Ingenium Academy: Chapter Two, Test of Will

[Krylo]

For the new first year students, the day passed in relative peace. The mess hall served breakfast, lunch, dinner and as many snacks as they liked through the day, as they wandered about the campus, napped in their rooms, or read at the library--as their fancy took them. The harsh rays of morning light had quickly turned into an ambient glow of warmth that permeated all things, truly a wonderful day.

Eventually, however, the bell rang for the last class of the day, and the older students--first years from previous months, second years, third years, etc--all filed back out into the campus, laughing, joking, rough-housing, and playing around. Some filed off to class, while a few others split off from their friends and headed toward the blacksmith, the stables, or other various jobs.

Amongst those who split off were a few second year students and up designated as student helpers. Their job was simply to make sure that first year students were able to find everything and were taken care of. To those who had already learned about them, these particular students were easy to find thanks to a small silver signet patch they wore above their class stripes.

The student helpers quickly spread about the campus finding any lost or potentially late first years, and helping them make it to the will test.
---
A certain boy, named Ellithorn, whom had slept in a bit too late this morning, picked a few balls of fuzz off his vest before leaving his room with a spring in his step. His gait was quick and joyful as he moved down into the courtyard and began to head forward. He had found the magic building--where the tests were to be held earlier--so he assumed he'd have no trouble arriving there to take his test for Magical Theory I.

Unfortunately, when he had found the building, the courtyards were almost completely empty, and the living throng of human-flesh, most of which was larger than him, moving through the area now quickly confused and turned the small boy around multiple times. In short order he found himself completely lost and wandering haplessly.

Luckily, it did not take long for one of the student guides to find him. "Hey Kid!" the older student's voice rang out, calling Ellithorn's attention to him, "You look lost... Need to get to the will test?"

Ellithorn's entire upper body went limp with relief as he nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the boy responded quickly regaining enough composure to clasp his hands together and bow a few times.

"...Calm down... let's just get to the magic building..."
---
From the outside the magic building looked as white and pristine as any of the other buildings about campus, but as the student guide lead Ellithorn through the doors the scene quickly changed. The walls were mostly made of black obsidian with strange patterns etched along them, that pulsated with an earthly deep purple glow--illuminating the halls with a ghastly light.

Ellithorn moved closer to the tour guide as he heard the crackling of electricity followed by a scream coming from one of the doors they passed, and explosions coming from another. He was beginning to rethink taking these magic courses, but before he could say anything the student guide opened a door and gestured for Ellithorn to enter.

"We're here," he said with a relaxed smile, as though the sounds from the halls didn't disturb him at all.

The smile slightly re-assuring Ellithorn, he walked into the door, to find another hall, this one with seats on either side of it with various first year students sitting and chatting amongst themselves exciteably.

After a short distance, however, the hallway opened into a large circular room, with more of the glyphs, like on the walls, carved onto the floor. In the center of the floor there was a pentagram drawn within a circle. At each point of the pentagram a different glyph was placed, and smaller glyphs were scrawled all along the outside of the circle, glowing brightly.

A few moments later a beautiful woman wearing a tight red dress, which clung to her body like a latex and was cut down in the front below her navel, only kept covering her breasts thanks to a small gold ring that connected the fabric across them.

She stepped to the top point of the pentagram, followed by several other people wearing robes marked with the same glowing sigils.

The woman pointed toward Ellithorn and gestured him forward, the boy responding to her unspoken command before he even realized what he was doing. Before he knew it he had stepped beyond the hallway and a shield of light blinked into existence behind him, seeming to spring from a few of the glyphs on the wall.

He stopped and looked back over his shoulder in shock but was quickly pulled out of his reverie by a feminine voice, that flowed like soft velvet, "Come... stand in ze center of ze circle, young one... your will shall be tested first."

Ellithorn turned back and nodded, walking forward to the center of the pentagram, and waiting for what was to come.

"Are you ready?" the woman asked, and Ellithorn responded with a nod.

"Very well..." she said.

The woman pointed to the ceiling and every glyph and rune in the room came alive in resplendent light nearly blinding Ellithorn, before their light drained away, all condensing into the five glyphs around the pentagram. Soon small beams of light shot up from each glyph, hitting Ellithorn's torso from all sides, and, for a moment things seemed to be going fine as the energy was directed back out of him to the ceiling, channelled by his instinctual will.

However, soon the beam of light that rocketed from his shoulders to the ceiling--to dissipate harmlessly, began to waver and break part, pure energy arcing across the room. The glyphs about the area lit up once more, as did the glyphs on the robes of the students, this time erecting a barrier across all the walls, protecting them from the violent surges of electricity which ravaged the room for a moment before turning back down onto Ellithorn creating a magical feedback loop. Soon the energy from the glyphs began to go haywire as well, and an inhuman scream of pain escaped from the young boy's lips.

The screams seemed to last forever, but in truth lasted only seconds before the energy dropped off and Ellithorn fell to the ground, the flesh over his torso stripped of skin and cauterized by the energy. His uniform was burnt beyond recognition and hung loosely from his his shoulder as he sat on his knees for a second before falling forward and passing out, with ragged breath.

"Bring him to ze medical ward," the woman before the point of the pentagram said with no emotion to her voice, "and be sure zhey tell him to change his schedule vhen he awakes, yes?"

One of the robed men nodded, pulling back his hood to reveal the face of an older student, before walking to the center of the pentagram and picking Ellithorn up, placing the boy on his shoulder before walking back out through the hall so that the other students waiting could see what happened to the failures.

Hopefully some of the weaker willed students would be scared into leaving.

[Aerozord]

Allen was sitting in the hall watching the demonstration. However seeing the display only intrugied him. Something about the raw power of it all energized him. The thought that raced through his head were often, 'imagine having that power behind my punches.' He stepped forth, wanting to be tested imediately. "If i am injured so be it, pain is an illusion for the weak."

Stepping up he took his will test. The test began and the energy was channeled through his body. However unlike the last student his energy remained focused and smooth. The test finished, he himself was shocked. At the very least he expected to be lightly toasted. "Hmm well that wasn't so bad. Guess this means I passed." The woman nodded confirming his guess. Without his realising a smirk came across his face as he sat back down.

[Truce]

Curel shivered as he watched the small boy fail, remembering that magic was not something that simply obeyed your commands. Without the strength of will there was no telling what a spell would do-and the pain that the boy had felt today was nothing compared to what could have occured.

Clenching his fists, he took a deep breath and stepped forward. If he was going to fail, then at least he would be one of the first-it wouldn't do any good to stand around doing nothing.

Soon, he himself was standing in the center of the circle and, with a shaky nod, the will test began. It wasn't perfect like Allen's had been, but it was certainly better that the total failure of Ellithorn. Though, for a moment, it wavered, it soon smoothed out, and before he knew it he had passed the test.

After a couple of unsteady steps, he then walked over and joined Allen as another student that had passed, and sighed.

[Tarrin]

Finaly it was Johanns turn, Many of the student's had passed, But many more had failed, the smell of charred flesh permiated the corridor, A testament to the pain those who failed felt.

Failture was not an option for Johann, This was the sole reason he had come to the Academy and nothing.... Nothing would stop him from helping his people.
Entering the ampitheater Johann's face was grimiced with determination, The runes on the walls already were glowing.
Steping into the test area the power immediately arced from him, but no sooner had he's hope grew then they popped.
Energy raw and powerful filled the room, Lightning crackled accross walls striking the runes apon them. Suddenly more and more power flew from Johann and strikes smashed into the cobblestoned floor chipping various places.
Through all the pain that wracked his body Johann made no noise not even a whisper, Even when flesh started to peel from his body, The determination Johann had wouldent let him give in.
Then the power stopped, The scarred and burning form of Johann collapsed.
"Ze test iz over" pronounced the woman "thiz one has will yez but it iz not of ze magics".
One of the robed students moved over to lift Johann onto his shoulder, Johanns mutilated arm pushed him away.
"N..no" came the weakend gasp.
Slowly and painfuly Johann reached his feet, He had failed his people by failing the test... He would not dishonor them by being carried out like some ragdoll.
Johann shuffled his way from the hall falling a few times, stoping to gasp in breath and pain a few more, Slowly he made his way to the medical ward.
He would get healed there but not entierly he had already made his mind to leave some scarring as a testament to his falture.

[TheBlindMime]

Piotr had watched in horror as one of the first friends he had made at the school was charred into mutilation by the very test he himself had wanted to take. Piotr couldn't find the courage in his heart to step into the pentagram before him, so he merely watched as student after student marched into the test, all of them facing the same fate Johann had, failure.

Piotr was about to walk away, from the test, from the school, from his pledge for vengeance when he heard it. It was one of the faintest sounds he had ever heard, it was nearly silent, but he could hear himself making the exact same shallow breath he had made before running for his life. Right as one of the older students began dragging the last failure out of the pentagram Piotr charged into it one thought echoed throughout his mind, "Never again, never again will I run."

The lights began their gentle flow as they had down for every test, Piotr felt confident if not a little weary of them and for a time he was even able to predict their paths. He smiled in wonderment just before a light shifted from the path he had predicted and it was with that small shift of light that all of Piotr's confidence was lost. The lights exploded and cascaded at random, all of them seeming to be driven towards him, with every painful arc of energy striking him, scorching him, burning him, branding him, Piotr lost his focus entirely. He wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else and as he entered shock his mind tried to fill that need as best it could.

