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Day 1 ◈ Time: Night ◈ Weather: Cloudy, Drizzle ◈Location: Open Skies Near Harold's Academy ◈ Participants: Patty Grumble@Aeolian, A Group of Daemons@Aeolian
♫
The song.
It rippled through the rainy skies, carried upon the winds that Patty had assembled about herself to propel faster. She recognized this song from other moments in her life, but found this tune distorted and unnatural, somehow. Could it be? And on the night of The Moonlit Masquerade Ball? No. Surely not. Using her gift, she parted the rain around her as she drew further from the Academy. She was out in open skies when the rain finally tempered into a soft drizzle. She didn't bother parting it; there wasn't enough to warrant any effort on her part. The clouds ahead of her were thick and dark, like vaporized ink from a quill. She paused, scanning the horizon in the direction of the song. The weather witch could part those foreboding clouds too, but she waited, anticipation rapturing at her hearts like she hadn't felt in ages.
Couldn't be.
The song steadily got louder, distorted nonetheless, but more identifiable with the tune that she replayed over and over in her memories. This seasoned mystic had learned a thing or two from her past, and she recognized this song. She reckoned everyone back at the school could hear the song now too. From taking her classes, they should be able to assert what that song was and where it came from.
The Ni-Seraphi.
The Ni-Seraphi were strange creatures, colossal and beautiful and deadly. They sang as a form of communication to one another, but also, to instill fear into their prey. This was, undeniably, their hunting melody. Assured in what dangers loomed ahead, Patty pulled out a quill and parchment from her cloak and wrote back to Professor Caelum Incanowitz, who was likely propped upon an open window sill playing his flute leisurely until the rain subsided. He may have heard the Hunting Song of The Ni-Seraphi too, but if he hadn't, it was all but assured that he was definitely hearing it now. She also wrote to the Royal Guard, but the school was on its own until they arrived.
Patty looked back toward the Academy, which was a fair distance away, and when she returned her gaze to the dark wall, she spotted small silhouettes hurling frantically through the skies toward her. The old woman steadied herself, channeling her inner vitesse for what she assumed would be combat. As they came into better view, she could make out four figures: a man, a woman, a figure with an unusual bug-like head, and an adolescent who appeared to be bleeding from her side and was being assisted in her flight by the woman. Patty moved forward only an inch or two and then paused. Her natural instinct was to help people, but as they came closer, she recognized their faces from the public criminal records. Daemons--and heading toward the Academy, no less. How dare they threaten the lives of her charges.
Without hesitation, Patty's face went hot, and she soared higher into the air as dark clouds collected above her, visible static jumping madly. A thunderhead. She had materialized it out of thin air, hanging it over them. She watched closely, preparing to unleash a lightning bolt once they crossed the boundary she had erected in her mind's eye. But just as she was about to strike, she heard the voice of the woman, heaving and desperate across the wind currents, "We--need help. We ne--we need Minerva."
"Minerva...?" Patty mumbled curiously, though when they were finally upon her, her face twisted into a look of concern once her eyes fell upon the teenage youth. This was still a child, and seeing this child bleeding from their side brought about Patty's maternal, sympathetic nature. The man with the braid approached Patty, seemingly the leader of their little posse. "What is the meaning of this?" Patty asked.
The man's voice was strong, but sore, it seemed, and he was breathing heavily too. "I'm Glaos Wyngarde. This is Iolana--" he stated, motioning to the woman with the flower in her head. Iolana nodded in acknowledgment. She looked strained, holding up the teenager nearing unconsciousness, or perhaps the teenage girl already was and could only stir feebly. Glaos continued, "--Sara, and Kannon."
Patty seemed unbothered by the introductions, despite Kannon's unusual bug-like face making her eyebrow twitch uncomfortably. When Patty spoke, there was an urgency in her voice as the Ni-Seraphi's song was just beyond the dark billowing wall of clouds for which the group of Daemons came through. "I know who you are. The question is, why are you here? This is an establishment for gifted students, not criminals." The rain remained a drizzle, but Patty used her gift to push those leaking clouds away to create a clearer atmosphere for them to discuss. Her thunderhead still hung over them, though, just in case. Patty looked at Sara, briefly, whose skin was turning awfully pale.
