St. Michael's University (IC, Open!)

[Rudaslavia]

OOC: http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=312751

Welcome to St. Michael’s University!
Berrington’s heart of professional, social, philosophical, and religious education…

August 20, 2014
St. Michael’s University of the Heavenly Crusade
Berrington, New York

GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG!

The gorgeous Victorian church bells of St. Michael’s Cathedral rang loudly over the whole of the university campus. With their ringing came the ignition of the fall semester of 2014. It was no later than 8:00 AM, and the campus of SMU was already full of life. The light of the sun illuminated the beautiful Berrington Valley. Nature was truly everywhere. It was a stunning sight which marked the school as one of the most physically attractive colleges in the country.

Outside, many students gathered in the courtyards of the Central District. Some strummed on guitars and sang musical lyrics of peace, love, liberalism, and faith as breakfast was served to the residents of the dormitories. A variety of nuns, all members of the Sisters of Holy Conservatism, patrolled the campus grounds in search of any slight rule infringement they would find. These women, the majority of them between the ages of 40 and 70, stayed true to their vows of conservative customs. They each wore full habits – a practice which had nearly grown obsolete during the early 1990’s. The Sisters were a stern and rule-abiding organization. They were the notorious peacekeepers and guardians of St. Michael’s University. The nuns on campus were feared for their merciless punishments. It was better to follow the rules than risk being caught breaking them.

The LeRoy Football Field, resting upon the southernmost border of the Northwest District, hosted the Angels’ first football practice. On the track which outlined the field was the entire cheerleading team. Stereotypically beautiful and buxom, the young women spouted cries of team spirit while sporting rather…suggestive uniforms that completely disregarded the strict and traditionalist dress code of the administration.

“St. Michael! St. Michael! Strike them with your blade! Cast them into shame! Go Angels! Go Angels!”

Male students often gathered on the outskirts of the field to gaze upon and admire the striking cheerleaders, and this morning was no exception. Before long, however, several nuns shooed the mesmerized spectators away.

Discussions were everywhere. Student cliques divided themselves into small groups across the Districts – nerds, jocks, hipsters, “gangsters”, musicians, theatrical comics, veterans, writers, foreigners, and every other faction one could possibly imagine. It was something out of a movie. This was university life in its purest form.

The first lecture was about to begin. The class, Study of Spiritual and Scientific Natures, was required to be taken by every SMU student (regardless of their majors). The course was taught by locally renowned Dr. Leonardo Vieri – an Italian professor from Rome whom was venerated for his intellect and ability to relate to his pupils. The morning class was to be held in Lecture Hall 8C, on the third floor of St. Mary Hall in the Southwest District.

Four freshmen, Elizabeth Constantine, Robert Helms, Rory Callahan, and Sydney Lawrence, were amongst the 180 students that were scheduled to attend.

[Walabam]

August 20, 2014
Lawrence Estate
Berrington, New York

Sydney grabbed a piece of bread, stuffing it into her mouth while she tried to shout an inaudible 'goodbye'. Her mum had wanted to drive her to SMU, because, after-all, it was her first day as a freshie. Sydney had put this offer into consideration, but given possible the traffic situation there, she preferred taking the bus. Her bag had been packed the day before and all she needed to pick up now was her beloved skateboard. Petting the family dog, Sydney rushed out the door, skateboard in hand and guitar strapped to her back, before skating her way towards the bus stop, making sure to greet every neighbour she sees on the way.

It did not take long for her to reach the bus stop. The bus stop was, for some reason, extremely quiet today. There was no one at the bus stop; not a single soul. Sydney was worried that she had missed the bus, but she knew it wasn't the case as the friendly town bus driver would take effort to arrive and leave on time. Sydney shrugged, given her positive attitude, she assumed the bus hadn't came yet. She set her bag down on the seat, before stuffing her in-ears into her ears, selecting some calm music for the morning.

SCREEEEEEECH.

The sound of screeching would normally be annoying, but for Sydney, it wasn't annoying for today. It was the bus' worn out brake pads that had produced the annoying screeching sound. Sydney greeted the bus driver enthusiastically, walking to the rear, preferring to leave the seats for the needy, even though there were plenty of empty seats. Sydney continued to engross herself in the lovely music while the bus driver set off towards SMU.

24 minutes later

SCREEEEEEECH.

Once again, the bus came to a stop, right outside the St. Michael's University. It looked gorgeous, but it was nothing new to Sydney. She had been here with here parents several times, whereby her parents were invited to perform at the prestigious university. Sydney alighted from the bus, welcomed by the cold morning breeze. She put on her Ray.Ban aviators, before skating her way to the location where the first lecture was going to be held. "St. Mary Hall. Here I am...no wait, I'm not...or am I?" Sydney scratched her head as she tried to figure out her location on the campus map. It was clear by now that she wasn't good at topography.

While looking around her surroundings, feeling lost and whatnot, Sydney managed to catch a glimpse of a group of sisters walking past her. "Sisters!" Sydney shouted loud enough to catch their attention.

"Yes?"

"Uhm...hi. I'm a freshie. May I know where this is at?" Sydney questioned while she pointed at the map.

"Oh, lecture hall 8C? It's on the third floor of this building," uttered one of them as she pointed.

"AH. Thanks a million! God bless!"

With the correct directions, Sydney now skated towards the building, trying to avoid the huge crowd while she did so. "People! 'Scuse me! Skateboard coming through!" Sydney skillfully maneuvered her way through the crowd, towards the stairs of the building. Without much delay, Sydney shot up the stairs, arriving on the third floor in a flash. Tugging her skateboard under her arm, Sydney now headed towards Lecture Hall 8C.

"Hello everybody! My name's Sydney!" Sydney shouted once she entered the lecture hall. What used to be a rowdy crowd now looked at her in awkward silence, with some of them laughing, while the others returned the greetings.

It sure was going to be a great day!

