Darkness

With hurried steps, I went to Professor Arven's office, each step echoing like a drum. His urgent call and the expression on the student's face when the professor summoned me created the perfect scenario to make me anxious.

Only one thing could make him call me like this. And it was definitely related to my sister.

Had he found a clue? Concrete proof? Had we finally made progress? As hope grew within me, I sped up even more.

Actually, I didn't even know if it was really good news. The student who called me had an expression that was undecipherable. But it had to be good, right?

I entered the room, but the air was heavy, and Arven wasn't at his desk, but standing before a shelf, holding an open book with an expression that was anything but encouraging.

"Haru," he greeted me, then closed the book with an unnerving thud. "Thank you for coming. I have important new information."

"Did you find something, Professor?"

I tried to disguise my anxiety, but failed. The spark of hope I had moments before faded with every second, as Professor Arven showed no encouraging reaction. He was serious, more serious than usual. Whatever he had to tell me didn't sound good at all.

"I did," he said, adjusting his glasses. "I obtained this book from a collector. His family had kept it in a private library for hundreds of years, but when a friend informed him about my research, he offered it to me for a good price."

"And? Is the information important?"

He paused, looking me in the eyes. A look that held various meanings, but which Arven seemed to be trying to hide from everyone.

"First, sit down," he said, pointing to the chair. "I want you to listen carefully and be prepared. What I'm about to tell you might not be what you were expecting."

Wait, the direction this conversation was taking didn't please me. Summoning magic had always been an enigma, but the professor looked ready to reveal knowledge far exceeding that of any previous discovery. Secrets guarded for hundreds, even thousands, of years.

"Please, Professor, just tell me."

I couldn't wait any longer. Whatever it was, I needed to know immediately. My sister was at stake, and if the news was as serious as he made it seem, the sooner I knew, the better.

"This book contains records of experiments conducted with summoning magic. These experiments are very similar to what happened with you and your sister. Portals created for teleportation. But..."

Arven sighed, pressing his fists against the desk. What he was talking about was difficult even for him to bear.

"All the test results were the same. Until they reached a conclusion that was anything but inspiring."

"What was it?"

"It never worked with living beings," he said softly. "The books have always treated this type of magic as a philosophical exercise, but this one in my hands contains the practice, and the practice... is brutal, with a catastrophic mortality rate."

The world seemed to pause. I felt a pang in my head.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean that using the magic with inanimate objects is one thing. But when we talk about something conscious? The results proved chaotic. The body dissolves, the mind is lost, and..." The professor's voice became strained. "Almost all reports end in disappearances... or in other words, few mention the subjects arriving at their destination alive."

It was as if a great earthquake were happening inside my head. I couldn't process much of what he said. In my mind, I only heard the failures, the chaos, and the... death.

"Professor..." my voice trembled. "My sister... she..."

Arven looked away, and that action was more devastating than any words. "I cannot state anything with certainty, Haru. Magic is still unknown and unpredictable. But... the chances of her having survived are minimal."

The floor seemed to vanish beneath my feet. All the weeks of study, all the training, the fight in the tournament, and the ones yet to come, all the damned hope I held onto... everything crumbled in that instant. I wasn't on a rescue mission anymore. Was I on a mission to confirm her death?

"But... Professor, if I managed to get here, she must have too, right?"

"As I said, magic is unpredictable. I cannot say for certain that she didn't make it, but the chances of her arriving alive are small."

The professor's voice seemed to come from very far away, as if I were at the end of a tunnel. Did that mean... I had lost my sister? Did I... had I broken my promise? And I would never see her again?

"I am truly sorry, Haru." The professor placed his hands on my shoulders. "But I thought you needed to know."

I couldn't hear the rest. I just mumbled some automatic thank you and left his room, my body acting only out of inertia. A white, silent emptiness surrounded my mind. Small. The word repeated itself over and over in my head, annihilating everything in its path.

And taking away my will to continue with it.

I didn't pay attention to where I was going, so I ended up in an empty and cold corridor. But I didn't care, at that moment, there was no better place.

"Well, look who's all gloomy. Our dearest classmate."

Kael's voice echoed through the empty corridor, causing me to lift my head slightly. He was with Mira and Brann, blocking the corridor exit. They wore disgusting smiles, like predators who had just cornered their prey.

"Looks like your protective professor isn't around now," Mira said, her voice seemingly poisonous.

Brann, in turn, just growled. I could see the still-healing wound on his leg.

"I confess it was a surprise to find you here, but a pleasant one."

"I..." I tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. I didn't want to be there, I wanted to disappear from the world. And the worst thing that could have happened was running into them at a time like this. I could barely organize my thoughts, let alone confront them.

"I... I... Why are you stuttering?" Kael mocked as he approached. "Maybe I should help you find the words."

He punched me in the stomach. The impact felt like it doubled me over, and before I knew it, I was on the floor, struggling to catch my breath. But the most incredible thing was that the pain felt distant, as if it belonged to someone else.

I just looked at them. I felt no fear, no anger. Just a deep void. What did a beating matter? What did physical pain matter when my soul had already been torn apart?

"Where's all that big talk? Where's your magic?" Kael spat, kicking me in the back.

I didn't conjure my sword, didn't try to dodge. I let the blows come. And with every impact, every insult, it was just an echo in that icy corridor, muffled by a much greater pain that was consuming my insides. It was a punishment I deserved. For having survived. For having failed her.

Unlike me, they didn't hold back their magic. The threads that I had taken so long to understand now seemed like my enemies, hitting me while I lay fallen. And the defeat didn't seem physical. It was as if I had surrendered entirely, even my will.

The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was Kael's laugh.

"Pathetic. To think I even put my hands on you."

They left, leaving me there, alone, finished. Gradually, the physical pain began to emerge, throbbing, but it was insignificant compared to the void opened in Professor Arven's office.

I had lost many things. The fight, my dignity, but there was something even more important: I had lost the only reason I was still fighting in this world.

The darkness was a mercy, inviting me into a sweet, warm embrace.