She jolted awake from her sheets in a daze. A young woman in her wrinkled school uniform looked around, trying to understand what was happening. The room was clean; the only other person was tucked within his covers. Memories of last night filled her mind with dread and embarrassment. Of all the people she had to be locked together with, it had to be this boy, a friend she made liked during the summer break.
He had a calm face without a care in the world. The young woman wondered if she was that peaceful a moment ago dreaming. If only this was a dream, then she could understand it then. Golden chains wrapped around her waist shined, fading in and out of existence, gaining solid form one second and becoming nothing the next.
She was contemplating if she should wake him up now by pulling the chain or let him have what might be his last peaceful dream. She sat down with her back against the bed, her hands pressed against her reddening face from last night's flashbacks dancing in her mind.
Last night was not the best reunion for them to find each other screaming in each other's embrace. They let go and backed away in a hurry, only to be stopped and fall to the ground by a shining golden chain that pulled them closer together even as the boy clawed at the ground in surprise.
They were brought back to back and couldn't move as the golden chain weaved around and through them until they fell to the side. After 5 minutes of pointless struggle, they both calmed down. The golden chain slackened, changed to grey irons and faded away as if it was never there.
The both of them calmly got up and walked slowly in the opposite direction until they sat down on different beds facing each other. Looking at each other's haggard expression and sigh. The boy was the first to act. He slapped his cheeks and smiled back at the young woman.
"Well, it's great to see you again so soon, Gloria. I didn't know you went to this school too." Said the young man. His smile and confidence seemed genuine but the rest of his body was still trembling. He continued to let out a nervous laugh and rub the back of his head while closing his fearing lifeless eyes.
"Same, it was really a shock that we ended up together the way we did. Sorry about screaming in your face a moment ago, Aidan." Said Gloria sheepishly. She could feel her face burning red. She was embarrassed from both of their shock and fear from when they were dragged into the shadows by the chains. She was hoping it was less of a turn-off for him than it was for her. She was a little revealed that she got to see a moment of weakness that they got to share together. The only problem was how to make sure nothing happened like this to her again.
"I wasn't inspiring or a manly figure either a moment ago. Gripping and clawing the ground when we were pulled together. I might as well have been an old cat that didn't want to move." Said Aidan in a self-deprecating voice. He stopped rubbing the back of his head and held the front with it instead. Letting his hand block his eyes and calming him down in a relaxed, hunched pose. He doesn't want to look weak in front of Gloria, but the stress and anxiety from a feeling of death was still too fresh for him.
"Well, I guess it wasn't too shocking of behavior after what happened with those women moments ago." Gloria reached out and held on his shoulder in a reassuring manner, slowly rocking him back and forth. She let a slight sadistic smile slip from the cute pose that made him look like a little animal that would depend on her. She thought that maybe this wasn't so bad, but shook her head and decided that wasn't the time for this.
"Hey, how do you think those monstrous women did all that reality-warping things?" Questioned Aidan, shaking the golden chain that turned solid within his grasp before it darkened once again and faded. He finally calmed down enough to look Gloria in the eyes for the first time since they had said their goodbyes at the station after those fireworks they shared together. He almost slipped out of the current reality before gaining his focus again.
"No real clue, seemed like some kind of magic, maybe." Gloria was wondering if such a thing was still possible or even worth the effort. Would what they showed tonight have taken tens of years to prepare for if that was their mode of attack?
"Magic? Do you mean with people as the conduit? Wasn't that practice deemed unnecessary and backward?" Aidan didn't understand how magic was able to do something like this. In the history books he studied, they were grand feats that could be done to the landscape and the elements, but messing with life in the manner that they showed moments ago went against his common knowledge. It told him how little he really knew and was slowly changing his worldview. How could they do those feats when the human figure was the processing conduit for the formula of actualization? Wouldn't it fail or fry their brains? They only laughed while looking down on him and his meager understanding.
"Maybe from the kingdom's scholars did, but look at what those women did to us. It seems versatile enough." Gloria didn't know what more to say to explain what she herself said. She didn't know and could only offer a smile back in frustration.
"But wasn't that why the king had runes, magic circuits, and so on implemented for engineering and versatility to not harm the user and lack of manpower needed?" Aidan thought of the technological revelation that had happened within the last 50-odd years, but he could only see the progress that had been made and not regression. But if so, why was tonight so different?
"I think you really mean take power away from other powers and raising standards of civilian living." Gloria was frustrated that this conversation was leaning into a political debate of powers and rights, but she felt it was important to make the distinction.
"I don't want this to become a debate." Aidan was about to throw his arms in the air if they were going to have another debate like every other lunch they had together and ruin the momentum of their conversation.
"Sure, what are we going to discuss next?" Said Gloria; she looked around the room and out the window in the dark night. "How beautiful the blood moon is?" Its haunting glow made all the world die in its blood-colored light only to make the night seem more than cursed with evil.
