Chapter III: The Battle Room

The kids trooped nervously around the goblin. Circe stared wondrously at the many heads that were aggregating to the field. It was a massive count, about five hundred. The closest he's ever come to seeing that many people were on a football game he'd seen on tv was when the Brixons had gone for a doctor's appointment. Yelping and frantic chattering chipped the air, It seemed that the massive infantile crowd appeared to be hurriedly dispersing and parting away across the field as if being harassed.

A horde of black beastly horses with glinting red eyes was galloping furiously towards them. They were laboriously bridled by large mahogany carriages, and they were ridden by tall men in black sinister tailcoats with carved pumpkins for heads. A few carriages trundled by until one halted in its tracks. The black, demonic horse leading the carriage stood fractiously and blew a steam of fire from its nose. Its red eyes glowed and released a wispy line of billowing smoke and its blood-red mane bristled in the air as it neighed furiously at the children.

"Har! Step aside you nibbling pests!" the man riding the horse growled. He had a deep gravelly voice as if it belonged under the earth and the place where his head should've been was completely mounted by a pumpkin. "Nuckelavee and I have attendances elsewhere!"

Ulrik frowned, priming his grimy teeth. "Stealing the show are we, Eldrich?"

The kids gaped in amazement. A rush of excited murmuring spread like the cold night wind.

Zebulon, the black kid with the dreads, stepped forward and pointed, dewey-eyed. "You're the Headless Horseman, aren't you?"

The chattering grew more enlivened. Anticipation brewed from the chipping cold breaths of the creeping night.

"I hate that ruddy name!" The pumpkin man drawled. He was holding the black reigns of his horse with a pearly white glove and his eyes glowed steamy red just like the horse. "I'm christened as Eldrich Brauchman, faithful trooper, and companion to Sir Gawain! Not that bloody "Headless Horseman nonsense!"

"He's British too!" Zebulon crowed. The crowd roared with laughter and dressed up their amusement with a barrage of clapping.

"Hello thair gov'nah!" piped a kid with mousy brown hair.

"May I have a cuppa?" shouted a mixed girl with braids.

"Biscuits and crumpets!" shouted Zebulon. Seeing the hysterical reactions of the crowd, he continued. "Oooh, how about 'fancy a bo'oh uh wa'oh?'"

Zebulon was awarded several pats on the back and a handful of chuckles. The big-headed Russian girl and the Asian girl were muttering quietly to each other as they pointed at Eldrich. No one had been this excited to see such a strange mythic figure. The tumult wouldn't stop.

Nuckelavee, the black horse, neighed furiously, nearly kicking one of the children back.

"Silence!" Eldrich thundered. Afraid of being grilled by the demonic horse, the first years hushed their excitement down. The pumpkin head hopped off and landed in Eldrich's arm. Sitting on top of the horse was a man with an invisible head holding a pumpkin that had begun to burst into flames. He popped it back on and the flames died away. "Ulrik, you really need to control these kids. Zenithclad vaguely proposed the accompaniment of transportation for this school, however, I was not expecting such unruliness. I should've kindled away those hasty missives."

"Hmph!" Ulrik grunted.

"Har! An outrage indeed!" Eldrich petered on.

"Wait, so you really are headless?" Avery said.

"I certainly am not!" Eldrich said indignantly. The pumpkin's facial marks danced in concert as he spoke. "You see this pumpkin. This crafty instrument is attached to my body, constituting it as part of a whole. I am not the Headless Horseman!"

"But that is pumpkin, not real head," said the Russian girl. She had a thickset Russian accent. The crowd shook with laughter again.

"Silence!"

Edrich peered at the crowd carefully and he spotted Circe. "Oh my days, the young Chimera! Your father was a filthy, mighty brute. Monstrous! This is sure to be an interesting year." The pumpkin man faced forward and tugged on the reigns. "Onwards you filthy steed!"

The horse hobbled away across the field, past the Grand Pavillion, and then disappeared.

"Right," said a sullen Ulrik, redirecting the attention back to himself again. "That was Eldrich the Headless Horseman. He'll be part of your transportation team this year at Avalium University. You can either take the carriages or the monster buses if you wish to go long distances. Although pertaining to your school campus, you'll most likely be riding the carriages."

"How will they know when we're around?" Avery asked.

"You simply whistle or wait for one to come up. Alright, let's get on with the tour!"

There were many paved sidewalks that cut through the field that led to many other buildings behind the Grand Pavilion like a connection of spiderwebs. Among the ambling crowd, a black boy from the crowd swaggered forth, flanked by a girl with white blonde hair and a mixed girl with wet noodly black hair... He had a square face with a thin buzz cut and very narrow malicious eyes.

