The Two Academies

[TheWanderingShadow]

John looked at himself in the mirror. The black cape looked good on him. It matched his black hair and white clothing. Ben stood behind him, looking extremely proud. "See, John?" he said. "I told you you would pass without a hitch." He put a hand on John's shoulder and said, "Your parents would be extremely proud of you, even more than I am.
John smiled. "Thanks, Ben."
"Now go on to the Grand Hall, or you'll be late for dinner."
In the Grand Hall, John found himself looking up at Zack from time to time. Like many other people, he had never seen a Tratenite before, so he was very interested in studying him. And as before, there were a bunch of other students with the same idea. His studying revealed nothing, though, other than the fact that Zack looked uncomfortable. John wasn't sure whether it was the heat, the staring eyes, or a combination of both. At some point, John looked up and found that Zack had left his seat. He probably went to go get some water or something, John thought. John ate his dinner without further thought.

John was eating in the Grand Hall. He cast a wary eye arround the people he would be studying with for the next few years. There were humans from all over Cera Bella. There were several Northerners and some people from Ravinale. How interesting, John thought. I guess that the shadowlings don't care about where their generals come from, as long as they can control them. John shuddered to think about how they accomplished that. And speaking of shadowlings . . . there were several in the Hall. John shivered again. He studied the Tratenite sitting next to him. As far as he saw, he was the only Tratenite in the room. He looked uncomfortable. Uncomfortable and confused. John smiled. The weak-minded could always be rooted out. Suddenly, two Shadowlings came bursting into the hall and held what appeared to be a large, brown haired boy in their hands. He was yelling, "I want to be free to make my own choices, let me go!". He was surrounded by shadowlings, and suddenly the boy stopped yelling. He almost instantly sat down on the floor. "Let this be a warning to you all . . ." One the Shadowling's voices echoed in their head. John shook his head. Idiot, he thought. He didn't know what was good for him. John had seen too many people Wiped to feel sorry for the boy. He noticed that everyone in the Hall was ignoring the incident, so he followed their lead. When the Tratenite leaned over to the black cape on the opposite side of him and asked, "What was that all about?". The black cape whispered, "I have no idea what you are talking about" and turned away. Smart move, thought John. The Tratenite wasn't as bright. He'd probably get Wiped too, if any Shadowlings had heard him. This is a dangerous place, thought John. And I have to kill the most important person here. He made sure he was still maintaining his mental defenses. This isn't going to be easy . . .

No offense, Zackirus. I'm just calling Zack weak-minded because he seems pretty naive, and John is mean like that.

[TheWanderingShadow]

John arranged his belongings on his bunk. He had to share the room with some other boys and shadowlings. He gritted his teeth. Just being near them was repulsing. Just my luck for enrolling so late, he thought. He looked at his red cape. I feel insulted that they'd even think of giving this to me, he thought. No matter, I'll be showing them soon. He suddenly noticed the boy with the bunk across from him was looking at him. He was trying to look like he was asleep, and doing a lousy job of it. John kept his mental defenses up. He felt like the boy was seeing straight through his disguise. Then he noticed the dagger sticking out from the boy's pack. Another assasin? he wondered.
"Need any help?"
John jumped, then realized that the boy had stopped pretending to sleep and was talking to him. "No, I've got everything now. But thanks anyways." John replied. The boy seemed friendly enough, but John had learned from Rashnev not to trust anyone. Plus, with the possibility of the boy being an assassin, and competition, he would really have to keep an eye on this one . . .

There, I'm finally caught up. Yay. :P

[Zackirus]

OCC: It's Okay, Zack has been in Cera Bella for around 2 Days and doesn't know the ropes, but he is in the library right now trying to learn what he can about the Shadowlings.

Zack was sleepinng soundly, dreaming of the cold, white snow of Traten, when felt something touch him. He woke up and thought it was just a feeling, and rolled over but came face to face with a small bug that was pure black as a shadow. "Ahhh!" Zack screamed rolling out of bed but not crushing the bug. He hit the ground and shook his head. He reached up and grabbed the bug by its leg and held it up to his face. It was black but he could see a slight blue tinge. It was the same bug that he had met in the Cellar. He looked at it and wondered whether this would work or not. "Zaron?" He thought to the bug, putting it on his shoulder, "Are you controlling this bug?"

[cyso]

Okay, I'm neglecting my SL character for a little bit until I find something to write about

Bob wanted to think, but he was afraid to. He had always kept his mind shielded just in case the shadowlings listened, but they rarely did. Now, though, he was afraid of his new dorm mate hearing his thoughts. He wondered what an experienced assassin was doing at the school. Ever since he had arrived, Bob had been wanting to watch him, but knew he couldn't easily without being seen. For now, he was watching Zack to see how he was adjusting to Cera Bella, though he kept the new kid (he still didn't know his name) in the corner of his Eye. So far, he seemed to be studying the hall just like any other new kid would. Without being able to keep a close watch on the new kid, Bob turned his thoughts back to Zack. He was a very naive to begin with, but he was getting better. He would have to learn fast, or else he would end up wiped, like that kid, Zaron, a few days ago.

