Blitz

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

Kylie inhaled to chant another cheer for Ammiel, whose presence she was really beginning to appreciate now. Kylie didn’t want to look, but she knew, just from the sheer fact that the amount of noise and commotion was decreasing, that some students surely must have… not made it. The very thought chilled her to the bone, but she kept her gaze on Ammiel and remained aware of her surroundings in case anything snuck up on her.

A voice calling out to her pulled her out of her small trance. It didn’t belong to Ammiel, who was still fighting vigorously. It coming from… It looked like another student, a boy, who was standing near another girl, who Kylie assumed was also a student. They seemed to be faring well amidst the chaos. The girl seemed to have summoning capabilities. The boy, on the other hand, she couldn’t tell what exactly his powers were. He seemed to be able to apply forces on objects without touching them. Interesting.

"Hey there! You doing alright?” he called out to her, waving his hand.

“Just dandy!” she called back, but she suddenly shrieked when some juice coming from a monster Ammiel just slashed at splattered on her exposed legs. Thankfully none landed on her actual clothing.

“Gross…” she squealed, looking down at her legs. She didn’t dare touch the dark liquid.

“Duck!” Ammiel bellowed. Kylie looked up with a gasp and did as she was told. Ammiel dived over her head and impaled a monster right above the jaw that had been standing right behind her, about to smack her with a powerful punch.

“Oh God,” she whispered to herself, her heart pounding out of her chest. Ammiel pulled his sword out and thrust the monster to the side with its hilt. “That was close.”

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

Oh my god I'm stupid I just posted my last post in the character section. :(

IceSolstice, I hope you'll forgive my idiocy.

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

(OOPS)

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

[Kylie]

The natural light in the room suddenly blotted out as Mr. West told the students to fight. Kylie didn’t have time to figure out what caused that; she had her own problems to deal with. Throughout the classroom, strange seals appeared on the floor and glowed with malevolent light. Then, literally out of nowhere, giant, ugly monsters with jaws so big it’d give a dentist a heart attack. Hell, it almost gave Kylie a heart attack. Where had these creatures been summoned from?

She’d have to get her answers later. Mr. West had instructed them to fight, and all she knew was that was what she had to do then. With a quick glance around, Kylie saw other students already catching on to their word-based powers quickly. What could she do to defend herself?

Spirit, spirit… Okay, but, a cheer wouldn’t be very helpful right now!

Then, it clicked. Spirit! Like, like… An angel!

As soon as the idea came into her head, a beam of radiant light erupted from the ceiling. Whatever it led to, Kylie didn’t know. But out of the glittering luminescence came flying exactly what Kylie had envisioned in her head—an angel!

It looked kinda like a stereotypical angel. Tall, clad in white robes, wearing sandals, blonde hair… He came complete with a halo and wings, and was even wielding a sword! The being flew down head first then jumped down in front of Kylie just as a monster was beginning to charge.

“Stay behind me!” the angel ordered.

Kylie nodded and took a step back behind him and he began to slash at the monster. Kylie’s heart was racing as she watched what was happening unfold before her eyes. It was so hard to believe this was all real…!

The monster bellowed in anger and pain at the angel and raised its fist to attack. The angel saw his opening and stabbed its sword into the creature’s armpit. With a wailing groan it fell over onto its side. The angel withdrew its sword and jumped back towards Kylie.

Kylie pressed her knuckles to her lips nervously. Was there any way she could help out the angel? Then she remember what she was best at—cheering him on!

“What’s your name?” Kylie asked the angel quickly before another monster prepared to lunge at them.

“Ammiel!” the angel replied before raising his sword in defense. The nearby monster dashed forward with surprising speed given its grotesquely hunched back.

“Okay, go Ammiel!” Kylie shouted, raising up her hands like she had pompoms in them. “Kill the monsters; fight, fight, fight!” She focused on trying to instil the battling angel with the energy and the motivation to keep on fighting. Lo and behold, it appeared to work! Ammiel gained speed and precision with his blows. But how long would this madness last for? How long could Kylie keep this up?

