With a start Luke opened his eyes. His sprung up from his bed, jerking his head around to identify his surroundings, when he realized he was on his bed in his house.
He discovered that his entire body was filled with perspiration and damp. After a few seconds of daze, he was confused.
"What am I doing at home?" Luke wondered in confusion. "Was that all a dream? It felt so real."
As he was sorting out his own feelings of what happened, his door opened and Luke found his elder brother looking at him with a grave expression.
"Luke, are you alright? You look deathly pale, almost like a zombie! I heard a loud noise downstairs." Alex asked with concern.
Luke was even more confused. "Didn't Alex go on some study trip? What am I doing at home? What's going on?" He inwardly questioned.
Alex saw Luke looking at him with a puzzled expression and a daze and he appeared to be even more concerned.
"Luke, you have to pack up to head to the academy tomorrow. Don't be nervous, haha. I know it is your first day and all..." Alex laughed.
Luke breathed out. "First day..." Then his eyes raised a bit. He looked at the parchment calender beside his bed and saw a moving ink painting of a whale flying in an arc into the crashing sea waves, and beside the animation he saw the date.
Luke immediately cooled down. Then he remembered the last words he had heard before his death. "...Don't die again." The voice kept ringing in his head as he looked at current date. His felt an intense dizziness and a nauseating fear from the shock of his discovery.
"I'm back in the past...?" He asked himself. "But... that would be an incredible magic that controls the mythical flow of time... how is such a thing possible? Was the red hooded figure sending me back into the past? Thirty days from now... that apocalypse would take place?"
Thousands of questions popped up in his mind, but he felt intense fear and quickly quashed them. Interfering with time... this wasn't something ordinary and he was made a pawn. He didn't like this feeling. But... an apocalypse was coming?"
His mind suddenly panicked from the pressure and and he began feeling dizzy again. Luke's elder brother grew even more worried. "Let's go to the doctor. You look terrible." He said with a frown.
Half an hour later, an aged woman with a pointed hat and green robe looked at Luke and sighed. "He is fine. He seemed to have a panic attack and is showing sins of post traumatic stress. Did he come across something terrifying?" She said to Alex, when she saw that Luke was still somewhat dazed.
"...He was normal till yesterday. This morning he woke up looking extremely ill. I assumed he was nervous about his upcoming enrollment to the Confederate Academy." Alex replied.
The aged woman frowned. "This shouldn't be the cause of such severe psychological trauma. I have used some soothing mind magic to calm him down. Just keep an eye out for him."
Alex nodded, before bringing Luke back home, who immediately fell asleep. After the calming mind magic, Luke was beginning to process what exactly happened with his eyes closed.
"I seem to have been sent back into the past. What I cannot understand is what caused it. Magic interfering with time is considered to be one of the most legendary magics. One that could send me into the past would probably be a pinnacle rank magic. Was it the red hooded individual? Was it some kind of side effect from the world fracturing in the apocalyptic event? Or was it some kind of natural phenomenon?" Luke was carefully analyzing the situation.
"No matter what, the Red hooded individual's act was clearly premeditated. Either he caused me to return to the past, or he knew I would be returned to the past. Was he trying to pass me a message?" He wondered.
Luke woke up and began preparing his luggage. Unlike the previous time, when he overstuffed his bags, he packed very lightly. An apocalyptic calamity that would shatter Ariel would rise from the depths of that mysterious darkness underground in a month. Was he supposed to try and stop it? Luke found the entire idea ridiculous. How could he, a young man just entering the Magic academy who just turned into an Initiate prevent this kind of event?
Luke remembered the last words he heard as his mind was blanking out before dying earlier. "Remember this feeling... don't die again."
"Don't die again?" Luke mumbled. "Did he want me to somehow survive that apocalypse? Perhaps, the problem would be solved by other powerful mages, and I need to survive the process. In that case, is it best if I do not attend the academy at all? But then... won't I be ruining all the hopes put on me."
