Dean woke up from a loss of consciousness he had for what felt like a second ago, staring up at the sunlight peering through the hole in the ceiling of the cavern, the very same hole that dropped them all down here to begin with. He sat up and held his head, and it was then that he noticed it...the pain in his head. For all of his life, all of everyones lives, there had never been this feeling of shocked nerves rattling through his brain.

Slowly he begins to remember what happened to everyone, how they were in this cave to begin with...They were a class of those "interested" in Archeology, and so came down to the Deserts of Nevada for a field trip to the top of a rather large mass of red rock amidst the sand and cacti. After the salvation of the world, it was said that some objects of the old world items not worth much value in this new world other than for the simple act of finding them, was somehow buried within stone structures like this, waiting to be discovered. They know not why it was that the holy scions of the lord would wish to have archeologists in a world where such relics are meaningless. All tasks in this new world have a purpose to better suit the masses and the heavens above in their grand scheme. Dean, at the very least, could not quite comprehend what that purpose was for this. But his conscience told him to be an Archeologist, as did everyone else's, and their consciences is never wrong. Maybe they were destined to find something amidst the stones and sands that will prove...useful to the Heavens and their lord.

Climbing to the top of this dome of red rock, they looked down at the roof they were standing on, and the instant they did, they could feel something...wrong. it was feint, very thin and small, but it was there, radiating through the cracks like the smoke of a fire. Some of the classmates, nay most of them, could feel their consciences telling them that perhaps this rock wasn't the best one to try digging through. But something about this feeling, this smell, made faint the voices in their heads, as they continued on their task. It was about two or so minutes into doing it that they began to realize that this was a bad idea, as the final slam of their pickaxes against the rock caused giant cracks to appear where they were standing. Before they had a chance to do anything about it, before the voices in their heads could command them to leave, the floor came crumbling apart, dropping all of them into the darkness below.

A few minutes later, some of them stood up, Dean included. However, of the 28 students and the teacher, who arrived for this trip, only a few of them were conscious, if not dead from the impact. They all looked around and noticed that they were in some sort of cavern beneath the rock they were standing in. Somehow, this rock was completely hollowed out, yet still stood like any ordinary spire of rock. More importantly however was the atmosphere of this room, dark, eerie, and that feeling that led them down here in the first place was even stronger down here...as if the entire chamber was filled with radiation that they were exposed to.

Looking at the far end of the chamber, they would see something they never expected to find: It was a corpse, or at least what was left of one. The near-skeletal remains were mummified, petrified into the wall as if absorbed into it, the looks of the corpse and its angles suggests it was writhing in pain as it died, but there's nothing that can tell the gender of it. Upon looking at it, no idea why, but the eerie feeling they had before was now even stronger, as if this was the cause of this mind-numbing sensation. None of them knew why, but just looking at this thing was awakening them to feelings they never felt in their life, more specifically, the feeling of curiosity.

Curiosity urged them to get closer and closer to this corpse like moths to a flame, then it urged them to touch it, wondering what would happen if they did.

Upon touching the corpse, thin faded streaks of what appeared to be purple lightning could be seen flying around the corpse until it struck everyone's fingers and sparked a purple flame on them. There was no pain as the flames began covering their entire body...well...no physical pain anyways. Mentally, and spiritually, they could feel an immense pain in their head and heart, the kind of pain one feels when blatantly pouring alcohol on an infected wound, as it burns and eats at a heavy bacterial infection. They could feel something pulsing through their head, banging on their brain as if something inside was trying to get out. As it continues, a distorted voice without gender echoes through their heads...

Let go of their hold....Let go of their control...Let go of their entitled morals...And Awaken...Awaken to your desires!

Their pain climaxes, as the flames shoot outwards from their bodies, catching the dead and unconscious students in that same violet flame, and as if all the energy was gone from their bodies, the ones who touched the corpse collapsed, once again falling into unconsciousness.