This Glaos figure moved even closer to Patty until they were hovering right in front of each other. He pulled out an Edwardian envelope with gilded writing, though the script was incomplete, as though the writer ran out of time before they could complete it. There was no traditional crested wax seal either. Glaos held it out to her, "This should explain everything. It's from our leader, but...he is gone now."
Patty took the envelope, adjusted her glasses thoughtfully, and began reading the letter. Never for a second, however, did she tune out from the Ni-Seraphi song that continued to permeate the very air around them, sending a quivering tingle throughout all their aeonhearts. When Patty finished reading the envelope, she let out a troubled gasp. Her gaze went misty as she monologued to herself quietly, "No wonder. This must be why Minerva left so abruptly this evening. Things are more grave than I thought."
Glaos, who had overheard Patty, reeled in shock, "Minvera's gone????!!" he asked fearfully.
Patty thought for a moment, ignoring his exclamation. When her mind had finally settled, she gestured to them with her hands. "Come with me. Quickly. We can discuss this matter further at the school and--" She meant to say that the girl could receive treatment in the Academy infirmary, but before she had a chance, her eyes widened in unmistakable fear and equal parts determination.
From inside the wall of dark clouds, colossal angelic beings appeared—the Ni-Serpahi. After several years, the Ni-Seraphi had finally reared their beautiful, ugly heads at the Academy. With the Royal Guard manning watch of the Ripple in the Sky around the clock, Ni-Seraphi seldom made it to the school. But somehow, an entire brood of them had suddenly appeared from the shadows. This was impossible. And their song sounded even more twisted now than Patty had ever remembered it sounding before.
"Go to the school, Quickly! Ask for Grune. I will hold them off the Ni-Seraphi for as long as I can!" Patty said boldly. This little old lady always talked so sweetly at school, but she carried herself like a true warrior here on the battlefield. She was resolved and ready to defend her students at ALL COSTS.
"I will stay here with you to help defend your school--" Glaos said to Patty, and then he turned to his comrades, who were both helping to hold up the limp-bodied Sara, one arm over each of their shoulders. "Do as she says. Take Sara to the school infirmary before she bleeds to death! Now!" Iolana and Kannon nodded, then, with Sara hanging across them, flew toward the school with the last of their vitesse they could muster. When Glaos returned to address Patty, the weather witch had already jumped into the fray.
Patty soared high and fast, expanding her thunderhead as she got closer to her approaching Ni-Seraphi. She tried to count how many there were, but she didn't have the time. The atmosphere around her crackled with the sound of thunder, and then she let loose powerful lightning strikes onto the angelic monstrosities.
The Ni-Seraphi were killable and their blood was strikingly silver. These celestial abominations from another realm moved at varying speeds too. Some slow, some fast, particularly the ones with a severe case of bloodlust and hunger. Their eyes were ghostly hollow and rippled with a mercury-like substance, like a swirling pool of captured souls lost forever within their gaze. But aside from the sheer strength they possessed due to their colossal size, their mouths were their greatest asset.
Sure, they could swipe at you with their humongous wings or hands, but their songs are what you had to be fearful of most. Ni-Seraphi ate Mystics alive. Killing a Mystic, kills their aeonheart. And what good is a lifeless, unbeating aeonheart to a Ni-Seraphi. There's no magic in that. As such, Ni-Seraphi were keen on ensnaring their prey rather than outright killing them before consumption. One song created orbs of sound, which they could release from their mouths and use to incapacitate their prey from a distance. And when it was time to feed, they used their large mouths to suck in air and create a current of torrential air to suck prey right into their large, open pitless mouths. It was like being sucked into a blackhole, and you had to be a really skilled flier or have enough Vitesse to escape the violent suction.
Patty understood one thing, though, as she released lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the approaching Ni-Seraphi; there were too many of them. She and this daemon, whatever his gift was to assist her in combat, was not enough to keep them all away from the school. They would need Royal Guard for additional assistance. And the students, oh her students. It was time. It was time to activate...
ESP.
Emergency Safety Protocols.
