First Day's Always The worst

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

Mal stopped by the administration building, information he had received from the nurse in the infirmary. Apparently the admin building handled all of the classes and teachers.

"Greetings! My name is Mal and I would like to be assigned to Mr. Xapham please?" Mal was a little unsure of himself but spoke with as much confidence as he could muster.

"Very well student, may I have your full name please?" The man behind the desk barely looked up from his papers.

"Uhh..." Mal hesitated. "Malcomb...just Malcomb, I don't know my last name." He knew he was lying, but he was ashamed of the WarHazzard name.

The man still didn't look up, continuing to sort through papers. "Malcomb..." The man waited for a moment, not sure of what to put down of the paper he was filling out. "X." The man finally said writing an X in the blank for last name. "Malcomb X, please proceed through the double doors to your left, go outside, into the next building, down the hall, up the stairs and to your right. If you're lucky you may be able to catch your instructor before he goes out for lunch."

Mal nodded gratefully and walked toward the classroom. Upon making it there he hesitated before reaching the doors.

Oh no... the courtesy thing... Am I supposed to knock? Just go in? Wait here? Here goes nothing!

Mal would open the doors to the classroom and walk forward passed the doors.

[Xapham]

Xapham would be sitting at the table looking over papers.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

Mal looked upon the man dressed as fancy as he was, better in fact. The suit Xapham was wearing wasn't half as dusty. Mal was also expecting someone considerably older than the man sitting before him.

"Uh... yes...SIR! Um, hi, uh SIR, I'm Mal...uh comb! Malcomb!" It was like watching a train wreck, except worse, Mal was the train wreck. Overloaded with his own thoughts and fear of making a bad first impression Mal was stumbling over himself more than a fawn learning to walk for the first time. A heavily sigh came from Malcomb's mouth as he realised his fear was becoming a reality.

"Are you Professor Xapham?" Mal wasn't sure he was using the right title, but it was better than anything else he could come up with on the spot.

[Xapham]

Xapham looked up at the man that had entered the room and studied him closely for a minute.

"Yes. Are you one of my students? If so you are early. I only recently received the curriculum they are wanting me to teach. I won't be see any students until later this afternoon, possibly tomorrow."

With that Xapham went back to sifting through and sorting out papers. Mumbling something about how the Academy didn't seem to mind sharing half truths and incomplete facts about what really happened in history...

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

"Professor... I believe myself to be somewhat behind the rest of the class, some remedial studies may be required... Any chance I can learn a bit before class begins?" Mal felt awkward asking, he felt awkward anyway, this would be the 4th person he had contact with since leaving the underground. Things sure were different up here.

[Xapham]

Without even looking up. Xapham would sigh.

"I take it you are new? Well, don't worry. So am I. Maybe I wasn't clear earlier."

Xapham once again stopped what he was doing and looked at student.

"I am a new teacher here, I haven't HAD a first class yet. So, if you attended my class in the next day or two, you will be attending my FIRST class with the rest of the students. Are you so far behind that you know less than everyone else that will be attending that first class?"

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

"Actually yes professor." Mal hated admitting it aloud. He was ashamed. "Sir I have no understanding of the world as it lies today. I know that the world ended, and I know when it ended, but nothing after that. Apparently people have Qi now... So that's new..."

[Xapham]

Xapham blinked. As he processed the information.

"For the love of Mr. Nazareth..."

Xapham would say face palming. Sighing HARD. He took a deep breath. And his hand slid down his face.

"And I thought my territory was full of weird people..."

He mumbled.

"Alright, come in. Take a seat."

Xapham would wait until the student had done so.

"What would you like to know?"

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

Who the hell is Mr. Naz....wait I shouldn't ask that. It'll probably lead down a rabbit hole

Mal would take a seat as instructed and sit upright in his chair.

"Professor, I'd like to know everything, but I understand that may take a while. Can you start with what Qi is and where it came from?" Mal was eager to get answers, not too eager as to be rude, but eager nonetheless.

[Xapham]

"Qi is something has been around since the dawn of humanity. It has had many names, still does for that matter, like Sorcery and Magic, Chi, Chakra, Living Energy etc. Now while it has been prevalent throughout history. It's only now, in this day and age, common. No one is certain why, but since the end of the world things have changed. Man, beast, and plant alike have all been super saturated with this mystical energy. Causing mutations, adaptations, and in some cases rapid evolution. But, most commonly, gives people access to extraordinary abilities."

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

"Oh, that's amazing! I haven't read anything about it yet! Do you develop symptoms of this Qi? All I know is that it is something to be controlled. I don't have it do I?" A look of worry would appear across Mal's face.

[Xapham]

The twitch above Xapham's why was visible, barely... but visible.

"I don't know if you have a Qi. It is just as likely that you do as it is if you don't. You will either discover you have Qi, or you will never have Qi. But yes. If you have Qi you can control it."

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

"But Professor, what are these abilities, what do people gain by this? Like jumping really high or something more? And does it have a maturation rate? Like people generally know if they have some Qis(keys) at a certain age?" Mal's eyes grew wide, he was fully enthralled at this point.

[Xapham]

Xapham sighs. This was gonna go easiest if he just showed the student. Xapham stood and and stepped away from his desk then he closed his eyes to concentrate and then when he opened them again his eyes would glowing white as a dull grey halo appeared behind his head and two Large Black Wings erupted from his back, so large that they weren't able to unfurl completely inside this room. The student would feel and uncomfortable chill. It wasn't a physical response but emotional. He would feel worse than sad. He would feel the weight of Xapham's dark emotions, the heaviness of having lost the love of ones life. That eternal sadness that would never be healed... Then after a moment the wings would recede into Xapham's back once more, his eyes returning to normal and the halo disappearing.

"That is my Qi ability. I was born with it... technically. I learned how to control it during my childhood because everyone in my family has a variant of this ability, which is called a Bloodline Qi. Now, most learn their Qi sometime during their younger years. But this is not always the case, I have heard of some cases of people not learning their abilities till their late 20's and early 30's even. As for 'maturation rate' I don't know exactly what you mean. But essentially, the stronger one gets using their Qi the more they are able to do with it. So, more accurately stated the stronger you get, the more you can do."

SPOILER: Click to show

All will Suffer: Xapham is adorned with a dull grey halo and large black wings. His eyes begin to shine and a dark aura emanates from him in a 20 ft radius. Enemies trapped in this malaise are hit with the full weight of Xapham's feeling of loss and despair. -26 Def (To a minimum of 5)

[Malcomb Warhazzard]

Wait... Haven't I read about these creatures? I think they're fiction, or at least they were... Black wings are for demons... wait but only angels had halos... either way there's no mistaking that haunting feeling again, it felt like I was back underground, like there was no hope of escape, but worse... so much worse...

"That was... bracing..." Mal shivered. "I'm pretty sure I don't have any wings, or anything like that really, but I get the point. Qi refers to a superhuman ability! This is incredible... but... if I know anything about the human race... we'd wage war over this... Professor... what DID happen after the world ended?"