STUDENT QUARTERS, DAY

***

I could feel the blood that dripped down the palms. The sheer force with which my nails dug into them had drawn blood. But that did not matter right now. No.

My whole body was trembling. My brain was out cold.

I didn’t know what to do with this. This situation. That had suddenly surfaced out of the blue. It felt like an ominous premonition before a total sh*tshow. I placed the remote back on the centre table.

‘What should I do NOW?!’

The glass of the table reflected the screen of the television.

“Breaking News! Coming all the way from the Southern Cravian Ocean. Our sources have just informed us that, out of this year’s batch of hundred honour students from Cravia who were making their way to Galia, sixteen students have been kidnapped.”

“The names of the students are as follows: Emily Bromkins, Denver… and

Kyle Menderz.”

***

Twelve Hours Earlier

“Here’s your student id and this would be your Pay card.”

“Thank You, Mr. Miller.”

Thanking Mr. Miller, I walked out of his workstation. But I noticed the door opening again to reveal Miller coming out of his office.

“Ah, Reid, it seems that I forgot to mention. Take your ID to the reception and the Pay Card too. You will be allotted your room based on it.”

“Oh, thank you again Mr. Miller.”

“Don’t mention it. Besides, if my wife knew that you were being troubled on your first day here, She would have had me crucified.”

“Ah! How is Mrs. Jennifer? Is she stable now? How’s her condition?”

On the mention of his wife’s condition Miller’s expressions soured down.

“Jennifer… She is doing much better; All thanks to your father.”

“I am sure it's nothing. What good is money if it can’t help take care of your family?”

“But still… “

“Mr. Miller all of us know how Mrs. Jennifer took care of us. I don’t know if I could even be standing in front of you if it weren’t for her love.”

“Fine… I give up.”

I gave him a warm hug and headed back to the reception.

Mr. Miller was a tall man with a pumped up body. Black skinned and a buzzcut made him the equivalent of some heavyweight boxer. And as they say looks can be deceptive. Such a fearful body but the heart of a child.

He used to work in the DC’s office i.e under my father. He didn’t actually work with father in person. They could be called acquaintances at most. But the same couldn’t be said for Jennifer.

Jennifer had a unique personality. She was the warmest person that I had ever met in the entire world.

It was always a mystery to me how a person could always keep smiling. Either she was too cunning or she was just like this naturally. Smiles are deadly because they are contagious and her smiles were no exceptions.

To Reid who had never seen his mother, Jennnifer was the closest thing to mother that he could ever understand. Mrs. Jennifer was a piano teacher.

Life in a high society isn’t easy. A person had to suffer through continuous criticism and hypocrisy of every other mouth that could utter a syllable. Here, etiquettes and manners also included learning about various forms of dances, brush strokes in a painting and much more.

Jennifer came from a middle class background and had zero knowledge about the basic mannerism and to top it off she was clumsy too. But despite all these seeming ‘defects,’ no one had once ever disrespected or insulted her.

It was just who she was.

But today that same smiling sunflower was withering away. Jennifer had been diagnosed with [ Carilosoma ].

***

When the second wave came, it shook the entire world. Unlike before where the First Wave took place only in Galia. The Second Wave also affected the mainland of Cravia. It brought with it the revolutionary ‘Mana and Mines.’

At first it didn’t look like much had changed. So no one could speak with certainty when the phenomenon started. Later historians argued that it had occurred over a period of a decade. But that didn’t matter because something which should have never been there was discovered.

The First [Mine] was discovered. And with it came the change.

[Mine] as the name suggests were sites where various kinds of precious minerals and resources could be excavated from. Earlier, to discover a natural mine, people had to approximately predict where these mines could be located and eventually shafts were dug out and excavation was then carried out.

[Mines] like the naturally occurring previous mines would be situated beneath earth's surface. They were spacial portals that connected Earth to mysterious places of the universe. Paces which had never been discovered or heard of previously. It was infamously named

The [Netherworld].

[Netherworld] could be argued as a boon or a bane.

Boon, because it introduced us to the most famous and efficient fuel energy that had ever been discovered, [Quontan].

Bane, because it made our worst fears come true. Mythical and menacing creatures that had never been heard before or were used as a medium to scare kids had now come true.

Goblins, orcs, elves, dwarves.

You name it and chances were that there was a place for them in the [Netherworld].

Though there existed a diversity in the races and species all throughout the [Mines]. One thing was common across all of them, they were hostile towards us. Very Hostile. Modern weapons like guns and grenades were useful for weaker creatures in the [Mine]. But for the stronger ones they were essentially a waste.

That was the time when [Mana] made its entrance. All of a sudden, scores of people started reporting that they could do Magic? Things that were previously physically impossible now seemed to become a breeze.

This was also the time when the ‘Humans’ that lived in Galia now became ‘Intellica.’ And they were all to thank the fatal and fear-inducing [Quietus] for all of it.

Major changes that had taken place in the Human body during the First Wave of [Affliction] became the basic requisites for someone to develop a [Mana Core] and perform [Mana Arts].

But not all the people could assimilate with the sudden change of the energy on earth. They soon started getting sick. Jennifer also faced the same situation. The disease was named in the honour of the first ever patient to have been diagnosed with it and the President of the [Front] then, Carillo Somani.

Though there now existed a method to cure [Carillosoma]. It was far too expensive to actually avail it. When Jennifer contracted the disease in DAY, Miller tried everything in his power to help her.

In desperation, Miller knocked on the doors of his previous employer, the DC’s office Carrwen Danquers. Father oh-so-generously agreed to pay for Jennifer’s treatment. Later when it was heard that Miller had been appointed as an instructor in DAY, he was subtly asked to ‘take care’ of me. To which he happily agreed.

***

PRESENT DAY

Taking a deep breath in, I reprimanded myself.

‘Control yourself. Just calm down and think.’

‘If Kyle is killed during the kidnap… then its well and good. But if… No, there are too many possibilities and too much at stake. I can’t just leave the situation like this. But I thought that I acted just like Reid must have. What have I done wrong? Let's not overthin-’

“AH! F*CKING BUTTERFLY EFFECT! I’ll personally kill the bastards who did this.”

***