It took Renee a few seconds to realize that time was actually frozen, and not her adrenaline making her perceive the world slower.

“What? What’s going on?” Renee’s voice sounded strange in the timeless void. Beside her, Anise let out a shout as she swung her own school bag at the frozen nythral as hard as she could. Her bag went through the creature, causing it to disintegrate just like the first two.

“Anise! You were supposed to run!” Renee rebuked her, feeling a little calmer now all three threats were gone.

“So were you!” Anise shouted back.

They both glanced around at the empty courtyard and came to the same conclusion at the same time. “Did you freeze time?” Both of them asked each other in unison.

“It wasn’t me.” Anise answered first and shook her head.

Renee remembered the burst of energy that emerged from her body just before the nythral was about to strike her. Did she have some sort of magic lying in dormancy until her life was endangered?

“If it was me, then how are you still able to move?” Renee asked.

“You’re asking the wrong questions here!” Anise was on the verge of a panic attack, despite the fact that the danger has now been neutralized. “Why were those nythrals here? Were they after us specifically?”

“Why do you assume I know the answer to this?” Renee grumbled as she went to retreive up her textbook and school bag. “All I know is that they can spawn randomly anywhere where the Boundary is weaker.”

Renee glanced over at the courtyard again, but there was not a single trace of shadow left to suggest that the nythrals were ever there. 

“Let’s get out of here.” Renee started. “I hope there aren’t any more nythrals around.”

She shouldn’t have said that. She hadn’t even made it out of the courtyard when a fourth nythral, one that took the form of a tiger, appeared out of nowhere, launching itself at them.

How was it still able to move when time was frozen? Could it be because it was bigger and more powerful than the previous three?

Renee didn’t have time to react, but Anise did. She pushed Renee backward and stood in front of her, spreading her arms out like she wanted to pull the nythral into a hug. 

Renee didn’t even have the time to scream or call out Anise’s name. She could only watch with horror as the nythral stretch out its front paws, its sharp claws ready to sink itself into Anise’s body, when something tore through the nythral’s body, causing it to dissipate into a cloud of shadow.

Anise gasped and stumbled backward, nearly tripping over Renee’s fallen form as she did so.

It took a moment for Renee to see what had destroyed the nythral—an icicle projectile. It had flown straight through the nythral to strike the bench next to them, shattering into a hundred pieces upon impact. She expected the ice shards to melt, but it didn’t, and it took Renee a while to realize it was probably because time was still frozen and that affected the laws of physics in weird ways.

The two girls then turned to see who had launched the icicle projectile and saved their life. Standing a good distance away at another entrance to the courtyard was a tall boy. He was wearing the uniform that showed he was also a student at the University of Elysia. He seemed to be a few years older than them, maybe a third or fourth year student. He was also breathing a little hard and his pale blonde hair was mussed, as if he ran all the way here to the courtyard.

How was he able to move? Did her magic, assuming it was hers, not affect humans? Or was it because he also has magic, evident from the way he blasted an icicle at the tiger nythral?

“Anise, are you hurt?” Renee scrambled to her feet and reached up to check her cousin over for any form of injury. “How can you throw yourself in front of the nythral like that?”

Anise didn’t answer, but instead chose to wrap Renee into a silent hug, her shoulders trembling from the overwhelming relief.

“Thank you, sir.” Renee acknowledged the boy who had saved them.

“...sir?” He echoed her words back uncertainly, as if a little confused by it.

Renee frowned. “Sorry, but I don’t know your name.”

“You don’t remember me?” There was a flash of pain in his eyes. “What about the other saints?”

“Saints?” Renee asked, tilting her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

She turned to Anise to see if her cousin had any clue, but Anise seemed as confused as she was.

For a moment, the boy’s face twisted into what Renee could only describe as pain for a brief moment before he regained his composure, schooling his face into a cold mask. “I see.” He said, his expression still guarded. 

“Do you know why those nythrals appeared just now?” Renee asked.

“Yes, but first, will you both follow me to somewhere safer?”

Despite their confusion, the boy insisted on explaining everything later after regrouping with the others. Renee had no idea who the others he was referring to were, but tired and hungry for answers, she and Anise decided to follow him. He did save their lives from the fourth nythral after all.

He led them into a dorm, which Renee dimly recognized as one of the best and most exclusive dorm buildings in the university. Whoever this boy was, he sure had connections. 

The boy opened the door to the dorm’s lounge hall where several other boys were already waiting for them as if they were in some kind of meeting. They were engaged in a soft but serious conversation when Renee’s group came in, and all of them paused in whatever they were doing to greet the three newcomers.

“Lirion, you’re back! You’ve found Renee and Anise! Where have you two been?” A boy with dirty blonde hair waved at them excitedly, a sentiment that most of the others seemed to share.

Forcing down the confusion, Renee plastered on a fake smile and waved back, but several of them seemed to notice her uncertainty and paused a little with concern on their faces.

She noticed that there were twelve seats in the lounge hall, with three empty, the perfect number of seats to accommodate them.

“Near the theology apartment, technically.” The boy who led them there—Lirion—answered the one who greeted them.

“The theology department!” Several of them snorted in amusement at his answer, as if it was some kind of inside joke. 

“Why is that funny?” Renee asked, growing a little defensive. She felt like she was in the middle of an inside joke that she knew nothing about.

“Because you’re… you know.” Another boy, a younger one with curly black hair, gestured to them.

“That’s the thing.” Lirion responded, sounding more serious by the second. “They don’t know. They don’t… remember anything.”

All the boys suddenly sat up straighter in alarm. 

“What?” Someone asked in a distressed voice. Suddenly, everyone had expressions of horror and alarm on their faces.

Renee turned back to Lirion again, ready to ask him to start explaining once and for all when she suddenly froze, her words dying at the tip of her tongue.

Sitting with his back to the window and the sun backlighting his figure, Renee was seized by a faded memory of snowflakes in the summer and a boy with starlight hair and silvery blue eyes. 

“…I do remember you.” She suddenly said aloud in a soft voice. “How did I ever forget?”

Lirion immediately jerked back to her with attentive eyes. “You do? How much do you remember?”

“You were there at the scene of the car accident!” Renee shouted, suddenly rising up from her chair. “You said my parents would be fine, but you lied! They’re both in a coma!” Before anyone could stop her, she marched over to Lirion and grabbed him by the lapels of his uniform blazer. 

“What?” Lirion was the one confused this time. “What are you talking about? This is the first time we’ve met in this life!”

This life?

The other boys seemed too stunned by her sudden action to stop her. Even Lirion himself didn’t back away when she approached him. 

Suddenly, Renee was very aware of her rude behavior, marching up to a boy, grabbing him by his clothes, and throwing accusations in his face. What’s next? Was she going to fight him? 

Renee loosened her fingers and slowly retracted herself from him. “I…” Renee found herself at a loss for words, the grief and shame suddenly overcoming her, unable to look at him in the face.

“Car accident?” Lirion prompted her in a softer voice. He didn’t seem mad at her for grabbing him just now.

“Renee and her parents were in a car accident this summer.” Anise explained in a soft voice. “When she woke up, she kept talking about how someone had pulled her out of the car, and how they had pale blonde hair and blue eyes. But the paramedics at the scene didn’t see anyone else.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that.” One of the kinder people in the room said to Renee.

“When was this?” Lirion asked.

Renee took a deep breath, trying to force herself not to cry. “15th of Cala. Almost six months ago.”

Suddenly, everyone’s face turned tense. “The summer solstice?”

“Yes.” Renee answered. “Does that day mean something to you?”

“Yes,” Lirion answered. “That was the day Eris broke free from her seal.”