Tide

Noah's eyes stared at the ceiling nonstop, no life shining through the iris. If someone were to witness his state, they would assume with no doubt the boy for a dead body. The situation at hand, however, was way more complicated than that. Even though on the outside he was silent, on the inside the story was completely different.

His mind was trying to run a marathon no human could ever hope to survive, and his emotions were muted, as if on energy-saving mode. The situation was dire, that's for sure, but Noah was known as a sore loser. If he was going to die, then to the bitter end it was.

The doctors said no kid had survived more than a week after breaking their core (which Noah presumed to be his mana source). And if that wasn't enough, his mana was all over the place, just to add salt to his injury.

For comparison, if his mana in the past was a calm river, then now it is a raging and turbulent sea.

'It must be my broken core...' He reasoned.

'My mana is literally gushing out like a severe bleeding, and at the same time, mana from the outside is rushing in just as fast. Shit! If I can't control my only tool at hand, then I might as well wait for my death.'

Anger started surging like a tide from beneath, but he quickly took hold of it. Time was running, and he had none of it to spare.

His emotions were being held in check by him, for one mishap and he would lose himself to rage.

'Control the mana...Control the mana... control, control, control...' He repeated his mantra.

1 hour later... he had no progress in taking control. His anger kept rising in proportion to his failures, drumming louder inside his soul by each passing second.

'I've done this to myself. Seriously... letting another person live inside my mind? Why didn't I kill the past Noah sooner? This is all my fault! Running rampant towards unknown danger to save someone I don't even know? How didn't I notice this change in behavior?

Cursing teachers?

Saving a random kid from bullying?

And the cherry of the cake - trying to form allies??

What is wrong with me? When did I've come to rely on others?'

His anger came like a tsunami, unbarreled by his feeble attempts and sweeping his concentration away.

'What should I do? This- this, I can't control it. It is a tide...'

Even though he tried to cope with the situation as best as he could, he was only human at the end.

'Like a tide... a tide...' He repeated those words as a sudden spark of thought went through his head.

'Mana is formed by our will, and... if it isn't in my control then...

If you can't control the storm - then ride it.'

He loosened his hold on emotions for once, and all the fear, anger, frustration and regret were set free.

Faster than light, he directed his will along with the direction the mana took, following it blindly. His mana exploded to the outside, but just as strong it came back inside. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, but luckily, he didn't feel the pain. The motion increased tenfold in intensity and velocity, forming a spinning spiral in his belly. Soon, from an unstable torrent, it became stable and uniform. The next second his whole body started spasming as if going through nerve collapse.

Hurried steps were heard from outside, 3 shadows dashed towards his stretcher, running to see what all the noise was about. Arriving at Noah, his amber eyes went to the back of his head, turning completely blank as they closed abruptly. As if cut by the strings, his body fell hard on top of the bed.

"Call the headmistress! Now!" A distant voice screamed.