Minutes later, Rowan's eyelids began to flutter open, his consciousness slowly returning.
His head felt unbearably heavy, as though molten lead coursed through it.
"Urgh! What the hell?" he groaned, his voice hoarse and ladened with confusion.
With effort, he managed to gather just enough strength to pick himself up. Each movement felt sluggish, his limbs weighed down as if gravity had intensified tenfold.
Groggily, he stumbled toward the sofa, collapsing onto it with a deep sigh. His mind raced to piece together the scattered fragments of memory, replaying the strange events over and over.
"Wait… the wall," he muttered, his voice sharp with sudden recollection. He whipped his head around, casting a hurried glance toward the crack that had pricked his curiosity before everything went dark.
"Oh shit! How… how is this even possible?" he stammered, his heart thudding wildly.
The crack was gone. Completely. The wall was pristine, exactly as it had been before he left for the academy earlier that day.
Rowan blinked, his disbelief mounting.
Was he hallucinating? No, the memories were far too vivid to be some figment of an overworked mind.
He could still feel the pinprick on his finger, the mist coiling into his nostrils, the sudden wave of grogginess before he passed out.
Desperate for answers, he examined his finger. Yet even here, reality seemed intent on gaslighting him.
The puncture wound he was certain had been there was gone. His skin was
unbroken, smooth, as if nothing had ever happened.
He stared at his hand, doubts and confusion running through his mind. The apartment was silent, well, except for the faint creaks of settling wood.
Outside, the world had grown darker, and the dim light filtering in from the window shifted into a soft, silvery glow.
Rowan leaned forward, pressing his hands against his face. "Urgh! Was that a dream? Why did it feel so real?"
His gaze darted back to the wall, his brows furrowed in frustration.
Everything about it mocked him with its normalcy, as though the events that had unraveled mere minutes ago were nothing more than figments of his imagination.
"Maybe… maybe it's just fatigue from the academy test," he murmured to himself.
He leaned back into the sofa, his entirety beyond exhausted. "I'll be better
once I go to sleep."
Even as the words left his lips, doubt lingered in his mind. Yet, his exhaustion finally claimed him, and his consciousness dissolved into a refreshing, dreamless sleep.
***
The next day, Rowan yawned and stretched, his body still weighed down by the previous day's events.
As soon as he opened his eyes, they were greeted by the soft rays of the morning sun, which crept onto his face through a slight aperture in the window.
"Ugh!" He flinched and winced at the sting. Annoyed, he hurriedly sprang up to close the window.
"Huh? That's... strange," he muttered with his brows furrowing.
The faint irritation on his skin lingered. Startled by the sensation, he rushed to grab a mirror.
Holding the mirror up to his face, Rowan's heart sank. A faint red patch marred the fair skin of his cheek.
"What's this?" he whispered in panic.
"Don't tell me this came from just that small ray of sunlight?"
The words barely left his mouth before a fresh wave of unease swept over him.
"What's going on with me? First hallucinations, now this?!" His voice grew louder as his mind raced with countless possibilities.
He tried to make sense of it. There was no way this could have been caused by the magic test.
He had read and heard plenty of stories about such tests, and none had ever
mentioned side effects like this.
The fear of the unknown took hold, and the uncertainty gnawed at his nerves. His hands trembled slightly as he placed the mirror back on the table.
Desperate to calm the mild irritation, he hurried to the sink and splashed cold water onto his face.
The coolness soothed his skin, the redness fading slowly with each splash. It eased his panic, but only did so temporarily.
He brushed his teeth and took a long bath, trying to focus on the familiar rhythm of his
routine to steady himself.
The day began rolling forward as it normally would. Rowan had always made an effort to keep his apartment tidy, so there wasn't much to clean.
He had a few chores to do, and he completed them without much stress.
Aunty Verci's makeshift nursery outside the apartment was one of his daily priorities.
She'd planted herbs in neatly arranged pots, and Rowan had taken on the task of caring for them, surely a small way to keep her legacy alive.
He filled the watering can by the sofa, then headed for the front door. But the moment he opened it, the full force of the sun's rays hit him.
"Argh!" Rowan gasped, stumbling backward as his skin erupted in a stinging, violent irritation.
Quickly slamming the door shut, he pressed himself back against it, breathing hard. His skin felt as though it was on fire, the sensation radiating across the areas exposed to the light.
Panicked, he staggered back to the sofa and collapsed into it with a heavy thud.
"What… what's happening to me?" he whispered, fear thick in his voice.
In the bid of his rush, he didn't even notice a familiar voice rang in his head but, now he had fully calmed down, the issue hit him like a grim recollection.
"Wait… that voice."
As those words came out of his lips, the same voice resounded in his mind, soothing and calming.
"Huh? Krist? Where's that coming from?" Rowan murmured, his confusion deepening as his thoughts scrambled for an explanation.
Suddenly, a virtual screen appeared within his mind.
Mana (****)
Agility (7)
Speed (6)
Endurance (8)
Strength (7)