Pristine Academy: Singularity's Manifestation

The Sudden Fall

“Are you okay, Patricia?” The said girl looks at Gabriel and nods, “Just… a sharp pain that I can shrug.” She gulps, nothing wrong with her breathing. It’s just her chest was painful. “Where?” Gabriel panics as Patricia shakes her head, “There’s no need to panic. Besides, I don’t feel anything more than that.”

“Are you sure? You don’t look so good.” Patricia nods, “I am sure—“ Another sharp pain pierced her chest again, but this time, she didn’t make it obvious. “Okay… But if you can’t handle it, please say so. Small pains are sometimes signs of bigger ones to come.” Patricia chuckles, “Don’t be like that. It might have just been the way I sleep.” She stops for a moment to feel what her body is really feeling. Everything was normal, except for those sudden piercing pain she has felt. It puzzles her like Gabriel, but she decided to ignore it.

“Our basic lesson is done. Since we still have the time, I will teach you to conjure these elements in a fighting situation. Pristine Academy was formerly a training ground for talented soldiers, which is now called Pristines. But we are in modern times now, these lessons are here to teach you to defend yourself, or if it’s your calling, defend others.”

“Please stand on your seats.” They stepped down from their seats. They stand in front of her and were spaced out as the professor wanted them to be. “Very good,” She commended them. “Conjuring elements for such matters require a lot of ‘calling’ as we call it. With the tension and urgency, it will be better for you to know how you will fight in these times. Not all people have the power to imagine the attack they have in their heads. Calling aids you to successfully and easily execute your attack without much focus or mental prowess to do so.”

Cassidy sets aside all of the teaching equipment behind her back using her leaves. “To warm you up once more, conjure your element on your palm. Even I said you don’t need much focus, you will still need some.” Patricia looks at Gabriel. He conjured a swirling wind atop his palm. Patricia opens her palm and successfully conjured a crystal once more She was happy that it wasn’t a one-time thing earlier.

The professor checks if everyone had their elements on their hand. “Very well done.” She claps. “Every element will have unique circumstances of their own, thus having different movements to effectively and efficiently use them. Most elements could do a drop-down attack, but air, dust-like elements, and fyto-related elements couldn’t do as much. You could do it but you will do it in much greater force. Our goal in this subject is to use the very potential of your element while using less of your energy. Doing so will extend your time to battle an enemy without getting fatigued as much. You can’t also do Pyrinas in the middle of the battle, can you?” Cassidy giggles.

“Apart from the conjuring techniques and types earlier, there are techniques to attack in battle too. Those techniques will help you in conjuring your elements as an offense. There are three most used technique families that will have different results, causes, and elements that specialized in doing so. They are the plunge family, swirl family, and spurt family. The plunge family is comprised of you guessed it, plunged attacks. They are commonly used with elements that are naturally heavy such as mineral and stone-related elements and even in water elements. They are used to inflict damage and even stun enemies.” Cassidy summons a bunch of leaves and slams them on the ground.

“As I said, fyto-related elements will be not efficient with this attack. However, a swirl attack could do some job. The swirl family is quite complicated and complex, there are a thousand techniques that belong in the family. The basic gist of it is attacking through streams of elements, inflicting damage on the enemies in specific spots. It’s mostly used in air-related elements, fyto-related elements, as I said earlier, some fire-related elements, and even water elements. I supposed you are now observing a pattern that water elements are hybrid and flexible in nature.” The leaves start to swirl around Cassidy beautifully.

“The third and last one is the spurt family. It’s the technique where the element comes from below and attacks the target from its feet. It’s the easiest one yet it has many techniques on it as well, since the fyto-element commonly uses this. It’s mostly used to send enemies up above or glue them in place.” Cassidy gestures her hand upwards and made the leaves push harshly from the ground.

“That’s pretty much all. I want you all to train yourselves by attacking these dummies.” Cassidy summons humanoid figures made of leaves floating above the floor, each facing one of them. “In front of you is a dummy, I want to see your understanding of the plunge attack, swirl, and spurt ones. I will say the technique you will apply, and you will show me what you understand through your elements. Are we clear?”

The students all nod as they face their ‘foe’ in front of them. “Please know to not hit anyone. Your space should be spacious enough for us to avoid any of that.” The students were spaced alternating and facing each other, using every space of the classroom.

Patricia takes a deep breath and looks at her hand. “Plunge attack,” Cassidy told them all. Patrica raises her hand and small crystals formed above. She calms herself down, collecting her wits. She suddenly puts her hand down harshly and quickly in motion, which made the crystals fall on the ground at great speeds, splitting the leaf figure into slits.

Cassidy watches them all, she was glad that a lot of them got it. She helped the others who aren’t really doing so well, but most of all, she was proud that she didn’t have any problem with Patricia. “Very good, keep it up, Patricia.” Patricia’s confidence was boosted as she successfully did her part. She was thankful for Miss Cassidy to help her connect with her core. “Next up, swirl.”

