New Opportunity - OPEN

    For a moment, Adrian suffered the physical drain while, somewhere far above, the Antient declared its presence to the entire island. The pillar of fire would be hard to ignore with how much it had illuminated the Academy. Worn, Adrian hunched over with his hands on his knees, attempting to keep his head clear as Kestrel ran up behind him. He gave her little consideration, his mind had recently become occupied. At times like these, when the Antient had consumed so much, and yet demanded so much more, Adrian felt as if he could sense the binding tether where his physical energy was being drained from. It remained a vague feeling, one he could not wholly visualize or comprehend. Maybe, if he could just focus on it, he could...

    "Watch out, you idiot!" Adrian echoed, lunging from his resting state to Kestrel's aid immediately. The connection to the Antient had been severed inexplicably, granting Adrian a sudden awareness of the woman's plight. He instinctively slung an arm around Kestrel's waist; one foot shoved through the searing threshold as Adrian twisted and pulled, rolling his counselor over his body to carry her out of the super-heated stairwell. The momentum of his own body would have carried him back into the hallway, too, but the rubber of his shoe stuck in place, tripping him and causing him to stumble. With imbalance and a serious drain on his body, Adrian fell hard, collapsing in place. "God, f-..Nn.."

***

    Feeling itself gathered and free, the flame stretched out skyward in its own magnificence, failing to heed the ember's reply. The words came as merely indistinguishable gibberish, a mortal's poor attempt at communicating with a higher being. Descending with mock fury, though now truly elated, the phoenix blazed over the werecat, passing dangerously close in a raw attempt at causing greater agitation. A searing wake of hot air trailed behind it as the bright flame aimed for the vast wood of the island's namesake.

    Severed.

    The feeling had not gone unrecognized, though the Antient still failed to comprehend its source. The distinct lack of intangible fuel meant that its fire would quickly fade. It had to root itself into something physical before it could extinguish. Abandoning the animalistic shape, it appeared like a bolt, streaking across the sky in a desperate attempt to reach the treeline. But the wind pulled flames away and without sustenance they died, rapidly diminishing the Antient in its pursuit. At the last moment, as heat peeled away and wisps of flame drifted harmlessly into the air, a glass-like sphere revealed itself from the midst. Tree bark mocked the Antient's attempt at survival as the sphere shattered against it and promptly dissolved.
    Power fled, but to follow were memories, thoughts, sensations, and feelings. Ripped apart, the Antient suffered a terrible misery as it witnessed its own self ripped away into nothingness. Its consciousness ceased in half a second, but that moment felt as if eternity. Then, truly, nothing remained, but for the searing heat and wreck in its wake.

It appeared as though the culmination of just about everything had begun around Sandra, which was too fast and too much for her to process in one sitting. Her blurred vision and spacy mindscape made the ordeal all the harder to comprehend. In the span of a few seconds, the boy transformed as he had been warning her he would. She couldn’t quite understand what it was he changed into, but it wasn’t something that she’d be able to shrug off as she could the walking and talking fire elemental. Whatever it was probably couldn’t survive through a fire better than Sandra could, so her movements were toward the engulfed staircase. Of all places that was the safest.

She heard a voice call from the scorching room, which probably signified rescue better than anything else had previously. “Yeah, there’s some crazy shit going on up here too!” she hollered back down the stairwell. She wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to keep this up, she was combating against blacking out ever since she first got the ring around her. For such a weak figure she was keeping up quite well. Her attitude was probably the only thing stopping her.

As Sandra waited for a call back from whoever it was racing up the stairs, a strange feeling pulsed through her body. The power hula hoop rung around her body disappeared and she could feel the heat in the stairway to the point where it was almost burning her skin. It was a strange sensation for her, so she backed away frightfully. Fire was no longer her friend, so where else could she turn too? Her powers turning off only secured the dreamlike atmosphere she had already been hypothesising. However, given the way things have been going such a wish being granted to her seemed like it was too good to be in whatever nightmare state this was.

