Whispers of Worlds Beyond: A Series

It started with a sound- the turning of a page, quiet and steady.

Aiden's fingers twitched against the soft, cool blanket pulled up to his chest. His consciousness returned slowly, sluggishly, like it was wading through thick fog. Every part of him felt heavy, stitched with pain and exhaustion. His mouth was dry, his ribs ached with every breath, and his body refused to move more than an inch. But he was alive.

Alive.

The ceiling above him was smooth stone, etched faintly with protective runes that pulsed with a gentle glow.

He tilted his head slightly. His vision was still blurry, but he could make out two familiar shapes beside him.

Sevan was seated at his right, hunched over a thick book, legs crossed beneath him on the chair as he read with unusual focus. His brows were furrowed in concentration, but his body looked tense. On Aiden's left, half-slumped in a chair with his arms crossed over his chest and his head tilted awkwardly back, was Adrian. A thin blanket was draped haphazardly over his lap, and a faint trail of drool glistened at the corner of his mouth. He snored, softly, but it was a sound that filled the space.

Aiden's throat was dry. He parted his lips to speak, but only a scratchy breath came out. Still, it was enough to stir Sevan up from his book.

Sevan looked up instantly. His eyes widened in disbelief, and the book slipped from his lap onto the floor with a loud thump.

"You're awake!" he gasped. "Adrian- Adrian!"

Adrian startled violently, eyes snapping open as he flailed once before recognizing where he was. "What-? Is someone on fire?" He looked around with a panicked squint, then saw Aiden's eyes open, conscious, blinking up at him.

For a second, Adrian froze. His lips parted.

Then he jumped from his chair and crashed into Aiden in a hug so hard and sudden that Aiden let out a strangled yelp.

"Ribs!" Aiden hissed through clenched teeth.

"Oh gods sorry!" Adrian pulled back immediately, hands up. "I just... damn it, Aiden- do you have to keep almost dying?! You're going to give me grey hair!"

Aiden gave him a weak smile, but his expression quickly turned puzzled at the sight of Adrian's face- pale, eyes bloodshot, and lips trembling slightly. He looked more worn than Aiden had ever seen him.

"You… okay?"

Adrian didn't answer right away. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a shaky laugh. "I've been sitting here for two days. Miss Seacole said you might wake up sooner, but you didn't. And your pulse kept… weakening. We thought you were slipping."

Sevan nodded quietly. "You were barely breathing last night."

Adrian exhaled slowly and rubbed his face. "I wrote to my parents. I-I didn't know what else to do. They're coming later today. Said they'd fly in by afternoon to check on you themselves." His voice dropped. "They were really worried."

Aiden blinked. "Your parents?"

Adrian nodded.

"They were the only ones I thought could help. You've been staying with us. You're basically family, idiot."

Aiden stared at him, and his throat tightened with a pang he didn't expect. A small silence stretched between them.

Just then, a sharp voice echoed through the room.

"Out of the bedspace!" barked Miss Seacole, striding toward them with a scowl and a tray of elixirs in hand. "Are you two trying to kill him again? Back! Sit down! Give him room to breathe before he stops again!"

Adrian flinched and retreated with his hands raised, falling into the nearest chair with exaggerated innocence. "We weren't going to smother him. Just aggressively love him back to life."

"Sit!" Miss Seacole snapped, slamming the tray on a side table.

"And no hugging! He's got four cracked ribs and internal bruising. Any more of your 'love,' and I'll be admitting you."

Sevan coughed into his hand to hide his grin. Aiden's lips twitched despite himself.

Miss Seacole leaned over Aiden with a gentler expression, brushing her hand over his forehead to check his temperature. "You're lucky, Mr. Chase. Very lucky. You should rest while you still can. You'll have visitors soon, and a mountain of questions once you're well enough to speak."

Aiden gave a nod, then turned his eyes back to Adrian, whose face had turned serious again.

"I meant it," Adrian said quietly, meeting his gaze. "You're not alone in this. No matter what happened out there. No matter who betrayed you."

