Paranormal Curriculum [HIVE Academy]

Horrace sat behind his small desk which sat on a raised platform, along with a series of ascending stairs with rows of seats for students. Horrace didn't believe he needed quite THAT much space, much less believed there would be many students who could stomach what he had to teach. All they saw was a chance to learn how to not die, a common fear of the living. It was only natural though. Everyone would claim to need more time to achieve everything they needed to achieve. Little did they realize that cheating death was no simple feat- and wasn't cheap. He was still trying to figure out why he had managed to return to the world of the living as it was.

From what he could remember, he had done nothing to prevent his untimely demise which led him to believe someone else had brought him back. That was exactly why he needed to see HER again. The woman he remembered purely by a chance listen to the music of today. If she did infact have something to do with his revival combined with the fact she didn't look any older then the last time he remembered seeing her, Horrace had an idea of what it cost her.

He put his musings to rest for now as the first of his students started filing in finally. Horrace continued to enjoy his cup of tea while his students found their seats...

So far the class had been false advertised with the lacking of teaching how to defeat death but Harpy unlike some students, was willign to stick it out in the class to see if that fact changed because shed be able to laugh at those who left before her because she won't beable to die and they would be.

Harpy happily walked in with a skip in her step and smiled at Horrace giving a slight wave and smirk to him which she did every class thus far and never explained why. She smiled and sat down in the front row and sat in her chair sideways and crossed her legs smiling. Today her dark colored face pain included an upside down thin triangle that went down her middle of her face from her hair to the tip of her nose and two skulls on her cheeks.

Everyday she seemed to chance the face paint but always stuck to dark colors she moved and laid her long black with brown high lights hair that was in a pony tail over her shoulder and pulled out her note book and pensle like always getting ready to take notes in class. She absolutely loved all her classes, some more than others but over all, all of them she loved, they were teaching her how to become a better bad person after all.

Horrace looked up from his cup only to catch Harpy's eye as she walked in, returning to his cup shortly afterward. He was still trying to figure out how she ticked. Since their chance encounter at her "house of the dead" spectacle, he felt like he had more of an understanding. But there was still the "why" left unanswered. It may have just been the fact he didn't understand anyone who just killed for the sake of killing, it made no sense to him. Even he, an undead horror only killed to bolster his ranks and sustain himself. Though that may have also just been his own personal preference. Different strokes I guess.

He sat his cup of tea down once he was finished and rose to his feet, removing his hat and jacket which he draped over his chair. The tendrils of overgrown hair twitched and writhed when exposed to oxygen as he walked around to the front of his desk. "Before we begin our lesson, I would like to address something that was brought to my attention recently," Horrace began seriously. "When I started this class I was well aware of the simple fact that most of you are simply here to learn how not to die. As if all you needed to do was read some kind of magical spell and you'd need not worry about death ever again," Horrace continued, his one eye slowly panning across the room at his students.

"To which, one of you have actually tried to steal something of mine in my private quarters on campus. A 'spellbook' for lack of a better term," Horrace went on, getting to the reason behind this speech. Maxwell emerged shortly after carrying a book in one hand, with a clearly frightened teenaged boy in tow. Maxwell was a giant compared to them, so any thought of escape seemed laughably absurd. "I would like to state for the record that I do not mind sharing with you what is written in this book," Horrace said as Maxwell handed him the weathered old tome. "But I will NOT tolerate any trespasses on my privacy. And now... Donovan wasn't it? You wanted to see what was in this so badly did you not? Pray, go ahead and look. I will allow you to read off a spell of your choosing," Horrace continued, now turning his steely gaze onto Donovan who visibly flinched.

Though no one knew it just yet just by looking at the opened book in Horrace's hand, but it was written in what appeared to be Latin, a mostly dead language. "Go on my boy. YOU wanted to see what was inside here so badly, it would be RUDE to turn down such an offer after all the trouble you've gone too," Horrace insisted quite icily at his hesitation. Either terrified of being expelled, or of what Horrace would do to him if he WAS expelled, the boy took a closer look. "I would advise you pronounce it in your head a few times before trying to speak the words. Magic is very fickle and liable to... turn on you if you offend it," Horrace suggested in a tone that was a mixture of sincerity and amusement. It was clear he was enjoying watching Donovan squirm.

"Vocationem mortis cantari, et caro et os infectum fieri possiet!" The boy recited after managing to recover some of his composure. The air in the room seemed to change as he was reciting, not a buzz or spark in the air but rather it felt like the air had gotten colder. Or atleast so it had seemed until he finished and nothing seemed to happen. Donovan and several other students were anxious and waited to see what happened. When nothing seemed to happen, Horrace simply laughed heartily and clapped the book shut in his hand.

