“Time to begin!” I open the door and walk into the room and held the door for my new student. She walked in, the magic lights flicked on and I shut the door behind her. When she looked around the room, she started to tap her fingers on her leg and started to grind her teeth. Probably because of how non symmetrical the room was. I put my hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry we won’t be in here for long, and eventually you will learn to control that feeling. Now let’s go to my H.O.M.E!”

She started to shake her head slowly yes, but then she looked directly at me, “Wait, what?” she did her normal, and adorable head tilt of confusion.

“Watch.” I walk to the center of the room, close my eyes, and take off my glasses. I then turn around and canceled all the lights in the room.

Her breath increased, “Dust, what are you doing?” she asked.

I chuckled and opened my eyes. I saw her face perfectly as she gasped. This was the first time she has seen my true eyes afterall.

I seen her fear and her curiosity at the same time, “W-w-what’s wrong with your e-e-e-eye’s?” she reached for the door handle, too bad there is no door there anymore.

I clicked my fingers and my eye’s flashed as I gave her the ability to see in the dark with a quick spell, she blinked a few times then rubbed her eyes, “Don’t worry my student, you have nothing to fear from me or my eyes, this-” I pointed to my eye’s, “-Is my ability, the Alpha Stigma. One very similar to your own Order Sigma.”

She furrowed her brow, “What do you mean? I don’t have anything of the sort! See, look at my eye’s, they look nothing like your’s!” she exclaimed.

I chuckle, “Because it is still dormant, that’s why. Your stigma is the cause of all your suffering, Pandora. Even though it is dormant, it’s power wants to be released, and the side effect of the build up is the problems you’ve been having. It is affecting your personality and altering your mind in ways you can't control. My stigma tries to do the same, but I only give into one of it’s demands, and doing so makes it easier to deal with.” I explain. “But don’t worry, we're going to change that.” suddenly a black and white fiery portal springs open behind me causing Pandora to jump. She was about to ask a question, but I had a feeling about what it was, “This portal leads to one of the only universes I can stay steadily connected to without causing harm to what's inside. Kinda hard to do so when the entire thing is dead.” I chuckle a little knowing what’s coming next.

Her eyes widened, “Did you…” she asks while pointing to me.

I shake my head, “No, it died off naturally. Everything got too old and eventually got to the point where everything just stopped. Light, magic, life, everything. The raw materials were still there, so I started the process of breaking them all down, still happening as we speak It takes a while to do so, you know with so many planets and dead stars that are nothing more than balls of metal now, or black holes, or barren wastelands, or balls of ice, or- never mind. But anyways, I've turned it into my own universe through the use of remaking a mana generator on a large scale by reactivating the cores of dead planets and placing them in a amp rune pattern and using the raw materials to start making the unit in which we will be.” I signaled her over to me with a hand gesture, “Let’s go.” she nodded and walked over to me slowly, but right before she walked into the portal I grabbed her shoulder and halted her, “Just know, after you walk through the portal, there is no turning back, no jokes, no flirting. In there I am strictly your teacher. I will be harsh, I will force you to keep going, you will go through pain and pleasure whether you want to or not. The power you gain will hurt at first, but eventually it will feel amazing and intoxicating. In there, you will hate me. You will even try to kill me. They all do. The trials are hard, the first lesson being one of the hardest. You can die in there. I will try and keep that from happening, but it's happened in the past. Now after all that.” I put my hand under her chin and lifted her head so she was looking directly into my eye’s. “Do you still want to go through with this.”

She responded with “Yes, absolutely.”

I harden my look “Are you su-”

She then firmly said, “YES!” pushed me away and walked through the portal.

Hm, I must have gotten on her nerves. That was really out of character for her. Or it may have been this room. No matter, I need to stop thinking like that now. I’m her teacher after I enter that portal, and I need to put her through hell. I need to teach her how to control her abilities. But first…

I walked through the portal and ended up in a glass box. I saw Pandora looking around at… nothing. Just a vast empty void… or so you can see. I walk up next to her, “Amazing isn’t it.” I calmly say with my hands behind my back. She slowly nods. “Wanna see something even more wondrous my student?” I ask her. She looked at me and nodded again and kept looking around.

