Snippet #2534801

The sound of ceaseless chatter pervaded over the classroom as a wave of culminating voices. Students, eager to begin the new year, talked amongst themselves, exchanging ideas and stories alike. The new year found them in the class taught by Thaddeus Cael Ardelean himself; Mandragora University's dean and head of the Ardelean Society. It was the fourth year for this particular group of aspiring Hunters. It was a small group, consisting of only twenty candidates.

Statistically speaking, only five of them would make it through the year to graduation. Whether loss of nerve or life was the determining factor in their failure was yet to be seen. However, that was not to be a topic of discussion amongst themselves. Instead, the anticipation of what awaited them in this class got the better of their more superstitious natures; some students began outright taking bets on guessing just how many thousands of vampires Thaddeus had personally dispatched.

Their idle talk did not subside even as Thaddeus himself strode into the room, a pair of Slayers trailing behind him, both men wheeling in a large apparatus covered by an ornate purple drape. Rolling the mysterious object to the right, the Slayers unloaded it from the dolly they had rolled it in on, the pneumatic components in their power armor granting them to lift the strange mass.

His eyes scoping the faces of the aspirants before him, Thaddeus cleared his throat with a forceful grunt, silencing the room with nary a word spoken. It wasn't a large room, after all, and didn't harbor many students, so he needn't put forth much effort to command the attention he wanted from his pupils. Besides, he was well aware of how intimidated he made the entirety of the student body feel, and decided it was best to use that intimidation to his advantage. Once the room was silent, he was able to initiate the lecture.

"Today," he began, "We will be studying the poltergeist." Looking around the room, he saw a hand in the front row shoot up immediately, its owner a young man Thaddeus recognized and knew all too well; Michelangelo Ketch. He was a snobby, narcissistic piece of work to be certain, but intelligent. What he lacked in humility and grace, he backed with brains and wit. Thankfully enough, though, he'd gotten reports time and again that Michelangelo didn't know nearly as much as what the boy thought he did, having been shut down by at least three of his professors after attempting to hijack their respective lectures with his own well-organized, albeit flawed, studies.

But this time, Michelangelo thought he stood a chance; a chance at undermining the Thaddeus Cael Ardelean. Anyone as young and proud as Michelangelo would relish at the prospect of such a feat. Thaddeus, in turn, decided to humor the boy and let him have his fun. "Yes, Michelangelo. You have something to say?" A smile crept across the young Hunter-aspirant's face as he stood. Straightening the tie he wore around his neck, he spoke, "But, sir, if I may be so bold, we've already covered poltergeists. Two years ago, in fact, and I still have the entirety of The Anatomy of the Apparition, Vol. III memorized." He continued to stand, that coy smirk playing across his visage as if in triumph.

Thaddeus returned his own smile, stepping aside and outstretching his left arm as he did so. "Then by all means, child, teach us what we don't know. You can start with this," he concluded, gesturing towards the still-shrouded apparatus the Slayers had carried in. Michelangelo beamed mightily, his heart leaping in joy. He'd finally achieved his objective; to upstage a professor and take charge of the class.

Stepping up to where Thaddeus had been standing, Michelangelo addressed his peers. "Well, for starters, I suppose we should know what's under the curtain..." With that, he removed the purple cloth, only to reel back in fear and fall on his ass. Behind the curtain was a cylindrical apparatus, a top and base made of metal, with an airtight seal in the center of the upper portion. The middle was entirely plexiglass, covered in runes that served to keep in check the entity within.

Inside of the holding chamber was a malicious spirit, visible only because of the runes that entrapped it. It was a specter unlike any of those these students had even read about, simply because this one wasn't of mortal origin. This particular spirit was actually demonic in essence, having crossed the border into the material realm. Presently, it sought to rend Michelangelo's flesh from his very bones, smashing painfully against its cell.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is a vengeful spirit. Their process of origin is largely unknown to us, but we have many theories. This particular spirit was caught trespassing in our plane, having found its way from what we can only describe as hell." He let that sink in, watching as Michelangelo scurried back to his chair, slinking down low and cowering.

"Unlike your typical spirit, we've devised that these demonic entities are composed of an otherworldly energy, dubbed ectoplama, as opposed to being comprised of the energy and elements found within us via the Big Bang. What's more, ectoplasma does not register on an electromagnetic field measurement apparatus, making the task of tracking them rather difficult as they do not emit white noise radiation as their 'cousins' do..."

Looking around the room, he saw many eager faces, Michelangelo's cowering tremble notwithstanding. 'It's going to be a good year,' Thaddeus thought.