Noah scoured the ground as best as he could through the pulses of dizziness that ravaged his mind. Bodies didn't just up and vanish. And, if they'd somehow managed to eat his corpse in the minutes he'd been gone, then there should have been blood all over the ground. For that matter, he'd never seen the monkeys drag his corpses anywhere and, even if they had, there should have been some form of trail in the dirt.
There was no sign of either. A tiny blur of beige caught Noah's eye and he staggered over to it, kneeling and picking up one of the claws that he'd ripped free of a Slasher. Noah picked it up and straightened, checking around the nearby trees.
Nothing. His body was just… gone.
Did a Skinwalker take it? Or did my body just get kidnapped by some monkey?
Noah groaned and rubbed his forehead. It was too difficult to put thoughts together right now. Sunlight pierced into his skull, digging in like little jagged knives and forcing him to shield his eyes with a hand. It wouldn't be too long before they were pulled back to Arbitage. Noah couldn't remember the exact time they'd left anymore, but he was fairly certain it was close to a day ago.
He froze.
Shit. Where are Todd and Isabel?
Noah swore under his breath and, after taking a few moments more than he would have liked to orient himself, stumbled in the direction that they'd gone. The fog filling his mind had nearly made him completely forget that he wasn't alone.
Are they alive? Did they see what happened? Maybe they grabbed my body and are currently mourning me? Damn, that would be awkward.
He forced his rebelling body to accelerate, nearly tripping over the protruding roots of a tree. Noah barely managed to catch himself on a branch before he fell. It creaked dangerously and he shoved away from it, following the outlines of Todd and Isabel's tracks in the packed dirt.
The world wobbled and twisted around Noah like he was looking at it through the mirrors of a funhouse in a circus. Trees swirled at the edges of his vision in a mocking dance, snapping still the moment he looked in their direction. Several times, he could have sworn something was watching him from behind, but there was nothing whenever he turned to check.
Damn it. Of all the times to get myself killed, this was probably the worst.
Noah raised his vision from the burnt ground directly before his feet – nearly tripping over them in the process. A monkey corpse lay sprawled on the ground before him, scorched and smoldering.
He raised his gaze up the tree behind it. Todd and Isabel sat in its branches. Their eyes widened in shock as they spotted Noah, and relief flooded through him.
"Professor! You're alive!" Isabel's face shone with shock and relief. Her words caught in her throat for a moment. "I heard the rock hit you and–"
"And yet here I stand," Noah said, struggling to find words through the haze enveloping him. He shook his head in a futile attempt to shake the fog away. "Never mind that. What happened after you ran?"
"We didn't turn back, just like you told us to. A monkey saw us running and gave chase, so I fried it," Todd said. He didn't bother hiding the pride in his voice, and Noah gave him an approving nod after taking a second to process his words.
"Well done. Literally." Noah chuckled and immediately regretted the action as it sent waves of pain rocking through his head. He gritted his teeth and pressed a palm to his temple.
"Are you okay?" Isabel slipped from the branches of the trees to the ground beside Noah. Todd dropped down right after her.
"I'll live. Chuckers are a little too strong for me to deal with casually, as you saw."
"How'd you live through getting hit like that without a shield?" Todd asked. "I heard the crunch. There's no way you should be walking around right now."
Noah opened his mouth, desperately trying to think of a good excuse, but his mind refused to comply with his pleas.
"He's got a healing potion, idiot," Isabel said, pointing at the gourd hanging from Noah's waist. "What did you think? He even told us to buy some earlier. It would be stupid if he didn't follow his own advice."
You are now officially my favorite student.
"Good deduction. You'll have to excuse me, though. Fighting that thing took a lot of energy, and I'm pretty much spent. Consider our lesson for today complete. Just keep an eye out for more monsters until we get yanked back to Arbitage."
Isabel and Todd nodded, their expressions turning serious. They squinted into the trees, searching for signs of monsters that Noah desperately hoped weren't there. Meanwhile, he leaned against a tree and slid down to a seated position.
The next hour ticked by in stressful silence. Nobody said anything, which Noah was grateful for. His headache didn't abate, but the silence at least made it slightly more tolerable. An odd mixture of curiosity, satisfaction, and pain mixed in his mind, and all he could do was sit along for the ride.
When a familiar tug pulled at Noah, the only thing left in him was relief. Isabel and Todd both cried out in surprise, but their calls were lost as the three of them were ripped away from the Scorched Acres and summoned back to Arbitage.
Noah slammed into the metal of the transport cannon's tube, sliding out of it and onto the ground with a grunt. He barely managed to keep the presence of mind to roll out of the way before Isabel and Todd followed him in, collapsing in a pile of curses and limbs.
"I hope your trip went well," Tim said with a cheerful smile. "I see your clothes survived this time as well."
"A rare mercy," Noah said through gritted teeth. "Class is dismissed. We'll meet again in two days. Don't stop training."
Without waiting for their responses, Noah stumbled into the lift. Tim, who was already used to this particular side of Noah, just raised his hand in farewell and sent the lift rattling down toward the stairs.
The rest of Noah's trip back to his room was a hazy blur. He didn't even want to consider what people thought as they saw him stumbling drunkenly across campus in broad daylight. Frankly, he didn't care much.
It wasn't like Vermil's reputation could get much worse.
He reached his room and barricaded himself within it, falling into bed with a relieved groan. Noah buried his head under his pillow in a motion that was becoming all too familiar for his tastes, then let the hours slip away as he waited out the consequences of his actions.