August 8, 2022 - 8:56am

Eden City Campus, Eden City, New Eden

“I think I’m coming to like having bodyguards,” Soji said. Kuro and Monika groaned at the poor joke. Elsabet and Annabeth skulked from the outskirts of the group making their way to the campus courtyard.

“Do you not realize you could probably be executed in a couple months? Sooner if you mess up?” Monika smacked the back of his head.

“Yeah, but it won’t get to that. As soon as Tamara gets back, she’ll solve all of this…I think,” Soji shrugged. To his friends, it seemed like he either didn’t understand the gravity of what was happening, or didn’t care. Neither, however, were true.

Rather, in his despair at the piling mishappenstances in his life, Soji had turned partially to hysteria, and decided not to worry about such things. Until that time was moments away, it didn’t exist.

“Well…she better hurry up,” Kuro whispered. He still had disdain for the woman, but at the very least, she wouldn’t let Soji die while he was useful to her.

Angelo slowed down his pace until he was within an earshot of the trio.

“You’ve probably never gotten that much female attention before,” he rasped.

It took Soji a moment to realize what was said.

“Wait…did you just crack a joke? With me?” He laughed, incredulous. Angelo’s body shook with what the kids presumed to be a chuckle. What an unexpected surprise.

Esme looked back at Angelo and winked with a thumbs up. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

“It’s definitely the end times,” Monika sighed.

The group and their chaperones continued their idle chatter until they finally met a crowd gathering at the campus’s expansive courtyard. As he’d hardly ventured past the gymnasium, Soji was taken aback at how gorgeous the campus was. White buildings garnished with glass and greenery boxed in the courtyard, giving its open concept a covetous frame.

The morning air carried petrichor in its soft breeze, but no rain had fallen the night before. The push of several atma users in one place gave the area a certain pressure, as some maestros let their atma flow freely. Kuro noticed a tall, muscled Korean man who seemed like he had no atma at all.

“Non-maestros are invited too?”

As he surveyed the crowd for persons of interest, he noticed a slim, light-skinned, Indian man stride towards a podium in the center of the courtyard.

“Welcome, welcome!” Andel shouted.

The kids recognized the voice as the Orchestra’s emcee. And getting a good look at him, Kuro realized this was the CEO of the Institute he’d once looked up to. Farah Durrani’s mother’s tale of the man’s cruelty had shattered that respect. Despite the fact that the M.I.I.’s business affairs and actual operations were two separate fronts, the boy felt that he should’ve known that the rot spread all the way through.

“You all are the first group we’ve invited to tour the Maestro Institute of Innovation’s first New Eden campus, a new center for nurturing academic and atma growth for maestros of all ages. Seeing as we’ve only accepted a small batch of applicants this year, much of its facilities remain unused, but we hope that, after seeing what awaits you here, we’ll be receiving applications from you!”

Andel spoke quickly, and eloquently, lilting his words in a way that evoked applause for no reason in particular. He plastered on the trademark smile he usually reserved for cameras, waiting for the crowd to quiet down again.

“Now, without further ado, our interim campus director, as well as the current staff members will be dividing this group into smaller pods, and you’ll proceed to rotate through our facilities.”

Miguel, Money, and the Crowe sisters walked up to the podium. Soji groaned audibly. The format, the boredom, the Institute-centric excursion, all reminded him of the fated field trip that put him here. At least, he thought, there’d be no dramatic, life altering nonsense happening here.

~

August 8, 2022 - 9:13am

Lecture Hall 3, Third Floor, Eden Campus Building 8

“Now, the first iteration of the Institute came about in 1100 AD, roughly around the appearance of the first bloom. Since then…”

Monika tuned out Miguel’s history lesson, instead thinking about Niko’s situation.

“Why would Yasu marry her off to Andel?”

She looked over at her cousin who still had that glassy look in her eyes. Their relationship’s slow recovery hadn’t progressed since they visited the Family Estate, but Monika worried for Niko nonetheless. She knew she had to do something, but was unsure of what.

“What would Tamara do?”

~

August 8, 2022 - 9:16am

Lecture Hall 2, Second Floor, Eden Campus Building 8

“It’s important to note that although the Institute only came about after the appearance of the first blooms, the First Families had been allied for generations before that. That alliance was strengthened when faced with a common enemy,” Elsabet lectured. Like the others, this lecture hall was cavernous, with a large stage that dwarfed the Crowe sisters, and an even larger screen onto which a map of New Eden was projected. Its cushioned seats could have catered to over 400 occupants, but only a tenth of its capacity was filled.

Soji fiddled with a coin, warming and folding it while his mind wandered to nowhere in particular. A young man wearing a brown capybara onesie leaned forward to whisper to Soji.

