Spirit's Ascension

Cole’s chest beat increased faster as he felt the shadow around him slowly receding.

"Roaoorrrrr," a feral roar rang out, shaking the whole room that Cole appeared in.

The shadow receded with extreme speed, and soon enough Cole was finally able to get a good view of what was actually going on.

But seeing what was actually causing the noise didn’t seem to lessen Cole’s fear in any way; it can even be said to have increased it by large amounts.

Accompanying that fear was an almost equal amount of shock. Cole was shocked to see that the source of such a feral roar wasn’t any form of Life beast.

Instead it was a human just like him. At least it could be said to have been human, but now, Cole couldn’t say what it was anymore.

"Shocking, right?" Cole suddenly heard a familiar voice say from not too far away.

"Fourth elder, what is that?" Cole quickly asked, unable to contain himself at all.

"That is the current anomaly we are currently noticing all around the academy,"

"Students are randomly transforming into these things, and we can’t seem to find out why."

While the fourth elder spoke, Cole’s mind was already veering towards another part of things.

"It looks just like Micheal when he swallowed that crystal, but this one looks like it had completely lost control."

Control was something that was extremely important in the Spiriters’ world since it is the dividing line between losing yourself completely and vanishing into the world and sanity.

"You are probably wondering why we brought you to see something like this, but it is a test that would help a lot."

"But how?" Cole asked.

"Did you feel any sort of reaction when you first appeared here?" the fourth elder asked with a gentle smile.

That question immediately made Cole remember that moment. He got over it so quickly because it was so fleeting and it didn’t result in any trouble.

"Yes, I did," Cole responded while nodding earnestly.

"Thank you, It is confirmed then," the fourth elder said with his eyes turned to Isaac.

"What is confirmed, elder?" Cole asked.

The instant they heard his question, both Isaac and the fourth elder smiled dryly.

"I guess it isn’t a problem if you knew you were deeply involved in all this," the fourth elder finally said in defeat.

"It is confirmed that Quinox is involved."

Cole immediately nodded since he had already made that conclusion the instant he saw the full appearance.

"Why wasn’t it confirmed earlier?" Cole asked.

"Do you really think Quinox is the only organization that uses methods like this?" the fourth elder asked.

"Aren’t they?" Cole asked in shock.

"No, they aren’t; the Spirit world is more dangerous than you think," the fourth elder reminded.

Cole stood in his Position and slowly nodded his head, making sure there wasn’t any way for him to do anything about it now.

"What is going to happen to him now?" Cole thought, and before he could ask, he heard the elder speak up.

"He will be kept with the others,"

"The others? How many of them are there?" Cole asked with a dreadful face.

"This is the fifth case we have had in the span of a week; we really need to take care of this soon," the elder said.

"Alright then, you may leave."

Cole felt extremely uncomfortable when he was told to leave so suddenly. He had grown quite interested in this matter since it involved Quinox.

Before he could raise any form of resistance, he felt Isaac move close to him, and then they slowly began meddling into the shadow.

"No no, I still want to stay," Cole said in rebuttal.

But Isaac didn’t listen to him; he just kept mute and used his ability.

In no time, they were back in the room in the health center.

"Try to take care of your situation first before trying to do something for others," Isaac said before leaving.

Now Cole was left alone in the room with a high level of reluctance. Sitting alone in the room, Cole couldn’t think of anything more than the students’ appearance.

"What is Quinox scheming now with the students?" Cole thought.

He looked at the situation from multiple angles, trying to make heads or tails of what was actually going on right now.

But all seemed to be for naught; nothing came to mind that could be the answers to all of his questions.

"I think teacher Isaac is right; I really need to focus on my situation first," Cole said to himself.

"But how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"I have no idea whatsoever on what I am supposed to do at this time."

"No direction at all."

"Cole, think, think," he shouted.

Unbeknownst to Cole, the head nurse had sometimes entered the room and had been sitting in a corner watching him talk to himself.

"This is a nice habit," she thought while nodding.

"It can help him move higher in the path as a spriter," she continued.

Soon enough, Cole finally grew silent enough. He was now sitting on the bed he previously woke up on with his hands on his head.

"I think I need to talk to him," she said while standing.

"Ignorant fool," she shouted at Cole.

Cole was startled by her shout, resulting in him taking a battle-ready stance.

"Funny kid, do you think you can do anything if I wanted to kill you laughable,"

Seeing who it was, Cole quickly let down his guard and proceeded to sit back down.

"Tell me what’s wrong. I might be able to help."

Hearing that, Cole didn’t hesitate at all; he just began pouring out the details of his dilemma. Hoping to get a new outlook at things.

The head nurse made sure not to interrupt Cole; she only listened patiently, and after a while, he was done speaking.

"So what do you think I should do?" Cole asked the head.

The head nurse didn’t immediately reply; she only maintained her thoughtful expression.

Time flew by, and eventually Cole grew slightly impatient, but before he could say anything.

"I think I might know where you should start from."