I put on a slight smile at her curiosity, then started to do what I told her. I put on a pair of glasses and the put my glasses on Pandora.

She was confused by the action. “Um, Dust… I can’t see.” she deadpanned.

I chuckle “Oh trust me you will in a second.” I spread my hand out, parallel to each other about three feet apart and made a barrier sphere and drew out all that was inside, making an empty void. I then started to make an artificial gravitational field in the center by adding some high density iron and spinning it at a rapid speed, adding energy as it went along. I then added some elements, Hydrogen, Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, and a few others. They started to go to the center and revolve around the iron, and it started to build up heat until finally it started to perform the nuclear fusion I was looking for. “There we go, a small star…” I smile at my creation.

I take a look over at my new student and see shock and awe on her being “I’ve never seen one up close before… how? How did you do this?” she walked a little closer to get a better look.

I give her a nice smile and close my eyes because of the god damn pain! “This is what happens when you mix magic and science. In all truth, once you know the composition of something and you have the material, you can make it. Something you will learn.” I then made two portals, both going to the same place, on each hand and slam them together. It reappeared above us, such a small little light… until I started feeding it more, and more, and more, and it got bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Until it was the size of a sun about to go supernova, and that is exactly what I made it do. I put a shield around us that could withstand almost any force, and set the star off. We still felt the force of it, but GREATLY reduced. Pandora fell on her butt and I grunted from the blast. I sped up time outside the shield and watched the beautiful light show with my student. The light hitting the different dead planets so far away as the light kept traveling. Red planets, brown, yellow, blue, white, black so many colors all bouncing off of eachother. The remains of the star spreading out, looping, colliding, burning everything in its path. The light would have been blinding, but the shield I placed around us greatly reduced the incoming light intensity as well. Before anything else could be created, like a black hole, I sent out a deconstruction spell to break the remains down. The light kept going on even after I restored everything to normal, that energy carried on. Still lighting up the dead universe where we reside… I take off my glasses and take hers off as well. “Well then, that was fun, but we must start you education in the arcane arts. The sooner we do, the better off you will be.” she nods, completely speechless, but with a smile on her face.

The glass box we are in changed into a cream colored, ten by ten room with a walnut colored oak door on one wall with a brown trim around the room. The door had MANY arcane runes on it. Most of them were protection runes, but there are some more… unique ones. Two were cage seals, meant to keep in dragons and dark constructs. Another was a enhancement spell to increase durability while within this room. But the greatest one on the door was the jaw bone dagger stabbed into the center of the rune of life. The blade of Kane… The First Blade. With it and my knowledge I created a rune that would allow none to die while within this room, a failsafe so past casualties could be avoided. It took a lot of searching to find it. I turn to Pandora, “You ready? You are about to go through lesson one. I will give you the books you need, the tools, and the ingredients. After you learn what you need from reading you are going to set up the runes and safeties. Then you need to make the pillow you will sit on. Ok?”

She was fine until I mentioned the pillow, then she got a confused look. “Don’t ask about it, you will learn when you read your work. Now follow me.”

I close my eyes and open the door and walked in a few feet. *Inhale* ah the memories. I smell smoke, lots of it. I can hear the hollow crackling of demented flames eating away at something that cannot be destroyed. Yet the flames cannot stop, so it’s a never ending conflict between the two. I can also hear and smell water, splashing and falling. Metal is in the air as well… Iron, mercury, copper, even some cobalt and nickel. They are all so pungent. The air is also supercharged. Both with electricity and elements. Hell, if it wasn't for the spells on this room Pandora would have died from poisoning and electrocution. Blood also… so much of it. All from past mistakes on my part. Wood is also in the air along with pollen and earth. One side of the room feels hot, like someone started to burn down an entire town. Feels nice though, reminds me of all the wars I took part in. But with the heat I can feel something dark and hollow… just darkness. Now the right side of the room… Ice. Pure, unforgiving cold. I’ve been many places, even the home of the frost giants in Asgard, all the way to the frozen planets in this universe, and this room, on that side, is still ten times still is colder. Again, those enchantments help a lot. I hear sparking. Electricity bouncing about. I then hear a roar and Panora scream and hide behind me while Clockwork fly’s off.. I smile, “Sparky, she’s fine.”

