Luminary Institute

54: Five More

“F-Five more...” Nyssa mumbled in her sleep as Celeste set her down in a sitting position against the training room’s wall. 

“Nyssa, you need to wake up, we’re starting the new round,” Celeste squished Nyssa’s cheeks, marveling at how soft they were. “I can’t let you sleep for five more minutes. We only have a fifteen minute grace period.” 

“F-Five more days...” Nyssa’s eyebrows furrowed as Celeste continued massaging her cheeks. At this moment though, Angelica set off a blaring alarm in the training field, startling Nyssa back into the land of the awake. “W... What’s going on? Are there monsters attacking us? Huh? Wha?” 

“No, Angelica’s just... trying to get you awake,” Celeste coughed as Angelica gave her a thumbs-up from the training field’s entrance. After pulling Nyssa to her feet, Celeste took a second to explain the rules Angelica had set before dragging her to join the others, who had now begun their war preparations. 

“So troublesome...” Nyssa mumbled as she kept a tight grasp onto Celeste’s hand. Her eyes widened, though, once she noticed the rest of the team digging into the ground with shovels. “What can I help with?” 

“Hmm... do you have a transformation that can help us dig?” Albion asked as he directed the construction efforts. “Ryker, can you blow up that area over there to soften the ground? Then Titus and Conrad go in and dig a trench. Electra, with the extra dirt can you pack it into bricks for us to build a wall? I’ll use my ice to supplement.” 

“I actually do have quite a few transformations good at digging, it just depends on scale and shape needed to be dug,” Nyssa furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to recall the encyclopedia of transformations she had created while younger. 

“That’s great, we just need something that can excavate wide trenches if possible. Keep it relatively within reason if you can to save some energy, that’s how your powers work right?” Albion handed a shovel to Celeste. “Celeste, can you help Titus and Conrad?” 

Celeste nodded and ran off as the large screen on the side wall of the training field fired up to life. It displayed, in glowing red numbers, the countdown Angelica had set. 

“Yeah, my powers just use a steep energy tax to account for anything that couldn’t exist normally,” Nyssa answered before asking Albion to point out the areas he wanted dug. Once clear of the area, she jogged off. 

It summed up to... a giant moat. 

Easy enough.

Nyssa looked back over her shoulder to check her distance to everyone else. After taking a few more steps to move far enough—at least by her own metric—she closed her eyes. One deep breath later, she disappeared, and in her place sat a car-sized worm head. Plated with metallic carapace, the worm’s head gleamed under the training field’s artificial lighting. It lacked a mouth; instead, its face came to a drill-like point. Blade-like appendages jutted out from its head in all directions to form a sort of flower. 

With no time to waste, she demonstrated the most unique part of the transformation. The front part of the worm’s head began spinning while carving into the ground. Starting from the ground by one wall, Wormyssa began a slow semicircle. Dirt flew outward in a constant stream as she dug forward. 

“What the hell is that thing?” Ryker paused, taking a few steps back to let the bladed monstrosity rotating at blender speeds pass by him. Looking towards the others, he fell silent as everyone else seemed as stunned as him. “W-Well, our digging is coming along nicely...” 

“You can say that again,” Electra leaned on her shovel as Wormyssa made slow but steady progress in her moat. “It’s pretty deep too. All the loose dirt or... dust? Or whatever this training field is made of can be used to make a wall or some traps.” 

“But what... what is that,” Ryker repeated, his eyes bolted onto the digging creature. “Where did it come from? Did she dream that up?” 

“Just ask her afterward...” Conrad patted Ryker. “My system told me it's actually only the head of a creature.” 

“That’s... not reassuring,” Ryker mumbled as everyone else let out sounds of agreement. “Celeste, you gotta know something.” 

“Nope, nothing at all,” Celeste wiped a little bit of sweat off her brow. “I’ve seen the same amount of transformations that you all have. The one she demonstrated when she first joined the class, the bird, a human disguise, the ones she used when we all sparred, the frog from earlier, and... obviously, the cat. There’s probably a few more, but I don’t quite remember off the top of my head.” 

“Human disguise, huh,” Ryker shook his head. “I don’t think I was there for that one, but... good to know for the future.” 

“Chop, chop, as our democratically elected leader, I say we should get back on our work, we only have eight minutes left,” Albion mimicked Angelica and clapped his hands. Sat atop a throne made of ice, he smirked as Conrad gave him the middle finger. “Sucks to be you, but I’ve already completed the foundation for an ice castle. I have it at the ready, the moment the timer ticks down, the entire thing will appear.” 

“So, take the extra shovel that was for Nyssa and start digging then,” Titus smiled, flexing his arm. “And for some reason, I seem to recall that you seized power like a tyrant... but if you were democratically elected, surely you’ll listen to the voice of the people right? All of us would love to have you join us to dig.” 

Albion fell silent. He tapped his chin. He brushed his hair back. He took a quick glance at the graduate students. A haunted fortress made out of bone greeted him. They had, somehow, turned their entire side of the battlefield into something like a graveyard... 

“Fine, I’ll help,” Albion relented after a second of hesitation. Jumping down from his makeshift ice throne, he took the shovel off the ground and began digging. 

With three minutes left, their fortifications had been completed, Nyssa had finished digging her moat—and transformed back—and Albion had snapped his ice castle into existence. Ryker, regenerating after having detonated a hand, for everyone to sit down. “Get some rest, we have a handful of minutes left.” 

The moment they all sat down though, he turned to Nyssa. “So... what was that transformation though? Conrad said it was just a head. What’s the whole thing?” 

Surprised at the sudden question, Nyssa blinked a couple times before shrugging. “Just something I made up after a nightmare when I was younger. The full thing is a big worm. It pretty much looks like the head all the way down. Then, each segment spins in opposite directions as it burrows underground or attacks people. I don’t use it much, though, because it's a little clunky in normal combat. However, it’s really good at... you know... blending up monsters.” 

The rest of the group, at this point, could only fall silent. Ryker, still stupefied, just shook his head. “I can... see how that might happen...”