Roan Academy Hall is the largest single room in the entire school. A four-level high, 7,022 seat grand theater. The scale of which required the entire thing to be built detached from the rest of the facilities. The kind of ridiculousness that makes anyone wonder just how much funding went into the academy.

Today, the First, Second, and Third-year students have been summoned to gather inside the halls, interrupting their morning scheduled lectures.

“So why are we all here in the auditorium?”

“They probably want to talk about what happened a few days ago.”

“Eh? With what?”

“The capsule blowing up. Did you already forget?”

“Oh yea, I was wondering when they'll let us know about that.”

“I heard that it wasn't an accident ... It was an attack.”

“Dude, what are you saying? You don't know that!”

“The fuck? We were attacked?”

“No, the report says it was only an accident. Stop spreading unnecessary rumors.”

“I'm telling you! And that new kid, he was inside the capsule when it went off.”

“Holy shit!”

“He's dead for sure.”

“Guys hush it. The chairwoman's assistant is here.”

Emilia Vardy, the chairwoman's right hand, walks up on stage. The students are slow to notice her take to the podium as they are sharing gossip about the incident that occurred a few days ago. She taps the mic wasting no time waiting for the noise level to subside.

“Good morning students. Staff members?” She jumps in, immediately garnering the attention of everyone in attendance.

“It has been an exciting start to the year. Our first-year students look like they have already settled in nicely. I hope you all have been diligent in your studies,” she cracks a light smirk.

“You will certainly need it for what's to come.”

Eyes turn to each other as the first-year students try to gauge what the assistant is referring to. As for everyone else, this time of year is all too familiar.

“In a few weeks will mark the end of the term, which means exams are coming up,” She pauses. “For 3 days this academy will run tests to measure by how much your knowledge of magic has improved. Of course, there will be a written portion of the exams which, when combined with your daily assignments, amounts to about two-thirds your overall grades.”

 

“Hey what is this? They just want to remind us about the exams?”

“What about the newbie?”

“Yea, yea. We want to know about the accident.”

Murmurs of dissatisfaction can be heard spurring all over the room.

“The second part of the examination will be point-based participation events, accounting for the remaining third of your grades.” Emilia continues.

The room goes quiet once more, intrigued by what they have just heard.

“The events will be broken into three competitions. A sporting event, pitting you and your fellow classmates against another class of the same year. A survival race, where you will be paired with only a handful of teammates to compete against other teams. So, choose people who will help you make it far in the competition.”

“And finally, one on one mock battles.”

“This is pretty self-explanatory, but I will add that participation in this event is optional. You do not need to take part in it if you are confident that you have already secured enough points toward a passing grade. But I will encourage you to always look for chances to test your individual skills in a fair competition. The rewards will be well worth your efforts.”

The students now sitting at the edge of their seats as they try their hardest to contain their excitement. The chance to put their skills to use in a competition is what most, if not all the students have been eagerly waiting for. 

“Hey, we should form a team.”

“Definitely, we have to win everything!”

“This is exciting. Do you want to team up with me?”

“Me too. Let me join too!”

 

“You have less than three weeks. Now is the time to prepare and prepare well. The school facilities will be made available for a limited time after school hours and our staff members will also be here to address your needs.”

She runs her eyes across the first 3 row seats where all the staff members are located. Essentially letting them know that they will have much longer workdays from here till the end of the term.

“One more thing. Let me take this opportunity to echo the words of the chairwoman herself,” she pauses. “'Do not forget that, in Roan Academy, you are students first before anything else. And while we are all here in Tillmor to achieve our own individual goals, it is still a world foreign to us all ... so the most important part of our job is to ensure the safety of every student.'“ 

“Having said that, I will yield my time to the student council to go over changes to regulations and conduct for the upcoming event.”

“That is all.”

Emilia gathers herself and walks off the stage, leaving behind students to come to terms with the fact that this is pretty much all that will be said relating to the incident a few days ago. Just a gloss over on the importance of safety. And not even the student council secretary who took to the podium after her, nor did a staff member after that, discuss the incident directly.

 

************

 

It is a quiet afternoon and Doctor Carol Reed is returning from a stroll through the hospital's campus grounds. Her hands buried in her coat pocket. A signature look of hers at this point.

“Oh, doctor Reed!” someone calls out. “I was just about to page you. I have the report from the results of the sample tested.”

It is a member of Carol's team carrying with him a slightly larger device than those already seen.

