IMPERIUM INSECTUM

Man, this is awkward. We've been walking in silence for the past couple of minutes. She was still clearly afraid of me, judging from her demeanour. Damn, this is not going how I had planned. I need to do something quick.

“So Apollinaris. What are you exactly?”

She looked at me, confused.

“E…E…Excuse me?”

“Did you not hear me? I asked what are you.”

“Y-yeah, I heard; how do you not know what I am? Are you not from here?

“Yep, 100%. You see, I’m very new around here. So I’m not really sure what anything or anyone is.” I told her honestly. There was no point lying over something like this.

She looked at me briefly and laughed.

“I'm sorry. You look like the sort of person who knows this kinda stuff.  I’m a Moon spirit, a type of nature spirit. It's the job of my kind to make sure everything in this forest grows healthy. Well, it WAS my job anyway.” She said that last bit with sadness and a small bit of anger. Interesting, maybe I can use this.

“It was? What happened?”

She looked at me and shied away.

“I..it.. it's not important anyway.”

Oh no, no, no, You can't just say something like that and walk away. You’re not getting out of it that easy.

“Oh, come on now,” I said, wrapping my hand around her shoulder. “You can tell me.” I politely demanded.

“It's not important, really. You shouldn’t concern yourself with someone as useless as me.”

“Who said you were useless? I know I didn’t. Come now, tell me your tale.”

She looked at me for a few seconds and let out a defeated sigh.

“You're not going to let this go are you?”

a childish grin grew across my face.

“Nope!”

“Well, here it goes. A few days ago, in the city of the spirits…..”

***********

“Come on. COME ON. Please let it not be a mushroom. Let it be anything else! I need it to be anything else!”

I continued pouring all my mana into the green orb in front of me. I need this to work, if I fail one more time. I shook my head, and forced more mana into the green orb, causing it to expand a little and for green lightning to shoot out of it.

“That’s it!”

With one more push, I sent all my remaining mana into the orb, causing it to expand a little bit more before condensing around, and into the plant pot below it. Sweat beaded up and fell down my forehead. This has to work. I looked up at the professor, who held a stern expression on his face.

Soon the earth in the plant pot began to break, revealing……. A large red and white mushroom.

My heart sank to the ground. The professor let out a deep sigh.

“Sir, please give me another chance i..i I’m so close.”

“Apollinaris, please sit dow.”

“Sir, one more chance. If I just change the ratio between water and earth, I can”

“Apollinaris, I grow tir-“

“I CAN DO IT, SIR; please just-”

“ENOUGH”

I Backed down.

“Apollinaris, I am happy you are very eager to try again, but the entire class needs to have a go. Please sit down.”

I clenched my fists and Reluctantly went to my seat. I could feel the whispers of my class burn my ears.

“She failed again? This is like her 5^th try.”

“How did someone like her make it into the academy.”

“mushrooms? EW gross”

“I can't believe I have to be in the same room as a Mushy as her.”

 

“SHUT UP!! ALL OF YOU,” I roared.  

“Apollinaris!! Enough!”

I snapped my head towards the teacher.

“I will not tolerate such behaviour in my class. Do you understand?”

“But, sir they”

“ENOUGH! I will not tolerate your insolence in my class any longer. LEAVE NOW”

You didn’t need to tell me twice. I grabbed my stuff as I gladly walked out of class. God, I hate it here. They know full well that due to my Nature, as a moon spirit, I can only make mushrooms.  I ground my hands into my head. GAHHH, this is so frustrating. I know I’m just as capable, if not better, than most of the people in that class. If only. I clenched my fists. If only I wasn’t born like this, I could….

I slapped my cheeks. NO, that line of thinking is bad. I am a moon spirit, and I should be proud of that. I took some deep breaths to calm myself. I’ve got some free time now. Let’s get something to eat, and we will go from there. That work for Mr carver is due soon anyway. This is as good a time as any to do it. I set off down the academy halls. Students from other classes walked past me; some ignored my existence, while others went to the opposite side of the corridor. Really? I'm just a moon spirit; I don’t have a contagious disease. I felt my ears begin to heat up as the whispers started up again.

“It’s Her. How did one of them make it in here? The academy’s standards must be dropping.”

“I'm going to have to ask farther to transfer me out of here. Clearly, the standards are dropping if one of them can make it in.”

“I heard they eat rotten flesh and their own faeces. Can’t believe the academy let a Mushy in here.”

“My mother told me they can make you see crazy things and do things you don’t want, pure evil, I tell ya.”

