Emiliano's Past Echoes

The air in our dormitory room felt thick, not with the usual scent of old parchment and brewing potions, but with a heavy silence that settled between Emiliano and me. Outside, the wind howled like a lonely spirit, a stark contrast to the quiet turmoil churning within. We were supposed to be reviewing our notes for Professor Eldrin’s lecture on elemental binding, but the Centenary Jaguar, and the unsettling accidents that had plagued Cora Amauta, had pushed everything else aside.

Emiliano sat by the window, his gaze fixed on the moonlit courtyard, but his eyes held a faraway look, a familiar shadow I’d seen flicker there before. He was usually so quick with a logical explanation, so adept at dissecting a problem, but tonight, he was adrift in his own thoughts. It was the guilt, I knew. The unspoken burden he carried from a magical mishap in his first year. He’d never spoken the full details, only that someone had been hurt, and that he felt responsible. Now, with these staged accidents, orchestrated to look like the Centenary Jaguar’s wrath, that old wound was reopening.

“It’s not just about finding out who’s behind this, is it?” I finally broke the quiet, my voice softer than I intended.