ENDOPLANET

The man with wings passed out just as the academy gates came into view, and Chen was left shivering in the snow as he tried to work out the best way to get both him and the already unconscious boy over to the academy.  A predawn light was spreading gradually over the horizon, but there wasn’t yet enough of it for him to be visible from the academy ramparts, and it was still a fair way back.  Considering both his companions were obviously in bad states, he was unsure whether it would be prudent to leave them both in the snow alone while he went to get help.

Besides, there had been that... that whatever it was that had destroyed the abdomen of the person he and Xiumin had found a little while back.

Come to Xiumin, his current predicament would be less of a problem were his friend there.  For one thing, Xiumin could have carried one invalid while he carried the other, but quite apart from anything else, Xiumin probably could have helped do something about the frost and snow everywhere.

Bending forward to keep the boy balanced on his back, Chen blew on his hands to keep them warm and absently watched his pale breath condensing into mist.  The boy he was carrying was probably in worse condition than the winged man who’d just passed out.  He could probably get back to the academy with him, but it would take longer carrying him than running back for help without him would do.  And he still didn’t feel happy just leaving the other person out in the snow unconscious.

Carefully, he eased the boy off his back.  There was one other option.

Chen closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders, then worked the kinks out of his neck and arms as he stretched them from side to side.  It was going to draw a heck of a lot of attention, but at least he’d be able to keep an eye on his companions.

A deep breath in, and with a focussed mind, he could feel the tingle of magic prickling through his body.  It rose to the surface, gathering at his fingertips.  He wasn’t at full power, but at least he had risen past his ebb.  It was good enough.

Raising his right arm towards the sky, index finger extended, he gripped his right wrist with his left hand, making sure that two fingers pointed up.  A thick bolt of lightning surged through his body, protesting at being sent the wrong way, and shot up into the sky.  Chen took a deep breath and sent up another.

Please be red, he prayed silently in the knowledge that it would get much more attention than normal lightning in a thunder-free sky.  Please be red.  He’d become really good at pinpoint accuracy within a certain range – had worked at that really hard for the past year or so – but beyond that didn’t really have that much control over his lightning powers, and he knew that the reason he was considered a prodigy was more because of his raw power than because of any refinement with it.  It was sad, really.  Sitting down, he hauled the two unconscious males closer to him to keep them warm and checked their pulses.  Then he settled in to wait.

In a matter of minutes, Chen was showered with powdered snow as somebody dropped out of the air quite literally just in front of him.

“The officials are coming to see you today,” Kris began reproachfully.  “Why in the name of the Tree did you have to wander—”  He broke off, staring at Chen’s companions.  “What the...?”

Chen pointed to the winged one.  “He said the other guy needs to see Lay as soon as possible.”

Kris’s gaze lingered on the broken black wing.

“I didn’t question it,” Chen said defensively as a niggle of doubt caught at him.  Was it possible that they were enemies?  “The small guy was already unconscious and Wings Man looked in a pretty bad way himself.”

Kris’s eyes darted between the two invalids again.  He looked up, tossing his blond hair out of his eyes.

“No, you did the right thing,” he said firmly.  “You said the smaller guy’s the worse one off?”

Chen nodded.

“I’ll take him back to Lay,” Kris said.  “And you – Chen, bring the other one back.  I expect him in the infirmary in twenty minutes, no excuses.  You’re not to wander off again.  I may not agree with officials from the military and the government coming to interview you, but you’re not going to embarrass the academy.  Is that clear?”

Chen grumbled his assent.  Considering it good enough, Kris crouched to scoop the worst off of the two invalids into his arms.  His gaze rose towards the sky and abruptly he was in the air.  Chen watched him flying back in the direction of the academy for a few moments before heaving the man with wings onto his back and beginning to trudge in the direction of the gates.

Completely true to his prediction, officials were beginning to arrive at the academy just as Chen reached it.  Most of them were on horseback, one or two walking, but Chen couldn’t help a double-take when he saw one getting out of a car in full military uniform.  The last he’d heard, the Red Eye tribe had been destroying all modes of quick and efficient transport and many things of technology developed over the past century and a half had for unknown reasons been grinding to a halt and rendered impossible to use.  Even clocks and compasses were beginning to go funny – Chen and Xiumin had both ditched their watches a while back and relied on their magic power cycles and the sun and moon to tell the time – and both had been available forms of technology for well over two hundred years.

For several moments, Chen lingered behind a tree, wondering how he was going to get through the ten officials unnoticed.  One with a hooked nose and beady eyes was already looking around, almost as if he expected Chen to pop out from nowhere, and Chen could hear an elderly white-haired one and a very elegant-looking woman discussing him and his ‘prodigy’ powers already.  Another, standing slightly apart and much younger than the rest, had his arms folded and was squinting at the ground, cheeks puffed up in a way that reminded Chen oddly of a hamster, which reminded him of Xiumin.  Chen shifted and he could have sworn that Hamster-Man stiffened up and shot a surreptitious glance in his direction.

Fortunately, though, the car was enough of a novelty even at the crack of dawn for students to be swarming around the entrance, and with every passing second, more were arriving.  Chen picked his moment and slipped into the throng, using the unconscious man on his back to hide his