Fantasy Unnatural Academy

[TheAdept]

"Pfft. Poor intent?" Mikkish said cynically "Amy, are you implying there are religious groups without poor intent?"


"And when did I say I wanted to break him out? I just wanted to know more about the island, thats all." He lied, as he passed through the entrance to the library.

 

[Primordial Primrose]

"Oh, all right." She thought and then did a double-take. "What do you mean, aren't all religions supposed to be positive, healing? Why would they do nasty things? I thought she meant that the Stardusts are zealous fanatics." She continued walking, and, after waving hello to the librarian, she quoted the name of the book and asked what section it was in. Receiving the directions, she began to look for it among the shelves.

 

[TheAdept]

Mikkish quickly skimmed the shelves for the book, but didn't bother to look at all of them, or even give a shit about alphabetical order.


"Dude, religion is all about nasty things. From suicide bombing to child molestation. From the crusades to thr salem witch trials." Mikkish said to Amelia, more interested in convincing her against trusting religious types than actually finding this book "Most religious types are overzealous."

 

[mmarage]

"Please don't touch those anymore." Came an annoyed voice. A man walked in from the back of the room, crossing his arms and assessing me with a cold expression on his face.


"A-Ah! I'm so sorry!" I bowed apologetically and then quickly folded the shirt up. "I-I'll leave right away." I turned to leave. "He's... really scary."


"Not so fast, I have a few questions for you."


I stopped dead in my tracks. "Oh god today's the day I'm gonna die." I turned around slowly. "Y-Yes sir?"


He walked up to me and walked around me a few times. "What is your name?"


"J-Joseph Hikari Nobunaga, b-but feel free to call me Joe, sir!" I bowed politely. I felt like a piece of meat someone was deliberating on taking home with them... or about to chop into little bits. "Why did I have to mess with his things?!"





While my back was to him, an amused expression crossed his face. "I see." He managed to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Now, why are you here?"


I rubbed the back of my head. "Well, ya see... I was kind of trying to warn someone from doing something very ill-advised and of potential questionable legality, then something awkward happened and then I ran away. I was all by myself and I decided to just peek in on the classroom, and then I saw your rooms and all of that really neat looking stuff and I just couldn't help myself. Then I picked up the dagger and nearly set those things on fire." I barely paused to breathe, I was sure that I was going to get in trouble for my curiosity.


"I see... well... in that case, for nearly committing arson, I believe a punishment is in order." A sly grin crossed his face as I stiffened up behind him. "But, first, I need to concoct something... you'll do it instead, and determining on how well you do, I may just skip the punishment entirely."


I turned around. "Y-Yes sir!" I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do, but I couldn't get in trouble before school even began! He led me to the center of the room where some ingredients were already set out, a weird root, water, and some herbs. A book was already sitting open to a recipe. "Um... what will I be making, sir?" I tilted my head.


"Just a simple alchemical concoction, nothing more, nothing less, begin." He turned around and walked away, leaving me to figure everything out on my own. Usually the students that he pulled this on were completely hopeless and it ended up blowing up in their faces. Literally.


I walked up to the ingredients and began reading through the book. First, I filled the cauldron with water and lit the fire beneath it. I then began to prepare the ingredients as necessary and adding them to the cauldron. "This is a lot like cooking... I'm making some sort of salve though... I can't mess it up!" I began stirring the ingredients together, quivering as I did, afraid to mess anything up. After a little while, the mixture began thickening into a pale yellow paste, after confirming that was the desired reaction, I looked toward the teacher. "U-Uh... sir, I'm done."


He looked up from his book, surprised. Usually they were still puzzling over how to correctly cut the mandrake root. He got up and walked up to the cauldron. "I see... let's test this out, shall we?" He produced a small silver blade and sliced his finger open. He put his uninjured hand into the cauldron and scooped up a little of the salve with his index finger and applied it to the cut. It sizzled for a second and quickly sealed up. "He's a natural." He cleared his throat. "Hm... I see... not bad, for a beginner. However, I will still have to punish you."


I almost wanted to protest, but I hung my head in acceptance and disappointment. "Y-Yes sir."


"From now on, you'll be joining me after your lessons for detention. You'll be assisting me with my alchemy. I want you to study up first, so then you're not completely worthless. However, since you did an adequate job, so long as you show up every day without fail, I will not report this to anybody." He pulled out a pen and piece of paper and wrote down a short list of books. "Go to the library and get these, study them every night." He held out the list.


I looked at him dumbfounded. Was he being serious? I reached out and took the paper with shaky hands. "Y-Yes sir!" I bowed politely. "This sounds more like he's giving me lessons, than punishing me..." I didn't mind. I actually wanted to learn more... it was actually pretty enjoyable, and if I could make amazing things such as the things on the table, maybe I could use this skill to help others.


