Tess savored the caress of the cool air against her skin, sending delightful shivers and goosebumps cascading throughout her entire body. It was the familiar morning wind that she had come to anticipate during the early stages of training, a refreshing sensation that invigorated her senses. Her curious gaze drifted toward the alarm clock, only to be reminded of the absence of windows in her room.
Perplexed, she raised herself from the comfort of her bed, swinging her legs to the side with a measured grace. However, before her heels could make contact with the ground, an overwhelming realization seized her. She found herself in a vast room, lined with rows of pristine white-covered beds that seemed to stretch into infinity.
Drawing her attention, in the distance, were two towering doors, and nestled beneath them lay a peacefully slumbering Zack, blissfully unaware of Tess's presence. Beside him, Lanse lay with half-opened eyes fixated on the ceiling, an inscrutable expression adorning his face.
A whisper escaped Tess's lips, as if reassuring herself of her surroundings, "I'm in the infirmary." She cast her eyes around the room, taking in the peculiar atmosphere that enveloped her. It bore little resemblance to her previous encounters with the infirmary; instead, it exuded an eerie ambiance akin to a somber, rainy day.
Her gaze wandered, landing upon Szedra's feet peeking out from the bed across the aisle, their soles seemingly reaching out to her. On the left, Zino remained stationed in another bed, her presence a comforting anchor amidst the unfamiliarity of her surroundings.
The cool breeze persisted, carrying with it the gentle symphony of raindrops striking the window sill, beckoning Tess to investigate. She turned her head, her vision momentarily obscured as she blinked, allowing her eyes to adjust to the sudden burst of light.
Before her stretched a line of tall, rectangular windows spanning the entire wall, their frames adorned with droplets of rain. Only a select few were ajar, granting passage to the invigorating gusts of wind.
As Tess took in the transformed infirmary, a realization dawned upon her. The peculiar ambiance, the presence of her fellow trainees—something had undoubtedly gone awry during their training. She couldn't help but hope that she hadn't once again suffered the misfortune of plummeting off the treacherous mountainside.
With a sigh of relief, Tess reassured herself that the worst is behind her. She settled back into the comforting contours of the warm indentation in the bed. Shifting onto her side, she pressed her cheek against the plush pillow, her eyes fixated on the still-sleeping figure of Zack.
His resounding snores failed to compensate for his usual grating chatter, making the prospect of falling back asleep seem impossible. Tess observed his dark brown curly hair, appearing somewhat brittle as if he had washed it with an intense shampoo and left it to air dry. Her hair grazing against her own neck felt likewise.
Memories of their training eluded her grasp. Had they been caught in tumultuous waters? Nothing concrete surfaced in her mind. But why couldn't she remember anything?
Suddenly, Zack's eyes snapped open, his body jolting upright with a piercing scream that sent a chill down Tess's spine. Startled, she too sat up, her gaze fixed intently upon him. The other occupants of the room had awoken, their attention drawn towards Zack's distress.
As the infirmary began to take shape through Zack's eyes, the intense fear that gripped his mind gradually ebbed away. His ragged panting subsided, and the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest regained a steady cadence.
Szedra, her tone devoid of emotion, inquired, "Are you alright?" She shifted the white sheet off her legs, assuming an upright position.
Zack cast a gaze around the room, meeting the eyes of each individual before sinking back into the bed, his gaze lost in contemplation of the ceiling. "Yeah," he replied, the words carrying a weight that seemed to linger in the air.
Lanse, rather than sharing the relief evident on the others' faces, appeared more irked by Zack's response. To him, Zack's tendencies for exaggeration overshadowed any genuine concern. He sat up, his legs hanging off one side of the bed, as if contemplating leaving.
Tess couldn't help but ponder the circumstances that had brought Lanse to the infirmary alongside them. Moreover, her pounding headaches had subsided, leading her to believe they couldn't be the sole reason for her presence.
"I had the strangest dream," Zack finally uttered, his voice filled with a mix of confusion and intrigue, beckoning the others to listen intently.
Zino, her long locks cascading over her shoulders, gracefully raised both hands in the air, stretching her weary limbs. A yawn escaped her lips as she let her arms fall back down, hunching slightly under the weight of exhaustion. Just like the rest of them, she wore the unmistakable signs of fatigue etched across her face.
Szedra, with a delicate gesture, brushed a strand of hair behind her left ear. "A dream? Sounded more like a nightmare to me. I can't imagine it being any worse than the one I had."
Zack couldn't help but chuckle, a fleeting moment of levity that quickly vanished. "You were in it," he added, his expression turning grave. "I saw you die."
