"Who was that girl, anyway?" Michael asks.

Scy shrugs as he, Michael, and Jamie walk to their next class together. None of them recognized her, but she looked to be their age rather than an older student. Their conversation ends as they enter the classroom; Around half the students are already here, chatting away.

"I overheard Professor Bagu is a bit of an oddball." Jamie says quietly.

"Which professor isn't an oddball?" Scy replies jokingly.

Michael isn't paying their conversation any mind as his eyes wander around the classroom. It looks much like the other ones: the same podium, the same blackboard, the same desks. Several metal cages for various animals are hanging from the ceiling or set against the walls, yet none of them contain anything.

Where are the animals? Isn't this class about animals?

Someone in the back of the class lets out a shriek, and everyone turns to look at what the girl is screaming about. They see a huge black beetle on her head, crawling around in a frenzy. Green light glows around another girl, and with a quick slap of scaley flesh the beetle is sent flying into the center of the classroom. The girl's green magic fades, albeit she now has a living snake growing from her scalp along with her dark hair.

"Did some giant bug escape or something?" Scy says with a laugh.

Scy's laugh gets caught in his throat as other students start to exclaim and step away from the walls. There are swarms of roaches crawling out of the cracks between bricks, and a few centipedes the length of pencils flail as they worm their way through the brickwork. Most students are too panicked to properly channel a spell, but a few standouts are trying their best to exterminate the swarm of bugs.

Michael's mouth feels dry as he sees David send a sizeable ball of flames into a bunch of roaches, burning them to a crisp and nearly destroying a nearby desk. The girl with the single lock of snake hair sends out a variety of serpents to eat and chomp at the bugs; One boy pushes up his glasses as if posing for the camera while frost erupts from the brickwork beneath him to consume several centipedes.

I can't tell if they're actually strong or just showing off...

Scy yelps from behind Michael, and he turns to see a huge blob of spiders descending from the ceiling to land on the podium. They crawl over one another in an unnatural bundle of legs; There are flies, gnats, and even bees flying from the cracks in the windows toward the podium. Michael comes to a realization as the bugs start bundling together in a big blob of nightmare fuel behind the podium.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Stop! That's the professor!" Michael shouts loudly.

The rest of the normal students glance at Michael with confused expressions before realization dawns on the majority of them; Funnily enough the three students doing the most bug slaying don't even look in Michael's nor the podium's direction. Everyone else quietly sidesteps the swarms of insects while watching a blob of bugs collect behind the podium.

Black fog seems to waft of off the bugs all at once, and suddenly all the spells in the room are dispelled as if being suppressed by a greater magic. This finally gets the attention of David along with the other two overeager students; Their eyes are wide as they stare at the professor's uncanny manifestation.

"Welcome to beasts class, students." Thousands of voices say simultaneously.

The boy with glasses has a layer of frost on his skin now, and yet his complexion pales further; Several snakes now replace the majority of snake girl's hair and she looks similarly horrified. David acts like everything is fine, and takes a seat at his desk before kicking up his feet on the chair ahead of him.

"Take your seats; We'll be learning about the Demon Bird today." Chorus many voices.

The sound of seats scooting and desks being readjusted fills the classroom for a minute or so as everyone takes their seats. Scy and Jamie look mortified by the professor's appearance, much to Michael's relief; He gets the idea of manifests, but they can still be quite frightening at times.

"My name is Professor Bagu, by the way. I hope we can get along!" Professor Bagu says.

Most of the students are in a daze at this point, but Michael manages to focus on the lesson and take notes on the rather mundane Demon Bird. The things are very hardy and have good magic sense, yet they have poor hearing and terrible coordination; If anything they felt like a cross between a dodo's mind and a vulture's body.

Eventually Professor Bagu uses huge dragonflies to pass out a worksheet all about Demon Birds; Those without notes groan while those who took them smile proudly. Michael is one such note taker, and so the worksheet feels like a walk in the park. He's nearly halfway through it when he feels someone looming over him.

"You're quite observant, Michael." Thousands of small voices say.

Michael turns his head hesitantly and nearly whimpers at the sight of thousands of insects forming a vaguely humanoid shape mere centimeters from him. Professor Bagu is looking over his shoulder, albeit with countless small eyes rather than two human sized ones.

"Th-Thank you, Professor!" Michael squeaks out.

Several hundred small laughs combine to form a rolling cacophony as Professor Bagu makes an indecipherable gesture with his swarm of a body.

"Relax, Michael. I don't bite... usually." Professor Bagu says ominously.

Jamie gives Michael a little smile while Scy shakes his head sympathetically. Jamie has extensive notes which outclass Michael's while Scy has almost nothing written on his page; There's a sketch of a Demon Bird and a big juicy drumstick, though.

"Poor Michael, don't worry, I'm sure they have a school counselor or therapist." Jamie says sarcastically.

"Hey, he's been through a lot! Even I got chills around Professor Bagu." Scy comes to Michael's defense.

Michael is at first a little peeved at Jamie's joking words and then relieved at Scy's understanding tone, but that changes when he notices Scy snatching his notes right from under his nose.

"You traitor! Just ask next time!" Michael protests.

The three of them chat quietly whilst finishing up their worksheets, and the atmosphere in the classroom relaxes. Sadly their next class is taught by the infamous Professor Frost, and the pleasant atmosphere will transform into a militant one.