Pristine Academy: Singularity's Manifestation

Shrouded with Mystery

Patricia slowly opens her eyes and found herself in a white-painted room. She can feel her back laying on something much softer, unlike what happened seconds ago. She looks around, she caught the sight of Miss Cassidy and her friends sitting on a series of chairs just outside the room she was in.

The green-haired professor noticed her waking up, it prompted her to go inside the room she was in. Patricia looks at her, “What… happened, Miss Cassidy?” The professor sighs heavily, “A lot has happened.” Her friends followed Cassidy.

“Are you feeling better, Patricia?” Antonietta looks at her, checking her out. “I… can’t even explain how the things transitioned over here on me. I just felt a jolting pain, and I woke up here. I guess I am feeling better—“ A sharp pain suddenly arises as she holds her chest in instinct. The pain was written on her face, she clenches her fist at the excruciating pain she was feeling. Cassidy approaches her closer and inspects her, “What’s happening, Patricia?”

“It hurts… It hurts…” Patricia whimpers with a slight voice c***k at the end. Cassidy sighs, she starts gesturing her hand gracefully as she suddenly hit Patricia’s chest. The latter’s back arches as she puffs a lot of air out of her chest. She exhales all of the pain she was feeling which made her feel a little bit more lightweight and better than before. She catches her breath that she lost and looks at the professor.

“How are you?” Patricia took time to absorb everything that just happened. “I’m…” she breathes, “I’m better.” She fixes herself on the bed she was laying on. She looks at her friends who keep observing her and keeping on guard for whatever happened. “I am fine, don’t worry.”

“What really happened to her, Miss Cassidy?” The professor sighs, “There’s a lot to be said, and there’s a lot in play here.” She looks at Patricia, “The most important thing is she’s fine. We could’ve lost her if she wasn’t saved early on.” She massages her temple, “I supposed I could dissect them one by one. It’s still overwhelming until now.”

The level of danger in the situation they were in is increasing, and the faculty is panicking. They were unaware of what to do when they were supposed to know what was happening. They all run to Cassidy, who was also puzzled and confused by the sudden arrival of threats in the school.

“Why are there whims in the school!? Especially aerial ones?” One of the teachers said in a hurry. Cassidy was disappointed to herself that she can’t answer that one. She was frozen in her place, overwhelmed with the panic going around the place. It feels like everything was falling apart in front of her eyes.

“Miss Stanton, are you even here with us?” Cassidy looks at their angry faces, why is she in charge of everything again? She looks around, searching for an answer in the dark. “Please ensure the students’ safety first.” She sighs internally, why does the faculty staff need any orders in the first place. “We will discuss the problem once it has been dealt with. There’s no time to lose, no student must slip off our hands.”

Cassidy continues to watch as she initiated guiding the students. “Over here! Don’t run anywhere.” She shouted at them as she guides them through a building where they are much safer. Some of the professors are fighting the whims out. Some of the students, especially on the higher levels, try to help. “Please refrain from interfering with the work of the staff.” She approaches them and tries to push them away from danger.

She saw an army of whim charging at her. She didn’t hesitate to clump them up on a pile of leaves, swirling them like a tornado there. She sent them to the staff who can fight them much more efficiently than she assists other students.

Cassidy decided to go to the program area, where she saw students coming from and running around in circles. In her job, she helped some who can’t defend themselves or struggling to. It was also the area where most of the whims are conjugating. It was concerning with the number of these creatures out and about, destroying the event for the day.

Among the crowd she was helping, she saw two familiar individuals and not too far another two. “Patricia!” She can’t help to shout as she witnesses that Patricia tried to fend off these whims but ultimately failed. She tried to slice them with the flat crystals she have conjured, some were knocked back, but some are fearless enough to knock her back as well.

With a burst of wind, Patricia went flying across the area. Cassidy runs up as if time was forwarding as fast as she approached her. She summoned even bigger leaves and tried to at least soften her landing, but it was too late. She heard one last shriek of pain from Patricia before she was knocked unconscious. Cassidy’s feet suddenly trembled, and her arms stopped mid-air. She can feel a wave of weakness run through her as she watches in horror the painful sight of her student getting severely hurt. She shivers at the thought of it once more.

“Patricia!” She approaches and kneels on the ground, reaching her. Cassidy immediately checks her pulse, and a burst of sudden relief radiates throughout her body as she feels a weak thump in her student’s veins. “Miss Cassidy!” She heard the familiar voice of a young man as she turns and found her friends running to them. “We got to get her to the clinic.” She can hear from Antonietta’s voice the sheer panic she’s feeling. Her wretched face looks at her pitiful state of Patricia.

