[Marcus] [i]Do I really have super strength? I don’t feel any stronger. What should I test this out on...[/i] As Marcus looks around the room for something relatively harmless to break (the other students [i]did[/i] briefly cross his mind), the floating island eclipses the sun, signifying the beginning of the eclipse. Darkness fell upon the school and several gasps of emanated from the students seated by the windows. Next, what could only be described as monsters rose out of the ground, their orifices dripping with crimson liquid. Unsettling to even look at, the creatures set themselves upon the students at once. In Marcus’s classroom, one of the beasts began to emerge from the wall, jaws already closing upon the unlucky student adjacent to that patch of wall. [i]That’ll do nicely.[/i] Marcus throws his desk to the side and strides up to the beast, holding its jaws open with his arms while he kicked the petrified student away. The student--chair and desk included--flew forward and into relative safety. Bracing a foot on the lower set of teeth, Marcus [i]pushes[/i] and with a violent tearing sound, the beast splits in half, blood spraying across the room, the majority of it landing on Marcus. He wipes his eyes clear and grins. [i]Oh hell yes.[/i] Leaving the mangled creature still hanging off the wall, Marcus walks to the windows and observes the situation. Creatures were spawning even outside, and the students that thought they would be safe if they ran outside were sorely mistaken. Still, some students were fighting back, defending themselves. [i]I wonder just how strong I am now... my hands don’t even hurt from ripping that thing apart.[/i] Picturing his hand to be like steel slicing wood, Marcus chops downward violently, carving a gash through the wall. His hand was completely unharmed. Clawing his hands now, Marcus rips through the wall and steps outside, eager to see how far he could throw one of those monsters this time. [Gideon] [i]Bind has so many different uses. Binding things, creating any sort of binding material, indenturing people, sealing and restricting, hardening and stiffening, compacting and solidifying, cohering and sticking, obliging and compulsing, and even protecting. Ah, looks like the first blight has begun. Show time.[/i] Seals form on the floor, with monsters rising up out of them. One student dies immediately, his upper body cleaved in half by blunt, human-like teeth. A girl runs over to a window and touches it, causing it to seemingly disappear. She jumps outside and turns into a cheetah before racing out of sight. [i]Transform? Transfigure? Change? Oh well.[/i] After sealing the windows and doors shut with crisscrossing iron chains, bolted from floor to ceiling, Gideon stands up and walks to the front of the room, slaughtering monsters as they arose from the floor and walls. Loops of piano wire pulled by a few thick elastic bands sliced apart the creatures with ease. He could have used carbon nanotube wires, but he hadn’t tested that out yet. “Students! My name is Gideon Vaughn, and I will protect you all! You can already see that my words are the truth. These repugnant monsters will not take any more of this class’s lives today. Now, I need to know everyone’s Words so I can figure out the best way to survive this ordeal.” “What if I don’t want to listen to you, huh!?” An angry student calls out. “Then don’t listen.” Gideon smiles and waves his fingers, prompting strips of duct tape to completely cover every inch of the student’s head except for his nose and mouth. “He’ll be fine, he can breathe.” Gideon assures the room, as the student begins to peel the tape off of his face. Starting at the front left and snaking his way around, Gideon asks the students their Words. All complied, some after a bit of coaxing. The students with words he liked, he touched lightly on the shoulder as he walked by. [i]Armor, Heat, Rejuvenate, Shield, and Hide. I’ll use these five for now.[/i] He’d tried binding people to his will from a distance, but it seemed contact was necessary to make that facet of his ability work. Once done, Gideon walked back to the front and sat down on the desk, willing the girl with “Heat” to come forward as well and kill anything that rose up behind him. Otherwise, Gideon just sat in place, lazily killing monsters and wondering when it’d be over. [hr] Bored out of his mind, Gideon decided now might be a good time to test out something he’s always wanted to test out. Ever since he could remember, he’d wondered about the guilt that criminals display on cops shows, that veterans whisper about in interviews. Does taking a life change a person? Can you really see it in their eyes? Does it haunt you for the rest of your life, overwhelm your thoughts with guilt and despair? Or is it like any other action, and the haunting horror that other murderers feel is a byproduct of the guilt that they should be feeling. Is there something especially significant in taking a life, and does it change a man? Gideon wanted to know, and the more he thought about it, the more curious he grew. As a side benefit, if he was paralyzed by his actions after committing murder, he’d be able to recover safely and probably grow resistant so that it doesn’t happen again, or happen in the middle of a fight. Under the pretense of checking the back of the classroom, Gideon brushes past and binds a weak student, one with a defective Word. Returning to the front of the class, he asks, “Would anyone like to volunteer in scouting the outside?” He compels Jacob and the new student to speak up, and takes the both of them outside, leaving Ashley to protect the class. Once outside, Gideon creates iron chain curtains to prevent anyone from witnessing what he was about to do. Next, Gideon swiftly binds the student’s arms, legs, and mouth, then compels him to fall to his knees before releasing the binding. The student wriggles wildly, confused and panicked, but was helpless to take meaningful action. Creating a simple but strong rope, the thickness of a penny and four feet long, Gideon swiftly loops the rope once around the student’s neck and pulls it tight. He could hear the choked, halting breathing begin, forced through the throat and the nose, but failing, growing weaker and weaker. Gideon didn’t let up, pulling with everything he had. Slowly, the student’s struggles come to an end and the desperate struggle for breath ceases. Gideon continues the stranglehold for a few more seconds before letting go. He didn’t feel different at all. A student was dead because of him, yet Gideon felt no different. Sure, adrenaline was coursing through his body, but that was all. No soul-crushing regret, no horrified vomiting or falling to his knees. Gideon didn’t feel any weight on his soul, no evidence of cardinal sin. On the contrary, he felt light. Taking lives did not handicap him, and the confirmation of a weakness negated gave him satisfaction. Gideon carves the corpse up into paste, flings it onto a wall, then sprints back into the classroom, followed by Jacob, who Gideon compelled to tell and corroborate the story of being attacked by a huge pack of monsters that got the drop on them. Gideon acted horrified and regretful, as did Jacob. The class suspected nothing, and were even a little sympathetic. ((I don't even know what I wrote, but I was frustrated and tired and it turned into words.))