Circe soon found his legs acting up and stumbled to the ground.

The black boy and his gang chortled as they stood around Circe like a wolf pack. A handful of kids that walked by noticed what had happened and burst into laughter as well. Phineas tried to look away as if he hadn't seen anything and Zebulon frowned but was reluctant and hardpressed to act.

"Should've watched where you were going, Chimer. Honestly, nobody wants you here." the square-faced boy said. His silent amber-brown eyes reminded Circe of golden poison. "My father works for the Avalium police department. He told me all about your kind. Your dad was a freak, honestly, no honor to his name. My father should've arrested him and you.

More kids brushed by, some of them stepping on Circe. Avery came up and grabbed Circe's arm."Then your father should've arrested himself for having you. Leave Circe alone, he didn't ask to be what he is."

"Just drop it, Avery. Honestly, I'm fine," said Circe, flushing. He didn't need to be pitied or prodded on by some random black kid. It took everything in him not to clench his fists.

"No you're not, you're getting bullied!" Avery shouted.

"Oooh, Is this your girlfriend Chimer? How touching." The crowd frizzled with laughter.

"Do we have a problem?" Ulrik had arrived, nervously shadowed by Zebulon, Phineas, and a few other guys behind them.

"Oh nothing, sir," the square-faced boy said obsequiously. "We're just making friends. Aren't we Jasmine?"

"We're just having a friendly chat," said the white blonde-haired girl.

"Well move along then," Ulrik growled.

The crowd began to move normally again.

"What's his problem?" Circe asked.

"He's just a dick," said Avery. "I heard no one likes his father either. Just ignore them."

The innumerous gang of kids huddled around the large bricked building. The tall black and purple banners were flapping in the cool wind causing a cool ripple of the printed words of Avalium University. The light inside the building was turned on and Circe got the impression that someone was going to be coming.

"This is the Grand Pavilion," said Ulrik the goblin, standing in front of the columns. "This is where you're going to be taking the Avaluation. Professor Sempra will be coming in a few to take you in a few. Any questions?"

"Where are all the students?" a blonde girl asked.

"They are all inside the building awaiting to see your Avaluation. Any others?"

The crowd remained silent. One kid raised his hand but changed his mind.

They continued to walk the paved cobwebbed path behind the Grand Pavillion and arrived at a tall multistoried bricked building with a huge clock and multi-paneled glass roofs. The clock was shaped like an eye with the hands ticking inside the pupil. There were two identical gargoyles standing by the entrance leading up to the sweeping stone steps and in between the stone gargoyles was a magnificent marble statue of a naked angel gloriously holding up a sword. The students veered around the imposing statue and arrived at an arched white wooden door with the mark of a glass eye. Just like the Grand Pavillion, this building displayed many windows and there was a mosaic eye that acted as a wind vane on the roof of the academic structure.

"This is the Monster Center. It's where all the Monstrums hang out, play, exercise, and sleep. If you're hungry you can even find snacks here as well. Fights tend to happen here a lot so professors and goblins are inclined to monitor this place a lot."

They continued to move across the path until they arrived at a curved bricked building with many round windows and a statue of a cloaked man holding an eye. Beneath the statue was an underground chamber that led to a quiet secret room.

"This is the Sorcerer Center. You will find most sorcerers hanging in here. Just don't bother them too much, they can get quite touchy."

A gang of older students wearing red and black ties walked by curiously glancing the new students. Then they disappeared into the doors of the Grand Pavilion.

They continued to walk and they arrived at a huge white building that looked like an intricate rectangular tube with tiny black windows. It had a lot of white columns and in the center was a courtyard of a luscious garden with long curly vines. It also displayed two giant figurines made of glimmering blue glass.

"This is the Tech Center, home to the Mechas. Behind it you will find the hospital. You will often find Mechas going there as well as part of their training. It's also quite a popular destination for students from other RCS houses to hang out as well. Alright, this way…"

Trucking along to the very back of the Grand Pavillion they arrived at a humongous square metallic gray building with a lot of shiny windows, shiny marble stairs, and a clean street with lamposts surrounding it. The building itself was fashioned like a long metallic windowed armchair and there were roads coiling it that winded all the way back to the city. There were a bunch of cars and taxis that drove by and the smell of food tantalized the air.

"This is the Hero Center, home for all the heroes. It's the second most popular destination simply because a lot of restaurants are in close proximity to it and it shares a great relationship with the city. It's also the best place for most carriages to spawn if you wish to go somewhere quickly. You'll see most carriages driving along these roads."

"Where do they go to?" Circe asked.

