( Leo’s POV, C Wing Infirmary)

    Leo stirred, his senses slowly dragging themselves back into focus.

    Everything hurt.

    His limbs felt like dead weights, his muscles screamed in protest with even the slightest shift, and his head throbbed with a dull, pounding ache.

    It was like waking up from the worst beating of his life—except he couldn’t remember when he’d even taken a hit.

    *Gasp*

    A deep breath sent a sharp, uncomfortable pressure through his chest. Not pain, but tightness, like his lungs were still adjusting to working properly again.

    ’What the hell happened...?’ he wondered, as his last memory was one of running on the track—his legs burning, his breath coming shorter, and the world slowly darkening with each lap.

    Darkness. That was all he remembered. It had crept in at the edges of his vision, spreading with every step until—

    Until what?

    His brows furrowed slightly as he stared at the white ceiling above him. He didn’t remember collapsing. Didn’t remember stopping.

    All he knew was that one moment he was running, and the next... he was here.

    "You’re awake."

    A calm, authoritative voice cut through his thoughts, and Leo turned his head slightly to see a mature woman standing at his bedside.

    Her dark hair was streaked with silver, tied into a neat bun, and her sharp, assessing eyes swept over him with clinical precision.

    "You gave us quite the trouble, young man," she said, setting a small vial down on the bedside table. "Not many students manage to land themselves in the infirmary on the first day—at least, not from running."

    Leo blinked, his throat dry as he finally registered his surroundings.

    This was the C-Wing Infirmary, he had seen it during the orientation from the outside.

    "How long was I out?" He asked, his voice coming out rough, probably because he hadn’t spoken in hours.

    "A little over two hours." The healer responded, looking at the clock, as Leo exhaled sharply to her response.

    This wasn’t ideal, being out for two hours meant that he missed most of what else happened in the morning training class, and missed his chance to grab breakfast.

    "You need to get moving if you don’t want to miss your next class." The healer warned, as reaching for the vial she had placed on the table beside him earlier, she pressed the glass into his hand.

    "Drink this throughout the day. Small sips, not all at once. It’ll help your body recover."

    Leo frowned slightly, staring at the potion.

    It looked turbid and yellow, like pee, and once the thought entered his brain, he couldn’t imagine himself drinking it at all.

    Nonetheless, giving the healer a firm nod, Leo swung his legs over the bedside, his feet hitting the cold floor, exhaling slowly before pushing himself upright.

    ’It feels... painful–’ he realized, as every inch of his body hurt, however, while the pain was ever present, it was strangely manageable.

    He caught bits and pieces of hushed conversations—not whispers of mockery, but of caution. Of disbelief.

    "He’s up already...?"

    "Two hours. That’s all it took for him to recover from that?"

    "I... I thought he’d be out for the rest of the day, at least..."

    "He passed out but kept running... his body didn’t stop..."

    Leo’s steps faltered slightly.

    What?

    Kept running?

    The words didn’t make sense. He had collapsed, right? That’s why he was in the infirmary. That’s why he woke up there.

    But the murmurs continued.

    "He was smiling the whole time like a freak."

    "Why does he look so calm? He knows he’s fooling no-one with this fake calmness anymore yeah?"

    Leo’s brow twitched.

    ’What the hell are they talking about?’

    A shadow flickered in his peripheral vision, and Leo turned just as Mu Shen stepped into view, arms crossed, his usually laid-back expression nowhere to be found.

    "You really are a freak, Skyshard" Mu Shen muttered, not in an insulting way, but as if he was still trying to process what he had seen.

    Leo frowned. "What the hell happened?"

    Mu Shen’s lips parted slightly, as if about to answer—

    Then—

    "Alright, settle down."

    A sharp, commanding voice cut through the murmur of students, instantly snapping the air into focus.

    Leo turned his head toward the source, his attention locking onto the instructor standing at the front of the training field.

    A tall, wiry man with a piercing gaze and a predator’s smile. His posture was relaxed, almost lazy, but something about him screamed danger.

    It was Professor Powell.

    Instructor of Basics of Perception.

    Leo could tell just by looking at him—this was not a man to take lightly.

    "Time to see if you can actually see," he said, as with a snap of his fingers he summoned a thin gray fog, to cover the entire training grounds.