[IC] Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

[Rtron]

Chessmaster

They was pacing around their cell again, waiting. Counting the steps that hadn't changed in all the years they had been here. Not much else they could do in this black as night prison. The cell was 56 steps by 46 steps, with a ceiling 25 steps above him. They knew, because they had paced around the room for years now, even paced up and down the walls, counting as they did so. The only source of light was the glowing 'chessboard' of the world they kept conjured, colored like the world outside of their cell, down to the smallest cloud moving across the board, and covered with various chess pieces, some of them purple. They had to see what was happening in the world around them, in order to plan their escape. It even provided a meager amount of amusement, from time to time. Suddenly, they stopped, feeling something they had expected to feel, right on time.

Magic....they could sense magic being used in force above them. Right on time, every year. Magic fueled by the grotesque creation of the Gods, the foul mockery of where true power came from. They sighed in disgust. It apparently amused the Gods to stick them here, where annual magic was done. And, right on time, every year, it stirred the two he kept in a false form of life inside of Chessmaster's body, splitting their minds from one to three. He was the only one who had enough of a body and energy to keep full control, but on nights like this, when magic was thick in the air...their anger was enough to make them push for control. Rather than fight, a useless gesture when one was fighting two from within, he simply let them do their posturing.

The first to speak was his brother, rough and guttural, hurting their throat as he spoke. "Kill. We should shatter our bonds and kill the foul spawn of the Gods, bathe in their blood, burn their homes, leave nothing but ruin and carnage behind us as their legacy!" His brother had always been a violent one. Then again, he supposed, who wouldn't be given his birth. His sister spoke next, as his brother receded. Her voice was soft, demure, kind if you didn't really pay attention to her words. "No...we shouldn't kill them. That would be too kind. We should keep them alive, and slowly flense them. Keep them alive through our power, and make them experience every excruciating second a thousand times before we let them die." Both his siblings were rather...bloodthirsty and insane. Granted, they've also died and been trapped inside of him for quite a while now, and he's been trapped in here, so who could really blame them?

He turned his mind to one of his pawns, Mackendrick, located in the mage's college. Reaching down, he touched the pulsing purple pawn, connecting his mind to Mackendrick's. "You're in place?" He asked. His board may be accurate, but it was always safe to be sure. "If I was any more in place, I'd be yanking my blade out of their spines and running for dear life." Came the irritable reply, echoing from the pawn. Chessmaster took a deep breath, resisting the natural urges of his siblings to smite the insolent pawn. He needed the man, for now. "Just make sure you do your job correctly. I'd hate to have to take your benefits away at an..inopportune moment." He could feel Mackendrick paling in fear at that thought. Good. Pawns should always fear the wrath of their master.

"Arrogant human.." His brother growled. "We should make him suffer, and pay for it." His sister hissed. As per usual, they didn't quite understand the subtlety and the work he had gone through just to make everything come to this moment. He sighed. "Calm, brother and sister. Our time will come. The pieces are all in place. Soon the runes will be broken, the chains will be removed," They became one again, and they made a sweeping gesture towards the board, speaking the rest in unison.

"And the Gods will know fear."

Uicle

The Necromancer waved off Khan's apology. "I don't think any of us quite expected this." It certainly came as an unpleasant surprise to him. Regardless, he was relieved to see many of the students calming down, anger or terror sliding from their faces. For now it seemed that no one was entertaining any more ideas of trying to kill Satori. For how long that would last, it remained to be seen. He was sure the Psychomancy teacher could fend for herself, however. She wouldn't be the teacher if she couldn't, after all. Regardless, he watched Khan deal with the Forest Elf who had tried to kill Satori in a more personal fashion. The Headmaster had managed to convince her not to try and kill Satori any more, which Uicle considered a strong feat in and of itself. Standing as soon as the trees that were holding her disappeared, he said "Sorry Justine, but it appears I won't be using your Golem. Recent events have made me change my display." With that he walked in front of the teachers, a hush falling over the students as they realized the final display was about to occur.

"I am the Necromancy teacher Uicle, and yes I will be doing the Hydromancy demonstration as well, and yes that is highly unusual. But, rather than bore you all with an explanation of how I came about my unique abilities, I'll just go to my brief demo as I'm sure you all want to go back to your dorms by now. Necromancy is the magic of giving inanimate objects life of their own, pulling souls from the pit and putting them into objects bound to your will. Hydromancy is the manipulation of liquid. Any liquid. Now, I'm sure you'd all appreciate a drink.."

All the empty cups scattered about on the floor and on the table by people's thrashing or the Electromancy display suddenly lifted into the air, and the barrels of alcohol suddenly started pouring forth from the tap. Dragon Spite, Ember, Lunar, Dwarven Ale, and a host of other drinks wove in complex patterns before depositing themselves in the cups, filling them to the brim. When every cup was filled, the streams suddenly went back into their respective barrels, the taps closing. Next, the now full glasses went to everyone, most of those recieving their glasses got the drinks they had originally gotten at the beginning of the demonstrations. Throughout it all, not a single drop of liquid had been spilled. When it was done, Uicle spoke once more. "That will be the end of Demonstrations. If you would be so kind as to finish your drinks and then exit the dining hall, you will find a multitude of Golems ready to guide you to your rooms. Simply say your name, and they will lead you there. Have a good night's rest, because classes begin tomorrow."

Aramir

She had to calm down. She had to recover. In the Frozen Plains, if you don't recover fast, you die. But..what she had just gone through wasn't normal. You didn't have to deal with that everyday. It didn't matter, she needed to calm down. To shove her emotions somewhere else so she could deal with them later. Mar was asking her a question. Slowly, ever so slowly, Aramir regained control of her sobbing and picked herself up from her position as a ball against Mar's tail. "Bad memories that were best left where they lie were drawn up, and twisted into nightmares. Sorry about that. The physical wounds have healed, the emotional ones have merely scabbed over. I should be okay now." That was a lie. She was far from okay, but she couldn't stay in her ball of misery and sobbing forever, no matter how tempting that proposition might seem. For the next few minutes, Aramir fell into silence, struggling to not relieve her tribe's self destruction and sniffling every now and then. She was completely unaware of Althalus's and Auriel's attempts on Satori's life, and Khan's subsequent talking Auriel down. In fact, she didn't really react to anything in the outside world until Lucilia released the calming pollen in the air.

It affected Aramir quickly and immediately. Her entire body relaxed, her eyes lost that miserable look, and she smiled. She could still remember what Satori did to her, but she wasn't so depressed by it any more. As Uicle's Demo took place she smiled in childish wonder once more, taking her glass gratefully and downing it one go. Just because she wasn't depressed by it any more didn't mean she expected this feeling to last that long without a lot of help from alcohol. Sadly, it was the Dragon Spite she had gotten early, and it burned all the way down. As soon as she drank it all, Aramir began coughing, regretting her decision. That is, until a certain giddy lightheadedness overtook her, and she stumbled against Mar, giggling as she apologized. Everything was just so funny. The fact that most people she could only see their shins, and the fact that she was leaning against a snake persons...it was hilarious!Then came the mass exodus from the Dining Hall. Aramir stumbled and giggled her way through the crowd, eventually making to one of the Golems standing ready to lead her to her room. When she tried to speak, it took her several tries to get anything out but a hiccup or a giggle. "A-Ara-Aramir." She managed to get out through her hiccups and giggling.

The Golem looked down at her, distaste at the task of having to guide the drunken Snow Elf clearly showing on it's metal face. Looking up, perhaps for someone else to dump this problem on, it was greeted with a wonderful sight! "There. See the Wood Elf with the fiery hair? She's your roommate. She'll lead you too your room. Go on!" It gave Aramir a push in Auriel's direction, and the Snow Elf windmilled and stumbled straight into the Wood Elf. Recovering from bouncing off of Auriel(By unsteadily picking herself up), Aramir smiled up at her. "I'm Aramir, your roommate, and you're really pretty, you know that?" She declared, drunkenness very, very clear..

[Frettzo]

Coco Bean

Eventually, Coco's interest in Ssarak diminished. The Esyire was just too quiet and reserved for her taste, and his scent wasn't at all interesting. He had thick scales and wasn't even warm enough to give her that much comfort, so the fact that she had even exchanged such words with the Esyire was a waste of time for her.

The Great Tree did hold many memories on the Esyires, of course. Not as many as it had on other species, but it had enough to quell most of the Foreas' curiosity.

A few mere seconds after starting to poke Ssarak's chest scales, Coco walked away, without even one word as a goodbye. She made her way to one table and sat on one of the simple wooden chairs, her shoulders sinking sharply as her posture sagged and leaves fell limp and soft. She shivered once and just listened. She listened to the quarreling forest elf so many meters away from her. She listened as the Elf was held up into the air by a bunch of thick, strong roots, caring none about the female's situation.

From what Coco could hear, the elf was angry, intent on killing Satori, the Psychomancy teacher. Why? Why did she have to do that? If what they saw recently was truly an illusion, then why was she getting so violent? Coco was upset too, but she didn't go around trying to kill anyone.

'She surely sounds irritating...'

Soon after, the whole situation was defused, yet Coco felt no better. She was cold, exhausted and was starting to turn into a shade of brown.

Coco+Rathel

Coco could still hear them, the many voices, quietly bickering in the background. Elves, Men, Esyires. Many had already tried to kill Satori, and all had failed. Driven by their frustration, the great many of the student body left the Dining Hall.

Then she smelled it -- A plant, but not like the others. As the big crowd of students left, many things became clearer. She could start picking out scents without even thinking about it, and one of them stood out, snatching her attention completely.

At first, she was reminded of other Foreas but she quickly dismissed the thought once she focused her hearing and saw the plant's form.

Its form roughly resembled one of a gigantic dog, but instead of fur and lice, it smelled of leaves and bark. It would easily tower over Coco if it stood on its two hind legs, and she knew this. And while Coco was suddenly excited about being able to befriend it, she wasn't motivated enough to move or use up more energy.

"Leeeaaf Puup..." She slowly said towards the gigantic puppy as she tried to sit straight, and failed miserably at it.

She successfully changed her bitter chocolate scent to be sweet and rich though, and she was sure her scent would draw it in if it was anything like the Leaf Pups back home.

Rathel had finished ensuring Khan wasn't going to move when his venus appendages caught the little molecular which drifted from the Coco. His body stiffened and read the information sent, his mind mulled over the details and information he stored over his life. It was sweet and rich, heavy in aroma as his head turned towards the source. However one key factor disturbed him. The fact the plant's scent was weak and faded, a warning of troubling health.

His senses gathered the details bit by bit and centered on the creature. It started with the shape outlined by the displacement in the air, now filled with small pollen, where the creature sat. It was easy to tell the creature, a living plant, apart from the dead table since one continually used carbon from the air to survive. The table didn't. The scene marked by his venus fly trap appendages aided in this, easily, so he noted it was human shaped with several jutted parts from near the shoulders and leaves. A number of leaves that he guess made her hair trailed down a fair length past her shoulders and midback, resting upon the chair's seat. His eyes noted the color of her leaves, brown. Another worrisome sign that confirmed his earlier readings.

His mind ticked over the underlying causes, from light to humidity, even heat and water. He won't know the cause sadly, until he actually approached and examined her which he was hestiate to do. His eyes flickered to Khan who seemed to read his mind.

"It's alright, I'm fine. The medicine will wear off after Uicle's demostration so go and relieve your worry. Namely before it started to affect me." Khan reasoned in a calm, yet tired voice.

"If it gets worse, than call me." Rathel simply added and made his way through the remaining crowd, his form towered over the young Foreas before him.

His scent grew stronger, heavier and laced with a clear worry over her condition. Slowly a clawed hand rose to examine Coco's leaves and gently saw the browned coloring overlap the green, their shape withered and slightly weak looking. His hind legs curled under his rear while his eyes narrowed on the problem areas then reached for a cup, held it tightly within his hands to offer to her.

"Drink a bit of this, it might help" he offered.

Coco could not help the small twitch her leaves gave at being examined by the leaf pup, and she could not control the sound of surprise that she let out when the pup spoke to her, offering her a drink.

"I didn't know leaf pups could speak... What breed are you?" Coco asked quietly as she grabbed the cup and poured half of it on her leaves, while the other half was poured evenly across her whole body.

Time was of the essence, and as the liquid was slowly but surely absorbed, she reached for the leaf pup with her hands, trying to get a more complete feel of the being.

Rathel tried to leap back in surprise, most creatures he met didn't reach out to touch him as they found him distrubing or gross in their minds. To be honest with himself, the demon knew by most standards he wasn't much of a looker. He reflected upon her question, slightly confused, before he answered politely. He stood still to allow her hands to roam over his hard and slightly spiny surface, a little aware at where her hands came to rest through in truth his anatomy was much different compared to any humaniod and there little worry about anything showing.

"I'm called Rathel and I'm not a leaf pup. Rather I'm a demon bond to the current Headmaster, Khan. I've never seen a leaf pup or someone like yourself before." He commented, his scent slightly changed when he notice her drink and the effects only minor in comparison to what he had hoped. "How are you feeling now?"

Coco's hands lightly explored Rathel's surface, stopping for a few moments every time they stumbled over something out of the norm. But she had a limit, and soon enough she had felt as much as she could without having to stand up, so she retreated her hands and sat straight on the chair, turning her head towards Rathel. The moment he said he was a demon, she could feel her heart sink. For a moment, she felt like running, being reminded of the Syphis and their nature -- But she managed to find a hold of herself. Rathel was a plant, so he couldn't be bad.

She noticed the change in his scent, and tilted her head at him.

"I-I just need some sun, that's all..." She started, "Um, you're not a plant syphis, are you? I've never seen a plant syphis, but I think Syphis are demons. They could be, at least. They're that scary."

