"True," Daniel said as he pulled Lotus to her feet. "We should avoid the snack table. I think Phora did something to the food." He embraced her and whispered into her ear. "Unless, of course, you feel like partying like you fight..."

Maximilian was taken aback by Evelyn's uncharacteristic fragility and found himself quite uncharacteristically lost for words.

"I'll stick around for a bit, I guess..." Maximilian paused and carefully looked over Evelyn's elegant cream grown before tugging on the collar of his drab school uniform.

"I'm a bit underdressed to be at a place like this though, I hope that's not a problem."

He blinked and stared for a second, before his lips curled into a smile, matching hers. "Sure thing." He took her hand and nodded, slightly considering that perhaps she'd come out of this alright after all.

Lotus was surprised by Daniel's sudden intimacy. She liked it then she thought about what he said. She shoved him away "Wait...What do you mean like my fighting style?!?" Lotus was mainly doing this to scare him. She knew she could be reckless. She giggled and pulled him back.
"I'm just kidding." She said softly.

Idelia began to feel stare after eating her cake. She looked around as the room began to change colors.
"Something's not right with this cake." Id said to the giant flying pig sitting next to her.
"I mean, like...I dunno...It's just weird. I mean try it. Just try it President Porker." She handed the flying pig a slice of cake. "You should share it with Purple Dinosaur too." Id said as she motioned towards the T-rex.
Id was just being nice to the animals around the room. In reality however she was just walking around insulted various people by calling random animals. Finally Id came to Miss Rachel.
"Hey, I never thought an elephant would be able to fit through the door." She stared at the elephant in the room. It looked mad but she couldn't tell how she knew it was mad. it began to mess with Id's eyes before speaking.
"Idelia, You need to go home and go to sleep." The elephant said with its surprisingly light foot resting on Id's shoulder.
"You're right...I'm tired, but I'll need Ego's help to get there." Shortly after summoning her bird Id began to leave the ballroom with a big roasted chicken flying guiding her way.

Daniel shuffled about awkwardly, feeling the effects of the ether energy. "My muscles feel like steel. I want to throw a dinosaur or something." He returned the hug carefully, knowing that he could easily shatter her small frame at the moment. Pulling away, he looked around the ballroom. "After what just happened, I don't really want to watch these poor souls try to dance while full of pixie dust." Still, he wanted to study the properties of the substance. "Let's go get a sample of the stuff, and then I'll show you how to make a potion."

Logan’s face was practically glowing with heat. Too flustered to speak, he simply stood beside Bernice, ruffling his hair as he gazed out into the banquet hall. He had just confronted literal demons and made it out unscathed, yet one sentence from this girl had him immobilized. Her blissful unawareness almost made it seem as if the danger everyone had just faced was no more than a far-off dream. Suddenly the Scot realized that Bernice kept him grounded. She was his tether to the real world in all of this crazy, supernatural stuff he was going through. Without even trying, she was already doing so much for him. Guilt crept into Logan’s mind. Despite their coinciding interests, the two could scarcely be more different. What could someone like him possibly offer her?

“Let’s dance.” It took a second for the boy’s brain to catch up with his mouth.

As the children enjoyed the festivities, once again, glittering confetti began to fall from the roof of the hall. Silver flakes, dusting every surface, and reflecting the flashing lights from the stage as they floated in the air. For a moment, it brought back the memories of the ordeal that they had gone through: the horrors of possession; being trapped in another dimension; an entire building possessed by a demonic dragon. Here they stood in a room, defenders against a realm unseen; their friends and classmates laughing, completely unaware of the dangers that faced them. Tonight however, the gifted ones – The Omnivident – would forget these things. Tonight, they would forget the lot which destiny had given them. The Winter Ball was theirs to enjoy.

~ CHAPTER 4 END ~

Winter, Wednesday 14:00 (2:00 PM)
__________________________________________________________________________

The crisp winter air seemed to emulate the freshness of the new year at Arclight Academy. The first week following the winter break was quite animated due to the absence of formal classes. It primarily served as a "re-orientation week", allowing the foreign students to resettle into their dormitories, and providing many of the school's clubs to open their doors again to the student body. For most of the students, the week served as a time to catch up with their friends, but also an opportunity for the students who had newly arrived to get accustomed to the school and integrate themselves into the community.