The mention of Szedra's demise instantly captured the attention of the others, their curiosity piqued.
"Did I hear correctly? Did you say you saw Szedra die?" Tess inquired, her impatience overriding any need for confirmation. Glancing at Zino, Lanse, and Szedra, she noticed their motionless gazes, their brows furrowed in deep contemplation. It was the intense, concentrated look people wore when grappling with weighty matters.
Tess couldn't help but wonder what troubled them so profoundly. They resembled fugitives frozen in stillness, fearing the approach of Priman hoverjets thundering too close to their rooftops.
Zino's eyes widened, breaking free from her fixed stare into emptiness as she turned to face Zack. "This dream, Zack, were there others present?" A gulp echoed audibly in the room, each person attuned to its resonance. Zino's next words were spoken so softly that they could only be deciphered through lip-reading: "One wearing a hood?"
Zack's gaze locked onto Zino's, his stare unwavering before he finally responded. "Yeah."
Lanse leaned forward, a newfound certainty settling upon him, while Szedra clasped her arms around herself. Despite the absence of chill in the room, Tess detected an air of tension enveloping them, indicating that something significant weighed heavily on their minds.
In a disorienting moment, Tess's vision flickered, and she found herself confronted with a vivid scene—white gravel streaked with dark red splatters, flashing before her eyes. She blinked hard, attempting to reconcile the intensely familiar imagery with her memories, yet the connection eluded her grasp. The source of its familiarity remained elusive, leaving her grappling with unanswered questions.
An ear-piercing scream reverberated within Tess's skull, causing her to instinctively squeeze her eyes shut and grip the sheet tightly on either side. She braced herself, waiting anxiously for the flood of memories to emerge.
In her mind's eye, she found herself peering down at her own feet as they propelled her forward, swiftly traversing a ground covered in gravel. The surface shifted beneath her, transitioning into lush grass.
Above her, a dense canopy of towering trees seemed to stretch into infinity. Twigs and branches reached out, grazing her face, but she made no effort to dodge or clear them aside—an urgent sense of haste permeated her every step.
As the agonizing scream dissipated, Tess cautiously reopened her eyes, greeted once again by the familiar surroundings of the infirmary. The memory lingered, casting a veil of recent dream-like familiarity, as if she should know what transpired next, yet the answers eluded her grasp.
All she could ascertain was that she had been running towards the forest. But from what or why, the answers remained elusive. She blinked, darkness closing in, and an intense pain surged at the forefront of her mind.
The ensuing scene unfolded as beams of light pierced through cracks in the darkness above her. The luminous glow emanated from a distant point at the end of a tunnel, gradually drawing closer.
However, before she could reach it, white fractures spiderwebbed across the darkness above, widening to allow brilliant light from the surface to permeate. In an unsettling turn of events, large rocks rained down around her, shrouding the air in a suffocating cloud of dust.
When the anguish finally subsided, Tess found herself immersed in darkness once more, her eyes fluttering open to reveal her feet dangling over the edge of the bed.
"I remember rocks falling," Szedra's voice broke the silence, her words echoing Tess's own experience of cascading rocks.
The resonance of those words reverberated through Tess's mind. It aligned with her own vision of rocks tumbling from above. Something began to take shape, an inexplicable connection manifesting.
"One with a hood," Zino reiterated, her voice carrying an air of obsession with the phrase. She cast her gaze downward, addressing the sheet as if immersed in a silent conversation. "That thing that crawled out of its back."
Tess struggled to comprehend the enigmatic statement. It evoked images straight out of a paranormal tale, pushing the boundaries of her understanding.
"Ate your sword," Lanse added, his words hung in the air, laden with intrigue and a sense of foreboding.
Zino's eyes widened as she met Lanse's gaze. It was a confirmation that he understood the very thing she was about to express, solidifying their shared knowledge.
Lanse proceeded to elaborate, his voice carrying a weight of certainty. "There was a forest. We had to make it to the forest."
Tess's thoughts raced, piecing together the fragments of her earlier vision. It now became apparent that her recollections were not mere dreams but actual events. The realization settled upon her, marking a shift in understanding.
Zack, wearing a grave expression, nodded in agreement, affirming the gravity of the situation.
Once again, Zino whispered to the sheet, her voice barely audible. "The bandaged one."
The room fell into a heavy silence, devoid of words. The unsettling possibility that the shared memories they held were tied to the event that had led them to the confines of the infirmary ignited a whirlwind of thoughts and conjectures within their minds.
What had transpired before they found themselves in this unfamiliar place? The question lingered, haunting their collective consciousness with an insatiable curiosity.