"Haah!"
With a startling gasp, Kaeden clutched his chest and gritted his teeth. He looked around frantically. Damn it, it's happening again, he thought.
His gaze swept over the students surrounding him, then drifted to the figure with grey hair standing at the front of the classroom. The professor wore a single monocle with a golden frame over his left eye and gestured toward a moving holographic illustration of 'ether'—a swirling, formless energy.
"Le Moreiel's principle of ether states that ether, when absorbed from the atmosphere, CANNOT under any condition whatsoever be..."
Kaeden's attention quickly moved away from the professor to his immediate surroundings. He sighed heavily, feeling that strange heat pooling in his chest again. He was sweating profusely now, his skin growing increasingly pale, his breathing coming in short, ragged gasps. His surroundings blurred into a dizzying haze, as if reality itself was becoming unstable.
Everyone around him remained focused on the teacher's words, completely unaware of the young man's dilemma. The professor's teachings about the omnipotent energy called ether held the rapt attention of the elite students who needed to understand every word that left his lips if they hoped to preserve their status in this institution where power and standing dictated everything.
On a normal day, Kaeden—who was basically addicted to knowledge—would have been so absorbed in this lecture that a dying student beside him wouldn't have registered in his mind. He was, after all, quite the 'nerd.' But today was different. Today, he battled intensely with his very own self, and losing.
"What are these symptoms?" he muttered to himself, trying—desperately trying—to remain conscious. "I already went to the infirmary. The scans show nothing except that blasted NPN reading... so what the hell is happening to me?"
Staying conscious was proving more difficult than actually trying to stay awake while reading those tormentful textbooks on the ethics of guardians the night before a phase exam. These symptoms had started a month ago, right after the experiment with the DNA samples the Alchemy professor had personally entrusted to him.
He wasn't supposed to conduct the experiments he had performed. The professor's intention had simply been to expose him to a more complex level of cellular organization from an advanced species—one yet to be fully discovered, known only through DNA samples found during exploration of an endemic world.
At first, Kaeden hadn't been particularly interested in the samples. He preferred drowning himself in books at the library, that encyclopedia of endless knowledge. But on that fateful day, when he looked through the microscope, he saw something that instantly captivated him. It was so unbelievable, so strange, that he simply had to find out what exactly this species was.
He had experimented with lab rats purchased for some points at the Arcane Repository, and discovered that organisms with altered DNA—mutated through exposure to the sample—somehow gained more... abnormalities. Abnormalities that actually seemed fascinating to him.
Some of the miniature creatures grew at an absurd rate. Others suffered horrific malformations. The rest developed permanent deformities. But if there was one thing that stood out among all these varying manifestations, it was one thing and one thing alone:
Cannibalism.
The creatures—some once docile little beings—transformed into abominations. With time, his experiments started to... terrify him. So he destroyed everything. It nearly killed him in the process, but he did it.
"The incident," he muttered darkly.
Something had happened that day—the very day he tried to completely erase his experiments. Something that changed something fundamental within him. He couldn't clearly remember what exactly it was, but when he woke up in the infirmary a week later, the lab had been destroyed and he had no memory of the specifics.
The professor had been extremely infuriated with him for destroying what he called "a biological wonder, a marvel that could have brought humans to an even more advanced stage." But Kaeden had remained silent, offering only vague excuses for what had happened, not daring to mention the abominations his experiments had created.
And from that day onwards, the symptoms began.
At first, he'd considered them signs of awakening—perhaps his ether abilities were finally manifesting. But with how critical the symptoms had become, and with no signs of ether resonance developing, he knew the truth.
This was no awakening.
Something was fundamentally wrong with him.
"I... I have to meet the professor," he muttered, touching his forehead and feeling the wetness. He was completely drenched in sweat. "This is getting too much to handle alone."
"Hey," came a voice beside him.
Kaeden tilted his head to find a young man staring at him with concern. "Liam," he muttered, quickly biting his lip to regain control of himself, even if only for a moment. He couldn't let anybody get suspicious of his condition—not yet.
"You seem... troubled. Is there something you want to share?" Liam Karl Orayar asked gently. He wasn't exactly a friend—more like a friendly neighbor in the complex social ecosystem of the academy.
"It's nothing," Kaeden replied, unwilling to divulge anything. After all, he knew that if someone untrustworthy discovered his secret and reported it to the Magitech Union, not only would he never see the light of day again, he would beg for death to escape their endless experiments. Given his exposure to those samples, he was essentially a walking biological weapon.
"You're sweating bullets, man. Come on, is it... the bullying?" Liam asked softly.
Kaeden's eyes widened slightly, though he kept his emotions carefully controlled. The bullying was real enough—his only asset was his intellect, and aside from that, most students considered him worse than garbage.
"It's nothing you should be concerned about," he said firmly. Kaeden was an extremely cautious person, especially when it came to relationships. He always maintained his defensive barriers, knowing full well that trusting another student in this cursed academy could very well be his doom.
Silence stretched between them.
Liam stared at Kaeden for a long moment, then spoke quietly. "If you say so..." He trailed off, looking forward toward the professor.
The library, Kaeden thought desperately. There has to be something there. There has to be an explanation for all this.
"Mr. Kaeden."
He turned to find the professor standing directly in front of him. When did he—? The sudden proximity startled him.
"You seem oddly distracted today," the professor observed, his monocle glinting in the classroom's ethereal lighting.
"Ah... it's nothing, Professor. Just having trouble with my... illness," Kaeden responded, using the only alibi he could think of. Most students in the class glanced at him briefly before immediately losing interest. After all, his chronic condition was well-known, and aside from his intellect, he was considered utterly unremarkable.
"I wonder..." the professor mused, his sharp eyes studying Kaeden intently. "You seem so... pale. Oddly pale, even for you. Why is that?"
Kaeden gulped.
This was truly becoming more problematic by the second.