Worlds Apart

Chapter 27

S U P E R N O V A • H EA R T

Oct. 06 2020 12:01 IT

Astrigun, Pirs, Province of Ahn

Riona leaned against the cold wall and sighed. Students bustled past, no one sparing her a second glance. It made the teacher around the corner more conspicuous, her bespectacled eye unwavering as she watched Riona. It wasn't just her. She had caught teachers, students, and even the occasional support staff observing her throughout the day. Saying she didn't like it was an understatement. It was unsettling and it injected her gut with something heavy.

"They don't want you talking about it," Celnis said, dropping his bag to his feet. He clambered onto the window sill, the city's glass and greenery gleaming past it. They were high up, their school perched on top of a hill, the highest point in Pirs.

"About what really happened to me?" Riona said weakly. She felt exhausted already. It felt like the kadin lining in her 'arm' was sucking the energy out of her to keep itself functioning.

Celnis hummed. "They just want a narrative that will benefit them. Saying Egality is back won't help."

Riona frowned. "Who?"

"Egality? Come on—"

"No, I mean, who's 'they'? Who's silencing me?"

Celnis pursed his lips. "The government."

Riona scoffed, moving to sit down against the wall. Her back hurt already. "You've been reading too many conspiracies."

"It wouldn't surprise me, Riona," he said softly.

"What happened to your Craven worship?"

"We have class—" Celnis started, swinging his feet off the sill.

"No." Riona grabbed his arm. "Both of us saw it. What's going on?"

He didn't turn.

"We'll need extra time to get there if we go slowly," he said finally, grabbing his bag and leading the way down the hall. His light hair merged with the crowd and the sunlight filtering in through the high windows flickered out momentarily behind clouds.

Riona took one last glance at the corner. The teacher was gone. She grabbed her bag and sped the other way, as fast as her still-recuperating body could manage. Something awful must have happened to have changed his worldview entirely. She couldn't take risks anymore. If there was an off-chance that Celnis was right, she needed precautions, even against those who were meant to protect.

She stuck to the wall as she turned the corner. She felt leaden and tired, and it wasn't just because of her slow recovery. She had never imagined she wouldn't be safe here—her second home the moment she stepped into its arms. What guarantee did she have that she wouldn't be watched outside, too?

The sun burned her retinas and scalded her back as she trudged her way to the west gardens—the midway point between the residential and academic buildings. Riona pulled out her phone, its peacock charm glinting sharply. The dots in the corner of the screen lit up. The signal block within the classrooms garnered a lot of hatred from the students and Riona was one of them. Leaving the cool comfort of the building to shoot off a text sucked.

Pocketing it, Riona rushed back inside, nearly melting as the cool air wrapped around her. The weather here almost sucked as bad, the sun remaining sharp even as the temperature began to drop.

The crowd in the hallways had dwindled, a few stragglers rushing past her to get to classes they were already late for. Riona's teachers seemed to hate her since she had come back; being on time wouldn't exactly bring her into their good graces.