Whispers of Worlds Beyond: A Series

Returning to class after everything felt surreal.

The halls of Genvah were still the same: gleaming stone corridors lit by runes and torches, enchanted vines crawling lazily across the walls, and the familiar scent of parchment, ink, and morning dew that clung to the air. But for Aiden, everything felt a little different. He wasn't the same person who had left them two weeks ago, battered and unconscious on a stretcher.

The wheelchair glided silently above the floor, runes embedded in two smooth karatula stones glowing softly beneath it. Adrian had calibrated them with so much care that the chair now moved as if weightless, hovering just high enough that Aiden felt he was floating rather than sitting.

"I swear," Adrian whispered beside him as they approached the lecture hall, "if anyone tries to touch the stones, I will hex them. This is a masterpiece."

Aiden chuckled softly. "You said that three times already."

"I mean it every time."

When the doors to the first-year lecture room for Professor Anwar's class creaked open, the hum of chatter dulled instantly. Dozens of eyes turned as Aiden entered, some widening in surprise, others brightening with recognition.

"Is that-?"

"He's back!"

"No way…"

The murmuring spread like wildfire. Adrian gave a grand, exaggerated wave as if to announce royalty. "Presenting! The hero of Genvah!"

Aiden groaned.

"Adrian, please don't-"

Too late. Several classmates had already started toward him.

"Are you okay now?" Ammonn asked.

"What was it like, fighting Karro?"

"Did you really survive that fall? Like- that fall?" Peter asked.

"How are you not dead?" asked Collei.

Aiden blinked, taken aback by the wave of attention. He hadn't prepared for this part. His mind had been too preoccupied with how he'd navigate the stairs in the East Wing or whether Emmeranne would be in class. Now, with everyone crowding around, it was hard to think.

He gave a weak smile. "I'm… getting better. Not allowed to walk yet."

"You looked like death when they carried you in," said Collei, his voice genuine rather than mocking. "Glad you pulled through."

Rupert elbowed his way to the front, his arms crossed over his chest, brows furrowed. "You really scared the crap out of everyone, you know that? Even I thought-" He paused, then muttered, "Never mind. Just glad you're alive."

"Thanks, Rupert," Aiden said, his tone soft with sincerity.

Jarek followed, giving Aiden a hearty clap on the shoulder that almost sent him rocking. "Man, you really went full blaze, huh? Heard you were chucking fireballs with broken bones. Respect."

Aiden winced at the clap but managed a chuckle.

"I don't recommend it."

"It was really brave," Jarek said, his tone turning serious for a second. "Not just the fighting, but everything else. You didn't run. You stayed. Heard it all from Amihan who heard it from Emmeranne."

Morrigan slipped forward then, her voice low. "Hey, me and Hanako made a few sugar candies in our dorm. You can have these."

Aiden smiled and accepted the offer.

Amihan hesitated beside her, wringing her hands. "I'm... sorry once again. It's still hard not to blame myself," she admitted. "You got hurt trying to follow me. I should've stayed put. Should've heard you."

"You were just trying to do the right thing," Aiden replied. "We all were."

Adrian leaned against the wall behind Aiden's chair, arms crossed with a satisfied smirk.

"Can confirm. We're all idiots. But at least we're honest idiots now."

Sevan, seated next to him, flipped a page in his notebook without looking up. "You're still the biggest idiot, Adrian."

"Oh, absolutely," Adrian said, grinning proudly. "Yeah, Shiloh and his lapdogs actually take this one. I take back what I said."

The bell rang just then, cutting through the tension.

Professor Anwar entered with his usual cool composure, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on Aiden. He gave a faint nod of approval and moved on to begin the lesson.

Aiden wheeled himself to his usual spot beside Adrian and Sevan, and as he settled in, he found himself glancing around the room again. He wasn't sure what he expected- fear, discomfort, maybe even avoidance—but what he found was… warmth. Tentative, but real.

They hadn't treated him like a Chase today.

They'd treated him like Aiden.

And for the first time in a long time, he believed he actually belonged here.

Classes had returned to their usual rhythm, but for Aiden, the world still moved at a pace he struggled to catch up with. Though he was technically back, he wasn't really in it yet- not the way he wanted to be. The wheelchair limited his freedom, forcing him to rely on Sevan or Adrian to push him from corridor to corridor, or in moments of laziness (which Adrian would never admit to), let the karatula stones do the levitating.