[Cylarn]

The transition from military to civilian life was difficult for any Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine, but with a small but effective veteran support community at SMU, Rob Helms was adjusting well. A former Army Paratrooper and now a Staff Sergeant in the National Guard, Rob had decided to embark on his quest to obtain a college degree, as many more professions were increasing their search for applicants with college degrees. SMU was the school that his younger brother had attended before heading to Columbia for law school, and he decided to follow in turn. Although a Freshman, he was definitely one of the oldest students at the school, and in the VSSMU, he was the second highest-ranking member of the group, behind the Chapter President, Gunnery Sergeant Carl Muldoon. The veterans largely stuck together, with most of them housed on the 5th. Floor of one of the mens' dormitories, which had been nicknamed the "FOB" for the dominant subculture of the floor being veterans of the Iraq and Afghan Wars, along with a few Guard and Reserve guys. The younger guys respected him, and despite being an older and wiser guy, he was prone to shenanigans, though he mainly kept it within the realm of drinking and practical jokes.

Coincidentally, the FOB was known throughout the school as a rather wild place. Most of the vets drank, listened to loud music, and partied hard, which was rather out of place at a predominately Catholic university, at least in the eyes of the administration. The Nuns often conducted alcohol and disciplinary sweeps of the FOB, and in the few short days that Rob had been on campus, he had already been reprimanded once for being drunk. However, messing with other students wasn't their forte, unless the other students instigated an altercation. They didn't go out of their way to make trouble; they tended to stay on their floor, but other students often issued complaints against the vets. It would only be a matter of time until the administration took greater action to end this trouble.

---

It was his third day on campus, and he and the rest of the VSSMU had been up since 0500, carrying out their morning exercise routine of running the perimeter of the campus and stopping at various points to do push-ups and the like. The society touted itself as more than a support group; they represented the vets on campus as a whole, and most of the vets participated in the morning PT. Following the end of the activity, Rob proceeded to change into a simple pair of blue jeans, a tan shirt, and a pair of boots, before retrieving his old assault ruck, which was now carrying his needed books. The first class of the day - Study of Spiritual and Scientific Natures. Rob wasn't a religious guy, and he figured that the class was going to be a typical, parochial lecture kind of deal, in which you would take notes and get an easy A. He wasn't too concerned with it, and he departed the FOB, donning a pair of black tinted Aviators and lighting up a Marlboro Red cigarette as he departed from the residence hall.

The walk to St. Mary was an easy one, and Rob soon found himself there. Since his early arrival on campus, he had taken the opportunity to explore the school, and he was able to locate St. Mary's rather quickly. After entering the building and extinguishing his cigarette, he removed his sunglasses and made his way up to the lecture hall. To be honest, he was surprised by the size of the class and the classroom, which was far more than he expected. The girl in front of him made herself known by shouting her name, and Rob responded by checking her out, before moving towards the back of the lecture hall and taking a seat. There weren't too many other veterans in the class that he could discern, but his spot in the back could earn him a good nap. Taking a seat, he sat his pack down beside of him and leaned back in his chair, waiting for the class to begin.

[Naval Monte]

Elizabeth wakes up as the alarm clock in the room goes off. She tries a few times to turn it off but misses and as she finally turns it off she accidentally knocks it off the counter, groaning in annoyance over it. She finally get up, as the covers slide off her body it's revealed that she went to sleep with no clothing on, mostly because the room she was in has a broken air conditioner and without it the room became incredibly stuffy. As she rubs her eyes to remove Morpheus's dream sand as she mumbles about how much she hates the place she's staying in, she looks at a chair facing her bed, were her bags, one for school and the other for her own books and her clothes are. A small smile forms on her face as the memory of her's and grandfathers goodbyes are still fresh on her mind, how both of them tried their very best not to cry as they both gave each other one last hug before she got into her car and drove off to SMU.

Feeling tears ready to leave she rubs her eyes again. "Come on Lizzy are you really going to cry now, especially on your first day in a fancy university." she said to her self as she finally gets off the bed and go to the bathroom. After taking a shower and brushing her teeth she finally get's dressed and leaves the motel room that she was staying for the night."Bloody hell it feels so good to finally leave that place. Next thing I'm gonna do after classes is go off to find a new place to crash for the night. " She said taking out her keys and opening the car door. As she drives around looking for SMU she heard her stomach complaining about not having any food "Eh, I woke up much earlier than usual so I can kill some time for some grub." She than decide to find the closest diner possible, which didn't take too long. As she finishes eating her pancakes she looks out from the window and she that the university is not that far from the diner. "Oh Synchronicity how you can work in both mysterious and wonderful ways." Getting up she leaves behind her bill for the food and take with her a bottle of lemonade as she leaves the diner, the door making a little jingle as she steps out.

Finding a place to park was pretty easy but once she walked around St. Mary she found that she forgot which class she was suppose to go to. "Sheesh my first day here and I'm lost, what a cliche. Speaking of cliches." She said, walking pass several groups of jocks and hipsters. "What is this? Did I went back in time to my highschool years or did I stepped into a movie or tv show about stereotypical college life?" She thought to herself, ultimately she decided to go to one of the hipsters for directions. "Sorry for interrupting you and your mates but can you tell me were freshies like me are suppose to go too?" She said in a sing song was while giving them a smile. The hipsters told her which class room it was and where to find it, thanking them she made her way to the class. So heard Sydney shouting her name as she got close to the class. "And my journey finally comes to an end." She than goes inside the Lecture Hall. Taken back by a few seconds on the size she finally found a seat in the middle of the room that was still empty. Making her way towards it she finally sits down and realizing that class hasn't started takes out a random book from her own collection and begins to read it.