"We'll begin tomorrow, you'll come here in the afternoon, I'm sure that you have no objections to this so long as you don't have school for the next few days."


"Not at all sir, I'll begin right away!" I smiled cheerfully.


"Good. One last thing, stop calling me 'sir'. My name is Professor Nakashima, you're dismissed."


"Yes, Mr. Nakashima!" With that, I rushed out of the room and off toward the library, the list tightly clutched in my hand.

 

[Primordial Primrose]

"But..." Amelia floundered. Why am I talking religion and politics? I know nothing about either of them! I don't even know how to say "Hello" correctly! She spoke up again. "My master always taught me that we are our own daemons. Heaven and Hell are just different parts of our spirits. Only by banishing them can we liberate ourselves and have no punishment. My daemon's name is Tsukigomori." Her face darkened as she remembered both the dream and the reality. She tilted her head and turned to face him, noticing that he had stopped working on finding the book. "What do you believe?"

 

[TheAdept]

'Tsukogomori?' Mikkish thought 'Damn, I'm dealing with one of those anime nerds, aren't I?'





"What can a guy have faith in, besides what he has seen and experienced? Religious 'beliefs' are just weird fairy tails, mixed with dumb rules. Don't drink too much. Wake up early for church every Sunday. No sex before marriage. That kind of thing." Mikkish said this, then looked at the shelf right in front of him, level with his head "I think this is it." He pulled a book of the shelf.


Crosses, Goat Men, and Stardust





He gestured for Amelia to follow him, and walked over to sit at a table. He then cracked open the book, checked the table of contents for the section about the Stardust religion, and began skimming the section for things that might change Osto's mind about sitting this out.

 

[mmarage]

I walked into the library and began walking around, pulling several books from the shelves. I eventually set them down on a table and took a seat. I grabbed the book, Beginner's Alchemy, from the top and began reading through it at a leisurely pace. The world just faded away for me as I read...

 

[Primordial Primrose]

Amelia saw Joe sit down, and sat down next to Mikkish. What? Her mind was spinning. Are the rules, perhaps excluding the one involving church, not logical? Drinking causes liver damage, and sex before marriage was just illogical and unsustainable. She watched him skim through the pages, and asked, "What are you looking for?"

 

[TheAdept]

Mikkish looked up to Amelia. He still wasn't interested in sharing his agenda with her jsut yet. Emphasis on "yet." He thought about maybe trying to bring her along, but he would worry about that later.


"I'm just looking at the general word choice. Making sure it is truly unbiased." Mikkish looked at the back of the book, which gave a brief bio of the author "Hmm. James Garcia. He was a LaVeyan Satanist. Apparently these 'Brotherhood of Baphomet' fools aren't really Satanic and he is all offended. I will just avoid that part then."


Mikkish went back to skimming through. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he could have sworn he saw a familiar face frm the boat.


It was Joe. The guy he talked to earlier on the sidewalk.


Mikkish smirked, then walked over to Joe.


"Joe, buddy, wassup?" Mikkish asked, sitting down, the supposedly 'unbiased' book in his hand.

 

[mmarage]

I was so deep into my reading, I didn't even register the words that Mikkish had said. "O-Oh huh, what?" I looked up and blinked a few times. I finally saw Mikkish. "Oh, hey, Mikkish... uh... sorry... I didn't quite catch that... it... uh... was you that spoke, right?" I couldn't help but blush in embarrassment, I was so enraptured in the alchemy book...

 

[TheAdept]

"Yeah man. And its cool." Mikkish said reassuringly "Listen man, I just thought, since we came on the same boat, I ought to help you out. These crazy religious cults are pretty outlandish, but these Children of Stardust are the worst."


Mikkish slid the book across the table to Joe.


"You might want to read this book before listening to anyone from any of these 'religions,' but more specifically those Children of Stardust." Mikkish said, before briefly thinking of whether or not to walk away "By the way, have you seen Osto?"

 

[mmarage]

"No, I haven't, and I'd recommend you just stay out of any of these groups, especially the Children of Stardust, they're going to lead you down the wrong path Mikkish, and if you drag anyone else into it, you're dragging them down with you." I was only speaking with concern. With that, I grabbed the book and quickly flipped through, my eyes quickly flitting down each page, taking in each word, and flipping the page quickly it and then tossed it aside not three minutes later. After all of the years of reading that I've done, learning how to speed read was easy. "This book is biased, if I were you, I'd recommend not listening to any of the information inside, of course, it would be difficult to find someone that truly has a neutral standpoint on all of this and gives people general information on each group. It also doesn't help that this author is a LeVeyan Satanist that claims that the Brotherhood of Baphomet aren't Satanists or follow the teachings. Honestly, take everything in this book with a large scoop of salt and only pull away objective claims that make sense." I picked up the alchemy book again. "Is there anything else that you need?"

