Regaining Consciousness
Professor Nebi, ascended from the forest clearing using his broomsticks towards the Academy Castle.
Lucien is sleeping and is now being carried by his magic carpet to the same direction.
Professor Nebi created an ID badge earlier using a vacant emergency badge. He inscribe Lucien's name in it and pricked Lucien's finger and drop some blood on the Key-shaped badge before attaching it to his Academy robe.
Upon entering the Academy barrier, Professor Nebi landed on the courtyard.
"Reformidant!"
His broomsticks transformed into a keychain which he attached to his belt. He then entered the great hall.
It seems like the section selection is now over and all the students are now on their respective classrooms. The Great Hall is now vacant.
He proceeds to one of the doors on the wall of the Great Hall. Its seven torches illuminating the path. Upon entering, the door teleported them on one of the towers of the castle where the infirmary is located.
"Professor Nebi, what happened?"
An elderly woman wearing a nurse uniform and a white mage hat approached the professor and Lucien on the magic carpet as they reached the infirmary.
"Professor Midca, this student cast an Auxilium spell earlier. I found him unconscious in one of the clearings of the Forest of the Lost. I immediately found him upon following the blue orb." Nebi explained.
"Here Professor, to this vacant bed."
Professor Midca gestured. The magic carpet fly towards the bed and the infirmary nurses carefully transfer Lucien to the bed.
The Academy Infirmary is located in one large room in the west Tower of the castle. Rows of vacant beds are here, ready to cater medical needs in case necessary.
Magic is not really that safe. Specially new spells when being learned. Some mistake in incantations or casting can result to an error.
"Professor Midca, what is wrong with this student?" ,one of the nurses asked.
Professor Midca took her wand and cast a spell.
"Diagnostica!"
A ray of green light swirl from the professors wand toward Lucien now transferred by the nurses to the bed.
"It seems like he is not wounded anywhere. But his energy is very much drained. He needs to rest. " She said.
"Take some Restoration potion from the pharmacy room. We need to give him some to aid his recovery." She said to the nurse which immediately went out to take the said potion.
"Professor, what could have happened?" Professor Midca asked Professor Nebi.
"I am not so sure for now. When he is lying at the forest, he is surrounded by a protective barrier. Maybe he was attacked by something from the outside?" Nebi suggested.
"But how can his energy be so drained to the limit?Simple barrier magic spells doesn't take that much amount of energy," Midca responded.
"Well, it is possible, if he used his energy to maintain the barrier when being attacked from the outside. That location is the area of the Pixies. Maybe they hurled him some enchanted energy balls." Nebi hypothesize.
"That is possible. But let us wait for him to wake up. Asking him will make the situation much clearer. It is good that you found him fast before his barrier is broken. Something worst could have happened. News about vampire wolves are circulating lately. Some Non-Magus were attacked and were severely wounded." Professor Midca said with worry.
"Professor, here is the potion you requested." One of the nurses approached.
"Thank you." She replied , took the potion and went to Lucien. He tilted his head a little, lifting it slightly, before pressing the potion bottle to his lips. She carefully allowed the potion to flow to his mouth. The yellow-colored potion disappears as it touches his lips. It is like being absorbed by his lips towards his body.
"He will be awake soon.. let's allow him to rest." Professor Midca suggested.
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I struggle to move for awhile. It is quite cold here. I slowly opened my eyes. It is dark.
"Where am I?"
I regained consciousness in a forest.
The fog is thick. It is a familiar place.
"Is that a lantern?"
I approached the familiar light from afar.
"Hello? Who are you?"
The lady holding the lantern turned her gaze towards me.
"Lucien....you are chosen to do something big...trust in yourself. I believe in youuu... youu...yooo...hoo...booo..booo.."
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Booo! Booo! Kring! Kring!
Booo! Booo! Kring! Kring!
*I rolled out of bed. Breathing heavily. Is that what I am thinking it is? Yeah it is another ghost-like alarm clock with a ring and shouts booo,booo!