Of course, the Darren Archive Club, ever exclusive, was one of the few clubs that did not open its doors to new members. Surprisingly however, it had managed to maintain a relatively low profile over the past year. This was in part due to a rumour that floated around the school regarding the club being haunted, and also due to a few persuasive measures made by Miss Rachel through her own abilities. They had been fortunate enough to leave those who were not touched uninvolved with their supernatural matters, and she hoped that it would continue that way.

Casually leaning on a desk, Miss Rachel looked over the room of students. She could not stop herself from smiling, for she had to admit, she was very proud of them. It was also quite heartwarming to see how full the room had become since they first started. Their last adventure played a major role in bolstering their ranks. It was an experience so significant, that touched every single omnivident individual in the school. It was the reason why Fiona had decided to officially join the club, and it saw the timely arrival of Li and Adi once more.

Unfortunately, the event did have its negative impacts. August and Dom, both possessed, were left quite shaken by their experience. They understood the magnitude of their abilities, and appreciated all that they had learned, but they recognized that they could not continue fighting demons, spirits and other supernatural phenomena. The basics of their abilities under control, they both left Arclight Academy: Dominic heading to a dance academy in New York; and August to a school in Los Angelos with a notable cooking program; both thanks to the references provided by Miss Rachel. Still, the team she had now was reliable, and Miss Rachel was looking forward to facing the new year with them.

The room grew silent as three girls entered the room. It was quite an odd event, as the door never opened for strangers thanks to Sir William. Slowly, the eyes of the club members turned to Miss Rachel, who smiled innocently as they waited for her to explain who these people were. Only Alice seemed to know who one of these girls were, which allowed her to put two and two together.

"Well," said Miss Rachel while clapping her hands together "Now that the new members have arrived the meeting can commence!"

"Everyone, allow me to introduce you to Alyx, Heather, and Janet"

Alice waved to the new girls excitedly. "Hi," She said. "I'm the club president, Alice, and these are my totems." She pointed to Sorbet, who was curled up in a ball on the desk, and Phora, who was staring at Heathers with her mouth agape.

"You... Where have I seen you..." The pixie said, as if searching her memory. She hopped off the desk and hovered over to Heather, and began to sniff her hand. "Hmmm..." She said suspiciously.

Daniel watched the strange scene apprehensively, before addressing Lotus. "Heather and Alice look pretty similar, don't you think? "

Id looked at the girls. Her eyes stopped over Heather, there was something about her that she hated. Id couldn't quiet place her finger on it and then it hit her. "Wait a second! WHY DO THEY GET A SPECIAL INTRO?!? WHERE'S MY INTRO?!?"

---

Lotus was just getting out of her depression that was winter break. Attending a funeral wasn't how she had planned her winter break to go. When the others had entered Lotus remained looking downward at the sword in her lap. It was her usual katana but it had a whole new meaning. It had been her father's that he had used and passed it onto her when she left for Archlight. Now with him gone it only reminded her of him. She was mad at herself, She would've taken her training more seriously if she had known he wouldn't be here much longer. While she was in thought she managed to catch Daniel's question.

It made her think of people comparing her to her father. She couldn't hold it back any longer she began to quietly shed tears. They fell and made a small splink noise as the hit the un-sheathed sword. Lotus didn't even lift her eyes from the sword, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

---

Heather found herself buried in yet another dictionary reading through the countless information it supplied her. She walked to school drinking her usual Yuanyang. She glanced up to she the schools entrance. She buried her glasses into the book again as she walked through the hall. She had memorized the schools layout from the map she was sent so navigating it was pretty simple. After some time she found herself sitting outside Miss Rachel's office waiting to see her.

She stopped reading quickly looking at the page number before closing the book and looking around. She could see students walked around, but she could see a world no one else normally could. She stare at the bright blue lines that connected one another as relationships where made. She couldn't help but look at the ones forming attached to her as others took notice of her. She reached out and plucked them hearing a soft tone as they rang much like a guitar sting. They were quiet beautiful.

"Excuse me....Heather!"

