CHAPTER 130: WARY WELCOME

Eirin slowly opened her eyes, a sense of disorientation and peace clinging to her. The moment she did, a cacophony of voices, a loud, overwhelming noise of whispers and cries, filled her ears, but she couldn’t decipher whose voices they were, their words a blurry, indistinct jumble.

A deep, aching sadness, lingering ghost of her encounter, echoed in the vast emptiness of her mind. ’What happened to Nirvana?’ she thought, the question a quiet, mournful whisper in the back of her consciousness. She blinked, a slow, deliberate act, her eyes straining to gain their sight, to make sense of the blurry, indistinct shapes that moved around her.

"Ei! Thank god!" A voice, a familiar, heartbroken sob, cut through the noise, clear and sharp.

Eirin glanced to her side, her blurry gaze landing on the face of a friend, her vision slowly clearing, and she saw the tear-streaked, devastated face of Coleen, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Coco," Eirin said, her voice hoarse and dry, a pained whisper from a body that had been through an exhausting ordeal. She tried to get up, a simple, instinctive act of wanting to comfort her friend, but she immediately felt lightheaded, a wave of dizziness washing over her, and she fell back onto the soft pillows, her body a limp, unresponsive weight.

"I need to call the physicians!" Coleen said, her voice filled with a fresh, panicked urgency. She rushed out of the room, her footsteps a fast, frantic drumming against the floor, the sound getting fainter and fainter, leaving Eirin alone inside.

The silence after the burst of noise and emotion, was an almost-terrifying thing. Eirin looked around the room, a slow, careful scan of her surroundings. The room, like the space she had just left, was a pure, unblemished white, the walls, the bedsheets, the curtains—everything a clean, sterile, antiseptic white.

Eirin sighed, a soft, weary breath, and she closed her eyes. She kept inhaling and exhaling air, a slow, rhythmic meditation to calm her frantic mind and her racing heart. ’I think I’m in a hospital,’ she thought, the realization a quiet, resigned acceptance of her circumstances. But the fear of being inside a hospital, a fear she had once held, subsided, quelled by her dream of being in a white space with Nirvana.

The sterile, cold white of the hospital room was now a gentle, comforting echo of the serene, peaceful space of her own mindscape.

The door opened with a soft click, and people got inside. There was a man wearing a white lab coat, his face filled with a calm, professional concern. He was followed by Mr. Blade and Ms. Jenkins, the two professors of her class, their faces a mix of relief and deep, searching suspicion. Behind them was Coleen, still crying her heart out, with Trixtan standing behind her, his hand on her shoulder, a comforting, reassuring presence.

Eirin blinked twice, her eyes now fully focused, and a sense of confusion washed over her. "Sir?" she called to the young professor, weirded out because of the strange silence they were treating her with. Their faces were an unreadable mask of emotions, a silent, confusing barrier between them.

Eirin’s eyes squinted as she stared at Ms. Jenkins, the usually composed, elegant woman. She could see a faint, but undeniable red aura covering her, a sign of her power.

The man wearing the lab coat, a doctor, approached Eirin. He had a professional, reassuring smile on his face. "If you’ll excuse me," he said, his voice calm and soothing. He held Eirin’s hand, his fingers resting on her wrist, and he checked her pulse, a careful, deliberate motion. "Hmm, everything seems fine. Her vitals are all normal. She seems to be in good health."

Mr. Blade heaved a sigh as he leaned on Ms. Jenkins’s shoulder, a gesture of emotional exhaustion, but Scarlett pushed him off, a sharp, irritated motion that was laced with a deep, unsettling intensity. She ignored his gesture and approached Eirin, her emerald green eyes, sharp and piercing, fixed on the teenage girl with an unnerving, single-minded focus.

"Do you remember everything that happened? From the moment you entered the miasma, to the moment you were found?"

Eirin felt a chilling terror of Ms. Jenkins’s piercing gaze. The question, so simple and direct, was filled with a hidden meaning, a silent, terrifying accusation. The ghost of Nirvana’s words, a solemn, dire warning echoed in her mind:

"You must not tell anyone else that you awakened your ability."

