Mages And Dragons

The Creature

Being rushed to class I almost tripped and skidded down the hall and into my next class; Mathematics. From what I learned, Semora has just the same sort of core curriculum as us human beings that live on the crust of the earth. The other classes, Dragon Training, Pyromania, I guess also fit into the core classes, seeming as they were important in learning about myself and Jinx. The door swung open with a swoosh and, without thinking that the door would open in its own, I skidded and halted to a stop in the entrance of the classroom. My legs contorted in awkward positions so they allowed me to stay put, the class and professor turned their attention towards the sudden interruption. The only thing that moved, in that span of few seconds, was Jinx, who hovered next to me, lazily flapping his wings.

The Professor, a man who was tall and thing like a skyscraper, and on my schedule was called Professor Sybil, tut-tut-tutted at me while shaking his head.

"Ah Amy, always being late aren't you?" He shook his head at me again in disappointment. "What's your excuse now? Busy talking to cute boys again?"

Jinx puffed steam out of his nostrils rapidly, obviously chuckling.

"Wait how did you-?"

"Excuse me, did I permit you to speak?" Professor Sybil whipped out a metal pointer and began to tap at the wooden board to the far left of him. There, engraved in the wood, were the "Class Rules", or so it had been titled. Under it were eight bullet points with a handful of writing next to each. The first bullet point just so happened to read "Do not talk unless permitted to do so". The expression I made obviously did not please him, because after I gave him a bewildered look, his eyebrows pushed together and his sea foam green eyes began to pinken around the ends of the sclera.

The only thing I could do in this situation was straighten up, apologize deeply, avoid eye contact and find an empty seat. The only thing available was a seat in the middle of the third row of lab desks. Awkwardly shuffling to said seat, I hastilly took out what I thought I needed. Panting, it took me two short moments that I literally had nothing prepared for this class. At this point I could assume my face had become cherry-red. I let out a huff and took a moment to figure out what Professor Sybil had been saying and try to take it down to memory. I heard a soft ssssiiihhhsss sound to my right, only to realize a red notebook slid next to my arm. My eyes glanced up. A girl sat straight in her chair and looked forward, arms crossed and listening intently. Her black hair strangely complemented her violet skin well and accented her peacock-green eyes.

"Thank you" I whispered to her. Her response was a side smile, without moving her position.

Producing a black pen, I quickly started to scribble down what was on the board, half-hearing what Professor Sybil was saying.

"...Will give you a ten-point deduction to your homework average. Miss a homework three times and you have yourself a 70 average for the semester, and so on. You will not have a chance to," He made an effort to use both hands for his air quotes, "'make up' homework. If you were irresponsible doing it the first time, I'm damn well sure you'd be as irresponsible, or succumb to cheating. Which leads us to my third point." He picked up his metal pointer and tapped a bullet point on the board that read "No Cheating" in bold letters. "I am a firm believer of everyone getting the answer on their own. That means that cheating on tests, homeworks, etcetra, is strictly prohibited. And don't think that you can weasel your way in doing so. I'm sure your other teachers have their own way of preventing such plagiarism. I too, have my own." He stalked to the right corner of the room to a golden cage fit for parrots. He dragged a stiff finger down a thin bar until he reached a lock system, in which he unlatched and let what was in the golden chamber, free.

It left a smokey trail as it and its companions fluttered from the cage. Students gasped and looked around to trail the animal's movement with their eyes. The one I had fixed my own eyes on perched on top of a faucet near the row I sat in. Looking at it closely, I noticed that the being was some sort of bird, with mammal features. It was black like a raven, but had the face of a monkey, with sharp teeth that glistened with saliva. It had legs like a bird, with additional arms near the torso, much like a person would have. Five fingers on each had was complemented with black nails sharpened to kill. Its black beady eyes surveyed the room; so dark that it took me a while to figure where they were. A grotesque thing, for sure. Professor Sybil made a wonderful choice in choosing this creature to keep us from cheating.

Everything was silent, until someone had decided to make a comment. "That thing is so ugly! How is it supposed to keep us from cheating? Spit at us?" A girl from across the room inquired with a voice that made my teeth clench. Maybe it was the fact that it reminded me of those girls from school on Earth. The memory of them was so faded, I realized. Forgetting my previous life on the Earth seemed as easy as it had been getting to Semora...

"Well, Ariel, since you rudely interrupted without my leave, I will answer your question anyway, with a demonstration." Professor Sybil grinned, raised his right arm and made a quick snap with his fingers. One creature from across the room screeched, projecting spit as he did so. It leaped from its perch and towards Ariel. She squealed and screeched from fright, almost matching the pitch of the creature's. It circled around her head and started pulling on her perfect brown hair, screeching every time it did. Its companions soon joined at the fun, flying in from where they rested and began to taunt and bully Ariel. Her screams came to no end but the creatures' screeches outdid hers. They pulled at anything their claws could latch onto; not enough to create physical markings, but enough to put the victim into seemingly endless torment. Ariel's frantic gestures proved fruitless in her attempts to escape. From where I was sitting, she looked like she had an agitated nest on her head, that tangled and tore at her, never ending its havoc.

When Professor Sybil deemed it enough torture, he snapped his fingers again, and just as quickly as the creature attacked, it flew to its master. Perched on the professor's shoulder, it quorked and murmured something in it's beastiary tongue. The professor nodded, stroked its wings lovingly and walked to its cage, where he gently placed the delicate thing back in his confinement. The creature screeched a complaint, but soon enough joined the rest of its species.

"Was that a demonstration good enough for you all?" The professor inquired. The entire class nodded nervously on cue. "Good. I'll be expecting no more interruptions during this class starting now."