"Hey how do you turn this clock off?!"
One of the lady wearing a white uniform is holding a ghost-looking alarm clock.
"Smack it! Why did you buy that without knowing how it works?" the other lady wearing white shouted. The first lady smack the alarm which immediately turned-off.
"Well, it is very much popular nowadays from the Any-Shop's Nonsensical Collections." She smiled before scratching the back of her head.
"Aww awwts" I sit back to the bed while rubbing my back. Their focus shifted to me.
"Oh you are awake!" The ladies approached me.
"Uhmm.where am I?" I asked
"You are at the Infirmary. Professor Nebi brought you here." The first lady responded
.
"Wait here, I'll just call Professor Midca."
The second lady said. She went out to the end of the room where an office seems to be at, and came back with an old lady wearing a white nurse uniform and a mage hat.
"Ohh..you are awake my Dear. My name is professor Midca. First time here at the Infirmary?" She asked.
Pondering. Yes. It is my first time to enter the academy infirmary. So far, I haven't encountered any mishaps in the past two years of my study here.
"Ah. Yes, Professor." I responded.
"So what happened to you? Anything painful?" She asked.
"What happened to me?hmmm.."
I tried to recall what happened. My head aches as some flashes of memory come to mind. It is not full. Just fragmented.
"I cannot fully recall professor. There is a red light. Some glowing red light. It is everywhere. But I cannot fully remember where it came from." I explained.
"I see. I see. Maybe the Pixies really played some tricks on you. They are mischievous when playing around. They even mess with their victim's memories." She said nodding
"Pixies?" I asked. Then the professor explained their earlier hypothesis.
"So they possibly hurled some of their tricky balls huh. Is it red in color?" I further asked.
"Well, it depends on the type of Pixies. Blue pixies hurls blue energy balls. They usually have water properties that can make you cold when you got hit."
"Yellow pixies, they hurls an orangy energy balls. These are hard and stony in properties and can cause bumps when it hit you inthe head. "
"Lastly are crimson pixies. They throw red energy balls. These have properties of fire. Sometimes they can cause minor burns." The professor explained.
" Are you sure you are not hurt anywhere?"
I try to assess if something is painful in me.
"Yeah. My back. Hehe. A little only. I was shocked by some alarm clock earlier." I replied.
The two nurses look at each other and play some innocent look as professor Midca stares at them.
"But I am fine. Just a little tired." I said.
"Get some rest. Your energy was drained earlier. Maybe you struggled with the Pixies really. You can stay for the rest of the day. We will notify your family so they can pick you up later." Professor Midca suggested.
"Thank you professor!", I replied before resting back to bed. The nurses and professor Midca leave my bedside and proceed to their office at the end of the room. I was left pondering about the red light.
"Those are pixies huh?" I ponder while looking at the Infirmary ceiling. There are lots of glowing stars up in the ceiling. They mimick the night sky. I think they help in having a good rest.
I reached out my right hand to trace some pattern across the ceiling.
"Huh. What is this?"
On the middle of the back of my right hand, a small discolored skin with the shape of around five swirling pattern can be seen.
"Did I have this mark before?" I pondered some more. Mages have special marks at the back of their hands. As far as I know, it distinguishes them from Non-Magus.
"I though I have my mark on my left hand?"
I raised my left hand to check. At the back of it on the middle, a small mark with the shape of single swirl can be seen.
I rubbed my eyes to check if my visions are playing on me. And upon looking at my right hand again, there is no mark anymore.
"Am I hallucinating? Yeah right. A wielder cannot have two marks after all!
After a moment of thinking, I already felt my eyes getting heavy. I am not sure if it is due to what happened or those starts at the ceiling are calling me to sleep.
I can feel that my strength is still not stable. After a while, my eyes and my body drifted to the dreamworld without me noticing.
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As Lucien sleeps, a five swirl pattern reappeared at the back of his right hand. It glowed with different colors. It glowed bright before it disappeared again like it's not there in the first place.