Day 1 ◈ Time: Night ◈ Weather: Cloudy, Drizzle ◈Location: Harold's Academy ◈ Participants: Professor Caelum Incanowitz@Aeolian Professor Grune@Aeolian
♫
Strangely, Professor Caelum Incanowitz seemed excited by the current turn of events. His eyes lit up as he read Professor Grumble's parchment message, and he couldn't help but think about manning the Seraphim statue against the incoming threat. The old timer very well could have ran to Headmistress Minerva's office to speak to the entire school through the crystal intercom, but instead, his second thought (obviously his first being the Seraphim statue) was to immediately inform Professor Grune of what lay ahead. The students would need to prepare themselves and he didn't want to cause immediate panic. This was going to be a rocky night, perhaps even a tragic one.
With no further hesitation, he stored his parchment and flute into a fanny pack hidden under his cloak and then took to the air and flew quickly through the corridor halls. Most of the Academy was empty now; the majority of students and professors were at the Moonlit Ball. He found Grune where he expected her to be, training alone in the Dueling Room of Illusion. However, she wasn't actually training when he arrived. Rather, she was hovering in the air, looking out one of the stained glass windows and listening intently to the hunting rhapsody of the Ni-Seraphi that loomed in the distance.
When she sensed his presence, Professor Grune didn't even bother to turn to him; she only spoke in a low, solemn tone. "So it is true. They really are here."
Professor Incanowitz confirmed Professor Grune's own suspicions, prompting a pissed-off "Fuck!" from her as she turned to face him. "We have to initiate ESP!"
Grune was the professor of General Combat Training and Teamwork, after all. She, alongside Professor Patty Grumble, Professor Caelum Incanowitz, and Professor Kua were the most capable combatants of the professors at the Academy. They likely would take the initial duty of fighting off the Ni-Seraphi head-on, while the other professors and personnel were to focus on protecting the students who did not possess combat-focused powers or capabilities and, therefore, were more vulnerable to attack.
Professor Grune and Professor Incanowitz nodded to each other, knowingly. There was no way around it. Professor Icanowitz took off, making his way to the Seraphim statue located at the backside of the Academy. He would need to get there quickly without a moment to lose.
Grune, left behind in the Dueling Room of Illusion, cleared her throat, her vitesse swirling as she channeled it into her lungs. With her gift to manipulate the depth, echolocation, and volume of her voice to supernatural levels, she spoke calmly, resolute in her mission. But her voice echoed across the room and reverberated throughout the entire school. Her vocal gift was this powerful. No matter where you were at that moment, anyone on the school grounds would be able to hear her message, like the crystal intercom magnified thrice-fold. She kept it short, not being one for grand soliloquies of despair. Grune liked to keep things straightforward and to the point. No bullshit.
"Listen carefully. The Hunting Melody of the Ni-Seraphi is exactly what you are hearing now. This is not a drill. Those monsters are here and will be at our doorstep any moment. Do what you can to prepare. We're initiating ESP. Remember your training. You know what to d--"
At that moment, her voice abruptly cut off.
Anyone in or around the Main Ballroom would have heard a loud explosion from the direction of the Dueling Room of Illusion. The strength of the explosion was so great it would have rocked the equilibrium and balance of anyone in the ballroom or nearby. The room quaked violently, knocking people to their knees, food and decorations crashing about madly. Anyone still hovering in the air would come tumbling down to the stone-cold floor below, or at least, just nearly for some. Professor Grune spoke of the Ni-Seraphi being at their doorstep any moment now.
Well, that moment was now.
Day 1 ◈ Time: Night ◈ Weather: Cloudy, Drizzle ◈Location: Harold's Academy ◈ Participants: Petyr Nostradé@Aeolian, Monty Darling@Aeolian
♫
E.S.P - Emergency Safety Protocols
There was no time more grave than when the Academy initiated E.S.P. This protocol had only been initiated twice in recent decades, making it a novel procedure that several generations of students never had to experience for themselves. It was only initiated when the school was under immediate threat. Whether it be Daemons, Ni-Seraphi, or any other existential threat, the Academy did not take any dangers against the lives of the students lightly.
First, all combat-capable students and staff are to defend the school against the threat.
Second, students and staff lacking in combat prowess or a combat-based gift are to help one another find shelter until the threat has been eliminated OR provide support to the combatants on the front lines, if able.
Third, provide assistance where you can and stay safe.
