Unpleasant Visitors

Fallen Academy. A school for all ages and anyone around the world. The mission of the school was to fight off Impurus, demon like existences that invaded their world through interdimensional portals thousands of years ago. The existence of such beings aren't known to everyone as they are skilled in deception and transformation causing them to adapt and live in human society in plan sight.

No one knows why or how the battle between humans and Impurus started, but it did. And such a fight continues to this day bring Fallen Academy into existence.

All of the students come into the academy with knowledge of the Impurus race. They've either gone through an attack by such a being or their family has been dedicated to the destruction of the race. Either way, it's a school to train killers.

When the students of Fallen Academy reach middle school, they have a total of seven to nine classes in a day. The five mandatory classes of math, English, history, science, and Impurus biology. The other five classes that can be chosen are smiths, trackers, swordsmanship, firearms, and catalyst. Before, catalyst never existed, but with the invasion of Impurus came the existence of magic and seeped into their world from the portal opened in unknown locations. Locations that are only know by the race itself.

Swordsmen are close combat warriors. They're the main attack for of the group and are the face of the school. Gunmen are ranged from close, mid, or far depending on the gun they're carrying. Usually, they carry more then one to be versatile in any range of combat. Catalysts are healers and long range attackers. Each of them had a specialty in one of the four elements which could be divided into sub categories to create new magic. For example, student A is a water user. From water, they could then use ice spells and so on. As long as it falls under one of their affinities and the student trains hard enough, they can use the spell. Smiths create the equipment the fighters take into battle. They made anything a fighter would need. From weapons and armor, to dumb requests like an attachable cup holder. Trackers sit behind a computer and report the location of the enemy to the fighters using public cameras or other methods of security. They also go into the field to track down an enemy or possible suspect.

To go out hunting Impurus, teams need to be made to make sure of the safely of every person. Teams consist of a minimum of five. A swordsman, a gunman, a catalyst, and another class of any kind. As long as the team consisted of those classes, they were classified as an official team and are allowed to go on official missions. Those official teams are only made in the students' last year of middle school.

It's rare, but sometimes a specialist graduates from Fallen Academy. A specialist is someone who studies in all three of the fighting courses and takes a few equipment smith and tracker classes. Basically, they're once in a millennia geniuses. The ones who become specialists are hand chosen by the academy's school board or recommended by a higher power. They picked people that had a high IQ, fast learning speeds, and a strong body. Then, the board gives the student everything they need to become the best in their craft. Each course given is harder then regular students to force the full potential out of the specialist chosen student. They were made in mind of making these geniuses struggle and put in the hard work. To make them a little more normal.

That's why it was a surprise to the students when Lucio was selected to become a specialist. His body was small and frail which was the main need of being put in that class because of the physical difficulties of some of the classes. No one knew if he had a high IQ or a fast learning speed because he never seemed to put in any effort. In class, Lucio didn't bother bringing any supplies. After doing the bare minimum, he only fell asleep at his seat, and the teachers allowed it. If it was any other person, they would get a chalk piece thrown their way. Still, he managed to get average grades in all of his classes.

Today, however, was different. Lucio had to stay awake during every class, because the school board of directors was serving the classes, especially his. The grounds for their visits was to look for someone with the potential to become a specialist, but that was never the case. They would always go there to check up on their little guinea pig, Lucio.

It was a struggle staying awake the whole time, but he managed by taking short naps between classes. By doing that, he managed to get through all of his classes without being called to the office. He was doing so well. Sometimes, he would even raise his hand to answer some of the teacher's questions, only to save questioning from the board later.

"He's in peak condition, and you're saying that he's not showing results in anything?!"

The Headmaster would always have to have this conversation with the board members once every month.

"He doesn't have any actual interest in any of his classes."

"Then, make him take interest. Give him a reward or something!"

These old people always grumbled like this. They always talked about Lucio's development in his studies, and when they heard that there wasn't a single advancement, they would blow a fuse. They complained like they had pulled a common item on a gacha roll. It was like they were expecting the kid to turn out to be some extraordinary prodigy, but when they sounded out it wasn't possible, they would just vent their frustration on his failures.

"If we don't see any results–Hell, anything! In the next few weeks, he's going to the extra facility."

The Headmaster flinched. He couldn't let Lucio go there. Not to that hell forsaken place. He was disgusted by the fact that such a thing even existed on his campus. School is supposed to be a good place for children to learn. Not force knowledge into their heads with malicious methods.

"Well, just last week, he managed to score a 100 on his trigonometry exam," he said, pulling out the test to show the board. Every one of the five members disregarded the test, calling it irrelevant.

"This little thing means nothing! What's a stupid test going to tell us?"

"We don't care about stupid math scores. Has anything else happened? Like he flipped out and attacked a kid?"