I open my eye’s and they come face to face with a big blue eye made up of electricity. It back away to show the rest of its head. His head was massive, about the size of a full size car. It’s made up of red lightning like most of its body. He is styled like that of a english dragon with two curved horns. Spikes are running down his entire body and his tail ended in a double blade axe head. But the most noticeable thing on him were his wings. They are a beautiful light blue. The electricity arcing slowly along the angelic electric feathers. Body of a dragon, wings of an angel.

“Umm, Dust? What is this? I know it’s a dragon, but I’ve never seen one like this...” she said getting braver, moving out from behind me and to the side of me.

“I would be surprised if you did! Sparky here is one of a kind. I don’t know what his gender is, or if he even has one, but I’ve just been labeling him a male.” I shrug, “It’s been working so far.” I turn around to face her. “Also if you don’t know why he is talking like a normal dragon would, he is far from a normal dragon. He is a construct created by one of my students during their first lesson. He can talk, but he needs to learn how to feel first. Poor thing was created without emotions and with as much intelligence as puppet on strings. I’ve been teaching him but the process is slow. He has learned a few emotions, joy, anger, greed, boredom. You know, the basics.” Sparky grunted and flew off, and I saw Pandora’s face widen up with curiosity and amazement. She walked past me and deeper into the room, I turn around and smile at the memories left within this room.

First thing to catch my eye was the giant tree all the way on the other side of the room that was on a raised platform… the tree is on fire. The tree is white and yellow with long branching limbs, all bearing apples of silver and gold. An exact copy of the norse tree of life. Main differences, one this version can not be destroyed. Nothing at all can destroy it, not even me. The second is the hole in it were Sparky resides. The tree can’t be destroyed, but it can be altered, it was by my son Virgil. The final difference was that it was on fire at the top. Black and blue flames engulfed the top of it. You see these flames burn everything they touch, and I mean anything. But the tree can’t be destroyed. But the flames destroy everything. The two being in an eternal conflict. I find it funny to think about. This tree and those flames represent my students perfectly. They are strong, indestructible beings, yet their power is always eating away at them, the two locked in an eternal conflict. Surrounding the large tree is a body of water. If you listened closely you can hear the sound of a waterfall. That waterfall is located directly behind the tree and it is actually a portal that it constantly dropping water that falls off the top platform that the tree is on were another portal is located. I look at the center of the room and see a nice clean circle made of Myrddin tiles. Myrddin tiles are a type of tile made up of white runestone sheets with a philosopher's stone in the center of it polished with water from the lake that resides his body, The Lady’s Lake. They will be the tiles that she will use as her ‘black board’ for the chalk. In the center of the circle is a bunch of books, fabric and ingredients, along with tools and molds. Clockwork was standing on the stack of books Surrounding the circle is a trench filled with mercury that always kept below boiling. Actual tons of mercury, it wasn't to hard to obtain, but lining the trench with the tiles took some time, after all each one must be hand made and placed. I look to the left to see molten metal all formed into a ball suspended in the air with white hot spikes surrounding it, orbiting it with all the points pointing inward. This side of the room was also shrouded in darkness with the only light being the metal, with the shadows being impenetrable to light. Between it in the pathway to the center was blood from a god that has been turned solid and lined the pathway and circled the center. Don’t worry, it’s for the lesson. I look to the right and see ice of all colors. Blue, white, black, yellow, red, purple, everything. In the ice center is a titan! Yea, that student had a lot of potential. I’m not sure what titan it is, but it looks cool… and it’s made of light! Underneath it is a pool of dead demons… they were alive at one point, but they died when the lesson ended, so I preserved them and kept them there. Lining this side was a gold looking chain with silver and gold thin rope weaving through the center of the links that looped around the center as well and joined with the god blood. The next thing on the cei-

“Dust,” there goes my train of thought, damn it.