[Rudaslavia]

Lecture Hall 8C
St. Mary Hall, St. Michael's University of the Heavenly Crusade

As the lecture hall nearly reached its full capacity of students, the double doors at the rear of the chamber suddenly opened. A handsome, middle-aged, blue-eyed man of Italian descent stepped inside with a briefcase in his right hand and a thick folder in his left. He wore a pink-shaded sweater with a pair of expensive gray pants and polished black dress shoes imported from Europe -- clearly an extremely stylish individual. The room fell completely silent. Not even a whisper could be heard. Some of the female students blushed as the man moved down the steps towards the front of the lecture hall.

He was Professor Leonardo Vieri, the class instructor. Vieri had gained huge renown for his scientific research on weather patterns and their connection with the emotional stages of humans. He was also a well-respected researcher of religiousity and its general impact on worldly culture. He was known to be an incredible professor whom was beloved by many of his students.

Vieri placed his briefcase and folder upon the front desk and turned to the chalkboard without a word. On the board, he artistically wrote:

Dr. Leonardo Vieri
Study of Spiritual and Scientific Natures

The professor turned to the students that had filled the lecture hall. "What is a demon?" he asked them in a straightforward manner, his soothing voice carrying a soft Italian accent. It was an open-ended question for any one of the students to answer.

[Naval Monte]

Hearing the professor's question Elizabeth put down her book to answer him. "A demon is a supernatural, often malevolent being prevalent in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology and folklore. While most accounts of them are usually connected to the Abrahamic religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam the word it self came from greece where it was daimon, which back then was used to describe all sorts of supernatural beings and not always sharing the negative connotations that it has now." She than took a deep breath. "Of course the most classic depictions of demons are that they are the fallen angels casted out from heaven for rebelling against god. Of course many other religions have different points of views about demons. Like how in Islam jinns are said to live side by side with man and that there are those who are evil that take orders from Iblis, but not all jinns are evil, in fact some are good while others are neutral. In Hinduism you have Asuras who like the Jinns can be either good or evil but unlike the Jinns and demons of christian lore Asuras are still celestial beings. The closest to being a demonic spirit in Hinduism is a human spirit who has committed a sin so foul that the judge of the dead, Yama, condemns them to roam the earth alone until the cycle of reincarnation finally puts an end to their loneliness. With Wicca they usually try to avoid them since they are consider to be negative energy for their rituals and for practitioners of ceremonial magic like Hermeticism actually try to summon them so they can control them, believing that not only will they get knowledge, assistance, and/or power.from them but by summoning and knowing about them they can have a fuller grasp of the universe, both psychical and spiritual." She than let's out a loud sigh as she finally finishes with her answer.

[Walabam]

Lecture Hall 8C
St. Mary Hall, St. Michael's University of the Heavenly Crusade

As the lecture hall nearly reached its full capacity of students, the double doors at the rear of the chamber suddenly opened. A handsome, middle-aged, blue-eyed man of Italian descent stepped inside with a briefcase in his right hand and a thick folder in his left. He wore a pink-shaded sweater with a pair of expensive gray pants and polished black dress shoes imported from Europe -- clearly an extremely stylish individual. The room fell completely silent. Not even a whisper could be heard. Some of the female students blushed as the man moved down the steps towards the front of the lecture hall.

He was Professor Leonardo Vieri, the class instructor. Vieri had gained huge renown for his scientific research on weather patterns and their connection with the emotional stages of humans. He was also a well-respected researcher of religiousity and its general impact on worldly culture. He was known to be an incredible professor whom was beloved by many of his students.

Vieri placed his briefcase and folder upon the front desk and turned to the chalkboard without a word. On the board, he artistically wrote:

Dr. Leonardo Vieri
Study of Spiritual and Scientific Natures

The professor turned to the students that had filled the lecture hall. "What is a demon?" he asked them in a straightforward manner, his soothing voice carrying a soft Italian accent. It was an open-ended question for any one of the students to answer.

"Sweet mother of Jesus," thought Sydney as she looked at the men stepping into the lecture hall. Some looked cute, while the others, average. Sydney took note of the cute ones, but she remembered she was here for school, not for dating. Not long after she sat down, a somewhat middle-aged man, whom had dressed himself stylishly, entered the lecture hall. With his briefcase, it was quite obvious that he was the professor for the day. Sydney's impression of professors were old, fat men, who looked nothing like Dr. Vieri. Given her enthusiasm, Sydney hurriedly pulled out her notebook from her Jansport backpack, together with a black plastic pen that was anything but cheap.

"What is a demon?" The professor asked after he introduced himself via the chalkboard. Before the highly excited Sydney could speak, another female student had given an answer. "How rude," thought Sydney, "she didn't even raise her hand to speak." However, Sydney did not stay angry at her. She knew it was her first day at school; it was more beneficial for her to make new friends than enemies, although she may have already made some enemies through her loudness when she entered the lecture hall. While waiting for her female classmate to finish, Sydney scribbled some words on her notebook, apparently a script of what she was going to say at a later time. Being a 'music person', the first thing Sydney could think of when the professor uttered 'demons', was that rather old song 'Demons' by Imagine Dragons.

Her classmate finished. The class stayed quiet, except for one - Sydney. Trying her best to be friendly, Sydney clapped for her classmate, before standing up to say her piece.

"Good morning, Dr. Vieri." Sydney struggled to pronounce his name, but continued nonetheless. "You ask, what is a demon? Well, it's quite simple actually. It's something trapped within oneself; something that you can't control, something that you can't deny of its existence." Sydney took a deep breath before she continued, looking at her notebook that acted as a cue card. "Rather than thinking of a demon from a superstitious perspective, one can look at it from a theoretical perspective. Cesare Lombroso, an Italian criminologist, once said that criminals are born with 'criminal genes', causing them to commit crimes, without the ability to control themselves. That, Dr. Vieri, I consider a demon.

Sydney thanked everybody for their attention, sitting herself down while she awaited the response of everyone in the lecture hall.