"You may return to your seat now my boy," Horrace said waving him off. Neither confirming one way or the other if something had happened or not.

"W-what did I just do?" Donovan stammered, having no idea what he had just recited.

"You were reciting part of a chant used in a more... elaborate ritual. The purpose of which you don't need to know. Now, pray return to your seat. My class will not be delayed any further," Horrace said shooting him a warning glance. Donovan got the message and timidly walked at break neck speed to his seat.

She watched Horrace as he returned her eyeing and he seemed to still not really know anything about her besides her impeccable skills to kill and make costumes. She remembered when she told him that she had made the house of the dead, no one after that really knew that she had been the one to make it nor really who made it but he now whew that she was the cause though who she really was under her mask she wore even know is still unknown.

She loved the confusion he held towards her it was so much fun to confuse and mess with others. She came out from her train of thought when he put his cup down and rose to his feet and walked to the front of his desk to begin class. Harpy held in the laugh she had upon hearing his news that he was addressing. Yes she was mainly there to learn how not to die though she knew that if the task was so simple as to just read a spell everyone would be immortals by now and the thought of someone thinking it could be just hat easy was a humorous thought to her.

She nearly lost it and nearly bursted into laughter right there. Someone really did think it was that easy, and had made the mistake of getting caught to try and steal the book despite it even being against the rules. This guy really was stupid wasn't he? She looked over and saw the frightened boy and my god that face was hilarious "Ha!" She let out a single laugh before covering her mouth to hold in any more laughter that wanted to escape from her lips.

She smiled under her fingers there finding his face far too amusing. Horrace was simply terrifying... that is to other people and just the fright he put in this boy was simply amazingly hilarious and to say the least Horrace was becoming her favorite teacher already. Sure Lust knew her stuff on how to mess with others but with how she looks she'd never scare anyone like the was Horrace did so easily.

She loved watching the boy squirm so much and lowered her hand grinning at him as she watched him closely to see what he would do as Horrace insisted that he read from the book and the boy being in no place to refuse. She grinned more as the boy seemed to fail and held in laughter as he seemed to have not only had gotten caught but he had made a fool of himself in front of the class and looked to have been scared over nothing.

Harpy grinned watching him return to his seat and looked back forward at Horrace and got her notes ready once again for him to begin class.... yep.... he was definitely her new favorite right now.

Horrace put the matter aside now as he picked up a piece of chalk and... tore off his hand with a sickening snap that made plenty of students pale. But it didn't end there. Horrace let his hand go and to the horror and astonishment of much of the class, the hand began to levitate on it's own accord while it began scribbling something down on the chalkboard at Horrace's back. "Right- picking up where we last left off last time with studying just some of the most common examples of necromancy and it's practitioners, we'll dive into something you all might find more interesting," Horrace began, taking another piece of chalk and scribbling on the chalk board in tandem with his floating hand.

When he was finished, the word "Spiritual Deities" was big and bold at the top of the board, with small boxes with various names inside each of the boxes below that. It should come as no surprise to anyone that he finished in half the time it would have took someone normally to write all that down. He reattached his hand with a slightly softer but still sickening snap, giving his fingers a waggle before he continued his spiel. "As I have stated in class previously, Necromancy has been around for nearly as long as time itself. It was mostly practiced by certain deities and their followers. The oldest known source should come as no surprise to some of you. Anubis!" Horrace continued, circling the name on the board.

"There are various deities associated with death and necromancy. But the reason I bring this up to you all today is to 'throw you a bone' as it were," Horrace said making a bad joke. He didn't laugh at it, seemingly aware of that fact but continued unabated. "A common way to be granted immortality, is to earn it by appeasing any one of these gods. I hasten you to use caution though, because they are fickle beings. Some obviously so," Horrace warned them. "Some may even be the same god, simply referred to as by a different name by the 'then rulers' of the time," Horrace added offhandedly.

"You may study on your own any one of these deities mentioned here, and how to possibly be granted immortality as you so desire. But pray, keep this in mind; if you do go about seeking immortality from one of these beings, be prepared for the price they will ask for. It is one thing to be immortal and free, and another to be an immortal, indentured servant," Horrace finished cryptically as someone raised their hand. "Yes- Gloria is it?"

"Y-yes sir. What you said with being immortal and free and an indentured servant. How did you gain yours if you don't mind my asking," she asked with a tone that she made extra effort to be polite. Horrace was silent for a moment, seemingly watching them all for an indication that he should actually answer her question.