I’m not deaf, Ya know.  I sighed; what else should I expect from the pure nature spirits? The queen looks so favourably at them and gives them everything they need. Whilst we “Mushies” are left with the scraps. All because of some stupid prophecy made by a madman millennia ago. I quashed the anger building up inside of me. It was pointless getting mad. I can’t change the past. The only silver lining now is that we are no longer being killed on sight. I can at least thank the queen for that much.

 

 I walked past a mural of the school logo. It had the school motto written on it.

“To raise the new guardians of peace and kindness to protect and safeguard our future.”

A snigger escaped my mouth. “peace and kindness?” this place? That’s the best joke I’d seen all year round.

I blitzed past the mural and into the dining hall. Classes were still going on, so it wasn’t hectic. I walked to the kitchen and was met with a range of beautiful and elegantly made dishes. Shame I couldn’t afford any.  I grabbed my tray and slammed it on the railing. The dinner lady turned and looked at me with pure disdain.

“Whatchu getting”

I looked up towards her. She was a pure spirit like everyone else in this god-forsaken school, and just like the others, she looked at me with complete disdain.

“Hurry up. I don’t want your spores getting all over the food.”

I ignored the insult. It wouldn’t help to get into an argument with the lunch lady. I pointed to the only thing I could afford. It was some grey slop in the far corner. The dinner lady quickly whipped over, poured some of it into a bowl, and dumped it onto my tray.

“Thank you.”

She made a disgusted sound as I walked away.

“Great, now I need to dispose of all this food. Don’t want the other students getting sick or Something.”  

I rolled my eyes, walked over to a table, and started eating my “food”. It was cold, tasted like shit and had the same nutritional value as a brick. I sent some mana into the food, causing a few mushrooms to grow.

I took a spoonful of mushrooms and ate them. They were my own creation. Due to the lack of food back home, I spent quite a lot of time developing these mushrooms. They can grow pretty much anywhere and are chock full of nutrients. The best part is they don’t require much for them to grow. The mushrooms had brown and white striped caps with red stems. I took another spoonful of grey slop with mushrooms. The slop was bland and tasteless, But the mushrooms were excellent. They had a sweet and smokey taste that left you wanting more. These have no reason to taste this good. I took another spoonful and shoved it into my mouth. I hope to one day show them to the committee as a solution to the food crisis. If I can perfect it, then they will have no choice but t-

“Well, well, look who it is.”

A part of me died on the inside. Oh god, can't you just leave me alone for once in your life? Like seriously, do you not have anything better to do with your time!?

I turned around to see mercy and her 2 stupid lackeys around her.

“Mercy, how can I help you?” I said to her, giving my best fake smile.

Mercy had golden yellow skin and platinum blonde hair that fell all the way to her shoulders. She wore a fancy dress made from an ornate gold leaf. Even though I hate to admit it. She looked good in that dress, and worse of all, she fucking knew it; and to add insult to injury, this narcissist was the daughter of the head of the queen's security council.

“Help me? HAH. You can help me by getting out of my seat.”

Just how old are you? This is the kinda shit kids do. I mockingly looked around and under my seat. Knowing her, this will definitely piss her off.

“What are you doing!? Are you mocking me?!” a visible vein appeared on her forehead. Too easy.

“Mock you? I would never do such a thing.” I said as innocently as possible.  “I was just looking for your name on this seat. I'm sorry, I couldn’t find it anywhere.” I felt a smug smile curve onto my face. I know It won’t end well for me if I antagonize her, but man, it is so fun.

“GET. OUT. OF. MY. SEAT”

She started building water mana around her. she isn’t stupid enough to fight me here, is she? The water mana collected around her hand, turning into an ice fist.

Thinking about it, she isn’t the smartest around; she probably would. I looked towards her lackeys. They all wore smug and proud faces.

“Show her, mercy!”

“You're not gonna let this mushy disrespect us like that. Show her who’s in charge.”

Really, you are getting so hyped up over bullying 1 girl. I let out a disappointed sigh.

“Whatever”

I grabbed my “Food” and got out of the seat. Suddenly I felt something wet wrap around my leg.

I looked down and saw a water tendril wrapped tightly around my leg. I snapped my head towards mercy. Her stupid face had a crooked smile plastered all over it. This bitch really is testing my patience today.

“apologise”

“For what!” I spat back.

One of her lackeys stepped forward

“you should apologise for taking madame mercy’s seat, and for your blatant disrespect to her authority. Honestly, we give your kind a chance to excel, and this is how you treat it. You should be happy to be able to breathe the same air as us pure spirits.”