Piotr's mind filled itself with pleasantries from his past, he saw himself tilling his fathers land, admiring his uncle as he forged a horse shoe, helping his mother draw water from the well, raising a fence with his father, his family sitting by the fire... his family running, screaming, fighting, burning, dying. Piotr suddenly opened his eyes, he saw the present this time and a light was headed right towards his face, the other lights weren't far behind. "They all died and I'm going to die too." The light blinked forward, drawn to Piotr as if by.... well, magic.

"Then I'll die." Time had slowed so much, Piotr wondered passingly if this is what it was like for everyone as he felt the heat of the light upon his forehead. "But not like this!" The light splintered suddenly into a brilliant hue of azure, the new lights spiraled around Piotr catching the others and sending them back where they had come from. The glyphs dimmed and it was finally calm, Piotr looked around dumbfounded, the world slowly began to speed up, students began to move and act as normal, Piotr looked to the woman in red.

She merely stared at him dispassionately.

"Did I pass?" Piotr asked as one would ask a doctor if they had cancer or not. If people of that day and age knew of cancer and asked doctors about it.

"Yes, you did. Your vest didn't zough." She pointed to his chest.

Piotr looked down to see a small flame burning through his vest, he couldn't even feel it. Piotr slammed a single mangled hand over the the flame snuffing it out. "Thats good." Piotr said half-heartedly as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

The woman in red merely turned to one of the robed figures as Piotr collapsed to the floor, "Take him to ze medical ward as vell."

[neyo the king]

BANG! BANG! BANG!

No. thought Steve, as he rolled over in bed.

BANG BANG BANG!

"Go away."

"I swear, young'en, you is the most sleepenist child I ever did lay my eyes on. You do realize that yer late for that magic test thing, don'cha?"

"...Magic test? I didn't take any magic courses..."

There was a long pause on the other side of the door, then a quick suffleing of feet down the corridor. Jerk. Steve got out of bed anyway. He wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon, so he decided to go watch the will test he's been hearing about all day. Uniformed, Steve ran to the magic building, which he scouted out hours prior.

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

Steve got there just in time to see Allen, the guy he meet before, walk off the stage. He scouted around for Emma, but, not seeing her, shruged and sat in the nearest empty seat.

A boy with strange orange hair was next. Let's see what this test is about... When the woamn in red pointed up, beams of energy shot toward the boy, and Steve nearly fell out of his seat. That's the test? I'm no magic user, but that doesn't look very safe... Steve gasped as the beams coming out of the boy wavered, not wanting to see what would happen if those beams broke, but he sighed when all turned out good. Orange hair had passed.

A blonde, very tall guy was next, and Steve thought he'd pass for sure. After the disaster of his test was over, Steve crawled up from under his chair and watched as the mangled boy limped away. OH MY GOD! Are these people trying to kill someone?

Once things setteled down, another person got onto the stage, adn he did quite a show, but promptly fainted afterwards. Hm. Well, I can see them point of having these tests now. Ah well, let's see what happens next...

[Mesden]

The whole time she had been watching to see who passed and failed. Seeing if there as some pattern or some trait you needed.

One failed, one passed, 3 failed, one left scared, one passed, 4 more failed so on and so forth. It was like random picking, but with a recoil to boot. The charred students were carried out one by one. It was like a high school magical torture chamber.

"You." the red clad teacher's hand pointed towards Carolina.

With her eyes centered on the teacher, Carolina nervously shuffled up to her place, hands shaking from the tension of pass or burn.

"Ready?"

Her hand waved out to signify her unwillingness. Her head was turned to the glyph stricken ground and then to the corresponding ceiling.

"Hold on a second." She wanted a bit more time to dive into her thoughts, still not certain on what she should do.

Alright, do I really want to go through this? I mean, what if I don't meet their standards? I'll get sent out, burned from head to toe. But, they wouldn't do it if it were deadly, so, I may as well...

Her hand waved to acknowledge her approval to start and again did the lights show vibrantly. Connected to several glyphs and Carolina herself. The test wasn't perfectly smooth, but by the time it ended, all she had was a bit of singed hair and clothing.

"You pass."

She gave one more great sigh and walked off the stage, still shaky, but content about what happened.

[Tarrin]

Johann lay a wreck of a human being, three healers gathered around him, their healing magics seemed to be having trouble healing his body. As the nurses started to heal Johanns torso he stopped them.
"No! this is my mark, Do not heal it" Johann still weak and in agony slapped away the hands that still tried to heal him untill they gave up.

As the healers continued with the rest of his body he saw Piotr carried in, Not in the worst of shape but still burned all over.
"Guess he failed too" was all Johann could think of before the pain in his body, once again reached almost unbearable heights.

[Ryu Kurai]

Infisil's years of running from the authorites gave him a slight tingling sensation after he had found his way to the test, a bit of a warning. He decided to swallow his premonitions and proceed as he wanted to.

He stepped into the pentagram, the rays shot at him suddenly and he was nearly singed as he deflected them, the brilliant beams shooting up to the ceiling and coming back down for a second volley. He deflected these too, but then noticed the energy writhing against his magical barrier. He fell down onto his back, but not before recieving a sizable burn across his arms. He cringed and got back up the moment the magical rays had dissapated. the lower arms of his uniform were completely absent, and he shot an icy glare at the woman sitting in the chair, who was eying him with an unfeeling glare to his pain.

"It iz not my fault zat you have failed. Perhaps you have not ze potential."

"Then what do you call it when I was deflecting those, you stuck up-" Infisil began yelling, staying his tongue as his honed danger sense began to go off.

"Take him to ze medical wizards, if he iz, in fact, not too stupid to go by himself."

As he started to walk away, Infisil turned to the enigmatic woman. "Fine. Tell me, what should I work on?" He said, grimmacing with pain.

"I cannot say. You must find zis out for yourself." She said simply, dismissing the author's son with a wave of her hand. "Next." She said as he walked of silently.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Azi scowled when she watched the students before her either pass or horribly fail. Then it was her turn.

With a sigh, Azi consciously smoothed out her uniform, stood up in one fluid motion, and stepped into the protected room. The woman greeted her with a nod, and motioned for her to step into the circle of glyphs. Shooting a smouldering glance at no one in particular, Azi slinked into the middle, tugging a little apprehensively at her head scarf.

"Could ve maybe remove ze scarf, younk lady?"

"Aya would'e prever nut te, mess," came the respectful if muffled, heavily accented voice. The woman hesitated, reforming the words with the appropriate accents, before nodding silently and gesturing.

At first, as the magical energy coursed through Azi, the young adult felt a slight tingling, pleasant feeling. She felt her skin warm up a bit, but there was no trouble.

Half-way through, though, the seamless beam spluttered and crackled, and Azi felt a relatively brief, searing pain as magic broke away and attempted to leave via her skin pores. Visha!*

Wavering, but not breaking down, Azi emitted a low growl of pain through gritted teeth as the wild magic coursed through her, willing the magic to stay in place, willing things to stay unbroken. Azi wrestled control with the magic as it tried to gain its own way and deal more harm to her, finally managing to get it under ontrol again.

As the magic faded away and the glyphs returned to their mundane selves, Azi shook her head in dazed astonishment. She looked down at her clothes, which survived the brunt of the test, but were steaming.

The woman to one side pursed her lips, tilting her head slightly.
"You passed. Vell done," turning to one of the cowled students, she said, "Ze medical vard."

It was then that Azi realised she was in a bit of pain, but limped unassisted towards the ward where she could recover, suffering a rather nasty burn to her left had. She was also bleeding very slightly in several places, where small cuts could be seen crisscrossing parts of her body and evidently increased in numbers on her right leg.

[OOC: *Visha: Tribal for "Damn!","Shit!" and other such expletives]

[Abeni]

Paying close attention to the test, Jenn was able to discern that it was probably much harder than she had originally thought. Only one boy had passed with ease, and he walked off smirking. She muttered under her breathe, and by the time it was her turn she was quivering with anticipation.

She stepped into the center of the pentagram, as soon as the test began pain shot through her entire body like snakes in her veins, and she was surprised so much she lost all control, the light scattered randomly throughout the room. She screamed but not from the pain. "NO!!" She straightened up and concentrated with every fiber of her being, knowing she would not allow herself to fail now. At the last minute she forced the light to the ceiling in a straight line, and then collapsed to the ground. She looked up at the woman, who nodded and told her it was enough to pass and that she should get medical help.

Straining a little she stood up and walked out of the room, but instead of going to the medical ward she went off on her own first, and stood underneath a tree while examining her body. She was shaking, and slightly burned, but otherwise fine. She sighed... "I guess this means I need will training. That really hurt..." After a few more moments she got up and headed to the medical ward, thinking about her schedule.

