open Salem University

dragon4111 · August 21, 2018

@Buck Testa @Duality @Arid_Blitz @Khajiit @Denim&Venom @Mentis Soliloquy

Ghalan sighed as he walked out of the infirmary. He was ignored so he took it upon himself and pulled out the seeds from his shoulder after he came to his little closet. He grunted as he pulled the seeds from his shoulder. when his overalls top was pulled down along his chest and back was countless scars. He sighed to himself as the pain was unimaginable as he practically operated. He hummed slightly as he was distracting himself from the pain. As he had walked he saw the carnage. He had shook his head slightly. He sighed to himself as he rubbed his head. It's one of those days for him. But knowing that Dru was alright was fine for him. He now walked towards where the barrier was. He began to hum slightly "Well I have alot of work to do," Ghalan stated to himself.

Buck Testa · August 24, 2018

Years Earlier

Dru hadn't seen the bag coming. She was tending to a flower garden, kneeling next to the small plants to watch the petals change into a prismatic array of colors. She could never explain exactly why she did this beyond simple observations, like it being pretty, but goons noticed it made the young girl calm and pensive. Which was just fine for them.

The next second however, a bag was roughly thrown down over her face. She clawed at it with her little fingers and tried to shriek out in protest. She hated the itchy texture of the coarse fabric rubbing against her features, and the unpleasant scent of mildew assaulting her nostrils.

"She can only manipulate plants she sees! Keep that on her!"

Though she tried to fight her kidnappers, she was both too panicked and too small to offer any meaningful resistance. They effortlessly manhandled her tiny body, and she could tell they were trying to get to a vehicle.

Her fear was starting to leave her, and it was getting slowly replaced by her colder calculating portions of her mind.

She could feel her would be captors freeze and hear their boots cease stomping through the garden. Dru could feel the presence of a wall nearby they were pressing into. They want to not be spotted. That means this isn't on the Don's orders. If it were they'd have no need to sneak about like thieves. That meant she had allies. She didn't know who her captors were, but she knew they were given outdated information. She used to only be able to manipulate by sight, but that isn't quite true now.

Her eyes had adjusted to the bag, and she began to focus on the porous holes and imperfections in the old fabric. She made sure to make a show of squirming about so they didn't suspect anything.

Her aura flexed around, and one thing that came into her perception was quite interesting.

Pollen

The air was full of it. Bees a few feet away that she could barely see through a pinhole in the bag had it on their body. She grinned mischievously.

"Alright, I think the coast is... gahk..."

The mystery goon suddenly had a hard time seeing and breathing. His allies watched as his face started to puff up unnaturally. He tried to grip his throat, but his fingers were locking up with how swollen they were getting. They dropped Dru.

Grass grew up to meet the child's body before it hit the ground and righted her on her feet. She made no effort to remove the bag, instead she raised a hand and pointed it towards another goon she could partially perceive through the bag on her head.

A bullet barely scraped by her head, ripping the bag open on the side of her face as her next victim tried to stop her. He could see her eye now, as well as some of her bangs as she clenched her hand.

Pollen rushed to him from all directions and lifted him off the ground, letting out a squeal of fright even as his esophagus began to close in a violent allergic reaction.

"Anaphylaxis... when the body violently reacts to something it is allergic to. Symptoms can include, but is not limited to, closing of the air passages, swelling of the tongue, swelling of the body, rashes, and of course..."

The goon hung limp and lifeless in the air, suspended by pollen, after convulsing violently from his body betraying him.

"... death."

With that she let the deformed corpse plop to the ground. It was absolutely unpleasant to look at, as she had gone quite overboard with her handiwork.

She expected to get emotional about what had happened. Instead however, she just felt...cold.

@Duality @dragon4111 @Denim&Venom @Passion @reader8363 @Mentis Soliloquy

Edited August 24, 2018 by Buck Testa

Passion · August 30, 2018

@Denim&Venom @reader8363

IRA

On 8/6/2018 at 3:39 AM, Denim&Venom said:

"Ummm, oh where to even start..."

Although standing next to each other, Mindy's voice sounded a bit distant for Ira. Unclear even. It quickly turned out that the reason behind it were masks both fellow professionals were wearing. Like a lightning, a sudden realization why flashed through Ira's mind.

On 8/6/2018 at 3:39 AM, Denim&Venom said:

"How about with that 'duel' between that child of the corn and our ass clown of a janitor? That seems like an easy enough place to begin our bitching. Those two couldn't wait to tear into one another and nobody bothered to stop them! I'm gonna need my full Hakama set for this mess. And I can't get back to the apartment without trailing Bane fall out all over the place. Great."

As Miko began her explanation, or rant as it was hard to tell sometimes with her, Ira focused on conjuring a small, precise blade and cut off a fair part of her rugged shirt, revealing a part of her body on the right hip. Half-listening to the pelajae, she ripped it in half again. Afterwards she melted the blade and used the water to soak the material lightly, which she quickly tied around her face as a makeshift filter. In her mind, she was cursing herself for not recognizing the potential danger in the first place. It was as if the University has taught her nothing at times. Or maybe it was her born-in recklessness?

No matter which, the meaning of Miko's words finally broke through her mental barriers. She raised her head, her arms freezing in air as she let go of the material, trying to piece everything all together. "Janitor? Which janitor, you mean Ghalan? But this is impossible." - she turned back from the two, looking at the magnitude of destruction that has befallen the arena. Her voice was full of surprise, doubt and disbelief - "How could Ghalan cause so much damage? He should have known better than that. Still..." - she frowned and returned her gaze at the two again. Small amounts of fallout were beginning to form on her shoulders and hair in a thin, see-through layer. "...what happened with the barriers? The arena had one of the most powerful protection spells in the entire University, and you want to tell me Ghalan just blew them away like that and then proceeded to demolish the building? I don't understand, why would he do that? And just because of a child, whom I assume knew how to make some flora a bit more angry than usual."

Ira stepped away from the duo, leaving them to fend for themselves for a split moment. She carefully approached the edges of the hole, now gaping in the middle of the room. Somewhere in the distance, a loose brick fell down and smashed against the floor, echoing across the remnants of the hall. Ira kneeled on a single knee, allowing her hand to rest against the other and she gently wiped off the thick layer of fallout from the edge. Upon closer examination, it looked like the ground bursted upwards from this location. "External interference? From underground? This makes no sense...". Young woman raised her head, still kneeling, and glanced over the area. The numerous cracks were spreading radially from the chasm, as if something exploded from underground. Was something like this even within Ghalan's capabilities? But why would he appeal to such drastic measures? She reached to her face and readjusted the improvisatory air filter, as it was slightly slipping off of her face.

*CLICK* - would be the sound of Ira's mind connecting the dots, should it had one.

Her head once more faced the pelajae, as she quickly raised her body from the ground. Her loose parts of clothing surrenderred themselves to the centrifugal force of her rapid turn. "Wait, Bane? Ghalan cannot conjure Banes." - the observation was made in a rather accusing voice tone, as if the two were trying to lie to her. This was not her intention, but the voice pitch adjusted itself instinctively without her influence. Regardless of the situation though, it seemed her powers were not necessary anymore. Or to be more precise, Ira was failing to see how else could her powers be of any use in current situation. She reached with her right hand and started searching for the rune placed on the back of her neck, somewhere under her flowing fiery hair. It was probably high time she sealed them away before the powers grow to a point she'll become uncomfortable, forcing her mind to control them again.

Denim&Venöm · August 31, 2018

On August 14, 2018 at 8:58 AM, reader8363 said:

@Denim&Venom @Passion
Shadow stopped cleaning and said as he started to head towards the doors, "Let's let the dust disperse before picking up the room." He left a hole in the barrier for the other's to be able to exit and leaned against the wall for the others to exit, so he could seal it off temporarily.

"Disperse? And get all over the campus? No, we have to contain this whole building. All this, all of this, needs to be treated like fallout. We have no idea what the ashes of a plant bane will have on the body. We must begin quarantine procedures right away!" Miko exclaimed.

50 minutes ago, Passion said:

@Denim&Venom @reader8363

"Janitor? Which janitor, you mean Ghalan? But this is impossible." - she turned back from the two, looking at the magnitude of destruction that has befallen the arena. Her voice was full of surprise, doubt and disbelief - "How could Ghalan cause so much damage? He should have known better than that. Still..." - she frowned and returned her gaze at the two again. Small amounts of fallout were beginning to form on her shoulders and hair in a thin, see-through layer. "...what happened with the barriers? The arena had one of the most powerful protection spells in the entire University, and you want to tell me Ghalan just blew them away like that and then proceeded to demolish the building? I don't understand, why would he do that? And just because of a child, whom I assume knew how to make some flora a bit more angry than usual."

Ira stepped away from the duo, leaving them to fend for themselves for a split moment. She carefully approached the edges of the hole, now gaping in the middle of the room. Somewhere in the distance, a loose brick fell down and smashed against the floor, echoing across the remnants of the hall. Ira kneeled on a single knee, allowing her hand to rest against the other and she gently wiped off the thick layer of fallout from the edge. Upon closer examination, it looked like the ground bursted upwards from this location. "External interference? From underground? This makes no sense...". Young woman raised her head, still kneeling, and glanced over the area. The numerous cracks were spreading radially from the chasm, as if something exploded from underground. Was something like this even within Ghalan's capabilities? But why would he appeal to such drastic measures? She reached to her face and readjusted the improvisatory air filter, as it was slightly slipping off of her face.

