A Double System (2)

A tall girl with a stern expression and wavy brown hair stood up.

"I will go."

Mr. Han eyed her.

"You are the young daughter of the Ethest House? Miss Caroline?" He questioned.

"Yes."

"Your family are Devotees of the Goddess Athena, are they not?"

"My father is a bishop of Athena, and I will follow in his footsteps. Testing here today is simply a pretense," She replied, walking towards the chamber doors, "May we begin?"

"Yes, yes, my apologies." Mr. Han chuckled.

Caroline took off her glasses and jacket. She pressed a finger to her IED, causing it to glow, before removing that as well.

'What did she just do?'

[IEDs are removed with a willful surge of Etheria to the main plate. This makes it so that hitting a wrong button or outside interference cannot cause it to fall off. Only by willing it to do so can it be removed.]

'How do I do that?!'

[...May the Gods have mercy on you.]

'Angel!'

As Caroline stepped into the chamber, the door closing behind her, I took a quick look at my IED. I placed a finger on it and closed my eyes, just as she had done, before focusing on the plate and imagining it coming off. Nothing happened.

[This won't do. If you can't get it off we won't be able to get the Etherial surge from testing that could unlock this strange mind of yours. Ugh. How can you have such a low affinity? He won't let you test if that's the case!]

'Can't you help or something?!'

In the midst of our collective breakdown, I glimpsed a bright light from above. The magic circles in the chamber were glowing red, casting Caroline in a rosy light. She yawned and stared up at the ceiling.

"The Etheria gathering runes have been activated," Han said, leaning in towards the glass and over his machine, "Miss Caroline if you feel any major discomfort please give me a thumbs down or wave your hands. Whatever is easiest. I will then deactivate the magic circles."

Caroline nodded and clasped her hands behind her back. The red light continued to glow, and for the next minute many of the students waited with bated breath. Then the light shut off and the chamber doors clicked open. Caroline stepped out.

"I did not awaken." She informed him.

"Seen enough of em' to know," He remarked, "Always react in some way- spazz a little, eyes get glazed over, look in pain, seize up, cause a massive Etherial explosion. The works."

Caroline nodded. "Am I excused?" She asked.

"Yes. I will add your status to the database. And that goes for the rest of you. If you do not awaken you are free to go. If you do, there is some secondary testing we must do."

Caroline walked back towards the metal exit and yanked it open with great effort. It slammed behind her.

"Who's next?" Mr. Han called.

After Caroline things continued smoothly. Out of the nine who had entered the only people who awakened were two girls who reminded me of the headmistress and one boy. The girls had each awakened as augmenters, one as a range augmenter, which I learned meant specialization with bows and other projectile weapons, including lances and tridents, and the other as a Rune Augmenter. Mr. Han was particularly thrilled about the latter. He explained that Rune Augmenters were sought after due to their ability to design magic circles. Anyone could use a magic circle, but only Rune Augmenters and a few other types could create one from scratch without suffering from Etherial overuse.

[Runes are the language of Etheria. It is the bridge between the semi-conscious breath of the universe, and mortal beings.]

The boy had awakened under a System labeled 'Sense Augmenter.' It allowed him to enhance his 5 senses, though it didn't sound like he had access to all of them yet. Just like the others, it was useful, but low level. After each System had awakened Mr. Han immediately performed a dispersion test to determine the level of the System. I learned that there were 5 tiers of system dispersion, 5 being the weakest, and 1 being the strongest, all dependent on science stuff I didn't understand, but Angel kept trying to explain. The Sense Augmenter and Range Augmenter Systems were both Tier 5, while the Rune Augmenter System was a Tier 4.

'Are Augmenters this common?'

[Yes. The farther away from basic human abilities and familiarities a System goes, the rarer it is to appear. Augmenters are the most common, Elementals are next, and finally, Aberrations are the rarest. Devotees are different, obviously. Being a Devotee isn't all-inclusive though. There are elemental Devotees.]

As the final two people went, I continued to mess with the IED as Angel instructed me.

