Welcoming Ceremony (II) - Choice Words

In the next fifteen minutes, more students would flood the bleachers as Bell and a few others went down to get some water to heal their aching throats.

When she returned, Bell saw that most of the bleachers were filled with other students. Most were completely standard in terms of appearance, if one were to ignore the colors of their hair, skin, and eyes. However, there were those that had strange anatomy, likely due to their Shard or Fragment abilities.

Bell's previous seat was taken by a student in an ill-fitting uniform, the seams stretching due to his hulking, metallic form. She didn't want to bother the massive boy, so she decided to sit elsewhere nearby. Luckily for Bell, there was an open seat directly next to Aramine. 

There was a girl that looked somewhat familiar sitting next to Mangus. After looking at the white-haired girl with olive skin for a moment longer, Bell realized that the two were likely related.

Upon sitting down, Magnus greeted Bell with an introduction, "Hey, Bellona, this is my sister, Wren." He then turned his head to his sister, "Wren, this is Bellona."

The girl, Wren Berg, waved politely to Bell, then attempted to say something before coming to a realization. She then tapped the black pathfinder on her wrist and tapped it a few times. The glass pane that she had summoned became visible to Bell as it turned, it read:

[Hello, Bellona!]

There was a small emoticon next to the text, a smiling face. 

'Oh, she can't speak?' Bell wondered to herself.

One of the few things that Bell knew of the strange Akashic Shards that humanity had been gifted with was that some people bore blessings and curses. 

"Nice to meet you, Wren." Bell said, extending a hand to the strange girl. 

Aquilos spoke up soon after, "She's mute, and I'm deaf."

"What?" Bell asked. "How can you hear me?"

Aquilos let out a chuckle before answering Bell, "I can't, I'm reading your lips."

Bell flushed in embarrassment while the others simply looked forward, as if doing their best to not acknowledge Bell's blunder.

'Whatever.' Bell thought with a bitter taste in her mouth. 'At least that explains why Wren can't talk...'

Soon, the conversations stopped covering the sound of the rain, and Bell realized that everyone was going quiet. 

Bell turned to face the platform, where the black veil covering the guest speaker was slowly being removed. It took several seconds for the veil to be completely removed, and with Bell's luck, the final bit to be removed was the portion that faced her and her new friends.

The black veil vanished, fully revealing Pope Joan, the eternally youthful leader of the old church. He had long, flowing radiant white hair, rivalling the brightness of the Berg siblings.

He was adorned with a white toga, and Bell was mysteriously filled with some sort of energy upon seeing the boy.

Pope Joan picked up the microphone and started speaking.

[Greetings, students of the Terrarium. Those who had entered the grounds of this academy mark the 5700th class. To commemorate the arrival of the new class, I will be revealing something to the world.]

Unlike the Principal and Vice-Principal of the Terrarium, Pope Joan spoke slowly and deliberately. He didn't walk around the edge of the stand with the same energy that the two who came before him had. He was patient due to the time he had, and it didn't look like he was going to care if he was going quickly or not.

[I shake the Earth and grasp the Sky with my first Fragment, these two abilities allowed me to clear my first Domain with ease. I control Earth and Fire, Water and Wind with my second Fragment, these four abilities allowed me to defend the construction of the walls.]

As he spoke, the ground rumbled, and the sky seemed to shake. Pillars of the elements that he spoke of started to erupt from the ground.

[My third Fragment allows me to see good and evil, as well as truth and lies. There are special conditions with my third Fragment, but I will not elaborate further. The point is, you have not seen my fourth, fifth, or even sixth Fragments abilities. I will be showing you all one of the six remaining powers that I wield.]

Pope Joan then cleared his throat before continuing. A tendril of water from a nearby pillar flowed to him, and he took a sip of the flowing tendril.

[Yes, I had forgotten how awful it is to speak here. On another note, I will be continuing my speech before showing this ability and will have an addendum afterward.]

The tendril returned to him, allowing him more water.

Bell didn't think of Pope Joan as the boy he appeared as, his mannerisms, body language, and speech patterns all depicted him as a man who had seen the years pass by him. 

'He's ancient, alright.' Bell confirmed mentally.

After a momentary pause, Pope Joan continued speaking into the microphone.

[In the past few centuries, I have seen the ways that the peoples had fought for the next generations. I have personally joined them, but now only offer advice, I am old and cannot bear the curse I have been afflicted with. I cannot fight any longer.]

With a cough, he drank more water, like every time he spoke would dry him out like a squeezed sponge.

Each pause made Bell feel a bit uneasy, it was like watching... well, it was like watching an old man on his deathbed give a speech. The view reminded Bell of a video that her father often showed her from the early ages of the Domain Crisis.

Two old men stood on a stage and bickered with one another over political goals. Every time, they were at least entering the later years of their lives.

'At least he's done something in his life.' Bell thought, pitying the state of which Pope Joan was suffering.

[I have a firm belief that you all will be the last generation to fight against the demons we face. In the summer of 2483, around the month of July, there was a massive chain of Domains opening in quick succession. I, as well as many other academics at the time, started believing in a small theory that had been circulating our circles for a few years prior.]

