Aeon woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling, and he was lying down on an unfamiliar bed.
Though the lights were quite dim, he could clearly make out the room. It looked like an infirmary with medical tools neatly arranged on top of a table beside him. But why was he in such a place? His face scrunched up as he tried to remember, but all he could make up was the magic examination. He couldn't pinpoint which part of the test ended up with him being sent to the infirmary.
He decided that he would ask someone about the details of the event, so he slowly sat up then walked towards the edge of the bed. Although there was nobody else lying down on the other beds, he walked slowly and quietly.
"Already awake?" a soft voice suddenly spoke.
Aeon immediately turned to the corner where the voice came from, however, there was nobody there. All he saw was a desk with lots and lots of stacked papers which were probably unfinished paperwork. He wondered how the person knew that he got up, despite not looking. With his curiosity piqued, Aeon responded, "Yeah? Who are you?"
Aeon waited a minute for a response, but he didn't get one. He cocked his eyebrow and asked himself if it was only his imagination. He swore that he really did hear someone say something so he slowly inched towards the desk, making sure that his steps were silent. He wanted to know if there was someone hiding behind the desk without alerting the person.
When Aeon was at a spot where he could almost see what was behind the desk, a person suddenly popped up. The person threw her hands up in the air and screamed. "Boo!"
Having expected someone to be hiding behind the desk, Aeon was not surprised at all. The person froze in front of him while striking a scary pose. Aeon stared at the person. She was quite pretty. She had black hair that was tied neatly in a bun. She had deep blue eyes that complimented her snow-white skin, a pointy nose, and red lips. Aeon thought how she would never scare someone with that pretty face of hers.
The person coughed twice before talking as if nothing had happened, "I'm glad that you're finally awake, Mr. Morgan. Earlier than expected, to be honest. I'm Doctor Marie, and I'm in charge of anyone that's in here. Your teammate, Mr. Samo was also here but he left about a week ago."
Aeon bowed, a simple gesture of gratitude, before responding, "Hello, Doctor. Thanks for treating me. By the way, why am I…wait. Did you just say about a week ago?"
Frantically, Aeon looked for a calendar around the room, and he found one, just behind the person. The last thing he remembered was the magic examination. That should have been on March 4th. He thanked the heavens that the page was still in March.
Aeon banged the desk, startling the doctor who was currently tidying the stacks of paper, "Doctor, what's the date today? Can you please tell me?!"
Seeing the startled appearance of the doctor, which was quite cute, Aeon apologized, "Ah! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just want to know the date..."
"Today's the 14th day of March," the doctor responded before she resumed tidying the papers, "you've been unconscious for 10 days."
"Ten days," Aeon subconsciously muttered.
"Yes. According to Mr. Samo, you were injured trying to protect him. You got caught up in a large fireball's explosive range."
Hearing this, Aeon started remembering a few vague details. He remembered kicking Suri away to get him out of the radius of an attack. Yes, it was surely from an attack. The fireball that the nurse mentioned! But then, when it was his turn to move… his body failed him. He was able to jump away, but it lacked power. He was still caught up in the explosion.
He was too confident that he would be able to save both himself and Suri, but he failed in the end. He had been too cocky.
Was he really that bad at making decisions?
Aeon wanted to recall the full details. But then he remembered something more important to worry about.
"Dad," Aeon said under his breath, "I need to go…my dad…"
Failing to hear what Aeon was saying, Dr. Marie asked, "Um, what did you say?"
"My dad! He needs me. I need to get home!"
Aeon rushed towards the door without thinking. He pictured himself bolting through the door, but then he realized that he was feeling extremely weak. He couldn't gather as much strength as he usually could. When he reached the door, he had already started panting. He fell to the ground, kneeling.
Aeon looked at his body. He was wearing a hospital gown. Through his outfit, he could see that he was now a bit thinner. He also realized that he couldn't feel the familiar sensation of his hair flowing through the air as he turned his head anymore. He reached towards his nape, but his hand caught nothing. His ponytail was gone.