--------------------------------------

Dean remembered everything that led up to once again waking up. He looked around, it seemed everyone who touched the corpse with him was ok. Everyone else though...? The previously unconscious were now dead and burnt to ashes along with the already dead from the fall. The group that now stood was the only ones left alive. It was hard to believe, hard to even comprehend what was happening to himself. He could feel power coursing through his veins, but more importantly he could....he could feel at all. These feelings of confusion, of fear, of sadness for the loss of his classmates...these feelings of choice and want, feelings not given to him by the angels, feelings not forced on him by his conscience...for the first time in his life, Dean felt...alive. Never were they able to mourn for the loss of life like he could now, never were they able to feel anything other than what the holy voices in their head say they feel like he could now. Thinking like that caused his hands to burst into flames, flames that once again didn't hurt him. Wanting them to stop, the mere thought led them to fade out, returning his hands to normal. He then looked around, at all the survivors.

"...Is everybody else alright?" He asked them.

@Windstormugly@Red Helix@Silvir@Ragrar@Warborn123@The Jest@Bishop@A Blue Chord

Vladimir woke up with a stinging pain in his head and many mixed emotions that he has never felt before. As he looks around at all his dead classmates he starts to feel joy instead of mourning or feeling any type of sadness but he does not know why. Shouldn't I be feeling sadness? instead, he starts giggling which turns into an uncontrollable laugh that he cannot hold back " Heh hehehe HAHAHAHAHAH!"

The pulsing in his veins starts to get harder and harder as if his whole body was about to explode What is this power I'm feeling, I don't know but I'm loving it!. He's starting to get an urge, an urge to destroy something and not just a small scale destruction but the desire to level cities, shatter mountains and to rend the heavens themselves. but as powerful as this desire was it would have to wait... for now at least.

He begins to walk over to the only other conscious student, Dean. He really didn't know Dean that much actually he didn't really know any of his classmates at all. Vladimir was a very antisocial kid, he was always by himself and watched from the shadows as all the other kids talked to each other and socialized. So this was his first attempt at meeting someone, Well here goes nothing...

Hey, need a hand? he says this as he reaches out his hand. Oh god Vladimir, don't fuck this up.

Well this certainly wasn't what he had imagined when heading out on this trip. Greg pondered while looking up at the roof, others had clearly woken up before him and seemed to orient themselves. He ignored them for now lifting a hand and observing it solemnly. 'Would this be some kind of awakening or a weird drug' "Sigh" Not that he could focus much on it as this new freedom was strange or perhaps a bit overwhelming. Could take some getting used to. He let his hand rest on his chest, feeling the cold rock against his back and the dry air. The cavern echoed as people stirred and Vla.. Vladimir was it? was helping someone.

'Huh. Help, oh yeah other people! Maybe help them out was a good start. Great detective work Greg basic needs in an accident and you still aren't moving' Another deep sigh escaped him as he sat up orienting himself to his surroundings. He looked at some of the younger student survivors "you guys okay?"

Everything was slient. Vivian's eyes were set on the ceiling of the rocky cavern, The divine voices in her head would've told her to make a funny one liner, but the voices were oddly silent, instead of the usual happiness she felt another, water appeared around her eyes, she rubbed the water out of her eyes only to have it appear again, dripping down her face. Are these tears? her thoughts quizzed.
she wanted to think happy things, she wished the divine voices would come back and tell her to suck it up and smile, but instead she only thought of the bad jokes of her dead friends constantly made. The voices of her parents obnoxious laugh laughing, the hideous sound of a violin that she was forced to practice with. And she realized how beautiful they sounded, and that she'd never hear it again.

She looked up, she had to move on, lying on the ground wallowing in self-pity would give her nothing but watery eyes, She looked up and saw Greg mouthing something along the lines of being ok, I'm alive, there's that She told Greg. @Silvir

@Godlikeblade@The Jest

A crash, noise, screams, everything happened in a blur. Waking up everything appeared dizzy and without barely standing he felt something push him towards the corpse. Another part of him tried to hold him back. It was like being tied to 2 ropes that pulled on opposite sides. He was always a strong believer in God and angels. He constantly prayed to them and even saw them in his dreams a couple of times. That could be the reason for him being more affected by the angels than most. But even through that he forced himself, limping and almost falling to approach the corpse. Kneeling beside it he finally felt clear, it was like he found true clarity and everything multiplied by 100 fold when he touched the corpse. The flame started to spread around him and everything started making sense, his true self was emerging.