[There was a trend that had been noticed and recorded over the course of three centuries, so there was plenty of evidence. We believe that there are a handful of souls that can reincarnate, and with each reincarnation, their power grows, and humanity makes more progress.]

[In the early 2000s, we barely had enough land for one Supermetropolis, now look at us! We've reclaimed the civilizational hubs of humanity! Now, back to our theory. In the year 2480, the rate at which Domains spawned had drastically decreased.]

[Twenty-six years prior, in the year 2454, a chain of Domains had opened. These challengers had lived until the age of twenty-six, which is when they died, and the Domains calmed down. This trend continues all the way back to the conception of the crisis, but due to the lack of proper documentation, we can't be one hundred percent sure.]

After speaking for so long, Pope Joan's voice had grown slightly raspy and had begun to crack more and more often. During the small pause, he drank several large gulps of water, like his throat was a dry plant that had gone without water for years.

[But the data we have doesn't lie, and with the progress of the last incarnation of the 'Warrior Souls,' we had made huge progress. In the other side of the Domains, we had been committing research through the four mandatory Domains that all challengers must go through.]

The pillar of earth then shifted, slowly floating before being ripped apart and turned into the depiction of a giant planet. There were at least twenty different continents and too many oceans and seas to count.

The pillar of water split into two, with one remaining as a much thinner pillar, while the second body of water decorated the makeshift planet.

[This is "Lunaris-0." We had been mapping the continents and the ways they changed during the Domain Crisis. The single piece of information that matters is that we learned that the Domains are doors to this planet, where we play in some sick encore of mythical stories told within this world.]

The massive orb of rocks shifted, removing all of the details, with only a smooth earthen rock resting in the air. 

[We first learned of Aurora, then Eurith, and Terra Nova, then Gaia and the Steamlands.]

As Pope Joan listed the continents, more and more land masses started appearing on the mock planet. He had lost Bell past that fifth name.

[Each of these continents have at least four or five ages, as Lunaris suffers the wrath of the eleven gods and goddesses of their world. From what we know, there was at least a Golden Age, a Warring Age, an Age of Innovation, a Primordial Age, as well as an Age of Distortion.]

Then, the model planet shifted once more, with a slice of the planet distancing itself from the main mass and separating into several chunks.

There was one high above, one in the form of an island just below, the slice of land taken out of the planet, an underground tunnel system, and a chunk of land below everything. Another chunk of land appeared beside the flying island and beside the slice of land.

[These are the seven realms. Heaven, the Sky Isles, the Dream World, the Surface, Purgatory, the Underworld, and Hell. If you have questions on any of these realms, then you can ask your homeroom teacher. Now, the seven realms used to be visible from one another, but something happened during the end of the Golden Age.]

Pope Joan paused for a moment, taking a sip of water before continuing.

[We don't know exactly what had happened, but after the events of what happened at the end of Lunaris's first era, the seven realms were distanced from one another. In fact, we don't know much about the timeline of this world, only the geography.]

[Despite that fact, I have hope in my heart that you all will be able to solve the mysteries of this hellscape and safe humanity from the Domain plague. I can tell simply from the strength that each of you radiate. You are yet to even graduate, but you are already on par with the challengers of old.]

[So work hard, make a world that your loved ones can live in without worry or threat, but I am so sorry that this task is set upon you.]

Then, before the silence could settle in with the crowds of students, lightning struck Pope Joan. No, two bolts of lightning struck him. No! He caught the lightning and bent it back towards the clouds!

A cloud of dust was kicked up instantly, and when it settled, Pope Joan was still wrestling the lightning. Bell had to avert her gaze from the radiant light, but it started to dim, until it looked like someone was simply pointing a flashlight her direction.

Bell looked down and saw that Pope Joan was reading the lightning that he had wrestled into a chokehold. The microphone and speakers were dead, but Bell heard him speak nevertheless, as if his voice was naturally this loud.

"On this day, I, Joan, read the fate of this Terrarium!"

Life seemed to be radiating from the young man, as if casting this ability of his resulted in vigor entering his blood stream once more. 

"A knight shall lead you into victory! A knight with a blue cape who wields black flames! This knight shall not allow a single death within the first Domain of the students in this Terrarium!"

He paused for a moment before continuing, like he was shocked at what he read.

"No person from this planet shall die in the mandatory Domain of the 2500th year! A blessing of the eleven gods and goddesses shall be graced upon you all!"

His face seemed to morph into something unrecognizable from the distance that Bell was from the Pope. He then continued, his booming voice echoing like thunder in the false skies above.

"We, as humans, have a chance to fight back against the demons! After five centuries of suffering, we can fight back! Fate is back into our grasp!"

After that final statement, the youthful and vigorous Pope Joan let go of the lightning, allowing it to strike the cloud it originated from.

Then, just as he was about to continue announcing, he fell to the ground.

In that moment, Bell didn't hear the rain pattering against the umbrellas above, she didn't hear the gasps of the crowd around her.

No, the only thing she heard was her own heartbeat.