“NASA is advising all residents in the capital region to keep inside to avoid any possible radiation from the solar flare that is to be expected later this day. We bring you Lance Richards, the department head of Solar Dynamics. Mr. Richards, do you think it’s possible that this could cause lasting effects on people?”

“No, no, of course not. It’s likely that our atmosphere will entirely block it from reaching the ground, it’s merely a precaution we’re advising to keep panic low if satellites go out or if by some random chance, a few rays slip through.”

“Thank you Mr. Richards, now we’re going back to the riot taking place in front of Vitra Industries, where things have started to get out of-” The reporter’s voice was cut off as the flat screen was switched off, sending the unlit room into complete darkness, save for thin beams of light peeking out from behind the blinds of a South-facing window.

With a long groan, and a shifting within a twin bed on the opposite side of the room, Aurora’s closed eyes fell just barely into the beam of the sunlight, driving her to twist and turn again, casting her wavy black hair even more all over the stiff pillows that she’d gotten for a good bargain. Finally she stuffed her face into her pillow, and all was still for a moment.

Then it began to dawn on her that the sun had risen. In a sudden horrified transformation, she went from groggily awake to upright, the wet drizzle of leftover drool still running from the corner of her lip to her chin. Blinded by the contrast of darkness with the blinds letting in filtered light just into her eyes moments ago, she swung her legs out, and began to try to step out, her feet catching on a few dirty clothes on the way, which she proceeded to nudge away with her toes. Coming around the bed, she avoided a desk chair that sat before her laptop, and made her way finally to the bathroom door she’d been searching for, with her left hand scooping up a few clean clothes from a laundry basket she’d planned to fold about a week ago.

As the lights flicked on from her index finger, she was forced to squint, but took in a quick breath. Fifteen minutes the timer said as she finished getting ready, hair dripping wet from the shower, and clothes wrinkled but decent looking, she looked at herself in the mirror one last time before deciding she was about as ready as she could be without being totally late. With one arm outstretched she scooped up a messenger bag on her way to the front door, slipping on her shoes without much thought to the process.

And then the door opened to reveal the long hallway of her apartment complex. With a look to the elevator, she cursed under her breath, a maintenance man rolling his cart full of cleaning supplies bringing a lazy return to her look of exasperation. There was a bump in the cart, tipping it up, then down and onto the platform, the doors closing behind him.

Aurora quickened her pacing further, sprinting her way down the hallway to come up to the stairwell access. Her louder steps on carpet ended with a loud clunk as the door unlocked, and swung inward. She took in a breath, and leapt down the first small flight, turning as she fell so that her shoulder could absorb the blow, and allowed her to roll out of it to avoid hurting herself. Her forward inertia sent her side painfully into the far wall, but she didn’t have the time to worry about it, hooking a hand onto the railing, and pulling herself over it. She forced herself to not look down the next three stories, and let go, grabbing back on as the next floor’s railing came up.

Her fingers started to slip just a little, and her heart was racing. Taking in a breath, she let go again, and sailed down, grabbing onto the next railing, though apparently it was not as stable. With her weight landing on it, the metal shifted, groaned, and careened her down further before breaking entirely. She let go of it in the air, and as she landed, bent down into a near squat, pressing her hand onto the ground to finish absorbing the impact without hurting herself more than she already had to. Her arm ached, and her legs similarly, but she’d made it down to the bottom floor, and she came out of the stairwell like lightning, making for the labby door.

She scrambled through the hallways, eventually coming to the glass door to the outside that she had to wait for, opening automatically. She looked perturbed as she waited, snapping a finger. Behind her, the man behind the lobby desk raised an eyebrow. “You look like you’re in quite the rush.”

Aurora had no words to speak amongst her heavier breaths. “I really don’t have the time.” She simply stated, before running out, and to the busy streets of downtown Benerett, where strange smells wafted from every alleyway, and despite most of the stores looking well made, and the streets being clean, everyone knew it as just a front for the terror and aggression taking place behind them.

The streets would be safe for her to take, despite that they were packed full of people trying to get to work, home, or carry on their lives. Amongst them, Aurora ran, dodging side to side to avoid hitting people. Eventually she decided she’d take her shortcut, diving into the alleys between ‘Epsilon’ the local bar, and a General Goods store. The crowd behind her becoming a distant memory, she found herself confronted by a dingy pathway, pools of water from rainfalls the day before casting reflections of the cardboard and barrels above. Leaning against Epsilon, a woman smoked a cigarette, the dim light every so often experiencing a flash when she lit her cigarette. She glanced up as Aurora came running. “...kid, you don’t wanna go back there. It’s revenant territory now.”