Assignments came and went. The professors handed them back with the usual markings and comments, but Sevan's penmanship filled each answer in Aiden's parchment that Aiden was supposed to have written. Aiden always looked at them with guilt simmering behind his eyes, but no one said anything.

No one except for Professor Flinders, who still seemed to be holding onto his last thread of sanity.

"Mr. Chase," Flinders called one morning, flicking through a stack of essays with what could only be described as reluctant approval. "Your insights on the ethics of the Solari Rebellion were impressive. Shame it was written by Mr. Wasterfall again."

Adrian gave a lazy shrug. "Would you rather he submitted one about how time is a social construct and nothing matters?"

Flinders glared. "Detention."

"But why?"

"You're not Aiden. And unlike some people, you are not currently wrapped in a sympathy bubble sanctioned by the Headmaster himself."

Aiden leaned forward weakly. "Professor, I didn't ask-"

"Of course you didn't, Mr. Chase," Flinders said with mock patience. "You've already done more than your share by not dying. But I'd appreciate it if your friends remembered they're not you."

Adrian snorted and leaned toward Sevan. "Next time, I'm submitting a stick figure comic. Let's see if that earns me a gold star."

Despite the chaos, Aiden appreciated the effort his friends gave him. Sevan, calm and steadfast as ever, handled every task like it was just part of his day. Adrian, though loud and ridiculous at times, had somehow become the emotional anchor- making jokes at Flinders' expense, ensuring Aiden smiled even when he felt like falling apart. Even Rupert and Jarek had checked in regularly.

"Hey, Den," Jarek said one afternoon, clapping him lightly on the back, just lightly enough that Aiden didn't wince. "Heard you beat Karro bloody before getting tossed down a cliff."

"I did not beat Karro," Aiden said.

"Let the legends grow, man," Rupert added with a grin. "You barely survived, so you get to exaggerate. That's the rule."

They weren't the only ones. Each time he entered a classroom, people would lean in to ask if he was okay, if the rumors were true. Aiden would nod, give small reassurances, and smile faintly while dodging questions he didn't want to answer.

But the one person he wanted to see, more than any of them, had remained a ghost.

Emmeranne.

Not once had she come by the infirmary. Not once had she approached him. She sat in class, answered questions, turned in her assignments, but the moment the bell rang, she was gone like a shadow.

Aiden tried calling after her once, but his voice didn't carry.

Another time, he wheeled after her only for the rune in the stones to flicker, causing the wheelchair to slow just enough for her to slip through a side hallway and vanish again.

"She's avoiding me," Aiden said to Adrian and Sevan one evening as they sat in the common room.

"No," Sevan replied, eyes still on his book. "She's avoiding herself."

Adrian, sprawled upside down on the couch with his feet over the backrest, sighed.

"Ever since the whole false accusation thing, people've been acting weird around her. Ivara and Morrigan especially. They were the first to call her out, and now they look like someone kicked their conscience in the ribs."

"They apologized to me," Aiden muttered.

"Yeah," Adrian said, sitting upright now. "But not to her. And Emmeranne being Emmeranne, she probably decided it was better to just… fade. You know how she is. Quiet. Keeps her pain neat and folded inside."

Aiden's fingers gripped the armrest of the wheelchair. "But she was hurt too. Karro had his hands around her throat—she couldn't breathe."

"She doesn't talk about it," Sevan said. "Some people heal by burying the wound. Not smart, but… it's what they do."

The silence hung heavy between them until Adrian suddenly jumped to his feet. "Alright, new plan: we figure out how to put rocket runes on your wheels."

"Adrian," Aiden groaned.

"No, no- listen! You want to catch her, right? You're not going to do it crawling at a snail's pace while she uses teleportation. We need speed. We need… style."

"You want to turn my wheelchair into a flying chariot?"

"I'm just saying," Adrian grinned. "If we can dodge a Flinders essay with time magic, we can make your wheelchair fly. Come on, Sevan, back me up here."

"I'm not participating in this."

"Yet."

They laughed- Aiden included. But behind the smile, something inside him remained unsettled.

It had been over two weeks. He was healing, yes. But some wounds didn't scar the same way. Some left questions behind. And until he looked Emmeranne in the eyes again, until they spoke about what happened, Aiden felt like he wanted to just teleport and shout at her to not close her walls off.

After all, he hated her before. But now, I think it's nice to have her as a friend.