The memory was so fresh, so terrifying, that it caused Eirin to avert her gaze, her eyes darting away from the woman’s intense stare as she shook her head, a short clipped gesture of feigned compliance.

The man wearing the lab coat excused himself and left the room, his job done, the room’s occupants no longer his concern. This made Scarlett Jenkins move even closer to Eirin, her presence a cold, menacing shadow. "How much do you remember? Do you remember how the Iphans freed themselves from the miasma?" Her emerald green eyes stared right through Eirin’s soul.

Eirin gulped, the fear now a cold, hard knot in the pit of her stomach, but the memory of Nirvana’s words, her terrifying warning, was now a powerful, unbreakable shield. She shook her head, a short, decisive gesture. "I remember until I got into the sphere of miasma. After that... it’s all a blur. Like a dream," she said, completely and expertly lying about half of her experience, her face a serene, convincing mask of confused innocence.

"Let us leave her be for now," Mr. Blade said, his voice a soft, gentle command, as he held Ms. Jenkins’s arm, his fingers a firm, reassuring pressure. "She needs to rest. We can talk about this later. When she’s fully recovered."

Eirin couldn’t thank her professor enough, a silent, powerful gratitude welling up in her heart, as Mr. Blade pulled Ms. Jenkins out of the room, his strength, a physical and emotional force, finally overpowering her. They left the room, the door closing with a soft click, leaving Eirin alone with Coleen and Trixtan.

Coleen, still crying, rushed back to Eirin’s side, her body a comforting, warm presence. She rested her head on Eirin’s bed, her body trembling with the exhausting release of her emotions. "I... I thought you were gone," Coleen sobbed, her voice hoarse. "I’m sorry, Ei. I couldn’t do anything to save you. I’m so, so sorry."

Seeing such a devastated, heartbroken look on Coleen’s face made Eirin’s lips purse a gut-wrenching ache filling her heart. "You were gone for a week, and when they finally brought you back, you weren’t waking up. It’s been five days since you arrived and I was... it scared me."

Eirin patted Coleen’s head, despite the surprise after hearing that she’s been sleeping for five whole days. "I’m here now and awake, aren’t I? You don’t have to worry anymore." Those simple reassuring words made Coleen look at her, her eyes all red and puffy from all the tears she had spent, her gaze a mixture of relief and unshakeable love.

Eirin smiled, a genuine, beautiful smile of affection, and her smile caused Coleen to rush to her arms and hug her, a tight, powerful embrace that was filled with all the fear, all the relief, and all the love that had been building up inside her.

"I wouldn’t be able to live with myself without you. You complete me, Ei," Coleen whispered, her body shaking with a fresh wave of sobs.

Coleen couldn’t stop the burst of her emotions, her body a complete, beautiful mess of feelings, to the point that Trixtan just stood there in silence, his eyes fixed on the two girls with a gentle, knowing smile, a silent witness to their reunion. And Eirin, held in the warmth of Coleen’s embrace, felt a sense of peace and safety, the kind she had not felt since the moment she had been born.

Eirin could feel Coleen’s warmth, the soft soothing comfort of her body, and she felt like she finally, after all this time, all this pain, all this loneliness, had finally found a place to belong to.

"By the way, why is Trixtan just standing there?" Eirin cut the silence as she pointed at Trixtan who was wiping his tear. "And why are you crying?"

Trixtan giggled as he scratched the back of his head. "You guys... your friendship is amazing," he said, raising a thumbs up to them.

Eirin looked around, as if searching for someone. "Where are the others? What happened to the sports festival?"

Coleen and Trixtan looked at each other. "After you were gone, Trix and the others went after you. Including Shade," Coleen began. "Even then, the sports festival continued, but it wasn’t fun at all. The professors were just trying to assure the students that everything was under control."

Coleen sighed. "Then, when Shade and the others arrived. Shade carried you in his arms, you were already unconscious that time. He wanted Ms. Jenkins to heal you immediately, but Ms. Hockenbury stopped him, and instead he was detained."

Eirin’s forehead creased. "Detained? Why?"

Trixtan shrugged. "You know, Ms. Hockenbury just hates Shade’s guts. He would have been detained just because he lacks manner."

Eirin stared at her hands. ’So that’s why he wasn’t around,’ she thought.