Hope born of solitus

7th August.

How sentimental. I wonder...

***

The hallway to the classroom turned dark, it didn't seem like a normal blackout. There were various reasons that it looked strange, but most of all... It's because the morning sun was blazing just right outside the clear glass windows.

Where has the light gone? My thoughts froze in stasis, I've not read about this in my diary at all... And I remember everything. I have to, to maintain Lastia's normal life. Panic creeps into my heart, my body tensed ready to leap at a moments notice, when Sariel patted my shoulder before walking in front of me. It almost looked like she was glowing in this super dim corridor, I could clearly see the light outside the building but it isn't reaching the inside at all, as if there was a coat of black paint over the air itself.

It also felt like I was swimming in black paint, my body felt heavy and buried in a coagulated mass and my vision began to waver. The world seemed to lit up for a moment, her back was small yet it felt so assuring as it glowed. The outlines of a new outfit glowed over her body in white as her old clothes burst into dust. Rays of light spiked forth and exploded into dazzling chaos, before I could open my blinded eyes, her clothes had already changed. A mash of glossy black and golden yellow decorated her dress. Her neck, wrists, arms, and waist were covered by a black metal with a bright and velvety marble texture, reflecting the images of enemies within.

"Listen well, little ones. My ability is called {swap} ." (Sariel)

With a large gushing wind, her hair was thrown into the air by her own pressure, fluttering like a cascade of water attempting to make a rainbow. Her figure vanished and she reappeared 10 metres in front. The world inside this corridor was still dark, and I hadn't noticed it before but... The other students are not reacting. They do not notice the strange happenings and do not recognise our abnormal behaviour... They simply went off with their lives, unhindered by the viscous veil of this mysterious phenomenon.

It feels like a mental attack, an illusion built by the enemy that only we, the targets will see. Or in another way to see things... The enemy is discreetly reaping victims, to which only us who could perceive magic could see their true form. This black reality.

"Hmpf, over here. This slightly large mass of magic is the culprit." (Sariel)

She gripped it by the neck and lifted it into the air, strangling it while shaking it. It looked to be shaped like a... A goblin? That was the simplest way to describe it, it was a tiny humanoid with long but half bitten ears, black from head to toe like a congruent moving mass of smoke. It's concealing itself... No, that would be too convenient. Perhaps some things are not like we expect, this gaseous form is likely its true appearance.

" Unlike a video game, there are no tiers or levels describing the ferocity of these creatures. Even if there were old records of these things, our experiences and encounters could only be liked to... An encyclopedia.

However, every single one of them is dangerous. " (Sariel)

She swings the creature down, blocking something small in the corner... Another one. Nobody said only one Trace could manifest at a time, there were multiple of these creatures. It seems that one will act as bait while the others serve as insurance. I... Have not awakened any ability of any sort. I do not know what I can do here other than watch, but... I don't want to watch her die.

I... I don't know know my parents. I don't know if I have any siblings or not. I am not aware or any extended relatives. As far as I am concern, every morning my entire world is constructed by that diary. I see. I think I understand what you mean now, August 6th. It'll be confusing to call you Lastia, we're all Lastia. So let's refer to each other by our dates, shall we?

I take my first step forward, opening my stride as far as possible. Akin to a baby learning to walk after crawling, I move my body with my entire being, as if I was chasing an elusive dream. The moon's reflection out of my reach, I want it, I want to... Reach for my own moon. An impossible dream. After all this is over, I'll no longer be around tomorrow. It'll be a new me. Someone who is I, but not me.

Then isn't it fine? If this tiny instance, this fleeting sense of self that will last until tomorrow will disappear anyway, why don't I take advantage of it? Why don't I put my all into protecting my beloved Sariel, preserve Arin's cherished peace. Lastia, I don't even know who you were originally. Did I have an original personality? Or was I like this since birth? What is considered 'original'? But I'm glad you are a good person. I don't gave to know who I was in the past to know I did good. Because it is with all my being, that I still love this world in spite of my circumstances.

Another 2 steps, I was almost in the thick of it. My body began glowing, dispelling the darkness of this corridor much like Sariel did. A dusk goblin jumped up and was about to strike at the back of Sariel's neck. My outstretched left fist was swung, slamming into the goblin's head and smashing its puny body into the ground...

Its head exploded with the light wrapping around my body. I grabbed another goblin with my right hand, sliding my fingers into it's upper jaw and swung it at another. The goblin that was swung split in half by the torso, while the surrounding goblins that got hit had their body dented with vast bruises. White gloves wrapped the end of my finger tips and wrist, a large dark purple ribbon manifested in the air as it sat snuggly on my ponytail. I usually let my hair down, but it tied itself up on its own.

A similarly dark purple dress wrapped itself around my body with loose and short open sleeves, opening a large V-shape near my chest as a lacy and translucent black underlayer similar to tights cover up to my neck. Ah... There seemed to be a thin and irregularly shaped collar at the end of it, decorating my neck like a piece of jewelry. It was black but shoned like the cut of crystals refracting light in all directions.

The dress was short and reached the upper half of my thighs, with shorts underneath. My boots seemed to be the same design as the school boots, only that it was changed from a tan brown to black, it was suited for running and one of the main reasons I supposedly chose this school for. A secondary layer of cloth fluttered under the skirt like a lower cape blocking wind from the back.

I grasped my fist tightly, causing my gloves to glow.