[Naval Monte]

"Got to admit that's an interesting way at looking at a demon." Said Elizabeth, taking her eyes off of her book to look at Sydney. "Are you by any chance familiar with the shadow aspect in Jungian psychology?" She than temporarily broke eye contact with Sydney just to turn the page on her book before regain eye contact. "In Jungian psychology the shadow is unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself. Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative, . Another way to look at the shadow is that it's the entirety of the unconscious, but of course what makes the shadow different in this cause over the criminal gene is that positive aspects can be hidden in one's shadow, particularly if said individual has low-self esteem."

[Cylarn]

When the Welsh girl began to answer the professor's question on demons, Rob immediately lost interest. She was droning on and on, and it was clear to Rob that she had spent her youth researching all sorts of paranormal shit, while he had spent his youth doing drugs and committing petty crimes. It was a long, long answer to a simple question, and by the length and depth of her answer, he could easily tell that she was trying to show off for their professor. Teacher's pet. Then, the other girl brought up her more sociological theory, and Rob had to admit that it was fairly interesting, considering his field of study. He locked it up in the old brain compartment, and listened on as the other nerd began to counter the girl's response. It was rather comical, but Rob didn't feel like throwing in his hat.

He had seen enough demons in his lifetime, back in Afghanistan. He wasn't a religious man, and hardly believed in the existence of demons, but what he did believe in was the presence of evil. In his mind, evil was what made men form violent subcultures centering around a particular ideology. It compelled men to blow up womens' schools in Afghanistan, or crash passenger jets into skyscrapers. Evil existed, but did demons truly exist? Not in the spiritual sense, but in some men, the evil was all-pervasive.

[Rudaslavia]

Though several students giggled and snickered at the two girls' over-enthusiastic answers (clearly branding them nerds off the bat), their mockery was silenced when the professor began to speak again. The class seemed incredibly focused on their instructor -- captivation by his every word.

"They bring up two important theories: one, that demons are physical beings of another realm...and two, that they are one with our subconscious and are personified in myth as a metaphor."

With a clicker at hand, the projector was lowered behind him. He activated the monitor, placing a horrific image on the screen for the entire class to see. Many of their faces went utterly pale. Some gagged. The black-and-white image depicted a girl, perhaps in her late teens or early twenties, with her jaw completely dislocated and her eyes burned into charred blackness. Her facial veins had burst beneath the skin, causing long cracks of blackness to web across her cheeks. Although she was clearly dead, her lips seemed to be permanently extended to a tense grin. Accompanied by her shattered jaw, she appeared more like a monster than a human being.

"It is okay to be disturbed." Professor Vieri reassured. "You may close your eyes if you wish." He pointed towards the projector. "This photograph was taken on December 1, 1961. Due to legal purposes, I may not reveal her name. But she was a student here at St. Michael's. Her condition made headline news in the local papers."

"What's wrong with her?!" one of the students in the center of the hall exclaimed.

Vieri took in a deep breath. "A victim of demonic possession." he replied sternly. "There are some paranormal fanatics whom believe this was one of the most violent supernatural attacks in recorded history. It is rumored...and note that I said 'rumored'...that the school administration of that decade conducted an exorcism upon this girl which lasted five entire months. During the process, five unnamed priests were severely wounded, and two anonymous nuns were killed by spontaneous strangulation. Eventually, as the rumor tells, the clergymen were able to expel the demonic entity from the body of the girl...but at the cost of the girl's life. Over the course of the exorcism, her eyes were scorched to ash, her jaw dislocated and fractured, and her facial veins popped -- all injuries supposedly induced by an unexplainable force. She was described as quote, 'being capable of speaking languages which she had no prior knowledge of, shouting with the use of several simultaneous voices that did not belong to her, possessing knowledge of secrets and mysteries she could not possibly be aware of, and having the ability to telekinetically move objects about her vicinity.'"

"So, you're saying demons are real?" another student asked.

"Ah!" the professor interrupted. "But are they? Although this legend is amongst the most popular horror stories at St. Michael's, the administration has dismissed it as fiction. Police have stated that the young lady fell victim to the so-called 'Berrington Butcher' -- a notorious serial killer whom stalked this very region from 1956 to 1963. He was haunted by demons of his own; an irresistible urge to sexually assault women and subsequently inflict sadistic torture upon them. This student bore injuries similar to those carried by various other victims whose bodies were discovered throughout the 1960's. Some had their eyes burned, and others had damage done to their facial structure. The 'Berrington Butcher' was a man named Johnathan Tomm, a cruel-hearted elderly man with mental scars from an abusive childhood. Tomm reportedly denied even encountering the student depicted in this photograph. Then again, he denied encountering the majority of his discovered victims."

Vieri kept the image on the projector. "Now," he continued. "Assuming that this photograph is not a fake, it is clear that this woman fell victim to some variety of demonic attack. But what form of demon? A physical form -- a malicious spirit of Hell invoking its wrath upon an innocent mortal? Or a subconscious form -- an inner desire within Johnathan Tomm that forced him to inflict these horrors upon this poor student? Or, perhaps, a combination of the two? Will anyone share their thoughts?"

[Walabam]

Though several students giggled and snickered at the two girls' over-enthusiastic answers (clearly branding them nerds off the bat), their mockery was silenced when the professor began to speak again. The class seemed incredibly focused on their instructor -- captivation by his every word.

"They bring up two important theories: one, that demons are physical beings of another realm...and two, that they are one with our subconscious and are personified in myth as a metaphor."

With a clicker at hand, the projector was lowered behind him. He activated the monitor, placing a horrific image on the screen for the entire class to see. Many of their faces went utterly pale. Some gagged. The black-and-white image depicted a girl, perhaps in her late teens or early twenties, with her jaw completely dislocated and her eyes burned into charred blackness. Her facial veins had burst beneath the skin, causing long cracks of blackness to web across her cheeks. Although she was clearly dead, her lips seemed to be permanently extended to a tense grin. Accompanied by her shattered jaw, she appeared more like a monster than a human being.