“How are you doing that?”

“Whaddaya mean?”

“I don’t sense any atma from you…is that an ability?”

Another young man tried to slap the one wearing a onesie on the back of his head, but met air as he dodged the attack. This one wore a black and white tuxedo, and had his dark hair slicked back.

“Dumbass, you can’t sense it? That’s the bloom boy.”

“Ohhh, I thought he smelled kinda funny.”

Angelo turned to the men and shushed them, earning himself dirty looks and flared atma. Dione rolled her eyes.

“Are all maestros like this? Flashing their atma at every little thing?”

Soji shrugged.

“I just want my gloves back…these past couple days have been pretty bad for the blighting. Maybe I could sneak back to the residence and steal it from Annabeth’s room.”

Just then, he felt a blend of familiar atma signatures tug at him.

~

August 8, 2022 - 9:16am

Hallway, Ground Floor, Eden Campus Building 8

Money couldn’t believe his eyes. In just a few minutes, the man that stood before him completely obliterated a room full of maestros with his bare hands. Behind him, Anish, Otta, and Alex raised their reinforcements. The bodies of the other visitors littered the ground floor’s lecture hall inside. As soon as the slaughter began, Money ordered evacuation, and narrowly escaped into the locker-lined hallway with his wards.

Hyeseong Lee chuckled to himself. That look that atma users had when first exposed to his power was still amusing. He wore a new suit, this one a dark blue, but opted to forgo the tie and top button. He wiped his red-stained hands against his pants, adjusting himself into taekwon-do’s sitting stance.

“What the hell is up with this guy?” Money growled. Lee appeared to be a non-maestro, with not even a thread of atma emanating from his body. This was especially strange because even non-maestros gave off ambient amounts of atma. It was a product of the soul.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Let’s not find out,” Anish replied, fat melting into the shape of a silver cannon on his hand. Bright blue atma buzzed in its barrel then loosed a sizzling projectile at Lee.

The attack splashed against his body harmlessly, shocking the Eden maestros. Lee broke his stance and pulled a locker door off its hinges. With insurmountable strength, he crushed the metal into a bat-like shape. Money’s wraith, Jump Force, shot at the man, ready to strike. The attack, again, was useless, dissipating into threads of atma when it touched Hyeseong’s skin.

“Whatever it is you’re doing won’t work,” Lee said. He charged at the maestros, makeshift bat in hand, and first smacked Money with it. The boy blocked with his arm, still taking a bit of damage from the weapon’s rugged edge. Lee planted a punch into Money’s face, breaking his skull and sending him flying.

“My atma…I can’t feel it! Is this his technique?”

Money crashed into Otta, who, despite being a bit bigger today, slid back. She, too, felt her atma seemingly disappear. Without slowing down, Lee used a back kick to launch Alex into the door to the lecture hall, cracking wood and bone.

Before Anish could take further action, Lee pulled him in close, and brought his weapon down on the boy’s head. He slumped over, then fell to the ground unconscious.

“Am I getting soft? I meant to crack his skull…”

Before he could follow through on his intention, Otta slammed a fist into Lee’s face. The hitman felt his brain rattle from the force of the attack, surprised to see the strange octopus-human before him.

“What the hell are you?” He smiled. Iosef Cain was right, this would be an interesting job. He didn’t have time to waste with Otta, however. His only concerns were the so-called ‘bloom boy’, the girl who could swim through shadows, the white-haired anomaly, and Monika Rose.

With an open palm, he grabbed onto what he presumed to be the girl’s head and squeezed, expecting her to drop dead. To his surprise, her arms split into tentacles and wrapped around him. The girl violently thrashed him about the hallway.

“This must be an ability…my atma forces other maestros’ atma into a state of Staccato. She shouldn’t be able to use a technique or even reinforcement, so if she’s still like this, it’s her body’s natural adaptation to whatever her technique is.”

Lee flexed his muscles to earn a bit of space from Otta’s constricting tentacles. Successful, he adjusted the weapon in his hand and stabbed his restraints. Pained, Otta let him go, but not without knocking the wind out of him as he hit the floor once more.

“You’re great fun, but I have a date,” Lee teased. With as much strength as he could muster, he ran at the girl. He grabbed down on her tentacles then thrashed her about, returning the favor. No matter how elastic her body was, it couldn’t be that resistant to trauma. As she crashed onto the ground, he squeezed on his bat to sharpen its tip, then pierced her torso with it, nailing her to a wall.

He grimaced at the sight of the octopus girl squirming in pain until she finally went still. Gross.