Dr. Marie slowly approached Aeon who looked quite helpless while sitting on the floor. She bent down and gently patted Aeon's shoulder. "Don't worry about your dad. We figured out your identity a long time ago. The Magic Academy, Fria, took complete responsibility. He's being well-fed, probably better than usual since you passed the test."
Seeing Dr. Marie who was smiling at him, Aeon felt comforted. He asked for the complete details regarding his unfortunate experience, and Dr. Marie narrated the complete details, without missing anything. Strangely, she said nothing about Aeon's accident near the plateau, so Suri must have skipped on those details.
He noted how grave his injury from the explosion was, based on the doctor's description. Thankfully, Aeon did not break any bones. The Alchemists of Fria had yet to develop a potion that could significantly speed up the healing process of bones. Completely healing flesh in a week was no easy feat as well and it took them a significant amount of resources to treat Aeon.
After the conversation, Aeon felt completely exhausted. He decided to stay one more night since he didn't need to worry about his dad anyway. Despite missing his dad, Aeon thought that one more day of rest and eating healthy food would help his recovery. He went back to his bed and went back to sleep.
….
The next day, after being told that school would start on the first day of April by Dr. Marie, Aeon thanked her once more then headed home.
The moment he stepped through the door of his dad's room, Aeon felt his eyes tear up. He had almost died while taking the test. If he really did, how would his dad, the only family he had left, take it in?
As Aeon entered, his dad, Devon Morgan, smiled at him. He opened his arms wide, beckoning Aeon to come and hug him.
Without thinking twice, Aeon rushed towards his dad like a kid. He had worried his dad. What a disgrace he was as a son. An only son, for his case. Aeon thought that this was a wonderful reunion, although it wasn't that long.
Aeon expected a nice warm hug from his dad.
But it didn't come.
Bang!
Aeon fell to the floor, head first.
"What the fuck were you thinking, trying to act like a hero, saving another person's life while endangering yours?!" Devon yelled at Aeon, his voice filled with anger.
Aeon slowly got up as he rubbed his head before he replied, "Sorry. I got caught up in the moment…"
Devon harrumphed, "That's quite sad for an excuse. I told you, survival is the top priority."
"Right. Right."
"Now come give me a decent hug. You haven't seen your old man for a few days, although you don't know it since you were unconscious."
Devon pulled his son into an embrace.
Aeon wasn't able to see it, but his dad's eyes teared up as the two hugged.
They hugged for quite some time before separating.
….
Aeon spent his days peacefully. Every day, he woke up early and started doing his daily routine, although most of it consisted of his exercises.
The days went by in a flash, and, April 1st finally came. It was Aeon's first day in the Magic Academy, Fria.
Early in the morning, Aeon, once again, entered through the familiar gate of the academy. It wasn't packed full of people anymore. Except for the two guards, Aeon could only see one person walking in the academy grounds. After seeing Aeon enter, the guards immediately directed him to the assembly area.
When he arrived, there were already quite some people. As usual, Aeon sat at the back. Also, as usual, there was only limited staff as well. It seemed like the academy hasn't solved its staff problems yet, even after the month. Weird.
Aeon continued eyeing the surroundings when he suddenly caught someone's gaze. A person wearing glasses was staring at him. Aeon saw that the person was surprised and confused at first, but after a few moments, he started smiling at him. It was the wind mage from the examination.
Without thinking too much, Aeon smiled back. Honestly, he didn't hold any grudges towards the guy. He was playing by the rules so he had no reason to hate him. And, he wasn't hurt from the fall. However, the case wasn't the same with Prius, whom he shouldn't be seeing for quite some time since he was under house arrest. Well, according to Dr. Marie, that is. Prius breached the rules and attack a person outside the examination. More importantly, under academy grounds. The only thing that saved him was his identity as a General's son. And not just some random General. The General of the Florentine's Capita, Lerith. Otherwise, he would've been imprisoned for life.
Aeon was still thinking about Prius' sneak attack on Suri when he felt the seat on his left shift. He looked over and saw that it was Korona, and she was smiling at him. Before Aeon was able to greet her, he felt the seat on his right shift, too. It was Suri, with his usual stiff face.
It would also be nice having these two around.
Aeon smiled and looked towards the platform.
….