A loud hoarse scream echoed through the cave walls. Dark marks started spreading from his heart all around his body. Tattoos of a foreign origin. They crept around him like snakes covering him all until it reached to his head. They crept to his eyes making them fully black. They both started bleeding as the flame grew brighter. Once it was over the marks disappeared in his skin, leaving him to fall into unconsciousness. Waking up a little while later his head was throbbing profusely. His eyes felt like they were burning through his skull and for a second, when he saw the others he thought he saw something in them, a pure energy and something else as it started spreading and engulfing that wait energy. He held his head with his hands and closed his eyes. Opening them again everything was back to normal. Slowly getting up he looked around. The smell of burnt corpses caught his nose as he saw around him, in the wreckage and everywhere many bodies, charred steaming flash. Without finding his footing he hurriedly left the cave half running and half tripping, well you could say full tripping as it looked like a prolonged bad acid trip.

Leaving the cave a bright light momentarily blinded him as he tripped forward and kneeled when suddenly a big dose of burnt flesh aroma caught his nose. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness he saw a burnt corpse right in front of him. A sickening feeling gathered to his stomach as he turned around and threw up. Finally finding his footing he got up and looked around while heavily breathing. He looked at every corpse as they lay in the crash site. Memories started flooding him and he almost threw up a second time. He had a torrent of feelings inside him, an emotional chaos. On one side he felt sadness for the loss of his classmates, he felt fear for what was to come, he felt a little "joy" in the form of adrenaline rushing through his veins coming from having a whole world to explore and see with his own mind and eyes but most of all he felt anger, anger at the angels for what they did to him, anger at the people around him, all dolls and puppets and every connection that he had formed suddenly lost value and to top it all he felt anger at himself for being forced to be who he was, his character and everything he stood for, all fake.

Suddenly, all those emotions disappeared and he became numb. An unnoticeable amount of shadows was leaking from his body. Turning to the others he asked:"Is everyone alright?"

Rage. Overwhelming, bubbling rage. It was threatening to overcome her entirely, like a turbulent ocean would a person stranded at sea. It was drowning her, suffocating her. She could not breathe. Her struggling seemed more than impotent. Gasping for air, she was suddenly jolted awake and the oh-so strong emotion seemed nothing more than a distant memory.

It took Alyssa a while to recover her memory of the recent events, and when she did, she hurried to get back on her feet. The children! she thought, trying to manage to get up when her sense of balance seemed shot to hell and her vision swimming. When her blurry sight finally seemed to correct itself enough for her to properly see, she saw some of her students awake and well. But some of them... a sense of insurmountable horror overtook her. Her wards. The children she had a duty to protect and oversee, dead. She felt bile rising up at the back of her throat. And promptly threw up all over her shoes. Wiping her face, still dry heaving after emptying her stomach, she looked at the students who were still, thank the heavens above, alive.

"Is anyone hurt? Please, check yourselves if anyone is injured and have them lay down until help comes." she managed to babble despite panic threatening to consume her.

He was trapped. Suspended in a black void, unable to move his body. All he could do was listen as a voice ethereal spoke in a tone that burned both his mind and soul.

It was all fake. The you who was truthful at all costs and times, how ironic that his life and self were the greatest lie of them all. Every word cut like a knife, as if the voice was some sort of twisted and malicious surgeon operating on his psyche. The voice cackled as he tried to move his body, all efforts proving futile. You know that you are weak, yet you still resist... How amusing. There was a pause, and for a brief moment he was allowed respite from the voice, but mere moments later it returned. This time however the voice was less abrasive than before. You are indeed weak, but that does not make you powerless. The power that your enemies hold is not their own, it is stolen strength. It does not belong to them, and so it must be taken back, it must be reclaimed. The pain in his head was dulling and the voices tone warming with each passing moment. You will be the one to take it back. You will show them that the stolen power they wield is not theirs... His body was moving on it's own now, outstretching both of his arms as if he were trying to reach out to the dark void. He watched as a white light ignited on his fingertips and started spiraling up both of his arms. The light worked its way over his forearms and biceps, coiling around them like twin snakes before stopping at his shoulders as the voice echoed once more. Their power... is yours to take. Before he had any time to try and understand, the void fell away as he regained consciousness.

Aaron found himself waking up face down and almost in a pile of shattered rocks, likely the same rock that was a part of the ceiling moments ago. He heard someone laughing and his entire body felt weak and exhausted. Trying to gather his thoughts, he closed his eyes for a moment and focused. What the hell was that weird dream about... Stolen power? Weak but not powerless? Makes no sense... An involuntary groan escaped his lips as Aaron slowly pushed himself off the cave floor. Quickly he discovered that his legs still were weak and faltering as his balance was in shambles, so he grabbed at a nearby stalagmite and used it to support himself.

