“Have you seen it sir?” A man spoke in a husky voice. “She emitted the great red light!”

                “I did,” another answered. The voice was calm and familiar. It sounded like it was the headmaster who's speaking. “We have been blind to the reality that has been in our midst all along.”

                “She would have been dead if not for Seijira’s protection!”

                “It was a relief that my son found her as—

                The voices droned on and on like waves that get cut off before it could even reach for the shore. I couldn’t seem to process anything. All that exist was darkness, and from there, I slipped back to unconsciousness.

                It felt like a few minutes had only gone by, probably an hour at most, when I started hearing things again.

                “We could not hasten her recovery,” a woman said.

                “It’s understandable,” a voice that sounded like its owner is my adviser said in a frustrated tone. “Everyone here felt the effect.”

                “I couldn’t believe it would be her out of all people,” the woman said in a slightly aghast tone. “I mean, I’ve seen her often in the corridors and she doesn’t seem in any way special.”

                “So many things are becoming unexpected,” my adviser agreed. “Who would have thought our seekers would have let in an enemy—"

                Suddenly there was a great tug in my brain that broke my connection with what I was hearing. Words were forgotten, confusion started to set back in. Before I knew it, I was drifting back to nothingness.

......................................................................................

                When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was gray and white. I thought it unusual that from the ceiling to the walls, everything was glowing bright white,  but outside, from the clear view being provided by the sliding glass doors past the foot of my bed, the sky was so gray and everything else was covered in snow. A stark contrast it appears, when the room apparently doesn’t reflect the phenomenon that was plaguing the outside world.

                Clearly, this four-wall haven is a stranger to me. It was unlike any room I have ever visited nor is it a space in the infirmary. The master bed that I'm lying on looks so grand that it even has hanging glittering white curtains on both sides that converged through a metal band placed directly above my head. Still, despite this elegance, the place appeared almost bare. In fact, the white paint looks so new, it immediately gave me the notion that this corner here has never been used or occupied. I faced to my right and saw the door which is quite beige in color yet blends still with the white walls. The carvings on it were intricate, like vines and ivies entangled toward the center, which highlighted the form of a bird sporting a long flashy tail. I stared at it for quite a bit, trying to look for patterns and regularities. After a while, I went back to staring at the ceiling. Somehow, I felt like a princess. A princess with a damaged body.

                I cringed at the pain at the back of my head. Prickles and needles. I remember it all, the night I was electrified, I tho