Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

The students entered the bus as it changed its shape to almost like a paper plane. Fortunately, it was not as fragile as paper. Though it was not of the best of the quality—the earth could afford, it was still secure enough to fall against the attack of third-order chaos fiends.

Ford left the students to have free reins inside the carrier after their first dungeon travel.

Boys and girls talked unrestrained with such convenience, but most of the talk was not about the ants they had encountered or how scared they were. It was about their senior Aanya, who still held the utmost importance of the crowd even after five minutes of her appearance.

Now she was not just dealing with the upperclassmen, but the juniors were surrounding her as well. Some take in autographs or selfies. Kids were always full of spirit.

Elior could not help but recall those days. 'Wait, I'm still a teenage boy,' he thought. 'Physically, at least.' Though he looked like another boy here, his mental age was a dozen years older. Moreover, through all the battle and heartbreaks he experienced, left him incapable of enjoying the splendour of his youth again.

Unknowingly, he felt some emotion swirling inside him. Envy? Sadness? Maybe a little. Shaking his head, he focused on Ileana again.

"How long are you gonna stand there and peek?" he asked her. "You should go and join the other kids."

"Why are you acting like my father?" Ileana asked, arching her brow.

"Should I call her for you?" Shin said next to her.

"You would not dare." Ileana glared at the delinquent-looking boy.

"Why wouldn't I?" Shin laughed and was about to shout. But before he could do that, Ileana had sealed his mouth with her arm. He only made noises that were unrecognisable by any intelligence species.

"Kids." Elior shook his head. In place of Shin, he shouted for Ileana. "Senior Aanya, here is one of your biggest fans."

His voice was not that loud, but it was enough to enter anyone's ear who was not that distracted in the circle. Aanya was one of them. She heard the call and looked to the owner, who was standing outside the circle of the crowd.

"El," Ileana glared at Elior and said. "Why did you do that?"

Elior gave her a smile and gestured with his eyes to look behind. Ileana did, and found Aanya standing just a yard away. Frightened, Ileana almost hid behind Elior.

"She is not a monster," Elior whispered, pulling Ileana forward, who was not in her usual self in front of her idol. "Talk to her and you will be fine."

"Hello," Aanya said with her pleasant smile, which was like a warm sunrise for all the boys. Her eyes gazed at Ileana first, and then it paused on Eilor, who was forcing Ileana.

"Hel-hello," Ileana greeted hesitantly.

Abruptly, the expression on Aanya's face paled. Beads of sweat formed instantly on her forehead and her expression hollowed. She unconsciously extended her palm to her head, covering a good portion of her sight. She looked down, covering her head in a sudden panic.

"Senior? Senior?" Ileana called, seeing the expression on her idol. Something is wrong with her. "Are you alright?"

Elior frowned. Something happened to Aanya just now, and it was the moment she laid eyes on him. A cloud of memory untangled inside his mind and he became even more confused and worried. He opened his bag and extended a water bottle to Aanya. Ileana helped her sit in one of the seat.

"Here," he said.

Aanya looked at him carefully again with her big, sapphire-green eyes. She blinked once and said, "Thank you."

Aanya took the bottle and drank two mouthfuls of water. She found dozens or more worried gazes resting on her.

"I'm fine," she said and gave Elior back the water bottle. Then she turned to her usual self. "So, what are your names again?" she asked with a smile.

Ileana was looking at her with worry, and introduced herself and the others. "I'm Ileana, a freshman majoring in the magic department," she said and moved to Elior. "This is El. I mean Elior, he's all over the place and last is this stupid guy. He is called Shin."

Shin glared at Ileana, who only ignored him like he never existed there.

"I see," Aanya said, and gestured to them to take their seats as the aircraft was about to take flight. "Nice to meet you, Ileana, Elior and Shin. I hope you all will become a promising Guardian and protect the earth with me."

Ileana blushed at hearing that. After a few exchanges of words, she found her fear was for nothing. Her Idol was really friendly. Maybe a little too friendly, but she did not find it awkward. The two girls talked about many things in just a few minutes. From how difficult the exam was, how they performed in the trial and how stressful the institute is.

Aanya found out through the talks that Elior came first in the trial. She gave a smile with a belated congratulations. Elior nodded and accepted it, but the little frown on his brows did not leave him.

Aanya was as friendly as he remembered her, and he recalled her weirdness. He recalled she told him some weird things on more than one occasion in the other timeline. Elior did not recall exactly what she said, but he did recall some extent of it.

She said his life would be hard. He has to walk through the path of light and dark together and something along the line. At the time, he thought she was just a little chuunibyou in the head. But now, things were making a little sense to him.

It appeared Aanya had some peculiar ability. Maybe she could see a portion of the forthcoming or somewhat alike, but it should not be something big. After all, she died quite early in her career.

Elior did not know anything about her abilities. He did not have many interactions with her. She went to Motherworld some time after he was admitted to the institute and only came back before the great calamity and died.

Sighing, Elior rest those thoughts. He could not ask her about all this. She only met him for ten minutes. Asking weird questions was not the way.

"So Earth's future is in good hands," Aanya said to the three of them with a beaming smile. "I can finally leave for Motherworld with that thought."

"You are leaving?" Ileana asked with a rueful expression.

"Not now," Aanya said, shaking her head. "I still have three months of time here."

"But as far as I know, you only admitted to the institute for a year and you will leave?"

"That's true, but I completed most of what I could learn from the institute, and I have a maternal relationship with the motherworld, so it was easier for me to leave." Aanya pressed her lips and pondered.

"Your mother from Motherworld?" Ileana asked with big eyes. She had not known that.

Aanya nodded and did not go into the topics. "Even though I leave for the mother world, I'll still come back from time to time. After all, my father is still here," she said. "And you guys have a future there too if you work hard. That reminded me, I have to give my post as the student president to someone else before I go. Does any of you interested?"

She looked at Elior more when she said that.

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