CHAPTER 21
OUTSIDE OF CLASS, SHEILA DESANTO IS STILL A BORING PROFESSOR (PART 2)
It turned out to be beneficial that Sam left behind so many of the books she wanted to check out with her. As Sheila shuttled the cart around the first floor, some of these books that needed to be returned to their shelves served to illustrate her points of lecture.
One of the books she held up was an older edition of her classroom textbook, aptly named Luminescence 101. This one was more than a decade old, and apparently Sheila herself had co-authored it with one Seong-Ho Park. As she handed it off to Ryan to place on a shelf they were passing, the golden-haired boy wondered why the name seemed familiar to him. It felt as if he just saw it somewhere too.
As her student put the book back where it came from, Sheila reiterated the mantra she recited to each of her classes, several times a semester in an attempt to drum it into their heads: “Emotions are energy. And that energy can transform into luminescence or chaos.”
When someone is luminescent, they have the ability to proactively deal with chaos. Those who seek a higher level of luminescence train themselves physically and mentally to that end. Sheila’s research, along with that of past generations, had determined that there was a strong correlation between confronting Shades and strengthening one’s luminescence.
Another book detailed the various levels of luminescent strength, indicated by the color of one’s glow. It was an easy example for Ryan to wrap his head around; even he knew the color spectrum of light intensity. In the field of luminescence, the strongest energy glowed purple.
Becoming luminescent was a rare occurrence in humans, the professor explained further. Most of them opted to become Stars—professional luminescents whose job was to disperse chaos wherever it occurred all around the world.
“So, it’s kind of like training for basketball,” Ryan reasoned.
“Basketball, hockey, football… Any sport, really.” She handed him and Mindie each another book to store, pointing out gaps in the shelves to place them. “But academic exams and long hours of desk work also require similar level of fortitude.”
At some point, Mindie’s mind had also decided to check out of the library. Sensing the similarities between the current situation and that of being in Lumi 101, it had activated its procedures to defend itself from boredom by instilling a sense of dismissal. That didn’t last very long, however, as the feeling of a book corner prodding at her ribs shifted her back into focus. She followed where Sheila pointed and climbed one of the ladders to reach the books proper space.
Sheila watched expectantly as she did so, arms crossed to emphasize her expression. “Defense. Offense. As long as you radiate that personal glow, you’re draining your luminescent energy. And it needs time to recover. The more you use at one time, the faster it drains. This holds particularly true for those who mismanage that energy—regardless of how high their luminescence level is.”
Maybe it was because she felt her eyes on her from the bottom of the step ladder. Mindie felt as if those words were meant for her. They stung a little.
“So… kind of like how a rookie on a good day can still beat a pro on a bad day?” Ryan asked.
“That’s more or less correct. And when your luminescence drains to the breaking point, the only thing it’s good for in that moment is keeping your existence intact.”
He stared at the professor blankly. “I’m not sure I get it.”
Sheila’s small scowl deepened for a moment. Whether that was because she was thinking of how else to explain it or because she was regarding him as some kind of idiot, one couldn’t really say. She glanced to the side and spied a water cooler propped up against the wall. Book in hand, she beckoned Ryan to follow her.
“You see, there’s a key difference between someone who is luminescent, and someone who isn’t. A normal soul is like any solid object. A Shade—composed of chaotic energy—is like a spot of grime. Solids like this book can't clean grime very well, but any grime that sticks to it can easy be cleansed without much consequence to the book.”
She held up the book. “Book? Normal soul.”
Then made a sweeping gesture across its front cover (there was a lot of dust). “Grime? Chaotic energy.”
She looked at Ryan expectantly; he nodded slowly.
“Meanwhile, a luminescent soul is like a clear glass of water.” The professor plucked a cup from the dispenser and filled it with water. She held it up briefly in demonstration. “Your soul.”
Then, she poured that water over the book’s cover, which made Ryan flinch. Weren’t librarians supposed to be super uptight when it came to maintaining library books?
Sheila seemed unperturbed, refilling the cup in one hand and holding a dripping book in the other. “Pouring it out over the grime will wash it away, and it needs time to refill—like how you meatheads need rest and snacks after lifting dumbbells.”
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For some reason, Ryan had the fleeting thought that she chose the term dumbbells because it had the word dumb in it. But his mind was too preoccupied trying to understand this lesson to feel insulted.
“But if you pour the grime into the glass of water, there becomes no difference between the grime and the water it contaminates.”
Once her cup was full again, the professor set it down on a nearby study table. Then she proceeded to sweep the dust from the book’s back cover into it. Like the front side, there was a lot of dust. Who knew how old that filth was? And she was dumping it all into the cup of water. Ryan grimaced. She had better not ask him to drink that.
“This is your soul after you’re consumed by chaos.” She shot him a dry grin, sensing his hesitation, and held the cup out to him. “Care for a drink?”
“Uh… No. Thanks.”
“I didn’t think so. What do you think this all means when a Shade breaks a Star?”
Ryan looked at her, still looking perplexed. “Game over…?”
“There you go, kiddo. The conflict between Stars and Shades doesn’t favor the bright-eyed, shining souls.”