*CLICK* - would be the sound of Ira's mind connecting the dots, should it had one.

Her head once more faced the pelajae, as she quickly raised her body from the ground. Her loose parts of clothing surrenderred themselves to the centrifugal force of her rapid turn. "Wait, Bane? Ghalan cannot conjure Banes." - the observation was made in a rather accusing voice tone, as if the two were trying to lie to her. This was not her intention, but the voice pitch adjusted itself instinctively without her influence. Regardless of the situation though, it seemed her powers were not necessary anymore. Or to be more precise, Ira was failing to see how else could her powers be of any use in current situation. She reached with her right hand and started searching for the rune placed on the back of her neck, somewhere under her flowing fiery hair. It was probably high time she sealed them away before the powers grow to a point she'll become uncomfortable, forcing her mind to control them again.

"Oh it wasn't him." Mindy replied. "He barley got any offense in. It was all Druantia. As to why the barriers failed-"

"They weren't put up because, well, why would they be!? We were supposed to demonstrate the dueling system and not only did some idiot somewhere let those two wonder into the arena while we were still setting up, they didn't even bother to stop the fight! What kind of hacks do we have working for us?"

"Yeah, that." Mindy finished. "And no, he didn't conjure the bane. No one alive can. At least, not on purpose. Nope, that bane was all Dru.

That girl is going to be a handfull."

Buck Testa · August 31, 2018

Years Earlier

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

The Don looked up from some paperwork and adjusted his glasses as he looked around. The excited calls of his adopted granddaughter sounded like they were coming from in his office, but the more he peered around his desk the more he realized nobody was in there with him.

"Dru? Where are you hiding? Grandpa doesn't have time for hide and seek today."

"Look out your window!"

He did just that and saw outside of his window the silly girl on the branch of a tree with a pair of binoculars waving at him. He raised his hand and waved back, steadily more confused by the moment.

"So you can hear me! It worked! Yay!"

He looked even more confused now. Even though she was far in the distance, it sounded like she was in the office with him. Was her mouth even moving?

"How are you doing that?"

"Sorry I can't hear you Grandpa. I didn't figure out the listening side of this yet, not even sure if its possible actually... well anyway I've been experimenting with my aura, you know that glowing thing you see around me sometimes, anyway, I found out I can manipulate it to create sounds! At first it was just tones and notes and stuff like that, but I figured out how to mimic speech with it. It's very hard though. Sounds that require a lot of tongue movements like hard consonants are so hard to replicate. It sounded like I had an accent or something."

As she rattled off excitedly, the sound of the voice moved about the room, fluctuating in volume and pitch. It sounded like her grip on being able to perform this feat was not quite polished yet. He tried not to get visibly creeped out when the voice took on dissonant tones or seemed layered with nearly demonic sounds, he didn't want to offend the girl. She was trying her best.

He opened up the window to his office and ushered her over with his aged hand. She beamed and did as he asked leaping down from the tree. He hated when she did that, it always made his heart race when she wantonly put herself in danger like that. However she had her trusty seeds with her to break her fall. Before she even got close to touching the ground rose vines had risen up to meet her and bring her over to the window, slithering towards it like a thorny serpent.

"Did you hear my voice grandpa?" She asked excitedly as she got closer, this time with her real voice. It sounded much less off putting and unnatural than what she was using before, and that gave him a relaxed smile, the kind that gave little creases around his eyes.

"I sure did little Druantia. You're getting quite good with your magic."

She beamed for a moment, happy to get praise, but it faltered a bit as she looked down at the ground.

"What is it sweetie"

"I... I didn't mean to kill those two the other day..."

"You mean those kidnappers?"

She nodded and looked at her hands, which were shaking a bit "I just wanted to make them sick, use the pollen to make them stop. But my magic just kept going and going. I... I was scared..."

"Shhh shhh... " he scooped her up off of the vine and gave her a hug. She clenched onto him as he closed the window shut, silencing the sound of nature outside.

" Fear is a powerful thing. It can reveal things about us we didn't know before. It revealed that you are a survivor, and you would do whatever it takes to keep on living, even if it means whacking some stupid kidnappers."

Dru gave a bit of a giggle and a sniffle at that. He played it up as he walked around the room, holding her close

"I mean, who kidnaps the powerful little Druantia and only uses a stinky scratchy little bag? Who thought that was a good plan?"

She giggled even harder at that, and she didn't seem quite as sad as before, though her eyes were still glistening a little.

"I am proud of you. You keep growing strong, and keep making our business do even better all the time. Who cares if some nobody goons bites it. You are my Druantia. There is no body I would not bury for you."

"Thanks Grandpa." She hugged him around his neck, smiling brightly now.

"Now, if you get good at that voice throwing thing, do you what to use it for your aunties wedding? You could maybe make a play out of it with those wooden dolls you like to move around."

She gasped and had her eyes light up with glee " I could do a puppet show? That sounds fun! I'm gonna start practicing now!"

She scurried down to the floor and rushed out the door down the hall, and the old man shook his head and chuckled to himself, getting back to work. He had offers to make, police and officials to bribe, and drugs to push.

dragon4111 · September 3, 2018

@Buck Testa @Duality @Arid_Blitz @Khajiit @Denim&Venom @Mentis Soliloquy @reader8363

Ghalan walked slowly towards the building but stopped himself. He opened up his other cellphone. a few more seconds went by as he was now talking to someone on the other side of the line. "Yes hello Joe.....Yes This is Ghalan Chromwell," he stated with a sigh as he levitated himself onto a nearby roof so he could have some privacy. "That girl the chief told me to keep an eye out for Druantia quite the powerhouse she is," he stated as he sat down. "Unfortunately for her she summoned Banes from her own magic...Yes I know you think us mages are unnatural be quiet about your prejudiced opinions and be professional will you? Honestly I took this job because the chief said it would help me be with others...And also so I don't strangle you.... Yeah and it's your own blasted fault for needing to lose that leg when I told you to stay away from that trapped house," Ghalan stated as he rubbed his neck. "Now back to the girl she'll be safely under the care of my colleague Duality," he stated simply. "Warper? seriously that's what you want to go with? Well listen here you prick faced taint addled mongoose. keep that opinion to your self before you say that to the wrong Mage," he stated simply and calmly but had a cold edge to it.

He then hung up on Joe as he went back to work placing his cellphone into his pocket. "Now then time to lecture two supposed teachers," he stated as he floated towards the building. He then placed a gas mask onto his face. He walked in behind Ira, Mindy, Miko, and shadow and said "Well seems like the runes are completely busted," Ghalan stated with a sigh. "So here's a question for you two why didn't you activate the runes instead of doing that little show?" he asked simply.

Denim&Venöm · September 3, 2018

5 hours ago, dragon4111 said:

"So here's a question for you two why didn't you activate the runes instead of doing that little show?" he asked simply.

Miko was sat down on the ruined bleachers, looking like she was weaving a paper chain. Her head snapped towards Ghalan's direction. "Wow, you've got a lot of nerve coming back here you stupid jackass. And why weren't the runes activated?" she rhetorically asked before resuming her arts and crafts project. "Why would they be? The only people who were supposed to be out in the arena were Mindy, myself and our officials. We'd have our demonstration, displaying the dueling system for all the newbs and testing the runes in the process. But no, cause some baka no desu and his yandere opponent decided to kick things off early, and not a single official made an attempt to stop them.

So yeah. Totally your fault. If you didn't go out of your way to harass a student, none of us would be here."

reader8363 · September 3, 2018

@Denim&Venom @dragon4111 @Passion
Shadow sighed and sealed the doorway in a one-way portal, by using the door's and rubble's shadows, then he looked out to see if any of the students were outside the barrier and when he was positive that he wouldn't scare anyone, he said loud enough for the others to hear right before he headed off to see if his daughter was safe, "When you are ready, just step through the doorway , then no one will be able to enter." He arrived at the infirmary to see Rose sitting next to a student. He made a chair out of his shadow and said as he sat down next to her, "Are you alright?"

Rose was watching Sorxir, when she heard her father's voice, she looked up and said, "I"m fine, but she has a dislocated shoulder on my behalf."

Shadow nodded and told Rose as he grabbed Sorxir's arm, "Could you restrain her in the next few seconds," After Rose's shadow wavered out Sorxir and her mouth, Shadow relocated it and help with muffling the screaming.

Rose had a few seconds to realize what her father was about to do. Her shadow wavered over Sorxir, but she wasn't experienced enough to restrain her completely. She folded her ears down and turned away.

Sorxir opened her eyes when her arm was grabbed, she tried to tell them no but it was muffled, then the guy that had her arm quickly relocated it with warning her. She screamed and blacked out due to the pain.

Shadow picked Sorxir up and started to carry her out of the infirmary.

Edited September 7, 2018 by reader8363

Buck Testa · September 3, 2018

@Duality @Denim&Venom @dragon4111 @reader8363 @Passion

Nurses were tentative to handle Druantia. Though she was unconscious on her bed, strange noises could be heard all around her. Faint melodies from unearthly voices and echoes of the past whispered through the bustling infirmary. Too quiet to be overpowering, but loud enough to be noticeable if you paid attention to it. Like the ticking of a clock or the dripping of a faucet.