"The pipers—what we call our pumpkin head riders such as Eldrich—usually have a designated spot where they go to. But sometimes they don't always follow it and they go wherever they please."

"So are all the pipers headless and wear pumpkins like Eldrich?" Circe asked.

"Yes, essentially so seeing as they're all clones of Eldrich. Don't ask me how, the professors know more about this than I do. But I would assume Eldrich possesses an easy faculty for cloning or he was assisted by it with an honest hand from a sorcerer. Alright carrying on to the dining hall…hold on…" Ulrik whistled and the smoky shadow of a horse-driven carriage arrived. There were four horse-drawn carriages and they were shaped and carved like a pumpkin in dark mahogany wood. The tip of it had a glowing ornamented flower that blossomed over the carriages.

"Bloody hell! Get on with it!!" the pumpkin-headed rider said. He sounded exactly like Eldrich.

Circe wondered how they were all going to fit into those four individual carriages but as they filed into the first carriage, he saw that the carriage was engorged as more kids walked in. Just like the monster bus, it was enchanted to seat as many people as possible but the inside looked very flowery and gardened as if they were in the amazons. There were dark green vines that entangled around their seats and glowing flowers that acted as small lampposts.

"Har!" shouted the piper and they rode all the way to a large stadium-like building. They all poured out in front of the building. The deep violet neon sign read "Darkplenty Dining Hall".

"This is the Darkplety Dining Hall. It's where every student will formerly have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It also houses a movie theater inside." announced the goblin. Then they moved to another large stadium-like building that was a couple of walks beside it. "And this is the Blackhollow Hall, it's where most of your sporting events will take place."

The carriages drove them back to the school and back to the Grand Pavillion. Standing in front of the steps was a lady with long tangles of white blonde hair and a shimmering red diamond in the middle of her forehead. She had a slim figure with noticeable curves and wore a skirted suit with a red and black tie under a bloody red robe.

"Ah, there you are," said Ulrik. "I guess I'll be leaving you to it then, professor."

"Thank you Ulrik," she had an unsettlingly sweet high pitched voice. The crowd of kids seemed shockingly frozen as if they were intimidated by her. Circe had that weird feeling in between his legs, the same one he adopted when he looked at Cassandra. A few kids managed to whistle and laugh it off. The goblin prostrated before her and then disappeared in purple smoke.

"Welcome students to your first year of Avalium University. My name is Alyssia Sempra, professor of Sorcerer studies and second in command of the Dean of this school. Today we are going to be sorting you into your RCS houses. In other words, today is the day of the Avaluation and I will be taking you into the battle room, where your name will be called and you must present your powers in front of the whole school. I must say most students suffer during this stage, so you really must know exactly what your power is and have at least an elementary control over it. You also must be sure that your power is potent enough to get through your entry test."

"The battle room?" said Zebulon.

"What exactly are we going to be doing?" Avery asked.

"How long is it going to take?" added Phineas.

"We're not going to be fighting each other, are we?" the Russian girl asked.

"We're not…" a short mouse-haired boy gulped. "...going to be head to head with real monsters are we?"

"Unfortunately, I can't say exactly what this test entails, it's just school policies. But I honestly wish you guys the best and I hope to see you in my house. Now, if we can please get in a line and move this way."

The students were led down a marvelous marble hall bedecked with portraits and huge silvery panels of windows that were inside arched hedges. The horde of kids was directed to the right of the hallway and then descended underground through a spiral of stairs. They passed through a silver door with markings of a snake on them. Suddenly an oily metallic cage closed around them and it zoomed forward until it slammed to a stop.

"When your name is called, the bars will be released and you will step into the room. Do what they tell you to do."

"Is that star on the ground?" Phineas asked, peering out of the cage. Circe tried to steal a peek but there were too many heads in front of him.

"That's the Star of Amyclist!" Avery said. "It's known in the Shadower world for summoning monsters from other dimensions!"

Circe snaked his way through the crowd. Through the vista of the cage, he saw about a thousand students grouped into their own markered seats. And there were colored banners to represent what house they were in. Purple for monsters, Yellow for heroes, red for sorcerers, and blue for mechas. To Circe, the hero students looked attractive, the monstrums were intimidating, the sorcerers were grumpy and the mechas were pretty calm. At the far end of the room, there was a white statue sitting on a throne with bloody blindfolds one and two golden horns beside her. And in the middle of the gray marble floor of the stadium-sized room, there stood a red glowing star, brimming with a heinous vengeance.

"What the–what are they planning to do?" Circe muttered.

"They're going to kill us! That's what they're doing," said Avery with hot indignance. "We don't know our powers well enough."