The professor tossed the cup into the trash and began to shake dry the book in her hand.
“Everything starts in the soul, but we don’t understand much about it—even after generations of study. What we do know is that as a luminescent, your soul grants you power to directly fight chaos. As a consequence, you cannot allow yourself to be consumed by chaos as normal souls can. If you’re a luminescent and you are consumed by chaos, nothing of you will remain. Not even your body.”
Sheila returned to the cart and began to push it along to the next area of bookshelves. “Well. If you ask me, your soul might actually just find itself in the chaotic realm. It needs to end up somewhere, after all.”
Ryan shuffled along behind her. As he reviewed Sheila’s impromptu lesson, despite all his confusion, he was able to come to one clear conclusion: Professor DeSanto was actually a horrible teacher. She couldn’t have come up with a more convoluted example that still made zero sense. Also, she was a bit of a nutjob.
“Chaotic realm? Is that a thing?” Ryan leaned in and whispered to his peer as she rejoined them.
“It’s an urban legend, but…” Mindie shrugged. Even she agreed that the professor may have had a few screws loose with more books for company than people.
“Anyway, that sounds kind of dangerous for us,” the golden boy remarked. “Every time we fight against something chaotic, we’re taking a bet that we can defeat it before our luminescence breaks—or that we can get away safely if we do break.”
Mindie beamed, poking at him cheekily. “Nailed it in one! That’s why most Stars only try to deal with any chaotic incident that we’re confident we can handle—or we avoid trying to deal with it alone.”
“Although…” Sheila paused, the wheels of her book cart squeaking to a halt. “There is one thing any Star can use, in any situation, at any level of luminescence they have left…”
The two students looked towards their professor with curious expressions. Having trailed behind her, they could only see her back. But her shoulders seemed to slouch more, and her head hung slightly. Perhaps she was trying to compose her next thought. Although with the uncomfortably long silence, Mindie and Ryan got the sense that it wasn’t a good one.
“Supernova,” she said at last. “A last resort that can be employed by luminescents against desperate odds.”
She straightened up and turned to face them. “By using it, you sacrifice your ability to use luminescence in a single, extraordinary act—and revert to being an ordinary soul. Only the best and brightest Superstars have dared to use it. Each one of them was forced to retire afterwards, never able to go luminescent again.”
“That sounds dangerous.” Mindie shot a glance at Ryan. “I can’t imagine having to give up my lumi for any reason.”
“I hear you. I’d hate to lose a rival on my way to becoming the world’s brightest Star.”
Sheila’s eyes narrowed at them, coming off as even more harsh behind her glasses. “You should also understand that your luminescence doesn’t have to be broken for you to become a minion of chaos yourself.”
The last remark caused Mindie to pause. She had always known that breaking was bad for this reason, but she hadn’t considered that. The prospect of it made her shift uncomfortably.
“You may have noticed that, even if an actual individual turns into a Shade, it isn’t always clear at a glance.” Sheila’s dire gaze then melted into a smile—the kind of smile one would see from a movie villain who hadn’t been revealed yet. “In those cases, who’s to say one of those Shades isn’t the person right next to you?”
The professor was just joking, right? She knew it wasn’t the case right now. When Mindie glanced at the taller, blonder boy standing next to her—and he did the same towards her—she wasn’t giving him this look out of suspicion. She had the utmost confidence the Shade from the night before hadn’t infused an obscene level of chaotic energy into him that would cause him to—
There came an abrupt clap on her shoulder from behind. “Hey Minz, I—”
“KYAAAA~!” Mindie shrieked, whipping around and throwing a solid punch at whoever it was who dared to touch her in her brief state of definitely not being jumpy.
“Aray ko—!” the unfortunate soul cursed reflexively, as he flew back and slammed into a bookshelf.
The force of the impact was too much for the bookshelf, which, like all others in High Tower, was much thinner relative to its towering height. It teetered back slightly before leaning forward towards its rightful upright state. But then it lurched too far forward—threatening to topple over as a handful of books started to abandon their resting places from the high shelves.
Alarmed, Sheila sprang into action, emitting a bright, purple glow that split apart into several glowing effigies. Each one stuck itself to a side of the precariously swaying shelf. A few more books fell through the balls of light and onto the floor, but ultimately the shelf itself returned to a stable position.
After a quick lap around the upper levels of the shelf, the rabble of glowing effigies vanished. One returned to its original, physical form of Sheila DeSanto and landed next to Mindie’s one-time punching bag.
Ryan was struck dumb by the professor’s quick thinking and display. It appeared that luminescents could still interact with the real world to some extent too. He had thought being in a state of luminescence just made him akin to an intangible ghost, but perhaps there was actually a poltergeist-like element. If chaos and luminescence were related energies, that made sense. Another lesson he’d have to look into later.
Meanwhile, Mindie was more focused on whom she had assaulted. Her hands flew to her mouth, immediately mortified upon realizing who it was. Then, she doubled over and clutched her stomach in a fit of laughter as all the tension she felt just before fizzled out.
“Pike! Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”