“Yes Pandora.” I ask giving my attention to my student, seeing her picking up one of the books in the center (Dictionary of norse symbols and runic patterns).

“What is all of this!” she say while flailing one of her arms in a circle, referring to the room.

“This will be the room for lesson one!” I say teleporting to her and tapping her forehead with my pointer finger.

She rubbed her forehead and asked while putting the book down, “And what would that be teach!” she said sarcastically.

I got close to her face, nearly touching noses and looked directly into her eyes with my stigma flaring, “Lesson one, you will learn to hate me.” I say in a cruel tone. I get out of her face and put on the most unemotional expression I could, “You see all of this pilled up here? There are multiple ingredients and tools here all for you to use. Along with thirty five books. Five are dictionaries of terms and symbols in case you don’t understand some of what is within them. One is an instruction manual for the main spell, it will tell you what you need. twelve are crafts books, seven are rune books, and the last ten are diarys with tips and tricks written down by those before you. If you find something that could help a student in the future write it down on a blank page. Your job is to learn everything you can from the books, make what you need, and create the rune for the ritual. While you are doing that I’m going to be in a different room. do you understand?” I ask as I start to walk to the door.

I hear her laugh, “Don’t leave this won’t take long! My dad taught me a spell That can transfer knowledge within a book directly into my mind just-” She snapped her fingers and nothing happened. I could only guess she had a confused look on her face when nothing happened because she snapped again, again, again.

I snapped my finger to get her attention, while i’m still walking away, and held up one finger, my pointer finger, “Get to work Pandora.” I say with an unamused tone as I opened the door.

I walked through it and right before I closed It I heard her yell, “You asshole!!!”

I chuckle to myself and looked ahead of me and saw a hallway of doors. All leading to different rooms in this ever expanding place I’ve created. I walked up to the fifth one down to the right and went in. I look around and see my collection. Artifacts, weapons, special tomes, tablets from ancient races. I got em all. Think of a story, religion, myth, anything really and I most likely got it. I got the Holy Grail, sword of the archangel Michael, Excalibur and its sheath, Arondite, the Aegis, and The Bone of Ullr just to name a few. I look down the LONG room and saw a coat rack and teleported to it. I summoned a few mirrors behind me I took off my jacket and hung it up. I looked into the mirror and blinked and my shirt was gone. I look at my body. Not to much muscle, a fairly athletic body, and skinny, but healthy skinny. But there are some marks on it. Like the mark of Kane on my right arm, the seal of sin on left arm, and the mark of madness on my breastplate.

“Even though you were beyond mad before you got that, isn’t that right Dusty old boy!” I look in the left mirror and see a version of me with wild messed up hair and different runes cut into his skin. I sigh at the sight of him, “What!? Are you upset to see one of your oldest voices, Jester? I mean I know I’m always talking to you but you rarely get to see me, and vise versa! And it’s not like you don’t enjoy doing this with me, you love to argue and banter amongst yourself! By the way, I like the lass you got with ya, quiet the spirit that one is, could use a few tweaks to the mental department, not crazy enough, but for being a totally different species, *whistle*, she is fiiiine!”

“Why don’t you just shut the hell up you fucking no good imbecile!” I look at the mirror in front of me and see me with short hair and the mark of Kane glowing on his arm.

Jester laughs, “Aww, what’s wrong did someone piss in Akuma’s cheerios, because you're not that cheery you old fart.”

Akuma growls, “Who are you calling old, you are only a few years younger than me! I wish I could rip your throat out, grraaa!”

“If it’s any consolation I’m older than both of you.” I look to my right and see a version of me with combed back hair, a smile, with the Alpha Stigma flaring at full blast and different spells and enchantments floating around him.

Jester laughs, “Look who decided to show himself, ‘Sir Cocky I’m Godyington’.”