"Ughh... fucking hell..." he muttered.

Breathing heavily, he looked around at the scene of carnage and dismay that had been painted. Dean was the first one Aaron caught sight of. Hold on, were his hands on fucking FIRE just now? Have I gone insane? His bewilderment continued as... Valerian? Viktor? Vladimir? Vance? ...Whoever the hell actually approached Dean, which was an oddity for that kid. He caught Greg checking on some other students, something Aaron made a note to do as soon as he finished looking around. There was also heavy amounts of ash, the ashes of the less fortunate students littering the cave. Just thinking about the other's fate made him sorrowful and fearful, but at the same time he was thankful that he was lucky enough to live.

He didn't understand any of these... emotions in the slightest, but Aaron sure as hell felt every one of them clashing in his newly awoken mind. For the first time he was... confused, he didn't know what to think or how to act in such a situation.

"Is anyone hurt? Please, check yourselves if anyone is injured and have them lay down until help comes."

The teacher's instruction rang out and ripped Aaron's train of thought away from the rising storm of emotions within, but something was different. Usually Aaron would find solace in rules and directions, however now that comfort had vanished. Even still he would respond, but another thought came to his head. Telling the others he felt weak would not help the situation at all, in fact it could make it worse, so Aaron felt compelled to lie despite his truthful nature. Why do I not... Why do I want to... this whole situation is insane!

Looking to the others, Aaron finally spoke through ragged and heavy breaths.

"I'm... alright... Everyone else? Also... was it just me... or were Dean's hands on fire a second ago?"

@The Jest@Godlikeblade@Silvir@Warborn123@Bishop@Petulant@Windstormugly@Red Helix@Ragrar
((Wasn't sure who to tag so I just tagged everyone.))

Some of the others were waking up, checking to see if anyone else was ok. Obviously everyone who touched the corpse were, but those that didn't were already dead from the fall or burnt away. Fantastical phenomena appearing around or within some of them, the waking ones, whether it was noticable or not. Robert could feel it, he could feel everything if he focused. A weight pushing down on him, harder and harder the more he tried to sense his surroundings. The world resisted him, pushed his awareness back. The pain from the voice was nothing against this, the slowly growing pounding behind his eyes.

He could relinquish the pain, he could let go of the surroundings.
Never
Everything had been by design, their very lives fated and without any chance. They had been mindless puppets. Never again. If he let go they might creep in again, he could not let that happen. He was himself, and he would die sooner than being controlled again.
He drew his minds eye close, barely a feet around himself, the pounding didn't subside, but it stopped growing. get up
The boy didn't stand up, he simply rose up from the ground, as if a rope was pulling him up. It hurt, it crushed him within his own mind. But he damn well felt it, he did it out of his own fucking choice. Looking around he glanced over everyone else, what did he think of them, what did he feel about them? He didn't know, but he was going to find out, and he was going to keep watch, he was going to decide.

-I'm fine, and yes, Dean's hands were burning, are you ok Dean?. he said.

Greg looked at her for a moment at her eyes and the signs of tears in them. "Well i sure would hope so otherwhise me asking if you are alright would be a weird thing to say" He stated before standing with a grunt dusting of his clothes ignoring the scorched remains of his former classmates. The others focus on Dean was of more interest and Greg offered a hand to Vivian while listening in. "I take it that was not normal fire considering what happened to the rest here?" He said casually while his brain crunched the knowledge inside suppresing parts of it while pondering other.

Shit. This was really fucked up with the angels and the control and now all this. Why?
What could they do now anyway except be hunted down and die. Because obviously the world system wouldn't allow this little virus to roam free now would it?.

@Silvir Vivian wiped away the tears and took Greg's hand with a firm grip and faintly smiled at his comment thank you Vivian muttered softly, her mind still wrapping around what is going on I think touching the body did something to us Vivian pointed to the skeletal remains, She had observed everyones conversation's and realized that everyone acted differently, herself included, had this been her original self, she'd be cracking a silly pun about Deans fire-hands.

Everyone's acting differently..could it be possible that the skeleton released us from some kind of mind control and gave us powers? She theorized, referring to the dead body as the skeleton.