Aurora shook her head as she kept going. “I’m late, nothing will stop me now.”

The woman sighed, smoke pooling from between her lips. “Hey, you have work at five. If you get yourself hurt, you’re still coming to fill in the shift, no exceptions.”

She gave a nod of her head. “I’ll be there!” She adjusted her path so she wouldn’t have to go through the puddles, and came around the corner, at the far end, her goal, but just before her, a large pocket, where a few chainlink fences were put up seemingly overnight. She had to stop just before them, though glanced around, finding it abandoned.

She grabbed hold of the top of the fence, and pulled herself up, swinging so that her legs came up and over before she let go and landed on the other side. The area within the fencing was abandoned, despite having a small cot, and a barrel with a crackling fire in it. There was a briefcase laying next to the cot, and no owner to go with it.

She considered for a moment, looking over the briefcase. She tried to open it, but the latches on the top were sealed up, however she was interested. She picked up a rock, shoving it under the latch, and took a bobby pin from her pocket. She duck into the latch, with near-trained accuracy, and within a few seconds the briefcase opened. Within it, there were blocks of white, and a few jars of green. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but she decided she’d come too far to not do anything about it. She picked up the case, closing it, and tossing it over the fence, following after it. Behind her, far down the alleyway there were footsteps coming around the corner, and she hurried, picking up the case and running. As she rounded the corner, she heard comments from those approaching. They hadn’t recognized, at least not yet.

She now had to make a stop before getting to her school, passing by people who gave her only a short glance when she bolted past them. The BPD was approaching, luckily on the same road she’d been on before.

She cast open the door, and came into the main room, where a man enjoying his morning coffee raised an eyebrow. “What is it now, Aurora?” His question was honest, but came with a bit of exasperation.

Aurora stepped in, and placed the briefcase on his desk. “I might have stolen this from some idiots. Just deal with it, okay? I need to go.” She started back towards the door.

“This is multiple pounds of- Aurora, what the hell?! You can’t just dump this, it has to be documented!” The man shouted.

Aurora gave a glance back. “Come on, Tom, just write it as anonymous or whatever, I need to get to school.” She didn’t wait for a response, the door closing behind her as she beat feet for the school, on the edge of the city. To one side, there was a large pond whose water glistened with the midmorning sun, and the other, the giant school building, curving around in a circular building pattern and 5 stories high. The walls looked to be almost entirely glass, dark blue to catch light and make it appear almost one way. The building fit its description as a school, full of many technologically savvy courses that Aurora often lost herself in entirely. Also more importantly home to where most of her friends hung out.

As she approached the doors, she couldn’t help but look down the road to where there were people gathered around a pristine looking white building with similar glass intentions, but only going up one side. The sign on it read ‘Vitra’ in cursive letters. She didn’t have time to wonder what was happening inside the building, more intent on making it to class.

She went past the check-in area, that gave her a small look of question when she ran by, and into the elevator, where she pressed the button for the third floor, and was finally able to catch her breath.

As the doors opened, she made her one final mad-dash, before coming into the doorway of room ‘305.’ Students had taken their seats, and the professor looked to Aurora as she came in, taking a seat.

“Missed the bus, Aurora?” the professor asked, shuffling stacks of paper, each packets of three pages stuck together with a staple.

Aurora shook her head. “It’s been a crazy morning.” She ached from her mad-dash, taking time to get her breathing back under control.

“Well, as I was saying,” the professor continued. “I decided today for the last ten minutes of class, we could talk about the solar storm that is likely to hit soon.” The older man shifted, and took a seat on his desk, facing the class. “The last time we’ve seen a huge storm was in the 1800s where it knocked out telegraph signals.” He gave a smile. “Of course, this doesn’t appear to be that large, wouldn’t it be fun to see us all go without phones for a time?”

“Wasn’t the carrington flare the second to hit within a few weeks?” A student asked.

“Good usage of the name, and yes. Some speculate that it was the prior that cleared the way for the solar winds of the Carrington Event. That said, it is entirely possible that the radiation from such a geomagnetic storm could actually knock out far more than just phones. The storm was said to hit in an hour, so we were told that classes for the day have been canceled. You’re welcome to stay here, of course… as…” The man gave a small scowl as he looked to the stack of papers by his side. “Some of you may need that time to make corrections for half credit. The scores are at an all time low, make sure you’re all studying adequately.” He looked up to the clock. “And actually, we’ll end five minutes early. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“I thought we weren’t going to see you at all.” Came a voice from behind Aurora.

