Terrarium (XIX) - A New Dawn

Bell opened her eyes slowly as she gradually regained consciousness.

'It's just another bad dream.' Bell reminded herself, a pain shooting through her temples.

She sat up, gently pushing her blanket off of herself, after a moment, Bell hopped off of her bed. With a long yawn, Bell stretched, a wave of relief freshening her up a bit. 

Bell headed towards her drawers and pulled out a toothbrush case, a tube of toothpaste, and a bottle of facial cleanser. She headed towards the bathroom and placed her toiletries on the counter around the sink. 

As she brushed her teeth, Bell realized something.

'Oh yeah... I forgot to do that homework that Teacher Brutus gave us...'

Then, she attempted to remember what he had instructed his students to do. 

"Feel the flow of Stardust, try to influence it..." Bell absentmindedly said as she finished brushing her teeth.

Soon after, Bell was cleaning her face, afterward, she returned to her room. Before attempting her homework, she checked the time.

[06:21 A.M.]

'Hmm, that's why I feel so rested.' Bell shrugged as she sat down with her legs crisscrossed. 

She cleared her mind of all thoughts, afterward, she activated Ruination. Without a target, Bell's body became host of the flames, and the gray flames started to dance harmlessly around her. Her mind became sharper, and Bell felt more control of her body come to her.

As she kept Ruination activated, Bell felt the flow of Stardust within her body. Bell felt a strange level of focus required to home in on the flow but was able to after a short bit. However, focusing in on the flow of Stardust came with a strange amount of expenditure of the mysterious material.

It was as if a thin thread was acting as a new vein within her heart. It felt somehow... illusory, as if it were stuck behind a veil of sorts. In any case, Bell was well aware of the flow of Stardust flowing from somewhere in her heart to her brain.

However, Bell noticed that the Stardust didn't originate in the heart specifically, rather, something within her heart. She also noticed that the Stardust didn't flow into her brain as an entirety, instead flowing to the front of her brain, and to a specific point in her frontal lobe.

Then, Bell attempted the homework that Teacher Brutus had assigned and attempted to give the flow a nudge. Well, she visualized the feeling of Stardust going elsewhere, and in an instant, Bell's arm's felt as if they were brimming with power.

Bell moved her arm slightly and instead of moving gently, it shot to the side, and Bell instantly deactivated Ruination in its entirety.

The gray flames dissipated around her, and Bell felt a slight pain in her arm. Bell looked towards the pained part and found that her muscles were larger for a heartbeat. The size increase wasn't anything in particular but was still noticeable. 

The only reason that Bell saw the difference was due to her knowledge on her body, the size and length of her limbs, the individual muscle groups, and more. Bell looked down, kissed a closed fist, and then pointed upwards while looking up.

'Thank you, old man.'

Bell then stood up, a slight ache in her arm and general fatigue being the only thing protesting the action. She then walked towards her desk and opened her journal to about the halfway point. Bell picked up her pen before writing on the page:

"7 August 2499 / Friday

Sorry for not updating yesterday, got a bit busy.

Anywho, we went to our classes, met Teacher Sofia and Teacher Hephaestus, then ate dinner and got some books from the Library. Not much else went on yesterday.

But today is going to be neat. 

We're going to do a little experiment that we came up with yesterday, then head to breakfast or something. After, we'll head to General Class, that homework was kind of crazy.

We had to change the flow of the Stardust in our bodies! I made it flow into our arm and it hurt like hell! At least it doesn't feel like it's broken, so I'll be fine. 

In Hunting, we're going into a Dire Wolf den, which we've done only a million times before... stupid nightmares. But yeah, we'll be "taught" what to do by some other students, and hopefully nothing bad happens!

We gotta watch Teacher Hephaestus finish making his dagger or whatever in Forging. 

I just hope we don't get beaten up in Combat today.

Also, the rain here is nice, I like it. Which is kinda unexpected, y'know.

But yeah, I'll update later on today or tomorrow, depends on if something interesting happens."

Bell closed her journal and placed the pen on the desk, then, she stood up and headed towards her drawers once more. After rummaging for a short while, Bell found what she was looking for, a spiral notebook. Bell opened to an empty page and ripped it out. 

Afterward, she returned to the desk with both notebook and paper. She set the two down and started folding the paper into a paper boat before setting it on the table.

Then, Bell activated Creation and visualized a piece of paper that had been folded into the shape of a paper boat. 

To Bell's surprise, an exact replica of the paper boat appeared beside the first.

Her experiment had been a success.

With a smile, Bell set the original on top of the Created one, then folded a paper hat, then Created an exact replica.

