Meanwhile in Phix District a woman slept in a bed that was not hers. Her eyes were shut but tears steamed down her cheeks. Clutched tightly to her chest was a piece of cloth.
A t-shirt. It wasn't hers and even the bed and the room she laid in wasn't hers.
The room was small and simple. There was a laptop on a table by the window next to a small stack of books- novels and academic books alike and a wardrobe a few paces to the right along the wall hung a poster depicting a man with fiery red hair, standing with a solid and confident posture, a large dark bladed sword resting on his shoulder. It had the caption- Michael Bryce, strongest Hunter.
From the door Adam Blaze watched his wife, Synthia. It had been a week since that night of their son's disappearance and the house no longer felt the same. The heart that filled it with warmth no longer there.
Watching his wife like this broke him and he didn't have the words to comfort her, after all he cared just as much for their son as she had.
Synthia stirred, eyes fluttering open. She sat up from the bed. Her eyes looking around as though searching for something…for someone. Her green eyes dimmed when she didn't find her boy. Tears threatened to fall down her eyes once more.
In a heartbeat Adam was beside her wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her towards him.
Synthia didn't resist. Leaning onto his chest she sobbed:
"A-Adam?" her shoulders trembled. "I-is there still no word of our son?"
Adam's heart stung. In that moment he wanted to say anything he could just to ensure his wife's happiness but doing so wouldn't make it any better. Adam lingered for a moment before answering.
"Unfortunately not"
That was all he could say. He knew more details about the situation as an Officer had found him just the day before to tell him there was a high chance that Liam was trapped in a Zone with a D-Rank monster!
Adam could only bury this secret in his heart. His wife was already devastated enough as it was, the only thing that kept her from crumbling completely was the thought of their son returning.
Telling her that their son could potentially be stuck in a Zone somewhere would be the same as telling her, her son was dead.
It would crush her.
'Where ever you are Liam, come back safe' Adam offered a silent prayer to whatever deity there was. Adam wasn't a firm believer but in that moment he truly wished with all his heart that a god actually existed out there to answer his prayers.
Just behind the door, a teenage girl sat on the floor with her knees to her chest as she leaned against the wall. Listening to her parents' sorrow in room behind her, her arms wound around her knees tighter as she buried her face.
'Brother…'
***
At the same time classes at Bright Academy continued all the same. Students went through different classes and teachers taught like normal but it was anything but…the atmosphere was still a bit tense due to the events Zone collapse that had happened Friday last week.
"I still can't believe that happened"
"I still get nightmares about it dawg"
"I heard over a hundred people died"
"What bullshit are you talking about? Casualties didn't even reach 40"
"And how would you know that?"
"My dad's a Hunter at the Racket Guild remember?"
"Oh yeah I completely forgot about that"
Sitting at the desk by the window Emily listened to the idle chatter of her classmates without a care in the world.
'They don't even talk about you anymore…' Emily's eyes flashed with a cold hint of blue.
It was as though Liam never even existed. As though the thought of his death was an irrelevant topic to them. Just idle gossip. The very thought nearly sent her power spiraling out of her control.
Liam's image flashed in her mind. She wondered what Liam's final moments had been. Had he been scared and desperately running to save his life?
'Knowing him…he probably did something stupidly brave' she slight smile formed at the corner of her mouth.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a presence approach her. She turned her head slightly already knowing who to expect.
Dylan Crow.
"Hello there" he said wearing a broad smile on his face.
"What do you want?" Emily's voice was flat. Her earlier smile gone.
"Just wanted to greet a fellow classmate" Dylan replied still holding his smile.
"Noted. Now leave"
Dylan's lips twitched in mild annoyance. Was she still going to ignore him even after the trash was most likely dead?
Given his family's position in the city Dylan had more inside information about the situation. While most assumed that Liam had been killed in the accident, he was the only one aware that was not the case. Liam had gone missing together with a D-Rank monster and chances were that they had somehow ended up in a Zone.
'Well there's a very good chance he's already dead. This is a Zone we are talking about'
Absent mindedly he tried to sit on the empty desk next to Emily.
The moment his fingers brushed against its surface though a thin layer of frost bit into his fingers. His eyes widened. He immediately retreated, his hand already turning an unhealthy purplish color. He activated his ability without a second thought.
Frost retreated from his hand and color returned.
He looked towards Emily whose gaze was now fully focused on him but it wasn't in the way he would have liked at all. Her steel-grey eyes gleamed with a slight blueish hue, her black hair turning white at its roots.
The temperature dropped. The air becoming a little bit colder.
"Get away from his desk" Emily said cooly.
Dylan froze as he tried to process her words. He looked from Emily to the desk he had been about to sit on. Only then did he realize.
"You…" his gnawed his teeth. "…you're getting mad because I wanted to sit in that weakling's desk?"
