daybreakacademy | One Of The Only Times Scarier Than Halloween (Dated Mar. 23

Who: Valvatorez and whomever attends.
What: Study Session, Final Examinations, and Office Hours
Where: Largely his classrooms, as well as his office
When: Mar. 23 (Study Session) Mar. 24-29 (Finals and Office Hours)
Warnings: Probably none, though Final Exams may include practicals, which... well. Are what nightmares are made of.

Optional Study Session

It's the scariest time of the year for those attending Valvatorez's classes. Final examinations are soon upon everyone, and this notoriously challenging professor is quite looking forward to it. Not because he enjoys watching his students be afraid or stressed, but rather because he is eager to put what they have learned to the test.

And in the interest of fairness, Valvatorez is more than willing to aid whoever takes his classes, and set up study sessions for each of his three classes on March 23, a couple of days before finals start. Each session will include a rudimentary summation of many topics covered in his classes, but won't be enough to see you pass if you didn't put in some work either by asking questions, attending class, or doing your homework. Preferably all of those things.

For each class, here is a rough breakdown of some of the things he has taught:

Defense Against Daemons and Vampires: Doppelgangers, were-creatures (emphasis on the more daemonic variety, rather than human lycanthropes), several common varieties of Daemons including the ones that attacked Daybreak during the dance, daemon dragons, daemonic marionettes and gargoyles, daemonic orcs, and of course, Vampires.

Introduction to Dark Magic: Control, dark magic theory, risks and benefits to utilizing dark magic, responsible casting, basic rituals, and common attack spells

Oceanography and Marine Biology: This part of the semester primarily focused on marine biology, with emphasis on fish and larger marine mammals. Mostly fish. Especially sardines. He's not sorry. You might be though.

He will be accepting questions and offering individual instruction if desired during these study sessions.

Date: March 24-29: Finals and Office Hours

Expect Valvatorez to proctor his exams with a careful eye. He seems to have a nose for sniffing out cheaters, and expect to be caught if you think about trying to cheat his tests. His tests aren't multiple choice either: they're all short answer, and he expects his students to know their stuff. No lucky guesses will get you through this. It's now or never.

Alternatively, you might be taking the practical portion of either the Dark Magic or Daemon Defense examinations, and you can expect to be ferried to the Mythril Cage to either face an actual foe or Valvatorez approximating one. The choice is given to the student. Do not expect these exams to be easy. They will test your mettle. Unless you're straight up facing Valvatorez himself, losing your fight will result in a poor grade. Valvatorez himself will prove to be a much, much more daunting opponent, and few students ever best him even when he's holding back; however, a loss against him will be graded more charitably. It's about how you handle the fight that matters: smart, capable fighting even in the face of a loss will be graded better.

As long as Valvatorez is not proctoring an examination, he will make himself available in his office for hours to consult with students if they so need it. You can even speak to him about your examination later in the week, and he'll offer his insights as desired.

He'll be waiting, his office still gaudily decorated in that almost cartoonishly gothic fashion, though the singing fish on the wall might be missing. How strange.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yuya's fingers pull at his pants.

"I... I have to know." If he ignores it, he might be ignoring something dangerous. But he is scared, chest heavy and skin cold with dread. Even with his certainty, it's a decision that's really hard to swallow.

"Where would I start?"

"We can start by talking about anything and everything you're capable of doing in a supernatural fashion. Especially if you've recently discovered anything else new."

While Valvatorez already had some idea of what he was capable of, running through it all again one thing at a time might produce some kind of clue. In a way, it might not be that much different than a doctor's diagnosis.

"That might give a better picture of where you can begin."

Yuya nods, letting out a breath before his brow knits in concentration.

"I summoned that other familiar, but... the method I used to do it was the same as Odd-Eyes. It's, uh, a summoning and binding circle that ties them to me directly." He puts his hand to his chest. "And I can still do aura bending, but I haven't been practicing."

Valvatorez hummed, and leaned back in his chair again, his expression clearly thoughtful.

"So nothing new's come about? No new powers or unexpected, unexplained abilities manifesting that are out of the ordinary. And you've made no pacts with daemons, just simply summoning Outland creatures like you've otherwise been able to. Hm, nothing out of the ordinary there. So we are not looking at sudden surges in power or any worrying suggestions of possession or domination."

That meant he'd need another avenue of approach. The vampire rose from his chair and paced over to one of his bookcases, and looked over several rather old looking tomes. Based on what they had written on their spines, much of it had to do with daemonic lore, bestiaries, and related topics.