They had taken great care to remove any plants from the infirmary. Heavens forbid they start attacking again. They were already so twisted and warped from what they were.

Though Dru seemed at rest, it became more and more apparent that she was sweating in her sheets. Her breathing was becoming labored as her limbs began to twitch.

All at once, she began to convulse. Her back arched violently before her body began to tremble and flail about in unnatural ways. Her already exhausted aura was starting to condence again. The voices of the past started to fill the room in full. Sounds of her calling out to her grandfather as an even younger child, sounds of men dying at her hands juxtaposed to her remorseful confessions, all interspersed with that familiar cackle of insanity that had permeated the campus not but a few minutes ago.

"We need magic suppressors! Stat! Shes going into convulsions, we need to stabilize her! Now!"

Edited September 3, 2018 by Buck Testa

dragon4111 · September 4, 2018

@Buck Testa @Duality @Arid_Blitz @Khajiit @Denim&Venom @Mentis Soliloquy @reader8363

Ghalan looked at the little kitsune and said "Why didn't you turn them on when there was a sanctioned duel?" he asked as his voice had an edge to it. Instead of doing that stupid display?" he asked as he looked between Mindy and Miko. "Oh I harassed her eh?" he asked as he snorted "Funny how you don't know anything little kitsune I did my job of stopping a fight between her and another student," Ghalan then walked over to Ira and placing his work cellphone into Ira's hand. "A recording of the duel between myself and Druantia and the lack of diligence between the two teachers," Ghalan stated simply as he looked at Ira. He raised his right hand which began to glow blue. He let loose a torrent of water blasting the walls and the bleachers. Then raising his left hand he formed a black hole which began to suck in the particles and flora along with the running water. Telekinesis to levitated the water towards the blackhole. Blood began to form beneath Ghalan's nose.

Duality · September 7, 2018

On 7/15/2018 at 11:51 PM, Duality said:

The infirmary was in an uproar. Healers and orderlies scurried frantically from room to room, checking in on resting patients and settling in new ones, as the already-bustling waiting area continued to fill with the distressed and injured. Duality strode through the chaos without her gaze so much as veering an inch from the doctors' station at the end of the hallway leading off the reception area, and well before she'd even arrived she was flanked by a pair of concerned nurses who efficiently and rapidly slipped Dru onto a stretcher, interrogating the professor about what had happened to cause such symptoms as they swept the unconscious child to the intensive ward. "Don't worry, we'll do everything we can for her," one of them reassured as they closed the 'Doctors Only'-marked doors behind them, firmly shutting out Duality. Now alone with her jittering nerves, she moved at a reduced pace back in the direction of the infirmary reception, trying to remember whether Ghalan had teleported with her or not while considering where she could make herself most useful for incident cleanup beyond the immediate aftermath at the duelling hall; she figured Miko, Mindy, and Shadow put together should be more than capable of dealing with the ash without her micromanaging them. Only four seconds passed before all the thinking and talking and running and stress and magic of the day caught up to her in a single instant of cataclysmic exhaustion and she crumpled in a dead faint, saved from hitting the ground only by the dive of a quick-thinking bystander.

Duality felt a lancing pain as her hip hit the ground, rough hands catching her shoulders - then nothing.

Nothing but dreams.

She sat alone in her eve-darkened living room, gently fondling one of her cats behind the ears. Deedah had gone to get some groceries, telling her once again that if she needed anything she was there for her. She hadn’t been talking about food.

The professor glanced at the wall, where there hung a framed picture of the day the university had opened. She stood next to Gabriel Lazel, twenty years younger, as he cut the ceremonial ribbon to the main building, a broad smile on his face. He’d given her that same smile the last time she’d seen him alive.

‘Tch, it’s just part of getting older.’ She might have believed herself if it had been natural causes.

‘How long does this grief thing normally last, anyway? Gets rather tiresome after a day or two.’ It had been eight.

‘You’ve been to the funeral already; it’s not like you haven’t already cried over him.’ What were a few drops of water to a grieving hydromancer?

She rubbed the sleeve of her turtleneck across her reddened eyes, icy tear-tracks splintering off her cheeks. ‘I don’t care,’ she snapped suddenly, voice echoing through the empty house. ‘I’ll mope as long as I Higgs well want to, you hear? Fermion to you and fermion to your leptonic advice.’ The professor shoved herself upright and began pacing the room restlessly, the cat startled away by her outburst.

‘All I want is to get my hands on whoever did it.’ Violence does not soothe grief.

‘I just want to see him one more time.’ You saw him hundreds of times while he was alive.

‘He didn’t even get to finish the Precept Codex.’ Stating the obvious is not constructive.

‘Neither are you! Get out of my head!’ A knock from the door cut off her irascible ranting. She stomped over to it and yanked it open, almost scaring the waiting delivery man witless with the raw intensity of her glare. He recovered just in time for her to snatch the parcel out of his hands and slam the door in his face, leaving him standing on her doorstep with a face as blank as his recipient signature form.

Inside, she tore the package open, angrily tossing aside fragments of shredded paper as they gave way to reveal a long hardwood box, polished to a sheen. As she flicked its clasp open, a flood of power surged forth from within it, freezing her hands and her temper alike in their tracks. The bewilderingly familiar magic flowed around and through and into her, all irritation melting away as nostalgia rippled through her thoughts like rain: first one droplet, then another, then the heavy clouds of memory burst open in a downpour of countless evenings spent as nothing but half of a unified mind weaving their thought into reality.

‘Gabriel?’ she whispered.

Gently, almost fearfully, she eased the case open to reveal a slender ebony Wand set in velvet, inlaid with flecks of vibrant gemstone and carved along its length with elegant calligraphic runes. Her fingers trailed down the enchanted shaft, taking in every etch-mark and glinting facet of its texture, only to encounter the worn corner of a note tucked underneath its hilt. She slipped it out and read.

‘My dear Duality,

‘If you are reading this, you are now the most qualified person in this dimension or any other to complete the Codex. In theory, you are entirely free to decide whether to finish my life’s work, but hopefully this letter and this gift serves to confer sufficient guilt on you that you cannot help but do so. It’s fully configured, of course; I’ve worked with you more than long enough to have your mental signature committed to memory.

‘I’d like to think that I’d have said all I needed to say to you before I died, but if not - I’ve always had a proclivity for procrastination - if not, let it be known that you made a brilliant academic compeer and were one of my closest friends.

‘It has been a pleasure working with you.

‘Yours,
His Excellency Prof. Gabriel Lazel, SotDR, MLS, DSS, FIST’

She sat abruptly, no longer trusting her legs to keep her upright, as fresh tears filled her eyes. Scrubbing her face with a sleeve and composing herself, she set aside the note and reached for Gabriel’s masterwork of a wand, still lying in its case where she’d placed it down to read. She hesitated for a moment, contemplating the ornate rod, then grasped its hilt firmly in a single decisive motion.

The Wand seared through her consciousness

thoughts consumed in a heartbeat

scorching across synapses

mind blasted open

unknowable

fire

•

all

mystery

now clarity

becomes One

OneMindOneThought

OneTruthOneWandOneWord

in the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God

Duality awoke.

Passion · September 8, 2018

IRA

@Duality @dragon4111 @Denim&Venom @reader8363

It took her a moment, but Ira finally managed to locate the rune and focusing her mind subdued her powers, tightly locking them away behind the runic barrier once more. It seemed as if her abilities would not be required anymore. Somehow, the idea that she could use her cryomantic powers to seal the entire area off in a physical, not exactly magical manner escaped her, and everyone elses for that matter, mind. Although Shadow had one up, it definitely had to cost him quite a lot of energy to maintain it. And who knew how long it would have to stand?

Nevertheless this was one of Ira's least worries. She donned a nonchalant posture with her left hand resting against her hip. The other one was laid down close to her body, pointing perfectly downwards. "An unstable child and incompetent staff. This is one way to start a year..." - her further thoughts revolved around putting everything together. Conjuring a Bane was not your average feat, it was beyond Ira's capabilities for certain. How does one even teach and control such a monster of a wizard? The young teacher only hoped she would not have to deal with that seemingly accursed child personally.

"Well seems like the runes are completely busted." - this was certainly not a voice Ira was expecting to hear so soon. She turned her upper body around to face the approaching Ghalan - "So here's a question for you two why didn't you activate the runes instead of doing that little show?" - the cryomancess stepped out of his way as he forced his presence in into their personal space. There was a very subtle hint of frustration which made his voice sound more commanding than she expected it to be. She blinked a few times as she observed the developing situation with growing confusion.

"Wow, you've got a lot of nerve coming back here you stupid jackass. And why weren't the runes activated? Why would they be? The only people who were supposed to be out in the arena were Mindy, myself and our officials. We'd have our demonstration, displaying the dueling system for all the newbs and testing the runes in the process. But no, cause some baka no desu and his yandere opponent decided to kick things off early, and not a single official made an attempt to stop them. So yeah. Totally your fault. If you didn't go out of your way to harass a student, none of us would be here."