[Elminster_Amaur]

It was finally Tai's turn to take the test, and by this point he wasn't quite as distracted by the woman's clothing as he was when he first saw her. The test started off fine, just like a passing student's test looked, but then it went horribly wrong. While most students who had failed got burned, Tai seemed to be having a different problem: He suddenly couldn't see out of his left eye, and there were lines of searing pain all across his body. To the onlookers, it appeared as though the light exiting his body was trying to draw the glyphs on the ground, and a mural of some sort all over his torso. A long thin line of the energy was moving from just above his left eye down to his right leg. He was unconcious even before he hit the ground.

[Raiden]

It was Thomas's turn. He didn't run up, nor did he do a lazy cocky walk. He simply went into the circle like he was supposed to, and waited.

"Are ve ready?"

Thomas gave a nod. The glyphs activated, and the test began. It started a bit shaky at first. The magic seemed to start to overwhelm him. Black spots formed on his uniform. But when a single hair started on fire, something strange happened.

He frowned. With almost a mental push, the magic creeped off of him, and the rest of the test went extremely smoothly. When it was done, there was no damage that a change of clothes wouldn't cure. He walked off to the side with the rest of the successes.

[Mauve Mage]

Emma was more than a little apprehensive after seeing several of her fellow students being carted off to the medical ward. She tried to discreetly stand up and leave, but the instructor apparently knew what she had in mind.

"You are volunteering to go next?" she asked, the look in her eyes signifying that it really wasn't a question. Emma considered saying no, but everyone was staring at her now.

She hesitantly entered the circle and stood, clasping her hands in front of her nervously.

"Are you ready?"

Emma found herself nodding, almost against her will. Now or never. Preferrably never, but considering the circ--AHH! Her thoughts were interrupted as white light washed over her, filling her mind with a thousand glowing runes that she did not understand or recognize. The light flowed through her, feeling as though it was setting every cell of her body aflame.

Something smelled like smoke; Emma was faintly aware that the edges of her sleeves were begining to smoulder, and the skin beneath stung and burned. Was she failing?? She forced herself to try and concentrate on something besides the light and the pain. It was hard. The black burns continued up her sleeves as she tried to fight it, but she managed to focus enough to keep herself conscious. After what seemed like an eternity, the lights faded away.

She looked down at herself. Her vision was hazy, but she could see that her vest had started to burn as well. Then the pain all rushed up to greet her. The world started to spin, and Emma found herself sitting rather heavily on the ground.

"You just barely passed." the instructor said flatly. "Go to ze medical ward." Emma wasn't sure if she was supposed to be excited about passing the test, or worried about the third-degree burns.

[neyo the king]

Many passes, many failures, some emergencys, some wardrobe-malfunctions, and quite a few gasps later, Steve now watched as Emma was carted off to the medical ward. He sat there and wondereed if he should go and see if she was ok. Then he started to wonder how he got so attracted to her. Must be the ponytail. I never couold get used to ponytails. Steve sighed and wondered if Emma even noticed he exsisted. Well, it is going to be a long school year, so... Might as well make things interesting. Steve then got up and worked his way toward the medical ward.

[Aerozord]

Standing there Allen began to realize, he was the exception and not the norm. Most failed, and so far it seemed he was the only one to pass without injury. "looks like this test is far more difficult then I originally thought." He then decided to check on those who weren't as lucky as he was.

Once he got to the ward he found Emma. He sat down next to her. "So, how are you holding up?"

[Truce]

Though he had been one of the first to pass, he had decided to watch. Needless to say, most of the testees failed, and pretty soon he was called on to help carry the wounded to the medical ward. Helping out without complaint (though, without any particular happiness either), he soon as running back and forth, with the smell of charred flesh in his nostrils.

It was then he spotted a familiar face-the man who had passed the test just before him. And, for some reason, he couldn't help but feel that he was trying to hit on the girl-he had seen another guy give her looks when he had reentered the testing area for the fifth time. Classes haven't even started yet, and already people are trying to get in each other's pants...

"Don't bother the patients," Curel said, helping set down another failed tester down in the bed beside Emma's. "Not everybody was able to perform as flawlessly as you, and the last thing most of them will want to see if your mug."

It was true. If one looked around the medical ward, those who were conscious were giving them both dirty looks-though most were directed at Allen, since he had just strolled in there and sat down to chat one of the girls.

[Aerozord]

He had already known of their dirty looks. He knew before he entered there. "I was aware that would happen. But I thought it would be nice to see how my friend was doing. Besides, I am not the type to not do something simply because I am worried about what others think."

[Truce]

"Perhaps," he said, making sure that the guy he had placed down was comfortably positioned on the bed. "That-however, doesn't allow you to bother the patients, which I'm afraid you're doing right now with your presence. If you're not helping anybody, at least you could let them rest-even your friend here must need it to heal."

Seeing that the man was okay, he then began to head back to the magic building. "Even if you don't worry about others think, you should consider their feelings."

[TheBlindMime]

Piotr gasped, the gasp of one who had been barely saved from death, a life gasp if you would. His eyes fluttered open just before he bolted upright, it took him a moment to realize he had been moved, let alone healed. He pressed a finger against his perfect flesh, had any real harm come to him at all, was it merely an illusion?

Piotr looked around the room for some semblance of a reassurance, but everyone was into something, the nurses were busy healing, the students were busy flirting and Johann was writhing on the table. Piotr eyed his friend with some noticeable shock for a moment, Why is he still injured couldn't they see he was in pain... that was when Piotr caught it. The glow of determination which illuminated Johann's eyes. His failure hurt him more then the wounds....

"As i was saying i come from a village of fishermen, I figured being able to ensure the winds my people needed to make a safe passage would be a worthy task fo myself".
Such a noble task, his desire was to help those he cared for; and he had failed them. Yet he still strives to prove himself capable of such a task. Piotr felt ashamed, his one desire was to kill and he now stood before his saint of a friend unscathed. For a moment Piotr could say nothing as he stood next to Johann, as Johann's eyes met his though he surprisingly forced out, "So Johann.... are you ok?" Simple, yes; stupid, most definately.

[The_Phat_G]

Will watched the tests with a look of horror on his face. How could these teachers inflict such suffering on their own students and not seem to care? He watch with gritted teeth as failure after failure after slight success (which didn't seem much better than outright failure to William) occurred. Finally, after a girl he recognized as one of the students who was at his breakfast table passed (but barely, once again), Will said a quick prayer to the patron saint of travellers and steeled himself. He stood and strode boldly into the pentagram and faced the woman in red.

"Are you ready?" she asked.
William closed his eyes exhaled slowly, clearing his mind with as the breath left him. He opened his eyes.

"Aye."

The word had barely passed his lips before the energy was upon him. The initial burst of pain made him clench his eyes and fists shut, and grind his teeth. Already his body was beginning trying to succumb to the magicks.

No. came a familiar voice from the back of his head. Will recognized it as the part of himself that usually held his inner monolouges with, and it was a voice that he was prone to listen to. You've seen what this power did to these children here. The pain and destruction it can bring. Take it. Learn it. Use it. Use it so that people will never have to suffer like that again.

And then William's mind was clear once again for a split second before a bright light filled it. He opened his eyes and saw that there was no longer a steady stream of magic assaulting him, but rather that it crackled all along his body. To the rest of the students, it looked as if his eyes were glowing a bright white. Will gritted his teeth again, fighting the magic lightning that arched through his body. Gradually, the uncomfortableness caused by it faded, save for one spot. It felt as if his left hand were being burnt by something. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the magic had not faded, but rather had been concentrated into his left hand. Instinctually, he flicked his hand as if to rid it of a bothersome fly, and all at once the power flew from his hand and impacted a stone wall, leaving a smoldering scorch mark. It was then that Will noticed that he was breathing heavily. The lady in red nodded at him, giving him permission to leave the pentagram. He nodded back, and walked out of the room solemnly. He had no desire to watch the final few tests.

[neyo the king]

Steve hid as someone he didn't know, or at least couldn't remember, left the building, having had a talk with Allen about Emma. After the coast was clear, he walk out as well, thinking about what to do. Well, the other guy does have a point. I havn't really been thinking about how Emma felt. Plus, it is a little to early to start something like this. I mean, I have all year! What's the rush? Steve nodded to himself in agreement. I don't even really know her. We should at least become friends first, then see what happens. But for now... Steve started back for the will test area, to help with wounded removal.

[Raiden]

Thomas walked in, carrying a charred student on his back. He silently placed the student down on the bed. It was a young boy that was about to cry from the pain and humiliation. Thomas, in his usual calm/apathetic way, he leaned down and whispered.

"You tried. Which makes you instantly better than those that didn't."

Thomas stood up, and started to walk out of the med area. The boy watched Thomas walk away...and smiled.

Thomas came upon two of the two people fighting. They were disturbing the people in the clinic. His head went to Curel first. When he spoke, it was his usual quiet but forceful tone.

"More injured are coming."

He turned to Emma. "You're lucky."

He then turned to Allen. He didn't even make the effort. He gave a 'not worth my time' look, and walked off.

[Tarrin]

[/i] that was when Piotr caught it. The glow of determination which illuminated Johann's eyes. His failure hurt him more then the wounds....
As Johann's eyes met his though he surprisingly forced out, "So Johann.... are you ok?".