Emily's eyes seemed to frost over, her gaze looking cold. She had already been close to losing control before and now she was on the verge of exploding.
The air around her was slowly freezing over. Ice flakes slowly falling around her.
"Don't you dare call him trash. He is twice the man you will ever be" Emily's voice sounded low and calm but the sudden chill in the air and the temperature drop suggested otherwise.
Dylan's fist clenched an angry grimace hanging from his otherwise noble face.
"Twice the man I could ever be?" he spat. "What makes you so sure about that huh? He is nothing but a weak boy destined to forever grovel before the strong. People like you and me…we are strong and are bound to reach higher levels compared to the rest. Do you not realize?"
"That kind of thinking is exactly why Liam is a better man than you" there was no pause in Emily's speech at all.
"What?" Dylan's face was slowly turning red.
"Unlike Liam, you have no heart. All you care about is your ego. I can never associate with someone like that"
A shadow cast over Dylan's face as he looked down. His fists clenched tight at his sides. He couldn't understand it at all. What exactly did Emily see in that guy? What made him so special that she would call him a better man than he was?
He gnawed his teeth. He was so angry that he couldn't help but laugh:
"Better man or not. I truly hope he stays dead "
A cold wind blasted into him. Dylan could only feel the pain before he was sent flying backwards, his body sliding to a stop just at the front of the classroom. The front of his shirt was covered by a layer of white frost and snow.
Dylan groaned as he got to his feet. His heart raged in his chest. He never expected Emily to attack him out of nowhere. He knew she cared about Liam but he never thought that she would actually attack him.
His forehead throbbed as veins formed. He watched as Emily stretched out a hand in front of her. Cold winds swirled in front of them as an ice ball the size of a human head took form.
'Fine then' Dylan's eyes glowed with a fierce light of his own. If she didn't listen to him then he would make her submit.
Steam rose from his body as the ice that covered him melted away. Flames burst from his hands two glowing balls of orange being held in his palms.
Emily's attack shot forward and Dylan brought his own forth.
Boom!
They met in a wave of heat and cold. An explosion of contradiction that filled the room with a thick fog.
Emily's vision was obstructed. She could only see a curtain of white before her. Only then did she realize that she had taken this too far. Emily wasn't one to lose control of her emotions and just attack anyone but Dylan had gone too far.
Distracted by her thoughts she reacted too late. The curtain of fog parted before her and Dylan burst forth. Her eyes widened and she tried to step back only for Dylan's hand to shoot forward wrap his fingers around her slender neck.
Emily gasped when he squeezed. He lift her a few inches off the ground then he spun and slammed her into the wall by the window. A tremor of pain swept through her body but her eyes blazed with focused intent. Her palm slammed into Dylan's broad chest a layer of ice wrapping around his chest and chilling his bones.
The frost bite made him stagger and Emily used that chance to slip free. Instead of retreating though, she closed the distance. Ice covering her fist as she gave him a liver shot.
Dylan coughed. The blow making him spasm.
Emily pressed on. With a push Dylan staggered back, Emily lowered her body before she sprung back up, palm shooting upwards. She struck him in the jaw and sent another ice clad fist to the chest. There was a loud thud at the impact and finally…She used her foot to sweep his legs off the ground.
A few moments later Dylan was lying to the ground his gaze somewhat listless. His jaw was bruised. His mouth covered in blood and his cheeks and eye were swollen. A thin slab of ice still covered his chest.
Emily released an icy breath before she stepped back and released her ability, the whites in her hair returning to their usual black. The ice around her fists now tinged in red broke apart and fell to the floor.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She closed her eyes trying to calm her nerves down.
She took one last look at Dylan.
"I don't ever want to talk to you again" she said.
"B-but…why?" Dylan rasped hoarsely. It was clear that he was having trouble breathing with a broken nose.
"I don't like you. It's that simple" Emily turned to walk away her steps slow.
Her entire body ached. Sweat made her hair slightly damp. The fight may have been a few seconds at best but it had taken everything out of her, after all she didn't have an Aether core and had been relying on her natural well of Aether.
Every awakener had a default amount of Aether that was stored by the body known as the Natural Well. Natural Wells differed in size from person to person but it made newly awakened such as them slightly stronger than the mundane person.
At this stage awakeners couldn't use their abilities as extensively hence the need to form an Aether core but that knowledge was kept from the public and the only way to form one was by attending a Hunter University.
That's why the fight with Dylan had taken such tow on her.
Chill!
Emily suddenly felt a shiver run down her entire body. Goosebumps raced down her skin and her hair stood on end. It was an instinctual reaction to danger and imminent death.
She turned around only to see a hand shaped like a knife surrounded by searing flames barreling towards her face.
Time slowed. Her eyes wide with terror and disbelief.
The flaming hand knife was just a few inches from her face when another hand intercepted it.
"I think that's enough" a delicate voice echoed throughout the room.