Counterpart

Chapter Seventeen

"Cara!" The two ran over to her. "What did you do to her!?" Aklan tried checking her pulse.

"I didn't mean to!" Just a touch of aibal can paralyze a man; what would that amount do to her? "Is she alright?"

Aklan was silent for a moment as he held onto her wrist. "...I feel a pulse, but she's not waking up."

Rin carefully reached out for the aibal he sent into her. Just one wrong movement could very well kill her in an instant. His eyes went wide a second later. He could sense a presence in the aibal, like he somehow grasped on to her consciousness. "Uhh..."

"What? What are you doing now?"

"I don't know, just...let me concentrate." Could he make the magic dissipate somehow? Rin tried reaching further. He felt fear before long. Not his, but hers. He couldn't hear Cara's thoughts, but it felt like he could sense her thought process, in a way. He could identify the intricacies that set her apart from everyone else.

"Rin!"

He pulled back, straining to let the aibal disperse throughout the rest of the room. She let out a groan before too long. The two waited for what felt like hours before she started to really come back to her senses. "...What did you do?"

"I'm so sorry." Rin said through a sigh of relief. "I didn't mean to hit you. Are you okay?"

Cara waved them away as she sat up against the wall, the effort alone almost leaving her breathless. "I'm fine. Just...never do that again."

"Got it." Should he tell her what he felt? She felt as familiar to him as his own mother. "...Do you have a falcon as your spirit?"

She paused a moment before giving him a quizzical look. "That's right. Why?"

"I could sense it. When I accidentally hit you."

"That's...peculiar." Cara said. Something lit up behind Aklan's eyes. She sighed. "We're getting closer to our next class, we should get ready." She shot both of them a glare as she stood. "Good thing we gave you a fair amount of practice to prepare."

The three hurried back down the hallways to their next class. It turns out all the students were split up by divisions: Cara, Rin, and Aklan were all in the same one. "Where are we going now?"

"We only have one main class for labia-and don't get excited, its three hours long. We'll be there until dinner, then it's off to swordfighting." Aklan said. Rin wanted to say it sounded like fun-he might even turn a few heads thanks to the practice Magnus gave him-but the other two didn't try hiding the resentment plastered across their faces. Even something like that can understandably grow dull after so long. A grin spread across Aklan's face. "Oh, and good luck with the teacher. She won't care if it's your first day." Great.

The classroom was massive-fitting for teaching some fifty students for hours on end. Polished wood made up an amphitheater-like structure, leaving a circular platform for the instructor in the center. The seats all had ample room, probably meant for everyone to replicate whatever the instructor shows them. Unlike back at the cafeteria, everyone here was dead silent.

"How was break?" A woman called out as she strode to the center of the platform. No one answered. A dark uniform stretched around her stomach, medals displaying all her accomplishments in the decades she must have been teaching here. She paused a moment, scanning the army of students before focusing on Rin. "I believe we have a new student joining us today." Every eye went to him. "Would you mind introducing yourself?"

Rin gulped as he stood. "I'm Rin Shannon, training under Magnus Alburn."

The woman nodded. "And your spirit?"