A smile creased Johanns lips, As wide as any Piotr had seen yet empty.
No mirth, no humer existed within the face that stared back at him.
"I..Will be" Johann answered his obviously concerned friend.
The salve the healers had put on the remaining burn covering Johanns chest had started to work and the pain was easing.
Still they came over between injured students to see if he'd allow them to heal what remained.

"There are more coming" a voice came from near the door.
"Time to leave this area". johann let out a quiet sob as he lifted himself from the bed, grasping a jar of the salve and some clean bandages the healers had gave him he started to leave.

"But" piotr started to object, "More wounded people are coming my friend " Johanns reply cut him off "let us leave so they may be tended to.

As they left a few healers looked up and shook their heads, they had seen the determination in the boy and knew that convincing him to stay would be futile.

[Truce]

"I know," he muttered under his breath, already halfway to the door when Thomas spoke to him. He wouldn't dare say it loudly of course-because it wasn't like the man was wrong, and he didn't want to disturb the patients any more than he already had.

It appeared that the tests were almost over. With more than three quarters of the testees having been shocked alive, it was no surprise that a few had dropped out, and most of the ones that had stayed had already taken their test.

However, judging from the screams he heard just as he entered, it wasn't quite done yet. At least a few more wouldn't be able to walk from this-at least, not without his help.

With a sigh, he entered and was immediately motioned by the tester to approach. Quickly he walked over to the now familiar circle, where a limp figure lay. With some help, he got the (thankfully light) girl on his back and began to carry the her back to the medical ward.

Hopefully, they wouldn't have to do things like this every day.

[Krylo]

As the girl was carried out on Curel's shoulders, there was only one student left who hadn't taken the test yet. A tall boy with fine skin, small oval glasses, and long fingers who had sat reading a book during the entirity of the test. The title had long been worn off the battered leather cover, and the interior was almost impossible to read, consisting mostly of strange geometric circles with various calculations around them. The inside bindings were covered with pencil marks that read like mathematical equations, though they would have been indecipherable to anyone whom happened to read over his shoulder.

"You... you are ze last... come take your test," Scarlet said, her shapely arm outstretched to point toward the boy, who set his book down and adjusted his glasses, calmly sliding them up his nose before walking into the center of the circle.

His eyes moved calmly over the various glyphs written across the taking in the strange patterns and odd symbols as though they were commonplace before looking back toward Scarlet and nodding.

She lifted her arm as she had so many times before, and the magic began. It funneled directly into the boy, but it did not leave at all, either erratically, or calmly as it had with those who had passed. Instead it merely seemed to dissappear into him as he stood, comlpetely calm.

After a few moments he allowed the magic to seep from his finger tips, mouth and eyes, the energy moving like a fine mist and enveloping him in a cocoon of swirling light which grew every brighter and more intense as the glyphs continued to pour magical force into him.

Finally the rays of magic stopped, but the cocoon remained for a second before twirling upward to reveal the boy standing unscathed, the magical energies gathering in the palm of his hand, which was held high above his head.

Once all the energy had gathered he simply closed his hand, sending sparkling pinpoints of light exploding outward in a rain of magical dust.

"Impressive," Scarlet said, rolling her 'r's slightly, "I assume you have learned magic elsevhere before coming here?"

The boy nodded in return and spoke his voice crisp and clean, seeming to lack an accent at all, "I assume I passed?"

"Of course," Scarlet said, before turning--revealing that her dress was cut quite low in back, ending just before revealing her buttocks--and waving dismissively, "Ve are done here." The teacher walked back out through the door she had entered, touching the wall on the way out and activating the ruins--which magically repaired the little damage that had been done to the room.

The boy adjusted his glasses once more, and turned, picking up his book before heading back out toward the entrance of the magic building.

[Elminster_Amaur]

When Tai awoke in the hospital bed, he was having trouble both seeing out of his left eye, and remembering what events led up to this point in his life. The last thing he remembered was early childhood learning which lizards and snakes in the desert were poisonous, and which could generally be made into pets. He lifted his left hand up in front of his face, and saw the slightly scarring burn marks and everything rushed back to him like a half-forgotten Truth Dream. One of the healers noticed that he was awakening, and came over to ask how he was feeling.

"...I...feel as though a herd of Vjorac has trampled me..." Tai said to the healer.

"That's understandable...I guess, even though I've never heard of Vajorcs before. I...I am supposed to tell you that there is going to be some scarring. It's understandable, what with the strange way your skin was burned. The burns were far deeper than normal, and though we got rid of that strange picture on your chest, the other lines will need time to fade to a less noticeable color." the Healer said.

"This...is permanent?" Tai gulped. "I thought that the Will test would be safe at least. Well, is there anything you can do about my sight?"

"It will return to normal in a few days." the Healer said as he was walking away.

[Ryu Kurai]

Infisil went into the crowded medical ward, had bandages applied to his arms, and left with equal speed. Why the hell couldn't he do it? What had he had in the stocks that he didn't have now? He went out into the courtyard and sat underneath a tree, fuming with frustration.

[Armored Bishoujo]

"Damn. What happened to all of them? Did some monster attack?"
"Participants of the will test."
Elena spun around and saw the same guy who told her about the will test in the first place. "The will test can really be punishing to beginners."
Elena turned back to face the clinic. "So all these people failed?"
"Nah. Getting hurt or winding up in the clinic doesn't mean the person failed. Though, it's safe to assume that the worse off someone is, the greater the chances of them having failed."
"I certainly hope they all passed. That looks pretty bad to subject someone to on their first day here."

[neyo the king]

Steve was in the room when the strange boy's turn. Steve knew trouble when he saw it, and that was trouble. Why would a boy so preficient in magic be coming to a school? He's obviously not here to learn to fight, just look at him. And that book of his, I wouldn't be suprised if he never put it down... Steve walked back to his room, thinking only one thing. What an interesting school year this will be.

[Krylo]

The students who could, returned their rooms as the night wore on and the medical staff did what they could for those who were still too injured--thankful that the will test was a relatively rare occurence.

Soon the school had attained a sense of relative calm and only guards were left walking the grounds with their lanterns, most of the students having already headed to bed, knowing they would be forced to wake early the next morning for classes.

(OOC: And I'll let you guys handle the morning and heading to your courses. Those of you who are alone will have plenty of NPC company)

[Aerozord]

As the sun rose Allen was already up. The bark on a tree was almost completely peeled, the wood cracking and splintering as another punch was thrown into it. Cracking his bleeding knuckles he observed what he had already done. "Already my attacks seem to have become stronger. Perhapps some side-effect of that will test." In a moment of silence he looked at the tree once more. "I wonder" instead of simply attacking he began to recall the feeling of when the magic flowed through him. Concentrating then attacking. The wood cracked, large chunks flying off. "Perfect a move, then do it 20 more times. Make it become second nature." He told himself this, then did just that.

[IHateMakingNames]

After breakfast, Khan had wandered around the school, trying to figure out what to do. Eventually a large amount of students gathered to take their will tests. Khan followed them and eventually tried to take the test, but the instructors wouldn't even let him try. They must have assumed Khan had no magical training, or could not take the test.

---

The next morning, long before the majority of students woke up, two senior students were wondering around the area outside the dorms. They were looking for Khan, who was not in their dorm. The teacher in charge of hunting had told them he wouldn't be their, but the students checked anyways.

"Why are we looking for this kid again?" One of the seniors asked.

"For the last time Mark, he's hunting with us. He's a wild kid, they think hunting will help him fit in." The other replied.

"What makes you think he can hunt Sceane?"

Just then, the two students found Khan. He was sleeping against a tree near the dorms. This was good for Sceane, since it would help him explain why Khan was joining the hunt.

"Can't hunt? Look at him. He's wearing the skin of an animal. His weapon is made out of bones. He probably killed that animal with his bare hands then carved his bones into that weapon." Sceane explained, pointing to various parts of Khan to explain.

"Fine, let's wake him up." Mark walked over to Khan and kicked him lightly. Khan shifted around, then woke up. A week ago he would have jumped up and grabbed his pick-axe to defend himself, but now Khan was comfortable around the students.

"Hey, we're going to hunt." Mark said. Khan just looked at him, confused.

"He doesn't understand us." Sceane whispered. Mark slapped his head while Sceane took over. "Here Khan." He said while dropping a first year uniform infront of Khan. Sceane had taken them from Khan's room when they checked for him there.

Khan recognized the uniform, since everyone was wearing them, except for himself. He figured this was part of this clan's customs, and he wanted to change into those clothes yesterday, but he couldn't find any. Now that he had been given clothes, he decided to change into them.

"Go behind a bush!" Mark yelled out as Khan got naked in front of them. Luckily for him, Khan was a quick dresser.

"Khan." Sceane said to get Khan's attention. "Sceane. Mark." Khan pointed to himself and Sceane while introducing. Khan nodded, which was universal for understanding. So Sceane continued. "Khan come." This time, Khan simply stared.

"Mark, help me out. Move away from me, then when I say come, you come to me." Sceanse whispered. Mark complied and move away. Sceane turned to mark, and gestured with his hands for Mark to come next to him. "Mark come." Mark moved over to Sceane.

Khan figured out what "come" meant from that demonstration, and moved towards Sceane.

"Good. Well, let's go." Sceane said. The two seniors headed towards the hunting parties meeting place, with Khan following.