"Anyway, I'm Coco Bean, a Foreas. I'm sorry for thinking you were a Leaf Pup, the lack of sun is messing with my head."

Rathel shook his head, his head turned when Uicle's voice rang out. For a moment, the demon chose to hold off on Coco's question while the teacher made his brief demostration of magic. It was combination of Necromancy and Hydromancy in union as cups, fallen and forgotten in the ill performed Psychomancy event, had sprang to the nearest table to be filled by some liquid. The ale and other liquidor danced into unique patterns, traced within the air around most the remaining students until they found a cup to which they could rest. Each cup was fill, even Coco's, to the top and sat there waiting to be drank. Once the demo was over and Uicle wished them good night, Rathel's head returned to look upon Coco's drooply leaves.

He chuckled a bit, unoffended by her mistake as he spoke."It's alright, and no, I'm not a Syphis. I've never heard of one until now. To be honest, it's better then some of the names I've been called. Anyway, since the demos are over and Khan seems on route to deal with the unsavory prior events then it best to get you attended to. I think I know the proper teacher for you, Lucilia."

Gently he held out his arm for Coco to grip and to aid her movement by being a makeshift, living cane for her. "Shall we?"

Coco had a hard time really catching the direction and location of the liquids, but was able to appreciate the actions of the Hydromancy thanks to the sudden movement of the cups. It was amazing.

"How can the cups move like that..?" Coco had whispered to herself as she used her hearing to follow the various movements. She couldn't believe it, a cup moving itself? It wasn't even that there was a magnetic field in effect, the cups were literally moving on their own. If they could make rocks move like that, then Rocky might even be able to get a few brothers. Or so Coco thought, and she didn't think deep into it, having her attention snatched by Rathel once more.

She gladly took a hold of Rathel's arm and used it to stand up and stabilize herself. "Thank you, Rathel." She said to him as she held onto him and walked towards Lucilia.

"Did you know Lucilia's a Vampire? She can even create bats, and one of them is named Clima and it's very friendly."

He slowly paced their walk, gently navigated through the crowds that pushed themselves towards the exit. Many downed their drinks and seemed rather eager to be off, their emotions still highly strung and hurt after Satori's recklessness. He wasn't surprised at the reaction, their minds took the first chance to escape the pain when given. He distracted his mind by answering Coco's questions with a calm voice.

"My pleasure, Ms. And Lucilia's currently the Herbamancy teacher and an Alchemist, which I'm sure will help you greatly. Watch your step, we're drawing close to the table. I don't know her personally as I get the distict notion she doesn't like demons very much. How about you tell me your name? I can't just call you Ms, because I don't want to be rude."

"I've already told you, I'm Coco Bean-" Coco stated, "Rathel, listen. When spring comes, would you like to spend some time together? I could take you to meet some leaf pups if you want."

Her leaves, though weak and majorly unresponsive, gave a light twitch as she made her offer and released her grip on Rathel, slowly standing straight and starting to slowly walk towards the head table, backwards. 'Say yes! I want to have some fun in spring!' She thought, her scent communicating a strong need for company.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little distracted with avoiding the student and hope you'll forgive me." He started out gently until he noticed she let out, his arm instatly lighter and absent of her weight. "Easy there Ms. Coco Bean. Please don't hurt yourself..."

He blinked when he felt her scent communicate the need for company. It was strange for him. The main reason why was because the plant wasn't stationary or just merely unable to care for itself, he was use to the fact it had to depend upon him to keep them healthy. However he he smile best he could, his scent relay the intensity of joy at her hints and acceptance to her offer. It would be easy enough for Coco to read without strain since he was rather adapt at it. "I get this notion you want me to say something about yes and I want to have fun in spring time. What brought you to think of such a message?"

Coco didn't need to hear Rathel's words to know his answer. His scent told her everything she needed to hear. He had accepted her offer, and she clapped a couple times to show her enthusiasm. He could clearly communicate just like her and other Foreas did, so there was no need to waste time choosing words for the artifact, and she relied on her natural manner of communication.

Her scent got stronger for a brief moment, tiny fluctuations allowing Rathel to understand her thoughts. 'Because you want to, and I want to, and we might even manage to start the cycle of pollination! Don't you love the idea?'

His body reflexively flinched at the loud sound, the senstive hairs on his shell close enough to feel the air pulse from the air's movement. When the clapping down he felt himself relax again, his body kept close should her body waver in holding herself upright. Again he caught the aroma shift, his mind flickered across the signals and markers. He translated and formed his own thoughts into the scent he projected. I've never done it before. To be honest, you're first of your kind I've met so I've not experienced it before. What is it like?

Coco lightly kicked once at the floor in an attempt to cull her sudden shift in mood, and sniffed the air to fully take in the scent change. 'Well, when spring comes, our shoulder bark starts falling off to reveal our shoulder pads. In my case, they're bright red petals. In their fertility peak, the petals grow long enough to wrap around my arms. It's the best moment to exchange pollen then, and once I've gathered enough pollen, my petals will retract and the bark will regrow to protect the pads for next spring. Usually by the start of Fall, I have a seed ready to plant.' She explained to him, her scent shifting from strong to subtle and sweet.

'Umm... You'd be the one to pollinate me, if you're a male. Or you'd let a bee aid us in the process. That's why I say it can be fun. We can share a bit of warmth while we share pollen, and we'd bring another Foreas... Or, uh.. .Foreas demon, into the world. More memories to experience from the Tree, right?'

Rathel translated the message, his mind absorbed it for a bit and filled with the curiosity. While he was a Herbamancer once and knew the basics on plant, the idea of completing and performing was an enriching chance to discover the plant's true experience during the process. To be the one actually creating a new life that would expand and develop across Tiien seemed like a worldy accomplishment. Something that thrilled his inner mage to a familiar point that would've concerned Khan, the demonomancer only mild felt the high from his demon.

I'm male, that much I know from my last life. One that was human. He scented thoughtfully, noted the perkiness in her smell that grew stronger with the conversation. I'm not sure what we'll bring into the world as I've never heard of such a feat happening though Khan might disappove it.

They had arrived at the teachers' table, his eyes noted their range and fixed upon Lucilia. His scent increased to show important towards the fact they had arrived. They continued to walk until Rathel stopped right beside the Herbamancy teacher, his body pulled slightly behind Coco and likely from the teacher's sight. His mind still replayed the scene where her plants had wrecked hell upon the demon and though it was unlikely she would, at risk to upset Khan, Rathel felt to risk a chance wasn't needed. Here's Lucilia, Ms. Coco Bean and she will take care of you from here. If you need me, scent me a message.

Rathel's eyes seemed to display his enjoyment at the fact he could understand the little Foreas in a way most other might not be able to and looked forward to seeing her again. Until then, I hope you feel better.

Coco nodded at Rathel once he dropped her off next to Lucilia. His scent remained in her mind and repeated Rathel's thoughts. Why would Khan disapprove of pollination? The esyire probably had dozens of seeds planted around the world already! But there was no time to delve into such thoughts, as the moment that Rathel communicated his last thoughts was the moment she felt a shiver go down her spine, reminding her of her current state.

She listened to Rathel's steps as he walked away, relunctantly as Coco could smell. He was a nice demon leaf pup, for sure.

And once her scent normalized again and she clapped her hand once, she spoke.

"Teacher Vampire Lucilia, do you have an idea where I could... Get some sunlight? I haven't gotten nearly enough since arriving at this land, and I'm starting to feel weak and brittle."

[Freeshooter92]

Alaira was confused for a second. The plant girl was nowhere to be seen! "What the fu..." She wasn't sure how but somehow Coco had managed to disappear completely. Well, can you blame her? You weren't exactly all that friendly, genius. She thought to herself as she leaned back and closed her eyes. It was at that point the Electromancy demonstration started up. You'd think she would be a little more interested, but she'd seen him do his thing before. Albeit not on such a grand scale. A few seconds later, she reached out to her left and caught her lance as it fell back to earth, not even bothering to open her eyes. It was at that point she decided a nap was necessary, though that was mostly the alcohol talking, along with a bit of lingering exhaustion from that lightning bolt earlier.

When she awoke, chaos. She looked around and found several students near her passing out, or convulsing. When she looked up, she saw Satori, the psychomancy teacher, was up on stage. She was giving her possibly the most evil look Alaira had ever seen. Alright, I'm outta here. She thought as she more or less scrambled to get off the bench and get out of the room. It's not like she cared about any of the demonstrations anyhow. Lucky for her anyway, she managed to get out early enough that the halls were empty, and returned to her dormroom. She took a minute to change into her sleepwear, before flopping onto the bed on the far side of the room, which looked more like a pile of furs and pillows than a bed. "Well, that was creepy as hell..." She said to nobody in particular. This was... an interesting day. Let's hope tomorrow is a bit less so, huh?

[EliteCommander]

Ssarak found it strange when Coco left with seemingly no word or reason, but then again, everything about that plant-being seemed strange, so he did not take it to heart. Since Leith seemed to have moved from his chair, Ssarak simply took a few more moments to relax and calm himself. He consciously knew that what he had just seen was nothing more than an illusion, a convincing dream. That knowledge did not help him to rid himself of the pain it had caused him, but it was a start, at least .

Ssarak could not help but to glare at Satori. The anger within him was evident, but he was still conflicted on what to think about her. On one hand, the demonstration had certainly shown her power, but the extent she took it to was uncalled for. He could see the argument that they would need to be able to deal with hostile psychomancers, so they would have to learn what it was like to feel their influence, but was learning not meant to be a gradual, controlled process? If Ssarak had decided to throw a young, inexperienced warrior onto the field of battle, he would certainly expect the recruit to perish. It seemed foolish to subject and entire room full of students to such pain, especially when many were armed and entirely unprepared for the event. Perhaps Satori had control over what she was doing, but what if a student had unintentionally harmed, or even killed, another in the confusion? The golems were there to protect them, but they were not omnipotent. If a student had drawn a knife and stabbed another directly beside them, would the golems even have time to react? Ssarak did not doubt Satori's power, and he still wanted to learn what she knew, but he strongly questioned her judgement.

Though Ssarak did not consciously notice them, the pollen released by Lucilia's plants dramatically helped to calm his nerves and make him forget his nightmare for the moment. Instead he refocused his attention back to the crowd around him. Apparently, Uicle had performed some kind of demonstration, but Ssarak had been too lost in thought to even pay attention. Much of the crowd in the dining hall had began to dissipate, so Ssarak was was able to notice a familiar face sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. She had not fared any better than himself when it came to the nightmares, it seemed. Given what she had described to him about her past, he could only imagine what kind of torments Satori would have been able to create from her memories. Concerned, Ssarak approached her.

"Are you alright, Aruna?" He asked, his tone empathetic. "The psychomancer's demonstration seems to have affected everyone, and not in a positive way. My own nightmare was painful...in many more ways than one." He turned his head back toward the teacher's table and looked at Satori, emitting a low, distinctly draconic growl. "I cannot say I approve."

[Konan375]

Collab Between Konan375 and Rtron

Althalus looked up a few moments later when he felt assured that the shaking was done, or at least wouldn't be noticeable by your average person. The man talking to him was the one who had been staring at him before. Apparently, having nightmares thrust upon you was a lovely way to begin a conversation with someone. "Oh yes. I just love having my memories ransacked, the worst one of them all being selected, and then that memory being twisted into something far worse than it had been when it was real. Before Satori came along, I was wondering where I was going to get my next fix from." Sarcasm dripped from every word, flavored nicely with a healthy dose of hate on the word Satori. Obviously, the memory had far more affect upon him than he had liked. Hence the reason a knife had been thrown at the bitch. Althalus watched the various students go past them, picking out those who were leaving permanently and those who were only going to their room to get some rest. The former didn't bother with Gargoyles and just headed straight down the familiar path to the courtyard and the gates. The latter found a Gargoyle to lead them. However, as the amount of Gargoyle's in the hallway steadily decreased, it became harder and harder to decide who was going where.

Althalus would have much preferred leaving to talking with this random man, but seeing as he was rooming with Mar and only she knew where the room was, he'd have to wait out here for her to reappear. The bottle of Lunar, with the rune to ensure that the flask never emptied of drink, was a reassuring pressure against his chest, hidden beneath his armor. Still, might as well make conversation while he could. The assassin returned his gaze to Leith, asking in his slight rasp, "So, who would you be, and did the lovely woman who gave us all horrific nightmares suddenly fall over with a knife sprouting from her chest?" He doubted it, as he hadn't heard anyone cheering or screaming. But hey, maybe everyone was too busy trying to restore order or breaking down to bother to see if the source of it all was dead on the ground with a knife sticking out of her. Althalus would have much preferred leaving to talking with this random man, but seeing as he was rooming with Mar and only she knew where the room was, he'd have to wait out here for her to reappear. The bottle of Lunar, with the rune to ensure that the flask never emptied of drink, was a reassuring pressure against his chest, hidden beneath his armour.

Leith raised an eyebrow at the man's question. It didn't exactly sound like he was doing any wishful thinking with that question. "I didn't notice anything," Leith said. "But then again, I was a little preoccupied in not losing my dinner. Being burned alive doesn't tickle, imagined or not. And to answer your first question, my name's Leith." He gave the man a once-over. The armour he wore looked like it allowed for easy movement. The dark coloration of it made it difficult to see him in the dim light of the hall. Leith had a feeling that the purpose of the armour was to allow the wearer the ability to move freely and to blend in in darker places. Something caught Leith's eye. The torchlight was reflecting off something on the man's hip. It looked like a mask. He frowned. It looked familiar to him.