"It is okay to be disturbed." Professor Vieri reassured. "You may close your eyes if you wish." He pointed towards the projector. "This photograph was taken on December 1, 1961. Due to legal purposes, I may not reveal her name. But she was a student here at St. Michael's. Her condition made headline news in the local papers."

"What's wrong with her?!" one of the students in the center of the hall exclaimed.

Vieri took in a deep breath. "A victim of demonic possession." he replied sternly. "There are some paranormal fanatics whom believe this was one of the most violent supernatural attacks in recorded history. It is rumored...and note that I said 'rumored'...that the school administration of that decade conducted an exorcism upon this girl which lasted five entire months. During the process, five unnamed priests were severely wounded, and two anonymous nuns were killed by spontaneous strangulation. Eventually, as the rumor tells, the clergymen were able to expel the demonic entity from the body of the girl...but at the cost of the girl's life. Over the course of the exorcism, her eyes were scorched to ash, her jaw dislocated and fractured, and her facial veins popped -- all injuries supposedly induced by an unexplainable force. She was described as quote, 'being capable of speaking languages which she had no prior knowledge of, shouting with the use of several simultaneous voices that did not belong to her, possessing knowledge of secrets and mysteries she could not possibly be aware of, and having the ability to telekinetically move objects about her vicinity.'"

"So, you're saying demons are real?" another student asked.

"Ah!" the professor interrupted. "But are they? Although this legend is amongst the most popular horror stories at St. Michael's, the administration has dismissed it as fiction. Police have stated that the young lady fell victim to the so-called 'Berrington Butcher' -- a notorious serial killer whom stalked this very region from 1956 to 1963. He was haunted by demons of his own; an irresistible urge to sexually assault women and subsequently inflict sadistic torture upon them. This student bore injuries similar to those carried by various other victims whose bodies were discovered throughout the 1960's. Some had their eyes burned, and others had damage done to their facial structure. The 'Berrington Butcher' was a man named Johnathan Tomm, a cruel-hearted elderly man with mental scars from an abusive childhood. Tomm reportedly denied even encountering the student depicted in this photograph. Then again, he denied encountering the majority of his discovered victims."

Vieri kept the image on the projector. "Now," he continued. "Assuming that this photograph is not a fake, it is clear that this woman fell victim to some variety of demonic attack. But what form of demon? A physical form -- a malicious spirit of Hell invoking its wrath upon an innocent mortal? Or a subconscious form -- an inner desire within Johnathan Tomm that forced him to inflict these horrors upon this poor student? Or, perhaps, a combination of the two? Will anyone share their thoughts?"

"Shadow aspect in what? What in the bloody hell is that?". Sydney excelled in her studies for sure, but this, this wasn't her field of study. She only knew about Cesare Lombroso through watching a movie. Still, Sydney wasn't quite happy that the girl was trying to make her look like a bloody fool, although she quite admired her knowledge. "I suppose I could call you 'Google' in the future," muttered Sydney to herself. Some of the students laughed at Sydney's inability to reply to the girl's question, while some empathized with her.

Red-faced and embarrassed, Sydney grabbed her pen and stared blankly at her notebook, trying to divert all the attention on her away. The professor started to speak, just in time to avert the attention. Although staring at her notebook, Sydney listened closely to every word the professor was saying. Soon, though, there was an unexplained chatter among the students, and it was only after Sydney looked up that she knew the reason for it. It was a pretty gory picture, indeed, but Sydney had managed to maintain her composure, thanks to her visits to various gore websites. A long lecture from the professor started. Some of the students sitting next to her managed to shut their eyes in fear for the whole of that lecture, while some were simply dozing off.

While sympathizing with the female victim, she fully supported the school's decision to dismiss the case as nothing but fiction. Sydney wasn't a religious person, neither was she a superstitious person. She didn't believe in ghosts, demons, devils, or anything that was supernatural. The police's conclusion of the girl being a victim of a rape-and-murder was somewhat more logical than that of a possession. Even if it was real, this happened in the 60s, a period where information wasn't readily available. Now, with the internet and information technology, it wasn't hard to get information about such cases, if any did arise again. With the professor cuing the students for their thoughts, Sydney started to voice out her opinion, though it was short-lived.

"I..." Sydney recalled the embarrassment earlier on. As the saying went, 'once bitten twice shy', Sydney knew it was best for her to keep quiet, rather than be labelled a 'nerd that tries too hard to impress' by the other students. She looked to several male students for help, knowing there would be quite a few white knights within the group. "Help me," as portrayed by her helpless eyes.

[Naval Monte]

"Aw, I was hoping she knew what I was talking about, I was really looking for to having a small battle of wits with her." Elizabeth thought has she saw some of the students laugh at Sydney while others empathized with Sydney. "Okay that was not what I was going for." Elizabeth muttered as she goes back to her book. While she listened to everything he said it took the words demonic possession for her to look out from her book and see the distorted and gory photo of the slain victim. However the photo didn't disturbed her that much as most people in the class, reading through countless book in her past along with different site on the web she seen enough blood and gore to easily built a resistance towards it, granted seeing from her class it looks like her, Sydney, and Rob weren't too effected by it. She than heard the professor say on opinions about the case and right as she begins to think of possible ideas she sees Sydney about to voice her opinion, but find to her puzzlement that she kept quiet, if anything she's looking out for help. "Great job Lizzy, you made her afraid to speak out cause you wanted to play around with her. Smooth move you idjit."

As she stared at the picture several idea formed in her head. In one was a lot of common themes from demonic possessions do appear in this case, but the parts where the nuns die from spontaneous strangulation and her yes burning like that are fishy, than again he did say that it was a rumor, but rumors always have a funny way of having an ounce of truth with them. She than lean back on her chair and look up the ceiling while tapping on the desk with her finger. The fact that there's physical evidence of it being a human being doing it does say that's it's an open and shut case. But why do I have this feeling that isn't the full story? "police investigations back than weren't that good so maybe they might have accidentally missed something or destroyed evidence without realizing it?" She muttering to herself, she than chuckled a little. "Maybe the university is covering up some aspects of the case from the public cause they already have to admit to one atrocity that happened in their grounds, why let another one out at the same time?" She said, still muttering. She than started to voice out her opinion.

