The moment the professor steps into the class, the students rise to greet her, then as one they sit back down.
"Hello, seekers, I am Shadeen Valeria," says a 1.7-meter figure, wearing a dark gray suit with short pants, displaying smooth fair legs. Her brunette hair is pulled into a low elegant bun, with a pair of thin silver glasses perched upon her pointy nose. "I'll be your professor for Divine Research and Cultivation, where we'll be diving into history and the application techniques and practices for honing and using divine energies."
With her back to the class, a blue stylus manifested between her fingers. A soft tapping echoes through the still room.
The words she writes appear in purple starlight on the board.
History exists to stop history.
"Can anyone explain what this means?" she asks.
People raise their hands after five seconds, but Vienna speaks up before Shadeen can call on anyone. "It means most mistakes these days shouldn't be labeled as such." Her voice is silky rich, grinding against people's eardrums with intensity.
Shadeen's gentle ocean blue eyes surrounded by dark gray look at Child of Heaven with a questioning expression. "And why is that, Miss Vienna?"
"If you know you're wrong before the wrong then it's not a mistake. It's a choice."
"People associate regret with mistakes. What if they regret their choice and label it as a mistake?"
"How many regrets forge a mistake than a right?" Vienna's emotionless face twitches slightly. "I live by the belief that people should live as they wish but should also accept the logic that no one can be blamed for their own choices beside themselves. Your parents made you, but they are not you."
"Minds can be manipulated," says Shadeen with graceful simplicity. "What then? Are they still at fault?"
"Yes, because they are weak." Vienna nods her head with a confident certainty that shakes Catalina's emotions. "If you do not want to fall victim to danger, become strong enough to evade it. People do not exist to protect."
"Oh?" Shadeen's eyes darken, sympathy overtaking her features. "Why do people exist, dear?" she asks in a slow, tender voice.
"I do not know, ma'am."
"I see." Shadeen clicks the stylus, flipping it, and then casually erases the words on the board with the other end. "Why are you in a first year's class, Child of Heaven?"
Vienna blinks; her body stiffens. She slowly traces her gaze around at the wide eyes boring into her, then nonchalantly stands up. As she nears the podium, she halts before it. "History is warped by the spectator, not the winners. No, the winners are too busy celebrating. Too busy changing the world for it to be history, for there to be a clear story."
"Oh, wise Child of Heaven, history is history. Whoever writes it matters little when we are merely the readers."
"You are wrong, Shadeen," Vienna says calmly. "You are not someone capable of changing history or editing it. Therefore, you find comfort in a stasis life, and it is because people like you, mankind questions if they can change anything. When you don't do anything, you are in fact damning everything."
When she leaves the classroom, a silence fills the atmosphere for a mere second before voices erupt, flowing through the air like toxin.
"Oh my god! That was Vienna, Scarlet Star?!"
"She's so divine looking!"
"And apparently slow. Did she not see our uniform colors?"
"I heard she recently broke up with Agent of Storms."
"That's so disappointing. It was the only thing I found interesting about her."
"Yeah, I was rooting for them."
Catalina uses the rising noise to block out the crunching sound as she opens a bag of spicy potato chips while she scoots over to the now free chair, dragging her bag of snacks along. Rhea notices this and takes her former chair before Kallias could, who had taken up the empty one beside Catalina earlier.
"Alright." Shadeen claps her hands, bringing their attention back up front. "Settle down, seekers. I believe the infamous Child of Heaven meant to explain is that to exist is to leave history, if you don't you are dead without purpose. She is not wrong, but she is not correct either. I'll leave it to your own mind to try to grasp the flaws in her statement. Consider this task as an exit ticket. If you don't come up with an answer, you'll be spending winter break here."
Kallias groans in distress. "An assignment already?! It's the first fucking day!"
Shadeen chuckles. "I wish you luck on it, young lord."
"Luck? I need more than that if that's how you are going to start the school year off. I need blessings from all heavens."
Rhea giggles.
"It all began after the second Big Bang when humans managed to feel and use divine energies. Later, they could absorb it into their bodies and became one with it, leading to what we know as today—zodiac paths. The keys to divinity and formation to ascension," explains Shadeen as some students take out notebooks and jot stuff down.