“The name is Alpha.” he said angrily.

I spoke up “Whoa calm down their, anger is his thing.” I say as I point to Akuma.

Jester clapped and put up his hand, “Good one, high five!” and we preceded to do so.

Alpha closed his eyes, grabbed his nose and sighed, “I really wish I was the only influence on you Dust, you’d be much better off with just me, rather than having this Loki reject, roid rage, and all the other annoyances within that messed up head of yours.”

Akuma laughs once at that, “I highly doubt that, you're worse than me.”

I nod in agreement, “Ain't that the truth, at least Akuma shuts up, and Jester at least has good timing. But you, you never stop. You are highly counterproductive always saying things like ‘Let me take control.’ or ‘ Just let loose, be free! Show them what a true god looks like!’, and it is very annoying and distracting.” I deadpan at the last part.

He lifts his hands and slowly formed them into fists and yells in frustration, “BECAUSE YOU COULD DO SO MUCH MORE THAN BEING A MERE WANDERER, OR A GOD DAMN TEACHER TO WORTHLESS BEINGS THAT DON’T DESERVE IT! YOU COULD DESTROY EVERYTHING AND RECREATE IT IN YOUR OWN IMAGE IF YOU WOULD JUST LIST-”

Jester interrupted him, “Blah, blah, blah, I’m soooo powerful!” he taunts “Hahahahahaha, yea right! You are only powerful if you have big guys green light, if not you're as useless as a major in philosophy, nothing more than a thought!”

I speak up, “Hey, a major in philosophy isn’t completely useless! It’s good entertainment when you're bored and you are trapped in a room with nothing to do but think.” Jester made a so, so gesture with his hand, Akuma shrugged, and Alpha just did breathing exercises.

Alpha took a really deep breath, and exhaled, “Why Dust? Why do you encourage him?”

I laugh, “It pisses you off.”

“Plus I’m good! I don’t cause him many problems, and I help him have fun without having to resort to building something or integrating others for knowledge! I’m his friend instead of his crutch. Unlike you and Akuma, who just cause him problems and grief!”

“HEY! Don’t put me in the same league as the god wannabe over here, at least I make an attempt to be quite!”

“Haha, but it always fails doesn't it Akuma?”

“It’s not my fault that everything is infuriating and so easy to get rid of!”

Alpha pinched the bridge of his nose, “It’s because you can’t stand stupidity, yet you're the dumbest out of all of us, correct?”

Akuma grunted, “Yea, but you're the most unliked out of all of us.”

Jester laughed, “Good one Akuma, next up is the third grade comebacks, right after we finish our current kindergarten edition!”

Alpha retorted, “At least I don’t act like one!”

I put on an expression of uncertainty, “I wouldn’t exactly say that…”

“Well who are you to talk, we are in YOUR head!”

“That only means you are an unfinished product that is missing parts, while I am the finished product, which means you are not as perfect as you think you are.” I retort with a smug grin. He just turns his back and crosses his arms. I decide to get to the point “So why are all of you here right now, you only do this when you are concerned about something, like with my past student that harnessed electricity, and the dark mage who I later befriended, along with a few others, but that was usually only one of you, not all three, what’s going on?” I get rid of the mirrors and standing their were ethereal versions of the reflections. I went through Akuma and walk down my prize room to find what I was looking for.

They started to follow me, and they all were silent as I walk over to a set of rings. One I got as a gift from Chaos, and the other is from Harmony after I… killed her. I put them both on. Chaos on my right, this ring being made out of solid mercury that was colored copper with black obsidian chaos emblems embedded around randomly. Harmony is on my left, This ring being just pure angelic silver, very plain, but the unique thing about it was the raw harmonic energy it gave off. If you are wondering why I am putting these on, it’s for my students safety. Mana comes in one form and it is turned into different types. If she takes in pure mana, like what I have flowing around here, she could end up converting it incorrectly under stress and cause backlash that could end up doing permanent damage to her inner current (which is a lot like your circulatory system for your body, except this is in your soul.) and once she leaves that room, she will drop dead. Don’t want another dead student on my consciences. I hear Jester cough to get my attention.