The werecat had been truly rampant this time around, for the frothing of saliva gathering in foaming pools at the corners of his gaping jaws and constant, irregular spurts of roars ripping through his vocal chords every now and then. His misdirected rage welled up within his heart and sent adrenaline pumping violently through his veins, curling his long claws into the pavement as best as a feline could. Utterly bewildered by the brilliance of the dancing flames about him, he began to retreat backwards slightly, swiping at the air with disconcerted grunts and snarls. However, it wasn't until the avian, fire-consisting creature neared a bit too close for comfort that Chase became utterly manic. The flames had singed the edge of his unruly mane, causing even the minuscule quantity of heat and sparks to send him into a catastrophic episode of roaring and clawing furiously at his head, despite the slight burning sensation elicited from placing his widespread paws directly upon the embers. Basically, he became a yowling, frantic demon, tearing at his luxurious mane in agony, his tail swishing irritably from side to side.

It wasn't until a great gust of wind, or at least, that's what Chase thought it to be, swept across the rooftop, driving the beast skidding backwards atop the stone, his claws scraping against the cement with an unpleasant screech as he attempted to latch onto the ground for stability. However, the unnaturally powerful breeze had stunned the simpleminded werecat for a brief expanse of time, his lion-like skull swiveling warily from side to side to ensure his safety in the situation. Flames still remained and licked at the area around him, and the girl that once possessed an illuminated sphere around her waist appeared to have been neutralized, or at least, didn't glow anymore, to the beast's relief. But, that didn't quell all of his worries, for before he knew it, he was releasing those savage, guttural growls and snarls once again, distracted by the luster of the fire around him. Once again gripped by the animalistic desire to try and eradicate the unfamiliar substance, he emitted an outcry of dominance directed to the formerly stubborn girl and the flames, as if they could both somehow respond in a language the imbecilic werecat could comprehend. As he tried to assert himself, the once living fire creature had dispersed into the air and almost seemed to explode with a  combustive pop of sorts, or at least, that's how Chase interpreted it with his dimwitted perspective. The shouts echoing up from the stairwell caused him to take a few steps towards it, bellowing once more in an attempt to intimidate any opposition, as any natural predator would. In all honesty, the creature was trying to establish himself as the most powerful animal within the other human's radius, however although he was a bit confused about whether or not he was actually succeeding, he was foolish enough to continue blindly.

However, that was no ordinary wind. Within an instant after beginning to cry out, Chase felt himself begin to undergo the agonizing pain of shifting back into a human, his bones and ligaments snapping and reforming into smaller structures. Gradually, the fur that had sprouted all over his body began to shrink back into his skin, along with his elongated snout, increased height and wild mane that once framed his skull. But, Chase had anticipated this, and despite releasing excruciating screams of pain, he was able to fumble and grab the shreds of his clothes placed strategically at the sides of the rooftop, tying them swiftly, from experience, into a long loincloth consisting of both the cotton of his shirt and the long, strips of jean material coinciding with it. It had plenty of holes, but it covered what needed to be covered. With this odd, misshapen garment reaching right above his knee, Chase appeared almost similar to Tarzan, with a fit, well-toned physique and the jungle-style loincloth. And, since he was incredibly weary from the transformation, he'd finished this task fairly quickly, before anyone could see him completely nude. The young man lay on his back then, unable to exert an ounce of energy even to stand or see if that girl was all right.. At this point, Chase didn't really know if he cared.

Kestrel didn't get a chance to dwell on the pain when her student forced her out of the stairwell. She landed heavily, since her rescuer fell on his way out of the stairwell, and she hit her head on the stone floor pretty hard. A gash on her forehead opened up and she saw black spots on her vision for a good five seconds while she tried to sort out what was going on.

"Yeah, there's..... up here...." Somebody had been shouting from above. Kestrel pushed herself upwards, ignoring the searing pain in her palm from where she'd burned it. She looked down at Adrian for a moment, not comprehending much except she needed to be doing something. Andy prompted her next movements, talking her through the things he knew she'd want to do if she were more clear-headed.

First, she carefully turned Adrian over (having to remove one of the offending shoes still stuck to the floor) and checked to make sure he was still breathing. Then, considering that his clothes couldn't protect him for much longer against getting burned on the stone that still carried some heat, she tucked her arms under his and dragged him out of harm's way.