Ira's eyes wandered back and forth from Ghalan to Miko as they exchanged accusations. She barely managed to hear Shadow informing them of the barrier he set up in the process. The situation only allowed her to nod at him in kind acknowledgment and thankfullness of the deed. Only after that did she manage to notice that Ghalan's usually impeccable clothing was tarnished and severly torn on his left arm. It also seemed to have a different hue to it. It nearly looked as if it bore markings of... "Blood...?" - the sudden realization thrown her off balance, giving her emotions way before logic. Just how dangerous that little child was to pose a real threat to someone of Ghalan's power levels? This sudden development caused Ira to fail even attempting to difuse the situation.

"Why didn't you turn them on when there was a sanctioned duel? Instead of doing that stupid display? I harassed her eh? Funny how you don't know anything little kitsune I did my job of stopping a fight between her and another student." - at this point Ghalan faced the Frosthawk, catching her completely off guard and pushing his cellphone into her hands. "A recording of the duel between myself and Druantia and the lack of diligence between the two teachers." The poor redhead clumsily grabbed it, trying to come to terms with the situation escalating in front of her eyes. She stared at it absent-mindedly, her frown deepening from second to second. The pieces of puzzle, even though clearly standing in front of her, just didn't want to fall into their places.

As she finally managed to fish out a sliver of reality reaching out to her, she grabbed it and allowed it to pull herself back into present, leaving the dephts of her bewildered mind. She blinked, focusing her eyesight at the cellphone being held in both of her hands. As she raised her head, she witnessed Ghalan starting to channel his magic, seemingly intending to start the process of removing the magical residue fallout. His left arm, now clearly visible to her, was moving in an unnatural way. It also bore visible blood stains all along its lenght. Ira threw a glance at the duo of her fellow professors standing next to her, but it was obvious Miko was close to throwing a tantrum, again, and Mindy currently seemed to be absolutely helpless. Ira turned her sight onto the cellphone now resting in her right palm. A split second passed as she clenched her teeth in furious grimmace and wrapped her fingers around the device. The force she applied caused her fingers to whiten, as if she was to crush the unfortunate tool. Before she knew it, the cellphone landed in the back pocket of her tight pants and she took a decisive step towards Ghalan, her face a mask of pure wrath mixed with a hint of disbelief. Completely disregarding any and all safety protocols pertaining to interrupting a spellcaster's use of magic, she grabbed Ghalan's arm by the wrist and, before he managed to react, quickly moved the sleeve, revealing his arm up to the shoulders. The sight was... unpleasant, causing a faint feeling of concern cast a shadow upon her expression. Although initially treated and shoddily bandaged, the damage seemed more excessive than she anticipated to witness. Ira let go of his arm and raised her eyes to meet his surprised ones. She could not see his face, she had no idea what he could be thinking right now. But what she knew, was that he was one of her old friends. His personality and tendencies were not alien to her. The stare she was throwing at the janitor was as stern as a harsh father would throw at his disappointing son. And then she exploded. "JUST WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU BRAINLESS IDIOT!?" - it was hard to say if there was more fury or desperation contained in her voice, but the gesticulation accompying her words was definitely violent - "CAN YOU FOR ONCE, JUST FOR ONE FORSAKEN MOMENT THINK ABOUT YOURSELF!?" - the initial screams turned into a dialect of anger - "You come in here, bloodied, looking like a wreck of a man! And then you behave as if nothing happened!? When will your DAMN STUBBORNNESS KILL YOU? Did you even have a chance to LOOK AT YOURSELF?" - throwing the question at him, she hastily materialized an icy shard in her hand. Ira focused on its structure and shifted the particles so that they reflected the light under correct angles. As a result, if looked upon from a correct perspective, it served as a mirror. She shoved it in Ghalan's face. The man in the reflection was precisely the man standing in front of her. Beaten, tarnished, tired and exhausted most probably, visibly struggling to remain in control of himself. A wreck of a man more reckless than herself in his pursit of responsibilities with no regard to his own health. After making sure he had seen enough, she took an enormous swing and smashed the mirror against the ground, venting her emotions. The creation shattered into countless pieces, flying past their feet and bouncing off of their legs. She raised her eyes at the man in front of her again. "You WILL stop whatever you are doing THIS MOMENT and I'm taking you to the infirmary AT ONCE! AND I WARN YOU..." - she leaned forward and pointed a finger, underlining how much would she be approving of any objections... that is, not at all. "...you even TRY to say NO, and I'll gather ALL the pieces of that mirror laying around here and stick'em to a certain place of yours where THE SUN DOESN'T SHINE." - afterwards, she pointed at the tiny black hole levitating not far away from them. "Turn this off THIS INSTANT. And YOU- " - this time her enraged attention refocused on Miko alone "-YOU will forget ANYTHING you've just witnessed, unless you want to meet up with same treatment he's going to get if he even DARES to object ANYTHING I've just said. DO. WE. UNDERSTAND. EACHOTHER?" - she didn't wait for an answer, let alone give Miko even a chance to respond - "Good." - Ira turned to Ghalan again. All in all, such outbursts were a complete rarity to her. She couldn't remember when was the last time she was this infuriated. Let alone much less remember if her coworkers ever witnessed her in this state. In fact, retrospect was sneaking up on her already, and first seeds of regret were being sown. Yet, she still had the steam to go on. "You're coming with me." - and although the two were not connected romantically in Ira's eyes, the infamous, dreaded across the world phrase followed - "We need to talk." - and in that single line, all the threats of the world could be heard.

Ley

It took her a moment of struggle, but she finally managed to locate the accursed card which was required to enter her dorm room. Ley waved it in front of the reader which let out a distinctive beep, lighting green. She grabbed the handle and turned her sight one last time at the gentlemen in tuxedos working hard in the corridor below. They seemed to pay her completely no attention, something Ley wasn't accustomed to too well. She observed them for a moment with a confused face, slightly irritated they didn't bat an eye at her appearance. She eventually shrugged it off and pushed the door open. She had her servants decorate it prior to her arrival. To say it looked expensive would just might be an understatement.

The first object her eyes fell upon was absolutely overblown and unneccesarily big canopy bed, covered in purple velvet with dimmed pink curtains. It stood tall on the background of glass door leading out to the balcony, which she could have only assumed was magically constructed for her private needs, as she could not spot any balconies on other rooms in the process. Ley took a quick glance from the doorstep, keeping Jeeves behind from entering. To her immidate left, just behind the door there was a bookshelf, filled with various titles of all sorts. The dominant titles however included but were not limited to magic, psychology and romance novels. Her eyes fell upon "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and Sun Pin. She remembered reading it twice already, however the book was interesting in itself. Turning her sight to her immidate right, she could see some coat-hooks and a giant wardrobe standing against the wall. She quickly noticed the predominantly deep brown or dark furniture were stylized after the Louis XV era. Most wise choice for a historical feel. Near the wardrobe stood a folding screen, placed there on Ley's personal request. As Ley stepped deeper inside, the rest of the room showed itself to her eyes. There was a chaise lounge standing under the windows in front of her, with a long, low glass table set before it. A few, colorful magazines of unknown origin were laid out in a fan on top, just next to a voluminous aquarium containing a number of Koi fish in a palette of colors swimming inside. Opposed to the lounge, next to the doors leading towards the bathroom stood a small storage unit, on top of which a wide, flatscreen TV was situated. She didn't know why she ever ordered one to be placed inside the room. She'd probably have to resign of it eventually due to how much space it covered. Finally, her eyes returned to the wall opposite of the entrence and spotted the piano standing next to the lounge. Just beside the piano her favourite violin was situated. Rene Jacquemin model, coming from a well renown workshop, scrumptiously replicating the delicate design. And finally, in the corner she spotted a little, secluded area. There were two tables set there along with a comfortably looking chair. One of the tables was nothing extraordinary. Looked like just another piece of furniture for regular, mundane use. The other one, however, contained a few small shelves with little lockers inlaid in it. All of them seemed to require peculiar keys to be opened. The desk itself was inlaid with mystical runic inscriptions of various colors, as well as unknown pictograms. Many of them carried signs of burning, erosion and generally looked heavily worn-out. It raised Ley's spirits to witness that bringing her beloved enchanting table was possible at all, she feared it would literally fall apart if touched. But it was most probably conserved with magic during the move. The chair in front of it was situated on a large rune, which most probably served as the only spot in which she'd be able to cast magic. The room altogether was mainly presenting itself in rather warm, but dark colours. True to her name, the paddings on the furniture were crimson red, including the bedding and sheets of her bed. A few pelts of various animals served as carpets, scattered across the room. If one was to quickly catch the essence of the interior, they would say it was most definitely stylish, although a bit old-fashioned. With expensively looking paintings adorning the walls.

