“Move!”
Instructor Rufus was currently helping the students of Class W1-A with their combat training. Three students charged at him. It was Vargas, Remko, and Narek.
Vargas charged first, swinging his large war hammer to Instructor Rufus. “Raaahh!”
Instructor Rufus dodged the swing, giving Remko and Narek the chance to follow up. Remko was behind him while Narek appeared below him.
Remko thrust his spear while Narek lunged to Instructor Rufus.
Instructor Rufus stepped to the side and grabbed Narek’s hand. “Impatient.”
He threw Narek to Remko, pushing them both away.
Vargas appeared behind him, swinging his war hammer horizontally. `Dodge this!`
Instructor Rufus jumped backward and spun as he punched Vargas in the face.
The three of them went down. “Stand back up. You still have three minutes.”
They clashed again.
The students below the platform were dumbstruck.
“Damn, Instructor Rufus is really awesome!”
“That’s three students at a time! How strong!”
Iria rolled her eyes. Wasn’t that obvious? “Hey, get back to your training!” She reprimanded them for being easily distracted.
She continued training with the dummy in front of her.
After three minutes, Instructor Rufus called out another three students.
“Iria Usenko, Luiz Carrico, Lia Milelli!”
This was his training regime today. He would clash against three students for five minutes, making it 36 students for an hour. Since Zachariel was not around, he would be able to accommodate all of them.
“Again!”
…
A few minutes later.
The students laid on the floor, gasping for air.
“Good, some of you have improved from the last time. There are still some flaws in your combat skills and I hope that you would use the two days to fix a part of those. Understood?”
“Yes sir!”
“Don’t overdo your training. I don’t want students that end up crippling themselves for rushing to gain strength. Class dismissed!”
…
The students returned to their classroom. Luiz slumped to his desk. “How tiring! Will Sir Jonas come again today?”
Unfortunately, they were bound to be disappointed.
Only Instructor Rebecca came.
“I have an announcement.”
The students were dozing off already.
“In our next class, we will be going to the Mage Guild and visit their elemental dimensions to supplement your mana essence cultivation.”
The students became wide awake. `Elemental dimensions?!`
“For those who don’t know, elemental dimensions are a world of their own. They each contain specific mana essences that many students need in their cultivation. The Mage Guild would offer two free visits for freshmen students every month.”
They were amazed. `The Mage Guild is actually this generous?`
“You will only have 1 hour for each free visit. You think it’s long but that’s just too short.”
`Tsk, so what about it?`
As long as they could enhance their strength for free, they would gladly accept it. This instructor was trying to dampen their mood.
“We’ll not be having a test today. I’ll discuss the different types of mana essences in Pandragea.”
The students behaved themselves.
“First, we have the primary mana essences. Fire, water, wind, earth, dark, light, and wood. They could be easily absorbed without much trouble.”
“Next, we have the compound mana essences. Ice, lightning, metal, life, and other mana essences. Although some of them could be found in the environment, you can mix the primary essences and other compound essences that are stored in your body or the environment to form them.”
“For example, lightning would require fire, water, and wind mana essences if you want to conjure it inside your body.”
“Next would be the special essences, space and time. Although they can’t be stored inside oneself, their effects are extraordinary and would be able to overcome other mana essences except for time, as long as one could handle the side effects of manipulating them.”
She discussed more where to get the different kinds of mana essences, and other miscellaneous stuff.
After a whole hour of discussion, she left the classroom.
“Damn, that was so boring!” Luiz yawned and stretched out his arms.
“Yeah, Sir Jonas didn’t come today.” Luka complemented Luiz’s complaints.
“Hey, look at Lia. Her mood’s a bit down today, don’t you think?”
“Zachariel’s not here, that’s why. Otherwise, this classroom should’ve been like a marketplace.” Luka helped out his idiotic friend. `Come on, think about it for a second!`
“Hey, what’s with that remark? Are you annoyed about Lia’s constant blabbering?”
“I am annoyed, but the silent atmosphere is a bit unsettling for me.” Luka nonchalantly replied.
“Is that so? But hey, why is she so close to Zachariel anyway? It’s like she had found the greatest treasure in Pandragea and wouldn’t want to let go of it forever.”
“I don’t know.” Luka shrugged. `Why should we care about her personal feelings towards Zachariel? Are we her father or something?`
“Anyway, at least she’s bothering the likes of Zachariel who’s indifferent to the world. Do you think you could do that, Luiz? After all, the two of you are pretty much the chatterbox.”
“Stop that, Luka. There’s just something wrong with the way she talks. Anyway, hey, Iria!” Luiz called out to her. He was going to make trouble for her again.
