8.1 - At the Mage's House

Somewhere in that void, I felt my consciousness return.

A wooden ceiling greeted me as I opened my eyes.

I blinked twice.

I found myself lying on a bed covered with a strange blanket. It was made of silk with intricate designs weaved throughout its violet fabric. Images of nature—streaks of fire, a pair of waterfalls, a cloudy mountain, and a lush forest—occupied its four corners. At the center was a series of heliocentric circles with two people, a man and a woman both dressed in regal black and gold tunics and robes. I blinked again and somehow recalled the man, who, if I wasn't hallucinating, I had seen for a brief moment before I...tore off...

I noticed the other bed across the room to my right.

There, also wrapped in a blanket, was Ener-G.

He was still asleep, and—

My eyes followed the length of his left arm, from his bare shoulder to the stub at his elbow wrapped in white bandages. His entire left forearm was gone, and the memory returned to me.

I felt dizzy trying to remember what I did.

No doubt, I had tried to kill this guy. Now, here we were—both of us recovering in this strange room.

Speaking of—

My eyes jumped to the walls around us.

There were shelves upon shelves of weird artifacts, ranging from beautifully-crafted ceramics, glass flasks filled with unknown liquids of varying colors, figurines made of clay, several analog clocks and elaborate bell constructs, numerous scrolls piled on top of each other, and rows upon rows of books.

On the wall to my left, there was a solitary painting of the same man and the woman depicted on my blanket.

The man had dark skin and a muscular physique outlined with fire. His biceps, wrists, and ankles were wrapped in golden braces. His black, spiky hair ran down just below his waist. He wore a black tunic with gold accents, with a belt above what appeared to be an elaborate loincloth—like a shendyt—that covered his waist and legs down to just below his knees. His arms were folded, and his face evoked a commanding yet docile expression, with a confident smile and a stare beaming with power.

The woman had short hair that dropped to her shoulders, with two cylindrical bundles bound by smaller gold braces that ran down the sides of her face. She wore a mostly black mantle with runes that seemed to glimmer with the starlight of the universe. Her right hand held on to a black staff with golden rods at its ends—each encrusted with runes similar to those on her mantle. She had an authoritative stare, but her grin evoked a sense of solemnity with a touch of mischief.

Before I met Elaina, I'd usually feel indifferent when looking at two religious figures like them, especially deities, of all things. But as I kept staring at this divine duo, I felt myself relax as I breathed deeply.

I remembered their names from my past talks with Elaina, and from my museum visit with Vanessa.

"Isah and Anya," I muttered softly. I felt my face. Was I...smiling at them?

"So, you remembered," Elaina's voice replied.

I turned and saw her sitting next to my bed on a wooden chair. "H-Hey..."

"Hey," she said. Her arms were folded.

"When...did you...?"

"Get here? This is my house. I can get to any room, any time."

"I meant by Teleportation Magic? Shadow Walking?"

"One of those, more or less."

Not once did she smile or take her eyes off me, which made me feel all the more unnerved.

"Ela..."

"What?"

"How long was I...?"

"Three days. Both of you. Well, for him, it’s still counting, since you just woke up. I brought you guys here."

"With Magic?"

"What do you think?"

"Okay. And...Sami and the twins?"

"I got them, too. With Lin’s help, of course."

"And the people outside the train yard. Are they...?"

"Safe? Oh, yeah. They're all fine, I think. I mean, they...all seemed to make noise and yelps when you started...uh..." She motioned her head to Ener-G. "...When you started wailing on him."

"Me?"

Elaina gave me a stern look. She didn't say anything.

"Ela, I didn't—"

"Yes, you did, Jacen. You did. You tore that guy's arm off."

"What?! But I..." I felt my forehead. "Was that really...me...?"

I stared at Ener-G's elbow stub. I felt sweat building up on my head.

Elaina walked over and sat on the right side of my bed.

"Jace...hey, look at me, man," she said.

I looked at her.

"I don't believe you are a bad person, Jace. But...what you did to him...to this guy, Ener-G...I've never seen anything like it. You...You didn't seem like yourself, and...you...tried to attack me, too."

I gasped. "WHAT?! No, I—There's no way I'd ever—"

"Jace," Elaina frowned, and I could see there were tears about to fall from her eyes. She just nodded at me, confirming I had tried to attack her.

I shook my head and instinctively leaned forward. "Ela, I would never—"

She moved off the bed as I moved closer to her, and she returned to her seat.

"I-...I know you wouldn't, Jace. I know." She wiped her eyes. "But the person you were that night…when you beat up Ener-G. That wasn't you. I mean, you weren't yourself."

"I'm...I'm sorry, I...I'm sorry."

Elaina nodded several times and wiped her eyes again. "I've, um...I've tended to both your wounds. Lin helped."

"Is she…okay, at least?"

"No,” Elaina answered bluntly. “More like, she’s pretty rattled after seeing you go berserk. She's downstairs at her desk."

"Wait, her desk?"

"Yeah. After treating you, Ener-G, the twins, and Sami, I teleported back to your place and helped Lin get all her hardware and stuff outta there."

"W-Why the rush?"

"After what you did? No doubt people were gonna hit up your place. Best for none of us to go there for the time being."

"So, am I, like...a fugitive now?"

"Well, not in a ‘bad way,’ per se. Lin and I've been keeping up with the news lately. You've, um...certainly made a name for yourself, man."

"Oh...That bad, huh?"

"Not quite. Depends on where you look. It’s actually more so the opposite."

"What?"

"Normals and Abnormals online are talking about how you're a 'hero'. Of course, there are Normals who want you and all Abnormals dead after seeing that kind of violence. But, for the most part, you've become a celebrity online."

I shook my head. "Ela?"

"What?"

"...I'm sorry."

"..."

"You're right, I...I wasn't myself." I stared at my hands. "And I...I never want that to happen again."

"..."

I met her eyes. "But thank you...for helping me—for stopping me and…for taking care of me. I'll be sure to thank Lin, too."

Elaina took a deep breath and nodded. "You know, I'm not mad at you at all, Jace. I just..."

I swallowed.

She sat next to me again. "...I just care about you too much that I never wanna see you like that again. Like, for real. You weren't you, and seeing that side of you...It was terrifying."

I didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry, Ela. I'm really sorry."

She shook her head. "It's all right. It's all right."

I tried to move out of bed.

Elaina stood up. "Are you...feeling all right? You feel dizzy or anything?"

"No, just...a bit hungry."

"I'll whip us something up. It's just after noon. You can come down when you're ready." She began to walk out of the room, when she turned back to me. "And hey, um...Just...don't do anything that isn't like you, okay? We'll sort everything out with Ener-G when he wakes up, too."

I nodded. "Yeah...All right."

Elaina walked out of the room and I stretched my legs. I turned to look at Ener-G, who was still fast asleep. The left side of his head was also wrapped in white bandages. Other than his head and his left arm, he still had his white and gold armor on.

I stretched my arms. I got out of bed, brought one foot in front of the other, and made my way out of the room.