Patricia takes a deep breath once again. She conjured the crystals once more and started twirling them around the place. With her confidence, she even clasped her hand, making the crystals stab the leaf figure that was in front of her. The leaf figure disintegrates in front of them. Beautiful yet brutal.

Miss Cassidy claps at her performance, “An extra bit on the end, you’ll make a crafty warrior, Patricia.” The professor said as she walked by her. The compliments were boosting her confidence, she was pumped up for the third one she will try and demonstrate. The leaf dummy appears once more, “Last, but certainly not the least, a spurt attack.”

Patricia nods and looks at the feet of the dummy. She extends her hand and suddenly raises it upward. The leaf figure was sent upward, but it wasn’t just the one she successfully attacked in the vicinity.

She watches in horror as her professor and a student was propelled upwards. She looks around her, and she summoned too much of what she needed and asked for. “I’ve done it again!”

The familiar student took initiative and summoned streams of fire to slow down their descent. The fire was surprisingly harmless for both the people. As they land on the ground, she saw the familiar ginger head student beside the professor. It was Vivian who looked at her and smirked, she knows herself that Patricia screwed up.

In embarrassment, Patricia rushes to Gabriel who came to her aid. “It’s fine.” He calmed her down as the two she have victimized once more recovered from their fall.

Miss Cassidy looks at her with disappointment on her face, “I guess everything that goes up, must come down. What happened to you, Patricia?” “I didn’t intend to do that, Miss Cassidy. I was pretty confident that I would not fail anything.” She looks down, “I shouldn’t have been ambitious. She sighs, “Of course, you don’t intend to.” Patricia feels that was a little passive-aggressive for Miss Cassidy. The latter looks at Vivian, “I apologize on Patricia’s behalf, are you hurt?”

“Certainly not, professor. I am in good shape, I wouldn’t have saved the both of us if I wasn’t.” She reels in on Patricia, “But I believe that Miss Prudent here should be accounted for what she has done. I have been a witness of her recklessness before, and I know the rules of the school on the back of my hand.” She looks at Patricia, “I am sorry, I think you are in due for a visit to the guidance counselor.”

“I think I can handle this myself, Miss Vivian.” The ginger girl was stopped with her power boasting. “It is my fault anyway. I know her situation, I should have looked out for her a little more and have advised her to be much more careful with what she does.” Miss Cassidy looks at her, “I think our special training will not end soon.” Patricia sighs, “But I thought I already have connected with my magic core.” The professor shakes her head, “It’s not as easy, I know that myself. I wish it was just an overnight thing. You have been not exposed to magic for quite a long time, and the magic potential—“ She clears her throat, “You get the point, Patricia.

The students started to whisper among themselves. “If you want to, Patricia, you could take a rest for a while and watch the class. I am sure you could still learn from the distance.” Patricia sighs, she was already feeling weakened with the sudden outburst she got. Gabriel patted her back, “Come on, rest ya lass. You deserve it, gal.”

Patricia looks at him and nods, “Have fun.” She walks out of the circle they were doing their activities. She glances at him one more time, and she receives a smile and even a thumbs up from Gabriel. It lifted her spirits and settled on a seat that allows her to see everything.

Patricia sighs as she rests her cheek on her palm. “You should have controlled yourself.” She whispered to herself, regretting her decisions. She spent her entire class just looking from her seat at the fun things they are doing below. The sharp pain she felt earlier suddenly went back again, and it was much more painful than before. She gasps silently as she endures it. She doesn’t want to cause any commotion again, for once in her life. Although, the pain was increasing. Gabriel was right, it was a sign of a much bigger pain later on.

Patricia just realized that Miss Cassidy already made her classmates return to their seats, forcing her more to mask the pain she was feeling. It was persisting, unlike before. Their professor dismissed them, which gave Patricia a chance to rush out of the classroom. Gabriel notices her, “Hey! Where are you going?”

Patricia rushes to the comfort room where she takes a deep breath. The pain in her chest slowly alleviates as she stares at the mirror painstakingly. She was surprised and relieved that the pain slowly goes away. “W-what happened back there?” She asks herself as she looks at her chest. It was a surreal experience. She was suffering in class earlier, but now she’s much better.

“Hey, Patricia, are you there?” She heard the muffled voice of a concerned Gabriel. “Yes,” she weakly answered. “I just need to rest for a while, and I’ll go back to you.” Patricia sighs as she fixes herself. The pain slowly goes away. She went out of the toilets when everything was better.

“What happened to you back there? Are you really okay?” Gabriel looks at her, Patricia can’t deny the pain she has experienced earlier. She sighs, “Come with me to Miss Cassidy, I need to tell her something.”