"It should be obvious my dear girl. My immortality is not true immortality, but rather reanimation!" Horrace replied bluntly. He wasn't lying, his dead body walking around was more then enough evidence. "I simply heard a voice calling out to me, at the time I recognized the voice and was compelled to return. And here we are now," Horrace added. His explanation was pretty lackluster, though it was hard when you didn't know the details of what went into reanimating your dead body.

"I'd like to take this time to make an announcement. This coming Halloween, I'm putting into motion something that I've been planning to do for years. This is a very... particular thing I'm doing, but I will be accepting any assistance. However, I will be very selective with who I choose. This isn't just making me a cup of tea, this will be a taste of some actual criminal activity," Horrace announced with excitement. He was actually getting anxious, it was getting closer and closer. "Just think of it as... extra credit."

Unlike most Harpy smiled brightly at the sight watching it move.... if she could do that there would be so much that she could do now would the addition of a floating removable hand. She refocused though and copied down what was on the board in chalk into her note book, Another lesson on necromancy.... niiiiice.

She liked this topic for not only the obvious reason but also because of the tendency of seeing dead bodies in either pictures or real ones. Doing so helped take more notes on how the body can decompose and she just oddly kinda liked seeing dead people. Harpy copied down what was on the board after a few moments after his hand and then circled the name that he did and took a note on the info he presented to the class. One was was to basically make gods not hate you...?

Well unless there was a god that liked what she did she doubted that they would like her let alone bring her back to life to allow her to keep doing what she does. So some of these gods would even ask for you to be their servant for the rest of your days as an immortal being...? Well that's no fun at all being able to live forever but not able to do what they want is just no immortal fun life to live.

Then a girl rose her hand and she looked up and over to her to look at her as she asked the question she had. Now that was a good question, she looked to Horrace as he went silent for a moment to see what the had to say. He was reanimated aka he had died and was bright back from the dead meaning he didn't particularly escape death he just left it to only be possibly brought back later in life.

Harpy smirked at his comment to criminal activity and extra credit and rose her hand and spoke when called on. "What fun activity do you have planned for us to do sir?" she asked grinning clearly excited to see what he had in mind.

As expected, one of his favorite students asked what he had planned. "Well my dear- I don't want to spoil the surprise, but there is a certain interested party that will be coming to town," Horrace replied cryptically. A clever person could deduce that being a Wight, and a teacher of the paranormal, he was speaking of course of the dead. "I have most of everything I need before it begins, all that remains are some 'loose ends' that could be taken care of. Based on who volunteers, you will be responsible with handling any one of these loose ends, or will be assisting me on the evening of," Horrace finished excitedly. He was growing impatient, he hadn't felt quite this alive since... well since he was alive basically.

Harpy smiled brightly as she sat up straight listening for what he had to say. "This party seems like it'll be a lot of fun! Tell me are the guests going to be young or old and will they be from out out of town or previously locals?" She asked clearly getting what he was implying and wanted to probably know the likely hood of them being anyone she possibly knew for a brief amount of time.

If Horrace's face was still capable of fully conveying his response, it was lost on anyone looking. "Oh they're mostly from out of town from many parts of the world. But there will be a few locals you might recognize," Horrace replied with what could only be described as a giggle. But it wasn't a cute giggle either. It was a giggle of impish delight at the thought of opening the gates of hades and watch the souls of the dead take form on the mortal plane. But there were other reasons why he was so looking forward to this that only he and his party of conspirators knew. "That's all I can say for now. But come see me or Maxwell after class and we'll have the details of what loose ends can be taken care of. Now! Back to class," Horrace continued, now brimming with enthusiasm as he rotated the board so that the blank side was facing the class.

He refrained from tearing his hand off again this time and proceeded to write again. "Now, the last thing for today will be more useful to you in the immediate future," Horrace stated as he began scribbling things down like a madman composing a symphony. The air in the room seemed to change as more students who had kind of been zoning out since the excitement from earlier died down, were now paying full attention. The ghoul of a teacher had made a rough sketch of a human body, surrounded by wavy lines and various words and symbols. Words that stuck out were "Soul, Spirit, and Aura." "Now my dear class- after what you saw earlier; what is it that controls my body?" Horrace asked, though the question was rhetoric. And not like anyone seemed to know the answer.