"I think there's a bit more to the case than just what we know about it from both the police and the rumors about it." Elizabeth stayed quite after saying her piece. Not gonna bore all of you again and plus even I'm not to sure on my opinion on this since right now I'm following my intuition that something feels off about this case.

[Cylarn]

To be completely honest, even Rob was a bit disgusted at the picture, though he didn't show it. His eyes maintained their gaze on the picture, studying the injuries that the young girl received. He more or less attributed to the complex but sinister design of John Tomm, who according to the professor was a deranged serial rapist and murderer. Even in Afghanistan, serial killers were abound, and more often that not, they joined up with al Qaeda and the Taliban, making them even more untouchable. One such killer was nameless, but he was the only serial killer that Rob had encountered before. Thankfully, this guy was long-dead now, though the issue was never raised to the high-level brass. Rob raised his right hand in the air, in order to get the attention of the professor.

"Sir, I'd like to note that it isn't uncommon for serial killers to manipulate the cadavers of their victims to attune to some complex design of their choosing," Rob said. "During my time overseas, we encountered this one insurgent that had a penchant for 'creative kills.' He'd abduct policemen and young women from their villages, and in a few days, we'd find a mutilated body crucified on some cliffs overlooking the villages. More often than not, he would remove the eyes, nose, lips, breasts, genitals, and tongue, and carve some inscription from the Qu'ran into the chest of his victims before crucifying them and stoning them to death. In the case of the females, they were often raped. What we assumed was that this guy was deranged in some way, viewed himself as some sort of Islamic crusader who enforced the Jihad and the Shar'ia, going by the command of whatever sinister being lived within his own mind. Never got the opportunity to speak to him, because he was presumably gunned down by a marksman during his last abduction."

"However, the point I'm trying to make is that this guy may have more than likely kidnapped this poor girl, done God-knows-what to her while she was still alive, and then manipulated her corpse to whatever terrible design the demons in his head told him to do. Maybe he was schizo, much like the insurgent. I don't know, but if let's say the opposite is true. Can we really truly blame the school for covering it up? I mean, what would you tell prospective students? Welcome to St. Michaels University, a place of great learning and fatal demonic possession? Not really my kink, if you get my meaning."

[Rudaslavia]

"I like this class's intellectual capabilities!" Dr. Vieri responded, gently sitting on the desk. "Excellent answers! Downright excellent!"

With a swift pressing of his clicker, the image disappeared from the screen. "These are the sort of questions we'll be addressing throughout this course." he stated. "We will study theories of both the supernatural and the physical sciences and make our best effort to come to terms with how they may or may not be linked. Some students in the past have changed from adamant atheists to religious fanatics upon completing the course, while others have changed from loyal followers of their faith to complete non-believers. Anything could happen! Here, in Studies of Spiritual and Scientific Natures, you will never have other beliefs thrust upon you. Instead, you'll have them taught to you as part of an attempt to make you understand the cases we will be analyzing. I love this course, and I'm hoping all of you will love it too."

The church bells suddenly began to ring once again.

"Hmm...Well, it looks like our time today is up." Vieri said, clearly quite disappointed. "Have a wonderful day, everyone! I will see you all tomorrow!"

[Cylarn]

The class seemed rather short, though Rob wasn't really checking the time during class. When the bells tolled and the prof dismissed the class, he stood up, picked up his pack, and simply exited the classroom. The class was a bit more interesting than Rob had anticipated, though the amount of know-it-alls was rather large. Right now, Rob had no other classes for the next 2 hours, leaving him with enough time to grab himself some breakfast. He began the trek to the mess hall, knowing that most of the other vets were still in class, which left him to eat breakfast alone. The walk to the mess hall was short, and to be completely honest, Rob was absolutely impressed by the establishment, considering that he had spent the last 10 years surviving off of crappy Army mess hall food, ramen from care packages, and MREs, and now he was about to dine on well-made college cuisine.

He entered the mess hall and scanned his ID card before heading inside. The building was moderately populated with other students, namely the athletes and some of the head administrators, though Rob ignored them as he retrieved a tray and moved into line. After retrieving a plate of bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns, as well as a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee, he made his way over to an uninhabited booth that was tucked in the back of the mess hall and sat down. He then took off his backpack and opened it up to produce a flask; a prohibited item at the university, though alcoholics were never known for following the rules. He opened up the device, and poured a double shot of bourbon into his coffee, and stirred lightly with a spoon, before putting said flask away and dining on his breakfast.

[Walabam]

"Finally, it's over," sighed Sydney in relieve. Her embarrassment was finally over. She didn't have to face the other students anymore, nor the professor whom she had so eagerly wanted to respond to. Sydney opened her backpack and took a look at her folded time-table. She had no other lessons for the next hour, and she already had breakfast for the morning. Walking out of the lecture hall, a crowd of students started to walk in the direction of the mess hall, while others had walked in different directions. Once again, Sydney strapped her guitar back to her back, before getting her skateboard onto the ground, skating away.

Sydney looked around for a quaint spot for her to relax. Her throat started to 'itch'. She needed to sing to let out some of the steam she had accumulated in the morning. Eventually, though, Sydney had found a huge tree near the St. Mary's building, providing enough shade for more than 10 students. Sydney then joined the other students, some munching on their sandwiches and some reading their books. She sat down on the grass patch, unpacking her guitar, tuning it before she strummed a few notes. Unknown to her, the tree was in close proximity to the mess hall. Feeling prepared, Sydney cleared her throat and started to 'perform' a cover of OneRepublic's 'Counting Stars'.