"Some of us don't, some of us do," Phineas said admittedly. "And it's to weed out the kids with weak powers from the strong ones. They can't just allow anyone to come to this school without any real powers."

It made sense, thought Circe. But it still didn't stop his heart from nearly pumping out of his chest.

The first kid that the statue called was Emerio Havarez. He was a short thin Latino boy with pink dots on his face. He slowly walked past the parted sea of kids and entered the large ominous room. Emerio was met with a barrage of claps. But then the silence ensued, and anticipation took over.

"He's not going to make it," Phineas said.

"You don't know that," Avery said.

"Hmm…" said Circe.

The red star shined and the clustered smoky air started to materialize a giant beast with a body of a bear, the pincers of a spider, and the wings of a bat. The bear roared, quaking up the whole room.

"Hell naw! I'm not going to be fighting that!" Zebulon shouted.

"They might as well just throw me into a pit of lions," Circe said admittedly.

The kids in the cage shouted. Some trampled each other to get out of the cage but it was carefully guarded by two goblins and Professor Sempra.

"No powers, no life." said the goblins nastily.

The whole battle room pierced the air with screaming and electrified horror as they saw the winged bear run toward its prey hungrily. Emerio shouted and ran back to the cage. But the cage was already locked tight.

"Please! Please open it!" He entreated. But no one opened the cage, no one knew how. Emerio tried to run in the opposite direction but the mutant bear pounced on him, crushed his skull with his paws, and chewed through the slimy loins of his belly.

"He didn't have any powers," said Phineas mournfully. "That sucks."

"And you're enjoying this aren't you?" Avery asked.

"Yes and no. Learning from it more like."

Another kid was called up, a girl named Casey Simms. Her head got torn off and blood splattered everywhere on the marble floor arena.

"Phineas Dempsey," the statue called up next.

"Good luck," Circe said as the red-haired kid moved forward with noodle legs.

Phineas walked tentatively up to the large arena. The furry creature went up to him to attack but Phineas held out his hands and the monstrous bear was levitated into the air and battered back and forth against the arena walls. Up ahead Phineas saw a yellow flag floating in mid-air and Phineas ran to get it before the bear could become conscious. Once he touched the flag, the bear disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"Hero," the statue declared.

Next was a girl named Mariana Portsmouth. She was able to hold back the bear by conjuring up water in midair and turning it into a ball that the bear could drown in. She was also able to get the flag on time, she was a hero. Then it was Natalia Vale; an African girl who was able to transform herself into smoke and conjure dark purple smoke in midair. She managed to distract the bear and become the first sorcerer. Then it was Avi Gomez, a Latina girl with gothic eyes and pink highlights, who was able to turn into a goat-headed humanoid with three bulging red eyes. She fought the bear fiercely earning three claw marks on her chest but she ended up getting the yellow flag and being sorted as the first monster.

Then it was Elliot Hargraves, a moody pale boy with long curly brown hair. He was able to conjure ghosts from under the ground. He defeated the monstrous bear and was sorted into Sorcerer. Lorraine Silva, a Portuguese girl, became invisible and was sorted into Hero. Then it was Jeremiah Goldcoin, a suntanned boy with long blonde hair that most of the girls in the audience gushed over, presented himself and he was able to attack the creature by shooting bright golden beams at it. He was grouped in as a hero. Aviv Parastroka, the Russian girl was able to turn her hands into any type of technological and mechanical tool. She cut the bear in half by turning her hands into chainsaws. She ended up being sorted into Mecha. Francis Hertz was able to electrocute the bear by shocking it with the electrons in its body, he was sorted into Mecha. Jonathan Ratliffe, a small gray-haired boy was able to transform himself into a huge gray rat and was sorted into Monster. David Krank was able to conjure armies of zombies from under the ground, and he was sorted into Sorcerer. Fiona Veracruz, another Latina girl, was able to easily teleport herself to the other end of the room to retrieve the flag and became a Hero. Zeraph Abigail became a ferocious fox humanoid that was able to breathe pink fire, and Nathanial Hawthorne became a huge fiery dragon and they were both sorted into Monster. Naphtali Simmons was able to conjure large three-headed rattlesnakes from the ground and was sorted into Sorcerer. Salvian Salvador was able to transform into a serpent humanoid with lion claws and was sorted into Monster. Pontius Locksilver was able to conjure a huge silver cage that swallowed the monster inside and crushed it to pieces, he was a Sorcerer. Levi Whiteman became a white-furred lion with angel wings and was sorted into Monster. Georgia Canterbury was able to release pink toxic clouds from her hands and she became a Sorcerer while James Fritz was able to project a silver screen that conjured large android ants, this earned him being sorted into Mecha. Jamie Soo, the Asian girl, was able to conjure mechanical robots into midair that shot bombs at the monstrous bear, she became a Mecha.

