Aurrea sighed, within the mental scape of the heart, she looked down on Rio, not curled up into a ball anymore and looked almost peaceful in her sleep. It almost made Aurrea not want to wake her chosen up, but keeping Rio here for too long would damage her more. The white space crackled with excess energy, and Aura concentrated on absorbing the excess again. With enough energy, she could modify her spectral form enough to offer her physical speech. And perhaps let her paws react with the ground beneath her instead of needing to constantly float.
A small flicker of flame emerged from the heart, before bursting forth into existence, revealing the red glowing body of the large fire dragon. The heart floated to where Aurrea's own chest would be, many glowing lines like veins growing from the heart and fading into her own body. A spectral paw gently rubbed the gem, her eyes glazed and distant. Then, the dragon's eyes steeled themselves, before her body shrunk down to a half form much like Rio's. Unlike Rio's more feral, hunched over, battle scarred form, Aurrea was void of heavy muscle or blemishes in the crimson scales, with a wild golden mohawk of a mane, and stood straight and poised. A pair of wings dragged behind her, and the spirit walked down the halls before reaching the rest of the students.
With a beat of her wings, purely out of instinct, Aurrea soared above student's heads before growing again into a dragon, laying on her belly in the very front of the assembly. Her neck snaked into an S shape, like a swan's, her eyes flickering over the crowd. A calmness washed about the room, it's source being the aged dragon lounging in the front of the room. "Students and staff," Her mouth moved, and her deep voice rang clearly.
"I know some of you do not see me often or have not seen me much at all. Normally, I am nothing more than a mere imp as a few thousand years I was cursed into that form and banished here. I am Aurrea, and I am the very source of our headmistress Rio's power. I've called you all here because of recent events that have not been revealed to those outside of a select few who have fought very recently." The dragon heaved a tired sigh.
"Thousands of years ago, a rare dragon known as a Titan and his mate of whom was a phoenix had a child. That child was me, born of two creatures of strong fire magic, natural power flowed from my veins. Over the years I grew, both in beauty and in power that I did something nearly no mortal could obtain, my power matched that of an elemental. Even after I achieved this power, being showered with worship and praise and adoration, I still lacked companionship. Thinking I needed another being of impressive might, I found a tribe of beings well versed in the ways of all things spiritual. This was when I met Viiper." Aurrea smiled faintly, though it was quickly replaced with a look of pain.
"Viiper was the most powerful creature of any generation his tribe had seen, able to connect with the spirit realm and walk with them. I thought I had found what I had been missing, and Viiper became my rider. I brought him with me to countless places, exploring and sharing with him the wonders of magic. But, Viiper was young, ambitious, and hot headed. He was always frustrated he could never harness much of the magic I told him most other creatures could harness with years of practice. He was too infused with his own inherited magic for his body to absorb any more. I will spare you all the details, but he did the unthinkable. From a Titan dragon, he stole a heart." She then pointed to the topaz like stone sitting in her chest.
"Magic, when stolen, corrupts itself as a defense mechanism, eventually killing the user. But Viiper was clever, using his connection with the spirit realm to counteract the affects. In the end, he wove a lie that my elemental powers had ceased to satisfy me and that I had killed one of my own to gain more power. That was when I was banished, and Viiper, his mind slowly fading, followed as 'self sacrifice' to ensure I remained where I belonged. In reality, his mind had slowly become more thirsty for power, and since I was now defenseless he figured he would take my heart after I was banished.
He did not expect for me to be sealed away in a temple guarded by magic. It was then I waited for thousands of years in fear, before humans opened the temple. A little fourteen year old girl, forced to live with her crazed mother in a lab, tried to hide my heart in fear that her mother was after it after ranting about an all powerful artifact. Hours after touching the stone, when she touched it again my heart and her were fused into one. This girl, a little more than 250 years ago, was Rio.
It was shortly after this that Viiper, powered by a Titan's heart and gifted Titan's incredible lifespan, rose to action. Rio and I, working together after... conflicting, defeated him and retook the heart. It was then we met Sky, and after spending years bonding we opened this school, and hid Viiper's heart beneath here in the caves, where the earth spirits would drain its energy. We couldn't destroy it knowing that the explosion of magic would be the equivalent of setting off a nuclear bomb, we hoped this would be enough. However, we were wrong, and though he is dead and the heart shattered, Viiper returned today."
Aurrea looked over the students, taking in the gasps of shock and worry, yet no one murmured above a whisper, too invested in the old dragon's words. She continued, "I think you all know what that means. Rio purposefully shattered our heart in order to destroy Viiper. But this all began when Viiper gained enough power to reanimate himself by using corrupted magic, in the form of tar I'm sure you've all seen, and killed 25 students, who I will say now, were foolish as they deliberately disobeyed the rules on exploring the caves without permission. Using those corpses, he also summoned a demon, who I know was fought by some of you in this room. Next, came the hellhounds, killing more students until I was kidnapped and dragged underground. This in turn, made Rio fall terribly ill as the corrupted magic was not longer kept at bay by mine. She ventured into the caves alone, but was corrupted and turned into a demon under Viiper's total control as a way to torture me before taking the heart. Now I will say this now. Students who were put in pods who did not return, are indeed dead."
Then the gasps broke out, some collapsing upon realizing a friend or loved one or even family member, was gone. Aurrea quickly spoke up again while she still had their attention, and the students calmness, "I ask you, that even with this shocking knowledge, that you do not speak of it outside this school. It cannot reach the outside world, and I can understand if some of you are angry, but please listen to my reasoning. This school is the only one of its kind, the normal, powerless human world knows nothing of it. Those who do are sworn to silence. If the government concerning supers hears of what has occurred, this school will be shut down no question. But here is the problem:
I know none of you will deny that you do not have control over most if not all of your powers. Imagine if you have no place to practice and learn in safety. Damage will be done, students living in fear, thinking they are monsters, humans thinking they are monsters. Super's getting slaughtered for showing even the slightest abnormality, children turning to villainy because they have been raised thinking that power means they are evil. By the time another school is opened, this event will still make everyone too fearful to join again, only worsening the cycle until society itself collapses and wars against one another. I've seen it happen in other dimensions! They have never recovered, only died off, slowly and agonizingly."
Aurrea's head lowered, sounding as if she was panting and most certainly was exhausted. "We cannot loose this school, even though with what happened I would have shut this place down too. But the risk of losing this place is too great, and I know personally that there is no more Viiper's. Without a Titan's heart, no super villain could ever hope of being as powerful as Viiper or Rio. Yet Rio is mortal, as displayed by destroying Viiper, she is currently in a coma, her essence stored inside the heart until I believe it is safe to awaken her. I know our 200 year anniversary was planned for tomorrow... but instead we will hold a vigil for all lost students. So none of you will be seeing your parents this year after all. And again, I stress to keep this away from the real world, but if you must tell your parents if keeping this secret is too emotionally taxing, let me know so I may speak with them. I'm sure that we all know human parents are prone to overreacting."
"And so... rest up if you can, the nurse can administer small doses of medicine to help induce drowsiness. Tomorrow will be a day off, but this is a school, and classes will begin again. That is all..."