"That mask, I think I may have seen it before." Leith tried to remember where he had seen it, but he couldn't remember anything. As he took a glance back at the dining hall to see if the Hydromancy demonstration had started, Leith saw a flurry of movement that made him stand up to get a better look. Near the head table, someone was being held in place by roots. Leith looked back at the man dressed in black. "It looks like someone tried to do something."

Althalus was disappointed. "Oh. A pity." Well, he hadn't really expected anything more when trying to spontaneously kill a master mage, but it had been worth the hope. At Leith's comment about burning alive, he gave a short laugh. "So I've heard. My name is Althalus." He only raised an eyebrow in response to Leith's once over. It wasn't strange for that to happen to him, but normally it happened when he met someone in the streets of his home as they looked for a weapon on him. Usually to make sure they could stab him easily, or to make sure he wasn't planning on stabbing them. It was only when he began to speak of the mask that Althalus resisted groaning. I'm going to leave this damn thing in the room for the rest of my time here. It's causing more trouble then it's worth. A brief smirk crossed his lips as he remembered Auriel. Well, not in the first instance, but it very well could have caused trouble if things hadn't turned out so...interesting.. As Leith informed him as to what all the commotion about, Althalus shrugged. "Good on them. Maybe they'll have more success than I did with trying to kill her." As long as Satori died, Althalus didn't particularly care about if the person who killed her lived after doing the deed. Unless it was himself, of course. He rather liked living.

"So, what Blood are you? My own is Noxomancy, Shadows to be specific." Althalus asked, more to occupy his mind than actual curiosity. It turns out, having a bad memory suddenly and forcibly shoved into your mind and twisted into a nightmare tended to stay on your mind longer than you would like to think about it. And since Mar had stolen his coin, he didn't have any meaningless thing to distract himself with. Thus, conversation with a complete stranger would have to do.

Leith kept an eye on the scene at the head table. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when the person was let go by the roots only to be grabbed by them again. He turned to Althalus when the man asked what blood he had. "I'm a Hydromancer. I'm looking forward to the demonstration, but I do wonder how the Necromancy teacher is able to do Hydromancy as well. A strange man, Uicle. He's nothing but a suit of armour and he can do both Necromancy and Hydromancy. Terrible luck, too." Leith looked back at the head table just in time to see the roots let go and the person walk away.

"It looks like that attempt was a failure as well. You may have to try again," Leith said to Althalus with a smile. His smile dropped when he felt his tiredness start to come back. Leaning against the wall with a sigh, he slid down to a sitting position. "I really hope that the Hydromancy demonstration comes first, I don't think I can stay awake for much longer." Silence filled the dining hall, causing Leith to look up. Uicle had stepped up and started talking. Leith stood back up. "Well, what do you know..." he trailed off. After a short explanation of Necromancy and Hydromany, cups suddenly lifted off the ground and were filled with drinks.

Leith spotted a cup that was hovering in place. As he stared at it, the cup shot off in his direction, causing some of the students that were in way to duck. It left the dining hall and stopped right if front of Leith. There was steam rising from the drink. Tentatively, Leith reached out and took the cup. He raised an eyebrow at Althalus, took a drink, and started coughing violently. He was caught off guard by the hotness of it. The steam was no indicator of how hot it was. Once his coughing fit was over, Leith gave Althalus a pained smile. "I guess that teaches me to not test the drink first before taking a drink. Gods, that was hot." He gave the cup a wary glance. It was definitely a sipping drink.

The assassin only gave a brief raise of his eyebrow at the description of Uicle. After Satori's demonstration, he really just didn't give a damn about the oddities of any of the other teachers. All he wanted to do, frankly, was find Mar and get out away from that crazy bitch as fast as possible. As it was, he'd have to wait for the Naga to make her way over to the hallway. At Leith's words about the second attempt on Satori's life failing, Althalus shrugged. He hadn't really expected anything to work. Not when everything was so spur of the moment rather than carefully planned. Sloppiness was a sure way to have something fail, no matter what you're doing. "From the sounds of it, there's only Necromancy and Hydromancy left to go. And if I was the this Uicle, I'd do both at once." As if on cue, Leith stood once more, watching what apparently was his Blood's demo. Soon enough, a goblet flew towards Leith, filled with a steaming liquid Althalus recognized. Leith himself clearly didn't. Smothering a smile, he watched the other man take a drink.

Sure enough, Leith began coughing and sputtering, unprepared. "A bit to spicy, is it?" Althalus asked mildly after Leith had recovered enough to talk. As the crowds began to pour out, Althalus stood up, and began searching for Mar. It shouldn't be too hard. Just find the only topless Naga that doesn't look like it was crossed with a fish at birth, and that would be the one he was rooming with. "It appears that the Demos have ended, and everyone who hasn't already left is heading to their dorms."

Leith gave Althalus a dry look at his remark before chuckling. "Yeah, just a little." The sounds of conversation started to pick up again, and students started to leave the dining hall. Leith looked at Althalus when he spoke again. "So it does. I believe I will be doing so as well. Good night, and I guess I'll be seeing you around." Or hearing you, he added silently. He smiled when he got an idea. Maybe he could use the buzzing in his head and make a game of it. When it got louder because Althalus got closer, he could speak and possibly freak him out. Pushing himself off the wall, Leith gave Althalus a friendly smile and started walking in the direction of his dorm, sipping at the drink in his hand as he did so.

[Toxic Diamond]

Aruna was taking air in at an explosive rate, then just as quickly letting it out. She couldn't think except for one word.
Monster
She shook her head. It was false. It hadn't happened, she hadn't done what she saw... But she had. A voice, a nagging voice in the back of her head kept telling her this. She had murdered her mother and split her open like some Mellon.
Monster
She had deserved to lose those fights. She had deserved to die and have her body brought back to the one who wanted her dead so badly. But she was too selfish to die. To stubborn. So she killed all the ones who were sent.Through it all she had lived.
Monster
She thought that she deserved what she had seen in the end of the memory, the vision. For her to have finally let her guard down enough to meet people, only to be slaughtered and cut to pieces. It would be so very fitting. She heard something, but it sounded muffled. She looked up and everything was fuzzy. And sounds were muted. She saw a surprisingly crisp Ssarak standing next to her with a scowl on his face. She felt some urgency against him being there, but she couldn't remember why.

Then she remembered. He was going to kill her, to cut her up into pieces. She took her hand off the wall and it came away crumbly. Like the wall had aged. She mummbled with as much strength as she could,
"You ... Are not going to kill me."

[EliteCommander]

"No, I am no enemy of yours." Ssarak responded, easily able to tell that Aruna was still confused. Having some experience in psychomancy had likely given him at least some advantage in recognizing the illusion, but most of the others in the room were not so fortunate. Still, some people seemed to recover more quickly than others, so the nightmares were likely not of a uniform intensity. At the moment, it seemed that Aruna's had been particularly strong.

"If you wish to be angry at someone, the culprit is sitting over there." He said, pointing to Satori. "Not that I would recommend acting on that anger; I have no doubt that whatever you just experienced was a mere fraction of what she is capable of. Your nightmare - all of our nightmares - were a part of her demonstration as the psychomancy instructor. From what I can tell, she used our own memories to create horrific dreams that played on our worst fears, or at least mine did. Hence why this room is emptying so quickly." He explained. Even with the calming pollen in the air, it was easy to tell that many around them were still distraught, though at least none were violent anymore.

[Ryonara]

Everything was a blur. First there was the magical demonstrations, which started calmly enough. But than the demons came. Mei didn't know if it was a dream or not. But there was screaming, people getting killed, Mei acted before her thoughts could make sense of it all. As she killed a demon, roots came out from the ground and everything made of wood began to attack the demons. Surely this was a dream? It didn't matter, she kept fighting until the demons were gone. Her hands were bloodied, but not with her blood, but with the blood of demons. Soon the Dinning Hall returned to normal and Mei suspected that she might have not been dreaming... But than Satori came. And she brought to Mei a nightmare that was somehow worse than what Mei usually goes through. It was short, but the pain was very much real. It started simple enough as she woke up, but than she saw everyone dying, and had to go out and stop it. Than she could feel the knife splitting her eye apart, but she could even reach up and nurse it as her arms were cut off. She could feel something dig into her guts and pulling her intestines out, but all she could see through her tears were blurry images of humans.

Mei snapped out of it when she bumped into a couple. Everything was a blur to her. "What? Who?" The pollen did not take immediate affect on Mei. She noticed a mixture of people crying, angry, and euphoric. It was madness to her. She ran out before things could escalate, in the general direction of her dorm, but she stopped half way there. She stopped by a window and put her head out to vomit. The stress of it all was too much for her. All she wanted to do was sleep. And soon, leaning underneath the window still, Mei slowly began to drift to sleep.

[Fallenreaper]

Mar

Mar was focused upon the downed huntress positioned by her tail. The Naga’s question finally seemed to have an affect over the small, huddled Snow Elf because soon Armair’s sobbing had started, bit by bit, to fade. Some sense of awareness had stirred within the smaller student, her control strengthen to pull herself together and managed weakly to stand onto her feet. A difficult task from the looks of it to Mar. When Aramir’s words came, it did less to assure the Naga into believing all was alright as her eyes narrowed currently laced with suspicion. The remains of whatever event had occurred seemed to settle down but not completely gone from her new companion, the Snow Elf sorrowful emotion shown plainly on her face. It unsettled the Naga visibly to see it so openly displayed in silence.

Mar hadn’t been aware to the pollen that fell around her from the roof like many tiny flakes. At least until the small dots drifted lazily down over her, where it touched her skin pricked then lightly jerked in reflex. Immediately her eyes rose to see the source that made her twitch and itch before the final teacher decided to do his demonstration, ending the night for everyone. For a male, it was well thought out decision and suitable choice in the event’s chaotic wake. A glass leapt to her hand as it filled to the brim in a liquid, a harsh and rich smelling one. The same thing happened to Aramir’s hand and the Snow Elf drank her own glass fairly quickly then regretted when she sudden coughed and sputtered from the result.

A risky choice in Mar’s mind, her eyes shifted from Aramir’s now stumbling state back to her own glass, connecting the dots easily enough. The bipeds were strange to drink something which made them act ridiculous. It was their choice but Mar didn’t intend to follow suit, her hand set the glass upon the wooden surface with disinterest in the glass’s contents. Luckily Mar had managed not to lash out when Aramir’s hand wander over the surface of her tail, the smaller student giggled and stumbled away to disappear into the departing crowd.

Instead of following the masses heading to bed, Mar waited until they started to thin out to make her exit. Too much had happened and inside she had hoped it wouldn’t be like this day in and out during her stay here. However temporary it might be. Among one of the last to finally leave the Dining hall, she slithered her way out the door and into the emptying hallways. Her head turned about at one direction then the other, her actions deliberately sought out someone she hoped had the common sense not to be within the student crowd leaving towards the College Gates.

[Sundered Echo]

Auriel looked down at the strange blue Snow Elf that had crashed rather uncermoniously into her. She was clearly extremely drunk. Apparently she was also Auriels new roommate. She didn't know wether the rooms were assigned arbitrarily or chosen, so for the moment she believed the snow elf. She'd had a few herself, and wasn't really feeling like argueing, especially not with someone half her size. Not to mention the pollen was starting to kick in and lighten her previously murderous mood.

"Thanks, I do my best to stay that way..." She said in reply to the compliment. "Alright then Aramir, I don't suppose you know where our room actually is?" She stood with crossed arms looking down at the snow elf awaiting an answer, assuming the Elf was coherant enough to give one.

Aramir shook her head, giggling. "Nope. But one of the stone-life-given-thingys should! What's-his-face said to just tell them our names and they would lead us to our rooms." To accent her point, Aramir gestured towards one of the Golems that hadn't been taken by the other students eager to get to their dorm rooms as well. The drunk Snow Elf, glanced dubiously at the rapidly diminishing amount of Golems in the hallway. "We should probably grab one of them before they're all gone and we have to wander the halls. That would be bad. I think." She giggled again, picking herself up and giving an unsteady 'lead on' gesture. "After you."

It was always polite to let the prettier woman go first. And entertaining, for some reason. Aramir's giggling fest didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. The full cup of Dragon Spite had gone straight above the alcohol levels her small body could take quite quickly. It was a fun experience, at the very least!

Auriel smirked at the elfs giggling, for some reason the snow elfs size and mirth made her feel more like a child again. "Well come on, follow me." She almost skipped her way to the nearest golem and said cheerfully "Auriel. I don't know if I have a room yet. Can you take me to one?" The Golems stony features seemed to curl into a scowl when it saw Aramir trailing behind her. "Come onnnn..... For me?" It shook its head in defeat and started striding slowly down the hallway. Auriel looked back at the little elven woman behind her. "Come on! Just so you know, I'm not carrying you if you cant keep up." The mishaps of the Dining hall were already being forgotten as a sense of adventure she hadn't felt in a long time returned to her.

Aramir waved cheerily at the Golem as it scowled at her, unabashed that she had returned so soon after it had gotten rid of her. At least this time she had come with a friend. Her giggling resumed at Auriel's beseeching the Golem, so much so that she almost missed the two of them heading off. She began following. Following is the polite way to describe it. Stumbling and barely avoiding crashing into the rest of the local student population would be more of a true description.

"I can't say I'm not disappointed." She replied in a singsong voice to Auriel. Being carried by the other Elf was a very appealing prospect, for some odd reason. She was silent for the rest of the relatively short trip. She thought it was short at least. Her sense of time seemed to be just as impaired as her skill in the fine art of walking in a straight line. Too her credit, she did avoid crashing into Auriel again when the Forest Elf stopped. The Golem quickly left, it's duty done. "You know, I never did get your name." Aramir said as she attempted to lead the way into the room. Attempted, because the door handle was far above her reach. Defeated, she glanced backwards at Auriel, good humor temporarily ruined. "I need the help of someone taller than me..."