Gabriel suddenly carried her with both of his hands. “Miss Cassidy, go and assist the other students. We will deliver Patricia to the clinic.” The two rush out of there. Cassidy was still surprised by the sudden turn of events. She turned to Veronika fighting off the whims with a halberd she summoned into existence. It was imbued with embers and smoldering flames on the sharp part of the blade as if mimicking a molten rock. She successfully fends off the whims, leaving her only with exhaustion and despair.

Cassidy approaches her, “You better go to safety now, you don’t need to fight these off.” Veronika looks at her and sighs, she sets aside her weapon, summoning it out of existence. The whims didn’t get enough as they started charging at them once more. “Let me,” Cassidy summons her sword made of leaves and started fighting the whims.

She slices their pseudo-bodies with the sharp blade of her sword. She looks at Veronika, “Go! Before they go after you again.” Cassidy continues to fight them, occasionally summoning some leaves to fend them off instead of fighting them.

As the last one met its demise, she sets her weapon aside and looks at the utter devastation that those little simple critters made. Nothing was really destroyed, but most of the decorations and the stalls set up by the clubs were ruined. Add that the added trauma for the students and problems for the school staff. She sighs heavily, yet it was puzzling her.

“Where did those whims come from?” Gabriel agreed, “Yeah, those little annoying things just need to show up, and they got to ruin the party and fun we are having.” Cassidy looks at them, “Don’t worry, the club recruitment day will extend until tomorrow as it was an unexpected turn of events. Although, I also got the same question. These creatures are native to windy areas, there is some spot here in Enikos, but they aren’t aggressive in nature.”

“And they seem to be targeting Veronika,” they all looked at Patricia who made an interesting observation. “Well, I certainly saw some that go after other students, but what made you conclude that?”

“Well, it might just be the lack of vision to other things. I was only observing her that time.” The professor nods, “But the fact still remains they are aggressive towards us, which is unusual for them.” Antonietta looks at her, “But they have the possibility to be aggressive at some point, right?”

Cassidy nods, “Yes, a lot of creatures are aggressive when they are triggered. For example, as solemn as a cloud sheep, they became aggressive when their off-springs are taken away from them.” “Then what made these whims aggressive and actively target the students of the school?”

The professor sighs, “That I don’t know the answer to, much to my dismay. There are two possibilities I have in my mind.” She crosses her arms, “One, they were brought here and their aggressiveness shifted towards us. Loud noises aren’t their thing, they are creatures who live in a peaceful and quiet environment. They take obnoxiousness very seriously.”

Cassidy looks at the floor blankly, “Miss Cassidy?” They called her. It shifted her attention to them. “What’s the next thing you are thinking?” She sighs, “It’s something impossible and hard to execute. It’s quite possible since this is an event with every detail planned. Although, the whims part are the ones that are preventing this possibility to come to life.”

“What is it?” She giggles, “Well, that’s it, these creatures came to life. They were created by someone else.” Antonietta’s eyes suddenly widen, “Created? Are creature creation and anything related to it prohibited in all of Thereal? If that’s so, this is a big violation of one of the disciplines of the Confederation of Thereal Factions. Especially this, this caused massive devastation of the very school under that group.”

Cassidy smiles, “I think someone will be Mrs. Gerville’s favorite.” Antonietta flushes and found herself unable to speak with the sudden compliment from her professor. “Anyway, Antonietta is right. Something like this is possible, but it’s something risky that I don’t think anyone would go in that route. Besides, ruining an annual event for the sake of the students’ well-being and experience in the school isn’t that big of a deal for someone to violate one of the international laws and apprehend a school under the very people governing and implementing that law.”

She looks at Patricia, “It’s also a bit too overboard that they are particularly much more aggressive to Veronika. It’s very specific.” She rubs her chin, “Although, as you say it, it’s the very first time Veronika showed herself to the whole school in one of the events that are being looked after.” Cassidy shakes her head and sighs, “We might be both having tunnel vision in our thoughts.”

A person in a white uniform entered the room. “How’s Miss Prudent?” Cassidy looks at the man that approached her. “I think she’s better, Sir Necal.” The medical professional nods, “She’s good to be discharged. You know what she feels better than me, Miss Cassidy. Her condition is out of my expertise. Although everything I could do has been done, her physical pain should be good now.”

The professor nods and looks at Patricia, “I think it will be better for you to rest in your dormitory. You could go tomorrow to get your clubs. Rest is essential.” Patricia nods as she rises from the bed, she doesn’t feel anything painful. She was escorted by her friends and even her professor to her dormitory. It was already afternoon, but it was enough for her to have her rest.

She woke up at night, she feels a lot better now she’s rested. She looks around, deciding what to do. Patricia looks at her stomach, “I think I need a fill.” She rises from her bed and fixes herself before going out. As she approaches the door, it opens by itself, only to find Veronika on the other side.

“Oh, uhm, good evening!” Patricia’s lips curved as her eyes caught the sight of a well-packaged food. “Take this as my thank you.”