The IGSB Storyline

2nd Arc: Flames Upon

A week had passed now. Venus had gotten used to everything but, she had to attend some sort of class, she heard it was "A Prior Knowledge Test", she never really got it.
She entered the room and sat down in the nearest seat she could find. It was filled with many people. Then, she saw Pluto who sat next to her surprisingly. Mars didn't seem to be anywhere.. but then appeared Mars who was sitting at a table beside them. It felt awkward, just as a grey-haired professor walked in and started to talk to them.
He cleared his throat. "Well hello, fellow IGSBs, some of you guys may know this. However, I get that some of you are new so this is a recap of what you need to know."
He said, Venus saw him sip his coffee.
There were other IGSBs in the room too. One was sleeping, she wanted to ask Pluto who that was but then, she couldn't risk it. Pluto probably didn't like Venus. And neither did Mars, another IGSB looked angry, maybe that was the 8th IGSB Pluto mentioned.

Venus sighed. Mars looked uninterested and he put his hand up.
"So, what are we learning about? I'm not interested in the chemical formula of dark matter-energy. Mars said, the Professor chuckled.
"Mr Erskine, we aren't learning about that. I hope you all know about Monarchs, I wanted to make sure you guys are all well aware of the 1st Monarch's awakening." He pointed to the projection and then started speaking, Venus looked a bit shocked. He was a professional, Pluto was just nodding her head at everything, and the 3 other IGSBs seemed to be listening.
"So, today. We're learning about the largest threat in our world, Monarchs. I'm sure you all know what a Monarch is, if not. I'll remind you." Said the Professor.

"Monarchs are abstract beings which we all know are born from the Descending Space Tree, for a Monarch to form. An entity known as a shadow will search for a human host, it must have at least 2 traits of the expected criteria, they must be willing, weak-willed, human of course, and vulnerable. This helps the shadow have easier access to the mind, eventually. The brain will send signals as warnings, causing the shadow to use that as an opportunity to take over the host. The human will fight back, however, due to the shadow's emerging power, it'll eventually lose its mind becoming a true Monarch." A silence overcame the room before Venus put her hand up.
"So, why are Monarchs born?" She asked curiously, Pluto stared at her as if she was stupid.
The professor answered, "What an excellent question Miss Minci! Well, many say it's a punishment for humanity, or humans being punished for their sins and actions."

Venus looked shocked.
"But anyways. Let's get onto the actual subject, the 1st Monarch. The Monarch of Flames." The professor said showing an image of a short medium figure which appeared to be the colour black, the outfit couldn't be seen, but there was a prediction of how it could look.
"That is what we predict the Monarch of Flames could look like, we can't predict every single detail of its look but at least its body." The professor sighed.
Pluto stared at the image in interest. Mars also seemed interested.
"Here's a picture of it, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask." The professor said.

Venus had no questions, this new Monarch was.. making her quite curious, the urge she had to ask about it. However, her curiosity faded when Pluto stared at her in an annoyed way. "Did you have to ask such a dumb question?" She spoke in an annoyed tone, Venus looked at her hands before replying, "The professor said no question was stupid. I think my question was relevant." Then she realised Pluto wasn't staring at her whilst she was talking, she was looking at something lower..? Venus lifted Pluto's chin and said, "I'm up here." Pluto jumped from Venus's tone, and then cleared her throat, "Yeah.. yeah.. I know. Just stop asking questions, that guy's a total maniac." Pluto mumbled, before getting up and walking off, what was that all about? Venus thought to herself, then Mars walked up to her. "Heya newbie. It's not every day we see each other!" Mars spoke in his smug tone. Venus blinked and stared at him, he looked down at her. Their height difference was almost palpable. "You plan on doing something? Or are we simply going to stare at each other?" Mars said, breaking their prolonged silence. Venus simply walked out the classroom, she felt Mars' gaze following her as she walked away. But she didn't care. No one could necessarily affect her.