Fourth, don't die.
-------------------------------
Petyr Nostradé
♫ - Petyr's Theme
When Petyr awoke, he found himself fetal position under a firm, hard body made of diamond. It was Monty, who had thrown himself over Petyr and used his gift to turn himself into a diamond form to protect his crush when the massive explosion nearby broke loose parts of the ceiling and sent them tumbling down onto them. Petyr tried to recall what had happened before that point.
He had been waiting outside of the Seraphine dorms, waiting for Monty to change into his Masquerade costume, which very well, was likely the most expensive costume at the school. While waiting, Petyr was exchanging parchment messages with his sister, Sage, who was waiting for Petyr outside of the ballroom with Lysander, their mute little brother. On he and Monty's way to the Main Ballroom, they heard the Hunting Melody of the Ni-Seraphi. At first, it was faint, like a soft, dreamy lullaby meant to lure unsuspecting prey to their death. From what he had learned in Professor's Grumble Defense Against the Ni-Seraphi class, something about this melody seemed off.
But as it slowly came closer and closer, Petyr and Monty were all but assured of its origins. Right, yes. And then that was when it happened. He heard Professor Grune's vocal message reverberate all around him, and then the explosion, and he was knocked to the ground, unconscious.
Petyr was conscious now, though when he felt against his temple, a wet gash had formed and winced in pain. He looked at his fingertips; there was bright warm blood painted on them. It was a deep gash, enough to knock him unconscious for several seconds after hitting his head on the cold stone floor. He hadn't had time to react, to shift into his Djinn form. It was all so sudden. Now that he was aware of the situation, he turned blue, and his hair grew long and flowy. His scales rippled upon his flesh, working to heal the painful wound on his temple, but it was too deep, it seemed. Petyr's gift would only be able to heal so much of it and for the rest, he would need to go to the infirmary or find a healer, like Anastasia, the Illuminaire from the House of Harold. When it seemed they were in the clear for now, Monty lifted himself off of Petyr and looked at him concerned, bringing his hand to the blue-skinned teen's face. "Are you okay?" Monty asked worriedly, his own skin almost as magnificent as Petyr's, only diamond instead of cornflower blue.
"I'm fine." Petyr said softly, standing up with the help of Monty. He wobbled a bit, getting his bearings. When his blue scales had healed the wound as best as they could, he shifted back to his normal form and looked around. Several windows had been shattered; signs and paintings that lined the walls were on the floors. There was a bit of rubble at the far end of the hall that had been knocked loose -- the old bits that were likely to have been in a state of disrepair for some time anyways.
When he and Monty looked outside the broken windows, they let out inaudible gasps. The Ni-Seraphi were hovering just beyond the sky island, peering hungrily at the school with milky, mercury eyes. They had thin bodies draped with ethereal, almost see-through fabric; long limbs, beautifully emotionless faces, and large feathery wings beat in a steady back-and-forth motion. From their limited vantage point, they could only see the ones in front of them, but the Ni-Seraphi were surrounding the sky island on all sides. Professor Grumble was right of course, there was no way she would be able to hold off this many on her own, not even with the assistance of the Daemon, who had stayed behind to fight. Petyr could make out bolts of lightning striking down rapidly in the distance. At least the professor was still alive, for now.
This was Petyr's first time encountering the Ni-Seraphi. Ever. All of his training had been theoretical. Sure, they trained in the Dueling Room of Illusion against ephemeral Ni-Seraphi, but never the real thing. Even still, despite the immediate threat to his life that loomed just beyond their home, Petyr could only think of Sage and Lysander. He whispered their names as it became clear to him that they may have been in danger or hurt too, during the initial explosion. They didn't have a self-healing factor or protective gift like he did.
In that moment, they were his only concern, and with no need for further hesitation, the blue-skinned god-like student took to the air and made his way toward the Main Ballroom. Monty tried to call after him, to express his concern for Petyr's safety, but Petyr didn't care or listen. So Monty did the only plausible thing that he knew he could do, he followed after him. Petyr was Monty's only concern. Petyr's thoughts raddled chaotically in his brain and the hunting melody of the Ni-Seraphi hummed bloodcurdlingly in his ears.
In Lekë, that beautiful melody was a thing of nightmares.