I SHOULD BE HAPPY?! Happy for what! That I've been ostracized and treated like shit by all the students and professors every day I've come to this dog shit academy. And, having to deal with you guys making every day a living nightmare for the past year. You know what, fuck this.

I snapped my fingers, and a stream of brown dirt appeared in the water, causing it to turn into mud. On cue, loads of mushrooms started to sprout, causing her to yelp in disgust.  I jumped away in the nick of time as a rock was flung at me by one of her lackeys.

3 on 1, the odds are not great for me. I guess I’ll just have to level the playing field a bit

I snapped my fingers again, sending mana to the ground at their feet. Mercy realised quickly and leapt out of the way. Fortunately, the other two were not as quick as a giant mushroom broke through the ground at their feet. They screamed as they went hurtling towards the ceiling. I shot a bolt of mana to the edges of the hole, causing a hard fungal mass to grow over the gap.  That’s those 2 dealt with. Now let's deal with mercy.

“YOU, BITCH!” She roared as dozens of water tendrils sprouted out of the ground and towards me. I dodged as much as I could, but I wasn’t the most athletic. Suddenly, a large bolt of water shot past the tendrils towards me. Shit! I crossed my arms across my chest and braced for impact.

“ARGHHHHH”

I roared in pain as the water bolt sent me careening towards a wall.

“FUCK!”

That hit was way too strong. My entire body felt like it had been pummeled into the ground.  My lungs Struggled to keep any air in due to the shock.

“This….is…not…good,” I said through staggered breaths

I saw mercy ready up another water bolt. I can't let that hit me. I looked around for some cover, but anything that could be used had been destroyed or wasn’t strong enough to block an attack like that. Think, dammit, think. I shook my head and noticed a cloud of spores fall from my head. That’s it! I started furiously shaking my head, causing a dense cloud of mushroom spores to fall out. I kept shaking my head, increasing the number of spores around me. The spores spread like a thick cloud across the room, engulfing everything and obscuring everything like a dense fog.

“WHER.*COUGH* THE FUCK *COUGH**COUGH* ARE YOU. “

I ignored her as I stealthily moved around the dining hall. The spores will linger for a good few seconds. And the best part, Unlike pure spirits, I can see through this fog. I pooled a large amount of earth mana. The ball grew to the size of my head before I launched it towards her. The ball flew at ludicrous speed towards her. As it flew, the ball solidified and changed into a dense piece of rock.

*CRACK*

“GYARGHHHHHHH”

Bullseye, right in the head.

I felt a sense of pride as mercy wailed in extreme agony. Not so hot now, are you bitch. However,  This Pride quickly turned into fear as I felt a large amount of mana build around her. I dove behind an upturned table as the mana around her exploded, dispersing the spore cloud

“YARGHHHH. HOW DARE YOU, YOU STUPID FUCKING MUSHY.”

I peeked over the table and saw she was bleeding from the side of her head onto the ground.

Her eyes snapped towards me.

And she started building a load of mana again. How much mana does she possess? This is not good. I started readying my defensive spells.

“NOT ONLY DO YOU DISRESPECT ME, TAINT MY SPELLS WITH YOUR FILTH, BUT YOU NOW ALSO HAVE THE GALL TO ASSAULT ME. YOUR FUCKING DEAD. YOU HEAR ME. DEAD”

This is really not good. I felt the hall shake as she started pooling as much mana as she could.. I snapped my fingers, releasing all my defensive spells. An arch of thick White mushrooms sprouted in front of me. From behind them, I started readying my spell. I wasn’t going down without a fight.  Our mana started to grow and clash with each other, sending bolts of lightning across the dining hall, destroying tables, flooring and anything else that got in its path. Anyone who was in the dining hall left ages ago. It was just her and me.

“TAKE THIS, YOU MUSHY”

“EAT SHIT AND DIE BITCH”

We both launched our attacks at each other. They Attacks quadrupled in size as they approached each other When. Suddenly, a big golden vine sprouted in between them and wrapped itself around the attacks.

“WHO DARE-“

Suddenly a golden vine shot towards both of us and wrapped around us. I tried to fight it, but it was impossible. The vines were wrapped tight, and worse, I felt myself getting weaker. I looked down towards the vine and watched as brown and green mana flew down it.

“This..is..not….good….my…mana…is”

I kept struggling against the vines, not backing down until, eventually, my world went black.