Ley was content, it was of course an absolute downgrade from her chambers back home, but she was expecting to be situated in a shoddy, quickly prepared room for the masses. At least in this one endeavour the University did not disappoint. She took off a few, most remote elements of her costume and after hanging them on the hooks, stepped behind the screen. "Jeeves, bring the books to the desk in corner please, I'll have need of them." - as her servant slammed the door and directed his steps towards the opposite of the room, she focused on untying the knot of her hairs first. "There is another room here, milady." - granting her hair freedom, Ley responded with very little attention in her voice. She was focused on finally shedding her little shell of a costume. "Room? What is the meaning of this?" "A set of doors, leading to the next accommodation I dare assume." - ripples appeared on the Daemoness' forehead as she continued to change her top - "Indeed so? Peculiar. I will need to address this and keep them locked for the time being, then." - it took her a short moment to finish off 'disarming' herself. Most of her clothing landed inside the wardrobe, with exception of her Ultima as well as the parts of the dress which contained gems incrusted in them. These were hanging atop of the screen. Ley stepped out finally and, surprisingly enough, she for once resembled an ordinary girl (if one was to ignore the horns and skin color). She was rid of her gloves and ultima, along with entirety of her overblown costume. Now sporting skin-tight, waist high, milky white jeggings along with a slightly oversized, loose top with short sleeves revealing one of her shoulders ever so slightly. She changed her heavy boots into delicate, black laced sandals. One could spot only two decorations remaining, a thin, golden chained anklet above her left foot and a similiarly stylized bracelet on her right wrist. Other than that, she got rid of any further adornments and allowed her hair to fall in a cascade on her back.

The pink haired girl spotted Jeeves waiting for her patiently next to the desk at the far end of the room, guarding the unknown doors. Finally feeling as if she was in a place she belonged, Ley walked over to the desk in a very relaxed fashion, throwing her ultima carelessly at the chaise lounge on her way. "Accommodate yourself, we will be staying here for quite a while I fear, Jeeves." "Hmph." - she didn't mind his somewhat visible dissatisfaction. Ley usually tried to treat him like he was a human being, but from time to time Jeeves himself had to remind her he does not actually belong to this world. Amusingly enough, his understanding of the process of accommodation included cleaning every little corner of the room. She couldn't help but to turn around as he walked past and observe him with fascination for a while, before forgetting about him and sitting down to glance over her books quickly.

Time passed mercilessly as she succumbed to the lectures, reading through the indexes and making mental notes which of the pages could be of any use to her. She lost track of time, therefore she felt somewhat tired once she finally managed to pull herself away from the books. By now, it seemed Jeeves was outside on the balcony, observing the sky and absorbing the visible nature. Ley watched him for a moment, sitting on the chair sideways and leaning against it with an elbow on its back. Her face was expresionless, but she was contemplating how little she knows in the grand scheme of things. Eventually, she pulled herself together and called for her butler. "Jeeves!" - his head turned and he spared her a momentary glance before entering the room again. Ley was already heading towards her violin. "Would you mind?" - she casually pointed towards the piano. She was slowly starting to feel the hunger growing, but she couldn't disregard her routine practice to keep in shape. Teaching the Daemon to play the instrument turned out to be more fruitious than she expected. In fact, Jeeves seemed to grasp it really quick, to a point he was by now much better than Ley in playing it. It was mildly... annoying. "Let us begin with 'A Song from a Secret Garden'." - and so, Ley entered am alien world of music. Her eyes, predominantly closed to avoid visual distractions, opened only sporadically to pay attention to her instrument. The moves themselves were calculated and fluid, as if the instrument in her hands was the most fragile creation in this universe. Her saddened expression was underlined by the harmonic tunes. The girl gave herself up to the melody.

dragon4111 · September 9, 2018

@Buck Testa @Duality @Arid_Blitz @Khajiit @Denim&Venom @Mentis Soliloquy @reader8363

Ghalan was quick to put an anti gravity barrier around himself and the three women as Ira disrupted his control of his spell. The black hole began to grow without Ghalan's magic to control it. It was feeding on the building. Ghalan was desperately trying to gain control of it. It grew and grew until Ghalan pushed more of his magical aura if not more of it into the black hole but it caused it to turn into a white whole which then exploded. Ghalan shielded Miko, Ira, And Mindy from the violent explosion destroying the gym. He said with a few pained breaths as his right shoulder's wounds reopened again "Well that's coming out of my salary," hi svoice held a slight joking tone as he pulled his mask off as he looked around slowly and when he did he looked pale and his knees were practically shaking. If anyone with the sight to see magical aura's (which all teachers should have) thanks to Ira's rant and distraction. Ghalan's aura was down to where he was almost running on fumes. He tried to start walking away after dispelling his barrier. And that did it he knelt down onto one knee gritting his teeth. He was trying to push on his knee so he could stand up. THe explosion also was the last straw for his upper part of his overalls which tore away revealing his back to the women. numerous scars and his bleeding shoulder wounds.

Edited September 9, 2018 by dragon4111

Buck Testa · September 12, 2018

Minutes Earlier

It was beautiful. Simply beautiful. Nature itself was singing and playing with people in ways it had only dreamed of before. Adaline knew she was going on a new, magical adventure in coming to this spectacular place, this Salem University, but she had not anticipated this!

The meniacal laughter that filled the air, the delightful sounds of destruction and screaming adding beautifully into the melody of it all, people and plants in the divine dance of war, it made her just want to

"THE HIIIIILLLSS ARE ALIIIIIIIVE! WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC!~<3"

Her arms spread wide as she spun gracefully through the chaotic warzone of plants, belting out the famous show tune with genuine glee in her voice. Though plants attempted to attack her as her dress flared out in a spiral, her intricate foot work and casual movements kept her from harm.

In fact the longer she sang in this little corner of the warzone, the more her influence could be felt in the animated plants.

They were... starting to dance along with her. It was only the plants in her immediate vicinity, but they were almost confused with the conflicting messages they were getting. They ended up compromising by attacking in rhythm to her sing and dancing, adding to her performance instead of hindering it.

And then she saw her. The source of this gorgeous symphony of destruction.

"TO SIIINNGG THROUUUGH THE NIIIIIGHT, LIKE A LARK WHO IS LEARNING TO PRAY!"

Her eyes watered with rapturous joy as she clasped her hands together as the majestic Bane rose up in the distance. It was truly a religious experience for her, making her heart aflutter at the beauty of it.

"MY HEART WILL BE BLESSED, WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC, AND IIIIIIIII'LL SIIIIINNNNG ONCE MOOORREE"

She faded into the background as the Bane fell, tears of joy falling from her eyes at the unadulterated mayhem. It wasn't every day one got to see things like this, she would treasure it for years to come.

The Present

Dru was having a magical variety of a spasm, a seizure almost. Her wooden bed frame floated into the air as she flailed in her bed, fighting for her life unconsciously as her aura tried to attack again. It still wanted to play, consequences be dammed.

And then a nice lady started to sing as she entered the room. Everyone looked to the nice lady and smiled as she swayed into the room, harmonizing without any rhyme or reason. Suddenly the panicked hospital room didn't seem so bad, because The Nice Lady is here to fix everything.

It was such a shame to Adaline to tame this beautiful girls song of chaos, but she needed to get her strength back. When she did, her new Auntie Adaline was going to show her songs of death she could sing that she never even dreamed of before. She was a treasure that needed to be protected, nurtured, so that one day she could close out the musical of humanity in the biggest number the world had ever known. The thought brought such a genuine smile to The Nice Lady's face.

"Sleep child, you have much work ahead of you" she sang soothingly, quelling the myschevious aura Dru had and safely lowering the bed. Nobody stopped or questioned her presence in the room as she tucked Dru in and planted a motherly kiss on her forehead. Why would they? She was the nice lady. Nothing strange about that.

"She'll sleep soundly now. Such a precious little treasure. Shahal will be delighted to hear about her to be sure."

She faded into the background before they even registered her leaving. The staff returned to work as if nothing had happened, save for them being in a slightly better mood after being around that nice lady. What did she look like again?

@Duality @Denim&Venom @reader8363 @dragon4111 @Passion

Edited September 12, 2018 by Buck Testa

Duality · September 15, 2018

@dragon4111 @Buck Testa @Passion @reader8363 @Arid_Blitz @Denim&Venom

On 9/7/2018 at 8:23 PM, Duality said:

The Wand seared through her consciousness

thoughts consumed in a heartbeat

scorching across synapses

mind blasted open

unknowable

fire

•

all

mystery

now clarity

becomes One

OneMindOneThought

OneTruthOneWandOneWord

in the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God

Duality awoke.

“That was trippy,” the professor mumbled faintly, squinting against the glare of overhead lighting. “Wasn’t how the end went at all.” She began to rise on instinct, but was held down gently by a hand on her chest. “Careful, dear, we don’t want you fainting again,” chided the brisk female voice apparently associated with the hand. As Duality managed to open her eyes more fully, she realised that she was lying prone on a hospital bed with nobody else in the room save the nurse associated with the voice associated with the hand. Which was fortunate, because - “What… where… why are my trousers gone?” she sputtered. The medical orderly gestured reassuringly towards a bandage wrapped around the professor’s mid-thigh. “You fell onto the pen in your pocket when you conked out. Sharp little horror, isn’t it?”

Duality glanced at the bedside table to see her familiar tapered-metal Stylus glinting against its plastic surface, the user-specific form taken by the Wand when she’d grasped it for the first time. “None of this ‘Word’ nonsense,” she murmured absently. “A bit tingly as the magic set in, that’s all.” “Beg your pardon?” the matronly nurse queried as she set about restoring the professor’s pants to her possession. “Eh? Oh, nothing,” she responded, jolted from her ponderings. “Just had an odd dream about that thing while I was out. Started out as a pitch-perfect recollection of the day it was gifted to me, but the instant I touched it the entire dream turned into a technicolour monologue.”