[Sithdarth]

Zane had spent the rest of the pervious day wandering around and doing a bit of training. Mostly he ran as that was one of the simplest and easiest exercises to do. Running always made him feel a little better; Zane had never quite figured out why. He passed older students from time to time and even met up with a few of the new students. Mostly he just nodded as he passed but from time to time someone would speak. Zane just waved slightly and kept moving, now wasn't quite the time for friends.

After his run he climbed an out of the way tree near a tall building close to the wall. After reaching the height of the lower roof Zane took a small leap over to the roof and started climbing again. Reaching the apex he hopped over and layed back against the roof looking over the wall. He sat there staring out into the wilderness as he slowly cooled down from the run.

When he felt refreshed again he made his way back down to the lowest roof and jumped. As Zane hit the ground he folded into a roll coming right back up to his feet and into a slow jog. It was getting late so he went back to his room to sleep for a little. To his surprise he was awoken by the schools staff. He wasn't late for classes but he had slept much longer then usual. He dragged himself out bed and put on his uniform. Running out of his room at a slow jog he made for the dinning hall for breakfest.

[Tarrin]

"So what your saying is that i'll never be able to learn magic?" Johanns voice was still weak from the previous days test.
Sitting across from him behind a deep mahogany table sat Scarlet Visero, framed by two large and imposing bookcases.

"No! vhat i said is that you appear to be a Null" Scarlet explained.
"Nulls are people who have a naturaly a negitive zone of magic"
"Even with ze Wil training i doubt very highly, that you vill beable to control magic".

That is when johann had stormed out of the room, Thoughts of showing her that he would pass the next wil test implanted firmly in his mind.

Bump..."oh sorry" Johann appologised thru the pain of his burn, snaping him instantly out of his deep thoughts.

"H..Hey ur that kid" the tall brunett boy exclaimed.
"The one that failed the wil test and walked out" the awe in the year three students voice speaking volumes.

"Yeah! Didn't help me pass none though." the hurt in Johanns voice apparent

"don't sweat it kid, Im Robert foxroy. Where you headed too?"
My new first class is....Alchemy" Johann answered

"Oh Erina Nikstchins class, She's a good teacher, here i'll show you where it is." leading the way Robert zigzaged throught the maze of hallways, Coming to a stop outside a room.
"Here you go!" before turning to leave Robert shot "If you need a tutor for your wil test or any other class give me a call."

"Thanks" Johann called before entering his first class slowly.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elena had spent some of the day learning where all of her classes were, the bathrooms, the showers, the mess hall, and various other useful places as well as mapping out the quickest routes between them all. She figured from what she planned, she could develop a rather efficient routine. The next morning, Elena was up early, brushing her teeth, washing her face and hands, combing her hair, dressing up, and finally stepping out and proceeding to her first class.
And that was when Elena encountered Yuruna. The nicely-stacked brunette with glasses was waiting just outside of Elena's first class and had to be one of the most beautiful women Elena had ever seen. "Then again," Elena observed to herself. "All the women I've seen were usually Father's mistresses. In fact, I don't think I've met a woman above 18 before now that Father hadn't taken to his bedchamber."
Elena didn't think anything of their encounter, but apparently the woman did as she came over to speak to Elena. "Pleased to meet you. You're Elena Hertzfinct, correct? It appears we've signed up for all of the same classes."
"Yes, I'm Elena." she replied, deciding to bother with a good first impression. "But please call me Glorious Beauteous Wonderful Perfect Honorable Noble Lady Hertzfinct."
Elena looked at the woman and found her expression rather amusing. "It's a joke, in case you didn't know. I didn't look at the class roster really well so I didn't see a class for telling jokes properly. You can just call me El, I guess."
Elena could see she did pretty well for a start as the woman chuckled softly. "Nice to meet you, Lady Elena. My name is Yuruna Achtman. I guess we'll be rivals from now on."
"Rivals, huh? Yeah, I guess you're right. Well then, I suppose I better learn fast to be a good opponent for you."
Yuruna moved over to the door to the first class. "Don't worry. You definitely look like someone who could keep me on my toes."
Elena noted the tone of Yuruna's last statement. It should be just a simply rivalry due to the similar skills they would have, but she had sounded quite excited to have a rival. Maybe it was because she...nah, that couldn't be it. "Strange woman." Elena said, then hurried inside the class herself.

[Aerozord]

After finishing his warm up Allen went towards his first class. "Endurance was my first class. Guess morning work out isn't exactly needed, but hey I always like pushing myself that extra inch." As he walked he began picking splinters out of his bloody fists. Pieces of the tree laying back where he was training. He was wrapping his hand, "hope they dont mind me practicing on the local flora"

[TheBlindMime]

The door to the Magic Items class swung open and in walked Piotr, his usual long matted and unclean hair was washed, combed and tied back. The stubble on his face was shaved away, with his chin as smooth as a baby's butt, save for the spots he had made mistakes. He marched confidently to a desk, sat down and pulled out some parchment and ink. As he removed the quill from the case he had been provided he was forced to admire the quality of the feather quill. "Tis quite a life I'm leading now." Piotr knew he had to make the most of it.

[Truce]

Curel simply entered the Magic Items class after Piotr and took his seat. Still a little bit sleepy, he yawned before regaining his composure. Taking a quick look around he spotted Piotr, though there wasn't anybody else he could immediately recognize.

They were still a little bit early, after all, and with all the people injured with that will test he wasn't surprised if quite a few of his classmates were gone.

[neyo the king]

Meh. I don't wanna be awake. I should have went to bed earlier.

Steve woke with a stretch to the glorious sound of no-one knocking on his door. The sun had just risin from the eastern horizen, and Steve knew that it was going to be a long day.

First days of anything were always long.

After a shower, neccesities, and a change of clothes, he bound off to his first class, not feeling hunger for breakfast, wondering if anyone he knew was in any of his classes.

[Sithdarth]

After scarfing down a quick breakfast Zane headed to his first class. It was a closed fist fighting style and he was eager to learn. He already knew a decent amount about unarmed fighting but his local style tended to deal more with kicks. This would be a nice change for him.

He arrived at the class a little bit early and took quick stock of the other students assembled. As expected he was the shortest person in sight. Zane was used to that but it still hurt a little. At least here he'd get a chance to let off a little steam and earn a little respect in the process.

[CallmePrismatic]

Tiao walked into the unarmed classroom and milled around uncomfortably while others did the same.

He wasn't entirely used to his new situation. Back home his father's fame and presence had ensured that the Su family was well recognized and respected, so being dropped into this new world where he recognized no one and was treated as just another face was difficult to adjust to. No one at the orientation had even tried to talk to him, although he would admit he hadn't been too forward either.

As he looked around at his fellow classmates he was still suprised by the homegeneous nature of them all. Most of them looked the same, save for a few from the outerlands who dressed differently, and the animal the school for some reason let wander around, dragging its bone around and scratching its fur.

It didn't help that he wasn't completely fluent with the common tongue. The long trip to the Academy had allowed him to brush up on basic conversation but he still felt lost at points, which was why he was glad to forgoe dialogue and learn a silent martial art. His father had basically cherry-picked his schedule for him based on former teachers and friends, and Tiao had relinquished himself to going with the established flow until he could return home and asume control of the business.

[Mauve Mage]

Emma slowly entered the Magic Items class and took a seat. Last night had been surprisingly rough. She vaguely remembered being transported to the medical ward after the will tests, but everything after that sort of melded together in a haze. Her burns had apparently been worse than she originally thought; her arms had been hit the worst, but there were burns all over her shoulders and torso that she hadn't noticed until the healers pointed them out to her. They had used various magics and medicines to heal the burns, but as a result, she had been barely conscious for most of the evening.

She frowned, staring down at the books in front of her. She vaguely remembered people coming to visit her while she was in the ward, but it was difficult to remember who it had been. How embarrassing! Oh well. Hopefully they wouldn't think her rude for not replying.

Putting this thought aside, Emma folded her hands, intertwining her fingers and resting her hands on the books in front of her. She waited for the class to start and looked around to see if she recognized anyone.

[Krylo]

Closed Fist
A few moments after the students had entered the, very open, room--which resembled a dojo--a small and lithe asian woman, looking to stand at about 5' tall and wearing a simple silk kimono, entered behind them with her long black hair clipped back.

She walked to the front of the class with the gait one would expect from a far easten woman--from farther east than even Su--and stood before them looking delicate, frail, and beautiful as a cherry blossom caught on the wind. Nothing about her gave away that she would be their instructor, yet when she spoke, her soft voice carried an air of confidence.

"Welcome," she said, obviously quite used to living this far west as her voice denied any accent, "As it is the beginning of the month, we have some new students, and, as usual, that means we shall be testing them."

The other first years, who had been going to the school a few months longer smiled a little bit and made their ways to the side of the room.

"Would the new students please step into the center of the dojo?" she asked, her voice as calm and soft as ever, gathering Zane, Ryu, Steve, Su, and five other students to the center of the class.