Auriel laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation as the little elf tried to jump for the door handle. "My names Auriel" She said when she recovered. "I really hope we can get this door fixed for you or i'll have to follow you around whenever you leave." She said grinning from ear to ear. The door handle was easy for her tog et to of course, and she let them both in, giving Aramir a bit of a push to hurry her along. The rooms seemed quite dull, in fact the only decoration seemed to be an elaborate pattern on the wall just inside the door, one on each side. "Whats that?" She said pointing at it.

Despite her attempts to scowl at Auriel for her laughter, it was infectious. Soon enough, she was giggling along with the Forest Elf. The only difference being that Auriel got control of herself far sooner than Aramir did, the push helping, if only because she had to stumble and concentrate on not falling. She was still grinning about itwhen the other Elf pointed to the designs on either side of the doorway. Aramir's grin faded slightly, apparently even alcohol and pollen wasn't enough to completely stop memories from affecting her.

"Oh, those? They're the symbol of my Family in the Tribe. Like the one on the back of my vest." She turned around and gestured for Auriel's benefit. "Every tent has them painted on either side. It's almost like home...except it needs..." Glancing over as she trailed off, she grinned again. In a corner, there was a Snow Elf sized area that seemed to be a workstation of some sort. There was a holder full of shafts without heads, a place to put up her bow, a sewing kit, a makeshift work bench, everything a hunter in the Frozen Plains would have needed.

Unbeknownst to Aramir, the room had steadily gotten colder since they walked in. While it would not be approaching the lethal levels of the Frozen Plains, it would certainly be uncomfortable for someone used to warmer temperatures very quickly.

Auriel was quickly beginning to shiver. The room was getting cold. Very cold. She hadn't felt like this since crossing the mountians out of Ghannos. She looked at her side of the room then, wondering if maybe there was something she could wrap around her to warm up. She was quite surprised to see a number of things she'd apparently missed on the first look - a wide bed in the style of her homeland, a small barrel of the type that held wood-elven wine with several glasses next to it and a dresser for clothing that even had a place to store her axe. The floor was carved into the leaf pattern commonly used as decoration in Ghannos and when she walked there it didn't seem quite as bitingly cold, though it was still not comfortable.

"Hey Aramir... why is it so cold?" She said while she was looking around for something heavier to wrap around her. Unfortunately int he temperate wood elven lands the covers of beds were quite thin, meant only to retain modesty rather than kep warmth in.

As Auriel spoke, Aramir glanced up from her exploration of her little work area. Genuine bemusement on her face. "It's cold?" Then she noticed the Forest Elf's shivering, and it clicked in place. Albeit slowly and haphazardly. "Oh! You're not me. Not used to the cold as I am. And the room must be responding to me on temperatures, rather than you. So..." She shrugged helplessly. Even if she hadn't been drunk, figuring out how to make the temperature more roommate friendly wasn't something she would have been adept at. Wandering over, she looked in minor shock at the bed covers. "How...how do you keep warm at all with those? They're so thin!" She gestured towards the bed covers, unable to understand. Unfortunately, that move unbalanced her more than she was prepared for, and she sat down rather abruptly on the bed.

"Auriels immediate reply was "Ghannos is warm. I don't need to worry...." She sat down next to Aramir on her bed then and put her arms around the little elf. "Just for your warmth..." She said. The Snow Elf was definitely warm, despite the name of her kind, and Auriel found herself leaning closer.

"It can't be that-" Aramir was suddenly cut off as Auriel hugged her. Given their disportionate sizes, Aramir's head was hugged against her roommate's bosom. Now, normally, Aramir would have gone redder than she had ever gone before, and tried to pull away. As it was however, a variety of thoughts and ideas went through her mind, and all of them were decidedly against pulling away. As she felt the Forest Elf leaning in, Aramir looked up to see Auriel's face drawing closer. More specifically, her lips. An idea popped into the Snow Elf's head, and the last shred of common sense screamed at her not to do it. Alas, that bit of common sense couldn't reach the haze Aramir's mind was in.

Which is why she tilted her head upwards, and kissed the much taller Forest Elf as soon as she was within range.

Auriel was struck with surprise when her roommate suddenly decided to kiss her. She'd never denied a good kiss though, and she wasn't going to start now surprise or no. Instead she leaned further down and returned the kiss. She brought her legs up onto the bed and turned as she did so, keeping Aramir close for the warmth. When she finally broke off the kiss she spoke quietly, keeping Aramir as close to her as possible. "You're a good kisser... Better than most of the men I've had..."

It would be a lie to say that Aramir wasn't startled, in some place of her mind, that Auriel was actually returning the kiss, rather than recoiling. Regardless, she enjoyed it, until the Forest Elf broke it. She blinked, breathing slightly harder than normal as she continued to stare up at Auriel, registering only briefly their closeness. "Th-thank you." Aramir replied, blushing. She didn't really know where to go from here. Sure, there had been others in her tribe who had caught her eye and tried to catch hers, but as times grew leaner by the day, there wasn't really any time to acknowledge those feelings, much less act upon them.

Having nothing else to draw upon, Aramir just went with her desire. Which was to kiss Auriel again and do more. She drew herself upwards once more, kissing Auriel. As she did so, her hands wandered across the Forest Elf's form fitting top, looking for something to begin removing it. It wasn't long before she found what she was looking for and began undoing the knots.

Auriel felt hands roaming across her back as she continued to kiss the Aramir, she knew what was going to happen next. Then it hit her - she didn't know. She'd never been with another woman before. That didn't pertube her though, and she simply kept gonig as she normally would. She'd make it up as she went along were things were different. She was much faster than Aramir with her hands, and it took only moments for her to remove the small elfs clothes.

[Pyromania99]

Ryonara and Pyromania99 Collab ~ Mei and Lyris
_____________________________________________

Lyris looked around as others started to. . . What? Moan, mumble. . . For the most part it didn't seem as if they were enjoying themselves. Among other things (demons and other potential hazards) she could only assume that they were also being affected by this psychomancy teacher. As it would seem, she herself was unaffected. Was it by luck? Or perhaps she could resist naturally. She didn't really know. All she did know however, was that there was not a hint of jealousy in her body for those that say the mental images. They did not seem to be in the least enjoyable. The girl wasn't even sure what she could do. She had never really dealt with people who were in trouble. After a brief drink and with the knowledge now that demonstrations were over, she decided to just leave. It had to be better than where she was. After a brief walk from the hall, she saw a peculiar sight. "Hanging out a window doesn't seem too safe." She said to both herself and the girl out the window. Not wanting the girl to possibly fall out (Lyris is a worrywort in truth) pulled her back inside the building. This person's face didn't have a very lively look. "I don't think sleeping in windows is a very bright idea."

Mei heard voices. She wasn't sure if they were more illusions or someone who was walking by, so she reached out and tried to feel for them. She felt something, flat, sort of soft, but not very big. "Huwa? Who..." Mei rubbed her eyes and tried to get a clearer vision. Soon she saw a blond girl with white angelic wings. Mei did not beleive what she was seeing. Was she dead? "Are... Are you an angel?"

"Angel?" Lyris said with a heavy questioning tone. No one had ever asked her that question before. She was almost unsure if she should play along with it or be serious. . . "No. I'd rather hope not. I just have wings similar to an angel I suppose." She thought about it and continued, "But where are my manners? My name is Lyris. Would you grace me with yours?" Yes, that was the way it went in the book. A sense of elegance with word choice gracing an introduction was a great way to start.

The girl's name was Lyris. Mei slapped herself in the face lightly to wake herself up, still uncertain if she was dreaming. But since she still had her eyes and two hands to hit herself with, it wasn't Satori's illusion, hopefully. "My name is Meirin Kurenai. Or just Mei, that's okay too." Mei tried to stand up, a bit wobbly, but eventually she was stable. She was much taller than Lyris, but Lyris's wings made her look bigger than Meirin. "Um... So what are you doing here? I mean, I don't suppose you were sent to find me..."

"Not in the least, in all honesty." Lyris said adding a regretful tone to her voice. If there was one thing she understood about this thing of conversing, it was to make yourself sound humble. That was at least what her books and the demons back home taught her. . . Then again, the demons didn't want to be disposed of. "I was just on my way back to the dorm when I saw you hanging out the window. I'm guessing. . . You saw something you can never "unsee"." Her wings wanted to be released at this point, but the hallway was not a good place to do so. "Would you prefer it that I had been sent to find you?"

"Oh no no no! It's just... I don't really remember all too well what happened. I'm sorry, I'm just so... Dizzy right now." Mei tried to remember the events of what happened, but aside from the more graphic details of her dream, she was slowly beginning to forget. Was it the side effect of the spell, or was she just suffering another one of her waking nightmares? How much of it was her and how much of it was from Satori? Perhaps Mei would never know. All she really wanted right now was some sleep. Her body was numb though, like she needed to pinch herself just to know that it's alive. "I'm sorry to ask you this, but could you help me to my dorm? I... I don't feel so great..." Mei took a few steps, but after four she was beginning to stumble. Her vision swayed and the lack of feeling in her legs made it diffiuclt for her to cordinate her movements. She once managed to fight off her fellow artists while dumb drunk, but this was a different feel. She could keep herself standing, but she wasn't sure for how long.

Lyris rushed to support the girl. She was kind enough not to make this, Mei girl walk back to her place on her own. . . Not in her condition anyway. "It's fine. I'd hate for someone to get injured for no good reason. . . Though I suppose there was no real injury to take place. Just passing out in the hallway. Could be worse after all!" Lyris mentioned helping the girl to her room. "I must say, either I'm a little stronger than I remember," It wouldn't be too unusual as she has gained strength since her escape from home, "Or you weigh less than you look."

A light laugh came from Mei when Lyris remarked that Mei weighed less than she looked. She would have made a snappy remark, but her body was feeling very tired. It took some time for the two of them to get to the dorm since Mei faded in and out of conscienceness. "So... What brings you to the college?" Mei wasn't so tired that she couldn't make idle conversation as the two kept looking for her dorm.

Lyris thought for a second before replying, "Freedom." A simple answer really. She mostly thought on it to make sure that was what she felt. . . It was. "Let's just say I have little interest in all honesty. For now, it's like trading a bird cage for an even bigger one. . ." She mumbled lightly to herself, "One I must sneak around in." She shook it off and continued as they drew closer to the destination. "I mostly figure everyone else is here for studying their mageblood and all that. That the same thing for you?"

That wasn't the anwser Mei was expecting. What could Lyris be running from to want freedom? But maybe it wasn't her place to ask. "Y-yeah... I discovered I had some sort of magic. But I don't really know what it's all about, so I came here, to learn... Lyris, are you in danger for some reason?" Mei really shouldn't involve herself, but she couldn't stand the idea that Lyris might be in trouble for some reason. Maybe it was just the illusions causing her to be more paranoid, but Mei really didn't want anything bad to happen to Lyris. She just couldn't stand the thought of being useless again.

"Danger? Nothing like it." Lyris said trying to calm down Mei. "Just a little bit of a stray running away from home you could say." She looked around but wasn't sure where Mei's room was. "So, uhh. . . Mind telling me which one your's is once we get there?"

"Oh. Okay..." Mei quickly shut herself up. She was getting too worked up right now, and really needed to just go lay down for the next few hours. it didn't take long before they eventually reached Mei's room, and by than she was strong enough to stand on her own. "This is the place. Thanks again for helping me out." Mei opened the door and was going to head strait to bed, but before she did there was just one more question nagging her. Not being the type to keep loose ends, she went ahead and asked it. "Why are you running away?'

Lyris started to walk to her own dorm when Mei asked her last question. "I told you earlier." She said with a bit of laughter, "Freedom. Make my own choices, decide to do what I want, when I want." A slight moment of silence fell over Lyris before she spoke her last sentence before leaving, "It's tastes sweet already."

Mei sighed. Not the anwser she expected, but it wasn't her place to ask anyways. "Well, thanks for the help, Lyris. Good night." And with that, Mei said her goodbyes and closed the door. Her room was dimly light thanks to the moonlight, and after lighting a candle she could see her room a bit better. No bed, just a bed roll, but that's just how she liked it. She found a lantern hanging above her side of the room and lit it, providing her more illumintion. After some time, she set up her sleeping space, killed the fire, and tried to get some sleep. It was a bit difficult at first, being restless, but as soon as she left her thoughts drift sleep took over her body.

Lyris made her way to her dorm after a few wrong turns and felt lucky that she could remember where it was after a bit. Once inside she found that her roommate was already asleep. Inside her head she though, I better keep it quiet. She switched to nightclothes and laid in bed. It took her a bit to settle down with her wings finding a more comfortable position though she couldn't sleep. Her mind went to thoughts. "Freedom." That's why she ran. . . Wasn't it?

[Frettzo]

Coco+Lucilia

Lucilia sighed as the demonstrations were coming to a close. That was a close call, but she feared that the night ended on a negative note. She worried about the amount of students who might leave the college if they remembered what Satori had done. But Lucilia's worries were not over yet. Shortly before she began to return to her office, Coco came to see her. Lucilia had already picked out a nice place for Coco to rest at, but she came to her with an odd request; since she hasn't been in sunlight for some time, Coco has been feeling weak. She wanted to know if Lucilia could help her. This did catch her off guard for once; while she has always taken care of plants that require much sunlight, during times were light was in short supply she used her magic to sustain them, or artificial lights that took some time to prepare. She had none ready at the moment. "Oh my, Coco, I'm sorry to hear that..."

