𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗘 , sophiana

𝟬𝟭

"I REALIZE YOU ALL HAVE ALREADY HAD ELEMENTALISM IN YOUR PREVIOUS LEVELS, BUT THAT WAS MERELY LEARNING THE OBVIOUS." Sir Cadagan shook his head. The elf paced around the desks earnestly, hands folded behind his back. "If you cannot learn the intricate art of elemental bounding— Miss Foster, what do you think you're doing?" he hollered, running over to the resident clumsy student, who had accidentally dropped the wind jar, thereby setting loose a gust that tore through the classroom. Chairs were thrown carelessly, and a few students jumped out of the way in alarm.

Sir Cadagan gritted his teeth. "Get out of the way!" he shouted at Sophie over the blast of the wind— which muffled any noise, like a loud wave of air conditioning. Sophie backed away just in time for Sir Cadagan to unlock the paneling on the jar, holding out his arms and focusing on the wind. The air stopped rushing around, and a small jet blasted back into the jar. He set it back on top of his desk, the glass rattling a bit as the wind blew back in. "There," he sighed. Putting his hands on his hips, he glared at Sophie. "Now care to explain what exactly happened, and why you picked up the jar?"

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled. "I just wanted to see up close. I wanted to see if it looked like a mini storm, you know, like how the fake ones look in snow globes and stuff."

Sir Cadagan didn't look amused. "Detention. And you can leave class to go to the Healing Center. Getting so close to a trapped body of wind— that's dangerous. I collected this wind from a storm tempest. It's violent and potent air. Not to be trifled with. Especially not by a Level Four student."

He nodded towards the door, and Sophie nervously walked to the hallway. "Sorry," she repeated, pulling an eyelash off her eyelid as a force of habit.

* * *

Elwin adjusted the light orbs that froze Sophie in place. "Another visit?" He smiled. "You've been getting into so many accidents these days, I'd think you were doing them on purpose, to be able to visit Keefe. But you know, you don't have to fake injuries to come here. If you're a little patient and wait until the end of the day, you can come and see Keefe without having to—" His cheerful demeanor slipped off his face.

"What is it?" Sophie asked. "I didn't get hurt on purpose, if that's what you're saying. I just, don't know. Guess it's harder to concentrate with everything that's going on."

Elwin snapped his fingers and began studying various parts of Sophie's body through his light orbs and special spectacles. "I can understand that," he replied unsteadily. "It sounds like you're going through a lot lately. Have you been experiencing any of the nightmares you used to have? The ones you said had the same monster in them."

"What?" Sophie panicked, getting worried when the physician didn't answer her. "No."

Elwin held up a hand. "I'll explain," he said. He sounded worried. "Just let me finish checking this." Flashing through the cells in her skin, he shuffled his feet on the marble floor. "It's just as I feared. You said you didn't experience any symptoms yet, but I. . . I don't know how this is possible. Could something have reignited them? Could it be they never faded in the first place, and they were still there, only hidden?" he mumbled the possibilities to himself, trying to understand how this could have happened. And he couldn't. No matter how Elwin tried to put it together, he simply didn't know how it could have returned. After needlessly terrorizing Sophie for months, they began to fade with the help of sedatives and Silveny, but it seemed that the physical scars had been etched back the surface.

"Okay," Sophie said uneasily. Patience was a virtue that she lacked; sitting there while Elwin didn't answer any of her questions was not an easy feat for her to accomplish. But somehow she managed not to squirm too much while Elwin finished the checkup.

The orbs of light disappeared, and Elwin sat down on the bed, taking off his spectacles. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, in between his eyes, wearing a frown that Sophie classified as a midlife crises derived frown. Even though Elwin wasn't middle aged, since, well, no elves aged past being young adults due to being ageless. "Sophie, I want you to promise me not to freak out, okay?" he asked her.

"No promises," she told him, reaching up to tug an eyelash.

Elwin grabbed her hand and gently pulled it beside her, preventing her from pulling at her lashes. "I saw. . . something, when I was looking at your cells," he said carefully. "Something familiar, the same dark thing that you've already had and disappeared. At least, that's what we thought." His eyes were filled with what could've only been worry for the young girl.

"What?" Sophie said. Part of her didn't quite want to acknowledge it. Already, her hands were full, what with Keefe being put in a coma by his own mother, and the knowledge that the Neverseen were definitely not finished with their plans. There was more yet to come. And this, just seemed like the cherry on top of the pretty bomb she'd fashioned herself with every anxiety driven roller coaster roiling within her stomach.

This? This wasn't good news, not at all. Sophie had realized what Elwin was talking about, and she didn't like it. Not one bit. She hadn't wanted to think about, but deep down, she knew something was amiss. Something that powerful could not have left her body so quickly.

Indeed, they were still haunting the back of her mind, like the steady beat of a war drum in battle. Beating faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and faster—

"Your echoes," Elwin spoke. "They're back."