Bob is being more careful now that he realizes he is around a real assassin, and that being obvious, like starring directly at John, would just make John more alert.

[MikeW781]

Shadowlings Lose Dimension:

Name: Mike
Race: Human
Class: Psy Fighter
Affinity: Fire
Level: Black Cape
Bio: Mike was orphaned at age three when the shadow wars started, and has a long-bred hatred of shadowlings as a result. His passion that led him to the fire affinity derives mainly from this hate, as his affinity was first discovered when a group of shadowlings ambused an outdoor class at the acadamey, and he used fire to help fight them off. His current goal is to wipe out the loyalists with a group of similar minded Black Capes
Equipment: Standard black cape attire, and a knife his parents gave him. He occasionally plays around with it, learning the throw and stab.
Skills: Mind Blast, Pyro Blast, Pyro Hail, Mind Shield and a weak knife attack.


Humans Lose Dimension:

Name: Mike
Race: Human
Class: Psy Fighter, Assassin
Affinity: Fire
Level: Black Cape
Bio: Mike was orphaned at age three when the shadow wars started, and has a long-bred hatred of shadowlings as a result. His passion that led him to the fire affinity derives mainly from this hate, as his affinity was first discovered when a group of shadowlings ambused an outdoor class at the acadamey, and he used fire to help fight them off. He learned how to fight from the hardships humans undergo at the acadamey, and is a proficiant assassin. His current goal is to graduate, then escape and fight the Empire.
Equipment: Standard black cape attire, and a knife his parents gave him.
Skills: Mind Blast, Pyro Blast, Pyro Hail, Knife, Stab, and Mind Shield. His mind shield is weak however, he only learned it because it is a black cape requirement
So basically, in the SL dimension he is  Psy Fighter with healing, some very weak knife throwing, and some very weak knife slashing. In the HL dimension, he is a Psy Fighter and an assassin with very weak healing. Its about equal.

[Duskling]

Frex was running out of breath, Shadowlings didn't waste nearly as much time of energy floating as humans did running, but Frex was not about to let them catch him. Frex had just destroyed a lone Shadowling bunker, but had underestimated the amount of Shadowlings he would find there, and now he was running for his life, firing Cryo Blasts blindly behind him, occasionally hearing the screaming of a Shadowling that was hit by one and smirking at the noise. Frex knew he couldn't keep this up forever, he had to find a hiding spot or he was doomed. So, he abruptly stopped, turned around, and fired a Cryo Blast at the Shadowling that looked like an authority figure, and, sure enough, when the Shadowling was hit, all the others stopped and tried to help him up. This gave Frex the window of opportunity that he so desperately needed, he sprung off his feet into a nearby tree and prepared to block his mind, he knew the Shadowlings would try to seek him out that way. After about half an hour of searching, the Shadowlings finally gave up, and left him, thinking he would just get lost in the woods and die. Frex silently scoffed at their idiocy, a mercenary had enough rations to survive almost a month by himself, and he doubted he'd have to spend that long a time here. After the Shadowlings left, Frex waited in the tree for about 10 extra minutes, just in case any more were patrolling the area, and, sure enough, someone else came by, but not Shadowling, it was a human in a peculiar outfit, almost like a Psy Academy uniform... and a red cape to go along with it. Frex followed this child to a Psy Academy, and was surprised at what he saw, he thought there was only one, and that that one was destroyed by the Shadowlings during the Shadow War... apparently he was wrong. Frex figured the best point of entry would be the library, as few students hung out there because they would usually take their books to their dormitories to read there, so he climbed silently through the window, making sure not to attract any attention before he was in, because he looked about the age of the other students there. To Frex's surprise, he saw another student with a peculiar platinum-blonde hair color sitting at a table in the library, who had heard his footsteps and looked up at him from his book. 

[Zackirus]

Zack was horrified as he read on about the Shadowlings. They enslaved regular people and killed countless more. He was so in to it he didn't realise the outside world until he heard a noise. He looked up and noticed a guy, around his age, walking through the library which was odd because he didn't expect anyone to be here. He was confused by this, and put his book down. He noticed that this guy had both a crossbow and a knife and he slightly different clothes than regular Psy Academy clothes. "Wh...ho are you?" Zack asked sounding a bit horse has he hadn't spoken in 2 hours. The guy looked worried as he had seen him. It was worth a shot, to make him trust him more, but Zack didn't know how he would respond "Don't worry, I'm from Traten"

[TheWanderingShadow]

as few students hung out there because they would usually take their books to their dormitories to read there

Frex has suspiciously intricate knowledge of the Academy. Interesting...