Andy took over her voice for the next part, in a move that was surprising in that he didn't take advantage of it and that he only took over her voice instead of her entire body when he could have done the latter relatively easily. "Stay put if you can. The stairs are still too hot to use! How many of you are up there? Are you injured?"

Martina had all intentions of going up to the roof now to figure out just what was happening exactly, all of those thoughts went out the window though as a sudden faint feeling fell over the woman's body. Since the headmistress had used so much force to send her power up to the roof to stop what was happening, the sickness that started to effect her was a lot worse than she had expected. Seeing black around her eyes, the woman felt herself loosing consciousness. It took all but another minute before the headmistress collapsed into the grass that she had been standing on - losing consciousness for the time being.


[ooc; Consider this my exit from the thread unless someone happens to find Martina.]

    The instant he had hit the ground Adrian felt the sharp twisting pain in his leg, but by now, with merely seconds passing, the pain had become an indistinct, but tender, throb. He might have been content to lie there if not for the hot stone floor attempting to scald him through his jeans. But, before he could even do anything about it, Kestrel decided to help. A lightning strike of pain shot up his leg in reaction and he visibly tensed, but refused to make a sound.
    Still well aware of the lingering heat in the stairwell, Adrian shut his eyes tightly when Kestrel turned him over. The tiniest flame could reignite if he became conscious of it, and although not a single spark remained, Adrian could not take that risk. Further, he did not know whether his mere awareness of a potential fire would be enough to doom them both, so, without bothering to consult Kestrel, he raised his head and slammed it into the hard floor.
    Twice.

    Adrian's body went limp, becoming numb to the pain and dead weight in Kestrel's arms. Unconscious, there would be no way for the Antient to resurface. At least no one had died.

Sandra’s body slammed into the outer door frame. Her body was feeling like giving in fairly soon, so she needed whatever strength she had left to keep herself from fainting then and there. The blaring heat from the stairwell didn’t help her position fairly well and if she still had her powers it wouldn’t have been that much of a big deal. She was certain that some part of her body got burned in her brief moments within the inferno, but she was nearly numb to pain at the moment. As well, her vision couldn’t allow her to see the world as any more than a flooded whirlpool of fuzzy blurs.

The boy appeared to have shifted back from his bestial form, Sandra could hardly tell but the behaviour of switching from roaring his dominance to taking a nap gave her a clue of that. Unless of course he transformed into some confused puppy. “Of course, I gotta do everything myself” she groaned quietly. Out of the two of them, one would think that the guy with the bigger build and possibly athletic background would be the one with more energy and sheer will-power. Nope, the girl who could get winded after a twenty five meter jog bested him.

Sandra listened closely as another voice shot back up at her. She turned her head into the source room for the flames. “Two, there’s only two of us! I think we both might have some minor burns, I can’t really say for sure though! I think the other guy might be passed out!” After the feeling of her loud words bounced out of her mouth, she began to slowly slide down the wall she was leaned against until she touched the floor. “I’m gonna… I’m gonna just sit here for a bit” she spoke, exhaustion dominating her tone. Her eyes flickered, but she refuted them from closing completely. She couldn’t pass out, not just yet.

Having not heard the previous conversation from the stairwell, Chase was a bit confused when Sandra began talking, but he was capable of making an inference when she spoke. After a few moments of collecting himself, he rose up slowly and painstakingly, his eyes flickering towards the girl to reassure himself that he wasn't imagining her voice in a haze of weariness. Wanting to contribute to the conversation in some manner, Chase spoke up, his voice hoarse and considerably darker than before, "I am unharmed." He was only able to take a couple of steps in the girl's direction until the exhaustion swept over him once again, causing the young man to stumble upon his knees. His body was drenched in sweat as he felt the beasts' devastatingly evident discomfort and frustration well up within him, but it seemed to be sealed off from that supernatural gust of wind. And, although his intentions had been fair before as he neared the girl, the sound of her heartbeat seemed to amplify itself into his eardrums, causing him to recoil from her and place his hands over his ears with a muffled groan.