 

[TheAdept]

"Woah, you read that quickly." Mikkish almost didn't believe it, but tried to carry out his plan anyway.


Telepathy was always a valuable skill to him, mostly in getting with women, but this time he could quickly sort through the key points, specifically the ones about honor or dueling.


Except, Mikkish couldn't...


Every time he tried what he knew on Joe...nothing.


He even briefly tested on Amelia, and discovered her disappointing views on what is 'logical." Whatever though, college life might change that.


"So, yeah, thats what im saying, they are bad news. Thats why I wanted you to read the book. Just looking out for you." Mikkish was trying to play cool "Anything in particular catch your eye, though? Anything crazy about fighting for your honor or something like that? I remember that old man mention something crazy and disturbing like that." Mikkish said, attempting to figure out how to convince Osto "Oh, and if you saw Osto."

 

[mmarage]

My head began hurting from out of nowhere. I held my head for a moment and then it passed away slowly. I looked back up at Mikkish. "As I said before, no. I haven't seen him since I was with you. Furthermore, Mikkish, it doesn't matter to me what a group believes in. If it's getting people hurt and killed for nothing more than mere religious ideology, that claim that their way is the only true path, then it is not a group that one should be associated with. They can believe in their teachings, but they should stay far away from that particular group. Mikkish, please, please, stay away from those Children of Stardust and don't try and drag others into it, in fact, don't get into the Children of Baphomet or the Christian Magi either, it'll all just end horribly if they cannot just come to an agreement and coexist peacefully with one another."

 

[Primordial Primrose]

Amelia quietly stood, and stepped out of the library, closing the double doors gently behind her. She heard the last comment and nearly called out "With Jessie," but then remembered that they didn't know she had been there. She took off from the hall, deciding that she wanted to see the sights of the city. She paused and wondered if Jessie might want to come with her. Yes... Like a girl's day out. She thought, and went back up to the hallway where she had seen them earlier. Pushing through the doors, a purse and map in her hands, she froze at the sight of Jessie and Osto on the desk together. She felt a heat rise up within her, coupled with a strange sense of longing and hunger. She twisted the lock on the door, and closed it behind her. She left a note to tell Jessie where she was going, and then took off. The note also asked to be able to talk with her later in the day. She left the school building and began to walk along the city limits. She found a yoga and gym center, and put in applications for a membership and maybe a job. She got near the prison center, uncomfortably aware that eyes all around her were staring, watching her. A boy from one of the groups split off to join her. "Hey, schooly. Ya need help? Directions?" His words were slightly slurred, and he wore a pentagram jacket, but she saw no reason not to let him help. She followed happily along as he led her to the prison. After a few strange turns, she began to worry. He stopped in an ally and put his hand around her shoulder. She was surprised at the touch, but let it pass, and they continued walking. But then he turned and kissed her on the lips. Her lips and eyes widened with surprise, feeling the warm, sensitive touch of his embrace. She was aware of the sensation rising up inside of her. She backed up into a wall, and he was pressed against her. She struggled against him, until her hands latched onto his head. She felt a freakish power surge, and everything went black and red. "What... the?" she asked as her vision returned. She looked down to see the corpse of the man who had tried to take advantage of her, gushing blood onto the pavement through what was left of its neck. She could feel some plastered to her skin, and some on her robes. Her mind raced, thinking of the implications, and came to the grim conclusion; It has finally gained power again. I must guard myself, lest it come over me once more! She took a few wary steps, before running from the scene. She ran so hard that her lungs burst, down the street, through the courtyard, and into the school. She was up the stairs in a flash, and, going into the room so quickly that half of the handle snapped off, she landed on her bed and began to cry. I'm a murderer. She thought. She left herself, not even cleaning off the blood, but trying to reconcile with herself.

 

[TheAdept]

Mikkish gave a sigh "Just thought you'd find that interesting. Catch you later." Mikkish walked off and out of the library.


"Fuck it. I'm not wasting my time with this. That stardust guy is probably too broke to pay anyone anyway." Mikkish mumbled to himself, storming off into the city to maybe hit on some girls.


Wednesday





Today began with a rare occurrence. Mikkish actually woke up before 11am.


What awoke him was the sound of the students in the courtyard outside crowding for some reason. Mikkish got irritated, but his irritation passed quickly when he figured something interesting might be going on.


Throwing on a t shirt and jeans he jogged downstairs.

 

[mmarage]

For the rest of the day I had just read up on alchemy and then went to bed.