Luke was conflicted. At the same time, his mind was traumatized and he was having a panic attack again. His body became jittery and he began shivering as his mind flashed with the pain and horror of the bullet shooting through his brains. His face turned pale and he began feeling dizzy.
He finally began breathing in amd out slowly, trying to sense the Mana in the air, following the basic Initiate training guide he learnt in high school, by closing his eyes. Concentrating on trying to sense the mana helped him calm down.
"I can essentially be considered to have some kind of precognition of the events of the next month. However... I must act exactly like normal, not trying to show any flaws. I don't know what the Red hooded figure was plotting. I need to lay low and try to find a way to survive."
The next day, Luke, his brother Alex as well as his parents arrived at the Southville City's train station. Luke entered the train specially headed to the Confederate Academy of Magic.
The Confederate Academy was located in the western side of Piccadilly city, the capital of the Kingdom of Roses. However, the campus area was humongous, a city within itself.
Luke looked at his family and bid them goodbye, as his parents were wishing him the best and to take care of his health and work hard. Alex wasn't joining him, because he had to directly head for a trip with his guide. Alex was a senior student at the Confederate Academy of Magic.
Luke felt a strong sense of deja vu as he felt the current scenes overlapping with his memories. He nodded and entered one of the empty cabins and sat down. He already knew the people who were going to enter the cabin with him from his past.
A beautiful woman in her twenties in a grey robe entered the cabin along with a five year old little girl. Luke saw the two and nodded. He looked at the little girl and smiled, saying a pleasant hello.
The little girl ignored him with an attitude and sat down quietly beside the woman. Luke knew who this was. She was one of his prospective teachers at the Confederate Academy, Melinda Brambles. The little girl obediently sitting beside her was her daughter.
Melinda saw her daughter acting high and mighty and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She had taught her to be wary of strangers, but who knew she would turn into such a stuffy personality.
"Little girl, be polite." Melinda said with faux sternness.
The little girl looked at Luke and had automatic signs of disgust on her face, but she tried to make an ugly smile. "Hello Uncle."
"...Uncle?" Luke had a paralyzed facial expression. When Melinda saw his facial expression she began laughing.
She spoke to Luke. "You seem to be a new student. Are you ready for academic life?"
"Yes ma'am, I'm a new student. To be honest, I'm not too sure if I'm ready. I've been quite nervous the past couple of days." Luke replied with a bitter smile. However, internally he was feeling extremely cautious. He was determined to be as ordinary as possible.
Melinda nodded. "Don't worry, the academy isn't as scary as you think. I am a teacher at the academy, and I'll be teaching a common curriculum course this semester. Control Exercises."
Luke showed a surprised expression. "I didn't realize I was talking to a professor, I apologize for my informal behavior earlier."
Melinda laughed. "Don't be so stiff. My name is Melinda, the discourse in the academy between students and teachers is mostly informal. However, there are some old geezers who are stuck up about formality and you have to be somewhat careful when dealing with them. My name is Melinda Brambles."
Luke nodded, showing a new understanding of the academy's environment on the surface, but inwards he was calm. He had simply been acting and he already knew about this, but he had been determined to not reveal that he had travelled back in time as much as possible.
"My name is Luke Vinson. Honestly, I have some interest in Control Exercises. Unlike my elder brother, I wasn't born with outstanding talent in magic control and with his guidance I have been practicing the four fundamental exercises since childhood to improve myself." He said.
Melinda smiled. "Regardless of talent, control exercises are quite important. A mage is essentially a channeler of mana, and the essence of it is control. Your control can determine the flexibility you can display when you engage in spells."
Luke sighed as he nodded. "Spells... I am only an initiate and have been training to sense mana and working on control exercises. I'm still to learn a spell."
Melinda smiled. "That isn't unusual. We usually avoid teaching spells to students before they have a basic level of control, partially because they can rebound and harm themselves. How about you show me your level of control. Display your four fundamental exercises. I'll give you some tips to improve."