"Adrian. Come on. We can talk to Aiden when he's stable." Sevan said, trying to pull Adrian away. "Let him rest first."

"No, wait," Aiden said, voice hoarse. " Stay… I want to know what happened."

Miss Seacole hesitated, then sighed. "Ten minutes. No more."

Once she left, Sevan sat back down and glanced at Adrian, who looked like he was barely keeping it together.

"I told you he was reckless," Sevan muttered, but there was no malice- only relief.

Aiden exhaled shakily, then turned to them. "Lopt. It was Lopt… He acted like- he threw me off a cliff. He baited Emmeranne. Said it was to avenge Savion…"

"We figured that much," Sevan said. "The moment I saw Professor Ylang-Ylang without her Divatas, I knew something was wrong. And when I saw 'her' hugging Amihan, I knew it wasn't really her. That's when it clicked- Lopt."

"What about the Divatas?"

"Oh just a long story. I'll tell you later."

Adrian scowled. "So it really was him…"

"Yeah," Sevan confirmed grimly. "Turns out, Lopt's whole betrayal was part of some twisted plan. He faked it to gain Karro's trust. He needed Karro to lower his guard enough to step inside the academy perimeter. The idea was to let the Headmaster deal with him personally."

Aiden's face twisted. "That's insane…"

"Insane or not, it almost worked," Sevan said. "But the problem was how he executed it. He dragged you into it. You almost died, and Emmeranne got falsely accused. That's where he crossed the line."

Aiden stiffened. "So everything abiut Emmeranne was false?"

Adrian leaned forward. "The blade they found? The one linked to that upperclassman who got a large cut on her face? It was planted by Lopt. He framed Emmeranne on purpose to force her out of the academy. He knew she'd follow you if she thought you were in danger since she was actually part of the mission to bring you here along with us."

Aiden stared at them both, processing the weight of it all.

Sevan continued. "As punishment, the academy decided to station Lopt at the borders. He'll be working longer shifts than anyone in his year."

Adrian looked grim. "And that's not all. The Soleian Council is holding a formal meeting. What happened with Karro, Savion, the false charges of a student… someone must have spilled all this information to the council."

Silence stretched for a long moment.

Aiden's throat tightened. "So… everything I went through, all that pain… it was part of someone else's plan again."

Sevan lowered his gaze.

The room fell into silence again, heavy with unspoken guilt. Aiden could feel it settling between them like a stormcloud- tangible, suffocating. He turned his head slightly, his gaze flicking to Sevan, then to Adrian. Neither could meet his eyes.

Adrian was the first to speak.

"We… talked to the Headmaster before you went missing," he said quietly, voice tight. "Before we found you screaming how there was someone who was out to kill you at the dormz. He- he told us to take care of you and to alert him if ever something happened since he knew it was only a matter of time before Karro will infiltrate the inside of the academy since there was actually a way from the outside. We should have done our job and stop you before you left."

Aiden frowned. "You didn't know-"

"But we should have!" Adrian snapped, the frustration in his voice making Sevan flinch. He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. "We should've known. You were hurting. You weren't thinking straight. And instead of keeping an eye on you, instead of doing what friends are supposed to do… we just let you go."

"It's not your fault-" Aiden tried, but Sevan cut him off.

"It is." His voice was calmer, but there was a sharp edge to it. "We're your team. We're your friends. We should have been there when you needed us. We should've seen through what Lopt was doing. And if we had done our job- even just been there- all of this could've gone differently."

Adrian looked like he was about to punch something. "I told you I'd protect you. From people like him. And I failed."

Aiden looked at them both, his chest tightening. They looked so broken and so angry at themselves. And all he could feel was the same mixture of pain and confusion that had been swirling in him since Lopt pushed him off the cliff.

But now, something new crept in: guilt of his own.

"I made my own choices," Aiden said softly. "I didn't tell you because… I didn't want to drag you into something dangerous. I didn't even think it would end like this. I just… I wanted to fix it myself."

"You don't have to fix everything by yourself," Sevan said firmly. "Not anymore Don't act like you're still alone. You have us."