Heather snapped out of her trance to see Miss Rachel standing outside her office gesturing for the girl to go inside. Heather stood and walked inside but not before inspecting the room did she sit. She glanced around at the cluttered desk and saw several student profiles. Alyx, Idelia, Janet, Evelynn, Alice, and Her own where just a few she spotted. Without asking or hesitation she opened Alice's. Miss Rachel quickly closed it.

"Heather it's not polite to look at other's profile with permission." Miss Rachel said in a motherly way. "Now I will let this one slide since you didn't have time to go through it."

Heather chuckled she already learned what she needed. Alice's age, surname, grade, her Arte, and most importantly that Alice's status read-Alive. Miss Rachel had begun a lecture about the rules of Arclight and other general stuff everyone that read the handbook would know. So Heather turned off her hearing aids and went back to reading her book.

After the meeting was over she met with two other girls as they all were being lead to the club room. As Heather walked and read she memorized the path the took. She stopped reading again only this time to question a ghost.

"So..uh..Sir William was it?... How do your internal organs function? I mean do they? They don't need to....I mean I assume your imitating breathing so that we humans are less scared of you. Or does thing like you need to breathe? You know what, How do you feel about dissection? For education purposes? And would you allow me to dissect you and see your organs?" After which she switched her hearing aids back on and awaited a response.

Sir William quickly opened the door before vanishing into thin air. Heather shrugged before continuing her book, She walked down into the room. She stood there reading as she was introduced. She heard some mumbling and annoying buzzing beofre she snapped the book shut.

"Well that book didn't end quiet as I expected." She said as she tossed the dictionary to a nearby desk.

When she looked around she began to see the flares of new relationship lines forming. The rapid flashes began to hurt her head. Heather quickly reached into her backpack and dug through the pile of book until she grabbed some acetaminophen. She took the pill with the last bit of her Yuanyang. Afterwards she noticed the small pixie.

"Who would've thought that fae creatures identify people with scent? Interesting indeed." She reached into her pocket and retrieved a small notebook and began writing down Phora's actions as well as some quick sketches for later reference. Heather began to poke at Phora.
"Interesting soft like flesh....Aggressive aren't you?" She said as Phora swiped at her. "Now pixie, Do you have the same organs as humans? Do you even know? Can I dissect you to find out? Purely for educational purposes I assure you."

"..." Phora said nothing as she continued to stare at Heather. Tossing around the word "dissection" in her mind, she concluded that Heather thought she was a frog. "I'm a Pixie. I do the dissectioning."

Heather chuckled "I will remember that for future reference." Heather noticed a rather bright line of relation. It was leading from her to Alice. Heather stopped and began to look over Alice. Taking mental notes. She noticed the small red ribbon in Alice's hair.

"After all these years you still wear that ribbon." Heather said to Alice.

Alice looked confused. She tilted her head and responded. "Uhh... Of course. Without it, my dear totem can't appear."

Evelyn's patience was wearing thin already in the new year, though she was too tired to show it. She was still adjusting to her present timezone after travelling around Europe while on holiday. It also didn't help that she now shared a room with Bernice, the two had stayed up for the first few nights catching up. Bernice had spent the winter in Brazil for Christmas while her mother took a brief reprieve from the South American leg of her global tour. (Apparently her latest album "Z You Later" had blown up in the Latin continent.) Evelyn was truly happy that she now shared a room with her friend, even if she could no longer idly float about her room as she studied. Even now, she sat comfortably between Logan and Maximilian, the two whom she counted among her friends.

Nevertheless, the prospect of adding three new members to their already established group was not helping to maintain her positive disposition. These were yet three more individuals who would have to learn how to control their abilities;three more individuals who could prove to be a liability; three more individuals who could end up in danger. She forcefully stopped her train of thought, remembering how she had behaved in the prior term, and tried to give the new girls' arrival a more positive spin. Sure, they were all new to their abilities, but now that there were more of them that were trained, certainly the training of these three would go a lot more smoothly. It was a bit forced, but she could make herself believe it.