Lucilia's mind raced with ideas of what to do. She wondered if she could use her magic to sustain Coco until morning. Perhaps she could find Val and get her to fire up another Sun Rune. But than Tyrael arrived. He was on his way back to his office underground when he overheard the tree thing ask for sunlight. Taking advantage of the situation, Tyrael offered his help. "Sunlight huh? I can help you there, little one." Lucilia shot him a dirty look. She knew what he was suggesting, and while it would work, she did not want his help. "Stay out of this, Professor. I can take care of our guest just fine." Tyrael hid his smile and stood his ground. "You know that the little one cannot survive on your magic. I have what she is looking for." Lucilia threw seeds into Tyrael's mouth and caused them to grow and shut him up. She quickly began to lead Coco away from the dinning hall as Tyrael continued to tear the plants out, but soon he would find her again.

Coco had barely had a second to form words as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. At first, Lucilia voiced what seemed to be concern, but Coco's attention was taken by the sudden interruption of Tyrael, the Demonomancy teacher. Had she been able to, she would have spoken up but Lucilia beat her to it and had replied to Tyrael first, with noticeable contempt. What Coco had not been expecting at all, was the violent action that Lucilia took. After the seeds were thrown and the growth was enhanced, she was quickly led away.

"Teacher Lucilia!" Coco exclaimed a minute later, after she had been dragged out of the Dining Hall and into the hallways. "It is mean to throw someone's seeds into a fleshling's mouth! Will you apologize to the mother? She needs to know what happened to her seeds."

As Lucilia lead Coco away, she stopped once they got outside. Coco began to ask her to apologize to the mother for the seeds, of which Lucilia dully noted. "Right. I'll be sure to do that. Anyways, you mentioned you needed sunlight, yes? I... I can try to help." As a vampire sunlight wasn't really something that Lucilia liked to work with, and in fact much of her plants have been altered to be able to survive well into the night. Coco was different though. Lucilia would have liked to do nothing but strap Coco down onto an operation desk and make "alterations" on her, but she knew that if word got out she'd be run out of the college. She needed to figure something else out. But she wouldn't get that chance.

Tyrael showed up. The plants gone from his mouth, and when Lucilia threw more at him he smacked them away. "Enough of that! You have avoided this for far too long, vampire. She needs my sun, and there is nothing you can do about it." Lucilia stood between Coco and Tyrael, grabbing a rose from her clothing and causing it to grow into a thorny vine whip. "She will have nothing to do with you, demon! Leave now!" Tyrael responded to Lucilia's hostility by transforming his hands into large, sharp claws and standing in a fighting stance. "Do not be so foolish, vampire. Allow the little one to decide. This is it's fate." Lucilia raised her arm, ready to fight Tyrael, but she did wait for Coco. As much as Lucilia did not like it, she didn't have any way to help her. Tyrael did, but she did not want to risk Coco's safety for what help the demon could offer. "Coco... What do you think?

"Rathel's a demon, and he's nice. He's actually going to pollinate me in spring, so why do you not trust Tyrael? You heard him, he has a sun." Coco said to Lucilia in a quiet tone, standing still and immobile behind Lucilia as her leaves quivered in the most minuscule manner. She couldn't understand the reason to fight- They must have been irritable because of a lack of sun as well, as this land seemed to be in a perpetual lack of intense sunlight. At that moment, Coco realized what she'd study on the next time she had to visit the Tree... Fleshlings.

"And vampires are great, and Lucilia's very good at tending to plants. She's actually making me a garden to stay in. So don't worry," Coco mentioned softly, "Tyrael will help me with his sun, we might even be able to hang it from a tall pole or the roof, if there's a roof."

Tyrael chuckled at the idea that they could hang his sun from the roof. "Well than, it seems that the little one is willing. Will you stop it now, vampire?" Tyrael reformed his arms back to normal. Lucilia herself kept her whip out, but soon she allowed it to shrink back into a small flower. She put it back into it's place, and shot Tyrael a stern glare. "I'm coming with her. No funny business Tyrael." The demon smirked as he turned to walk away. Lucilia followed him, stopping mid way through to turn to Coco. Softly she called out to her. "Come on Coco. It's going to be a bit of a walk."

The trio entered the college's cellar level. But unlike some of the other students, Tyrael led Lucilia and Coco deep underground. The hall was illuminated with Inferno Fire, undying flames that burned brightly, contained in special glass containers so that they didn't burn anyone. Eventually in the middle of a hall Tyrael stopped and turned to the other two. "Here we are. I would suggest that you close your eyes, but I can see that you do not need to worry about that. As for you... Riovas, you may wish to stay in the shadows." Placing his hand on the wall, a large rune appeared, similar to the one on Underhaven. Like the entrance to Underhaven, the wall shifted and lifted out of the way, revealing Tyrael's sun. "This... Is my Subterranean Sun. I brought it here from the Inferno, in case of emergencies like these. How do you feel, little one?" The Subterranean Sun glowed magnificently. It was massive, nearly a hundred yards in diameter. It glowed so brightly, so violently, that even Lucilia was blinded, though she was hiding in the dark. The heat from the sun caused the ground near it to burn and melt, and the only reason that it did not turn Coco into ash was due to Tyrael's influence; the sun came form the Inferno, and he was using his magic to prevent it's harsh effects on her, but still allowing it to act as a sun.

Even when they were descending, Coco had already sensed a change. The light here was brighter, more fulfilling, and while it felt like a good change of pace, she couldn't help but slowly grow worried. While she physically felt a lot better here, the teacher's demonstration came to mind and started reminding her of the things that he summoned and killed the staff.

Was he about to kill her, too? Suddenly, Lucilia's distrust made sense, but there was no room to back out now. Her scent made subtle changes, changes that someone like Rathel would have been able to understand. But Rathel wasn't there.

It wasn't until they reached their destination, a bright hallway deep underground, that Tyrael's sun was revealed to Coco and Lucilia.

Coco's leaves immediately flared out at the intense light, and her posture, previously weak and softened, became strong, straight and fluid. Her body tingled, and she moved not an inch, and uttered not a word. She silently stood there for long minutes as she soaked in the bright light, and eventually she knelt down and hunched over, so that her face touched her knees and the light fully covered the remaining parts of her body.

Tyrael was a bit surprised at the little one's reaction to the light. He was about to reach out and touch her when Lucilia's vine shot out and stopped his hand. "Don't. She's trying to absorb as much light as she can right now." Tyrael didn't know a thing about these plant types, so he let the creature bask in his sun for a little while longer. Soon however he decided it was time to close the doors once more; though he could protect the little one from the effects of the sun, the hallway behind them was starting to get baked. Pulling the creature back into the hall he closed the door, the Subterranean Sun's light gone.

Once his eyes adjusted back to the illumination level of the hallway, he looked towards Lucilia but spoke to the little one. "So, feel any better little one?"

The moment the light ceased, and the sun was hidden behind the wall once more, Coco felt as if she had just awakened from the pod again. Fresh, full of energy, and full of questions. She had never, not once in her life, had the chance to take in that much light, and her skin and leaves showed it. Slowly, her skin had turned from its brownish shade to a bright, soft green that would make even the most attractive shrub jealous of her. Her leaves, previously in the process of withering, had regained their life and expanded to their full size, with a deep, rich green color that one could smell and touch.

"I..."[/b] She began, quietly and slowly as her leaves settled down with a few twitchy movements, "have never felt so fresh..."

Coco calmly rose, stretching out and relaxing. "It's like having a thousand tiny bees tickle your body. That sun is the best, can we hang it from the sky so that everyone in the College can be refreshed by the light?"

Though Tyrael's face made it difficult to tell, he was smiling. Lucilia's face was quite the opposite however. "I am afraid not, Little One. As you can tell, it is powerful. Too powerful to put it in the sky. I can control it better down here. But if I could-" It in in that moment that Lucilia chimed in and interrupted Tyrael. "It stays here, Karnage. We... Coco does not need it up there." Tyrael's smile was gone (not that one could tell it was there in the first place) as he crossed his arms, getting into a glaring match with Lucilia. "Oh? Are you so certain? Unlike your precious flowers, the little one, this Coco, cannot live without the sun. And I am the only one who controls this one." Lucilia put her hands on Coco's shoulders and began to lead her away. "We'll make due." And with that Lucilia quickly hurried Coco out of the underground, leaving Tyrael by himself. "Do not lie to yourself, vampire... You are letting your fear show..." He said to himself.

Lucilia and Coco soon arrived back onto the surface, where the moon was up on high. The college was quiet now, with most of it's students in their dormatories. At least they should be. "Now that you're feeling better, let me show you where you're staying Coco."

"Alright, teacher. Was it hard to make the garden? I mean, you do have the power to make seeds grow all of a sudden. Could you make one of my seeds grow that quickly if you wanted to? Because that would be very creepy." Coco said, walking besides Lucilia with a happy and confident gait to her step. Now that she had her fair share of light, she wouldn't have to worry about dying! At least, not for another couple days, that's for sure.

"Did you add flowers? Shrubs? Grass? Is there a leaf pup in there? Leaf pups are the cutest dogs in Tiien, you know. With their little leaves and breathing and muzzle... Have you ever seen a Leaf Pup, teacher? Rathel hasn't, which is strange, because he looks like one to some extent."

Lucilia was glad to finally get away from Tyrael. She listened to Coco's rambling, interested in what the Foreas knew. Lucilia certainly needed to brush up on her knowledge of their kind, now that one lived among them. "I'll admit, I did cut a few corners and used a space that I was already working on. I don't really know about your seeds though, but I wouldn't unless you allowed me to. As far the garden itself, well... I'll let you see for yourself."

It took Lucilia and Coco and little while to get to the garden. They had to go through multiple gates that divided the college, and normally the guards wouldn't allow anyone through them. But since Lucilia was there, they did not question her motives and did as she told them. Soon enough they arrived to a massive garden, but Lucilia continued onward. They reached a gate that Coco might of found familiar, but Lucilia simply opened it and made no comment on it. They continued onto the path, though Lucilia went slowly in the hopes that Coco was enjoying the scenery. Even though it was night time, some of the flowers looked as though they were glowing. Mostly because they were.

They passed through many places, including a little building decked with white flora and past a glowing red tree. But eventually Lucilia and Coco arrived at their destination; past many flowerbeds and through many fields, they arrived to a medium sized house, backed by a small forest. "This is it Coco. This small building used to be just a break house for the gardeners, but I've refurbished it for you. You are always welcomed to frolic and live outside of it of course, but if you ever need some privacy or just a place to leave your things, you're free to use the house." The house itself was surrounded by fields of flora and wildlife, much of it formerly kept in check by the college ground's keepers, but even they could not always keep everywhere in check. She let Coco look around and personalize the place, though Lucilia imagined that she wouldn't know what to do with the building. Hopefully however, she'd find it useful.

The walk had been long, but entertaining. She certainly hadn't expected the College to have such a big garden, and one of the parts, the gate they had to go through felt odd. In some way, it just made her feel... Weird, as if she was about to feel a cold wind. Of course, the feeling disappeared as soon as they left the area and passed through the gates.

The scents of flowers flooded her nostrils and the distant sounds of lonely insects were caught by her hearing. It was perfect. There were many little structures dotting the gardens, and a few interesting trees and plants as well, but her destination was none of those -- Instead, their walk had come to an end when they reached a house, covered in what smelled like moss in most of its surface and surrounded by various kinds of plants, and even some animals made of flesh.

"Teacher, when you told me I'd get a garden, I was thinking of a small three by three, maybe five by five plot of land with a few flowers and a couple bees!" Coco exclaimed, chuckling as she walked over to a nearby patch of flowers to sniff them closely. Purple, sweet smelling glowing flowers that Coco just had to caress. She lightly brushed her index finger against one of the flower's petals, before moving to the next flowers. Red roses with very few thorns, and doing the same. "These flowers are top quality. They almost make me wish that I smelled like them."

Eventually, after messing around enough with the flowers, Coco sat down on the overgrown grass and relaxed, projecting her voice towards Lucilia. "This garden feels familiar -- Like I have already been here. I love it, you know? I could bring a dozen Foreas here and they'd all mix with the scenery so perfectly that no one would ever know they're here."

Lucilia watched as Coco played around the garden. She really shouldn't give students special treatment like this, but she figured as long as she kept it under the record no one would notice. She kept quiet as Coco played in the garden, and mentioned bringing other Foreas. It would certainly be something interesting to see, more Foreas. Maybe she could even study them closer. She'd have to think about it though, and make sure that she doesn't end up taking in a bunch of crazies. Has happened once.

Eventually however, Lucilia was going to have to leave. She couldn't just stay here forever, as much as she'd like. But before she left, Lucilia had one question of her own. "So Coco... What did you think of the presentations?"

"I loved the Electromancy demonstration. Herbamancy was strange, I guess you can figure out why I think that. Most were fine, some uncomfortable, and only one was very confusing and... Terrifying, I guess?" She said, nodding towards the end. "Psychomancy was bad. I try to think on that one, but it's like a mist is blurring my thoughts. I feel cold, lonely and scared whenever I try to remember..."

"I didn't like Psychomancy. I can only think it was horrible, as I can remember clinging to the nearest source of warmth for a while."

Sighing, Lucilia figured that would be Coco's reaction. She had hoped that Tyrael would have absorbed most of the hostility with his stunt, but it seemed that Satori didn't even need to draw blood to do the most damage. "I cannot say I know what Satori, the Psychomancer teacher, did. But I'd like to ask if you can try to forgive her... If I knew what she was going to do, I would have stopped her. I was careless..." With that said, Lucilia knew there was little else to be done now. Hopefully they would all recover from the shock and move on with their lives. "Anyways, I'm sorry for bringing that up. Now than, you should get some rest! tomorrow will be your first day learning at the College, you should be able to find out what your mageblood is exactly and plan out your electives. I'll be quite busy tomorrow, but if I have time you can always come to me for help."