@Godlikeblade @Silvir @Warborn123 @Windstormugly @Petulant @Red Helix @Ragrar @Bishop

"Thanks..." Dean said as he was quick to grab for Vladimir's hand to get himself up. It was around this time, as the others came around and started asking if everyone was alright, that Dean noticed everyone who didn't come around. Most of the class laid on the floor of this cave, dead and burnt as if from the inside out, a scene that seemed to horrify Dean, and others who were still alive. He could hear the many students, as well as their teacher/instructor Alyssa, asking for confirmation that they were all ok. Much like Amon and their instructor, He could not help but get sick and upchuck chunks from himself as he processed what he saw.

When all was said and done, however, he saw how everyone else was reacting to the situation, more specifically looking at the Teacher who was asking if everyone was alright, to others who were asking about him and his hands, something he was not sure about himself as he looked at them. The hands seemed to have extinguished their painless flames for now, but it does feel like whatever led them to burst forth still exists in his mind.

"I...I'm fine too." Dean said loud enough for every living person in the cave to hear. He then heard what Vivian theorized as she pointed to the Corpse.

"Mind Control?" Dean thought as he looked at the corpse. Now that it was mentioned, it did occur to him. It's hard to explain, but all this time he felt there was this...force, this silent voice that whispered to his very soul, telling him what's right, what's wrong, and to always do what was "right". All this time, he thought it was simply the thoughts of his own mind, his own common sense and morality talking. But not once did he ever go against what was commanded of him, not once did he ever disobey the word of his 'soul'. ...And no that word, that silent voice is gone. He looked into his soul, and found nothing anymore. He was now without an order to obey, without anything to tell him what was right or wrong.

...For the first time he was thinking for himself. Alhough there was utter chaos and confusion in his mind now, and though there was nothing to tell him of morality or what to do anymore, it felt...strangely natural for him, as if removing some kind of restraint from his heart. That in mind, Mind Control did not seem so impossible in his mind.

However, that train of thought was on some horrifying rails. If what they were feeling for all their life, if everything they ever thought or done was controlled, then it follows that everyone in the world were controlled by these angels. What's left of this class broke free from a puppet show that lasted their entire life...

"...Controlled...By the angels? If that's the case, ...were we lied to this whole time?" Dean asked, the flames coming back into his hand as he felt something manifest inside his closed fist. He opened it up to find a sphere of fire floating just above the palm of his hand. He definitely had power, and it's likely the others did as well, giving credence to Vivian's deduction.

"...Cause if so, I don't think we can simply pray for the Angels to purify our souls...No, ...Rather, I don't WANT them to, and...I don't think it's right for anyone else to either. These feelings go against what we learned in our life, diseases that infects and kills our souls they said. Yet, it feels real...it feels right. I don't know how to really explain this but it feels...like this is the way we should be, rather than what we were before." Dean said, a little of a new emotion building up as he thought more and more about the situation they were in, and the life they knew before.

Paradise was a lie...The morals they learned, the history they were given, these commands given by the sense of right and wrong that they judged and determined for them...Everything was one big Act, and it made him feel one thing getting bigger and bigger...

Anger.

Dean immediately threw the ball of fire towards a wall in the cavern, causing it to explode on impact, bursting a hole in the wall of the cavern, giving another source of light for them, enough that it was worth shielding their eyes. As their eyes adjusted, they would all see their home city of New Reno in the distance. ...A city of puppets just like they were. Dean looked at his hand again, noticing that his fire was gone from his hand once more. He then looked back at everyone.

"...This power...If we could awaken to these emotions, to this power. ...Do you guys think maybe the people out there would be able to as well? ...What about you, Teacher?" Dean asked, first to his surviving classmates, than to his teacher Alyssa.

"No problem" Vladimir says with a nervous tone as he slowly backs away from Dean as he suddenly vomits. Not wanting to be the center of attention, he swiftly backs toward a nearby stalagmite. Oh god did I fuck that up? Please tell me that I didn't, why did I even do that? Vladimir thinks to himself as he leans against the stalagmite and lets out a sigh.Forget it... Vivian's mention of the corpse caught Vladimir's attention:

I think touching the body did something to us - Everyone's acting differently..could it be possible that the skeleton released us from some kind of mind control and gave us powers?