“Alright, run it by me,” she responds.

“We had the sample exposed to various wavelengths of light and it had no reaction beyond the norm. We screened the sample and could not identify a single viral genome from the DNA of thousands of host cells. Everything was all clear, that is … until ... well, take a look for yourself,” he stammers a bit before handing the chart to the doctor.

Carol grabs the report and scrolls through it. “You did an environmental exposure- … eh?” her eyes narrow as something in the report catches her attention.

“Is this accurate?” she asks.

“I ran it a dozen times.”

Carol stares at her colleague, lightly shaking the device in her hand. She is momentarily at odds with a decision she is about to make ...

“Let's raise the med level to three. This test, the report, and all subsequent tests to come are to be kept strictly confidential,” she issues instructions.

“So, I'm not the only one confused by the results? because I have no idea what it all means.”

“Neither do I,” she says, “and that's problematic. Until we fully understand what we are dealing with, this has to remain in a controlled setting, doctor.”

“Understood.”

As Carol and her colleague come to a consensus on how best to handle their research, a figure of someone familiar draws her attention.

“Huh?” Carol points at Teresa walking by. “She's back again.”

“Someone you know?” her colleague inquires.

“Funny thing-” She hands back the device, “that student has been visiting a patient of mine on a regular for ... what? ... a little over two weeks? ... and I have not exchanged a single word with her,” she chuckles.

“It’s customary for physicians to speak with members of our patients’ families and close friends.”

“But she is so hard to approach,” she says, “a little on the stoic side, you know?”

The colleague takes a quick glance at Teresa.

“I mean, I’m not really a good judge of character, but it shouldn’t matter if she is the quiet type, right?”

“Too quiet if you ask me. Sometimes I see her, and I swear, it's like I'm looking at a ghost ...” she pinches her lips

“...” her colleague is caught speechless.

“What? ... Is it that bad?” Carol asks slightly concerned. “It is bad, isn't it?”

Her colleague nods, 

“Yea, that's really fucking horrible,” he admits.

Carol's head drops in shame.

“I knooow! I should not say that about a student … but you saw her, right?” She tries her best to defend herself.

“Am I supposed to say no?” he retorts.

“Heeey, don't joke like that...”

 

************

 

A lone child huddled in the corner under the cover of silent darkness. No creek from the floor or howling of the wind. The only obvious sound in existence is the loud heartbeat stemming from his chest. He takes long-winded breaths to calm himself. His hands over his head and his eyes squinted shut.

With each passing second, he can feel it drawing nearer and nearer until its presence is so overwhelmingly, that the child cannot help but open his eyes to see it ...

 

Their eyes meet.

“…”

Staring at each other in silence while trying to make sense of the scene.

“…”

He is sitting up from his bed, covered in sweat.

“…”

She is leaning over him feeling the coolness of his breath against her neck.

“…”

Her gentle hair caressing his cheek.

He shakes his head to try and regain his senses. “W-who are you?” he asks in a low whisper-like voice.

She remains silent, as if his words do not register.

He breaks eye contact and glances at the room

“Where ... am I?” he asks.

“... The hospital,” she responds in a whisper, subconsciously matching the boy's low tone.

He returns his gaze to her.

“How long?” he asks feeling a bit dazed.

“… a couple of weeks or so,” she says slowly.

“Oh …” he says trying to remember what happened.

They remain close.

The girl leaning over him.

They stare at each other awkwardly.

“I should ... call for a doctor ...” she says.

“... Yea,” he responds.

Silence fills the room again.

“You could … return ... that,” she says looking down at her hand.

He follows her gaze to see his hand latched onto hers tightly.

He looks up to see her staring back at him and immediately releases her hand.

“...Sorry.” He whispers a bit embarrassed. 

“Hm,” she nods and then turns awkwardly towards the door.

She slowly heads for the exit, as if uncertain about leaving.

The automated door slides open and she stares out into the hallway.

“...”

She looks back to see the boy staring blankly at his hand.

“I'm-” she pauses, “… Teresa … uh, O-Olin.”

He looks up to see her waiting by the door.

It takes a moment for her name to sink in and then realizes that she just introduced herself.

“I'm S-Sam ...” he stutters.

“Okay,” she says.

There is another moment of awkward silence again.

Teresa turns in a very stiff manner and walks out.

“…”

The door shuts and Sam's eyes wander around the room in slight confusion.