Without waiting for any other further introductions, Miss Rachel led the students into the s****. (Most likely surprising the new arrivals with the secret entrance as it appeared in the wall.) Stepping into the s****, the children took note of the very drastic changes in the main common room. The lights in the room were all dimmed, and candles lined the walls. In the centre of the room were twenty podiums aligned in a circle around a raised altar with a large fire in the very middle. Each of the twenty podiums bore a silver bowl filled with stones that had been polished to a smooth sheen.

Silently, Miss Rachel reappeared wearing a white hooded robe. Clasped to the neck of the robe was a beautiful brooch depicting an image of a sun illuminating rays of lights in eight directions with a blue diamond in the very centre. It reminded the students of each of their own brooches that they had received earlier.

"Welcome children," she said in a sombre tone "Due to my gift, I inherently know what gift each of you possess, and in my haste I skipped over what I believe to be a very important tradition. It is a bad habit I have, as do most of my kin, so I am remedying this now in the new year. Those of you who already experienced this ceremony with Mr. Albright are already familiar with the Rite of Choosing, but for you who have arrived this year, I will explain."

"The one gift that each of us are born with is omnividence, the ability to see the unseen. That does not necessarily mean that one will always develop an arte however. In fact, many people go throughout their lives without exploring the fullness of their potential, or choose to ignore it altogether. Still, each omnivident individual has a penchant towards one of the twenty artes," at this, Miss Rachel slowly swept her hand in the direction of the twenty podiums, "Some of us, due to our environment, or even our heritage, express an arte naturally; for example, Spiritorum disciples have usually had a near-death experience, and Oraculorum disciples are all descendants of Matutinus."

"This however, is not always the case, and so, the Rite of Choosing was created by our forebears. In antiquity, an omnivident individual would step into the ring, approach one of the twenty podiums, select a stone, and throw it into the altar. The fire will then reveal a vision, indicating the arte. This is the most important part," Miss Rachel's voice hung in the air, "If the individual desires to become a disciple of the arte that they have seen, then they may pursue it freely. However, the act of choosing is beyond the interest of the mind, and the desire of the flesh. No, the act of choosing must be done with the spirit to truly be successful."

"You see, an omnivident individual can technically learn any arte, however only one arte truly resonates with their spirit. This specific arte works in harmony with their spirit, and has the greatest potential for growth and efficiency in use of spiritual energy. Choosing the "wrong" arte will not prevent the individual from manifesting it, but they pale sharply in comparison to those who truly belong to the arte," she winked "And before you get any bright ideas, an omnivident individual can only ever manifest one arte, neither can they switch between any other artes they may have studied in the past. Don't ask me why, probably some mumbo jumbo spirit stuff for the higher ups to ponder about. Personally, I think the spirit has to actively adjust to each arte, but that's just me...."

"Now!" she said turning to face the three girls "I'm sure your artes have begun to manifest themselves slightly in certain instances, and while I know what your artes are, you need to find out what they are yourselves. Each of you, look deep within yourselves, choose a stone from one of the podiums and throw it into the fire to choose your artes."

A limousine had drove up and parked in front of the school gates. The driver had emotionlessly stepped out and open the trunk of the car. He had pulled out cheetah-print suitcases and plaved them in front if the rear door of the limo. He then opened the backseat door and Janet had hesitantly stepped out. Her long blonde hair had flew over her shoulder as she risen from her seat. She was wearing a denim jacket over a black and white striped dress with black thermal tights and black heeled boots. Without saying a goodbye the driver got back in the car and sped off. Janet had nervously looked at her suitcases, and then turned to the school. "What an ugly place." she thought to herself as she popped a bubble of chewing gum.

She was greeted by a teacher upon entering the school patio. The teacher introduced herself as Miss Rachel. "Those shoes totally make her ankles look so fat." Janet thought in her head. She had placed her hand on her elbow. Miss Rachel then led the girls to a wall. A secret entrance had then opened. The girls, Janet included were surprised.

"Cool" Janet said. The girls were led to a wide spacious room. Podiums circled the room with a rock placed on each of them. We were told that we all have omnividence. We were then instructed to grab a stone and throw it into the altar in the center of the room. Janet was sorta nervous, she thought this was one of those cult groups. But against her instincts Janet had picked up a clear stone. It looked more like a jewel than a rock. She then proceeded to toss it in the altar.