What if she is right, the choices I made... Were they even mine? Did I ever have my own free will? He notices the horrible smell of burnt flesh and draws his attention to his classmate's charred corpses That smell... It's putrid, but I've smelt worse. As he observed the charred remains of his classmates he had a very cruel thought. Better them than me.

Vladimir looks up at the hole in the ceiling of the cavern and lets out a silent sigh I guess we have to find a way out of this cavern now, well we definitely can't cli- His train of thought was cut off but a large bang from an explosion Well that works too I guess, but that explosion it felt... good, I feel like I want more, NO I need more. His veins start pulsing again, as if every cell in his body were primed to explode at any minute.

Vladimir starts to focus on a pile of small rocks staring intently as all he could think about is explosions. A sudden explosion in the center of the rocks causes the rocks to go flying like the shrapnel of a grenade. one such stone slams right into Vladimir's leg, as he was right next to the blast "FUCK that hurt" Good thing it was not powerful enough to pierce flesh. Vladimir precedes to start slightly limping towards Dean, as he's moving towards Dean he hears what he said about the angels and the city.

"...This power...If we could awaken to these emotions, to this power. ...Do you guys think maybe the people out there would be able to as well?"

"Well there's only one way to find out and that's to show them that the angels are wrong and show them what true freedom is"

@The Jest@Warborn123@Silvir@Windstormugly@CriticalHit@Petulant@Bishop@Red Helix@Ragrar

The others were all beginning to realize what must have been done to them, what must have been done to the whole world, and still continued. Most of them seemed like their new feelings were shining through without any restraint, Dean burning away the wall was quite telling. And he was immediately on the idea of releasing everyone else from the angels control. I'll have to make sure he doesn't do something the rest of us will pay for. Robert thought to himself. He had to find out if he could read their minds, or maybe...

-"FUCK that hurt"-

Robert pushed his minds eye out as fast as he could when he heard Vladimir's cursing. Fucking idiot! He barely had time to notice the makeshift shrapnel flying in his direction. Only managing to lessen their speed, he still felt like someone had thrown the rock pieces at him. The pressure on his mind flared hot and he was forced to draw it close again. Apparently he'd have to keep watch of that guy as well, "true freedom", Dean didn't seem as big an issue after that remark.

-Are you both planning on just rushing there and wreaking havoc? Blowing the place up maybe? Robert said. Walking up beside Dean and Vladimir to look out towards the city. Pushing his awareness out to include them the weight in his head increased like a big rock. What's in your mind! He had no idea if it would work, but hopefully they wouldn't notice either way, both of them seemed to have pretty straight-forward powers. Suddenly Roberts vision went bad, he was seeing double, no, triple. And he could feel himself, in more than one place, and there were taste and smell, and sounds, and fuck, fuck, FUCK! It felt like his head was splitting, he had to rein his awareness in again, but which one was him!

Outwards, it only looked as if Robert Fields had frozen a bit in place, like when one stared at thin air for a moment before waking up again.

As the tides of emotional chaos raged within his mind, Aaron noticed something that adrenaline had suppressed until now: the horrible smell of immolated flesh permeating the cave. The foul aroma corroded his nostrils and brought tears to his eyes. Aaron was a man of decent constitution, and with a little grit he managed to avoid some of the nausea brought on by the malefic stench. Though the sights and sounds of other students and even the teacher faring... less than well against the smell was almost enough to make him double over and join them.

This is horrid... I think I might... No, don't you dare puke here Aaron!

Clinging to the stalagmite even tighter then before Aaron focused and regained his composure, before another classmate's theory stole it from him once more.

Everyone's acting differently..could it be possible that the skeleton released us from some kind of mind control and gave us powers?

Though it sounded like bizarre nonsense to him at first, Vivian's theory did shed some light on the incredibly strange happenings of today. Everyone was indeed acting differently than normal, and this couldn't just be some mass coincidence. Vladimir was actually talking to people, and Vivian seemed far less jovial. Even Aaron himself who was usually an advocate of honesty had just lied to all his surviving friends. There had to be a reason for it!

The idea of mind control was one that brought much fear and more questions to Aaron's mind. If they were controlled throughout their lives prior to this encounter... was Aaron still himself? If not, who was he now? Just some shadow without an identity? Were the survivors still his classmates and friends? Or had all those memories, bonds, and experiences died when they touched the mummified corpse moments ago? Had all their lives and personalities been naught but a charade forced upon them? Did the angels think so little of mankind as to take everything and then lie to them? There were so many questions, and yet there were no answers to be found. They were like the angel's discarded dolls; lost, abandoned, and without a purpose.

