Arcadia

Mystic Bastion

What is this feeling?

Yura blinked her eyes. The first thing she could make out with her blurry vision was a cloudy sky. Feeling tired, she tried to twist her body around and re-adjust her position to no avail.

What is this?

She tried moving her arms and legs, but they refused to cooperate. She weakly blinked both of her eyes again before managing to move her head to the side.

Where am I?

Her eyes caught sight of the gray, rough surface where her body was laid. But besides the gray road, the  thing that grabbed her attention the most was...

Blood!

As if on cue, red streams of blood slowly oozed from where she lay. She started struggling, trying to get out of the place, but for some reason, she mustered no energy to move. It was as if her body was now detached from her soul and laid there as dead weight.

Immediately after, she can start hearing things. Around her, she could hear several shouts. Sirens of an ambulance also rang through the commotion. All the while the girl can hear a very familiar voice kept shouting her name.

"Mother...."

Yura can feel some tears drippingng from the side of her eyes. She tried to desperately reach out, but to no avail. As she started to give in to hopelessness, she saw a shadow loom over her. It was a tall and lean person, who exuded a certain mystique. As her heart started throbbing, red began creeping Yura's vision. More and more... and more.....

"Ack!" 

Yura's eyes sprang wide open. One of her hands grabbed her blanket, then the other pushed forward while she sat up, all in one swift motion. She put one of her hand over her chest in an attempt to calm down the fast-beating heart. She inhaled and exhaled repeatedly. After regulating her breathing, she grabbed a napkin on her bed and wiped away sweat from her forehead and neck.

"That was a horrible dream. Really horrible..."

The first thing that came to her mind is the possibility of a ghost or demon. She glanced around the dark room, trying to look for any possible culprits. Nothing. She felt nothing. No spiritual or magical presence at all, and the only other person in the room with her is Leanne. The girl was lying on her stomach with her hands stretched out in an unorderly manner. Her bed was a mess, as always, with the blanket almost tossed out to the floor already. 

After calming herself down, Yura slowly lied back down and got ready to sleep again. She only hoped that the dream would not come back to haunt her.

~~~~~

The Next Morning

Leanne sat opposite Yura in the caferteria table with her tray. "I wonder how long they plan on canceling school for? Must be a long time..." she said, munching onto her bread.

"Well, obviously. They still had to do a lot of screening and repairs after what happened."

"Hey, at least, the Pale Phantom issue is now done. Nothing to distract you now!"

Yura gave Leanne a surprised look, then just settled down and smiled. "I like your optimism, Leanne. If only things are that easy."

"It's best to just think of the positivies. Makes you healthier too!"

"That's... a weird way of saying things."

"The Pale Phantom was the cause of an evil mage, so I wonder if they will do something about magic users and our classes with Sir Aldra."