'I won't be able to really finish this until later, but I'm feeling good about it.'

Bell's experiment was to see if she could use Creation to conjure an exact replica of something that she had personally made. Unfortunately, she would have to actually create a weapon before testing the difference between simply observing a weapon and creating a weapon, then using Creation to make a copy.

Despite that, Bell was still happy, and she had a good start on understanding more about Creation.

But for now, Bell had something else to do; she had to eat breakfast. So, Bell decided to head to the cafeteria after putting on her shoes and Creating a new umbrella. Upon finishing those two tasks, Bell headed towards the umbrella with a smile on her face.

'Breakfast time.'

Upon reaching the final section of the hallway, Bell tapped her pathfinder twice to tell the time.

[07:03 A.M.]

She did a double take at the time.

'Seven?!' Bell exclaimed in her mind.

Bell opened the exit and her umbrella shortly after to avoid the rain pattering against her skin and clothes.

As she walked, she thought.

'There's no way that it's been half an hour already! I finished brushing my teeth at like six twenty!'

The rain was sparce, and the clouds thin, allowing more light from the miniature sun to illuminate the world that surrounded it. Bell noticed that there were quite a few other students around the ring, most were coming out of their dormitory doors. 

As Bell continued towards the cafeteria, she wondered to herself.

'Is it because I focused on the flow of Stardust?'

Bell had noticed that she took a slight bit to home in on and focus on the flow of Stardust, as well as feeling particularly fatigued after halting the flow. Then, she chuckled to herself as she shook her head.

'No, it can't be! Forty minutes to examine it?!'

Despite her thoughts, Bell still felt as if there was truth within her questions.

But there wasn't time to dwell on it, as she had finally reached the double doors leading into the cafeteria. Upon entering, she found that there were quite a few more students than the previous day.

She headed towards the buffet, picking up a plate and fork while on her way. Bell picked out a similar meal to yesterday, then quickly looked around for Torm and Jude. The two had always been up in time for breakfast during the Bullet Train ride to the Terrarium, so there was a high chance that the two would be here today.

Bell soon found the two sitting next to Magnus and Wren. As she grew near, Bell overheard their conversation about what classes they had after General Class.

"Morning, you all." Bell greeted as she sat down at the round table.

"Good morning, Bellona." Jude replied first with a tired-looking smile. Dark circles fell just beneath his eyes, and he looked a bit pale.

[Morning, Bell!] Read the glass window conjured by Wren's pathfinder.

Torm was the third to greet Bell, "Mornin', Bell." He had said in a restrained tone.

Magnus was the last to greet her, and he had simply said, "Yo."

Bell began to devour her food, eating all of the food on her plate before heading back to the buffet line and grabbing more food. On her way back, Bell grabbed a cup of strawberry milk and had found some spicy sausage links.

After devouring that plate as well, Bell found herself satiated, then bid the four farewells before returning to her room. 

The walk back to her dorm was entirely uneventful, with Bell having simply enjoyed the view of the Terrarium on her return trip.

Bell opened the door to her dorm and found that Mona was awake, and was brewing a pot of coffee. The smell was simply superb, but Bell knew that a single cup of the liquid would make Bell hate the next few minutes of her day. But that wouldn't be the only consequence, she would also question her own judgement for those few minutes.

So, for this morning, at least, Bell was going to avoid any coffee.

"Morning, Mona." Bell greeted.

Mona turned with a tired-looking smile and waved politely as she replied, "Good morning, Bell."

Bell then returned to her sub-room and changed into a set of clothing more befitting of attending classes.

She now sported a pair of jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt, and an unbuttoned button-up shirt. Bell styled her hair into a loose ponytail, with a few fly-aways adding to the aesthetic of her outfit.

Bell grabbed her journal, pen, pencil, and notebook before returning to the living room area. 

Strella and Hilia were now in their dorm, with the two sipping from cups of coffee with Mona. 

The four returned greetings and morning pleasantries before deciding to head down to General Class.

They had a similarly uneventful trip outside of a conversation about the homework. All four had managed to redirect their flow of Stardust, and Bell wasn't alone in the strange effects of Stardust on other parts of the body.

After reaching the classroom, they had relaxed and simply waited for class to begin. Over the course of the next few minutes, more of the others started to enter the room, save for Michael and Pyralis. And just before the bell tolled, the two entered the room looking quite disheveled and panting heavily.

Teacher Brutus came in just behind the two.

"Good morning, class." He announced.

After a momentary pause, he continued.

"Let's get this class on the road, shall we?"