The woman nodded and reached into her kimono, pulling out a handful of papers which she went through, putting a few back into her kimono, leaving nine folded slips. Taking a few steps forward she held her delicate looking hand out toward her students, "Please, take one. On it you will find a number. The person with the number one will spar number two, so on and so forth. Then the winners will fight in a similar fashion. The person who takes number nine shall fight Matthew," she explaind, waving forward another of her students from the sidelines. Though the man was quite large, he didn't seem to enjoy the idea of sparring, and a couple of the other students snickered, although it was impossible to tell if they were snickering at him or the student who would be fighting him.
--
Endurance Training
As soon as the students walked into the gym they noticed a large bear of a man standing before them, and he wasted no time in getting them started.

"I am Mikhail. I will be teacher. You run around gym fast as you can until I say stop. You stop too soon, and you will be punished. BEGIN!"

Those who had been in the class a few months began running, while some older students, who already looked quite toned, donned weights and chains before doing the same.
---
Magical Items I
An older gentleman had already been waiting for the students as they filed into the Magical Items class, sitting in a large desk at the front of the class with various charms laid across it, his fingers shaped in a temple before his completely serious face.

Once class began officially he stood, "Welcome to our new students. I man Leran Nevarso, and what I shall teach you shall one day save your lives. Now then..." he lifted a sword from his desk, an almost imperceptible blue shimmer moving over his body as he did so, "Who can tell me what this is?"

A student in the back raised an arm after a few seconds and Leran pointed the sword at him to acknowledge the boy's wish to speak.

"A sword enchanted with shielding magic?" the boy asked.

"Indeed. However, it is important to remember that even the most powerful shielding magic has it's flaws--but equally important to be able to pick out an opponent using one in battle..." he moved to the chalk board as he spoke and began to sketch out diagrams and words as he spoke, describing the intricate details of the magic and how to identify a protection charm and its effects on a human.

(ooc--not much RPing to do here other than passing notes and chit-chatting I'm afraid. Practical use tests happen in this class once a month, though)
--
Crossbow
The crossbow class, like most archery courses, was held at one of the outside archery ranges. In this case a long wooden table sat before a twenty yard gap, at the end of which stood multiple man made targets infront of large bales of hay.

Each crossbow had ammo with differently colored shafts, allowing the teacher to quickly discern who had shot which quarrel, so he'd know if people were even hitting the right targets.

A few moments after most of the students were already there, he arrived, a handsome, and toned--though not muscular, man in his late twenties with an easy gait and a roguish smile. His short hair was combed back, and showed off boyish good looks that one might assume belonged to a man multiple years younger if they didn't know any better.

He moved over to the long table and put a hand on the edge, leaning on the structure with a rather relaxed stance. "Well, we've got some newbies here again, so I suppose I'll explain things again--it's pretty simple really. You pick up one of these..." he lifted a crossbow, twirling it on his finger like a modern day gunslinger might twirl a gun, before placing it back down exactly as it was, "and shoot those," he said pointing at a target. "If you don't know how to operate one just ask. Oh, and stay behind the tables. I'll come over and give advice to anyone who needs it as you shoot... alright, let's go."

And with that he moved off the table and walked around behind the students, where he'd be out of harm's way. Anyone acute enough to pay attention would notice he was watching more than the archery--at least from the girls.

[Krylo]

Alchemy
Within the Alchemy class an old woman covered almost completely in a thick red robe sat at the desk, her once attractive features weathered craggy hills and valleys that cascaded about her face like a maze of sagging flesh. The years had not been kind to her appearance, yet when she spoke, her voice was loud and clear.

"Welcome to Alchemy new students. I am Erina Nikstchin. You are to call me Mistress Nikstchin while here... and I am to teach you how to create weapons beyond your wildest dreams. Concotions capable of blasting down stone doors, or poisons able to fell even the mightest man with but a drop--and also their antidotes. Listen carefully and I shall show you what science can do."

With that she stood and moved to a chalk board behind her, sliding it to the side to reveal a rather modern lookin elemental table--though it was missing many of the elements. "You will need to learn this. All the older students have notes you should catch up on. Do it after class... and take notes on what I am about to tell you. You won't understand it well enough until you've read the past works."

The board was pushed back where it came from and the teacher began to speak on various alchemical rules and functions that seemed beyond the keen of the first day students.

(OOC: again, not a whole lot to do here. I'll make you a few NPCs when I have time, or you can make your own, Johann)
--
Will Training
The students arrived, walking through the halls of the magic building once more, to find their way to a class room, which looked much like the room the will test had taken place in.

When class time officially started the shadows in the room began to stretch and coalesce into one point, before rising out of the floor into a roughly humanoid figure wearing a dark black hooded robe--though the hood was down. Only one eye sat in a socket, while the other was empty save for a strange burning white light, and hair only appeared on the creatures head in small tufts where the flesh had not yet rotted completely away. Her jaw bone was half exposed, and half covered by poxed and decomposing flesh, while completely skeletal hands were visible hanging from sleeves.

Though her mouth did not move, and the voice was quiet, everyone in the class could hear perfectly well regardless of what they had been doing, "I am Kuubi Ibis... I see a few failures of the will test here. You have come for one of two reasons. Either your will is too weak, or you do not know how to use it for magic. This will be determined and rectified. The rest of you are here to become stronger yet... and that too is possible. However, the path of strengthing your will is painful. You must learn to resist temptation, ignore fear, and force yourself to work through even the most horrible pain... only then can you hope to shape the world about you, without being warped in return."

She looked over the class slowly, and had she been able to smile, she would have before 'speaking' her next few words. "Today... we shall use terror." With that she waved her skeletal hands and the students, all of them, fell to the ground in a trance.

What they saw then was not real, but it looked, smelt, and felt real. Such was the magic of Kuubi Ibis. Each of them saw something different. Something horrible. Something pulled from the darkest depths of their subconcious. That one thing that they each feared most, appeared real to them.
--
Throwing
A middle aged woman sat at on top of a desk in a room littered with various targets hanging from the walls as the students walked in. On her finger she balanced a throwing knife by the point on her index finger with gradual ease and she looked around with boredom as the students entered.

"Alright, newbies," she said, almost stifling a yawn, "Welcome yada yada, I'm your teacher, and I hate mornings. Let's just get this over with, eh?" she said flicking her finger to the side and catching the knife blade between her index and middle finger before gradually flicking her wrist and sending it flying directly into the bullseye of one of the multiple targets and sliding off the desk to her feet.

"Listen, throwing small things like that is all in the wrist. You saw me do it, now grab some knives," she said gesturing to a rather large number of them sitting in boxes by her desk, "...and start throwing the pointy end into the bullseye so I can see what you all need help with today," her voice reeked of exasperation with incompetent students as she waited to see how her first years would screw up now.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elena picked up a crossbow, took her place at the targeting range, and spared a glance at Yuruna only to find Yuruna looking back at her. Yuruna winked and then set her sights down at the targets. She was the first to train the crossbow on the target and begin firing.
Elena found herself a little intimidated by Yuruna's skill. The woman wasn't making the bull's eye right off, but she seemed to be pretty comfortable with all of this.
"Eyes on your target, Elena." the instructor's voice came from behind.
"Y-yes, Mister Tamkatz!" Elena yelped, then raised her crossbow and fired. Again.
"Hey, that's my target!"
The student to the left of her. Elena focused her gaze and saw that, sure enough, she was aiming for the target to the left of her own. I should've expected I'd make an ass of myself from the start, Elena thought, then raised her crossbow again. She fired. The bolt barely snagged her target.
"No, no, you're way too stiff. Here, let me..." the instructor chuckled, and before Elena could say anything, Tamkatz was next to her, kicking gently at her right ankle. "Spread your legs a little farther apart...like that. Now, you want to hold the crossbow like this."
Instead of taking the crossbow and demonstrating, Instructor Tamkatz instead wrapped his arms around Elena and arranged her hands and elbows. The stock on the crossbow pressed against Elena's shoulder. She wasn't paying so much attention to his instructions as the fact that his right leg was between her legs. "This way, you keep the bow steady. Now lean your head like this so you can see through the sights. Okay. Now remove your finger from the trigger like that. You want to squeeze the trigger with your fingertip, not pull it."
And now his arm was nudging her right breast. He didn't seem to notice what he was doing, so Elena tried to ignore it. "All right, everything looks good enough. Now, inhale deeply, then release half your breath and hold it. Confirm your target and fire. Like this."
His slightly moist breath hit the back of her neck, giving Elena goosebumps. "Yes."
Elena took a deep breath, finding it difficult to concentrate with Instructor Tamkatz so close, exhaled only slightly, set her sights and...
The thwoing of the crossbow notified Elena that she fired. Elena lifted her head slightly from the bow so she could see where the bolt hit. Nowhere near the bull's eye, but she did hit the target.
"You moved your finger back and pulled the trigger."
"I'm sorry, Instructor Tamkatz."
"Relax. It's the fourth crossbow bolt you've fired so far. As time goes on, you'll get much better."
Finally, the teacher removed his body and Elena breathed a little easier. She looked at Yuruna who was smirking back and shaking her head slowly.

[Aerozord]

Soon after entering the endurance class the students were already ordered to begin. Since he had already warmed up he found no problem with this. Allen also noticed them putting on weights, he however already had his usual weights. The ones he always wears, even outside of training. But he was unsure what to expect, so he thought it unwise to add more weight. So he simply ran, from moment he left his warm up, he had yet to stop. Just what he was hoping for.

