We're still looking for her." Samson answered, without thinking of anything bad about her. "Here? I already looked for her here. But she's not around." Elio was not convinced, but he remained calm while trying to figure out if she was telling the truth or not. He was sure that the person in front of them was the same person who vanished just around the corner. "I've got a word that Esther was seen here. I'm just checking." Samson told her. Elio couldn't say a word and didn't want to. The movements around were getting closer and he could feel it from where he was standing. "You came here together? That's news."Their conversation was interrupted when students started to corner them in a circle. The three of them gathered in the middle, facing their backs with each other. "What's happening?" She asked. "Didn't you know about this, Thea?" Elio prepared himself for a possible attack, while he spoke to her. "How would I know? I just got here." "You were here earlier, you said."
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"I need to go back to the Dot." Elio Freyr just got out of the Infirmary and back from his own room in the domiciliary. The students that caused commotion in the Infirmary woke up on their own beds there, and fortunately, they were already not in a state of manipulation when they woke up, and their wounds from their afternoon training were slowly healing with Madam Loury's help. "I am banning you from going there." Selene's voice occupied his mind as he was preparing to go back there, changing his clothes. "Why?" "You destroyed a statue, remember?" "I didn't. I told you it's an accident." "And I told you I will find the truth myself. You were just standing there behind the statue, not doing anything. And when you faced it, it started to fall. You used your telekinesis to ruin that statue, Elio Freyr. Don't try to fool me. And the book you're talking about has never shown itself to anyone for thousands of years already that it has become a myth." He could hear her annoyance wit
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Chapter 19: A Floating Book
"Did you…""No." Esther collected herself after almost a minute of not breathing because of what Elio had said. She felt relief that it wasn't Elio, but the fear remained inside of her that she didn't know why. She knew that the statues were made to commemorate the ten students who were named as heroes of the past, but she was not sure why she got nervous the moment she heard the news. "I just saw it yesterday." Elio looked away as he remembered what had happened when he visited the Dot once again. He came back there alone, but an accident happened that he didn't mean to do. There was so much going on in Elio's life that he couldn't say anything to her besides the things that she knew about. He wanted to keep his mouth shut and do the things he could do alone without putting anyone in danger as he dug deeper into the reason why he came back to the Academy. But things were getting more complicated as he kept on discovering things that he had no idea about after the other. "You we
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Esther rushed to the place where Elio was, and behind her was Aislah and Ayden who were both dumbfounded on what was happening to her. They were concerned that Esther might harm Elio now that he's weak, because of what he did towards him, however, they both knew that Esther is not capable of doing that, especially to her friends. Students were on the floor with no consciousness and they just walked past them. Madam Loury on the other hand, was seen looking for something in front of the stall where the medicines are located. No one stopped to help her, instead they all went directly towards where Elio was. Esther pushed the curtains to the left, revealing Elio lying on the bed. The little drops of sweat on his face were getting their attention as they walked inside his place. He really looked like he was in total pain, but Esther had already anticipated seeing that once he came back. The three stood beside his bed, looking at him with concern, but Ayden's expression seemed a litt
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Chapter 17: A Visit
Esther was on the floor, covering her mouth to stop herself from making another noise as she stared back at the person in front of her. She was about to step out of her room to see what was happening outside her curtains because the two who insisted on seeing it themselves hadn't come back yet. A man suddenly appeared in front of her out of nowhere, causing her to have no balance over her body that made her fall back on the floor. "Hello, dearest Seer." A wide smile plastered on the man's face sent shivers all over her body. There was recognition in her eyes as soon as she saw the man. "You know me, don't you? We once met, when you tried to save this body's soul." Esther removed her hand from covering her mouth as she tried to collect herself from being shocked over his sudden appearance. She knew him. He was one of the students that they had lured inside the Dot, and unfortunately, she couldn't help him to get out of there with the same soul residing on his body. And he was the
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"The training's done. You should go. Many students will be here soon." Madam Loury slid the paper back in her drawer and pushed her swivel chair away from the desk, enough to make space so she could stand up. "I'll visit Esther first, and I'll leave after." Aislah stood up from her chair and made her way towards her friend. She entered an all white space behind the curtains which Esther's mind had created. The room was filled with green plants near the windows, others were hanging around the corner, while her bed was in the middle of the white space room. It was too calming and peaceful inside, which she actually needed the most. Esther was sitting on her bed when Aislah arrived, while Ayden was sleeping on the other bed next to hers, resting, as he had been with her since midnight. "Hey. Is everything alright?" She looked up to see Aislah coming for her. Esther looked so anxious and worried about something as she played with her nails on her hands, trying to calm herself. "T
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Chapter 15: Signs and Logos
Just like what he had said, Elio Freyr was nowhere to be found for the past two days. No one knew where he was, or what he was doing. He didn't even attend any of his classes. No one had accidentally met him, nor bumped into him, there was just no trace of him around the Academy, however, it was just normal for the students to not see him at all because he did that for the past two years when he never showed himself in front of anyone in the Academy. Esther had been in the infirmary since the morning the next day, and that was when Elio Freyr had vanished from everyone's sight. She was brought there with Samson's initiation as what Elio had told him to do, and he was right because Madam Loury had found out about her dangerous situation. "Madam Loury, how is she?" Aislah walked through the door of the infirmary and found Madam Loury seated behind her office desk. It has not been long since she regained her full strength from what had happened when Elio went to the infirmary, but