"Let's see, where.... is... ah ha. I think this is the one."

His fingers slipped over one specific book, closing around it and pulling it out in one smooth motion.

"From the Depths: Signs of Daemonic Power and Influence. This is an older book. Some of it's a little out of date, but there's some wisdom in it nonetheless, and it's a good place to start. You're free to borrow it, if you'd like to read it on your own, but I can start going over it with you now, if you'd prefer."

Yuya takes the book, turning it over in his hands before cracking it open to look at the pages inside. He isn't really reading it, though, so much as staring blankly until the words start to fuzz out.

"Thanks," he mumbles, looking back up. "It is possible to have a contract that I'm not really benefiting from? That doesn't give me powers or anything."

"It's possible," Valvatorez answered simply, "But given what you described to me, a typical Contract wouldn't make you become weak to anti-Daemonic spells unless it granted you some kind of daemonic trait in return."

Valvatorez paced over to one of the fish tanks in the corner of his office, looking up into it and watching the fish swim through it. The fish moved in a school, practiced, and tight, even in its confines.

"Remember that many of our students are Contracted, and they do not suffer those same ill-effects directly, most of the time. Ones that make pacts for direct Daemonic power tend to be very obvious. If it is a Contract, it's something very, very unusual and rare."

His hand met with the tank with a feather touch, before he looked back at Yuya again. This wasn't going to be easy for the poor kid to hear, he was certain, but it needed to be said.

"You will need to be vigilant. Keep a log of anything strange that's happened to you going forward, or any more unusual surges in power, changes in your thoughts. ...Even track your dreams. Sometimes the answers might lie in your subconscious.

If we cannot find answers in those ways, we can seek more drastic measures. Magical scanning, detection rituals, and more. I would prefer not to resort to those if we do not have to, as they could prove to be invasive to your personal privacy. Even if we must resort to them, whatever information you can provide yourself could make them more targeted and more effective."

Yuya nods as his gaze slowly drifts back down to the book. Record his dreams, huh... he might have to ask Toki for help with that. He feels bad about being a burden, though.

"If it's not a contract... what else would it be?"

He's assumed it'd have to be some kind of contract, because what other relationships happen between humans and daemons? Even if it's a weird contract.

Valvatorez wasn't about to sugarcoat the answer, because the boy said he had to know.

"Any number of things. Possession, heritage or bloodline, influence, daemonic taint, a curse or blessing, a quirk in your magical powers, some sort of blight infection, or, like we discussed, a particularly unusual contract."

The vampire leaned on his desk, his expression thoughtful, but incredibly serious.

"Daemonic powers, influence, and more are complex, and even fluid. Contracts are the most common way for power to be granted, and often the most stable, but there are many avenues of approach to affecting a human. It sounds like there's something else at work here to me."

With that, he stood more upright and flicked his cape to the side a bit.

"However, do not be discouraged. What you've described to me hasn't suggested any malignancy to you. I do not believe you are in any danger, but even so, vigilance might still hold the key to finding your answer. That said, I would avoid any anti-daemon magics you can in the meantime. It seems like whatever wards the school itself have will not hurt you, but I cannot say what others outside of Daybreak might do."

Yuya nods as he listens.

"Heritage?" Yuya's eyebrows raise. None of those sound better than the first, but it's that one in particular that catches his attention. "Like someone can... be part daemon?"

He's pretty sure that's not what's going on with him, but he's never heard of having that kind of mixed heritage before. He didn't know it was even possible.

"They can, yes. Obviously not all daemons are compatible with human reproduction, but some are. And obviously, human and daemon hybrids are very rare on Earth. It's... quite a dangerous place for them."

Valvatorez need not go on about the obvious things; being hunted down as abominations, being secreted away to keep humankind from discovering the truth writ large, and other things.

"Almost all of them exist in the Outlands for that reason. Some places there can be more welcoming of mixed heritage individuals. Depends on where you go. But they can and do happen. And will continue to happen, I'm sure."

"Oh. I didn't know." He's not sure if that'd actually be better or worse than something like possession. At least if it was a bloodline thing he's not at risk of having a daemon take him over or anything.

He closes the book and holds it closer. "I'm going to look through this, and I'll tell you if anything else happens, okay?"

One Of The Only Times Scarier Than Halloween (Dated Mar. 23 - Mar. 29)

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