And after another fond farewell, Lucilia left Coco alone at the garden house. She would have to get around finding a roommate for Coco, or someone to keep her company. Perhaps other Foreas if more came.

Coco had chosen to stay silent as Lucilia spoke, attempting to apologize in Satori's place. It was a nice touch of her, and Coco was grateful that Lucilia was so readily available to aid her. Satori, though, had done something with Coco's mind, and it didn't set well with her, so if she was ever to truly forgive Satori, the fleshling had to be the one to forgive, and not the nice vampire next seat.

Certainly Coco must have been even a bit upset, having brought up that topic, but she was calm. After a day spent in a building made of stone, wood and such materials, one became tired. There was only so much that buildings offered that the outside world could double or triple.

Time was hard to track once the vampire left. The only sensible thing to do was to just lay down and wait for the inactive hours to tick by, and so she did, willingly letting her body fall into a state of inactivity to save energy and heat for the next day.

[Fallenreaper]

Althalus & Mar: Rtron & Fallenreaper

Althalus spent the long moments waiting for Mar to appear at the end of the crowd watching the antics of those students who had decided to get as drunk as possible as a way to recover from Satori's demonstration. One small Snow Elf was particular entertaining, giggling and stumbling her way after a Golem and Auriel. Althalus smiled, apparently the little elf wasn't prepared for so much drink. If he had any luck at all he would be just as bad. Preferably worse by the end of the night. By the time Mar slithered out of the Dining hall, the hallway outside was mostly empty. Seeing as there wasn't a bustling crowd to blame anything on, Althalus decided to have a little fun. With the smell of human everywhere, this should be easy.

Activating his silence rune, he walked over to behind Mar, careful to keep out of her field of vision. When he was within armsreach, he tapped her on the shoulder, leaping out of what he assumed was tail range almost immediately afterwards. Deactivating his rune as he did so. "Looking for me?"

Mar continued to whip her head about, no sign of Althalus to her frustration and disappointment. Her mind was stilled laced in the unnatural calm made by the pollen spores as they still settled on her skin, whitening it only slightly more. It made her itch a bit to only a mild annoyance, enough to keep her from wanting to flick out her tongue and risk it affecting her other senses. She had just been considering leaving when her body stiffened upon being touched at the shoulder. It was a surprise to find someone or thing had found their way into her personal spot without her notice.

Her calm mood slowly vanished and her body reacted instinctively, even slowed by the pollen's effects, as she whipped out low. Ear hadn't registered it was Althalus when he spoke until after she felt her tail smack into the leg and send the man falling on his ass, his hands up defensively. This time his voice reached her attention when her hiss died down.

Althalus was sure he was out of tail range. And he paid for that assurance by hitting the ground ass first. To his credit, he did manage to ge this hands up to ward off another blow, speaking after the first initial curse of surprise. "Ow! Okay, no more sneaking up on you, I get it!" He grinned up at her. He deserved, he knew he did. Picking himself up, slowly, he held up his hands in a sign of defeat. "Alright, my fun and games are over. I've got the rune, and you've got the room. If you don't know where the room is, well...wandering might do us some good. If you do, then lead on!" He waited for her, tossing the flask of Lunar between his hands in minor impatience.

Mar wanted to send Athalus into the wall but restrained herself from hitting him again. Though he had the rune, she didn't need any bloodshed which could provoke the teachers, already on edge from the feast, coming down on her. It won't be pretty. She forced herself to relax and place her attention on the pollen's faint effect once more to aid her. Her tail retracted back behind her while Athalus's words reached her. Her voice stated coldly her views on his trickery.

"Be sure that you do. Next time I will send you into the wall for such a foolish action." She warned then noted his impatience. "Stop that, it's distraction and rather unsettling. Seems you and Aramir suffered from the same anxiety that affected some of the other students."

Without a farther word, she started to slither towards the Gate entrance and turn towards the dorms. However when she arrived, Mar took the part to the side of the building and leaned over to a marked stone just in front of some bushes. She pushed aside the leaves to reach and withdrew her weapon as well as a small trinket Althalus would instant recogonize, his coin. The Naga had intended to return to him after the feast, a fact he never asked for it back and she had forgotten it was still within her hand.

Althalus shrugged apologetically. "Obviously, I need to change my sense of humour when I'm with you." Yeah. That was going to happen as soon as he grew wings out of his head and flew over the moon. Reflexes, those he could change quite easily. He gave a short laugh at her final words. "Anxiety is a nice way to describe it. Personally, I'm going to try to drink this so called 'never emptying flask' to the last drop, and hope that I'll get drunk enough that I'll completely forget the entire demonstration where the bitch decided to go riffling through my memories. Perhaps the night if it's potent enough."

He followed her through the school until she stopped in front of a marked stone. When she pulled out his coin, he immediately spoke. "May I have that back, please? I found myself missing it earlier tonight, before Satori decided to send me into a nightmare." Not to mention that coin has been with him ever since he ran. One side even had dried blood on it. Some memories are terrible, but they're not meant to be forgotten.

Mar carelessly tossed the coin at Althalus, her eyes not bothered to examine it through her tongue had caught the aged smell of blood upon it. She chalked it up to his biped oddness. Unlike her scythe which was a tool and weapon for her, the coin was useless and held no attachment for her. So the point in keeping it wasn't high in her head.

"This way..." she stated and moved again, her body started around towards the buildings back. Her path drew closer to the forgas nearby and wasted little time. Her body had already started to feel slightly cold from the lack of heat and sun, her earlier warm dampened when she lithered outside. Finally they reached her room which turned out to be an underground cave of sorts, the entrance a simple yet wide hole that allowed her to crawl in. She decided to allow Althalus to go first as she didn't like the notion of someone coming in behind her.

"After you." She said, her scythe pointed to the hole.

Althalus, far too used to people treating the things he valued as expendable or trash, caught the coin quickly without a word. It was returned to it's normal place next to the list of names. Following Mar, his good humor still intact. It didn't take long for them to reach her 'room'. Which was apparently just a cave in the ground next to the forge. Althalus shrugged as she let him go first, crawling down it fairly quickly. As he grew closer to the actual room, he became more and more aware of a faint light. Finally standing up inside, it was revealed that the light was glowing mushrooms. "Interesting..." Althalus muttered as he stepped to the side to allow Mar through, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

It was a rather bare cave, all things considered. "It's sad that this is one of the more comfortable places I've slept in, isn't it?"

For the first time in several months, Mar felt the closest thing to home since she arrived. Her eyes easily adjusted to the dim lighting within the room as it cased her body in a blue light once she cleared herself of the entrance. Her body easily could've risen to it's max height of nine foot if she chose to yet she remained within a relaxed stance, her head turned towards the man. "It has always suited my needs so why change it. Choose an area that's yours and from my understanding with the staff, it will slightly alter it. Hopefully it doesn't interfere badly with the currently settings."

Althalus glanced at the wall next to him curiously. If what she said was true, he should have a place to-Before Althalus could even finish the thought, a small indentation where he could hang his mask appeared next to him. Althalus wasted no time in placing it there, where it would remain for hopefully a long while yet. "There. That's all the changes I need to have. The mask was getting too much recognition for my taste." Placing his back against the wall, he sat down and opened the flask of Lunar. "Now, I am going to get well acquainted with this flask, and hope it sends the last few hours of this night into a black abyss that I'll never remember. Before I do, however, this belongs to you."

He pulled the rune from his pocket and tossed it to her, unable to keep the smug look from his face. "And you doubted I could do it..."

"You are a male who's yet to show me otherwise." Mar stated in her usual tone, her eyes caught the rune tossed at her.

Instantly her tail flicked up and wrapped about, catching it easily without so much as turning to face him. She held out her hand which it finally dropped it within and despite it on the floor beside her. The Naga worried little about dampness or water underground, mainly since it was dry and desert like materials which went into the creation. For a moment she rubbed her hand over the wall's rough exterior, her mind was lost a bit during the slight homesickness the sandy walls had brought on. She lingered there for a moment before she returned to the fact she wasn't alone.

"Where are you sleeping so I know where to avoid."

Althalus shrugged. "Fair enough." He didn't bother trying to challenge her rather skewed logic. The flask was still there, temptingly opened. Before he could try and put his theory to the test, however, he needed to answer Mar's question. Where would he be sleeping? Glancing around the cave, Althalus decided that the current patch of floor he was sitting on wouldn't be any different to any other patch of floor. "I'll just sleep right where I am. There doesn't seem to be much of a point of choosing a new one, does there?" He took a swig of the Lunar, feeling the ice cold liquid go down his throat. It was pretty much the polar opposite of Dragon Spite or Ember.

"Care to join me?" He offered, indicating the drink.

Mar looked at Althalus as if he asked her to jump off a cliff. Her lips turned up into a frown, her eyes narrowed and her hand rised to decline his offer. "No, I've seen enough bipeds make a fool of themselves today and I don't' intend to join you."

Her tail had started to curl up underneath her, shoulders rotated a bit while her body nested down to get comfortable. "Try to keep the volume down or my tail might find and silence you."

"Suit yourself. If I do happen to get too drunk, feel free to use your tail. Not that you would seek my permission or feel bad about it, I suspect, but nonetheless you have it. Try not to break anything though, I rather like waking up without half of my skull caved inwards." He took another drink of the Lunar, fully prepared to begin his journey to oblivion in earnest, when a thought hit him. "So, you didn't get a horrific vision from our friendly Psychomancy teacher bitch? You don't seem angry or upset enough to have gotten one. Odd. Lucky too, but primarily odd." Why would Satori have spared Mar? The entire Hall was thrown into chaos and nightmares, yet she remained unaffected.

Mar's eyes had been just about to drift off when Althalus's voice caused them to snap back open. Her head lifted towards his direction as she listened to his words, commented on the oddness of it. She too had found it strange about the fact everyone was sent into shambles yet her and a selective few remained untouched. The Naga had a unease feeling about it but chose to cast it away.

"One of the Students I was talking with broke down. It was strange to see such emotion wildly tossed about and displayed over such an event. Something I'm not use to and likely I hope never will." Her voice sounded hard against the idea, the notion seemed so alien and unsettling that her fingers had tighten against her hard scales during her thought.

Althalus noted her discomfort with the idea of blatantly displaying emotions. "For your sake, I hope you do get used to it. The rest of us haven't been raised from birth to keep rigid control of our emotions at all times. Most of us are a fairly open book. And, to be fair, even the most controlled of us would have lost it under those circumstances. I certainly did. Your friend may have thought that they were over the memories, or perhaps they had been avoiding remembering. Regardless, no on expects to have the worst moment of their lives suddenly replayed in front of them, and twisted into a far worse thing than they could have imagined. A word of advice? Don't mention this night to your friend ever again. Pretend it didn't happen. People don't like to be reminded of their pain, not when they're trying so hard to forget." Almost unconsciously, he reached into his pocket and touched his coin. "Some people, that is." He added softly.

"Pain I understand but it's unNaga like to display it, namely when you lack control over it. I hope I never stay long enough to understand such matters or worse, display them in such extremes." Mar said with blunt disgust, her jaw rested upon her tail. She pulled up her arm to use as a softer place to rest her head, her other upon the scythe's handle. The fingers gently felt the smooth handle and it's design, one she had chosen herself as a young Naga for her first weapon. It was the last reminder of her homeland.

"Bipeds are so...odd." She added, more to herself then him.

Althlus smirked. "You happen to be the only Naga, well, desert Naga, in the school. It would be decidedly odd if we all upheld ourselves to your standards. If you don't learn to understand, then you're going to be in for a long, uncomfortable stay here. Emotions are displayed frequently, in varying degrees. And you can't keep yourself distanced from us forever. Especially not now that I'm your roommate. Cavemate." He tooka nother drink of the Lunar, before laughing gently at her final words. "I believe the feeling is mutual, my dear. Most 'bipeds' don't know anything about the Naga. And you don't understand much about us." He gave her a toast with the flask.

"This will be a learning experience for us all then, won't it?"

Mar just mentally shook her head at Althalus reasoning, the actual act would've too energy wasting for her and pointless with him. Creatures of all shapes and size had different way to react, show emotion or none at all, but it didn't make it easier to understand. Her body merely sighed quietly while she answered him. "It might be for the best to keep things as such. If Naga and bipeds were meant to get along then it would've happened a long time ago. I can only hope my time here is brief."

Her body twisted around, her back turned to him clearly telling him she had no more words for him. It took a few minutes as her mind drifted off into slumber. Barely a sound erupted from her, eyes closed and skin dowsed within the heat created by the forge's furnace.

"I very much doubt that." Althalus said, quietly. She, apparently, didn't know just how long it took to understand magic. Years, certainly. Then again, what were mere years to someone who was going to live, and likely has lived, centuries? As the Naga drifted off into sleep, her breathing turning more regular and deeper, Althalus continued in his quest to out empty the flask that claimed to be a never emptying flask. When oblivion finally claimed him, the flask wasn't even half empty.

Still, he slept very well.

[Leon5431]

The travel from Wintercrest to the twilight college had not been excruciatingly long. Only a few days of traveling would be required, but given the fact they were on horse back it made t even easier. They had received an escort of four other soldiers till they reached the small village of Raylea on Wintercrest's border. The village is primarily made up of farmers and herdsmen being built in an open plain. The village also serves as a major stopping point for traders and the like heading south. Its inn being a resting point on the last leg of the journey to the Twilight college for many students heading south. The soldiers, who were friends of both Deven and Jenna rode with them till they reached this town and then they returned home, from their Deven and Jenna had traveled with another group of prospective students along the last leg of their journey. Both Deven and Jenna had cycled off of their horses should anyone seem tired or hurt or anything of the sort. Deven wore his armor and sword while Jenna wore her armor but had her bow resting on hook on her saddle. Both of the saddles were custom made so they could store their weapons on the horses along with what ever other supplies they couldn't carry on their backs, something they had happily made use of.

