17. First Cycle
1609 Words
His eyelashes fluttered slightly before his eyes opened; the blurry light made him blink reflexively. Rivan winced, clutching his head.
Just before his vision cleared, Rivan faintly heard someone scream, followed by a roar. It instantly made his body tense.
He clenched his fists and slowly looked up. His pupils trembled; not far from him, an Echo was devouring a human body with a joyful expression.
The smell of blood mixed with dust hung heavy in the air. Debris rained down—some landing on students trying to escape, others crashing onto the Echoes or the ground.
“RAWWRRR–” The Echo’s roar pounded against Rivan’s eardrums.
He clutched his chest tightly, his breath coming in rapid gasps. A suffocating tightness gripped Rivan’s heart, making it hard to breathe.
“Haah.... haah....”
Even so, Rivan’s gaze remained fixed on the scene before him, unable to look away.
His ears were ringing; he could no longer hear anything. Not even his friends' panicked, worried screams.
A blue light surged around Rivan, destroying every object and living creature in his vicinity.
Rivan’s breathing grew faster and heavier, drowning out all other sounds, his gaze fixed straight ahead. In the depths of those bright blue eyes, a strange symbol slowly rose to the surface.
“ARGGHHHHH!”
Memory after memory of that endless cycle unfolded before him once more. The suffocating helplessness of watching his family die over and over, completely powerless to stop it.
Rivan doubled over, his hands clutching his chest so tightly that his clothes wrinkled beneath his grip. An emotionally wrecked scream tore from his throat as crimson blood streamed from his eyelids, staining his cheeks.
Finally, the strange symbol in Rivan's eyes shot outward. It took the shape of a broken clock face, its hands slowly ticking backward, moving faster and faster with every passing second.
A moment later, the reality around Rivan began to distort and shatter into pieces.
The world around him shattered like glass. Echo’s roar stretched out into a strange echo. Rivan felt his body being pulled backward, and then everything turned white.
.....
“But why were you placed in Room D? Why not Room A?”
Tris’s familiar voice made Rivan snap his eyes open. He looked up, stunned to find himself staring at a starkly familiar sight.
Rivan stared blankly at his tray of food. His left hand was trembling, until Tris’s worried voice snapped him out of his reverie. “Rivan, are you okay?”
“Ah, yeah…” He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
After finishing their meal, the two of them walked toward the arena. But halfway there, Rivan suddenly stopped; clenching his fists tightly, he turned around and hurriedly shouted for Tris to go ahead.
His memory stopped at the sight of the destroyed academy with Echo and the bodies of students scattered everywhere. After that, Rivan just felt a terrible headache, as if his head were about to split in two.
When he came to, he was already in the cafeteria with Tris and that uncool nickname of his. Rivan realized he had reset time.
So for now, he needed to find out what was going on—why Echo had been able to get into the academy. Rivan ran as fast as he could; he remembered Mr. Dante mentioning that the academy possessed a protective shield belonging to the Holy Maiden.
However, Rivan didn’t know where the core of that shield was located. But he was sure Isla would have a clue, given all the gossip she had.
Moving quickly, Rivan ran toward the girls’ dormitory, breathless and with sweat streaming down his temples.
“Stop!”
The security guard’s loud shout abruptly halted Rivan’s stride, causing him to stumble forward.
A burly man stepped out from his post, staring at Rivan suspiciously. “This is the girls’ dormitory; male students are prohibited from entering unless they have a letter of permission from the dorm supervisor. Where’s your letter, young man?”
“I—I don’t have one. But sir! This is an emergency; I need to see Isla Lorne from Room D right away,” Rivan said, panting, cold sweat pouring down his temples.
The guard rolled his eyes; he’d heard similar excuses plenty of times from young men trying to see their girlfriends in the past.
At least learn from that First Squad Captain who always used his sister’s name to meet the girl with purple hair.
"No emergency excuse will fly here. Get back to your class right now before I write your name in the disciplinary log," the guard insisted, leaving no room for negotiation.
