Duelcrest Academy

21. The true nature of mana

«AMY?!»

She was lying on the floor in front of me, belly down.
Judging from the bathrobe she was wearing, she must have just come out of the bathroom. She was probably heading to the closet to grab a clean uniform, but she had never reached it.
Normally I would've thought she had just tripped over her own feet, but it was clear at first glance that something was wrong.

On her right leg shone an extremely bright light. I squinted, trying to figure out what was emitting it.
With horror, I realized that the thing perched on Amy's body was alive.
About four inches long, two transparent wings, a pair of small glassy eyes, it allmost looked like a mosquito, but obviously it was way too big.
I saw its legs moving erratically, scraping against Amy's skin.

It was like a signal.
Finally, I managed to shake off the shock.
I drew my wand and aimed it precisely at that creature:

«Freeze!»

The bug immediately stopped moving and, immobilized, slid on the floor with a light thud. When it detached from its victim, I caught a glance of some sort of proboscis coming out of Amy's leg. Was that thing sucking off her blood?

I approched her, shouting her name.
She didn't react.

"She must be unconscious... What did that thing do to her?!"

I looked at her leg, where the bug had seemingly bitten her, but there were no signs of a sting.

"Weird..."

With trembling hands, I pointed the wand at her.
At my command, Amy's body levitated up in the air. Slowly and with great care, I directed her towards her bed, turned her on her back and then gently laid her on it.
I quickly rushed at her side.

«What the...?!»

Amy's face was extremely pale, just like if she had lost lot of blood.
But there was something much stranger and even more worrying. Amy seemed strangely emaciated, as if she had been living in hardship for a long time.
But this... couldn't be possible. I saw her just a few hours ago, and she was perfectly fine!

"What kind of bug could do something like this?!"

To my immense relief, however, she seemed to be breathing. Carefully, I placed two fingers on her wrist. Her heartbeat was weak. Whatever happened to her, it needed immediate attention.
But before I could decide on how to proceed, someone burst into the room in a hurry.

«What the fuck is going on in here?!»

It was Sophia. My screams must have alerted her.
Her gaze moved quickly around the room, shifting from Amy's body, to the oversized bug on the floor, and finally to me.

«What are you waiting for?! Let's take her to the infirmary, I'll give you an hand!»

In a flash, she rushed to my side and draped Amy's arm over her shoulder. I nodded and did the same. But when we lifted her, we couldn't help to exchange a confused look.
Amy's body was extremely light. Too light.
Although she had kinda of a petite build, it was impossible for her to weigh so little.
However, it wasn't the time to dwell on it: the priority now was to get Amy to the infirmary as soon as possible.

We made our way through the dark hallways of the school, without speaking. We were on high alert. I feared that around any corner, we would find a swarm of those strange creatures ready to attack us.
But luckily we managed to reach the infirmary without incident.

I was about to open the door with my free hand when Sophia stopped me:

«Can you handle it alone from here?»