It had been a few weeks since Hildr joined the academy, and she had already begun fitting in. Everything was going relatively smoothly, with only a few exceptions here and there. The issue with Anastasia had already been made public, and Hildr had already begun taking advantage of this situation before it all came to an end. She still felt that there was something she was missing in all this, but since she did not know what it was, she decided to let time reveal all.
In the private kitchen inside the dormitory that Hildr shared with the other girls, Hildr wore a blue apron as she cooked. She was making a simple meal, but the smell was heavenly. It filled the entire place, and it had already attracted Luna. The girl sat at the dining table, waiting for the food to be done. She had not said anything after arriving; she just watched the television while waiting. This was not the first time this had happened. In these few weeks, the two of them had shared more than a single meal. They had become friends out of nowhere.
Luna did not seem to judge Hildr on her past or anything she heard from others. The first time Hildr cooked, she prepared enough food for everyone, and this included Amelia, whom she hated. She set the table, but only Luna came. The two ate together in silence, and just like that, they became friends who rarely spoke but understood each other very well. Since Hildr liked the silence, Luna, who liked to talk, sacrificed and offered this silence. Luna always watched some show from the human world, and Hildr had also begun following it, even if just a little.
When Hildr was about to finish cooking, Luna stood up and set the table for five. Hildr served the food, and the two began eating. The other girls did not join them, but that was okay. After eating, Hildr and Luna both washed the utensils before they continued watching the show in the common area. After a few minutes, Hildr went to her room.
"Good night," she said.
"Sweet dreams," Luna replied. These were the only words they exchanged, but they were more than enough.
Hildr's Practice and a Sudden Abduction
Inside her room, Hildr did her homework. She needed only ten minutes to finish all of it. After all, her speed was over ten times greater than a normal human's. This also included the speed at which her mind processed information. Just as usual, Hildr sat cross-legged on her bed and opened a brown leather scroll. She laid it on the bed and began studying it. The scroll was covered in characters from the Sol Tongue, the language of the Otherkind. This language was said to have been granted by the gods to the Otherkind as a gift of thanks for something their ancestors had done in the past. This language had the power to connect with the flow of the world, allowing the Otherkind to tap into the sol that flowed through the fabric of creation.
Hildr had learned to read this language long ago; after all, it was her first language. Still, the characters written on the scroll were very special. They did not stay in place. They moved all over the scroll, and when one looked at them for a long time, they would be drawn into a world made up only of water. The sky, the earth, space, and everything else was made of water.
After a few minutes, Hildr found herself in this world. She had done this every night since she was unsealed by her father, and yet she could only stay in this world for less than a minute before being forced out. This was because this world did not have any air or anything else apart from water. Even though she was an undead being, a child of the night with immortality, she still needed to breathe, even though not as much as a human. Without air in this world of water, she always drowned after a few minutes.
The moment Hildr appeared in this world, she found herself floating in water. She did not panic. She closed her eyes and tried to forget that she was surrounded by water.
"Water is life. From life comes death. Death is life. Death is water."
Hildr began chanting this in her mind. She thought in the Sol Tongue, making her sound like a being from a time before the world became what it is now. The water all around her began moving slightly, making circles around her, but she knew that this was not enough. She continued chanting, trying to master the water instead of allowing the water to dictate her life and death. Five minutes went by, then ten minutes, and then twenty minutes. On this day, she broke her past record of fifteen minutes, and she was still going strong.
Bang! She felt pain go through her body, and just like that, she lost consciousness. This had never happened before. When she opened her eyes, she felt as though her head had been split open. She felt dizzy, and she almost collapsed a second time. She felt weird, but she did not yet know the reason for this feeling. She felt a liquid flowing down along her neck. She reached for her neck, but when she saw who stood opposite her, she paused her actions.
There was some unknown man standing before her. The man had a grim look on his face, and his eyes were filled with loathing. It was clear that he hated her with all his heart. Hildr had become an expert at identifying people who hated her, and this man undoubtedly was among those. Hildr looked around the room, and she clearly understood her situation. The dark room was foreign to her. It was dirty, and the walls were even cracked. "While I was practicing, this person snuck up on me and knocked me out. I have been kidnapped." After understanding this, she calmed down. Since she was still alive, there was room for negotiations, and with all the things she had, she did not think that this man would not be enticed.
The man standing opposite her was none other than the disgraced Captain Stevenson, but Hildr did not even remember him. If she knew who he was and why he was doing this, she would understand that there would be no negotiation of any kind. She would understand that her death had come for her.