The last leg of their trip went by fast with help from the company of the other students. Some of them seeming like they had fought in battles while others seemed as green as the grass they passed wearing nothing but simple farmers clothes. As they arrived at the college the view was breath taking, both Deven and Jenna had received descriptions of the land, how it seemed gray and lifeless with a constant twilight hanging over the land, but the descriptions never truly fit the sight. But their eyes would almost always slip fro the landscape to the castle in the distance, the castle that they knew to be the Twilight college. As they approached the gates it was even more breath taking, the colleges banners hung high, torches bathed the area in an array of colors, people from all races, ages and types went to a fro doing their business. To some it would likely seem like the early parts to a festival for a holiday of some sort, but this was no festival it was a welcoming for all the new students at the college. Students mumbled in amazement as they looked around, some spoke with their friends while others remained silent. The pair rode to the stables before dismounting, removing their gear and passing on the horses to the stable hands.

"This is it. We are finally here! Oh i'm so excited!" Jenna said happily. Deven looked at her and smiled before he spoke, "I know, all the stories about this place don't do it justice. I lo-" He tried to say before a Eysire's voice rang out silencing the whole mess of prospective students. Deven and Jenna both quieted down and listened as the Eysire spoke. He introduced himself as Khan Jevarath, the headmaster of the school. He gave them a warm welcome and informed them of the feast and the presentations that would go on during the feast. During the speech, Deven had taken notice to someone making their way through the crowd. This was given light by people exclaiming things or shouting expletives as whoever it was made there way to the front. It was then they burst forth from the crowd, it was a small snowelf who had been causing the trouble and who was continuing forward until her mad dash was brought to an end as she crashed into the head master. "Oh, that has to be embarrassing." Jenna chuckling slightly and forcing a slight flinch. Deven smiled and nodded, "Poor elf, sure am glad its neither of us in that situation." Deven said plainly. The situation seemed to resolve rather quickly and students began to voice their questions. One of which, a strange looking human, who had patches of scale a set of wings and a tail. Jenna's eyes had already settled on that girl when Deven looked to her. "What is she?" Jenna asked her tone curious. "She looks human, but she has a tail, wings and scales like the Eysire. I wasn't aware any half breeds existed." He said his tone matching Jennas. The pair fell silent once again waiting for the headmasters answers to the questions.

As the Headmaster spoke his answer to the questions Deven and Jenna both found themselves pleased with the responses. Soon after the answers were made the tour began. The students were divided into groups and went of on their tour. The remainder of the tour passed rather fast, Deven and Jenna making notes of the places they were taken to. As the tour came to an end the pair made their way back to the doors set on passing the time until the feast began. Jenna's eyes skimmed over the many doors that led to the rooms. "You think of anyone you may want to room with?" Jenna asked looking to Deven as they walked. Deven looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Well I am not sure if they allow coed dorming so, let me go down the long list of new people I have met." He said sarcastically clearing his throat and looking like he was about to give a long speech. "Alright, alright, I get it you don't need to be such an ass about it." Jenna replied rolling her eyes in mock annoyance. Deven chuckled at her, "I am not even sure if I would room with anyone. I couldn't feel comfortable with a random strange sleeping in the same room as me." Deven confessed. Jenna nodded, "Yeah, I get what you mean, but that's part of the experience isn't it?" Jenna said optimistically. "Who says I want to experience it?" He replied. "I do." she retorted. "Well you would be wrong." He stated. "Ugh, at least give people a chance?" She asked. He sighed and glared at her, "I will try at the feast, alright, but I doubt there would be anyone I trust enough to sleep in the same room with." Deven said submitting. She smiled happily at him,"What was that? Did you just agree to do what I asked? My gods, someone get the record bool this must be recorded!" She exclaimed sarcastically looking at him with a smug grin. "And you call me an ass?" He replied. She merely laughed in response and he laughed along.

The rest of the time passed quickly and soon the feast was upon them. Deven and Jenna still wore their armor and had their weapons with them seeing as many of the others students still had theirs. They had picked adjacent rooms that were unoccupied and had dropped their gear off before joining back up and trying to pass time before the feast. Now the time had finally come for the feast to start. "I wonder what these demonstrations are going to be like." Jenna said as her and Deven neared the doors to the mess hall. "I'm not sure, but I am definitely excited." He responded. The two entered the hall and were met with the delicious smells of the wide assortment of food provided to the students, the feast was even greater then the one they had been in back in Wintercrest, maybe as much people but not as wide a variety of food. "Wow...talk about no expenses spared.." Jenna mused. "Yeah, I get what they meant when they said the opening feast would be beyond grand." Deven replied. Before he realized they were still standing in the door way. He noticed an annoyed looking Eysire standing behind them waiting for them to move. Deven grabbed Jenna's hand, "We may want to move." He said leading her away from the door, and the Eysire at that. "Oh yeah, that might be smart." She chuckled. As they moved away Deven let go of her hand and the two began weaving through the crowd walking side by side when possible.

The two sampled some of the food at first before picking their favorites and making a plate of them. Then made their way to the wall-o'-drinks, as Jenna had jokinly called it. She poured herself a glass of Rose wine, her favorite. Deven on the other hand got himself a mug of sapphire nectar. Made from fermented blueberries combined with a assortment of herbs and spice to create an extremely sweet, bright blue drink with a powerful punch to back. The pair found themselves a table and chatted away the time before the demonstration talking to each other or other adjacent people, Deven living to his word on trying to find someone he could possibly room with.

Eventually the demonstrations began, Deven and Jenna fell silent captivated by the sights they saw. They had long finished their food and had stood moving closer to the stage to get a better look. The demonstrations flowed by followed by amazement and a spike in interest, each one showing its powerful abilities and potential. Deven watched with doubled interest as the pyromancy display came on. The display had been nothing like he had expected focusing on the power to create, this brought a whole new light to his blood, something he honestly had not thought of before. The same was so for Jenna when the Vitamancy demonstration took the stage, she watched with awe and amazement as the teacher changed her physical features and took on the form of a wyvern. Of their course of their bloods Deven and Jenna exchanged excited looks towards each other both of them hopeful of their future with their bloods.

Then came the Demonmancy demonstration. Deven who had been trying to the best of his ability to ignore the ever unwavering presence of the demons that seemed to be the colleges favorite tool. H eyed what ever demon moved near him with hateful distrust at times letting his hand fall to the hilt of his sword. And when the Demonmancy teacher stepped forth, his nerves were on edge. Jenna on the other hand was enthralled in the amazement of it all and did not think anything of it. The teacher spoke, Deven scowled at the man and smirked at his comment calling the demons, "citizens" of the inferno. he found it baffling that the murderous beasts of the inferno could even be thought to be called citizens. As his hands dropped to his sides and the demonstration began Deven could not stop the nervous lump from forming in his throat.

Slowly the room began to change, its chairs morphing and the walls vanished, Devens hand clenchd his sword tighter and tighter as the room began to change. Deven struggled to calm his nerves and maintain his composer but just as he felt he was making progress the entire room changed to the like of the inferno. An composer Deven once had was bashed into dust and he tore his sword from its sheath producing a metallic ring. But his seemingly nightmare did not end, all across the room demons appeared. Fear filled Deven's mind all of his worst fear were thrown into the light of his mind, images of what happened to his parents their gruesome murder, he felt as though it was happening all in front of him again. His heart sunk to his feet and his fists clenched around his sword. His eyes fell to the nearest demon, it was human sized and stood just adjacent to him and Jenna. Deven could not even begin to control the amount of rage and fear he felt, his body fell to just pure instinct as he lunged for the Demon who had its eyes set on to something else, what it was Deven could not tell. As it turned toward its target it was stopped in its tracks as Deven plunged his sword through its chest. The demon shrieked in pain but was silenced as Deven plunged his knife into its skulls. But he did not stop. He tore his blade and dagger free, and spun slicing his blade across the demons neck severing its head.

But Deven didn't stop overwhelmed by what was going on he was simply trying to defend both him and Jenna. A winged imp attempted to fly over head but was knocked out of the sky as a blade sliced through its wing. It plummeted to the ground in a small crash landing and was ended as a blade was brought down practically slicing it in half. Adrenaline rage and fear shot through Deven's body. he could barely even control himself. His eyes raised looking for the next target, he saw numerous demons assaulting their prey, he saw students fighting or hiding or stalk still with fear. But then Deven's entire body froze in place, his limbs went numb and dread began to flood into his body, overwhelming his instinct to fight and defend. In a small parting of the sea of what now seemed faceless figures Deven saw it, a demon as black as night, with small wisps of darkness rippling off of it, blade like claws extending several inches from it's fingers, its maw formed into a grin filled with razor teeth. The demon stood their un-moving its eyes fixed on Deven, with a look like a monstrous predator staring down its trapped, wounded prey. Deven's body began to tremble violently and his sword and dagger dropped from his grasp hitting the floor producing metallic rings. Somewhere in the distance a voice rang out, but Deven could not even make out a single word. He could not even will himself to move he could only gaze on in horror at the sight before him.

Then the crowd seemed to close in on the gap, hiding the demon from view and then parted again, leaving no sign of the demon that once stood their. Deven's eyes skimmed the room, looking for any sign of it, filled with dread and terror, not even paying any mind to any of the other demons. He could hear the demons terrifying shrieks echoing in its head, the grueling sound as it broke through bone and sliced through flesh, the terrible sound of his father gasping for air when his throat had been ripped out. Deven's movements began to grow more sporadic, he whipped his head around looking for anything, any sign of the demon. The sounds and the shrieks only growing louder and louder even as the next teacher stepped forward. cold sweat beaded down his face. He heard multiple voices in the distance but they were drowned out by the sound of the shrieks of the demon. Where is it? Where is it? I need to find it. I need to run. I need to get away. Deven you need to move! Do something! Run! Hide! Get awa-. Deven was jolted from his as someone grabbed his shoulders, his body tensed and his head whipped around, there before him he saw Jenna.

Through the demonstration Jenna had mostly been paralyzed with fear and confusion, she saw some students including Deven fighting but many more cowering in fear. It wasn't until the Demonmancy teacher spoke that she realized the demons were only attacking other demons. At this she relaxed greatly and turned to see Deven, lookign around in a desperate attempt to find something, his eyes wide in shock and horror and his face a pale white as though he had seen a ghost. "Deven!" She shouted as she began to walk towards him, but he did not seem to even realize she had spoken. "Deven she tried again as she neared. "Deven! She shouted a third time this time grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to look at her. This seemed to break him from his trance. He looked at her with wide terrified eyes breathing heavily. "Deven calm down, they arent trying to harm anyone it was just a demonstration, they aren't hurting anyone just more demons." She said in as soothing a voice as she could muster. This seemed to calm him a little, he nodded. "Alright alright." He said in a shaky voice. "Deven are you alright? You look like you have seen a ghost." Jenna asked concerned. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding, "Yeah...yeah I am fine, just give me a moment to calm down." he replied. She nodded and turned back in time to hear the last of the herbamancy teachers speech. Both her and Deven watched as the herbamancy teachers creations hunted down the demons that were summoned.

Deven calmed as the demons were eliminated, he did his best to pretend like nothing was bothering him anymore, but on the inside he was shaken to his very core. He leaned down and picked up his sword and dagger, as he retrieved them he noticed something odd, where the sword and dagger had been laying was now covered in scorch marks and steam rose off the blades as they cooled. He also noticed a faint tiredness in his movements. strange... he thought to himself. He barely paid attention to anything around him as he tried to calm down, telling himself it wasn't real, it was just his mind playing tricks on him, it couldn't have been real. He made up any excuse he could in an attempt to calm himself. As the herbamancy demonstration ended and the phycomancy demonstration began Deven payed no attention. And as people felt the affects of Satori's doing. Deven only found himself lost in his own thought. His eyes had settled on the seated Demonmancy teacher, his gaze filled in an immeasurable amount of hate and anger. As he struggled to calm his nervous.

It was as though one of his nightmares had come true right before his eyes. He had dreamed of that demons return and every time the Demon had claimed his life like it did his parents. He always tole himself he would be able to face it in reality, he would fight it and he would win, that was how he would calm himself but now, there it was before his eyes and all he had done was freeze, unable to move. He could do nothing but watch as the demon did as it pleased, it could have ended him right there and he could have done nothing, but it chose to torture him, to tear down anything he had built up about his ability to fight it. Had it even been real? Was it really there? Did this sick son of a bitch, this monster of a demonmancy teacher really summon the one demon that had taken everything from him? or had it been all in his imagination?

"Whats going on?" Jenna asked, breaking Deven from his trance yet again. He looked to her questioningly, unsure of what she meant. But then he began to notice. All across the hall students clutched their heads, cowered in fear or worse, some people cried out while others stood stock still. Deven looked around questioningly. "I dont know. Was it the demons? or th-" He fell silent as he looked to the phsycomancy teacher. She had proposed a toast, and was smiling looking out at the students. Then it occurred to Jenna, "It was her..." Jenna said silently, both her and Deven starring the teacher down. "She did something to the students.."She continued before falling silent. "But what? And why weren't we affected?" She asked silently not talking to anyone in particular. "I will be back." Deven said coldly. She turned to him as he began walking by. "Wait. Where are you going?" Jenna asked, not really wanting to be alone amid all the confusion. "I just need to get some air and I want some time alone away from all this madness." He said his tone still cold. Jenna stopped following him, "Alright, I will be here..." She said after him as she watched him go with concern plastered on her face. Her head turned back to the teachers, [I]Did we make a mistake coming here?[I] She asked herself. As she stood their alone.