Satisfied with his work, Lee nodded to himself, then made his way to the stairs. He’d start at the top floor, where Monika and Penny were, then slowly make his way backwards. That was, of course, if his teammates didn’t accomplish it themselves. As he climbed upstairs, he produced an ornately designed horned skull mask from his blazer, and put it on. Lee pushed on the built-in earpiece then spoke.

“It’s time.”

At that moment, the forced Staccato on Money’s atma ended, allowing the automatic activation of his technique to kick in. A green mushroom made of atma materialized above Money, right where his mouth was. It dissolved into specks of dust that slowly faded away on his skin. His body repaired itself quickly, and his eyes flicked open.

He shot straight up, taking in the terrible scene around him.

“That man! I have to warn everyone!” Money scrambled to his feet. He looked around frantically until he found what he was looking for, and ran for it. Without even a moment to catch his breath, he pulled the fire alarm, then slumped over in pain.

~

August 8, 2022 - 9:19am

Lecture Hall 1, First Floor, Eden Campus Building 8

The occupants of the lecture hall practically jumped to their feet at the sound of the fire alarm’s wail. Kuro, Esme and Israel gave each other knowing looks as the automated PA system calmly instructed the building's inhabitants to evacuate. A young woman wearing a pale blue blouse and white pants stood out to Kuro, her atma flaring as she materialized a snowball in the palm of her hand. She tossed it into the air, and a second later, it erected a massive barrier around the campus.

Unbeknownst to Kuro, Esme, or any of the visitors, the barrier didn’t restrict the entry or exit of any being. Rather, by setting a condition that gave up this ability, the young woman, Alina Princip of the Hooligang, was able to create a barrier that distorted the passage of time. From that moment on, every minute that passed within the barrier, would be equivalent to six seconds on the outside.

Kuro reached for his machete, forgetting that the ‘no weapons’ rule included him and his peers.

“Shit…” He thought when his fingers met air. In front of him, Alina donned a mask that only covered the top half of her face. It had two short bunny ears, with one drooping over the side of her head where her actual ears were.

“I’ve got eyes on the anomaly,” she spoke into the embedded earpiece. Next to her, two gentlemen who had previously been seated rose up, with one putting on a mask.

“Kuro, run!” Esme demanded. Israel materialized his hand-shaped wraiths to create makeshift steps and ran up them, gesturing for his teammates to follow suit.

Machiavelli, a Korean boy with a blonde undercut and slicked back hair brought out a card oozing with atma. He tore the card, summoning a straight sword from it. He swung the jikdo at passersby as he chased after Kuro. Javier Javier tore his own card, bringing forth his Faithful Rebound, the shining silver soccer ball.

“I’ve got dibs on that fucker!” He yelled.

Alina, meanwhile, started throwing snowballs at the maestros rushing out of the room. With each one she hit, they were transported into a realm where they’d face snow wraiths of her creation.

“What a technique,” Annabeth crowed.

“Which Crowe sister are you?” Alina replied.

“You know us? I’m flattered.”

“Don’t be. I also know that only one of you has the technique. Atma gets interesting when it comes to the souls of twins. So…which one are you?”

“Come and find out,” Annabeth’s sinister atma flared.

~

August 8, 2022 - 9:19am

Lecture Hall 3, Third Floor, Eden Campus Building 8

The immediate eruption of chaos masked the sound of paper tearing behind Monika, Niko, and Penny. It was only when Billy ‘Bacon’ Ganbaatar of the Hooligang put on his boar-shaped mask, and unzipped a body bag that the girls realized what was going on. Billy was a massive man, his hand dwarfing the head of the deceased woman in his body bag. His atma flowed into the carcass as he carefully pulled the skull off so that her spine remained attached to its base.

By the time he fully removed it, the head was malleated into a handle and the spine into a spiked whip. Penny sank into her shadow while Monika and Niko held their guards up, following after Miguel. Billy swung his whip in a circle.

The resulting carnage made Monika gag. The evacuating visitors were cut down by the bone whip, while the walls, floor, and ceiling were shredded by its sharpened tip. Warm blood rained down on the girls, drenching their hair and beading off their uniforms.

“Don’t move!” Miguel yelled, motioning to erect the barrier necessary for his technique. Before he could set its rules, a woman dressed like a cowgirl with a black Zorro mask aimed and unloaded three revolver rounds at him. He defended with his voluminous atma, but was shocked when three powerful explosions rocked his body and knocked the breath out of him.

“What the hell?”

Before he could recover, Dee leapt at him, hands clasped together over her head. Her technique summoned a massive, gold-headed sledgehammer from the ‘hammer space’ between her palms, which she brought down on the man with full force.

Penny reappeared behind Billy, her ivory blades in hand. She slashed at him, yielding only shallow cuts as he raised his reinforcements.

