Thalassophobia

I scooted aside as Gracelyn knelt down beside Em, whose wet robe clung to her arms and legs. How much water had she taken in? Would Gracelyn be able to save her?

That was soon answered when the woman hovered her hand over Em's body. First, a trickle of water came out of her nose. Then, her mouth opened too, and a stream of water flowed out.

Gracelyn put her hands, one over the other, on Em's body and used her weight to push down a few times. Next, she placed her palm above Em's mouth. Her chest rose and fell. Is it some sort of wind magic to substitute CPR?

As Gracelyn did her work, the crowd began to gather around us. The students talked amongst themselves, and rumors were spread.

"Who is that kid? Isn't vaporization a super complicated technique?"

"He's got to be a student here. I wonder if we'll learn that one day."

"Woah. Which year is he in? I wonder which classes he's taking."

"Ha, if people here really are that strong, I'm gonna be even more worried about our chances of getting in.

I wanted to ignore everybody, but they were too overbearing. Did they not care that someone just drowned and wasn't breathing?

Suddenly, Em jerked, coughing out the remainder of the water in her lungs. I crawled up beside her and put my hand over her shoulder. When she finished coughing, she looked up at me with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her.

The fear left, and she sat back up, prompting me to pull myself back, narrowly dodging a collision between our heads. My friend looked down at her wet outfit and then back at the people surrounding us. "W-What happened during the test?"

"I think you just lost consciousness. Maybe you drained all your mana," I told her, remembering about that mechanic from the few video games I had played before.

"No, her mana was still at full capacity, amazingly," Gracelyn said, looking at her with concern. "What exactly happened there? You should know."

"I…" Em turned and looked through the legs of the other students to peak at the pool. "…the water…it…" She put her hand over her head, as if trying to comfort a headache. Her voice cracked when she spoke again. "The water… it got me again…"

"Okay, okay," the woman said, placing her hand on Em's head. "You should go get some rest. You did well on the test."

"No…I…" She looked up at the headmaster, finally revealing her eyes full of tears. "I didn't do good…! I got scared of the water again! That's bad!"

I wanted to help Em with whatever she was struggling with, but I didn't know how. As Abby said, she had the body of a sixteen-year-old, but her mind was still that of a thirteen-year-old. Should I hug her? No, that'd be too embarrassing. Then should I just give her some words of encouragement? No, they might not even reach her as she is right now.

"You know, kid," Gracelyn said instead, "you really got a lot of talent. Don't let some failure like that get to you. Just thank your friend for saving you and move on."

She raised her hand up again, and water droplets came out of our wet clothes, coming together to form a clear, smooth sphere. Then, the woman swiped her hand, and the water disappeared in a cloud of vapor, dispersing into the air.

"Get up, you two. And everybody else, too! What are you all doing here? We still have a test to finish! As headmaster of the school, I'm kind of looking forward to the next applicant, you know?!"

The girl who had gotten over 58 thousand points on the aptitude test stepped onto the platform, and everybody's eyes turned away from us to look at the next performance. I stayed by Em's side as she rubbed her eyes. When she calmed down and finally stood up, I had already missed the chance to watch the top applicant's show. All I had gotten were the oohs, aahs, and gasps from the people around us, but I didn't care.

When we left the edge of the crowd, Abby and Ari greeted us with worried faces.

"Em, thank god you're okay," Abby said with relief. "What happened there? And Day, why did you go out there so quickly and recklessly again?"

"I—"

"Let's not dwell on the past for now, okay?" Ari said, saving me from an explanation. "More importantly, you're performance was great, Em! I'm sure that hiccup won't affect your acceptance that much!"

Ari's encouragement was hopeful, but I still felt some doubt in his tone. He must have seen the other applicant's skills and lost some confidence. In the end, it was only an encouragement. Drowning in a pool as a water mage couldn't *not* have affected her chances.

We sat together for the rest of the tests on the sidelines, attracting a few glances from other students every once and a while. I continued watching to-be mages lift water from the pool in many shapes and styles, and some even collected more water than Em had. She, however, looked at the ground the entire time, ignoring the spectacles over the pool.

I couldn't blame Em, though. For one, she was only a child. And for another, she seemed to have a phobia of water. How was she still a water mage if that was the case? And even more, wasn't Aquina a world covered with water? I asked Abby and Ari about it, but they hadn't known about Em's fear of water before either.

After all the applicants went through the second testing phase, the male announcer came back from the speakers. "Congratulations, future students of Artius Magic Academy! You are already more than halfway to the end of the practical tests! Our last phase will be testing your magic versatility and techniques. Everybody will receive the same set of exercises which we will use to assess you. The first applicant is Graham Galenos!"

The announcer paused for a while, but the students in the crowd started chatting again. Nobody stepped out to take the first spot. "Graham Galenos! Please step onto the platform!" He said again. A few more moments passed, and when there was no response, he moved onto the next person.

When Em's name was called, she stood up quickly. For the first time again, she gazed at the pool with determination and walked out confidently.

"Hey," I told her as she left, "don't push yourself too hard."

Em looked back at me and smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it. The water won't bother me one bit!"

I saw the worry in her assurance, but when she came back from her test, half jogging half skipping, all her previous concerns seemed to be gone.

"Should we go have some lunch?" She suggested when we regrouped. "They said we can go once our tests are finished."

"Sure, where should we go?" Abby responded, then turned to me. "Wanna go meet another one of your 'sisters?'"

My body stiffened. "Uhh… I think I'm good…"

Abby laughed as we started towards the exit. "I'm just kidding. How about we go to a fancy seafood restaurant to celebrate Em finishing her tests?"

Em looked up at her with big, surprised eyes. "Really!? I thought you said they don't make seafood here."

"And that's why it's expensive, Em. But this'll be just for you!"

Wait, with my money again? Does Abby even remember that the money she was carelessly spending was still mine? I opened my mouth to protest, but upon seeing Em's eager expression again, I stopped myself and let it slide. It would be my treat, I decided.

Just as we exited the aquatic center, a call came from behind us. It was Gracelyn again. I saw Ari sigh and look to the side, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, friends! So sorry to come bothering you again, but could you just wait for a moment?" She turned to me. "Day! What you did there was impressive! Not even using magic and vaporizing all that water? How did you do that?"

I stood silent, but she continued anyway.

"Actually, don't tell me just yet. I have a hunch about how you did it. Do you have some gadget? Or is it an ability your race has? Yep, none of those, 'cause I know it's temporal manipulation, right? Right? Is that right?"

Gracelyn leaned in close. What did she want? Can't we just go in peace? I answered quietly, "Yea—"

"I knew it! That was really amazing! To be able to make such an everyday action you never really think about into such a spectacle! You know, I've tried it before, too! Only've been able to get a drop though. There's a reason we use magic instead, you know. But when you—"

Ari placed his hand firmly over Gracelyn's shoulder and pushed her away from me. "I'm sorry, Miss Gracelyn, but could you get to your point? What do you want with Day? We were just—"

With a swift movement by the woman, Ari became mute again. After she pushed the now complaining boy away, she turned back to me.

"So, Day, as I was saying. You have any interest in applying to the academy?"