Nova's blood ran cold. In the middle of the chamber lay a rotting man in a cradle of wires, his bloated, discolored body resembling a bruised grape. His limbs were sprawled, hands and feet dangling limply over the edges. His chest cavity was torn open, organs gone, and the panel on the right side of his skull, where sockets had been inserted, was ripped out.
Nova screamed, his voice a series of incoherent, desperate noises. He banged his hands on the floor, frantically darting his eyes around. His body… there must be something… he thought, rushing over to Nikola's decaying corpse. Shaking, he tried to move the body. "Come on, Niko, you must have something for me," he muttered, but his unsteadiness caused a boil on Nikola's chin to pop. Nova immediately recoiled and vomited on the floor.
That did NOT just happen. He stumbled into the chemistry lab, using an emergency shower and old rags to clean himself up. Regaining his composure, he headed for the library.
Wisdom floated in the air as if in an invisible hammock, engrossed in a book Nova had given her. She turned her attention to him as he entered.
"Back so soon?" she asked, hovering over to him.
"Shut up," Nova muttered, walking toward a bright red box bolted to a wall with a small pull switch labeled EMERGENCY. He grabbed the outer handle and poured his manick joules into it. A glow traveled through his hand and across the handle, spreading through the glass. The box began to rumble in its frame before shattering. Although the shards flew everywhere, they only made it about a meter from their origin.
Wisdom closed her book and held her hand out, holding the glass in place. "NOVA—!?"
"Wisdom, not right now." Nova cocked back the mechanism, and an alarm blared throughout the facility, repeating the phrase, "ALL PERSONNEL MEET IN THE LIBRARY." The mages' phones also went off, but both Nova and Wisdom immediately muted the notifications. One by one, the other mages arrived: Gala and Ian showed up first, followed by five more, fading into the room a few increments apart.
They all filed into an old room at the back of the library, gathering around a round table. Some were annoyed, others bored, but the same question hung in the air: Why the hell were we summoned?
Nova entered last, took his seat, and the meeting began.
"I know we all have things to do, but I need you guys to understand the predicament we're in."
A mage in a yellow cape slammed his fist on the table, drawing everyone's attention before Nova could get another word in. "Hey, man, you know the rules. We can't start the meeting without everyone here. You of all people should know that because you were the one who made the rule."
Another mage, this one in a white cloak, spoke up. "Will is right, Nova. Let's not rush and wait for Nikola to get here."
A mage in a blue jacket, Ourania, trembled as she spoke. "This has to be about Nikola. It is about him, isn't it?" She seemed to be the only one to catch on to what Nova was saying.
As stoic as he could be, Ian's voice cut through the tension. "He's dead."
All eight mages turned to Nova, expecting an answer.
Nova said nothing, fidgeting with his thumbs as he stared at the table. His silence filled the library.
Will laughed. "There's no way he died. It's impossible." Everyone stared at the towering man, who was about to fall backward in his chair.
"Will, please," Nova said, tightly gripping his head. As Will looked around, examining everyone's expressions, he slowly settled back into his seat.
"Isn't he connected to, like, everything in the system? He's head of security. Nothing gets past him, right?" He looked around the table, seeking reassurance.
Wisdom opened her book and buried her head in the pages.
Ignoring Will's antics, Gala asked Nova, "How do you know? We can't be sure—"
"I SAW HIS CORPSE, HOW ELSE!?" Nova's irritation shook the table as he met Gala's eyes, one hand still gripping his head.
Gala retaliated, shaking the table back with every word. "MY BAD FOR ASKING!"
The white-cloaked mage stood up, holding the table down. "HEY, CALM DOWN!"
Gala sat down, pouting and glaring at Nova, who buried his head in his arms. The white-cloaked mage continued the meeting. "Because Will, Ourania, Maram, Ruby, and I were teleported here—"
"Actually, I was too lazy to move, so I just teleported to save energy," Ruby abruptly added.
"Well, the four of us only have one hour before being teleported back. Ourania, you get around here the most, right? Have you seen anything?"
Ourania shrugged. "I've been seeing the usual: Wisdom reading, Ruby and Will lazing around, and that's about it."
"Okay, thank you for your input. Nova, can you tell us what his body looked like?"
A muffled voice came from his arms. "I would not like to describe it."
"Fine then, Ian, please use a mind dive on him."
"Already on it." Ian pressed his hand to his temple and delved into Nova's mindscape. Ian's astral form found itself in Nova's mind; memories circled all around Ian, his eyes trying to track the memories, but the movements were too sporadic. I'll just have to go through all of them
What only felt like moments to the other mage in the sect was 12 hours for Ian. He was on the floor, throwing up. Coughing, Ian managed to say, "He's bloated and slightly purple," before continuing to retch into a trash can.
"That's the perfect condition for what I'm about to suggest," Sam said. Everyone, including Nova with his puffy, tear-stained eyes, looked at him. "We take him out of the sect and have him revived by one of the greats."
Will yelled at Sam. "Absolutely not! We won't just be putting ourselves in danger, but the entire school if we're recognized as weak!"
"Well, we can't just let him rot, now can we?" Sam retorted.
"Are you insane?" Will leaned over the table. "Do you really think people like us aren't going to be noticed?"
"If we're careful, I think we could pull it off."
"Sam, look at us. Nine colored-coded mages going out of the school with a dead body. We look like a circus act."
The room fell silent. Wisdom flipped a page of her book, which enraged Will. "How in the world can you be reading?" He threw his hands in the air, then slammed the table, fracturing part of its frame. "How about instead of reading a book, you read the room and actually help us?"
He grabbed Wisdom by her hair. "Not all of us are from the same place, but I bet you came from the worst one out of all of us."
"That's enough, Will," Ourania and Sam said simultaneously, putting Will in an arm lock. He quickly twisted his arms, breaking both locks and freeing himself before sitting down.
Wisdom snarled at Will. "Bet you won't do that again." Just then, Will jumped over the table, trying to choke Wisdom. She backed away as Sam and Ourania tried to restrain Will. Gala helped Wisdom get away from him, while Ian and Maram sat unamused. Ruby continued to sleep.
"Okay, guys, that's enough," Nova groaned, but the chaos continued. Suddenly, a wave of manick joules overtook the room, lifting everyone off their feet. They felt like giant hands had wrapped around all of them, suspending them in mid-air. "Listen to me! I didn't bring you here to kill each other, because one of us is already dead! Now, sit down and FOCUS!" Everyone was slammed back into their chairs, which slid forward to the table.
"Let's answer the important question: With all the security measures in place, how the hell did someone get in?" Nova's demeanor changed; he understood that if the killer snuck past Nikola, they could be next.
"We've been too lenient with our protocols. Nikola has been dead for a couple of days, but we also have been in the school at the same time for the same amount of time."
Sam followed up: "Nikola is the one who gives us our missions."
"Exactly. Once you start to fade back into your original coordinates, send me your locations, and we'll rendezvous so I can teleport directly to the base."
"And everyone who was here before?" Ian asked, barely holding his head up.
"Stay in this room and Gala, check on Ruby if you have to."
The mages who came via teleportation started to blink in and out of reality.
"Once we're all back, we'll check out the scene. Don't let your guards down; the enemy could still be here."
Gala, Ian, and Wisdom got comfortable. Nova began to head out while Maram, Sam, Ruby, Ourania, and Will started to fade out at the same intervals they came in.w