Deven followed out with the crowd out of the mess hall, he made his way away from the crowds of people leaving the mess hall even bumping into some people and pushing others that got in his way. He did anything he could to get away from people, just wanting to be alone so he could work out his thought. His mind was still boiling with all the emotions he had been experiencing, all the hate and all the confusion all the shame and all the fear. He walked until he found himself, in one of the courtyard with no one around, with nothing but the open sky above and his own thoughts for company.

[Toxic Diamond]

Aruna turned from Ssarak and started walking away. She needed distance, and everything was blurring. She mumbled a goodbye to her murderer and left the dinning hall. She stumbled through the halls until her head was clear again. She had no idea were she was, but her head was more sharp now.
She eyed a window. If anything could calm her nerves right now, it was flying. She walked to the window and opened it, revealing a steep drop. She climbed up the window sill and stood, perched on the edge, then she tilted forward, and slowly leaned. Then she simply fell.
The wind tore at her hair and howled in her ears as she fell. She snapped open her wings as felt the extreme pull in her muscles as they held her aloft and shot her skyward again. She closed her eyes and just began to climb higher and higher.She didn't care how high. She just wanted to be free from the pressure of company for a while. She contemplated if she had made the right decision in coming to the school. If she was really as safe as they had claimed.
Just as she had convinced herself that she was just being to paranoid she felt a red hot pain in her back. Right between her wings. Immediately she stopped climbing and started falling. She had climbed a long way though, and she had a long way to fall. She recognized the extreme pain as an arrow. It was to shallow to be a knife and to small (and to high) to be a spear.
The wind was ripping at her clothes as she fell, telling her she was running out of time to do something, anything. She twisted in the air to see the ground coming at her. She had the overwhelming sensation that she was going to die. So, she closed her eyes and accepted her fate.
No!
Her draconian eyes snapped open. She was not going to die like this. She thought quickly, trying to come up with something... Then a plan dawned on her. She felt like an idiot for not thinking of it before. She grit her teeth and flexed all her muscles in her wings, making them stiff again. Immediately her speed slowed and she shot forward, but the strain on the Muscles in her back where the arrow was almost made her cry out in pain. She relaxed the muscles in her back and started falling again. She let herself fall, until the very last second, she snapped her wings and shot forward. She felt a tearing sensation in her back as her right wing just stopped working. Aruna went into a spinning crash that would certainly kill her. The pain in her back was so great that her vision was fading in and out. But she remembered the last thing she thought, before losing conciousness completely was,
why is the ground Shiny?

[Konan375]

Leith was lost. He was sure that he knew the way he had come from, but the fact that he couldn't find his room told him that he was wrong. With a sigh, he sipped at the drink in his hand only to find it empty. After it's initial hotness, Leith had grown to like the drink. He felt sad that he didn't know the name of the drink, but he was certain that he could find out.

With a slight sway in his step, Leith walked down the hallway, running his hand along the wall. He was caught off-guard when the wall he had been partially leaning on was no longer there. With a small cry of surprise, Leith lost his balance and fell. He landed on the stone floor hard, momentarily knocking the wind out of him.

When he looked up, he noticed that he had arrived back in the dining hall. Most of the students had left, but there were a few still there for some reason. He noticed a girl sitting at a table, looking bored. Leith picked himself off the ground and walked over to the table.

"You do know that the demonstrations are over, right?" Leith asked with a slight smile, showing that he was joking.

[Leon5431]

Deven Zoria

"Your a coward Deven...a spineless coward...there it was right before your eyes...and you just sat there...too afraid to even lift a finger...I could have....no I should have died back there...I should have died a long time ago...I deserve to...they died for me...and now the one chance I get to avenge them I let slip away because I was too much of a spineless coward to fight..." Deven said towards himself, not really caring how it looked seeing as he was alone. His hands had clenched into fists, his fear and confusion had began to shift to anger, anger that yearned for a target but found none but himself. An image of the demon, standing there between the crowds staring him down flashed into mind. His fists clenched even tighter to the point it was beginning to hurt, "it should have ended me then and there...it could have...why didnt it? Why did it just let me live, just leave me be? Why couldn't it just end this torture? Why is it toying with me?" He questioned. "have I not suffered enough?!" He exclaimed as though the Demon might be hiding around some corner nearby, waiting for him to hit his lowest point. "And what of that damned demonmancy teacher? Why did he summon it? What have I done to him to deserve that?" Deven questioned, he had un-clenched his hands and had begun pacing back and forth in the courtyard.

Deven sighed sadly, "Was it even real? Have I finally lost my mine? A dozen years of living with this torture and I have finally lost it?" He said sadly to himself. "Gods I just want answers!" He exclaimed once more, as though someone would answer, but there was no one, just the distant sound of music from the mess hall. "Then what of that pshycomancer? Are all the teachers mad here? Do they use the students just to punish them and make them suffer? And why did she spare me and Jenna? Does she have something worse planned for us?" He questioned the shadows, who gave no response. "To hell with both of them? Who are they to prey on those that cannot defend themselves? Who are they to threaten us and tell us we must be strong yet strike us with fear when we are weak? What good does it do to make us fearful then tell us to defend ourselves? There will always be that doubt from when we failed, there will always be that moment when when failed that will forever hang above us daunting us weakening us." Deven said angrily as though the two teachers were before him listening.

Then he fell silent, his gaze dropping to his feet as his mind got lost in his thoughts, he had managed to blow off some steam in his pointless rants. But he was still far from calm. Then a strange sound began to work its way to Deven's ears it was the sound of a large amount of rushing wind. It was faint at first but it quickly grew louder and louder until it was right a top him, Deven managed to lift his head just in time to see a figure falling from the sky, "Oh wait n-" He tried to say before the figure crashed into him knocking the air out of his chest and sending him to the ground, who ever the figure was falling on top of him. "Ow..." Deven groaned as he got the air back into his chest. He lay on his back with pain resonating from his chest and stomach, slowly he lifted his head to see who exactly it was that had just plummet into him and more so why. The first thing he noticed were the wings, then the blood, then the skin. It only took a few second for it to click in his head who it could have been. As his eyes settled on her face he recognized her as the fellow new arriving half Eysire, half human. It took little effort to spy where the blood was coming from, seeing half of the shaft of an arrow sticking out of the girls back. The other half having broken off in her crash. "Hey, are you awake?" He asked shaking her gently, he received no response.

A sense of urgency came over the situation, she was unconscious, bleeding and likely not without a few broken bones, he had to get her help and if he could stop the bleeding. He, slid himself out from under her, making sure to slowly let her body drop to the ground. Once he was completely free his mind began racing for options. He could remove the arrow but there would be no telling how much blood she would lose if he did. Perhaps he could remove the arrow then cauterize the wound so she would less blood, his mageblood would allow him to do this and he was sure the vitamancers here at the school could heal her wound and the burn should he choose to do it, but by doing so he would cause an extreme amount of pain to her. Come on Deven make up your mind! You can't sit here and think forever![I] He thought to himself.

His eyes bore into the arrow jutting from her back as he settled on what he would do. "If you can hear me, this is going to really hurt." He said took his knife from its sheath and reached for the arrow. As he wrapped his hand around the shaft of the arrow making sure to grab the point closest to the wound, he could not help but feel glad she was unconscious. He began to pull the arrow from the wound, slowly at first before increasing in speed, as he did blood gushed out from around the arrow, coating his hand in crimson and spilling out across her back. Then once he was sure he had gotten a majority of the arrow out he yanked it free blood splatering out as he did and more beginning to gush rapidly out. He dropped the arrow to his side as he did its metal tip created a faint cling as it hit the stone ground. His blood covered hand reached for his knife and he began focusing on using his blood to heat his blade, using the little training he had received as a guide, soon the blade began to glow orange, and heat radiated off of it. He looked to the wound then to her face. "Here we go." He said as he slowly lowered the side of the blade to the wound.

As the blade made contact with her patch of scale it produced a sizzling sound one would expect to hear while cooking meat and filled the air with the grotesque smell of burning flesh. It felt like hours before Deven lifted the blade and looked down at the now cauterized wound. He dropped the knife to the ground beside him which was still sizzling slightly. Deven swung his pack around and took out a extra shirt he hadn't unpacked from his bag, the grabbed his knife once more and began to cut out a long piece of cloth from the bottom to the top of the shirt. When done he threw the shirt back into his bag which had picked up a few streaks of blood from his blood covered hands. He then sheathed his knife and lifted the girl up so he could reach under her then began to tie the cloth around the wound to stop whatever other blood could reach the wound. Once done her he slung his pack over his shoulders reached under the girl and rolled her gently so she would be facing up then lifted her to his lap, once she was resting on his lap he reached with his left hand for the bloodied half arrow next to him and then replaced his hand under the girl the arrow pressed between his hand and her hip, his other hand holding her shoulders.

Slowly he began to stand, uneasy at first, but soon he was able to gain stable footing. He felt once more the tiring affects of using his blood, but was more then capable of carrying her. His head whipped around to the direction he had come from. "Lets get you to the mess hall, the vitamancy teacher will know what to do." He said partly to her and partly to himself, as he began trudging back to the mess hall.

Jenna Fellrien

After Deven left Jenna took a seat at one of the empty tables removing her bow and setting it so it leaned on the table next to her so she could sit comfortably. She looked around at the still thinning number of students, most of the teachers seemed to be staying for at least a little while after likely for questions, but very few people seemed to approach, seeing as many were probably set off by what some of the demonstrations had done. Her eyes drifted between the worse offenders, the phsycomancy and demonmancy teachers, their demonstrations having been brutal and cruel in driving their point across and likely made many fearful of the blood type and perhaps even scared to train in the blood type. [I]If this is what the teachers are willing to do opening day then I can only imagine what they will do over the course of our study. She thought as she eyed them.

She sighed loudly and her gaze drifted down to her hands at the table, "Maybe it was a mistake.." She mumbled softly to herself. No...I shouldn't say that...father trusted me and Deven to come here to learn and become the best mages we could be, he believes we are capable of doing so and in no way will I let him down in that. We can put up with whatever they throw at us. We will not leave this school, we will do Wintercrest proud and will come back more powerful then ever. I shouldn't let a few puny demonstrations get in the way of my learning. Everyone back home is trusting us to go through with our study. And I, we wont let them down. She thought to herself pushing out the doubts that crowded her mind.

It was then that a voice spoke up from behind her, at first she thought it was Deven but the voice sounded different, she turned her head towards the source and saw a man, with pale white skin, and light blue eyes, she couldn't help but notice his distinct lack of hair but told herself not to make note of it for it could be rude. "Oh uh hello." She said a little awkwardly. "Yeah, I know there over, I am just waiting for a friend to come back, he said he just needed some air and would be right back. Come to think of it...I should have told him to just meet me at my room." She said partly thinking out loud. "Anyway, my name is Jenna, of house Fellrein. If I may, what might your name be?" She asked in a friendly tone.

[Toxic Diamond]

Darkness enveloped her. Aruna could feel nothing but a heavy darkness. She liked it. It was peaceful, this darkness. She could get used to this. But she began to feel herself rise out of the darkness. She tried to stay, she didn't want to leave. But no matter how she tried, she rose.
The first thing she registered was pain. A horrible pain in her back, and a lesser, but still noteworthy pain in her chest. Then she heard a voice drift over her.
"If you can hear me, this is going to really hurt."
Aruna's sluggish mind tried to figure out what he was talking about. She was already hurting. Then her pain seemed to increase tenfold. She let out an unintentional scream. Then the pain became so great that she once again felt darkness take her.
The second time she emerged from the embrace of the darkness she felt the pain again, but it was much more subdued now. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a boy. He had Brown hair and fair skin. She wondered why this boy was carrying her. She. Tried to move, but doing so shot pain through her body and she gasped.
"Wh-what are you doing? Who are you?"

[Konan375]

Leith nodded at the girl's explanation. He did pause she made the comment about telling her friend to meet her in her room, but he mentally shook it off. He should be the one to know that making assumptions wasn't a good thing. When Jenna asked for his name, he was a bit glad for the change in subject.

"Leith Calder," he said as he held out his hand. Fellrein, he was sure he had heard that before. He decided not to ask about the name, so instead, he asked about her friend. "Was your friend shaken up by the Psychomancy demonstration? I can say that I was." Leith frowned. He could barely remember what it was that had happened. All he remembered about it was the two men, and the burning. He shuddered slightly. "It was definitely good demonstration."

[Leon5431]

Jenna smiled as he answered and she reached out and shook his hand as well, "Well, its a pleasure to meet you Leith." She said in a friendly tone. As he spoke she grabbed her mug and took a sip from it before setting it back down on the table. She had been so distracted by the demonstrations that she hadn't finished it. Let alone she was lucky it was still intact. The drink was delicious going down but had a sharp alcohol aftertaste, but she had grown used to the after taste and it barely bothered her. She set her cup down on the table just as he finished his question. "No, actually both he and I weren't affected by it for whatever reason. No, he left for something else, but that's a long story of which I would rather not tell." She responded, not willing to indulge him in the knowledge of Deven's fears.

He seemed to remember something then added a comment about the quality of the demonstration, "To be honest I am genuinely curious as to what Satori did. I have no idea what it was, all I know was that it pissed a lot of people off, care to shed some light?" She asked turning her seat so she was facing him. She lifted her mug once more to her lips and took another long sip of the drink. Once she was done she gestured to an unoccupied intact chair nearby, trying to tell him to sit after noticing him wobbling slightly.