The healer raised an eyebrow as Duality gratefully accepted her trousers and slipped them back on gingerly. “Sounds magic to me. We get people in here all the time talking about things like that.” The professor considered the idea for a moment, eyeing up the enchanted pen from her awkward position on the disinfectant-scented mattress. “That’s quite probable, actually. It’s very powerful, and while it might not have a mind of its own, it’s certainly strongly imbued with mind magic. My natural abilities are exclusively water-based, but it lets me channel mental energy well enough to weave runes as precisely as the best of them. But then the question is: what in the LHC was it trying to tell me?”

The nurse bustled back from the sink where she’d been washing her hands. “Now, then, dear, how much magic have you used today, how much sleep have you been getting recently, and when was the last time you ate and drank?” Duality blinked once in confusion before realising that the industrious orderly had a job to do, and indulging academic rambling wasn’t a major part of it. “Ah, a fair bit, a good amount, breakfast and a few sips during the speeches a couple of hours ago.” The infirmary attendant gave her the longsuffering look of someone professionally familiar with the university faculty’s habit of procrastinating nourishment. “The speeches were six hours ago, dear. You missed lunch and you haven’t drunk all day. It’s no wonder you ended up on the floor.”

Duality drank five cups of decidedly metallic water and devoured eight assorted items of fruit before the nurse let her attempt to stand up. She cautiously regained bipedality, with the orderly hovering nearby to ensure she was steady on her feet, then tested her balance with a few quick paces around the room. “I think I’m all right now,” the professor offered sheepishly. “I’ll keep myself better-hydrated in future.” “That’s what they all say,” the healer muttered darkly as Duality retrieved her possessions from the bedside table - not only the Stylus, but also the voluminous herbal she’d left near the duelling hall, which had discreetly made its way to her side sometime while she was unconscious. She noted with some satisfaction that the lining of her trousers had already fully reconstituted its stitching at the point where the magical pen’s sharpened tip had punctured it.

“Change the dressing on your hip once a day, and report back here if it gets any worse,” the nurse called after Duality as the professor slipped out the door with her botanical tome tucked under one arm, only noticing the faintest twinge from her wounded leg. The infirmary was exceedingly good at what they did, after all; they had to be good to deal with all the stupid stunts that overconfident students tried to pull off with their magic.

“What a day,” Duality mused as she strolled down the still-bustling corridor, her free hand tucked casually in her pocket. “Better stay out of action for the evening, methinks, it wouldn’t do to arrive back here too soon.” Indeed; you’re getting old. “You’re one to talk,” she huffed to herself. “You’re every bit as old as I am.” Au contraire, mademoiselle! I, your dearly beloved inner voice, only developed while you were in your teens. Since I am possessed of the same life expectancy as you, being you, it is only reasonable to deduce that I will thus outlive you by just over a decade. “I wouldn’t count on it,” the professor retorted. “You’re already lapsing into the illogic of senility.” It’s your mind going senile; I am merely trapped within its computational confines. “Then be grateful it’s so capacious,” she smirked. Only because it’s empty. Duality pouted as she realised her mind had gotten the last word once again. “I really need to stop arguing with myself. I always seem to lose.”

Abruptly, she became aware of a rapid increase in temperature from the Stylus, lying next to her hand in her pocket. She yanked her fingers out with a yelp as the heat rose to unbearable levels in a matter of seconds, prevented from badly burning her hip only by the protective runes woven into her trousers’ fabric. “What is wrong with you infernal object?!” Duality snarled in a fit of temper at the painful interruption, heedless of onlookers. “First you impale me and now you try and charbroil me? Do you want me to take a hacksaw to you?” She froze in horror as smoke began to rise from her pocket, a faint warmth now perceptible through her clothes in uncomfortable proximity to her injured thigh. “Uh, I didn’t mean that. Please don’t make me rip off my trousers in public.”

Caught up in her distress of magic and wardrobe, the professor barely even noticed a agreeable-seeming young woman passing down the corridor in the other direction. She looks a nice lady, Duality’s mind observed unbidden, and then she thought no more of it.

As the pleasant passer-by turned the corner, however, the heat emitted by the Stylus dropped sharply in intensity, fading within moments to its normal slight coolness to the touch. Duality quickly pulled it out of her pocket with thumb and forefinger and gave it a withering glare, feeling decidedly less vulnerable now that it was no longer quite so closely bound to her body. “You know what’s happening now, don’t you? You know what I do to misbehaving magic. You’ve seen it before. You,” the professor paused dramatically, “are going,” she sneered, “to the back pocket.” She dropped the enchanted pen into the aforementioned opening with a vengeful flourish. The enchantments on the lining of her back pocket were significantly more advanced than those on the remainder of her clothing, and she used it to confine unstable or fragile magical objects so often that she had to book a specially prepared blast room for laundry day, just in case she’d accidentally left any particularly volatile artefacts inside it.

“And what are you lot looking at?” Duality snapped, looking up to notice the half-dozen people who’d stopped in the corridor to watch her yell invectives at her trousers. “Don’t you have better things to do than watch senility like it’s a spectator sport? Scram!” She stalked off in the direction of her office without waiting for the small crowd to disperse. I need some good cold spring water to wash the taste of that hospital rust-juice out of my mouth. Swiss, preferably.

Denim&Venöm · September 20, 2018

@dragon4111 @Passion @Duality @reader8363

On 9/4/2018 at 2:12 AM, dragon4111 said:

"Why didn't you turn them on when there was a sanctioned duel?" he asked as his voice had an edge to it. Instead of doing that stupid display?" he asked as he looked between Mindy and Miko. "Oh I harassed her eh?" he asked as he snorted "Funny how you don't know anything little kitsune I did my job of stopping a fight between her and another student,"

"It wasn't a sanctioned duel and we didn't get to do our display because an unsanctioned duel was taking place, dumbass. And there are more efficient means of restraining students than toying with them in a gravity field, if eye witness reports are to be believed. Just gravity bind them and be done with it. Why have disorderly students be able to move at all? Do you ever, ever think, broom jockey?"

Miko would've added more, but then Ghalan went to work vacuuming the bane ashes to whatever poor dimension lied beyond. But then Ira stepped in and immediately began tearing the janitor a new rectal cavity.

"Well, looks like my work is being done for me."

"Um, should she be screaming at him like that while he's trying to maintain a literal quantum singularity?"

"Y'know what yeah, maybe it could- oh s :mellow: t!" as Miko was picked up by the gravity going in the wrong direction, before getting snatched in mid air by Mindy was she dug whatever claws were free into the floorboards. At least that threat was short lived as Ghalan put his shield up. And Miko subsequently muzzle planted when normal gravity reared its ugly head.

On 9/9/2018 at 3:26 AM, dragon4111 said:

"Well that's coming out of my salary,"

Mindy ran over to the injured custodian, keeping hims teady before he collapsed completely.

"He's damn near spent. His whole body is on the verge of burning out, not to mentioned the already existing injuries. Seriously, this could've waited. You would've been in a better position to help once you were rested at least."

Ira in the meanwhile would hear growling approaching her, and whatever attention was on Ghalan would need to be focused on the fox crossing her vision and-

*Smack!*

Back handing her in the face.

"What the f :mellow: king hell is wrong with you!?" Miko roared at her.

Buck Testa · September 22, 2018

Dru blearily awoke in a strange room. Her eyes were unable to focus. Blurry images accentuated by intense light flooded her vision as she weakly tried to blink them into clarity. For a brief moment, she had no idea why she was in this bed, why she was in this room. She could only faintly remember some fuzzy details. She had wanted to duel someone, she had felt so compelled to try her hand against someone... a janitor?

Suddenly her body sounded off aches and pains to her, screaming for her attention. She groaned and shuffled uncomfortably under the blankets. Her aura itself felt like an over exerted muscle after running ten marathons. When she reflexively moved it about with her mind, making her wince and his in pain. She would not be manipulating plants for awhile.

She recalled flashes of the fight. Her powers had been so eager to listen to her. Her vines, her peppers, her pumpkins, everything had been working better than they ever had. She had never made vines quite that big before, quite so thick that they resembled malleable towers instead of the thin and small things they usually were. It had been so exciting, exhilarating. It hadn't been till she had been yanked underground that she had realized she couldn't control it.

It was like starting a wildfire. She could start the proverbial blaze, stoke it up as intensely as she wanted too. However she hadn't the ability to stop what she had started. When her magic had created that thing, that animated tree with a will of own, she had become quite scared. A feeling she hadn't felt in a long time.

She hadn't made something like that in awhile. Well, she never made something QUITE like that thing was, but she had done similar things when she was younger.

Her memory flooded of her little friends she had made when she was barely above a toddler in age. Back when her magic didn't listen to her as well and her strength was weaker. The goons had various names for them. The dolls, the puppets, the nutcrackers. She had made them herself, morphing wood and creating their clothes. She didn't need to paint them, she just changed the colors of the wood till it suited her desires.

She had hundreds of them of varying shapes and sizes. Though they seemed fragile and moved about with jerking motions, they had been quite strong and limber. She loved making stories with them, creating elaborate tales that made sense only to her as they played out their parts. She would make voices for them with her aura, making it seem like it came out of them as they recited their lines she gave them. She would through elaborate puppet shows for guests, though it only served to unnerve people.