Rivan clenched his fists tightly. His mind raced, searching for a solution. Forcing his way in was clearly out of the question; aside from the rules, the guard standing before him was no pushover—at least not with his current strength.
Just as despair began to creep in, the sound of graceful footsteps came from the direction of the dormitory gate.
Rivan turned his head, and his eyes lit up instantly at the sight of a young girl with long black hair wearing an oversized hat.
Ignoring the guard’s shouts, Rivan immediately pushed his way through and blocked the girl’s path. “Talia! Help me!”
Talia stopped in her tracks. Her eyebrows knitted tightly together as she looked Rivan up and down with her usual cold stare. “Move aside, you’re in the way.”
Rivan hurriedly stopped the girl again just as she was about to pass him. His voice trembled with anxiety and was full of urgency. “Wait, Talia. I really need your help! Please bring Isla here.”
Talia snorted softly, folding her arms across her chest. “What does this have to do with me? Get out of my way!”
“Talia, please.” Rivan gripped Talia’s shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
Rivan’s gaze was so intense, filled with genuine fear and seriousness, that it dispelled some of the girl’s anger and shock.
“This is a matter of life and death for the entire academy. I know this sounds crazy, but something terrible is going to happen here. I need Isla because she knows something about the academy’s shield. Please, just this once, trust me!”
Talia lowered her head slightly as she felt a tremor from the hand on her shoulder. She looked up again at the pale face of the young man in front of her.
After a tense silence that lasted several seconds, Talia finally brushed Rivan’s hand off her shoulder with a long sigh, giving in to the young man’s pleading.
"Just this once. And if this turns out to be just one of your silly pranks, I’ll beat you up myself," Talia threatened coldly before turning back and heading back into the dorm.
A sigh of relief escaped Rivan’s lips. He nodded repeatedly even though Talia couldn’t see him. A joyful smile spread across his face as Rivan returned to the guard who had been glaring at him the whole time.
Laughing awkwardly while continuing to apologize, he would occasionally peek through the gate, which was heavily guarded by the guard, waiting anxiously.
Ten minutes later, Talia reappeared at the dormitory door. Rivan nearly choked on his own saliva when he saw the scene before him.
Talia walked with an incredibly blank expression, while her right hand casually dragged Isla by the back of her shirt collar.
Isla, wearing rabbit-patterned pajamas, was still half-conscious, her eyes closed and her hair a mess.
Her mouth mumbled something indistinct, completely unaware that she was being dragged across the floor like a sack of rice.
“I brought her,” Talia said innocently as she arrived in front of a gaping Rivan.
....
Isla’s eyelids fluttered slightly. A tap on her cheek and the cold sensation on her skin forced the girl to wake up.
Her blue eyes looked dazed, unable to process where she was. All the girl could see was Rivan’s face, which appeared huge in her eyes.
She said, still half-dazed, “Riv, since when did you get a head-enlargement surgery?”
Rivan was stunned, while Talia turned her face away, covering her mouth as her shoulders shook with suppressed laughter.
A moment later, his face flushed, Rivan shook the girl’s shoulders violently, fully rousing her. “Wake up! We don’t have time for jokes.”
“Huh?” Isla rubbed her eyes, yawned widely for a moment, then slowly sat up.
The girl looked at both of them with a confused expression. “What’s going on? Why am I here? — Hey Riv, what’s wrong with you? You look really pale...”
“— I’m fine! Listen, Isla, do you know anything about this academy’s shield? More specifically, where is the core of the shield located?” Rivan cut in quickly. He asked with anxiety growing by the second.
"Huh? Y-yeah, I know a little..." the girl replied absentmindedly, taken aback by her friend’s strange behavior.
Rivan’s eyes lit up; he immediately grabbed Isla’s arm and dragged her along. "Great! Let’s go."
“W-wait, where are we going? What’s going on? And let me change my clothes first— Hey! Rivan!” Isla felt herself stumbling as she tried to keep up with the young man in front of her.
Rivan didn’t answer; instead, he shouted, “I’ll tell you later. Show me the way first! Talia, you’re coming too. Let’s go.”
- Writer