The Headmaster was astonished. Just what were those old people looking for in such a small child. Lucio wasn't even as grown as his peers. It was expected that he wasn't going to be able to keep up in the physical activities. When the board first decided to make the kid take specialist courses, he was fully against it. There was no way his child-like body was going to be able to handle such intense courses, but he couldn't do anything. Even though this was his school, he barely had any power over it. His power was so little that he couldn't even protect a single student.

"Lucio's not that kind of kid. He would never do something like that. He's a good kid."

"I don't care if the kid's a saint or the devil! I want to see some results, and if you can't make it happen, we will!"

"Yes, sir. I understand…"

He couldn't do a single thing against them.

Knowing that the board was looking for an emotional change rather than an academic advancement, the Headmaster knew that he would have to keep them away from Lucio during the night. There was no telling what they would do after figuring out that the kid was hallucinating to the point of complete terror, so he had to keep them away.

An hour before lights out, the Headmaster had told Lucio to sleep in the staff dorms for the night. Lucio had accepted that seeing as there was no problem as long as he had a bed to sleep on.

"You see, one of the science teachers quit recently, so there's an extra room for you to sleep in. It even has a lock, so no one will argue into the room." the Headmaster said, leading Lucio to the room.

Lucio didn't really care about what the staff dorm had differently from the student dorm. Really all he wanted was to sleep because of his tiring day of having to act like a normal student. Every time the board members came over, Lucio realized just how important his class naps were to his well being.

When the two reached the room, the Headmaster said goodnight to the kid.

"I'll lock the door before I leave, so just think about sleeping."

"Okay," Lucio said, getting under the sheets that were way more comfortable than in the student dorms. Seriously, he could feel himself getting a good night's sleep here.

There was one thing Lucio wasn't told about the staff dorm rooms could be locked and unlocked only with the key assigned to the room, and the Headmaster gave no such key to Lucio. So, when he locked the door to the room, no one was going to be able to get in or get out of the room without having the key that he was going to keep safely in his pocket. He was going to make sure that not a single person was going to be able to take that key away from him while he kept a close eye on the board members who were busy drinking until their noses turned red.

Usually, alcohol wasn't allowed on school grounds because of the risk that the students were going to get a hold of it and end up doing stupid things while drunk. But, there were special stash places that all the staff members knew about, and even though it was a school rule, no one ever did anything to stop it. So, the board members had enough booze from all the stash places to fill their stomach and pass out on the floor like fouls. All the Headmaster had to do was prevent them from trying to go out and find the other stashes.

However, nothing ever went his way. A plan was never going to be followed to the letter. People's actions were hard to predict after all.

Like the Headmaster said, Lucio focused on sleeping, but like any other night he woke up to the same unpleasant sight. The bloodied, scratched up walls. The missing floor. The messed up furniture. The seven dead bodies. Like always, his first instinct was to run for the nearest exit. That being the door that connected the room to the hallway, but when Lucio tried opening the door, the knob wouldn't even turn. He tried pushing, pulling, kicking–anything he could do with his fearful strength to get the door to open, but nothing worked. In the end, he sat in front of the door, his forehead touching his only way of escape, and his eyes closed. He didn't want to see anything behind him. He didn't want to smell the metallic scent of blood. He wanted nothing to do with his own hallucinations while they wanted everything to do with him.

"I'm scared...someone help me..."

Suddenly, the locked room window was broken. Its pieces scattered throughout the room, and a gust of wind came through as if welcoming the person behind it. Lucio turned his head fearfully, wondering who's broken into the room. He found that the person's face was covered by a hood, and they were dressed in all black to conceal themselves in the night. The person walked closer to the scared boy at the door and stood in front of him.

Lucio didn't know who the person was and just turned his head back around and covered his ears. He didn't want to hear the footsteps getting closer to him, nor look at the only moving thing in the room beside him and the ripped up curtains. As tightly as he could, he closed his eyes and pressed his hands to his ears. After a few seconds, the person touched Lucio's shoulder. The shivering stopped and Lucio's head slowly rose. He wanted to turn his head to see whether this person was dead or alive. To see whether they were part of his hallucination or not. But, he couldn't bring himself to turn his head. He didn't want to see the face of the thing touching him. He was too scared to, and he didn't have to because his vision was already going dark.

The Headmaster was on edge all night. Scared that he was going to hear Lucio scream and the board members would want to know what's going on. He was thankful that nothing of the sort happened. The board drank themselves to passing out like he thought they would, and in the morning, they left. It was only after the Headmaster saw the cars drive away that he went to go check on Lucio. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly in case Lucio was laying against it. However, there was no such weight, and when the door fully opened, there was glass everywhere from a broken window and no sign of his adoptive son.