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

So, if Kylie summoned an angel, would it be unarmed or could it be carrying a sword or a bow and arrow? Or does that not come with the power >_<

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

Gotcha! Made the edit :)

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

Ooof, finished. Tell me if the post is okay/if I need to make any edits. :)

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

[Kylie]

Kylie hurried off toward the girls’ dormitories; she did not want to be late to the only class she would be showing up for. Most people who knew her could attest that it wasn’t like her to be punctual, but first impressions were everything. Using the key and information she found in the envelope from earlier, she arrived at her assigned room and opened up the door. There wasn’t enough time to explore the room—she was more worried about getting her belongings. Kylie made a beeline to the first bedroom that she saw and discovered her luggage and duffel bag had been placed neatly on the bed inside, seemingly untouched. But Kylie was positive they had invaded her privacy either through X-rays or physically rummaging through everything. Whatever, at least she had her stuff back now.

Slowly, she reached down and began to unzip her suitcase to unpack her plethora of clothes. But on a whim, she glanced at the time on a digital clock in the room and saw it was 9:50. Jeez, where had the time gone? There was absolutely no way she could unpack everything in time. With an exasperated sigh, she left her luggage half-open and stormed out of her room muttering something about stupid required classes.

Kylie rushed over to where the academic buildings were located after asking a passerby for directions. No matter how late she’d be, however, she simply had to check out her reflection in a window that she was going past. Arriving on time was a good first impression and all, but being on time and looking good was a thousand times better.

Her hair with its brand-new blonde highlights looked great. She had it down, and since she had straightened it earlier that day, not a single lock was out of place. She was wearing the same outfit she had on when she left; there was no point in getting changed, especially when—oh shoot, she had to get to that stupid class!

Now jogging, but being very careful not to work up a sweat, Kylie arrived at Class 4 with two minutes to spare. The teacher, a well-built man in a dress shirt and tie, glared at her, but she smiled at him as if to say “I’m still on time though.” Or perhaps her smile said something along the lines of, “You’ll only be dealing with me for today.” She found an empty seat toward the back of the class and sat down.

“Since we’re all here,” the man said in a deep and booming voice. “We can now begin. My name is Mr. West and I will be instructing Class 4. Here at the Skyline Institute the most important thing is one, single word. What word, you may ask? Well, that’s up to you. In a moment I will be handing out a slip of paper. On it you will write down one word, and one word only. I don’t want any pranksters on the first day, you hear? Don’t just write down any word either, like a preposition or a pronoun. This word must have actual meaning and will be your sole source of strength and protection, because as you may know, at Skyline, the only requirement for graduation is survival. Your word will be what grants you this survival, if pick one you can work with. What can you rely on for this? What word can you entrust your very life with?”

Kylie gulped. So that’s why this class was required. Maybe… Maybe she had bitten off a little more than she could chew. But it was too late to turn back now, and she knew it. She was well aware her life was on the line, but what possible dangerous obstacles could the faculty throw at their students? Didn’t that lady from earlier mention something about monsters? Well, this certainly wasn’t a normal school, so… It could happen. Kylie supposed she’d find out in due time…

“Remember, you must also be creative with your words,” Mr. West added. “Apply it using any form of its definition that you can think of. That may be an important key for some of you.”

Mr. West then handed out the papers and writing utensils and waited patiently for everyone to write their words down. Kylie stared down at her little slip of paper and wracked her brain for something useful. Not knowing what she’d be going up against, Kylie thought of some words that could work. Fire? Invisible? Courage? Knowledge? …Bomb?

No, no… Nothing seemed to be a good fit, at least not for Kylie. She gazed out the window in frustration and saw, way in the distance, the endless fields that surrounded the campus. Then she remembered seeing the track field on her way in and how she considered being a cheerleader. What is the number one thing you need to have if you’re a cheerleader? Spirit!

Kylie excitedly recorded the word in neat cursive and stared at it, content. Yes, it was an excellent word with multiple meanings she could work with.

