Aliya was, overwhelmed.

People milled about in clumps, and groups, and alone. Everybody seemed to have an agenda, somewhere to go, something to do. Someone to be with.

They bustled about like ants in a colony, marching in neat rows to and from their various nests. Their auras swirled around them, cocooned them, and turned the world into a kaleidoscope of colours she couldn’t. Feelings, emotions, personalities. So much unfiltered information, it was sensory overload.

Aliya focused her eyes on her phone and tried to ignore the riot going around in her periphery.

This is why she liked her quaint little shop, just far enough from the heavy foot traffic of the city, and the chaos of the campus for it not to be constant, but still close enough to be easily accessed and found.

She longed now for the quiet soothing atmosphere of her shop. Everything in there radiated gentle, soothing, safe.

Aliya clutched at her necklace, rubbed her fingers along the jade beads to the hollow of her throat where the innocuous crystal ring rested. Ancient words were inscribed in the ring in a language Aliya knew the feel of, but not the name for. She rubbed along the smooth Ridge of the polished stone, allowed her focus to ground her, keep her firmly in reality.

The door of the giant dormitory opened, and detective Jane walked out. Aliya instantly focused her entire attention on the middle-aged man and she beamed.

Something glowed brightly behind the detective, and Aliya briefly wondered why the light lights inside needed to be so bright, but she ignored the distraction in favour of throwing her arms around the man and smacking a kiss against his startled cheek.

“OK, kiddo, calm down. We’ve talked about greeting me like this.”

“Jane, Jane, Jane. You are officially my current favourite person in the world.” The man awkwardly pattered her shoulder before pushing her away firmly.

“You're going to get me in trouble with my wife.” But there was a smile behind his eyes that Aliya couldn't miss. Jane’s aura rippled a happy burble of colours.

“You just paid my rent, so I'll back off for now, mostly.” She latched her arm through his, and the man just sighed deeply and before allowing the action. “So, tell me everything about this case. Debrief me, oh-great-detective.”

“First of all, Aliya meet Captain Sampson Gale of the SID.” Jane turned both of them around to face the man, and only then did Aliya realize that the dizzyingly bright light wasn't coming from inside the dorm. No, it had shifted. Was still shifting.

That was when Aliya looked up into the intelligent depths of Samson's Golden eyes, and was lost.

Aliya had seen auras like this before. Aura’s that were strong, and old, and radiated power. Tendrils of his life energy snaked out from him in different directions, in strong study streams and thinner weaker ones that rippled and flowed away to different points in an invisible distance. Cables of power that disappeared from her site the further away they got from his body.

Yes, she had seen auras like this before. Usually from a distance, rarely up close, and occasionally in her shop. But this man’s aura. This Sampson Gale must have had the strongest aura she'd seen since, since…

A memory struck her then like they sometimes did. She felt herself losing focus, grasping at Jane tightly, praying she wouldn't collapse, and knowing it was a useless hope as her power pulled her into her mind and away from the present world.