Three days later, Elara's body had fully adapted to the crude magical stitches.
Jasper and Kira dragged her out of the infirmary to give her a tour of Elysium Academy.
The school was built directly into the walls of a massive, subterranean cavern. It was a wild, patchwork city of rusted metal, glowing neon runes, and suspended bridges. It looked like a machine that had come to life.
Jasper pointed excitedly at a crooked stone tower that was currently belching thick, black smoke into the cavern ceiling.
"That's my Alchemy lab!" Jasper beamed. "I blew it up twice yesterday trying to weaponize pepper spray!"
Elara's mouth twitched. In the High Tower, a single speck of dust in an alchemy lab resulted in a whipping. Here, blowing up the building was a point of pride.
They walked past a large, sunken dirt pit. Inside, five students were engaged in a brutal, no-rules brawl. Fireballs, ice shards, and bare fists flew through the air. Blood splattered onto the dirt.
"We don't have a lot of rules," Kira explained, leaning against the railing. "Survive and get stronger. That's pretty much it."
Suddenly, a stray fireball the size of a boulder deflected off a magical shield in the pit and shot straight up toward the walkway.
It was aimed directly at Elara's face.
Jasper screamed and ducked. Kira's hand flew to the leather whip coiled at her hip.
Elara didn't blink. The combat instincts forged from years of fighting for her life in her past life took over. She didn't use magic. She simply shifted her weight, tilting her head and torso backward at an impossible angle.
The fireball roared past her face, the intense heat singeing the tips of her eyelashes. It smashed into the stone wall behind them, showering the walkway in sparks and rubble.
Elara slowly stood back up, brushing a piece of ash off her shoulder.
Kira let out a low, impressed whistle. "Damn. Your nervous system is wired like a master assassin."
"When the looming threat of death hangs over your head, your body learns to move before your brain does," Elara said flatly.
The joke was dark, and her tone was completely dead. Jasper and Kira stopped laughing. They looked at the faint, white scars lining Elara's neck and arms. They understood the heavy, bloody history behind her words.
Kira stepped forward and slammed her hand onto Elara's shoulder, gripping it tight.
"No one here is going to use you as a target ever again," Kira said fiercely.
"Yeah!" Jasper yelled, shaking his fist. "Anyone tries to mess with you, I'll sneak an explosive rune into their underwear!"
Elara looked at their fierce, protective faces. A strange, tight sensation squeezed her chest. It was a warmth she hadn't felt since her mother died.
Later, they sat in the loud, crowded canteen. The food was a slab of tough, unidentifiable roasted beast meat, but it was packed with raw energy.
High above the canteen floor, standing in the shadows of a metal balcony, Principal Grey watched them.
His eyes were locked onto Elara. Specifically, the way she held her fork in her right hand, while her left wrist rested on the table, exposing the silver bracelet.
Grey reached into his heavy trench coat. He pulled out a battered brass pocket watch. He popped the lid open.
Inside the lid was a faded, yellowed photograph. It showed a beautiful woman with dark hair, laughing brightly at the camera. On her left wrist was the exact same silver bracelet.
Grey rubbed his thumb over the glass protecting the photo. His chest physically ached.
"Mila," he whispered. His voice was so rough it sounded like grinding stones.
Down at the table, Elara suddenly stopped chewing. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She snapped her head up, her eyes scanning the dark balconies.
But Grey was already gone. Only a faint wisp of displaced air remained where he had been standing.
Elara frowned. She knew Grey was looking at her, but it always felt like he was looking through her, searching for a ghost.
Kira shoved another piece of meat onto Elara's plate, breaking her concentration.
Elara forced herself to look away from the balcony. She couldn't afford to get distracted by Grey's secrets right now.
That night, Elara locked the door to her dorm room. She sat cross-legged in the center of her bed, closed her eyes, and began to actively pull the dark, violent energy from the chaos core into her newly healed pathways.
