Aurora borealis - the academy

Chapter 9

It was only 5:30 pm when I finished work this time. I had skipped lunch again, this time because of my forgetfulness but today I felt fine.
I didn't feel like my stomach was a hungry void that would swallow any and everything.

Because I didn't want to eat dinner yet I decided to go outside. Even though it had only been a single day in which I hadn't set a foot outside I felt like I had been trapped for an eternity.

Only now, when I left the basement I realized that I had been working almost nonstop since yesterday and it was time to take a break.

I headed outside through the same entrance that I had used when I had first arrived. There was a skip in my step that I usually wouldn't connect to myself but more to someone like Daisy.

I felt elated when I set my first step outside. The sun was already setting and only the soft remains of daylight were hovering over my skin. The warm sensation felt heavenly on my sore skin.

I walked further down the path until I was again at the entrance of the outer wall. Today fewer guards were positioned there who were watching the small amount of students that were passing by the gate.

Nobody really left the school grounds because there was nothing but the portals and grass around.

I also passed the entrance and further progressed on my stroll. I was now walking in a circle along the inner side of the wall. I wondered how many minutes it would take me to circle the whole perimeter. I guess we'll find out.

As I was leisurely walking I saw more and more students. That's when I remembered that Maeve had also gone that way on our first day. It was crazy that we had only arrived here the day before yesterday.

From here I could already see the training yards. Even at this late hour there was still training happening although it didn't seem like there were any classes. They were just training by themselves.
I wished that I could be in their place.

This was exactly what I had always wished for before I had received my final disappointment by my parents. I felt like at this point all ties to my old life were irreparably severed.

Even though I didn't hate being a maid I longed for something else. I couldn't stand the mundane tasks that at the same time bored and exhausted me. I'd trained my whole adolescence to be here on the right side of the school grounds and not on the left.

I got closer to the training yards and watched students as they picked weapons from the wooden racks on the side lines and fought amongst each other.

You could clearly see which were new because they looked like children flaunting their swords around. Any second their grip would loosen enough that their swords would pierce their foot and presumably they'd only have seven to nine toes left.

I passed these yards after I got bored. I had just experienced enough entertainment and anxiety for the day in five minutes.

Next came the wielding courts. They were built like arenas, exactly like I had pictured amphitheaters.
Students were throwing their hands around in the air while their elements were following each movement.

Fire was flowing through the arena in a flaming snake and blaring its teeth on a poor guy. Even before the snake returned to its owner and therefore cleared the view I knew that it belonged to my sister.
Snakes where my biggest fear so guess what had been the first trick she'd learned.

Resignation brewed inside of me because I knew that I'd never be a powerful witch.

Lost in pity for myself I was suddenly awoken by a desperate scream.
The serene atmosphere of the sunset changed in the matter of seconds. Everyone turned to the source of the yell.

A girl was running from the direction opposite of the entrance.
She was pale with blotchy cheeks and tears were leaking from her wide eyes.

Her blond hair was blowing in the wind as she yelled 'the ghostly'. For a second everyone was silent.

And then a huge mess broke out.

In the middle stood my unprepared self who was still unsure if she'd heard right.

'The ghostly' couldn't get into the protective wall, they couldn't even use the portals to get anywhere close to them.

What kind of sick joke was this?

This didn't feel like a joke at all as I watched the girl run further in full speed without stopping for a second. Her face was conjured in a grimace with her mouth wide open to breath heavily. It looked like she was being chased by the devil and maybe that was the case.

Nobody was sure where 'the ghostly' had come from even though every place on earth had been searched. There was no leaf that hadn't been turned around in the search of these vile and disgusting creatures.
It only made sense that some people made up the theory that they'd come from underneath.

When I saw the first sickly bluish leg I lost all doubt. I'd never seen them myself, only the cartoonish but gruesome drawings in the news. They didn't come close to the terror I felt when I saw the creature stacker ahead on short limbs that didn't seem very steady.

Or maybe it was the fact that they were falling of randomly and reattaching themselves somewhere else.
It wasn't only a liquid blob that moved in front of my eyes, it also had facial features and a body. They didn't seem like they were built from actual flesh but rather a dark liquid mass that nobody could quite find the right words for.

For once the rumors didn't disappoint.

Students were running around but a general direction could be deciphered. Everyone was simply running the furthest away that they could.

Only a few brave ones stood strong with their weapons in their shaky hands. From the back I could see guards nearing the scene and I wondered if they'd ever seen or fought these creatures.
I didn't even know how to kill a liquid blob.

Among these brave individuals stood one person

-a person that was too bamboozled to stop gawking and escape the view of these disgusting creatures.

In a moment of clarity I ran away from the sight but only as far as the wooden racks. I quickly latched onto the handle of a medium sized broad sword that had seen better days.

Definitely better than today.
Because I thrived of adrenaline I got closer to the scene again.

The guards and the small group of students had now gathered in a small cluster. Suddenly a thought passed me: some of them would probably lose their lives today. Maybe I would die. Maybe somebody already laid dead on the path behind them.

For now there were only three of them and a whole lot of us but that didn't matter if no one knew how to kill them.

One of the creatures took its feet into his hands and began running. More like hovering because... you know.. no feet. These blobs seemed to defy gravity anyways. Another reason to believe that they weren't from this world.

It reached the first person.

Even though the creature was cut in half more than once by the guy's sword it didn't budge. Moreover suddenly an unfamiliar arm was lodged in the guy's neck and I didn't believe that he had just obtained the ability to grow limbs. To my horror he fell over like a sack of potatoes.

I was horrified, terrified, petrified even. I didn't want to imagine that this corpse had been an actual person with an actual personality and actual family and friends.

Now it was only one of the casualties in the war against 'the ghostly'.