A scream rang out through the academy halls.
It wasn't sharp. It wasn't even loud. It was soft and warped, like someone trying to call out to you underwater. And yet, the threads around me distorted dramatically, twitching like panicked snakes trapped in a fire.
The classroom didn't change, at least in the basic, universal use of the word. Professor Halden kept speaking, his voice droning on in a monotone way. My classmates shifted in their seats in a desperate attempt to stay attentive in their half-awake state.
No one else reacted to the scream.
But I had heard it. Or maybe it was more fundamental, as if my soul responded to the cry.
I stood before I realized it, instinctively looking up in a panic to see if I would be given inquisitive looks. However, no one looked at me, not even Professor Halden, who always made it known if someone was interrupting his lessons. I was like a phantom, here, existing, but unable to interact as the world moved on.
Out in the corridor, the light fragmented off the air in an unusual way. Clumps of dust speckled the air in a way that was reminiscent of stars in the sky. The threads pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat. I couldn't help but feel like the threads were drawing me into something bigger than myself. My heart pounded in apprehension. I wasn't afraid exactly, but I was swirling with unease.
My feet moved forward rhythmically, my autonomy seemingly stripped from me, my steps like a marionette's, the strings slowly bringing me to the hall.
The threads that were once guiding me went haywire, swirling around the doorway before going limp, loosely outlining the entrance to Professor Halden's classroom.
At least, I initially thought it was all of them.
I was wrong, however, as one thread was wrapped around my finger.
With a tug, I was able to realize that the rest of the length of the thread was winding down the hall.
Then I saw her.
She stood at the far end of the hallway. The thread led my vision to a half-shadowed area where sunlight didn't reach. Her back was to me. Beautiful long hair, midnight black with a violet sheen, flowed gently down to her waist. She stood like a queen, her posture straight and imposing.
My breath caught.
Her uniform matched mine, a standard Class-C uniform, not creased or wrinkled.
My heart was pounding in my chest, my fight-or-flight response sending alarm bells through my head.
What scared me wasn't the girl's appearance.
It was the thread.
While all the others were unable to enter the hall, this one was different, tied directly to me. It vibrated faintly, humming with a slow, deliberate energy.
She turned.
A faint pain ran through my nerves as the thread became taut, digging into my finger's flesh.
Her eyes met mine instantly, as if she had been waiting for this moment her whole life. Pale red, wide, unblinking. There was a softness to her face, a doll-like beauty, fragile like a raindrop. And yet, that smile, it was so concerning. A faint line spread across her face as if she had found something satisfactory.
"You heard it too," she said quietly.
Her voice was sweet and ethereal. She asked no questions, she knew the answer.
My thoughts ran wild in an attempt to understand the intent behind her words.
I knew there was something more to this person. I could feel it, a pressure, like a wild call hidden, intertwined in her words, waiting to be let out.
I stared at the thread wrapped around my finger. Blood lightly pooled around it, still anchoring us together, as real as the stone beneath my feet.
"Who are you?" I asked.
She tilted her head to the side slowly, unwilling to answer my question. "That's not important, not yet."
My hand balled into a fist at my side. I wasn't sure if it was out of anger or fear.
"You don't remember me," she whispered. "But that's fine. I couldn't forget, even if I wanted to. Regardless…"
Her pale finger raised to her pale pink lips, slightly parting them as she placed the tip of her index finger between her teeth.
I wanted to move, to escape… but I couldn't.
Her eyes slid to the thread connecting us. "You're awake now. That's all that matters."
The system reacted to her words like a pious believer.
[Thread Identified: Beloved's Shadow]
Classification: Aberrant
Status: Syncing…
Aberrant?
My blood ran cold. I finally managed to take a step back, shifting my weight onto my back foot.
The thread dug tighter into my skin, showing no signs of breaking.
"Why me?" I asked, knowing I couldn't handle the answer.
She responded quickly. A chilling smile blossomed on her face. "Because fate doesn't lie, Albert."
She turned away and walked down the hall, her shoes making no noise against the stone.
The thread slowly turned illusionary, growing thinner with each step of her feet until it vanished entirely.
I could no longer see her back as the darkness she walked into began to ominously grow toward me.
Silence returned to the hall and to my mind.
I stumbled back into the classroom like a puppet. The moment I crossed the threshold, the world resumed its pace. My seat was still empty, just as I had left it. Professor Halden hadn't noticed. No one had.
I felt myself begin to pant, desperate to take deep breaths.
I looked toward the door of the classroom.
The threads hadn't returned to normal. They swarmed around their owners like worms.
I sat down, breathing hard, struggling to catch my breath.
Just when I thought the nightmare was over, something flickered at the edge of my vision.
A thread. No… it was only partially a thread. A single part of a whole. Shimmering in gold and red, pulsing unusually. I reached toward the anomaly instinctively, but it flickered like a firebug, momentarily making its presence known.
Still, the presence lingered like a cold wind.
My chest tightened.
"No, I… Akari?" I whispered, mourning.
The system responded slowly, as if it were apprehensive.
[Thread Signal Detected]
Designation: Unknown
Origin: Unanchored Realm
Status: Fragmented
I stared at the words until they faded from my vision.
Unanchored. That wasn't possible.
I didn't think so… but—
I dug my fingers into the wooden desk, scratching my nails against the wood grain.
It was a desperate attempt at holding myself still.
Akari was alive.
I knew it for a fact now.
Somewhere.
Somehow.
And someone, or something, was looking for me.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. I couldn't focus. I couldn't listen. My mind replayed every detail of what I saw.
It was haunting me.
The aberrant thread. The girl with the pale red eyes. That thin, awful smile. The thread that bound us, it controlled us.
And then Akari's signal. Fragile. Broken. But real.
I felt so lost, overwhelmed with anxiety.
By the time class ended, the air felt heavier.
The walk through the school was exhausting. Every step felt increasingly heavy.
I didn't return to my dorm. I went to the rooftop instead, where the wind was sharp and the sky wide.
The sunset cast its yellow glow on the academy.
I could see the central tower, the dorms, and the gardens from here.
The world kept turning.
It was infuriating.
How could it all go on like this, as if nothing had changed?
My world was being warped around me.
The students below walked in droves, filling the grounds of the academy as normal.
My feet dangled on the edge of the building, idly swinging in the air with the breeze.
My hand drifted to the edge of my shirt, the academy's proud emblem.
I thought back to the entrance exam.
I thought back to the simulation.
I thought of Lian.
Of her sacrifice.
How I forgot her face...
And then I thought of the girl in the hall.
My thoughts were heavy.
The thread wasn't there for me to control or use.
It was for something else entirely.
An anchor.
No... a weight.
Whatever that girl was, she had no intent on being something more than her thread.
She loved her thread.
She was intent on keeping the thread that bound her to me.
And the worst part?
Whether it was because I was exhausted or something else,
I didn't have the strength within me to resist that strongly.