How To Survive A Calamity

Victor tried straightening his back, a deep sigh resounding from his lips as his face twitched. A couple of hours later, he was seated in the not so bustling, but still rowdy Cadet's cafeteria for a late lunch, his left arm wrapped up in pale bandage and his eyes that were still slightly reddened behind a pair of glasses looked on gloomily and over the table.

Occasionally, a small sharp wince, like a hiss, would twitch from his lips, causing his expression to pull even longer into a frown. A dull throbbing pain assaulted his forehead, his eyes still red from blood vessels and veins stung with pain that made his vision blurry. In fact, if it wasn't for the special recommended glasses the infirmary gave him, Victor probably wouldn't be able to distinguish much from his sight alone.

After reeling from the experience and pain of a few hours ago, it took longer for Victor to regain his bearing and composure to shake of the sense of shock and trepidation, and even more longer to gather his thoughts and find the door.

The memory from earlier still haunted him and his thoughts even now. It was hard to forget, especially the pain, considering he was nearly blinded from it. Whatever it was he thought he saw due to the Eyes of Discerning, it had nearly made him go blind and caused his eyes to bleed.

The back lash was quite severe, too. After that, needless to say, Victor had to quickly heal himself and rushed off back to the infirmary he only just returned from. Imagine the shock and confusion on the faces of the doctor and nurses when they saw him in such and even more dilapidated state than they had discharged him with on that same day.

Long story short, the glasses were ultimately prescribed to him for now. The diagnosis of his injury said it was bad, severe enough to have narrowly missed having Victor's eyes go completely blind, but was somehow lucky enough not to.

Victor didn't believe in luck though. Especially not his.

'It was a warning from Meta — the system.' Victor brooded, having such thoughts.

Despite how bad his injury was, the diagnostic said it would recover in time on its own even without medication as a perk of being an Awakened, but ironically, he was giving a mundane pair of glasses to help correct his vision for the meantime.

The new sets of glasses, coupled with Victor's lackluster sitting position — slouched back, dipped shoulders — sitting alone on a table with droopy eyes and a long face all came together to create an even stronger repelling gloomy atmosphere that increased his definition and screamed 'Loner' even more loudly than before.

Tha Cadets passing by occasionally subconsciously found themselves circling around Victor's particular table. There was just something dark and depressing about it. Victor didn't seem to mind, and neither did he also seem to notice actually.

Victor sighed, shaking his head. He couldn't even focus on his lunch amidst his thoughts, which was why he was here in the first place. After what happened in his room, all initial thoughts and excitement of going to bed was, needless to say, thrown out the window.

How could he go to sleep peacefully after what happened? Victor had seemingly tried to find answers to his questions and mystery of the system, but all he had now was even more questions.

Thinking back, he was certain he saw something, but Victor couldn't explain what it was he did. Victor's thoughts on the matter were in shambles when an unexpected voice pulled him out of his spiral from behind.

"Victor? Is that you?"

Victor's back lingered for two seconds as if processing the moment much more slowly than any other and he slowly turned around to the voice. His eyes behind the glasses blinked, the hot pain making the red of hid eyes even reder as he faced Deandra.

While Victor had been absorbed entirely in his own world to notice, Rank 2 Deandra had appeared at some point, looking incredulously at Victor with a canteen tray in hand.

"I heard you were recently discharged..."

"What? That's him?"

Victor's eyes sharpened, his dull, lackluster gaze regaining a tinge of livelihood as he quickly recognised the second voice. Don Clyde was also standing half a foot back behind and next to Deandra and he hadn't immediately noticed.

It took a few seconds for the whole moment to hit. And when it finally did, Victor's tongue quickly regained its past vigour as he looked at Don.

"Dude what happened to your face?"

"Nngh! Sh-shutup!"

The last time Victor had seen Don or Deandra, or anyone else at all, was a couple of weeks back in Dark Castle. At that time Don seemed to have been in a coma that kept him out cold throughout the whole ordeal.

But now, here he was. Seemingly fine... oh...and with an eye patch too.

It was such an unexpected sight, Victor momentarily forgot about his plight and Deandra took the moment to offer herself a sit on the same table with him.

Victor blinked again, snapping back out of his thoughts as if his interests in Don had suddenly waned as he turned.

"Uh, Class rep...?"

Deandra gently planted her butt down on the sit across the table from Victor, gracefully pushing her hair behind her ear. Her movements and actions were so subtle and natural like it was only expected, but Victor could only be left confused as he watched her.

Why was she...

Even some of the other cadets who were in the cafeteria and recognised Deandra were left speechless. Why would she, the Second ranked first year, and Princess, share a table with some gloomy loner. It was already strange that she even appeared in the cafeteria.

Victor regained his bearing, his eye brow raising curiously and suspiciously as he glanced between Deandra and Don who was still standing. Then eventually, he shrugged, seemingly giving up to whatever was happening.

"Are you just going to stand there?"

Victor wasn't sure wether he liked it or not, but since Deandra was already sitted, why not just let Don do the same.

Don Clyde frowned, the gaze in his one exposed eye faltering strangely. His expression was mixed, displaying his hesitation, but eventually Don took a step forward before taking a sit around the same table.

Unaware or simply unconcerned by the attention she was receiving, Deandra raised her head and stared at Victor from over the table, her beautiful face framed by bright red locks of hair.

"Your left arm..."

Victor blinked absentmindedly, reacting to her voice. He adjusted his new glasses and smiled lazily, raising his bandaged left arm lazily.

"Oh this? It's nothing, the doctor said I'd be fine."

"Sigh. You were really reckless, Victor. You pushed yourself too hard back then, what is something worse happened?" Deandra frowned lightly, staring at Victor with mixed emotions. To the side, Don just sat quietly, casting his gaze against the table. His attention seemed lost and elsewhere.

Deandra's and Victor's conversations registered at the back of his mind, but his thoughts remained a mystery — seemingly hidden behind his new eye patch.

Victor lowered his arm back against the table gently.

"It's fine. Nothing happened in the end, I'm okay." He simply said.

"I'm not sure that's what i heard."

Victor remained silent at Deandra's reply.

In reality, he wasn't all that surprised that Deandra would have already heard about the truth. Although it seemed like only Alexander who Victor allowed to stay when the doctor gave to give his final diagnosis would be aware, the reality was different.

Victor also didn't question how Deandra knew, and just how many other people did as well.

Before he could say anything else and sound nonchalant about it, a fourth and different voice inserted from his left.

"Is this seat empty?"

Victor's brows twitched behind the glasses, his body seemingly flinching as a whole in fact, as he turned to his left. He recognised that voice, it prompted Deandra and Don, who had been silent too, as well. The new presence simply hard to ignore.

The moment Victor did, he choked on his own saliva, cringing on himself uncontrollably. Ceres Walker, for some reason, had appeared at the table too.

The beautiful young girl with streaming locks of long silver hair and somber blood red eyes quietly stood over him. Her presence was like the appearance of a sudden change in a slowly gathering storm, it was quiet, seemed hard to miss, but undeniable and definitely impossible to ignore.

The cadets all froze, all sounds and actions ceasing wherever they were. The World seemed to pause in that short silence.

Ceres appeared unmoved by Victor's violent reaction to her and stepped forward to sit right next to him like it was natural, her silver hair swaying like a stream of illusionary after images.

And then...

The whole cafeteria exploded after that.