“What? I’m trying to cultivate here.”
Luiz was taken aback. `She’s still cultivating?`
He curiously approached her. `Is she really cultivating?`
`Oh, she’s really cultivating!`
Seeing that she was uninterested, Luiz went back to his desk and thought of ways to pass the time until lunch.
“What a boring day.”
He sighed and leaned on his desk, looking at the sky above. `Zachariel, where are you? It’s getting boring without you here.`
…
Zachariel woke up. He looked around the dark room as he slowly raised his body.
“Where am I?”
The door opened and somebody walked towards him. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
“Zachariel, did you know?” Amelia’s voice carried a hint of grief and coldness at the same time.
“What are you talking about?”
“Did you know that Hal is already dead?”
“Huh?! Who’s-!”
At that moment, Zachariel remembered the scene that had happened a few days ago. He remembered the girl named Amelia, and her twin brother Hal.
He held his head as he screamed because of the pain.
“Zachariel, why do you look like you’re in agony?”
Zachariel could not reply to her because the pain was too much for him to bear.
“Why are you screaming so loud?” Amelia’s voice started to echo within Zachariel’s ears. His surroundings started to become fuzzy. `What the hell is going on?!`
“Aren’t you unattached to the world, Zachariel Strom?!”
Zachariel curled up on the bed, rolling sideways as he tried to resist the pain. He groaned to the point that saliva had started to come out of his mouth.
“So why? Why are you in so much pain right now?!” Her grave voice had terrified Zachariel.
“Stop it, please! Amelia!” He screamed in fear.
“Zachariel, did you know?”
“Aahh!” A guilty feeling rose in his heart.
“You’re the reason why Hal died!” She charged at him, lifting her knife, and stabbed Zachariel.
“Stop it, Amelia!” He held her two hands, afraid that she might stab him to death. `Why is she so strong?!`
“Amelia, why are you doing this?” He was having a hard time resisting Amelia’s hands.
“You need to die! Die! Die! Die!” She screamed at him, bringing along intense grief and hatred that shocked Zachariel.
The knife drew closer to him. Zachariel’s eyes widened in fear as his body trembled.
“Amelia, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I should’ve-!” Tears rolled down on his pale face.
“Shut up! It’s too late now, Zachariel Strom! The likes of you should die!” Her body slowly transformed into an unsightly creature. Two additional arms grew on her back. The hands each held a knife.
She stabbed him at his different body parts, repeatedly speaking “Die!” each time the knife penetrated his body.
Zachariel kept apologizing to Amelia as the blood splashed on his horrified face. He could feel the pain in his entire body. The rupturing of his flesh, the bleeding from his wounds, and the continued stabbing unto his body.
Bang!
The door was opened again, and a familiar feminine figure called out to him.
“Zachariel!”
“Help me! Ahhh!”
“Zachariel, snap out of it!”
Zachariel woke up.
“Zachariel! Wake up!”
His breathing was erratic, similar to a hyperventilating person. His muscles had enlarged and the veins could be seen on the surface of his skin. His bloodshot eyes and horrified face had given away the indication that he had experienced an otherworldly nightmare.
He was paralyzed from the fear.
“Zachariel, it’s okay now. Calm yourself!”
The girl held his left hand. He was shocked.
`What’s going on? Why do I feel relieved all of a sudden?`
He looked at the mysterious girl that was beside him. `Who is she?`
He closed his eyes and stabilized himself.
“Victoria, what happened to him?”
Cody and Edward entered the room together. They just entered the Prospect building and wanted to check up on Zachariel.
Victoria jolted and retracted her hands from Zachariel and placed it in front of her chest. She backed away from him while she stuttered to explain what had happened.
“Senior, I just heard him scream so I came to see him and tried waking him up.”
“Scream?” The two approached him.
Zachariel looked at them. `Who are these people?` He
“Jockey, he doesn’t seem to recall who we are.”
Cody nodded. That look in Zachariel’s eyes was similar to someone who met a stranger on his bed when they woke up. `Amnesia? This is weird.`
“Victoria, did he said something while he was still dreaming?” Cody inquired.
“I remember him shouting Amelia’s name and asked forgiveness from her.”
`He remembered her? If he could’ve recollected that scene from 7 days ago, he should’ve also remembered me.`
`Moreover, it looks like a manifestation of his guilt regarding Hal’s death through this nightmare.`
“Senior, what are you doing here? Did Zachariel wake up?” Amelia, Helena, and Sabrina ran over.
Zachariel looked at the three girls. `That girl at the front looks familiar. She was in my dream.`
`Who was she again?`