♪ Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Yeah, we'll be counting stars ♪

A crowd started to gather around her. Her voice was somewhat angelical. The bookworm had taken her gaze off her book, turning to Sydney instead. That boy munching on his sandwich, too, looked over to the source of the voice. Delighted by the crowd gathering around her, Sydney continued to strum her guitar, singing on.

♪ I see this life
Like a swinging vine
Swing my heart across the line
In my face is flashing signs
Seek it out and ye shall find...

...Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars! ♪

Sydney continued singing, while the birds chirped in tune with the music, the sun shone brightly on the green leaves and the yellow ones started falling in graceful harmony.

[Naval Monte]

"Boy this class was short." said Elizabeth putting her book inside her bag as she gets up to leave the hall. She admit that in some part of her mind she thought that the class wasn't going to be as interesting as he originally thought, a thought spawned due to having another class like that in the past that was laughably bad. But thankfully that small bit of doubt died today when, in fact now it's replace by a small bit of sadness that it was short. "It was the first day, most classes are short during the first day." Elizabeth walked around school, she already had breakfast before coming here and she didn't feel like socializing people right now.

As she walked around she found the entrance to the computer labs. "Hm, I guess I can kill time in there. Maybe I can do my own little investigation on to that case that Dr. Vieri told us." walking inside she flashed her I.D. to the person in charge and walked to a computer that wasn't be used on the far corner of the room. As she sat down she took out a pair of headphones and put them on. As she finally got the computer turned on she opened three tabs, one for YouTube so see can listen to music, the second was a Google which she than typed down the case that was taught on her class and began to look through many sites that talked about it, the third was sit left on the new tab default page as Elizabeth forgot what other site she wanted to look at while doing her little investigation.

[Galnius]

Annebelle DeNico stepped out of her Dad's car and checked her phone for the time. "Great, I'm late again", she mumbled to herself, waving to her father.
"Have a good semester! Write plenty Annie!"
"Alright Dad, may I go now!" Her Dad chuckled, pulling the car out of the college. Turning around, Annie took a deep breathe. "Alright, here I go. College, St. Michael's, the beginning of my first real adventure." She exhaled and looked around, people were just leaving classes and the entire campus suddenly seemed very cramped. She adjusted her small amount of luggage and hugged tight to her books with one hand. She walked briskly forward, heading towards the her room. Once that was done, as she had no where else to go, she went for the computer lab.

[Naval Monte]

Sitting in front of the computer Elizabeth went through many sites that talked about the case and found just like her some believed that there was more to the case than what the cops reported. Some sites say that Johnathan Tomm has an accomplice that was the one responsible for the murder and left town once John was captured, others said that the real murder was a teacher in the school and to cover it up they either got lucky on accusing an actual serial killer for the crime to even claims that the real Butcher worked in the school and is still at large. Than you had sites that still dealt with the rumor of a demon being responsible, of course other rumors took the demon one to new insane highs like aliens somehow being responsible, a failed government experiment, cultists activities, and many more."Of course turning to the internet for help was a great idea." Elizabeth said sarcastically, letting out a deep sighs she gets up from the chair and grabs her stuff, her search so far turned out nothing cause it seems that anyone who even knows of the case seems to either believe in the legend, the cops, or has their own theories. As she walked to take a temporary break she accidentally bumps to Annebelle, causing Annebelle to drop her books to the ground.

[Rudaslavia]

Finally, it's over," sighed Sydney in relieve. Her embarrassment was finally over. She didn't have to face the other students anymore, nor the professor whom she had so eagerly wanted to respond to. Sydney opened her backpack and took a look at her folded time-table. She had no other lessons for the next hour, and she already had breakfast for the morning. Walking out of the lecture hall, a crowd of students started to walk in the direction of the mess hall, while others had walked in different directions. Once again, Sydney strapped her guitar back to her back, before getting her skateboard onto the ground, skating away.

Sydney looked around for a quaint spot for her to relax. Her throat started to 'itch'. She needed to sing to let out some of the steam she had accumulated in the morning. Eventually, though, Sydney had found a huge tree near the St. Mary's building, providing enough shade for more than 10 students. Sydney then joined the other students, some munching on their sandwiches and some reading their books. She sat down on the grass patch, unpacking her guitar, tuning it before she strummed a few notes. Unknown to her, the tree was in close proximity to the mess hall. Feeling prepared, Sydney cleared her throat and started to 'perform' a cover of OneRepublic's 'Counting Stars'.

♪ Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Yeah, we'll be counting stars ♪

A crowd started to gather around her. Her voice was somewhat angelical. The bookworm had taken her gaze off her book, turning to Sydney instead. That boy munching on his sandwich, too, looked over to the source of the voice. Delighted by the crowd gathering around her, Sydney continued to strum her guitar, singing on.

♪ I see this life
Like a swinging vine
Swing my heart across the line
In my face is flashing signs
Seek it out and ye shall find...

...Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars! ♪

Sydney continued singing, while the birds chirped in tune with the music, the sun shone brightly on the green leaves and the yellow ones started falling in graceful harmony.

The crowd which had gathered around Sydney suddenly (and quickly) dispersed -- seemingly without reason. Suddenly, the tip of a thin, heavy, 3 foot long wooden baton was tapped against the girl's guitar from behind. No damage was done to the instrument, but it was sure to catch the young musician's attention. As Sydney's gaze would follow up the finished surface of the baton, she would notice an exquisite figure of Michael the Archangel attached to the handle.

An old hand of mangled wrinkles grasped the wooden object firmly. "No music during class hours." hissed the deep, raspy voice of the haggard hand's owner. She was an old, cadaverous nun with a frown that pierced fiery holes into the heart of the new student. "Put it away!"

[Walabam]

The crowd which had gathered around Sydney suddenly (and quickly) dispersed -- seemingly without reason. Suddenly, the tip of a thin, heavy, 3 foot long wooden baton was tapped against the girl's guitar from behind. No damage was done to the instrument, but it was sure to catch the young musician's attention. As Sydney's gaze would follow up the finished surface of the baton, she would notice an exquisite figure of Michael the Archangel attached to the handle.