The tantalizing noise only further urged the beast to stir restlessly within him, like a tiger pacing anxiously in its cage as it awaits its next meal. Chase dearly hoped that someone would arrive to either sedate him or separate him from Sandra, seeing that it wasn't a pleasant experience having to fend off the ravenous monster within him. His muscles and bones continued to ache terribly with every movement he made, however he forced himself to at least remain on his knees to keep himself conscious until help arrived, seeing that he wasn't sure if the beast would strike while he slept. If nobody was able to get to them soon, he feared that he would give into the disgusting urges coursing through his mind, instigated by the werebeast lurking within him. The rare taste of human blood spilling uncontrollably into his mouth and sliding the warm juices down his throat.. As grotesque as it may have seemed to anyone else, the young man often was faced with this temptation daily.

Kestrel's eyebrows shot up when the boy in her arms knocked himself out with more willpower than most students would be capable of. "Tsk. She lowered Adrian's torso down when it was clear he was out of harm's way, then made her way back towards the stairs.

"Sit tight! I'll go find help!"

About three minutes later, Andy returned with a youngish-looking staff member with a little bit of scruff, who was also several inches shorter than she was. He looked at the steps and slung his djembe over a shoulder. "I get this," he told Kestrel, his dark eyes grim. He was wearing reasonably sturdy shoes and gear that looked like it was meant to survive much more than just a fire.

They were joined quickly by Caroline, who had changed in order to follow her brother (err... half-brother's half-brother) up the stairs. She asked Kestrel abruptly, "Is this student okay?" A question to which Kestrel only had to nod tersely before the woman ran up the stairs.

Both of the staff members arrived on the roof in a rush, trying to avoid spending any more time in the ovenlike stairwell than necessary. Jaime knelt down by Sandra and asked her, his accent thick but articulate, "Any injuries?"

Caroline, in the meantime, frowned as she looked around. The boy seemed all right, if a bit... ahhh... underclothed. "What happened?" she asked the boy, trying to get an idea of how big the incident report would have to be.

Sandra did as the staff member had commanded her too since all things considered she couldn’t really do much else. Her expression was more void than previously. Between this and her adventure last winter, this came a close second to her most exhausting experience. Only difference though, she did a lot of running then.

The faded figure of the boy was up and about once more, though the blurry colours of him suggested he was rather cloth-less. Perhaps her temporary blindness was a blessing in disguise after all. “Yeah, after you took a fucking nap…” she mumbled under her breath after the boy expressed his health. She didn’t want to get the boy or his beast all riled up again, so keeping her comments to herself was a must.

Soon enough, the teacher’s word came true as a team of two teachers came to their aid. Two was better than none. Sandra couldn’t really make out either of them appearance-wise and neither of their voices were familiar either, but who they were didn’t matter to her. The one with the accent approached her. “Uh, I might’ve gotten burned. Does being tired as shit count?” she answered, her voice sounding dreary. Her unclothed stomach had a bit of a scorch mark, but it went unnoticed by Sandra since she hadn’t been burned before. A rogue flame had stung her in the brief moment she was within the burning stairwell.

All at once, a pair of staff members seemed to arrive quickly at the scene. Of course, this didn't aid him in the fact that he involuntarily yearned to hear the blood rushing through their veins, however the assistance overall was appreciated, seeing that he wasn't as likely to cause damage to someone so long as the more powerful staff was present. Chase glanced his eyes up at the woman that had chosen to approach him then, his pupils dilating as her pulse became all the more evident to him. "Right now may not be the.. The best time to ask those sorts of questions. I'd be more than willing to offer.. Offer some answers, however at the moment.. It may be best that you either sedate me or contain me in some manner," he replied, his hands still clutching his head in a final attempt to keep the beast at bay, "I don't know if you have.. Have any records on me, but I'm Chase.. Chase Thorne." Rather than outwardly telling the woman he was fending off a restless werecat, he preferred that they didn't announce it in the company of others, hoping that this method of simply knowing his name would suffice.

It seemed that Sandra had only endured a burn, which was no issue for Chase. As long as she didn't sustain anything fatal, his conscience was completely void of issues. Chase then continued to speak, finding that it was one of the few activities that could preoccupy him from dwelling on a seemingly inevitable transformation later. "I don't want.. Want to harm anyone," he said, trying to edge a polite tone into his otherwise stiff voice, "And although I'm not sure about.. About what subdued me before, I.. I am not confident in its efficiency lasting over a prolonged period of time." The young man cast a wary glance up at the woman, then to Sandra, unsure of what would transpire next. Hopefully no more catastrophic occurrences would meet them upon the roof, for that would be the last thing the blue-eyed boy needed.

