Cyrus Solaris
A couple of days have passed since our first group test. Rankings came out, and our group was ranked forty-fifth out of fifty.
Pathetic, really.
Since then, I got kicked out of my luxury dorm and thrown into one that made the campsite my father and I slept in look like a palace. The workload of my astrophysics, physics, mathematics, computer science, and chemistry classes increased. I felt like I was being buried with tasks; it made me appreciate my father's teaching style much more.
He had a way of calmly guiding me through material; at the time, it felt slow, but I think that was just his way of making sure I had a full grasp before we went forward.
Astronomer classes were on a different level. I thought they'd be easy. I was wrong, painfully wrong.
I liked the idea of looking at the stars, being mesmerized by their beauty. But being an astronomer was far more than just stargazing. Many of my housemates reminded me of that, as they picked up the material faster than I did.
At times, I questioned whether I truly liked astronomy or if it was just a random hyperfixation I had when I was little.
Now that my star phase class was finished, I finally had a little time to kill. I pushed off meeting with the academy nurse for far too long; my blisters were getting worse. I was too used to the scale of the eternal hydra healing my wounds; I never put much thought into how long injuries could linger on.
I had to make it a priority; the burns were getting in the way of my training. The bots were landing hits they normally wouldn't, which gave Mira the perfect excuse to mock me more than usual.
Making my way to med bay, I realized that I hadn't spent much time in the eastern pavilion of the main Isle. It housed a general study area, along with a courtyard that housed monuments and statues with vibrant trees, reminiscent of some from the Slytharion Astral Neutral Zone.
As I walked closer, I spotted something odd. A single student is lying down awkwardly in the middle of the courtyard.
The kids' eyes were puffy, with dark rings lining their eyelids. I looked around, and no one else was there. How long had he been like this? Had he gotten into a fight? Did he pass out… or worse?
I put my fingers on his neck. There was a pulse. I lifted the kid, placed him over my shoulder, and walked through the courtyard. I kept finding myself looking over my shoulder to see who was around. Gravisense picked up nothing either.
It all just felt weird.
When I got to the medbay, the nurse in charge was running around like her head was cut off.
Never would have expected it to be this busy. No one talks about going to see the nurse. But it seemed like a lot of students put up the facade here at Xhatal.
After a few moments of waiting with the kid on my shoulder, a nurse finally came to see me.
She looked familiar.
"How may I help?"
"Well…I found this kid passed out in the courtyard."
"Bring him here," she said, gesturing for me to come through the doors that separated the treatment center and the waiting room. With the kid now placed on the bed, the nurse hovered her hands over the student.
Her hands emitted an emerald green light. "Do you know what's wrong with him?" I asked.
"Well, it seems like he is suffering from exhaustion."
"Does this happen often?"
"It happens here and there, but it's been more frequent recently." Her statement relaxed me a bit, realizing maybe I wasn't the only one who was having a rough go at it.
"Is there anything I can do to make sure I don't suffer the same fate?"
The nurse activated her dimensional storage and pulled out something that looked like a berry.
"Here, this is what I have been treating the students with. It's a rhodisandra berry. It helps reduce your stress hormones and increases energy levels and mental clarity." But before she let me have it, she examined my arms. She yanked me over and made me sit on a desk.
"You were so worried about the kid, but you seem to be in worse shape." She made me take off my academy jacket and placed her hands on my burns. Her sharp green eyes scanned my arms as her emerald light glowed on me.
Earlier, I wasn't sure, but memories resurfaced like a bad lunch, and I had to ask.
"Miss, do you have the tree of life constellation?"
She gave me a faint smile, "Do you recognize it?"
"I do… kinda."
"You are a keen student, most lump us all together with the Elder tree sage, did you know someone with the tree of life?"
"My late older brother also had the constellation." She said, tracing my arms with her emerald light.
"We were very close but drifted apart."
"Still… I'll always be indebted to him. If he hadn't paid for my schooling, I never would have left the Valador region or made it to Xhatal Academy."
Bile filled my throat. And my stomach sank. "You alright, hun?" the nurse asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The blisters just hurt."
Fine? How could I be fine? The person mending my injuries was Adam's younger sister.