He stopped scribbling and turned to face the class, taking both hands to the sides of his head and... pulled his head off with a sickening snap. He set his head on the desk to watch the class as his body proceeded to walk around while he continued the lecture. "Sometime's it's good to lose your head once in awhile," Horrace joked dryly as his body folded it's arms behind it's back. "Now... I don't expect you all to be biology majors, but it's obvious that I should not be able to do this," Horrace finally continued, swiping a hand over the stump of his neck to make it clear that there was NOTHING there. Atleast as far as anyone there could see.

"You don't see it do you? Well, I didn't expect any of you to. It's very rare for you to be born with the gift, and even rarer for you to retain it what with the electronic devices of today," Horrace said as his body pointed to the word "Spirit." "My body has been dead for a long time. More then long enough for the brain to stop working completely. And through my reanimation, my soul has become the driving force," Horrace explained. "You could say that my willpower is what keeps this body in one piece. Now imagine what that might mean for you," Horrace continued, pausing to let that sink in as his body walked around to pick it's head back up. Giving it a quick twist to snap it back in place, Horrace turned back around and pointed to the wavy lines around the human sketch he made.

"This here illustrates what an aura typically looks like. Let's think of it as heat emanating from a boiling pot. Not the steam- but the distortion you see wafting in the air. For the sake of this lesson, I'll state right here and now that I as a Wight, devour souls. In essence, your very spirit," Horrace stated firmly, watching as a number of students paled slightly at the thought. Donovan seemed to pale the most, greatly relieved that all he had to do was fail at reciting a spell from Horrace's book. "I can also see spirits and the like. And while I am not specifically attuned to derive details of, I can also atleast observe people's auras," Horrace went on, his piercing stare taking on a different meaning now as he panned it across the room at his students.

"And all of you are giving off something which loosely fits what I have described with my 'boiling pot' example. Some more so then others, resulting in the 'steam' that would be escaping from the pot," Horrace said as his gaze fell on Harpy when he mentioned that last part. "The reason for why your aura might not be as strong as someone else's could be any number of reasons. It mostly depends on how strong your spirit is and- this is just my own personal opinion, but may also be due to your exposure to electronic devices," Horrace commented. "Everyone can learn to harness their spirit- but like how you 'forget' certain things you learn after never having to use that knowledge for so long, your body simply closes itself off," Horrace explains. "Some of you may be using your spirit without even realizing it," Horrace continued, again his gaze went Harpy's way before catching the eye of another student.

"I cannot say for certain, but it isn't unreasonable that many of the superhuman vigilantes today derive their power from their spirit. Take the Teen Titan Hotwire for example. From what I have observed and gleaned from various sources, he can control any piece of modern technology without having to physically touch it. Without any evidence to the contrary, I am left to believe this youth controls technology through sheer willpower," Horrace seemed to finish his little lecture, letting the air in the room return to normal.

Harpy smirked when she heard that she's know some of them, she wondered that if any that would know her would be able to convey their feelings upon seeing her again. She nodded at his instructions to come and see him and maxwell after class for more details. She then went back to taking notes. Harpy thought of his question and based on what was on the board she figured he controlled his body with one of those things listed. One he had mad his joke she seemed to be the only one to laugh at it so she cleared her throat and refocused as he spoke taking notes on what he had to say.

He he touched his stump she had the slight urge to.... poke it with something pointy..... but she refrained and figured she can do that later with some other stump that she can create with the help of an unwilling civilian volentire. She Smiled as her guess seemed to be correct when he pointed to a word on the board and slightly brought a fist closer to herself in victory thinking 'Sweet I guessed right!' She thought for a minute though and raised her hand if called on shed ask.

"How can you remove your limbs and place them back on without them falling off without stitching or well just simply 'snapping' it back on? I personally have tried this before but unlike legos the limbs and parts don't usually re stick together so easily." As he said he can devour souls she thought a bit and unlike the others she didn't look sick but curious. She then rose her hand again. "How do alien, mythical, magical, and human souls and auras differ from each other if they do at all and based off that answer does my soul and aura differ from humans?"

She asked bluntly then blinked as he said that they may be effected by their electronic devices. 'So youtube and google do steal souls!' she concluded in her thoughts and notes triple underlining and !!! pointing the note. He seemed to be looking at her a lot when mentioning people using souls without realizing it and her thoughtful look returned as she thought a bit to herself. It was an unknown fact to everyone besides her parents that she honestly had no idea what she was.

She called herself human to make it easier to lie to others and to herself when she didn't want to waste time thinking about what she was but she would be lieing if she said she didn't want to know. She knew she wasn't an alien, nor a human, or a being that used magic for her powers. The only thing magical that she can do is that her mask for her harpy costume was magically charmed to shrink and grow at her will and that was merely a family heirloom that was a gift from a family friend for a very long time ago.