Caroline was worried about what Chase had to say. "If you can hold it back long enough, there's a room you can use for the time being. The student it belongs to is... away for now. I've read your file, Chase." She glanced at the stairs, dark eyes even darker due to what could have been anger... or anxiety.

She shook her head and said, "I instructed Ms. Harris to go get a ladder. We'll have to sit tight for that. Just focus on me." With that, the distracting sounds of their surroundings began to fade out, like a radio slowly being turned down.

Meanwhile, Jaime said to Sandra, "I can heal that, but it is not immediately dangerous. There is a student downstairs who might have a concussion. Can you make it to the infirmary once the ladder is here?"

---

Andy was getting tired of doing stuff for Kestrel. After the other staff members disappeared up the stairs, Kestrel's eyes stopped glowing and she reeled on her feet. She knelt down briefly to move Adrian into the recovery position, calling for any remaining staff members not occupied in taking care of the other students. Then she went to go get a ladder.

Briefly, she let herself mutter something about the custodians not being around when they were needed. Then she went to the most likely place. Sure, send the new person to look for a ladder. What was she going to do when she found a ladder that would reach the roof? Carry it outside? The very idea was laughable.

No, what they needed was a fire escape from the roof. A single set of stairs was a ridiculous concept, even for a place as old as this.

In the end, with several students unwillingly enlisted to help, the ladder was set up next to the building. She yelled up, "We've got it! Come on down!"

Sandra’s head felt as hollow as a husk, yet heavy as a lead weight. It was a feeling that she wasn’t unfamiliar with, in fact ti was a feeling she usually got after her usual discharge. Having so many in a row added up pretty quickly, though now it was more noticeable since her mind wasn’t as focused on not dying. Her head bobbed around as she listened to the male sounding staff member.

Sandra didn’t quite know how far away the infirmary was from their location. Given what she knew so far, even if it was located just around the corner she could barely walk a meter before collapsing and that was with her walking as carefully as she could. “Man, I can’t even walk. Whatever muscles I did have gave out like ten minutes ago. I… I guess I could try though…” her tone sounded beaten and tired, nothing that inspired too much confidence. As much as Sandra could take advantage of her frailness, concussion trumped fatigue.

Sandra’s arms crawled up the side of the wall and used the grip her jacket had against the rough brick to pull himself back onto her feet. Her eyes squinted in an attempt to correct the blur of her vision, but it only slightly helped. She still couldn’t see well. Her feet scuffled as she began her way over to the ladder, only being able to notice it because of the slight bit of the object peeking over the edge of the roof. “There isn’t a fluffy snow bank I can just fall into on the ground is there?” she questioned with a sense of unease in her voice.

The werecat listened with all of his might to the woman that spoke to him, attempting to obey her orders and focus in on her words. He managed a grateful nod at her offer, speaking quietly, "Thank you, I'll do my best to contain it." He didn't want to say anything more as his hands coursed through his hair in a desperate attempt to rid of the almost nauseating sensation of the beast pushing at his limit. It was an incredibly unpleasant experience in itself, so the moments before he underwent the transformation were unbearably worse due to the inevitability of the event occurring. Chase's lucid, blue gaze followed Sandra closely as she was instructed by the larger man to approach the ladder that now stood for the duo to exit through. He would've preferred using the stairs out of convenience and how simple it was to maneuver himself to descend them, but a ladder would require a bit more concentration. The young man emitted a sigh of exhaustion, having to comply with this despite his futile hopes.

He watched Sandra curiously as she requested to simply fall down upon the ground rather than take the ladder. In some respects, he agreed with her, seeing that she appeared incredibly weak and incapable of performing the easiest of tasks. However, it was almost assumed that it would be impossible, but surely Chase didn't want to be the one to tell her that. Instead, he followed behind her silently, having risen up slowly and kept his hands glued to the sides of his face to force down any signs of transformation as they occurred. He would take as long as he needed to prolong the moment when he'd have to take the ladder himself, so following in suit behind the girl didn't seem like such a bad idea.