Mr. West noticed that most of the students had finished and he swiftly walked around all the desks, checking the papers. He nodded at each one, and no one seemed to have written down more than one word or any meaningless ones.

“Good job, everyone,” he said as he returned to the front of the class. “No pranksters this year. Now, all you have to do is say the word out loud. Don’t be shy, now.”

Kylie bit her lip and looked at her paper. All the other students began saying their words.

“Spirit,” she whispered quietly.

Immediately after she said this, the paper disintegrated, as did every other paper in the room as soon as its owner pronounced their respective word.

“Wh—“ Kylie gasped. She immediately felt a tingling sensation in her left hand. She flipped her hand over and gazed into her palm with a start. There, written in fancy font just like she had done on her paper, her skin was emblazoned with the word “SPIRIT”.

“Now, students… Make your teacher proud and use your words to fight!”

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

Hi, and oh my goodness I'm sorry for running a little late. I had a party all day and couldn't get on! I'll start my post right now though :D

Aphorism: Skyline Institute

[Kylie]

Kylie felt a small shiver up her spine as she gazed at the gates in front of her. The guards standing vigilant at the gates reminded her of those British guards that stare out onto the streets and have no emotion, no matter what you did to try to distract them. Kylie didn’t feel compelled to test that on them.

Her father had just left. She didn’t want him to stay very long, and his teary goodbye was getting old. It still ticked her off that he was pretending like he cared about her… but whatever. Now she was on her own, finally, like she had wanted. This should be a piece of cake, right?

She peered through the gate’s opening and saw the school was way off in the distance. Luckily, she had passed of her hefty pieces of luggage to inspection before coming here, so she wouldn't have to lug it all the way there. With a deep breath, she started off and crossed the threshold of the gate…

Her vision seemed to flicker for a moment, and before she could even realize what was happening, she saw the school was now considerably closer. Impossibly close. With a little gasp, she glanced behind her and saw there was no gate. Nothing. Just the grass that seemed to go on forever.

“Oh…” she muttered to herself in a small voice. “I guess there’s no turning back now…”

Kylie should’ve expected as much. She knew the school wasn’t… normal. But the fact that she was experiencing this not-normal-ness firsthand was certainly bizarre. She inhaled shakily and turned around to face forward again. Her brown eyes swiftly scanned over the school in front of her. It kinda looked like your typical boarding school. She had expected something along the lines of Hogwarts… but this was okay too. She noticed she was on the field enclosed by a track, and her stomach tingled. Was there a sports team? Maybe she could cheer for them!

She headed off to the field since she saw a group of adults setting up tables there. Must be the place to check in.

“Hello there!” one of them called out suddenly. “Name?”

Kylie nearly jumped. She didn’t expect anyone to reach out to her so out of the blue.

“Eep!” she gasped. “Oh my God… Sorry.” She giggled to diffuse her embarrassment. “It’s Kylie Reith. R-E-I-T-H.”

The well-dressed woman who had addressed her nodded and produced an envelope labeled 4.

“That number is your class. Class 4.”

“Oh, well you won’t need to worry about me showing up,” Kylie laughed, taking it from her hands.

“The first class is required. After that it’s up to you to show up or not.”

Kylie frowned. She hated that word, required.

“Really?”

“Well if you don’t you’ll certainly be in a pickle. Don’t want to get eaten by a bunch of monsters, do you? It starts at 10am so you have a little bit of time.”

Kylie laughed nervously at the odd woman and stared down at her envelope with a frown.

“Okay, one class isn’t too bad, I guess,” she replied quietly.

“Your room key and information are also in there,” said the woman. “The girls’ dormitories are located on the opposite side of campus. Just keep going straight and past the boys’ dorms. Your luggage should already be in your room by now.”

“…Thanks,” Kylie answered. She figured the first thing she should do was locate her room and belongings and unpack before she got to this class. She gently folded the envelope in her hands and took off toward the girls’ dorms.