[Mesden]

Carolina had watched the instructor..."Help" Elena and gave a big sigh.

There's NO way he wasn't trying to cop a feel.

She shook her head and went back to aiming at the target. Her eye sight weas fairly good and out of her few tries a couple of shots hit her target. She was a bit pleased with herself and HOPED that the instructor didn't want to help her out too.

[The_Phat_G]

William let forth a mighty yawn as he sat up in bed and stretched. Scratching his head as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, he tried to collect his thoughts.

Lessee here... what now? Oh right, clothes. Need clothes on. Then... breakfast? No, no, shower and then breakfast. Sounds good. he thought to himself, standing and stretching again. As he pulled on his uniform's pants, he remembered that today was the first day of classes. Good thing he'd left the first period open, or else he would've slept right through it. Tossing a towel around his neck, he headed off towards the dorm showers to begin his day.

[Tarrin]

Listening to Mistress Nikstchin talk about the chemicals used in various formulae, Johann started to realise the potential of his new class.

"Are u getting any of this?" the girl sitting next to Johann whispered
Turning to look at the girl, The first thing he noticed was her long braided hair. Long and a deep red, Johann had only seen red hair once and the man that sported it kept it cropt low.
"Kind of... if you watch her writing as well as listen to her it helps" was Johanns answer.
"Oh thank you" the girl returned "bye the way i', Elizabeth but my friends call me lizzy"
Johanns smile grew "I am Johann nice to meet you".
Johann felt something small and hard hit him in the head, Looking down a small piece of chalk lay at his feet.
"well looks like you don't need my teachings is that right mr?" Mistress Nikstchin stood her eyes drilling into Johann, Turning a deep shade of red Johann answered "Umm no mistress i'm sorry"

"Good then lets get back to work". Turning her back to the class Mistress Nikstchin started her class again.

[neyo the king]

Steve walked to the center of the room, where the woman instructor held out the nine paper slips and explained what was going on. He looked at the people beside him, but none of them looked to familiar, so he nodded and picked a piece of paper out of the instructors hand. 4, huh. Well, looks like I won't be fighting that Matthew guy. I wonder who I will be fighting... Steve gives his number to the instructor, wonder what he needs to do now.

[CallmePrismatic]

Su grabbed a slip near the center and held it up, equal parts to inform the teacher and figure out if he was holding it right. The small woman corrected his hold and nodded. "Slip number nine, Matthew you are up."

The snickers and a half-hearted guffaw were bounced off the dojos walls as the two combatants set themselves up in the assigned spot. Su was unsure of why these people were laughing but he was still unsituated enough with the new locales to assume the laughter was directed at him.

As he set himself up to face the larger man, he tried to recall what little information on the martial arts he knew from sitting on the sidelines watching the local Shaolin monks practice their kung fu. He was unsure of the exact stances, and most of the terminology he had heard was from his father who had applied the philosophies to business and life, but he thought he could manage a semi-decent facade of expertise.

He was somewhat heartened when Matthew appeared even more at unease then himself, the fuller man shifting around without a hint of confidence. Both of the soon-to-be fighters sized each other up while the teacher and student body looked on.

"And, begin."

Su was offput by the sudden declaration and remained still, while Matthew appeared somewhat nausea-infested but eager to use his slight initiative advantage. The larger man started forward, his left arm visibly forecasting an impending punch. By reflex Su ducked down under the punch and delivered a counterattack, a straight jab to Matthew's chest that unintentionally happened to strike his solar plexus.

Matthew stumbled forward, gasping like a pufferfish to suck as much of the atmosphere into himself as possible. Su opened and closed his fist, relishing in the adrenaline rush of the last few moments. A part of him felt bad for the pain he caused, but a new entrant into his psyche assured him that it was natural, that he was only defending himself, and that he needed to finish off the opponent as the only course of action.

As Matthew attempted to straighten himself up Su rushed him, delivering a straight punch to the jaw that sent the larger man reeling.

"Hmm, I think Matthew has had enough. Su advances on."

Matthew staggered off the center, massaging his chin. Su remained stationary, his mind trying to reorganize his body into a nuetral mode of non-combat. After the internal dilemma was settled he walked over to Matthew and nodded his head. "I am sorry if I hurt you." His common tongue wasn't fluid and a tad pausy but it was up to minimum standards of snuff. Su stepped aside and resumed his place among the other new students to watch the next series of fights.

[Sithdarth]

Zane walked forward and took his slip of paper. He was hoping for a chance at the big guy. His hatred of all those taller than him nearly instinctual at this point. Well maybe hatred was to strong a word; it was more of a need to prove himself. That usually entailed taking out the largest meanest looking guy in any given room. A quick glance at his number left him dissapointed, it was eight. At least he could hope that the big guy would win his bout.

Only then did Zane realize that is teacher was smaller than he was; this understandably left Zane feeling much better. It wasn't often that he got to see someone his size and less so someone a little shorter. He also noticed the eastern style she seemed to exude. While he himself was not from the east his country had strong ties there from generations of trade. They had brought back people and ideas from there as well as pieces of a fighting style which Zane had learned very early on. It had been on of the few things that had made his life bearable while growing up, despite the objections his parents had to spending so much time down at the docks.

[Abeni]

Jenn woke a little late and had to run to get to her class on time, skipping breakfast on the way. Ugh, I hope that doesn't effect what I have to do... She made it just in time to the strange room where she had taken her will test. When the strange woman formed from the shadows she had quickly stifled a gasp. But when the woman began to speak, she instantly respected her. Jenn didn't know what caused it, but somehow believed that she would love this class. How very wrong she was.

Kuubi Ibas' speach, instead of making her afraid, had made her excited. She loved a challenge, but she was not prepared for what was waiting for her...

She was falling, it was dark around her, but then she awoke alone in a house she recognized vaguely as 'home', but it wasn't her home. There was light coming from outside, but she knew it wasn't sunlight. The air was hot and heavy, and she had trouble breathing. She tried to stand and found that her body would not respond to her. She tried again and again, but control of that body was not hers.

Suddenly, her body shot up on its own, and she felt the fear. It wasn't the same as the fear she felt, it was the fear of this foreign body and mind that she seemed to be trapped in. She tried to move the body, to find a weapon, even to look in another direction, but she was trapped from within.

The door exploded forward, and men with shadows for faces and engulfed in black fire tore into the room. Her mind screamed Run!! Fight!!, but her strange body remained rooted to the spot, the foreign mind dumb with shock. The first man of fire knocked her to the ground and held her down, she could feel her flesh burning from her wrists and her mind and body both screamed in pain and horror.

They began to sink into the floor, her and her captor, and the other fire-men. They fell into the smallest room she had ever been in, it was like a box, or an air vent... or a coffin. She tried to struggle, to scream, to attack, to do ANYTHING! But her body was not her own, she had no control, she could only sit back and watch as the men of fire all leaned into her, engulfing her in thier damning black flames, at the same time closing the lid to the room and trapping her inside. It was too small, she was suffacating, she couldn't get out, she couldn't fight back, trapped, no way out, no control, can't breath...

IT'S A TEST!! Jenn screamed at her uncooperative body, I can't be afraid of this!! Keep fighting!! Keep Fighting!! The body would not move, the pain from the fire was growing dull as her body ceased to function, and her mind was on fire now. She let out a scream that escaped from her real body, her mind still trapped inside of her. She knew somewhere behind the pain and fear that she had to calm down and concentrate, but the fire was inside of her, she tried to fight it back with her mind, willing it to recede, willing the cage to open, the cage of her body to react, but it wouldn't. It has to! She was forcing them to listen to her, forcing herself to make them, forcing herself not to give into the fear...

[Elminster_Amaur]

Tai couldn't remember how he got back to his tribe, nor could he remember why he had left, or what the strange markings all over his body were. He couldn't remember much of anything. Like why his left eye was slightly less cooperative than it used to be, or why he was wearing these strange clothes.

The scene before him was one of the most horrifying things he had seen in his entire short life. The broken bodies of his family and friends and tribesmen lay scattered among the tents. Even the blacksmith and the captured servants had not escaped the carnage.

As he walked through the bloody scene of distruction and carnage, he found himself drawn toward something. No matter which way he went, he was moving toward that something. When he finally reached his destination, he found a sorcerer wearing bones with the markings of all the other tribes of his people, and the sorcerer was cutting out a rib from his father. Before his very eyes, the sorcerer carved the symbol of his tribe into his father's rib and then began eating the flesh of his parents.

"STOP!" Tai screamed, but the sorcerer couldn't hear him. Tai was frozen in place, unable to do anything about the desecration of his parent's bodies. In the lore of his people, eating all of a fallen opponent's flesh condemns them to forgo the afterlife, and grants you some of their strength. This man was killing his parents a second time, and Tai couldn't do anything about it.

"PLEASE! STOP!" Tai cried.

[The_Phat_G]

William covered his mouth with a hand and he tried to stiffle yet another yawn as he left the cafeteria. Plucking a shoot of grass from the ground so he could chew on it, he began heading towards the dojo. There was still some time left in first period, but he figured that if he got there early, the worst that could happen is he'd get an idea of what he was in for fifth period. Besides, one of his favorite pastimes was simple observation. He hoped the teacher wouldn't mind an extra body in the room.

