Mira Arvaith
I stood near the punch bowl, my stomach grumbling as I watched a few students' faces turn green as they hurled in a nearby trash can.
Maybe it was the right choice not to eat at the banquet.
Pushing the thought aside, I pulled out my communicator and ran a diagnostic. It was strange that my message didn't go through the night we were supposed to vandalize house Obalex.
The diagnostic finished, and the results appeared on my screen. I did, in fact, send the message, but for some reason it never got delivered.
That's odd. Was the server down?
But then I remembered Jace had a similar issue with his communicator the day of the second midterm.
So it could have been the server. But what caused that to happen? Is it a network issue, or maybe software, or maybe environmental?
"Where is your date?" a soft voice said from behind.
I turned to see it was Milodara, silver earrings dangling at the sides of her pale face, along with an assortment of other jewellery. A Zmei clan member through and through.
"Oh, you know he's around here somewhere."
Milodara's deep blue eyes narrowed.
"Liar. I told you I would have helped you find one."
"You would have failed," another voice said from above.
It was Jace, collecting the cup of lemonade his miniature cloud brought him.
"How so? She's got a lot of great qualities," Milodara said.
He took a sip of his lemonade,
"Guys are afraid of her, and she's rude."
Milodara looked at me with a faint smile, "He's kinda got a point…A small one, though."
"With how you acted during the last midterm. You sure have a lot of room to talk, sparkplug. I wouldn't be surprised if you came here dateless too."
Jace's cloud drifted down to eye level next to Milodara.
He changed his hairstyle from a wild white afro to tight braids. I'd be lying if I said it didn't look good.
"I'm afraid you are alone in that category, gearhead."
My eyes darted back and forth from Milodara to Jace.
"Wait, this is the guy you were so excited you got a date with?"
She averted her eyes from mine.
"Yeah, this is him."
"Dara, you do know he probably would have said yes to anyone, right?"
"Not true," Milodara said, her hands placed at her hips.
I looked at Jace. His eyes drifted away from mine, too.
I face-palmed.
"Whatever," I said, facing Jace.
"I have a question for you?"
"I will not tell you my secret to getting dates."
I rolled my eyes.
"That's not what I want. Have you had any more problems sending messages after the day of the second midterm?"
"Yes, actually."
"When?"
Milodara gave me a weird look.
I ignored it.
"Whenever I went into high-altitude clouds. I just figured maybe it was because I was far from the school's network."
That would make sense, but I was still here on the isles.
This is strange.
"I'm sure it's nothing. Come on, let's go to the dance floor."
Milodara said, trying to drag me along with her.
I planted my foot hard, anchoring myself, "Dances are not my thing. It's just a big charade anyway," I said, sensing strong vibrational waves in the soles of my feet.
Milodara didn't push any further. But my mind was far from thinking about the dance.
I took off my combat boots and let my feet feel the ground beneath me.
I got a few choice looks.
Now what was that?
Is it a generator?
No.
The object is moving. Slowly.
I tried to sense for cosmic energy that felt out of the norm, but there were too many signatures.
I looked to Jace, who had floated higher up in the gym again.
"Jace, do you feel anything weird?"
He looked over the edge of his cloud.
"Nah."
Dang it.
I looked back at the mob of students dancing, unaware of this weird presence outside.
Wait, Cyrus is outside. I wonder if he noticed it too?
I tried to throw my boots in my dimensional storage, but it wouldn't activate.
Odd.
I didn't have time to waste, so I just carried them with me.
I fought through the crowd of students.
When I reached the exit door, I was stopped by Voen.
"Yo, can I get your help with something?"
"Voen not now ok,"
"Geez, you get dumped or something."
I just glared at him as I pushed open the door. But on the way out, I saw a few branch members of the Vortaris Clan and Stravos keel over another trash can.
What was served at the banquet?
Now outside, rain fell like pistons. I tried my dimensional storage again to grab an umbrella.
No luck.
Something has to be causing this, and where is Cyrus?
I couldn't feel his cosmic energy signature either.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the seismic activity. Thousands of droplets struck the surface, turning the search into a needle in a haystack. But eventually, I caught the faint sensation again.
I sprinted down the pavement. As I got closer, the subtle seismic waves I felt were stronger and more frequent.
When I reached the destination, my body froze.
Cyrus was in the grasp of a massive creature, shrouded in a dark fog, while another student was lying on the ground.
I stomped my feet to summon a pillar of rock to ram the limb that held Cyrus in the air, as I dashed toward the mysterious creature.
Is this a behemoth?
I commanded a soft pile of dirt to catch Cyrus, while commanding two more spear-like structures to pierce the back, while I took it head-on.
The creature evaded, flipping over my sneak attack.
"Mira, don't let it get a hold of you; it drains you!" Cyrus said, his voice hoarse.
"What do you recommend then?"
Cyrus, with an unsteady movement, picked up the body of the unconscious student,
"Run!"
I peered into the creature's core, it's a starspawn.
"It can't be that strong."
Running past me, Cyrus called back, "Call the teacher; my communicator isn't working!"
Him too?
I took off after Cyrus, pulled out my communicator, and sure enough, my communicator was no longer functioning either.