[Focus on your whole body. There is almost no being alive that does not have any Etheria in their system, and I refuse to believe you are one of them. If you concentrate you should eventually feel something flowing, a buzzing sensation around you and in you. Ease the sensation toward your finger, and picture the bracelet being removed. Or just think 'remove!' Anything is worth a shot.]

The last person entered the chamber. I gave the bracelet one more try. Closing my eyes I took a deep breath, tunning everything else out. After a minute, I began to feel something. There was a sensation, but as I tried to pull it towards my finger it felt as if it was resisting. Eventually, I yanked it away, and a flow began from the core of my stomach through my arm and to my hand. My head started to pound. I imagined the bracelet coming loose, flying off, disappearing, anything. A cold sweat broke out on my neck and forehead.

The last person exited the chamber. The bracelet loosened.

[Oh thank the Gods.]

'Why did that hurt?'

Angel didn't respond. It seemed she didn't know either. Mr. Han glanced back at me.

"Last one, huh? Figured you'd be eager to go first Lady Estelle." He remarked, setting up the chamber for the next procedure.

"...Nerves got to me," I replied, taking my jacket off and setting it down with my IED.

The chamber doors opened back up again.

"Whenever you are ready."

I stepped into the chamber and moved to the center of the circle. I heard the doors click shut. Through the glass, I could see Mr. Han typing onto his monitor. He hit a button, and the room turned red, just like it had for the other students. My cold sweat had yet to go away, and I felt dizzy.

'Damn. I thought I'd be okay, but did I really not eat enough?'

I had been fine until now, but there was no mistaking something was wrong. As the light grew more intense my hands began to shake. There was a buzzing sound in my ear and my body felt like it was vibrating.

'Should I tell him to stop?'

[No! No. Bear with it. I'm gaining access. It's working. It will only be another minute or so.]

I blinked, trying to focus my gaze. Mr. Han looked at me, his face unreadable. Was I awakening? He said it could be painful.

'Only if it's high tier though.'

Chances were more likely I just hadn't eaten. Once I was done with this I was going to sprint to the cafeteria and eat the entirety of the buffet. I was willing to fight to the death for a pancake. Or some sliced ham.

A sharp pain passed through my head.

[Almost there...]

'Angel, I don't know.'

My legs felt weak, and it was suddenly hard to stand.

[It's unlocking! 3, 2,]

'Angel!'

[Yes! It i-]

And it was then that everything went white. The red in the room disappeared and my vision blanked. My head was screaming in pain and I coughed, something viscous and wet coming out. I slid to the floor, collapsing on the ground. I couldn't hear anything but ringing. I coughed more liquid. I figured it was blood. My eyes fluttered close. I was exhausted, as if I'd ran a desert without a single break or drink of water. I remembered when I first woke up back in the mansion and felt sick, limbs weighed down and aching.

My mind went dark, and I passed out.

***

The world was still dim and distant when I woke up, but I was beginning to hear voices.

"Let me in! She's my closest friend! Well, one of my closest, but still! Hey- Don't push."

My eyes shot open. Everything hurt. I managed to turn my head in the direction of the commotion. Just past a few white beds was a door guarded by two nurses, and trying to get past them was Li Chen. I opened my mouth to talk. My throat was on fire, full of flames that had built up and gotten caught in my esophagus.

"Li." I croaked, drawing the attention of the two nurses. While they were distracted Li snuck past, running over to me with teary eyes, arms stretched wide.

"Stell!" He shouted, practically ready to throw himself on me before one of the nurses grabbed him from behind. She looked at me with one eyebrow raised as she gripped his shirt and I nodded, causing her to drop him back to the floor.

The older nurse came around the bed and knelt by my side.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, placing a hand on my head.

"Tired," I replied, with a dry cough.

"I would imagine. All your vital signs are stable, but your body was put through an intense shock- I'll spare you the details," She sighed, standing up to check a machine that had three cords coming from it, each of those attached to my body with sticky pads. The pads had varying magic circles on them and were placed on my chest, left arm, and inside of my leg, "I must ask one question, however. Do you happen to have HES?"

"Not that I know of." I replied, confused, "What is that?"