[Mauve Mage]

Emma was halfway listening as the Magical Items instructor lectured on the uses of enchanted swords. She had started taking notes towards the beginning of class, but anyone looking down at her paper now would see more doodles than actual words.

She was now idly sketching some kind of deer. It stood at attention, its neck stretching as it observed something to its right. She had originally started drawing the sword that the instructor was holding, with thin lines and arrows pointing to the various parts as she took notes. Then a hand was drawn clutching the hilt. Below that came a small bird. A greyhound. The boy sitting in front of her. Her own hand. And now that the deer was finished, she started doodling a fox--

"--do you think, Miss Fletcher?" Emma looked up, hearing her name. The instructor was looking at her. Oh drat. The girl made some bland and general reply and hastily turned the paper over, going back to notetaking. A fine impression she was making.

[Krylo]

Closed Fist
The other students took slips of papers as well, and their results were as follows:

1--Jordan Vansile, a wiry boy who had once lived as a farmer.
2--Infisil Voltaire
3--Lorenzo Maskillian, a rather... strange boy who came from a noble family.
4--Steve Godrun
5--Bruno Kipslin, a sickly child of eleven who took the class for the same reason he came to this school... so he might overcome his natural weaknesses.
6--Kildar, a barbarian from the eastern tribes. A huge boy, rivaling even Piotr's size and strength, though he too was still young.
7--Jango Mercurian, a dark, but not black, skinned boy coming from the river regions to the south (think egyptian). He is lithe, but quick.
8--Zane Williams.
9--Su Tiao
10--Matthew Corvale, a big powderpuff

As a result the match-ups are as follows.

Jordan Vansile vrs Infisil Voltaire in the first round.
Lorenzo Maskillian vrs Steve Godrun in the second round.
Bruno Kipslin vrs Kildar in the third round.
Jango Mercurian vrs Zane Williams in the fourth round.
Su Tiao vrs Matthew Corvale in the fifth.

Haeru, or Keisei-sama as the older students called her, split off the opponents to various parts of the dojo and then spoke one single word, "Begin!"

With that, all the fights began at once.

In the first ring, stuff happened (OOC: I'm not going to play Infisil in Ryu's absence, however if he doesn't show up by the time we move to the second round he will be assumed to have lost, and thus receive extra attention from the teacher, as he apparently needs it--but will also be babied and kept from the more ardous training until he is deemed ready. This means he has until Sith and Neyo post)

Lorenzo walked into the ring with a light smile on his face, though his attention seemed to continually move to Su, sizing the asian boy up, even as he took a defensive stance. (Neyo--he's distracted. Easy fight.)

In the third ring Bruno and Kildar entered the ring, and Kildar bowed before Bruno before taking on a stance taught to him by his people, and spoke, "I wish you luck and glory in combat. May your enemies fear your power, and your friends trust in your strength."

Bruno just nodded and put up a shaky defence before muttering, "Uh... y... yeah."

The larger boy moved with a speed that beguiled his mass and delivered a blow to Bruno, though the blow was a merciful one, striking directly against the arms raised in defense. It did little damage, but still threw the smaller man many feet and set him on his back, where he groaned from bruises and pain.

Haeru singled the end of the fight, and Kildar would move on to fight the winner of the 'fourth round' when all other fights were finished.

Speaking of the fourth round, Jango stepped into the ring, and though he knew nothing of fighting he attempted his best defence before the battles were signalled. (OOC: He's inexperienced, but very fast. Not a hard battle by any means, but you'll probably throw a few punches before landing a solid blow, Sith)

And the fifth round resolved nearly as quickly as the third. Haeru brought Su to the side and had him stand by the desk, informing him that he had been 'seeded' and would not fight again until the end of the competition.
---
Will Training
Fifteen minutes passed and the older students began to get up now, still visibly shaken and their skin covered in a cold sweat. They, having been taking this class for quite some time now, were quite strong of will, but even so, the terrors they had seen shook them to their cores. Some had watched their friends and family raped and killed before their eyes, others had seen their own demise, and still others had watched as all their material possessions were stripped of them, while they were powerless to stop it. Many were the fears and motivations of this class--and many were the terrors they saw.

Those still asleep seemed to suffer terrible seizures, and some had even begun to cry, tears staining their faces, as their invisible dreams tore apart their minds.

[Sithdarth]

Zane took a standard stance. It offered the best balance between offense and defense. When the signal for the start of the fight came he opened with a standard quick long range kick. Knowing quite well the kick would probably be avoided Zane had planned ahead and rightly so. Jango stepped aside a bit faster than Zane would have expected from someone as seemingly inexpierenced as his opponent.

Surpirsed but unphased Zane pressed the second stage of his initial attack. As the foot he had kicked with touched the ground Zane threw a quick back fist strike in Jango's general direction. Again Zane's blow was avoided but this time he felt the slightest bit of hair. Zane was getting closer and knew a few more strikes would probably spell the end for Jango.

Spinning quickly to require his target Zane was surprised to find Jango on the offensive. It was a strong but slightly awkward and over extended punch. Once again Jango's speed nearly got the better of Zane but he was saved by his previous training. Stepping slightly off to the side Zane redirected the punch with his front hand catching the wrist with his back hand. At the same time kneeing Jango in the large muscle of the thigh breaking his stance a little. As his foot hit the ground once more he spun around under Jango's armpit keeping a tight grip on his wrist. Immediately after completing is 360 degree turn Zane pulled Jango's wrist up and over Jango's own shoulder. When Jango's elbow was facing straight toward the ceiling and he was leaning slightly backwards Zane's leg came around and delivered a sweeping kick to the back of the poor man's leg.

The entire sequence took far less than a second and before he could really tell what was happening Jango found himself in the air. Not wanting to seriously injure his opponent Zane slowed Jango so he only lightly impacted. the floor. Not wanting to give Jango the oppertunity to turn the tables Zane quickly employed a joint lock on his fallen foe. Using just enough pressure to let Jango know that moving wouldn't be in his best intrest Zane waited for a signal to end the match. When the signal came Zane released Jango and helped him to his feet shaking his hand and complementing his speed. He then quickly took a seat and waited for his next match.

[Truce]

Curel tried to take notes-really, he did. However, there were just some things he was never meant to do, and sitting around listening to teachers lecture him about why you should never stab yourself with an enchanted sword was not one of them. Had it been a more exciting topic, such as how to use the sword to smite an opponent, it would've caught his interest, but right now he didn't particularly care about the dangers. Eventually, he just found himself scribbling whatever he could catch, and let his mind wander the rest of the time.

[Ryu Kurai]

(OOC: Sorry about my abscence, final projects consuming most of my time right now.)

Infisil looked over the other boy judgingly. He looked thin, but muscular. His haircut was atypical, and his face even more so. He would have placed him in a common job of some kind, most likely either a job involving heavy lifting or farming. The boy raised his hands in fists, and Infisil didn't doubt the kid had been in more than one scrap. Infisil raised his hands, fingers spread openly. They stalked each other for a moment or two, then the boy drew his right fist back. Infisil took a step to the side, grabbing the kid's arm as he punched and throwing him past him as heraised his foot in a kick to the stomach. The other boy turned, clearly peeved, and struck with a rapid series of punches. Infisil weaved away from the punches, a couple of them striking him with glancing blows. Infisil's right hand drew back, fisted, and the other boy moved his arms inward to block it. Infisil grinned and wrapped his left arm around the boy's arms, punching the boy sideways in the throat. He struggled with newfound strength, shaking Infisil off, and the two drew back again, each watching the other closely.

Infisil decided to break the temporary truce. He moved in with a grab to the inside of the boy's leg. He punched, of course, and Infisil managed to block a few of them, save one, which shot past his guard and his him hard on the cheekbone. It almost felt like he had liquid underneath his skin a second after he had been hit, but Infisil simply lifted the boy's leg up and then kept on lifting it, the boy falling onto the ground. Infisil kept his hold on it, kicking the boy in his mid-thigh. The boy yelped in pain, lashing out with his other leg. Infisil moved the boy's own leg in the way, then grabbed the other leg and put that under his arm too, the ankles crossed. He pulled the boy closer to the center of the ring and then pulled up on his oponent's legs and stomped his foot into the boy's crotch. The boy's face twisted into an expression of both astonishment and agony. Infisil let his legs go, and the boy crumpled into a ball, clutching his wounded privates like a beggar clutched a coin.

"I am done." Infisil said simply. He was named the winner of the match and sat down, rubbing his cheek a bit.

[Tarrin]

Johann's brain began to hurt, Trying to take in all that mistress Nikstchin was writing apon the board.
The class was almost over and he'd already filled up several partchment pieces with fomulae and rules, to his left Liz had been copying his scrawl onto her own sheets, Obviously hoping that she could make more of Johann's work than the teachers.
Johann's hand raised to ask a question and just as suddenly jerked back to cover his chest, The pain from the burn shot through his entire body causing him to curl over in pain a little. "Are you ok?" Liz whispered.
Johann nodded a affirmative to her, The pain still strong but not wanting to cause an upset in his first class Johann forced himself uprite.