[TheWanderingShadow]

Hehe, sorry. just read his bio.

[Duskling]

Frex has suspiciously intricate knowledge of the Academy. Interesting...

Not really, it's just common sense to me.

After asking Frex who he was, the student said the strangest thing, "Don't worry," he said, "I'm from Traten." Frex wasn't sure how this would make him more secure, but he had no grudge against Tratenites, unlike most of Cera Bella, it was only the Shadowlings that he hated, so he simply nodded, gave a small, hallow smile, and hurried to get out of the library as soon as he could without the staff noticing him, but it was already too late for that. "Excuse me," said another voice, an older voice by the sound of it, "What are you doing here, are you a student? Where are your uniform and cape?"

[Zackirus]

Zack watched as the kid gave him a smile and left quickly. Zack thought over what he said and cursed at his nerves. However, now was not a time for thinking it over, he was intrigued by this kid and slowly followed him out of the library. He turned a coupel corners but he meet with Mr. Srat who asked "Excuse me? What are you doing here, are you a student? Where are your uniform and cape?" Zack quickly jumped in before the kid said anything and said "There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you!". Play along Zack thought to the kid "Where is my book?", "Mr. Arcon what is the meaning of this?". "Oh Mr. Srat, I asked him to get a book from the library for me but he didn't come back, so I went and got him, he doesn't have his cape because he is in his casual clothing, and I'm hate to rush but I have to finish your Paper with him for tomorrow. See ya, Mr. Srat." Zack quickly grabbed the kid and dragged him into his room which was close by. He closed the door and locked it and demanded, "Who are you and why are you here?"

[Duskling]

Frex thought over what the guy had asked, and decided to tell him who he was, after all, he was a mercenary, not a shadowy assassin, and the kid did save his hide a few steps back. "My name is Frex," he told the kid, "I got here completely by accident." The kid that the teacher called "Mr. Acron" made a face that told Frex he didn't believe him, "It's true, I swear," he told Acron, "I just got away from a group of Shadowlings about an hour ago, and I followed a student here, where I thought I could take shelter."

[TheWanderingShadow]

John was walking to his bedroom after dinner. Suddenly, he saw a dark shape in the corner of his eye. He glanced in that direction, but it was gone. Strange, he thought. I could have sworn—ah, never ,mind. He went off to bed.

John was wandering around the east hall, the picture of a new student looking around the school. In reality, he was searching the area for escape routes. So far, he saw none besides the gates, which were all but impenetrable. Suddenly, he felt someone looking at him. He quickly turned around, but couldn't see anyone looking suspicious. There were a few students in the hall with him. The only one he recognized was his human dorm mate. He strengthened his mental shield just in case, then turned back to his investigation of the Academy. A pity that old war-crazy general tore down this place, he mused. I'm sure there was some sort of flaw in the old Academy's architecture for him to be able to break in so easily. Oh well, the Shadowlings must have messed up in some way too. "Every building has a weakness, a flaw, an escape route. It's just up to you to find it, and quickly, for you never know when you'll need to use it." Another one of Rashnev's tips. They always came in helpful, even though John refused to admit it . Focus! Get back to work . . . he thought. He shook off the lingering feeling that someone was looking at him, and walked off.

Have yogc elf and I have gone into the next HL morning? Oh well. The SL story seems to be moving pretty slowly, though.

[cyso]

Bob woke up late at night. He had a strange dream about fighting shadowlings with a knife. "Must have read too many books about the Shadow Wars." he thought. He reached over to under his bed, in his pack, and grabbed the knife in there. He wasn't really sure why he kept it. It did remind him of his family, but the knife somehow felt natural, like a part of him. He fingered the blade, then put it back in his pack and went to sleep.
The reason he has the dream of him fighting the shadowlings is because of the energy released when the Hero killed the queen the second time, causing slight interference between the dimensions, even though both Bobs are clueless to this.

[MikeW781]

Mike stood, shaking his head at his stubborn friend.
"I'm telling you Joseph, we need you! We need at least one more fighter before we can saftely leave," Mike begged.
The large, dark skinned boy replied evenly, "Sorry Mike, I hate the shadowlings as much as the next guy, but I just can't go. I became a black cape so that I could help my home village fight the raiders, and thats what I intend to do. I'm sorry."
"I understand. You need to help your family and honor your promises before anything. I respect that," Mike said in defeated tones. Now his expedtion to hunt Loyalists had only himself, a healer named Robert, and Pual, a guard he knew well. He would need to find more black cape fighters; he needed more firepower.
Okay, the SL dimension has nothing going on, and I figure if anybody wants to join this expedition that will give us something to do, and a way to meet up with other characters like buggy and nameless's who aren't at the acadamey. If nobody likes the idea, I'll just get an NPC to help.
I'll do HL in an hour or so.