Malik Absalom, the square-faced black boy that bullied Circe, was able to conjure fire and was sorted into Sorcerer. After him was a Swedish girl with white blonde hair named Jasmine Jezelberg who was able to make the monstrous creature do her bidding by folding her hands and muttering incantations under her breath. The winged bear ended up eating itself and Jasmine was sorted into Sorcerer. Ian Quiksilver, a thin freckled blonde boy was able to change his body into whatever substance he touched. His body turned to gray marble as soon as his fingers touched the ground. He managed to kill the bear and was sorted into Hero. Briar Quigly, an athletic square-jawed boy was able to conjure vines and ravenous plants from the ground and strangle the bear. His own arms elongated into vines and he tore the bear's flesh to pieces with it. He ended up being sorted into Hero. After Briar was a Mexican boy named Canores Merida. He had a dark disheveled bowl of hair, bold eyebrows and large baby eyes. When his eyes turned red and he splayed out his hands, he was able to conjure large man eating ants from the ground, with some smaller ants crawling out of his mouth.

"Eugh!" said Avery.

After the flesh-eating fight, Canores won and was sorted into Sorcerer. Elena Yorkshire, who was able to transform into any type of human liquid, transformed herself into silver water and splashed past the bear to retrieve the golden flag. This heralded her as a Hero. Akatu Mbege, a slim athletic African boy, was able to transform into a monstrous ten-legged spider that spat acid, and Hussein Abadi transformed into a leopard humanoid with a leopard-coated lizard tale, they were both sorted into Monster. Namia Balswourth became a three-headed werewolf with eyes on its back and a furry lizard tail, she ended up being sorted into Monster. Bailey Brighton, a short curvy colorless girl that reminded Circe of Cassandra, was able to clone herself and was turned into a Hero. Jackson Cairn was able to morph into a rock monster and squash the bear creature to a fleshly pulp. Jackson became a Monster Max Steele used his super strength to quake the ground and pummel the monster down similar to Jackson, he became a hero. Herelt Voxzimmer used his booming voice to destroy the monster and he became a Hero. Harper Feely transformed into a Harpy and was able to sneak her way into grabbing the yellow flag, she was sorted into Monster. Jarvis Broadbent became a huge one-eyed giant with horns and was sorted into Monster. Teju Omar transformed into a lizard humanoid, was able to slither past the monstrous bear, and was sorted into Monster. Avery Calhoun became a fire-breathing gargoyle and Zebulon Brooks was a three-headed spotted hyena.

Every kid that came up received outstanding cheers and appraisals, even the ones that lost miserably.

Kids like Mumford Mumbly (who kept on boasting about how he would easily get past the bat bear hybrid) but he didn't have any powers and ended up getting his stomach impaled and died a bloody death as the mammoth bear devoured him. Jesse Basemath could only manage to create acidic chemicals in mid-air that weren't potent enough to smother the bear and he ended up being beheaded and eaten alive. His bladder loins and genitals were thrown at the crazed audience who were cheering excitedly. Eleanor Periwinkle and Tamar Fitch were able to turn into fairies and spray blue and pink fairy dust but they got squished alive. Then there were six other kids after who lacked any real powers, just like Mumford Mumbly, and were eaten alive.

"Circe Chimer." the statue called out. Circe nervously walked out into the large arena and was met with countless strange looks and myriads of boos. He had several notebooks thrown at him and one student had actually managed to throw a knife at him. But Circe tried to stay focused on the task. He could see the large batlike hybrid of a bear hounding towards him with his hungry pincers. And Circe, unsure of what to do with all the contemptuous yelling and insults filling his ears, ran. But the creature slashed him against the wall, causing a leaking tear of blood on his chest. Circe got up and tried to fight back but the bear slashed again, one more and he would surely be dead. Then suddenly his body started growing large scaly bat wings and his skin grew fur and his mouth grew large monstrous teeth. Circe swung around and hit the bear with his large lion paws and devoured it. The bear tried to fight back but it was too late. Circe, calming down enough ran to retrieve the yellow flag.

"Monster," said the statue but no one cheered. Circe, worn out and completely crestfallen at his lack of support went to join Avery and Zebulon at the monster's side. He dolefully watched the other kids being sorted until the ceremony was over and Professor Sempra came to gather them.

"You guys did great, you all showed some wondrous powers that exemplified the house that you're in. Now it's time to visit the Darkplenty Hall for some food."

But it seemed that nobody, especially Circe, felt all that hungry.