When he started to talk about Hotwire she smirked and thought 'Real name Harmon Tesain, Real hair current, Real place of birth a city Karnide, Shiped relationship found online HotwirexAll Titans, Favorite ship HotwireXMeta, Real Sexual Preference lead to believe Straight, still hoping for that ship to set sail on the rail river.... Real 'Partner in crime' unknown, assuming Yang due to them always hanging around each other thought I think there was talk about her not being straight on the interwebs.... hmmmm but now i have to find a new search engine due to google stealing souls.... bluh....' She thought to herself before refocusing on the class.

Harpy heard his explanation and rose her hand. "Correction sir, During his years in highschool out of state in his home town the humble 'nerd' was being too curious and accidentally shot himself with a face full of nanobots or something like that and afterwards he had his abilities that were brought on by nanobots. I believe that that makes it partly will power but the rest being the nanobots.

I would say how I know this and would sell the information to the highest bidder buuuuuuuut I have a little 'game' with him going currently and I decided to hold onto the information for a weapon later on and as game leveler once he fiiiinally figures out who I am, though the fact I recently spent an afternoon with him in the park as myself and he still couldn't figure me out I figure it's going to be one long but fun game." She said with a smile then made a note to herself to bring up her 'new friend' Harmon to her new friend toji and how he looks so much like hotwire the maskless hero.

Horrace's eye blinked as he noticed Harpy raise her hand... and once more during his lecture. He knew there was a reason he placed her among his favorite students. "To answer your first question my dear... the same thing that allows me to control my limbs independently of one another. Also- the Egyptians had the right idea with wrapping their honored dead," Horrace promptly replied raising one hand up to the class. The wrappings around the wrist seemed to be coiling tightly around it.

"As for your second question- I have not met any aliens so cannot be sure. But assuming they are 'alive' I would reason that their souls and auras are probably no different from a human's. In theory- I would need to SEE an alien before committing to that. And as for your aura..." Horrace continued, looking at her carefully. He did say he could not determine anything from people's auras, atleast for the moment. "As of the moment- there's nothing critically out of the ordinary about your aura then anyone here. However- it does not appear that your body has closed itself off. Which makes sense, considering your talents," Horrace added chuckling.

And then she said he was incorrect in his assumption, which he did not take offense to. He had plenty of things to worry about, determining the precise origins of potential threats to his plans were lower priorities then simply preparing for the most likely eventualities. "I see..." Horrace replied making his way to the board for a moment. It was hard to tell what he was thinking with the limited amount of body language he had. "Then these 'nanobots' are the catalyst. Further, if he himself created these nanobots, then the path was already set for him," Horrace said thoughtfully. "Yes. That might be the case indeed," Horrace murmured as he crossed his arms behind his back again.

"Let us assume for the sake of this query that Hotwire is a prodigy. What a prodigy is with regards to what we're learning now is that prodigies are people whose bodies have not closed themselves off. But without learning how to utilize their full potential, they miss out on the more... creative uses of the spirit. Now if Hotwire did indeed create these, or was already highly gifted with technology, he would thereby have a foundation for someone to teach him how to harness his spirit properly. But instead, his encounter with these nanobots built up from the foundation the means to harness his spirit," Horrace explained glancing at the class. "Or to put it another way- he cheated," Horrace deadpanned.

"Right. That will be all for today. We will continue learning more about the soul, spirit, and auras for the foreseeable future," Horrace finished, bidding everyone goodbye. Most students gathered their things and began shuffling out, a select few stuck around to hear about the "extra credit" he had mentioned earlier. One or two stuck around to learn more about how to get their bodies to "open" to use their spirits like Horrace seemed capable of.

she wrote down his reply to her first question and nodded it seemed to make some sort of sense to her. She watched it and thought a bit. 'So the wraps keep him together so if they were to be destroyed he would lack the ability to keep his body together.' she guessed based on what she was hearing. As he answered her second question she seemed to be focusing and hanging on each of his words clearly wanting to not miss any word he had to say on the manner.

She seemed heavily let down as he told her that she didn't seem to be anything majorly different from anyone else there. She leaned back in her seat acting almost like she had been defeated by his answer as she seemed to find yet another dead end. She then listened to his guess on how his nanobots worked and such. She wrote down what he said in her note book on it since even if it was just a guess it could be used in the future if proven useful.

He then ended the class and she stood up as others left and closed her book he said they would continue on next class and she hoped that shed be able to use future classes to help her figure out what she wanted about herself. She then walked up to Horrace "so think you could explain that extra credit now?"