Unexplainable Tension

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Various stone gargoyles encircle the skies of the school's ground; all eyes glance at every inch of the school’s grounds. All teachers and staff raise their wands to the borders of their school, emitting numerous waves of blue energy from their wands. Translucent blue fences appear as they begin to dissipate into nothing.

Dean Azrael walks through the school’s corridors, waving his wand to release blue orbs. The orbs rise to the ceiling and shine, morphing into thin circles that begin to release blue mist throughout the hallways. Looking down the hall, he sees a student exit from a portion of the wall.

“You! Why are you not in your dorm?!” He yells.

“I…I was using the bathroom. What’s going on?” The male cyclops says.

“We’re in lockdown, get to your room now!” Azrael says while pointing his wand to the wall.

A random doorway appears next to the student. Looking scared, he enters the pathway, as Mrs. Kobayashi appears behind him. Azrael sees her on the floor in her original state of a ball of slime before morphing into a more humanoid appearance.

“Where did you send that student?” She asks.

“The building will help him get back to his dorm. What are you doing here Kobayashi?”

“I came to tell you that all of the barriers are set up.” She replies.

“Good. No one is to leave their rooms until we find out what is going on.”

Strolling down the hallway, Mrs. Kobayashi walks beside him.

“What is going on in Azrael? This is the second student in under a week to use despair.” She whispers.

“I don’t know. Merlin was able to find out what students were getting their hope from malicious sources and we were able to assist most of them to focus their main hope on something else.”

“There has to be something close to this school giving the students access and knowledge to use despair. Listen, do you think there is someone who is close to you know who?”

Azrael stops and turns to Kobayashi in a frightened manner.

“Don’t mention that! The last thing we need is more panic.” Azrael snaps.

“I know we help guide students to use hope, but I think we need to see if everyone here is truly positive, they’re our friends.”

Azrael continues walking with Kobayashi behind him.

“Merlin has now contacted the Elite Hope Guardians in assisting us with what’s happening. They’ll check everyone. So, you won’t have to worry, Kobayashi.”

“Okay.” She answers.

As the halls and outer grounds of the school are under surveillance, Haruto and Lila communicate telepathically while waiting in their room.

“I can’t believe this is happening. Despair shouldn’t be this rampant at all.” Says Lila.

“Especially to this school. Lila, how come the school itself can’t stop the Despair?”

“That’s the thing, it should. The school’s main heart and identity is all hope.”

Haruto thinks of some scenarios, inspired by his knowledge of games and stories.

“Say Lila, do you think it’s possible there’s a traitor in this school?”

Lila blinks, looking surprised.

“It shouldn't even be possible. Every student, teacher and staff are inspected to be full of hope.”

“Well, maybe someone is corrupting this school’s identity. Some stories in my world usually have some spy or traitor slowly ruining an organization’s look over time.”

“That could be it. The thing is we have to stay out of it and let the Elite Hope Guardians handle this.”

“Hmm.” Haruto expresses.

“Besides, I care about you, Taro, and Mia the most. All three of you are the best beings to be my friends.” Lila smiles.

“Same here Lila. Look, since we’re here, we can continue practicing your spells to take our minds off of it.”

“Sure, we can do some fire spells. I think we covered the levitation spells as best as we can.”

Haruto's eyes express happiness.

“We’re definitely going to have some explosions so get ready for your burn erasing spell, hehe.”

Lila giggles.

“Will do. You know, we can practice the retrieval spell.”

“Let’s do it.” Haruto says excitedly.

“Finis Telepathiae.”

With the end of the spell uttered, Lila places Haruto on a table and walks away a few feet. She reaches out her arm and recites her spell.

“Recuperare.”

Haruto looks on as nothing happens. Lila looks dumbfounded but is not surprised.

“It would have been a miracle if I got it right the first time. We’ll keep trying Haruto.”

Lila reaches her arm again and pronounces the spell. The same result is seen as nothing happens. But Lila continues to recite the spell with determination.

Meanwhile, Taro is in his dorm, bored and contemplative. Laying on his grassy bed, he snaps his fingers to let out a small spark of fire to land on the wall. Scorch marks can be seen on the same exact as his target.

“I hope this gets lifted up soon, I want to hang out with Mia again.”

Rumble

Taro immediately gets up, feeling a vibration throughout his bed and his ears shifting in every direction for the noise.

“What the?”

He gets up and the shaking stops.

“What is going on in this school?”

Taro looks all over the floor for any movement. Yet, nothing is felt by him. As Taro checks his floor, Mia is in her dorm thinking about Taro’s comment.

“I should probably get a soft grass bed like he said.” Mia says as she feels her Elven wool spun sheets.

“Let me try that position Taro was teaching me.”

Mia attempts to curl into a ball, bringing her knees close to her torso. As she is in the position, her body’s heart rate decreases.

Inhaling and exhaling at a proper pace, Mia feels a sense of euphoria in her mind.

“This really helps.” Mia says delightfully to herself.

Thrum

Mia hears a noise. She turns her head to the wall. Looking all over, nothing can be seen.

“Must be the building shifting.” She says as she goes back to the ball curl.

Thrum

Mia shifts her head again to the wall. Now fully up, she takes out her wand as she stares.

“Is someone there?” She speaks.

No answer can be heard, yet some traces of hope can be seen in the cracks of the wall. They shine for a brief moment before disappearing.

“What is happening to this school?”

With no answers, Mia heads back to bed.

“I hope I can see the others soon.”

With high alerts and protection in place, the school’s atmosphere has transformed into one of uneasiness. Despair has begun to creep its way into the lives of all that inhabit the school.