Pov: Eirian
Nightfall was coming, and still Ael and Amiel hadn't arrived.
"Where are they?" I let out.
They may have had their bags and lanterns, but even then, it would be hard to make their way through campus under the moonlight alone.
I wait patiently, but nothing. Soon the sun did settle, and they have yet to arrive.
'What were they thinking? I grew bored here all day.' I thought as I sat on my bed.
Most of the day I spent staring out the window of my room, waiting for something since I couldn't do much with these damn stitches. The only thing keeping me company was my thoughts.
Growing tired of waiting, wondering what was happening, I got up from my bed and grabbed my coat. I was going to go search for them. It put some strain on me, but it was now manageable. Putting my hand through one sleeve, then the other, I swing my bag around, carrying it. When I was ready to leave, as I reached for the door, it slid open.
"We're back!" Ael exclaimed.
We stared at each other for a moment, not knowing what to make of the situation.
"What are you doing out of bed?" He asked. Looking over my shoulder, he sees my bag, "Were you about to go out looking for us?"
Taking off the bag, I drop it.
"No, I was planning on packing different supplies from the medical center."
He looks at me, questioning my answer.
"Hmm, okay."
Behind him, someone else appeared.
"Oh, hey Amiel"
"Hello."
Looking back at Ael, I still had one unanswered question: "Where did you guys go?"
Amiel stepped in before Ael could answer, "We went out exploring the rest of campus."
'That makes a lot more sense.' My eyes fall onto Ael. 'He could have put that on the sticky note.'
"Can we come in?" Amiel asked.
"Oh, yes, my bad." Moving out of the way, Ael and Amiel place their bag down.
"So, how was this exploring? Find anything of interest?"
"Actually, we did," Ael replies. "Map boy, show him."
"Map boy?" Looking over at Amiel. He seemed a bit irritated at the name-calling, but he didn't say anything.
"Here. I mapped out a decent portion of campus." He hands over the map as he settles into his seat.
Looking at it, I can finally see the full scale of how much the campus has changed.
"Most of the buildings were destroyed with few paths remaining," Amiel stated, just to add on it a second later. "But there are some new paths that came with the destruction as well."
"Did you guys figure out what happened here?"
"No." Amiel replied.
"Also, another thing," Ael's voice rang as he finally settled in, taking a seat next to my bed. "Doesn't seem like the signal is just down for this building, but for every."
"Huh? What do you mean it's down?"
"It means we can't contact anyone," Amiel adds.
"But if we can't contact anyone, how the heck are we supposed to get out of here?"
Leaving this place was a hassle. The only way to get on campus was by bus, which came every semester, and with the semester just starting, it wouldn't come for a while.
"We don't know," I look back at Ael. "But that doesn't matter right now. What we need to worry about right now is food. There wasn't much here, so tomorrow morning, we should head to the cafeteria and start stocking up on some food."
"Okay."
***
The next morning came, and this time I actually woke up with the chiming of the bell marking sunrise. I can hear Ael on the other side of the wall waking up loud as ever.
"Does this man ever shut up?" I said quietly, not wanting him to hear me.
As I got up from my bed, my body felt better than the day before. I didn't struggle to walk, nor did I struggle to put on my cloak this time. It came much easier to me. Ael proved to be an excellent medic from the looks of it.
Pulling up my shirt to take a glance at my wounds, I can start to see the wounds heal better without the nasty sour smell like before. Then there wasn't that ugly discoloring either. My body was doing what it needed to do to heal.
Sliding my door open, I can start to see Amiel walking down the corridor.
"You ready?" Amiel asked.
Ael, getting out the door, yelled in excitement, "Yup."
I can see Amiel's face tensed up a bit from the annoyance of Ael. "It's too early for this screaming," I said.
"Yeah," Amiel agreed in a leisurely manner.
"But it's how I get ready for the rest of our day." Ael wined, almost like a kid.
"How about you do that elsewhere then?" Amiel said as he started to make his way down the corridors. I turned to follow him, leaving Ael behind.
"But that's just not fun then."
Amiel turned his head towards me, still walking, and asked, "Is he ever not annoying?"
"Not that I know of, sadly." I shrugged my shoulders as he sighed, knowing he was stuck with us for a while. I didn't blame him.
As we finally made our way outside the door, the snow from yesterday really showed. The snow was piled up about a few inches high on the ground. Enough to cover near my ankles, it was going to be a pain to walk through this if this was the whole campus.
"Which way map boy?" Ael slapped Amiel on his back just for him to be caught off guard, coughing from the force of it.
"D-dont touch me. And don't call me map boy."
'It looked like it finally got to him.'
"Sorry, sorry, now which way?" Ael said, not really in a sorry tone but in a sarcastic one instead.
Amiel, almost not wanting to answer, groaned a bit. "This way."
Following Amiel, we got closer and closer to the center of campus. It was where the cafeteria was located, along with many other main buildings. That included hand-to-hand combat, mathematics, sciences, tactics, and other classes alike. The center was basically where most students spent their days, since the outer parts were buildings that supported the campus, such as the medical center, facilities, and other things alike.
After a few minutes of walking, I can hear Amiel say something, "We're here." For the first time in forever, I set foot on the quad. Across from us was the cafeteria. As we made our way closer to the cafeteria, Amiel opens the door with us following behind.
"Wow, it's a mess in here," I said, walking in.
It must have been, seeing as everyone was rushing for safety. Most people just left their belongings without much thought—I mean, that's exactly what I did.
Ael, putting down his bag on one of the tables, said, "We should start making ourselves comfortable here. This is where we are going to be sleeping until we figure out what has happened with this place."