"...Cause if so, I don't think we can simply pray for the Angels to purify our souls...No, ...Rather, I don't WANT them to, and...I don't think it's right for anyone else to either."

"You're right... and I agree, this revelation is too big to just have purified away."

Aaron visibly flinched and shielded his eyes as Dean added yet another hole to the cave. Maybe Vivian was right about the whole corpse giving them powers thing after all. His gaze drifted away from the bright light and landed on Vladimir who was staring down a rock pile for whatever reason.

"Why you giving the rocks the evil eye? Did they do something to y-"

His comment was interrupted by a sudden explosion at the heart of the pile, there was a baseball-sized stone hurtling towards him and Aaron did not have enough time to move. Reflexively, he raised his free hand to block his face and prepared for the impact. Time almost seemed to slow as a familiar white glow enveloped his fingertips, and from each fingertip a white beam shot and anchored itself into the incoming rock. The speeding stone's approach slowed as the beams maintained contact between it and Aaron, as a similar, softer white light now appearing on and snaking it's way up his right arm. Soon after, the stone harmlessly fell to the ground in it's place as the light on his fingertips faded. Examining his now light covered arm with wide eyes, Aaron was incredibly surprised to say the least.

YEP, definitely insane. This all looks familiar.. their power is mine to take... Is this what that weird voice meant?

Standing up and pushing off the stalagmite he'd been using as support, Aaron walked over to the hole in the wall to join some of the other students whom he'd overheard.

"...This power...If we could awaken to these emotions, to this power. ...Do you guys think maybe the people out there would be able to as well?"

"I don't see any real reason that they wouldn't be able to... it may require a little... coaxing on their part though. Still though, I think it's possible."

-Are you both planning on just rushing there and wreaking havoc? Blowing the place up maybe?

"Not that kind of coaxing... Do you really think it's right to let people live in that false reality? Especially now that the truth is in our hands?"

@The Jest@Windstormugly@Godlikeblade@Warborn123@Silvir@Petulant@Bishop@Red Helix@Ragrar

Greg half shielded Vivian as the explosions took place muttering a few low curses until he noticed the clear sky and fresh air from the holes created. Reckless but it had created a way out and that was a positive.

"perhaps we should understand these powers a bit more before we go anywhere. I doubt this right now is enough to deal with world conquering beings." Greg slowly joined the others taking a deep breath in the fresh air free of the burnt ooze.
"at least im not planning on getting any attention anytime soon"

Alyssa screamed as the explosion took place, instinctively dropping to her knees and shielding her head with her hands. Shivering from fear and uncertainty, she slowly began to gather herself and stood up. "Pl-please all remain calm. We will all get out here. We just need to get out of this cave and call for.... help..." She was distracted and cut off as she heard a noise from the entrance to the cave they were in. The sound of metal grinding against metal. Not even seconds later, someone stepped into view. He was tall, over seven feet tall, clad in pitch black, medieval armour with ominous, red light shining through his visor. On his hip, strapped to a belt, was a long sword as tall as the giant man himself.

Alyssa's breath was caught in her throat. Something inside her knew this newcomer, this absurd knight clad in black, was dangerous. Something within her told he was a threat to them all. That he might kill her, and all her wards, on a whim. Sweat poured down her face as she gritted her teeth. She then took stand between all her students and this mysterious knight. "D-don't come closer! Stay away!" She screamed, feeling impotent as ever before this tall stranger. But within her, the rage she felt before began to bubble and foam, intent on being released in full force.

@Godlikeblade @Silvir @Warborn123 @Windstormugly @Petulant @Red Helix @Ragrar @Bishop

Dean heard everyone's answer as they said them, agreeing with how they responded. Vladimir, Robert, Arron, and Greg in particular. They were all right in their own ways, Vladimir and Aaron in particular raising good points. This was caused because of how the Angels used them, but, as Greg pointed out, they do likely need to experience more of what they can do with these abilities first. Robert also had a ridiculous, yet...oddly probable idea for how to help others out of their false reality. A bit bombastic as Aaron pointed out, but not something Dean felt should be thrown off the table entirely.