"Can someone tell me why there are twelve floors in the villa dormitory?" She asks, then points at a brunette male with an icy exterior.
"The zodiac paths are the constellations representing the old world," Drystan Sagan says. "Each floor of the villa dormitory was for the twelve constellations that make up divine powers. Daruin Island had been built around the villa dormitory, which in the past was used for classrooms, dorms and training—the original Lightless Institute. Later, it grew and became an island, no longer just Lightless."
"Excellent." Shadeen smiles kindly. "Your pathway depends entirely on the color of your soul, which is the collective of your essence—mental, emotional, physical, etc."
She extends her hand, showing off ignited stars marking her skin, each pointed star full like a radiant star without the shine. "Your Chronicle Points, otherwise known as the physical form of a zodiac path, are imprints harboring tales of legendary individuals that boon attributes into existing stars within a constellation. These tales are known as relics gifted from above."
"Everyone is blessed with seven stars at the beginning of your ascension. It is very rare to craft your own relic and it's even rare to ignite all seven, unlocking the core ability of your path."
"Moving on." She gestures for a student in the front to come forth and lays a hand on the blue crystal orb. It glows purple. She nods to herself, then tells the girl, "You may sit down."
The student rushes back to her seat.
"I want everyone to come forward and lay their hand on it. This orb is a soul tester, and it enables us to learn what zodiac path your Chronicle Points belong to."
As seekers approach the podium, starting from the front row to the back, Shadeen explains more deeply. "All seven Chronicle Points belong to one constellation and it's impossible to change paths once your soul is already imprinted."
"How can one use divine power if they don't have a constellation mark?" Kallias blurts, his expression mirroring everyone's interest.
"Good question." Shadeen smiles with a faint nod of approval. "Anyone can have a relic. The Sage of Creation is the first person to confirm this. She existed in a time where Abysmal Trials and zodiac paths were not a thing, yet she possessed relics like one would a weapon armory."
"People from other world's powers resonate with our structure of power, stemming from a zodiac path, but they too don't have constellation marks. They don't make relics as frequently as people from earth do because their system of power is significantly different."
"Abuse your power and you will be damaged by the source. Zodiac paths help humans adjust to divine power with just their mortal bodies. Study shows what people endure leads to their destined path. For example, if you didn't do the deathly journey and came straight here, you most likely wouldn't have whatever path you have now."
Upon noticing the extremely puzzled faces of the students, the professor chuckles. "Look at it this way, your life is your own, fate is in your hands, yet you don't know what fate is. A person who experiences mental trauma will have their emotional state high or very low. If this person was tested before the trauma, let's say they gain Gemini, but if they are tested after, they gain Leo. We are not fully sure of the reason why. Maybe that's just how fickle fate truly is or maybe the uniqueness of divinity."
Rhea's hand pauses, lifting her gaze from her notebook, and utters: "So, people from other worlds use power incompletely?"
Shadeen nods. "Yes."
'Why don't we share the correct method?' The question is on the tip of her tongue, but a dark-haired boy speaks up quicker, "When can we use telepathy?"
"Getting ahead of yourself, Hayes?" a brown skinned boy grumble beside him.
Hayes ignores Eno Cetus, regarding the professor with a listless stare.
"For the first semester we will be honing your mastery of divine energies," Shadeen says, flickering her gaze to Catalina as the girl goes the long route to the front, tossing her empty bag of chips in the trash before heading to the podium. "Then in the second semester I will be teaching you the five common skills every wielder of divine power has."
The five skills consist of telepathy, telekinesis, mental shield, soul block, and force field.
Catalina places her hand on the orb, numb to the coldness of it, and when it glows pale green, she lets go and returns to her seat. The girl seated in front of her raises her hand as Rhea strolls to the front.
"How do we ignite our Chronicle Points?" The girl asks.
"By following in the footsteps of the tale that birthed it." Shadeen lips tilt up at the look of disbelief on the seeker's faces. "Don't worry. As challenging as it sounds, you do not need to feel pressure until next year."