"Look, that might be a clue. I mean, they are a group of women that use magic, right?" Aidan said, while jumping to his feet. He was pacing back and forth. He knew that this had to be something. It was on the tip of his tongue, but the thought didn't come to mind.
"And what groups would that break them into then, huh?" Gloria questioned in frustration as she watched Aidan's pacing speed up.
"Well, if I remember from history class, that would be sorceresses, spiritualists, en-trances, or witches if they were all human," Aidan said, stopping in place and looking down at Gloria. He was confident that the attackers were only human. Their mocking face was still fresh in his mind.
"The leader called them sisters, and they didn't look like vampires, so maybe a coven of witches." Said Gloria in a less ambitious guess. She thought how bad their luck truly was if they really are witches. It would be better to deal with vampires instead, she thought.
"Vampires? Wouldn't we already be dead if... Well, witches are not much better from a historical standpoint."
"I wouldn't know much about that. History put me to sleep."
"But history is.." Aidan said, cutting himself short as he saw the light in Gloria's eyes slowly dim from a lack of interest.
"I know, but I can't stand the teachers that teach it. Not even you can make it interesting enough for me." Gloria's eyes were getting heavy from only mentioning the subject.
"Fine, but what subject do you prefer then, Gloria?" Questioned Aidan in slight frustration in thinking of a better way to wake Gloria up. His thoughts were still racing and he didn't what to be left alone yet.
"Magical engineering. Seeking out treasure and the new horizons that wait there. Is there anything better to learn from this institution in all of the Kingdom?" Said Gloria, her mind and body reinvigorated at the mention of the topic.
"Ugh, I wonder how that will change with the supposed witches having us by this literal leash?" Aidan said with thoughts of the foreboding future that lies ahead.
"You don't think they will not teach magical engineering this semester, then?" Gloria said, with a hint of panic. She was really looking forward to those classes that she finally qualified for this year.
"Didn't they say something about that for class tomorrow?"
"True." sighed Gloria. Her thoughts starting to wonder if she might have a chance to study in the library even with the witches wondering around like would be tyrants.
The two grew quiet and looked around the room. The golden and grey chains only wrapped around their waists, not restricting their general movement around the room anymore. They didn't know what to make of it, but they thought that they could potentially have some peace of mind when having to use the restroom to water some flowers.
"Hey, do you think we will be able to get our things back tomorrow? I mean, we are in new rooms now?" Said Aidan while scratching his head, looking aimlessly.
"If they let us live past breakfast. Sure, why not?" Said Gloria. Her sarcasm only further showing her retreat from the reality of the moment.
"That kind of can-don't attitude will not get us anywhere right now."
"Maybe petrified at best."
"You know what? You have a point. Let's sleep on it." Said Aidan as he kicked off his shoes and climbed into his bed, facing away from Gloria's mopping figure. He lifted his sheet over his head and closed his head.
Gloria sat down, rocking back and forth for a minute while her thoughts raced.
How can he sleep like that? Why did he have to leave me alone and dream now? Can I even do anything about my situation?
She sat down on her bed and turned her head to the window to see the red moon glow ominously off in the distance. She sits up and slips out of her shoes. She claps her hands, and the lights go out. Her mind continue to run laps with questions until the voice of Aidan came across the room.
"Hey Gloria, let me tell you about how the Kingdom was founded in the 437th year of the calendar. At the time distrust and confusion was plaguing the land as the resurgence of ghouls," said Aidan in a monotone monologue. From the thought of learning history Gloria's thoughts slowed down and her mind began to slowly drift. Only the stars' brilliance faintly lights the room from the window.
Aidan goes back under his sheets and lets his mind fade into the darkness.
If only she could sleep, but these were nothing but memories in her waking nightmare of reality.
She removed her hands from her face and got. Gloria gently turns around and shakes Aidan awake. "Time to seize the day. Wake up. We have to get ready. You don't want to be late for a witches class, do you?" Questioned Gloria.
"I'm up!" Aidan said. He was fighting a losing battle with his bedding. He fell to the floor but somehow emerged from the cloth like a mystical being born into the world from a flower.
"How do you pull that off?" Gloria questioned at the weirdly talented showmanship she just witnessed.
"I don't know what you mean. Didn't you say something about being late?" Aidan said, dodging her snide remark out of a complex.
"Fine, let's go. If any of the girls are dolled up today, I will give them applause."
"That will be a riot. Mind if I join you?"
"Go ahead, but they might hate you for it."
"It's all in good fun."
"Suite yourself."
They both walked out the door and into the long hallway. They found themselves amongst the sea of students that flowed all in one direction down the hall and out of the dorm. They all marched in rhythm, with the swaying of a golden chain pulling them along.