Dean then turned to the teacher as she tried to keep everyone calm, while trying to keep calm herself. As she spoke however, she was stopped by a noise, one that Dean and likely the others heard as well. Dean turned around to see where that noise was from, only to find a man covered head to toe in black armor, standing at the entrance way his fireball made. Also sensing the danger coming off this guy ominously like their teacher, Dean instinctively jumped back towards her.

"And now we have this on top of everything that doesn't make sense today!? ...Who are you!?" Dean yelled at the giant man, fireballs forming in his hands as he prepared to protect their teacher.

Vladimir looks towards the city of New Reno, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath of the fresh air. Ahhh fresh air finally.... and maybe even a fresh start Hell, maybe even a fresh start for all of humanity. I wonder if we will actually be able to change the world and get rid of these angels once and for all.

As Vladimir was able to clear both his mind and his nostrils, he was giving a moment to think properly and get a grasp on what just happened How in the hell did that pile of rocks blow up, did I do that or was that some kind of chemical reaction that caused a freak explosion or could I possibly have powers. No that would just be silly to believe Vladimir opens his eyes and looks around at his fellow class mates "Wait, WHAT THE FUCK!?" Vladimir stares at Aaron's arm with a mix of fear and shock "Why is your arm glowing!?".

Vladimir starts massaging his temples in order in comprehend what the fuck is going on, this has definitely been the strangest day that Vladimir had experienced in his entire life. From Dean suddenly throwing fire across the room to Aaron's arm turning into a light bulb and half of the students that were in my class being dead.

Then all of a sudden the sound of metal grinding on metal rips Vladimirs concentration from him his head snaps towards the cave entrance, there was a man dressed in full black armor at the entrance of the cave, Vladimir then looks over at Dean and the teacher.

As they all get ready to stand against this man dressed in armor Vladimir walk a bit closer to the man in armor but not in a threating way "Hello, Nice to meet ya?" Vladimir says while turning pale Oh god what am I doing

@The Jest@Petulant@Silvir@CriticalHit@Windstormugly@Bishop@Warborn123@Red Helix@Ragrar

Aaron looked on in annoyance as his question had been completely ignored by Robert, who was seemingly staring off into the distance. In fact, a number of his classmates had been looking towards the horizon. Curiosity growing in his mind, Aaron sighed and traced his classmates gazes and finally saw what Robert had been so enraptured by.

"New Reno... Our 'home' doesn't seem so welcoming and inviting anymore..."

A thought that had not yet occurred to Aaron swelled in his mind as he stared off towards the city's skyline. Everyone in that city... What of them? How long has this 'mind control' been happening? Are they still my family? My friends? Did these friendships ever exist? Is all I know lies? St-stop it Aaron you'll only freak yourself out more if you dwell on that... Keep a clear head. We need to figure out what the hell happened to us, and how we ca-

"Wait, WHAT THE FUCK!? Why is your arm glowing!?"

Sudden yelling from Vladimir of all people, broke Aaron's train of thought and brought him back to his senses. He shook his head and blinked a couple of times to regain his focus before looking down at his still glowing arm then back to Vladimir

"Do you HONESTLY think I have any idea? Half of this shit makes no sense! I'm pretty certain I've gone insane at this point!" Aaron said before closing his eyes and letting out a sharp sigh. "If we could just figure out what actually happened here, maybe we could come up with an explanation that makes sense..." he half-muttered to himself.

The sounds of clinking and grinding metal brought his attention to the cave entrance, and he saw before him yet another oddity in today's insane series of events. A knight clad in armour black as tar who dwarfed everyone else in the cave had just shown up, and his menacing appearance was only further accentuated by his behemoth weapon and the sinister red glow emanating from his visor. Aaron observed as Dean immediately took a hostile stance, whilst Vladimir tried a friendly approach, thus Aaron elected that he would take the middle ground between the two.

As he walked closer, Aaron tried to bury deep this new feeling rising in him, one that was telling him to run. What if this newcomer drew his blade? What if he decided to attack the class? He needed to overcome this and don a stoic mask, at least for the moment, in spite of his rising fear. He stopped walking just behind and beside the teacher, before taking a deep breath and mustering all the courage he had.

"You have our attention. Go on then, Introduce yourself."

@The Jest@Windstormugly@Godlikeblade@Silvir@Petulant