She turned, to see a man with long curly hair that reached to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep green that accentuated his ebony skin and his smile was skewed by a tooth a bit higher than the rest. The name of this student was Derek, and he held an average above Aurora, though he’d never brag about it.

“You know me, I’m always just fashionably late.” She poked a finger at Derek’s forehead.

Derek couldn’t help but laugh. “You aren’t fooling anyone, how late were you up last night?”

She bit her tongue, to which Derek waved a hand. “Forget about it, I don’t need to know, just messing with you.” They both made way for the front of the class, the professor glancing up from behind his desk as they neared.

“Aurora, how nice of you to join us.” He gave a thin smile. “Did you at least win?”

Aurora shook her head. “No sir, unfortunately we’re still on an eight game losing streak.” She didn’t meet his eyes.

“Well, then you’d better study hard for the next test.” He didn’t push the note any further, but Aurora had a sinking feeling in her chest that only got stronger as she finally got back her test, a 68 marked in the upper right corner.

There was a tap on her shoulder from Derek. “Hey, want to go get lunch?” He asked, with a warm smile.

Aurora gave a shallow sigh in return. “No, I think I should be getting back home.” She folded the packet so she didn’t have to keep looking to the red numbers, and stuffed the paper into her back pocket.

“Alright well… if you change your mind, give me a call.” Derek waved to her as she broke away from the group around the professor’s desk, and made way for the elevator.

Stepping in with a few classmates, she shoved her hands into her pockets, fingers feeling weak from her morning scamper for class. The doors closed, carrying them downwards, Aurora heaving another sigh. She couldn’t catch a lucky break today. Among those who were gathered in the elevator, one who was watching his phone gave a grumble of surprise. “Guys, facebook’s filling up with claims that the sky is starting to get bright, the flare must be arriving early.”

Another responded to them. “That’s pretty early. Are you sure it’s the flare and not just some cloud getting in the way of the sun or something?”

“Well… maybe. Only one way to find out.”

The elevator came to a stop, and the others ran towards the windows, trying to get a look at the sky, but Aurora couldn’t be bothered to stop, exiting the school’s lobby and once again hitting the streets. There were few people on the streets, but the article had been right. It looked like the sky was getting very suddenly brighter. Aurora decided it best to try to hurry back home because of that, NASA hadn’t issued a suggestion to stay indoors without a reason, surely. Aurora picked up her pace, sprinting down the nigh empty sidewalks. She passed by the BPD before it looked as if from a horror movie, all lights turning off down the sides of the street one by one.

Aurora’s heartbeat quickened as a sudden claw of terror latched over her heart. Even if it wasn’t dangerous, it was unsettling. She picked up her pace even more, spurred by an onset of adrenaline. As she was getting to her apartment complex, the only people outside were taking videos of the sky. The sky itself had grown extremely bright, and kept it easy to see despite the power being out as Aurora entered into the lobby of her apartment complex. Those in the lobby were either sitting, relaxed, or moved to the windows much like Aurora’s classmates had been, however as time had already been passing on, many lost interest in the bright light above and began to complain about the electricity having been knocked out.

Aurora felt her body grow less tense and she was able to relax a little not being on the streets anymore. She took a long breath in, and let it go slowly before starting for the staircase, leaving behind the complaining lobby crew. The stairs were less of a challenge at the laidback speed, and she reached her floor, stepping into the darkened hallway. It was disorienting, but she knew the apartment well enough from constantly going out and coming back that she could find her door without seeing the numbers or the floor. She unlocked her door with the key in her pocket, and stepped into her darkened room, breathing out one last sigh as she kicked off her shoes to the side. They were left in a small pile as the door closed behind her with a clunk, telling her it was time to turn to lock on it so she could have her privacy once more.

She stepped around her bed, and opened the blinds just a little, looking out to the light again. It was spectacular, she had to give it that. Certainly not anything worth studying though. She stepped over to her bed, and laid down, tossing her keys up and down in the light of the sky.

Aurora frowned as the keys started to come down slower and slower. She was confused, throwing them up a bit higher, to check if it was just her imagination, however her suspicions were confirmed when the keys failed to return to her hand after that, and stayed in midair. She touched them with a finger, making them move only as her finger did. She rolled out of her bed, feeling a tugging on her as her clothes suddenly felt like lead around her. She glared up out the window to see a giant black dot growing. She squinted, trying to get a better look at it, however the moment she could just start to make it out, her window shatter, and she was blinded when glass got into her eyes, jolts of pain sent throughout her body before as her eyes seared in agony. She wanted to grab them, to pull them out if it would stop the pain. She wasn’t given that chance as seconds later, she heart crumbling, and fell unconscious.