One day however, she had them all locked away. She had never told the goons or the Don why, though she had been pale and greatly disturbed. How was she supposed to explain to them that they would do things when she wasn't looking? How would she explain that they started to move when she slept, or didn't listen to her commands all the time anymore. They were becoming weirdly alive in ways she didn't like, ways that had felt threatening.

plants that didn't resemble human form listen to her well enough, and she started to lean into using those more. However her Puppets, her Nutcrackers, those were starting to become unruly. They could seem like a normal doll in one moment, pulled along by her magic like they would with strings. Then they did something she didn't expect. They would turn their false head towards her, wood warping into a smile, or they would shift around the room in the corner of her eye. They would laugh in voices with her aura that she hadn't made. Little giggles and whispers she never intended.

That had been what that abomination had felt like. Like her magic had remembered how to make her puppets and had eagerly crafted a body for itself that it had wanted.

Dru shivered, her body and aura aching terribly. Her magic was not behaving the way it was supposed to. It was like she was the one dragged about by it instead of the other way around. She was its puppet, and it wanted to lock her away just like she had done to her wooden creations, so it could take her place. She knew the thought seemed irrational, but something deep in her gut told her she was right. If she didn't learn how to wrestle control from... whatever was inside her, she would be lost forever, locked away in a dark room in her mind like all her dolls had been.

It seemed calm now however. A nice lady had came by and soothed her aura, letting her rest. She didn't actually remember seeing the lady, she was unconscious, but she remembered her melodic voice like a dream. Perhaps things wouldn't be so bad after all.

Canteen_the_unstable · September 23, 2018

Lilith was finishing off some exams with her personal physician. Sitting there after her blood was drawn, had a few x-rays, and other tests inside a small infirmary away from the main halls. It was specially built reinforced for special reasons as well it was made for examining people suffering from a magical disease. In all reality it was more of a stress induced death for magic users. The more magic they could control would begin to detoriate their bodies faster from the inside. The more it was used the faster they would die...even healing magic did nothing for it. The reason she was in there today was after breaking up Rouen and Ira she had began to feel dizzy as well cough up blood.

Stepping outside the building she was in for a treat...plants seemed different. They were well mutated,, as she walked around she clucked her tongue some. Surveying the damages she walked towards the arena area as she was seething. It was the first day of school and already things were out of hand. Walking past the plants, her tail was puffed out as her ears were down. Students were moving out of her way as she went further until she stopped seeing a large dome around the arena. she gritted her teeth as she tried to calm herself "It's ok....just a dome...perhaps it was to put up to...too......" she couldnt try to play off why the dome was there...they are there to keep things in and others out.

As she came up to the entrance she put a hand up on the shield feeling the energy give her a bit of a zap. Pressing on it was like pressing against a wall, she narrowed her eyes as she let out a scream of unearthly loudness. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY SCHOOL!? GHALAN AND THAT STUDENT YOU SPARRED WITH BETTER GET OUT HERE NOW SO I CAN THROTTLE BOTH OF YOU MYSELF!" as she stopped yelling her left hand came up pressing it to the shield she pushed on it a bit "This shield is keeping something in....and I cant see through it but I know they are in there."

reader8363 · September 23, 2018

Shadow was looking for his room when he felt a presence that was off, but when he looked around, there was anything off. He crafted a small sickle that fit in his hand and had the blade near the handle, so it was easily concealed against his arm. He started to walk faster to the room to get rid of the weight on his shoulder.

Rose roamed the halls after Dru started to have a fit. It was a bit natural for someone that couldn't control their magic to lose what control they had, but the lady that came is had something hiding, a lot of people's magic was odd, but that one just felt..different. she couldn't really place her finger on it ever since she left the infirmary. It was like it was taken from her mind. She decided to head to her room and check on her sword.

Sorxir dreamt of her past and her parents, she felt sick from them being in the same room. Their magic flowing out and mixing together, the lightest of light and the darkest of black. She wanted to not remember, but couldn't help it when she had her father's eye.

Passion · September 25, 2018

IRA

@Arid_Blitz @Denim&Venom @dragon4111

There was a subtle change in the air around Ira, which she only noticed after a very brief moment. A gust of wind, in an enclosed area. Something flickered in the corner of her eye, just above her and Ghalan's head. Her enraged expression swiftly changed into a cautious, curious one as her eyes followed the faint source of light which quickly disappeared. She looked above, trying to focus her eyes on the nearly non-existant, thin barrier of energy that was put up around them. At once, she felt a force pulling her apart, as if the very physics of the world were disturbed and decided she no longer coexists with the basic laws of universe.

She took a single step back, assuming defensive position, and turned her suspicious eyes at Ghalan, but it was obvious he was not focusing on her. Even from under the mask his eyes looked extremely focused and heavily distracted. For the first time, she glanced towards the direction janitor's eyes were facing and gasped in horror. The black hole he was using to tidy the place up seemed to have gained in mass, and it was growing exponentially. She backed off terrified. If this thing went from under Ghalan's control, it would destroy at least half of University, themselves included, before anybody would be able to contain it most probably. Ira's heart was racing at the prospect as her mind desperately searched for possible solutions to the issue, finding none to her further shock. Upon her eyes, however, the hole... transformed. So did the aura of it, but before Ira was able to discern the nature of it, the creation erupted in violent explosion. The shockwave was powerful enough to not only cause further damage inside the hall, but also penetrated the shield Ghalan managed to put up and caused Ira to stumble and lose her balance, falling on her back. The unexpected blow also caused her vision to darken for a short moment as the force stunned her temporarily.

As she regained full consciousness, her eyes first fell on Ghalan. His clothing was completely torn after the explosion, exposing his numerous wounds. Both old as well as fresh ones. She stared at him confounded. Never yet had she a chance to witness the sight, and even though she heard stories of his past, Ira never even dared to imagine the extent of damage he could have suffered. She pulled herself up to sitting position, her left hand resting against the floor and supporting her upper body. At the same moment, Mindie approached Ghalan to tend to the poor soul. Ira blinked a few times, trying to shake off the nasty feeling of shock which was applied to her. For a moment she heard nothing but bells in her ears, which quickly changed into a different sound. It was hard to place, it reminded her of a growl a number of wild animals would have. At the same moment, after another blink, Miko's lower part of body appeared in her vision, and the moment Ira raised her head, an electrifying, burning sensation of pain spread across her face as her head was thrown aside from the force of the slap that was issued to her. As expected, Miko did not screw around with expressing her emotions. Ira's silhouette froze with her head turned away from the group, having to suddenly use her second hand to support herself from falling over. She quickly raised her hand to massage her jaw, which was pulsating with pain. Turning her head around, her eyes fell on Miko who seemed to be shouting at her specifically.

"What the f :mellow: king hell is wrong with you!?"

"Wrong with me...?" - Ira's face was a mixture of surprise, confusion and utter disbelief, but quickly started changing into a mask of anger - "Wrong with me!?" - she let go of her jaw and pushed herself off of the floor, shakingly straightening up and regaining her physical composure. She stared into the kitsune's face, feeling echoes of protests spreading across her muscles. Her voice was intially quiet, however it went higher and higher the longer she spoke. It was filled with anger and had a hint of hatred to it. "I'll tell you what's wrong with me. I get suddenly pulled away from my duties and am forced to fight some overgrown salad products, nearly becoming injured in the process. I rush here, hell-bent to make sure if my aid is not needed and to make sure everyone are alright. I arrive at a scene of utter destruction! Then I find you two, AND that old fool who joins up later, telling me how you've ALL failed to uphold the most basic safety protocols every SELF-RESPECTING STUDENT at this University knows, but it seems you all don't! And then HE arrives, all beaten up and injured, forcing his damned, stubborn, idiotic self to push his powers beyond the limits. And when *I* for once try to stop him, while you care NONE for his and our safety, HE nearly kills us all! ME INCLUDED!" - by now, Ira screams aloud already, with her clearly being hysterical. - "I did not sign up for this! ANY OF THIS! I am DONE with your current problems! DONE! You're all responsible for whatever happened here from what I gather, and I am NOT WILLING TO BE A PART OF IT ANYMORE." - at this moment Ira ripped her makeshift filter from her face and thrown it to the ground. She afterwards stormed out of the area, determined not to even look back and pushed Miko aside on her way.

As she approached the barrier, she stopped in her tracks. The shadowy energies swirling upon the exit made her hesitate for a moment, but she eventually remember that others managed to use them as an exit. Ira closed her eyes and stepped through the portal, praying nothing wrong will happen. She never had much trust in teleportation magic or portals in the first place, there was so much that could go wrong.

