Fleeing Across Campus

Aayla peered out through the window while she fought to suppress a budding headache. Several other groups had snuck into the building after them. The first few times, the hooded wizards would back off just as they reached the door. They soon stopped appearing for some reason.

The fighting intensified off in the distance. That area should be the stage for the awards ceremony. Did university security finally react? She suspected that the hooded wizards left to reinforce their friends. The best students of Nafriton were over there. If the hooded wizards had to choose, then they would definitely target those highly prized students than the general student population.

"Should we run now? Those freaks haven't been around here in a while."

"No way! They were toying with all of us out there. The only reason why they would back off is to trick us into coming out again."

"It's definitely strange that they would just let all of us reach safety. But why lead us here then suddenly let us go? They could have easily taken us all out earlier."

"Clearly, something's happened to distract them. We need to move now so that we're not rats stuck in a trap."

The arguments around her continued. Should they stay or should they go? Many wanted to risk it, but others didn't. Whenever someone tried to pull open the door to leave, others would stop them. They didn't want the barrier around the building to disappear.

Without warning, the fighting in the distance stopped. Aayla switched to a different window to get a better view. Her new view was poor so she still couldn't see anything in the distance. When she placed her ear to the glass, she couldn't hear the sounds of battle.

"Something's changed! I can't hear the battle outside anymore."

The windows were instantly crowded with curious faces. Aayla was quickly pushed back by older students. Jacki pulled her aside so the other students wouldn't crush her.

"It's quiet now. We should run while we have the chance."

"No! It's probably already too late, or a trap. Besides, those weirdos could easily catch up with us."

"Still, if we want to try then we need to go now."

The squabbles between the students grew more intense. Jacki dragged Aayla back to their group where the third- and fourth-years talked amongst themselves.

"What are we going to do?"

"We can't stay here, but going outside is too risky with the underclassmen. They can't move, hide or fight as well as we can."

"Tch. We should have run when those hooded jerks first disappeared."

"Even if we did, there's no guarantee that they wouldn't have caught up with us."

"It's failing! The barrier around this building is failing!"

Someone shouted as they pointed towards the window. The golden light had started flickering at some point. Off in the distance, other barriers were failing as well. Students began to stream out of them and flee in other directions.

"It's losing energy. The barrier's not going to last for long."

"The ones over there are too!"

"Wait! Not all of them are going down. If you look out the windows on the opposite side, those ones are still working."

"Darn it. We have no choice. Everyone get out! We need to move while we still can."

The frightened mob rushed out the door towards other buildings. Aayla was pushed along with the Halcyon students. Something didn't feel right, but there wasn't any time to think. A few minutes after getting into another building, its barrier started to fade as well.

Students kept moving from one building to the next. Now the barriers started to fall just when the students arrived. Many sensed that something was wrong, but couldn't figure out what it was. Their terrified companions wouldn't exactly listen to them right now, anyways.

Aayla easily kept pace with the other Halcyon students. Even with magic, Aayla's physical stamina was much better than theirs. She even dragged the much slower Jacki behind her to keep pace. The growing crowd of students found their way towards the inner most parts of campus.

With more students joining them, Aayla's sense of dread kept growing. Then she realized that the faculty and staff was missing. The students were being herded like a flock of frightened sheep. She tugged on the sleeve of a third-year.

"Something's off. The barriers are giving out just in front of us. All of the remaining students are rushing to follow the decreasing number of safe places. It's like we're all being herded into one place."

"It's fine. You're over thinking things. Something must have been damaged or is blocking the power supply to the buildings which is causing a cascade power failure."

"Someone managed to set up magic formations all over campus. Do you seriously believe that the barriers failing is a mere coincidence?"

"The security of the power source of the defense mechanisms is on a totally different level. There's no way that anyone could get their hands on it. With the fighting going on near the stage, it's much more likely that something got damaged."

"But –"

"We'll be fine! Just keep running and don't focus on anything else."

Aayla lightly nodded as a frown formed on her face. She still didn't feel right, though Aayla couldn't tell if the cause was her nerves or the increasing amount of mana around them. Her ears kept popping and Aayla began to feel sick. This was way too much for her to handle.

Fortunately, their next hiding spot was a medical office. The barriers for these buildings had their own backup power. Still, it didn't keep the mana out. Aayla hadn't encountered mana this concentrated before. Her eyes lit up as an idea popped into her head.

"Aayla, are you alright? You're looking a bit green."

Jacki handed her a bottle of water for Aayla to take a sip from.

"It's just my medical condition acting up. There's a lot of mana building up in this area. I just need a few minutes to catch my breath."

"Do we have any medical students here?"

A young lady from another group walked over.

"I'm a fourth-year healing magic major. What's wrong? Oh."

The healer in training took a look at Aayla then began asking a barrage of questions. How long have you been feeling ill? What are your symptoms? Those sorts of questions. Aayla got paler by the minute.

"It looks like the beginning stages of mana poisoning."

Jacki and the other Halcyon students looked stunned. They hadn't seen a case of mana poisoning in forever. Those capable of going to Nafriton typically had a high resistance to mana related illnesses.

"I have a medical condition that prevents me from properly regulating mana. Could you please excuse me for a minute? I need to focus on my artifact or it won't work properly. It helps me manage my condition."

Aayla closed her eyes and focused on the New Moon bracelet. It could absorb the mana around her to lessen the pressure. She carefully limited its reach to the area just around her. This provided a bit of relief. Several other students watched intently. They had never heard of a medical condition or artifact like what Aayla had.

The healer in training rummaged inside the cabinets for something to at least stop Aayla's nausea. At this time, the barrier started to fail. Startled, Aayla stopped the greedy New Moon bracelet from sucking up more mana.

"What's going on? Did I cause that?"

The other students shook their heads.

"No. Your artifact doesn't have enough power or range to take down the barrier. Something must be affecting the backup power."

Aayla heaved a sigh of relief and focused on the New Moon Bracelet again. She had to constantly keep an eye on it to prevent it from going crazy. Like a greedy cat in a fish market, the bracelet kept pushing to go wild and devour the food around it.

"I found the problem! There's an issue with the backup power source. I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with it, but it's not going to last for much longer."

As the barrier started to fail around them, the group of students began to flee again. Unfortunately, Aayla couldn't run or do anything else while managing the New Moon Bracelet. Mana control was still her biggest weakness.

When the barrier completely failed, Aayla decided to stay inside for a bit. Jacki decided to stay with her, while the others decided to move on. They barely knew Aayla and dangerous intruders could attack at any time, so she didn't really blame them. Though Aayla was still a bit upset at being left behind.

On the bright side, there were less people that she had to hide her condition from. The girls sat in silence while Aayla continued to manipulate the New Moon bracelet. Jacki set next to her and slowly rubbed her back. Color eventually returned to Aayla's face.

Then the pressure instantly vanished. The medical building flickered to life again along with other buildings in the distance. Aayla hurriedly stopped the New Moon bracelet before it tried to sink its teeth into the building's energy supply.

"The power's back on! The university should have everything under control now."

Instantly the medical office went dark as the pressure returned.