“Who are these guys?” Monika yelled, throwing her atma at the girl with the revolver, Bonnie.

“No idea. I can’t fight in here, not without my Instrument!” Niko replied. The two of them leapt out of the way of Billy’s whip.

“Penny, any chance?”

The girl stabbed at Billy again, who grabbed her, then threw her at the wall where she splashed into her shadow, and reappeared next to Niko.

“For what? Are we running?”

“No…everyone’s Instruments are back at the residence. Can you get them?”

Bonnie fired at the girls from behind Billy, using the man as cover. They evaded, running in separate directions while Billy, again, swung his whip wildly. As Monika ran for the door of the lecture hall, she looked back at Miguel trading blows with Dee.

“They’re strong enough to keep Miguel occupied!”

“You can’t handle the big one,” Penny yelled, “Niko, you fly to the residence, and Monika you stop the shooter!” The girls nodded.

As the Roses exited into the hallway, Niko pointed two fingers at Bonnie, using her wings to pick the girl up and throw her into the hallway’s lockers. Before she could hit the ground, Monika exploded her fist into the girl’s torso, resulting in a loud BOOM. The force crushed the lockers and the wall, sending the girl into the classroom behind it all.

Niko placed her wings on the debris and launched it at the window. She ran towards the exit, threading wings onto herself. She leapt out and shot towards the campus residence, taking in the massive barrier around the entire campus.

“So they’ve set up a barrier to keep us trapped inside…we’ve got to break it somehow. If we can get help, nobody else has to die!”

~

August 8, 2022 - 9:19am

Lecture Hall 2, Second Floor, Eden Campus Building 8

As soon as the fire alarm’s whoops began, Soji felt a strong grip dig into his shoulders, then throw him at the wall. As he’d been seated near the back row of the lecture hall, it was a short journey.

He got up to see that the man in the tux wore a penguin mask, and the one wearing a onesie had pulled up its hood to use its attached capybara mask.

“I’m not sure what this is, but is there a reason you guys are dressed like a penguin and a bear?”

“I’m not a bear, I’m a capybara!”

“Right, right!” Soji’s fists lit up.

Behind the men, Angelo and Dione readied themselves with Angelo calling his wraith, and Naga wrapping around Dione’s arm. While the lecture hall emptied itself, the Penguin ran into the crowd, tearing a card.

Angelo chased after him into the hallway where gunshots rang seconds later. Soji charged at Capybara and swung, but missed as he dodged the attack easily. Dione, still stationed behind the man, attacked as well, and still, he evaded. Even Elsabet, who leapt up from the stage over a dozen rows of chairs, was unable to land a hit on him.

The three of them began an onslaught against the Hooligan, but none of them were able to hit him. Soji uprooted a seat from the ground and threw it at Capybara, missing entirely. Dione used Naga to catch the seat and bring it down on their target, who sidestepped effortlessly.

Elsabet jumped away while the two kids continued to attack without rest.

“What’s this guy’s deal? He’s evading everything, even the attacks he can’t see. Is it some kind of foresight technique? Trajectory prediction?”

She shaped her atma into a sharpened point and expelled it at Capybara’s arm while he was in the middle of avoiding Soji and Dione. His body jerked sporadically in the air to avoid the projectile, but Elsabet forced it to dissipate before it hit him.

“It’s not foresight! And the way he moved…”

“Your technique…it automatically forces your body to dodge any incoming attacks, doesn’t it?”

“Huh? How’d you figure it out that quickly? It’s time to get serious, I guess,” the man sighed. Where the other members were having all sorts of fun, to him this was just a job. Fighting three maestros head-on was going to be especially arduous.

The three Eden maestros felt a shift in Capybara’s atma.

“Are you just going to sit there, Xander?”

A previously unnoticed boy, who’d wrapped himself in a sleeping bag woke up, grumpiness apparent in his dark eyes. A book made of atma materialized in front of him.

“Dear Diary: Today I Fell Down The Stairs.”

As soon as the words were uttered, Soji felt a falling sensation despite the fact he remained upright. The feeling was soon accompanied by a wave of dread and what felt like wooden stairs battering him. His body reacted as though he were actually falling down a flight of stairs, bruises and cuts appearing all over, then slowly healing.

“Soji!” Dione’s concern for his sudden flinching and twitching brought a smug grin to Xander’s face. While Soji tried to adjust to the effect of the technique, Capybara closed the distance between them and struck him. Dione and Elsabet closed in on the man, ready to strike.

His atma shifted again, allowing him to evade them once more.

“Xander…” he whined.

“Fine…” the sleepy boy replied. “...Genten.”