As she opened her eyes, she found herself eye-to-eye with a pelajae. A very furious pelajae by the looks of it. A very furious pelajae that she recognized really quickly. An extremely furious Lilith Plowse who was more terrifying in her current state than most of the other pelajae Ira had a chance to meet. For a very short moment Ira became tongue-tied, but her rage seemed to have evaporated in a blink of an eye, although it must have clearly been visible to Lilith as Ira walked out of the one-way portal. The young cryomancess' mind went blank for a moment as she tried to find the appropriate words to start with. "Lilith! I... uh, well, I..." - she realized she was holding her breath, therefore she exhaled in resignation, reaching to her back pocket. In a flash, Ira pulled out a cellphone out of her pants, passing it over to Lilith - "Ghalan told me it contains the record of entirety of duel. You should have it." - the girl's voice sounded completely beaten and emotionless. She was clearly and visibly tired. "I know, I know. You'll want to speak with me..." - she sighed lightly - "...but please, just let me have some rest first... the ones you really want to hear out, Miko, Mindie and Ghalan, are still inside. But I guarantee you they will need to rest as well... I'm off to my quarters. We will meet at later date to discuss everything..." - with these words, Ira dragged herself off. Her feet were heavy, not only due to everything that transpired today, but also with guilt. Was she really the one who endangered them all just now? Or was it all that fool's Ghalan's fault, who always couldn't decide when to stop? But shouldn't she know him at once? She had known him for much longer than others... Ira began wondering how long the feeling would burden her conscience. And it reflected itself destructively on her mood. Usually cheerful and lively, right now she was reminiscent of a shadowy, invisible figure, so easy to ignore in the crowd of gray, alien faces.

Denim&Venöm · September 30, 2018

@Arid_Blitz @dragon4111 @Passion

"What was that? What the hell did you just say? Hey don't you turn your back on me! Don't you dare-"

"Miko! That's enough." Mindy said firmly as he was currently Tearing off Ghalan's pant leg. "We've had enough faculty getting hurt today. Whatever it is, whatever this all is, can all be dealt with tomorrow when were all a hundred percent." she said before turning her attention back to Ghalan. "Like you should've been. We had this dealt with. There's no reason for you to have come back. What good did you think you'd be in your state?" she emphasized as she just finished tying the pant leg scraps into a tourniquet around his shoulder. "Now none of us are in any shape to work. Best we can do is have this place quarantined by anyone still able and resume the decontamination protocols tomorrow. Actually I think a lot of first day activities will have to wait. Now has just not been a good day for any of that."

dragon4111 · October 1, 2018

@Buck Testa @Duality @Arid_Blitz @Khajiit @Denim&Venom @Mentis Soliloquy

Ghalan clicked his tongue and asked "Why doesn't anyone use the spell that they had taught us that let's just see other's magical auras? I mean hey it's not like I knew I could handle it" he stated with a sigh to himself as he shook his head as Mindy tourniquet his shoulder blade. "I mean it's a rather simple spell. and I was doing fine until she decided to grab my wrist and disrupting my blasted control over a literal rip in space time," he stated as he pushed on his staff. "If you guys used the aura vision spell then you would have known that I ad everything under control," he stated simply he then sighed to himself as today was one hell of a bad day for all of them. He had his rest as he was on shakey legs but hey was one more scar or dozen.

Duality · October 4, 2018

@Buck Testa @Passion

Duality slumped down into her chair, office door locked behind her, and planted her forehead firmly onto the desk in front of her. "Blegh," she mumbled through a mouthful of the frazzled hair falling loose over her face. "What a day." Get some water; you're dehydrated. "You hush," she grimaced. "I'm responsible enough to make bad life decisions if I want to." Not when they affect your mind and thus me. I know my rights. "You have no rights," the professor retorted, glancing irritably up from the desk at nothing in particular. "I checked for you once, and the only legal status you potentially bear the right to be accorded is the 'insanity' in 'innocent by reason of'." I can't hear you over the sound of your neurons expiring of thirst.

Duality's eyes flickered as she abruptly dismissed the tiresome banter in favour of processing the events of the day.

>open

D:\mind1\>_

folders:memory,emotion,thought,other

D:\mind1\memory\longterm\>_

folders:artificial,natural,unnatural.pent,recovery

D:\mind1\memory\longterm\artificial\professional\miscellaneous\Potential_Foreshadowing.ccpt

New Entry:>_

Miss Druantia

Duality pulled an assorted fistful of objects out of her pocket and dumped them unceremoniously on the desk in front of her, sitting upright now that she had loose ends to take note of for later tying up. She plucked a single crumpled leaf out of the eclectic miscellany and opened the book on botany she'd taken out of the library what seemed like an age ago.

Gave her magic free reign over local plants while entering campus; I pocketed a loose leaf from one of the more mutated ones while picking up a pebble for her use as a magical focus point - visually identified as cannabis

She removed five complementary shards of basalt from the pile, once a single river-rounded rock but now sliced into pieces with unsettling cleanness.

Shredded aforementioned 3-inch-diameter basalt pebble when I gave it to her for use as a mundane focus point for magic; aura much wider than it appears

The professor extracted a small hermetically sealed vial of Abomination ash she'd managed to snatch in the melee.

Shredded duelling hall with her rogue magic; magic effectively has a life of its own and is powerful enough to generate banes

She paused in thought for a moment, contemplating events that had yielded no souvenir.

Recited proper body disposal techniques to me when I mentioned student legend regarding Blackrose's personal graveyard cellar

New Entry:>_

Ms Ley

Uttered the name 'Edna' in her surface thought processes shallowly and emphatically enough that I involuntarily picked up on it - utterance carried contextual and cognito-emotional characteristics strongly indicating that she was referring to the demon Edna described by Avilova

Duality picked up an origami cube of paper from her desk, the final item of the original pile, and turned it over in her hands, examining its folds closely.

Near-subconsciously folded a piece of paper into a box shape as a distraction from moderate internal psychological strain - paper is folded 'through' itself without cuts or tears in a way not possible in three-dimensional Euclidean space

Last of all, she slipped the Stylus out of her back pocket and placed it gently in front of her, noting with some satisfaction and relief that it seemed to be behaving stably again.

New Entry:>_

Stylus

Gave me a very unusual dream when I accidentally impaled myself on it in the process of fainting - possible communication attempt
Heated up to ridiculous temperatures soon after dream incident - almost burnt through the protection runes on the inside of my pocket

>save

>exit

On the other side of campus, in the administrative department, a notification popped up on an otherwise vacant laptop screen: 'A shared file has been updated.'

Back in her office, Duality carefully arranged the collection of random objects within a drawer of her desk before burying her head in her hands anew. "The paperwork from all this is going to take days," she moaned.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Duality

Buck Testa · October 4, 2018

One Week Later

Druantia felt a mixture of emotions when she finally was released from her hospital bed. Part of her was happy to be alive. She was told in no uncertain terms by a great number of medical staff and teachers that she could have died that day. The day she had let her power run wild and got more than she had bargained for. The rest of her however felt indignant and sullen at the braces on her wrists.

The inconspicuous bands were cursed things to her. Vile shackles that she seethed at whenever she was reminded of them. It was those two slivers of metal that seemed to nearly snuff her magic out completely.

99% of her magic, her aura, her very being was sealed away from her now. She pulled out a rose seed. Not a week ago she had turned one of these into an imposing creature to help her stand up against Ley. Now, she strained and scrunched her face just to get it to form into a normal rose.

She hissed and tried to dehydrate the pitiful plant and send it away. Instead all she managed was to shrivel it up. She hissed under her breath and chucked it into the trash in frustration.

She was not used to focusing to make her magic work! It was just supposed to do things when she willed it! That was the way of things! These stupid bracers were stupid! She hated them! It made her groan in frustration as she stomped down the hall with her arms folded.

Despite her drastic power reduction, students twice her age fearfully parted for her. The Demon Witch of Salem. The whispered rumors of her powers were widespread now. Fact and fiction mingled together as the students recounted their harrowing experiences with the plants of the university. Some whispers told that she had intentionally attacked the whole school in a way to show dominance, and the teachers had appeased her to make her stop. Others said she was possessed by a demon, that her power was from the hellish dimension itself. They had seen her with Ley after all on the day of her assault. Still more thought of her as a walking time bomb and hissed about how she should have been locked away to keep the world safe.

Dru had tried not to let any of it get to her. She had dealt with mob bosses and the crime world calling her such things, but for even other magic students older than her saying the same put a lump in her throat and made it difficult to keep her emotions in check.

Even the teachers, whom still had fading battle wounds from the event a week ago regarded her with fear, hesitation, and even hatred.

To be in such a horrid situation without her magic to rely on was beyond agonizing and stressful. She had never imagined her time here would be like this. Why had she forced that duel? Why had she wanted it so badly? Why had she gone so far to prove herself? What was wrong with her.

She wiped her eyes before stealing herself in front of the door. She needed to focus, to learn. If she could do magic like she used too, maybe, maybe she could finally figure out how spells actually worked.

She gulped, and entered her first class of the school year, one week late.

dragon4111 · October 5, 2018

@Buck Testa @Duality @Arid_Blitz @Khajiit @Denim&Venom @Mentis Soliloquy

Ghalan sighed as he had rested during those days. He was now pull up on his mana and was getting back to work...Except he was checking on Ira to make sure she was alright. So he came by her classroom afew time and knocked. "Ira you there?" Ghalan asked as he had waited by her door. He sighed to himself as he stretched. "You wanted to talk so let's have a chat," he said as he placed his hands behind his back. He chuckled to himself. Well she was afraid of something but he had a feeling it was him. Either that or his powers getting out of control.. And for that he didn't blame her after all blackholes are scary things. He looked around slightly as he waited for an answer from Ira. That day was pretty bad for all who were involved.

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