EQUINOX || The Catalysts Series, #3

XL

Back in the present, Lena's mind is still spinning.

At least, she thinks she's back. Because after that episode, she isn't particular sure how to discern realities from each other anymore. Her vision is barely recovering itself when Lena gingerly approaches the glass windows, laying a palm flat against the surface of the glass she'd used to transport herself... back in time. Yes, that's exactly what she did; she'd activated her abilities—accidentally, and sent herself spiraling back to the past.

Lena has zero knowledge on time-traveling, and isn't too keen on learning the physics. She's undeniably curious, but there's just too many warning signs that come with it. Great power comes with a price. The price she paid, according to a conversation between her and the headmaster all those time ago, had been a lost memory. Time is in her hands, and her visions on glass surfaces are not that but dimensional offerings.

Looking past the key to different timelines and dimensions, past the swirling bits and pieces forming on the window panes, Lena finds that the Arcane Academy gates are right there, rimmed with silver-uniformed guards ushering the last of the students. She takes a deep breath to steady herself, blinking between what she'd witnessed during the time-leap. The fields are not on fire. The buildings are standing strong and tall. Arcane Academy is exactly as she'd left it, exactly as she remembers only a moment ago.

Time to go. She turns then, not hesitating to linger in the classroom—or her thoughts—any longer. She plays out what she knows for a fact to work her mind, anchoring herself to the reality she knows—this reality. The reality she's been living in.

As Lena crosses the empty classroom, a resolution roots itself at the back of her head. She needs to control her abilities. Not to be better than anyone, but because of the potential consequences if she continues to unknowingly activate her abilities and transport herself to random timelines. It's not just her memories at stake here; what if, on an occasion, she can't make it back? There's also a possibility that she may no longer differentiate the reality variants from the original timeline. Her mind is going to shatter.

Hands trembling, Lena tries not to think of the worst of outcomes just yet. She can no longer stay after class for Precision or train with the help of Caelus, but that doesn't mean she can't work on her abilities during their own physical classes with him as her classmate. The first thing she will do tomorrow is to tell him about this little episode, and they can figure it out together. After all, Caelus is one of the only ones who knows and acknowledges the depth of her abilities—and who never ever judges her for how frail her control is and how uncertain over her powers she is.

It settles her slightly, this set of decision and the way her mind has worked out the next steps.

Lena is now leaving the classroom when a faint voice in the hallway pauses her advance.

"... keeping him in the southwest wing of the building, almost underground."

The moment she steps out of the classroom, she's greeted by a sense of deja vu. Fai is just there near the corner, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Lena's eyes shutter, and she is brought back to a time where she'd rounded a corner in a battle maze during the Annual Games, coming face to face with the always absent mind reader. He'd just been waiting for her, claiming that she'd be the easiest opponent to take out within the vicinity.

But Fai isn't wearing the battle suit they'd worn during the prelims of the Annual Games, and they aren't in a simulated maze. This is the present, she reminds herself, when Lena is just about to exit the classroom after Demon Knowledge. She hates that every reminder of the past makes her vulnerable and question herself.

The present isn't so forgiving. Because as Lena takes a step to the classroom's entryway leading to the hall outside, Fai stops talking and is stunned when he sees her appear. There must be other students, then, but why is he so surprised to see her that he is frozen rigid?