"It's High Etherial Sensitivity. It basically means there is no chance a System can ever awaken within you. You must only live in places with low Etherial saturation, no one can use support Systems on you, and the list goes on. Your reaction wasn't of someone with HES according to Mr. Han, but I can't think of anything else." She grumbled, tapping her finger on the machine. Li Chen had sat down on an empty bed to my right and was staring at me worriedly.

"How did you let this happen!" An angry voice bellowed from the hall, causing the younger nurse to rush over and peek her head out, "What do you mean 'how could I have noticed?' Don? Awakenings don't cause student's internal organs to compress and cough up blood!"

The nurse attending my machine faced the doorway and yelled out.

"Dr. Blighten could you keep it down?!" She cried, hushing the man outside, "I have a young girl in here trying to recover."

Seconds later Dr. Blighten entered through the door, followed by a weary Mr. Han.

"Blighten did I give you permission to come in here," The nurse began, stomping towards him. Dr. Blighten ignored her, rushing towards me as Han buried his face in his hands.

"What was it?" He asked me, eyes frantic and dazed, "What happened in there? Don is being completely useless and I've never heard anything like what he described. Was it an awakening? When did the symptoms start? What were the symptoms? No, when you coughed up blood, did you happen to feel-"

"Mr. Han! Take this man out of here!" The nurse shouted, grabbing Blighten by the collar just as she had done with Li minutes earlier. Dr. Blighten struggled, but once the other nurse and Mr. Han joined forces to help it was over. Blighten was thrown out and the nurse who had been by the door followed him out.

"Young man, Lord Chen, was it? You need to go as well." Mr. Han said, sitting down on a chair across from the bed. Li looked at me.

"I'll see you later." I promised, "Wait for me in the commons, we can go get dinner."

Li stared at me before shooting a glance at the other two in the room. With a sigh, he got up and began to head towards the door.

"You better be there."

The door shut, and I was left with the oldest nurse and Mr. Han. I started to sit up. My limbs still ached but I had enough strength to move. The nurse helped to move a pillow behind my back.

"Lady Estelle," Mr. Han began, clasping his hands and leaning forward, "I apologize for everything that happened. We will do everything in our power to determine the cause of the accident and to keep you safe. My colleague, Blighten, can be a bit...obsessive at times, but I assure you he meant no harm. He is a passionate man who cares for his students."

"Do you have any idea what happened?" I asked.

Mr. Han furrowed his brows, eyes trailing off to the machine and the cords spewing from it.

"That depends," He admitted, "Usually once the initial testing finishes we do a dispersion test to determine tier, but also to verify that a System did in fact appear. Normally I wouldn't do this, but, being a Lady of the Atan family, I will take your word for whatever you say. Did you awaken?"

A silence filled the room, and only the faint hum of equipment could be heard. I gazed down at the sheets.

[Tell them no.]

It was the first time she talked since I woke up. My jaw clenched.

'And why should I listen to you?' I thought. She had known I was in pain and convinced me to keep going. Yes, I could've stopped on my own, but I still felt betrayed. Like someone needed to pay.

[Please, Estelle.]

I had no idea if I'd awakened or not, but from Angel's phrasing, it sounded like something had happened. I pulled my thoughts together and lifted my head.

"No," I said, meeting Han's scrutinizing gaze with a calm expression, "I didn't awaken."

The nurse looked at Mr. Han as Han looked at me. After a moment he relaxed, leaning back with a sigh.

"Guess that's that then. Back to the drawing board," He said, pushing himself out of the chair. "Once the nurse says you are good to go, you can leave. Stop by Hawksthorne sometime soon, I'll buy you lunch or something. Might even convince Blighten to apologize, the proud bastard." He chuckled and then turned to me and bowed, "Ignoring the jokes Lady Estelle, I am truly sorry."

I wasn't sure what to say as he remained bent over in apology.

"It isn't your fault Mr. Han. I went in knowing it was a risky procedure, so yes, I'll come by for lunch sometime." I laughed, truly meaning what I said. I figured it genuinely wasn't his fault, and that it had something to do with my memory loss and Angel.

Mr. Han stood back up and thanked me, giving me one last nod before leaving the room.

I stared up at the screen that had just appeared.

'What?'