Each morning, I would go out early, finding a nice quiet spot on campus and practicing my archery on some trees. The next few hours I would go to the library and continue my studies. In the afternoon, I would join up with Mr. Nakashima and help him with his alchemy. He would have me do more and more tasks... he even talked about taking me out to gather reagents soon...


When Wednesday came around, I was just returning from the library when I saw the crowd. I was curious to see what was going on, so I walked forward and tried to get into the center of the crowd.

 

[WinglessNia]

The day before was terrible. A boat a bus and a fight. All that occured but damn was it fun. Uuuuuntil the police decided to arrest me. I was too far out into the crowd to be noticed and was dragged all the way to the station before they realize I was a student. Just my luck. I was escorted back to the campus and my luggage was retrieved from the bus. Making sure it was all there I went in grabbed my schedule and room key before heading up to my room. Didn't care to glance at the three names of my roommates before jumping in and claiming the empty bed and crashing. I felt exhausted.


Wensday


I got up quietly looking at the time before getting changed. "Ugh mornings...." I blink pausing a moment as I hear something odd. Murmurings from a crowd.Well time to see what's going on for the latest gossip. I smirk putting on my boots and heading outside out of curiosity.

 

[TheAdept]

As Mikkish walked up to the center of the crowd, shoving people to the side as he went, he eventually discovered a gorgeous blonde passing out fliers.


She was slim, but had no lack of "assets". Was wearing all black, and it really did take a real trooper, or someone who didn't feel temperature, to wear that in the humid, hot weather on the island. Black makeup also covered her eyes, and dark red lipstick on her lips. She was clearly attempting to pull off the "goth" style, all the while keeping her hair light blonde.


From the distance, Mikkish saw the fliers she was passing out had crosses on them, as well as "Christian Mages" as the heading. Normally, mentions of this faith caused Mikkish to back away slowly so as to avoid being preached at, but this girl passing them out was hot, and Mikkish just had to take the chance to meet her.


"Wassup, girl?" Mikkish started, but before he could say anything else, she passed him a paper about her christian magi group and was then crowded by many other students.


Oh well", he figured. He could talk to her at a...less busy time.

 

[DaManofWar]

Osto broke off the kiss when he heard the sound of the door opening. Then he became self conscious of what had just happened. He blushed, and ran from the room. "I have to go," he told Jessie. Osto didn't know who had seen them, nor did he wish to find out. He instead went back to his room. And stayed there for the rest of the day.


Wednesday


Osto woke up after a rather....interesting dream. It had been about him and Jessie. His face turned red, and he got up. As he got dressed, he put on a red shirt and crimson pants. He also put on his signature jacket. He never went a day without wearing it. He would clean it later, but for now, it was gonna stay on his body.


When he reached the courtyard, he noted the large commutation, and decided to investigate. He noted Mikkish talking to, or at least attempting, a young woman with blond hair. She was handing out pamphlets. Curious, he took one.

 

[mmarage]

I saw the girl handing out pamphlets. I glanced at one in someone's hands and then rolled my eyes. "Oh yes, getting more people into your little group and making the conflict is an even better idea..." I sighed softly and then went off to go to my lessons with Mr. Nakashima.

 

[WinglessNia]

I look at the woman handing out pamphlets taking one with a smile. "Oh what's this?" I pretend to look at it interested until the girl left and I stuffed the flyer in my pocket. "Jeez more dirty old gangs. No matter where ya go there's always a few nutjobs who band together." I mutter to myself turning around and heading back inside. Might as well look around inside.

 

[wolfborn4]

Jessy had finally noticed what she was doing after Otso had left, with a deep red blush she jumped up and pulled her jacket back on and fixed her hair then she ran to her room and squeezed herself painfully under the bed back into a corner staying there for as long as possible, either silently crying or sleeping or just thinking


Wednesday


She lay asleep still her chest slowly rising and falling as she stayed curled up under the bed facing the wall, not knowing that she was stuck till someone could find her, though this was hard becuase her jacket blended in with the shadows

 

[DaManofWar]

Osto hadn't read the pamphlet yet. Something else was bothering him. He need to resolve it. He walked away from the commutation in the courtyard, and stopped in front of the room where Jessie was staying. He thought about just show himself in, but decided against it. Instead, he tapped lightly on the door. "Jessie?" he said. "It's me. I think we should talk."

 

[wolfborn4]

Jessy was a light sleeper and herd the soft knocking, with a yawn she blinked a few times...recognising Otso's voice she tensed and blushed hard again she didn't reply but made a small noise of distress when she tried to move further into the corner and her jacket caught on a rusty spring the torw through and cut her and got stuck at the edge of the newly formed cut pressing in deeper as she tried to move away from it