“Dust, we are worried about you on this one. She is different, all jokes aside.”

Akuma then spoke up, “She is the daughter of two, not one, but two Entities!”

Now Alpha comes in, “Plus, you are getting a little bit too close to her too quickly.”

I walk over to a shirt made of hide from the hide of a black arts dragon. It can nullify all magic. I will wear this because my attention will be preoccupied with her mind to focus on protecting myself. “Your concerns are meaningless. I will be fine and so will she. So what if she is the child of Chaos and Harmony? I will still be on top if things go wrong.”

I could feel Jesters smile, “Or if they go right~” everyone else sighed.

“And to address my romantic feelings I have towards her, I know those are dangerous, but maybe it’s time… I mean I have been alone for a while, because of my fears of outliving a partner and possibly hurting them if I break dow… when I break down. But having a partner could have benefits, like not having to talk to myself and having someone to help me when I do break. Also maybe start a family and finally give Virgil a mother. Another good thing would be I could settle down an-”

All three interrupt me and say at the same time, “You know that last part is a lie.” they all deadpan.

I sigh, “I can dream that one day i can beat my addiction to learning everything.” I summon my jacket back on to me. “But I really feel tha-”

Alpha interjected, “You would be marrying into the entities Dust. You would have to see them on a regular basis Dust. You would end up breaking even quicker as a result, no matter what you do, no matter how advanced you are, and no matter what you learn or how much power you obtain, even if you did the ascendant spell, you're still human Dust. You already ignore your age because knowing that alone would send you over the edge! You will be their end, and they know it.. only a few of them can even interact with you without trying something to get rid of you! Plus Death is so cryptic, saying you are one of them, when you don’t even know why! He is most likely against you as well, and you are just too blinded by the knowledge he holds and could give to care if he is trying anything!”

I turn around and look at them all, and notice Akuma has a sad and soft look on his face, “We are not meant for love Dust. Bounding with others… we are not meant for it. That student you call friend bonded with you and came out more fucked up than he already was, and that is saying something. We are meant to endlessly wander until… well whatever happens, happens. WE, can’t change that fact… not unless someone else tries to do it for us, and forces us. Pandora is a sweet girl, and she has a lot of potential, but you should wait, she if she is strong enough to handle you, do this for her safety. You owe her that.” he ends with a sad smile as he fades away.

Jester pats my back, “But remember you're her teacher before her lover, ok? Don’t make any more moves unless you are outside of this room.” he then walks a few feet before fading away.

I look over at Alpha he just shakes his head, “Even though I disapprove of it, go. Do what you're good at, the only thing you can beat me at, your job! Go, teach the spawn of both Harmony and Chaos, and the scattered remains of a former Alpha Stigma.” he made a go away motion with his hand and disappeared.

I stand there and think on what they said… and I shake my head and laugh. I walk to another stand that held a robe as white as an angel's feathers, undr it is a plaque that reads ‘Robes of Eris’ I grabbed it and folded it into a square. I make my way to the door and leave this room, when I walk out the hallway was back to a ten by ten room, with the door to the room Pandora is in opposite to me. She should be done by now. You see time in that room passes much quicker than outside of it. It’s been about a week for her in there. Good thing I included a mini fridge with food and a cot for her to sleep in. The waterfall should be good enough for her to bathe with, if she did her work she could easily make soap for herself. Also she could replicate her food supply along with change them into different forms. I just hope that Sparky and Clockwork were enough company to keep her from going crazy from no outside contact… maybe I should have included an A.I unit to keep her company… No matter, but I do wonder one thing. I smile.

“I wonder if she hates me yet?”

Author's Notes:

Hey everyone, new chapter, and their wasn't a ridiculous wait period for it either, woo, progress! Next chapter will be fun, I can't wit for it because it will describe and show the process of lesson one... plus someone shows up at the end, but I won't tell because spoilers!!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

- Dontaskaboutit