An old hand of mangled wrinkles grasped the wooden object firmly. "No music during class hours." hissed the deep, raspy voice of the haggard hand's owner. She was an old, cadaverous nun with a frown that pierced fiery holes into the heart of the new student. "Put it away!"

What had seemed to be a peaceful day, with birds chirping along with the music, somewhat became a stormy and thunderous day. Sydney looked up at the elderly nun, smiling at the nun while Sydney tried to calm the situation. "Sister...or rather...Mother...I'm just trying to relax myself for the first day of school. Besides, I'm not hurting anyone with my music. Would you be okay if I played some gospel songs instead?" Sydney once again looked at the nun. She figured the nun was someone of high authority to be given such an exquisite baton, and therefore, she knew it would be best not to offend her. Waiting for the nun's response, Sydney stood herself up and dusted her butt off, setting her guitar down while she maintained her smile, unwilling to show any signs of hostility.

"How may I address you, Mother?"

[Cylarn]

By the time that the old nun began her verbal assault on Sydney, Rob was already out of the chow hall and walking around campus until his next class started up. He fired up a cigarette as he walked, before spotting a girl from his last class as she was accosted by one of the many armed nuns who worked on campus. In his several days of living on the campus, he had already had several encounters with the nuns and had been hit at least twice by their batons. Shrugging his shoulders, he kept walking and stopped nearby to watch the commotion, smoking his cigarette as he listened to the nun and Sydney go back and forth.

[Phoenix2012]

William made sure to park his growling beast of a car in the far corner of the parking lot, where the risk of it being towed by the school staff was somewhat slim, having learned the hard way before. The first day of school meant that the parking lot was filled more than was usual, another reason for his choice of parking. St. Michael's was a prominent University... and had the price tag to go along with it. It was no surprise that the parking lot was filled with luxury and exotic cars. A quick glance revealed brands such as Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes, and Rolls-Royce, which made William's choice of car stand out even more...

William caught himself before his thoughts wandered any further, and quickly stepped out of his SRT Viper. It was rough, powerful, and unrefined... sort of like himself, or so he liked to think. His upbringing had revealed that he wasn't the perfect child that he was expected to be, and he accepted that easily, unlike his family...

A quick glance at his Breitling aviator showed that he was a good half-hour late, or rather, 32 minutes and 46 seconds to be exact. Frowning, he quickened his pace, although he knew that there was nothing to be done about the matter. He had missed the lecture, not that he particularly cared for it, but word might get back to his parents and therefore put his allowance in jeopardy. He recalled from memory that he didn't have classes until after lunch, and he didn't feel any hunger at the moment...

After a few minutes of confirming the location of his classes, William's attention was attracted by a commotion. It seemed that someone had attracted the attention of the nuns, and was experiencing a 'most unpleasant experience', as his uncle would have described it. William had been through more than one experience with the nuns, quite a few, actually, and had learned to stay out of the way. Still, he was entitled to some entertainment, and he watched the scene with great amusement...

[Rudaslavia]

The elderly nun placed the tip of her long baton at the base of Syndey's neck, maintaining a fair amount of distance between herself and the student. "Mother Livida." she responded with a snake-like bearing of her pearly white teeth. She pronounced her surname, "Livida", with an acute French accent. "Mother Malus Livida."

She tapped on the guitar once again. "No...music...during...class hours." she repeated slowly as if Sydney was mentally challenged. "Else I shall issue a report." There was a wickedly menacing tone in her voice that would frighten even the most "tough", "rugged", and "battle-hardened" of students.

Mother Livida's monstrous eyes turned to face the crowd that had gathered to watch the small spectacle. "BEGONE!" she thundered. It was an order that made each of their hearts skip a beat. The crowd separated immediately and without question. Even Rob, the war veteran toughened by horrors humankind should not endure, was struck with near terror at the hearing of Livida's tyrannical command.

The old nun slowly began to move away from Sydney like a shadow of darkness, her shining silver crucifix dangling from her neck and clicking against the baton with each step.

[Walabam]

The elderly nun placed the tip of her long baton at the base of Syndey's neck, maintaining a fair amount of distance between herself and the student. "Mother Livida." she responded with a snake-like bearing of her pearly white teeth. She pronounced her surname, "Livida", with an acute French accent. "Mother Malus Livida."

She tapped on the guitar once again. "No...music...during...class hours." she repeated slowly as if Sydney was mentally challenged. "Else I shall issue a report." There was a wickedly menacing tone in her voice that would frightened even the most "tough", "rugged", and "battle-hardened" of students.

Mother Livida's monstrous face turned to face the crowd that had gathered to watch the small spectacle. "BEGONE!" she thundered. It was an order that made each of their hearts skip a beat. The crowd separated immediately and without question. Even Rob, the war veteran toughened by horrors humankind should not endure, was struck with near terror at the hearing of Livida's tyrannical command.

The old nun slowly began to move away from Sydney like a shadow of darkness, her shining silver crucifix dangling from her neck and clicking against the baton with each step.

Sydney gulped in fear; her impressions of a nun were that they were kind, reasonable and understanding. This, this nun was a different case, obviously. There was fear in Sydney's heart. The tension was too overwhelming for her to handle. Sydney's eyes began to flood with tears, while she struggled to see Mother Livida through her tears. "I...I'm sorry Mother Livida. P...P...Please don't issue a re...report." Sydney looked towards the crowd; amongst them, some were laughing, while some were just curious onlookers. Sydney's eyes seemed to be calling for help from the crowd, truly terrified by Mother Livida.

"BEGONE!" Mother Livida thundered. Sydney froze in fear, with her tears finally rolling down her cheeks. It wasn't a great day for Sydney, of course, but her guitar seemed to suffer more. Sydney's grasp on her guitar had almost damaged it. As each second passed, Sydney's fear started growing, which eventually lead her to ask Mother Livida; "C...Can I go now?"