^^ Nexus ^^

"So you'd like to teach at the College, with your Father?"-"Makes no difference to me."-"Somehow I knew that would be your answer..."

--- Greta's POV ---

I tapped the desk in front of me slowly, watching the students trickle in.

My 18th birthday had been a small affair, but pleasant. Dianthus and Eileen showed up with Judah, and Axum came as well, which was awkward, when most of my guests were afraid of them. Terribly rude, but so be it.

There was a cake, at one point, but I preferred the apple Tarts, honestly, and so did Nora. Ezra had devoured half of the chocolate cake, and fell asleep, which was adorable and also impressive.

My father told a few jokes and challenged Daniel, Willam, and Axum to a drinking contest, which they lost, badly, (Willam and Axum are damn near impervious to alcohol), and both humans passed out, leaving Axum to attempt to woo Diana, and Willam to drunkenly recite poetry to me until I knocked him out and took him home. Diana, funnily enough, did the same to Axum, which made me giggle a little.

Term for class at the College starts today, and I had three courses to teach, beginners, acolytes, and Journeyman's demonology.

My beginners course was starting in five minutes, but only half of my students were here...

My classroom was new, in the library, so I could understand it taking a while for Ariadne's thread to lead them all here...

A large gaggle of them wandered in, talking loudly, and I smiled. "There's the other half... okay, Class-..." they were still talking.

"Wonder where the teacher is?" - "Hope it's not master Lon, she's too strict..." - "Who's that girl sitting in the teachers chair?!?" - "Ooh! She's gonna get it..."

I stood, and simply banged my fist against the nearest metal object, a gong that master Faust had Hung on my desk as a joke, but it came in use for now. The resulting tumultuous Clanging made most of them clap their hands over their ears.

I sat on the desk, and smiled. "Now that I have your attention... my Title happens to be Grand Master Greta Falkirk, and I am your teacher for Beginners Demonology and Summoning. Let's begin with some questions and introductions. Stand, introduce yourself, and ask a question pertaining to me or the class, and I will answer it. In order, now. You, begin, back to front." I pointed at the boy in the very back. There were only eight students, but he was still spaced away...

He stood slowly, and I noticed he was much taller than I'd thought, despite his obvious youth. "Uhm... my name is Johnny Tender... and... uhm... what does Demonology actually cover?" He asked.

"Mm. Good question. Demonology covers many things, ranging from Demon Classification to actually Summoning said Demon. You're related to Marcus, son of Hercules?"

He nodded slowly. "He's my father."

I nodded. "Alright. Thank you, Johnny. Next?"

A girl next closest stood, and introduced herself as 'Jenna May Brea' and asked, "Why are you so young? Teachers are supposed to be old, right?"

I laughed. "Some of them, perhaps... but I am young because most of my schooling happened within Temporal Barriers, and so I never aged while learning. Next?"

---

"I think that's everyone? Good. Now. First order of business. If you're learning about Demons, you'll need to know who the current Leaders are... here, a textbook should help." I placed a copy of my beginners textbook from Hugin's Nest on each child's desk. They were all 12 or so, so I suppose they weren't that much younger than me... physically.

"Current Royalty, page Three, go." I sat on my desk again.

One girl, 'Amanda', raised a hand. "Why is there no authors name?"

"Because I wrote it, my dear. Now. Page Three will tell you that the current leader of the Demon Realm is Eileen, daughter of Agardh, granddaughter of Tsenu, Great-Granddaughter of Ashkenazi, the First Demon. Who can tell me her husband and son's names?" I asked, then waited.

"It's Dianthus and Judah... why is no one answering?" I asked.

"Isn't the Demon King a Myth?" One student asked.

I hummed. "No. He's dead, but not a myth. Now. Look in the books, please. That is the family tree of the Demon Royalty, and the Lesser Royalty, The Demon Princes, as well." I nodded.

"You're listed in here." Johnny said.

"Correct, I am Descended from Baba Yaga, the Tenth Demon Princess... And she's floating above your heads as we speak." I pointed to the rafters, and the shark swimming lazily through them.

"Cool." He grinned.

I smiled. "Indeed. Now can anyone tell me how the Ether came into being? No...? Good. We'll learn that in this class as well. But first, we'll learn something relatively simple. Does everyone have a guard Rune or Glyph? Yes? Alright, you'll need a specific one, to breath in the Ether... draw the Glyph from page 22, please, all of you."

"Now?" One of the girls asked.

"No, tomorrow." I said blandly.

She blushed and started drawing the Glyph, and it came alive when she finished, settling on her throat.

Once everyone had drawn one, I nodded. "Good. Onward, then." I tapped the wall behind me, and opened Dianthus's Door, the French gilded ones.

It opened at the coordinates I asked them to, and I grinned. "Oh! One last thing. Grab one of these Flight RuneStones, to use during class. They don't leave my classroom, is that clear?" I asked, looking each of them in the eyes. "Golden. Now grab one, and follow me." I stood on the edge, and fell backwards, laughing.

I flew around in the air, and they hesitantly followed. Johnny seemed the most adept at flying, immediately managing to hover next to me.

The others eventually managed, and I grinned. "Welcome to the Ether, kids. Wicked Cool, huh?!? Come on!" I dove down at breakneck speeds, spiraling, and soon was near the surface, about a half mile above a Dragons feeding grounds.

They all arrived soon after that, and I laughed. "Below us is a dragons Feeding Grounds. It's filled with Lava, so don't get burnt, and don't piss off any dragons. We're only here to look. Don't touch the dragons, and don't touch the eggs. Okay?" I asked.

They nodded. "Yes Master Falkirk." One of the brown-nosers said, smiling sweetly.

"Hmph." I dove down at a more reasonable pace, and we hovered around the dragons, maybe fifty feet up.

I landed, motioning for them to stay airborne, and pet one dragons snout. "Well hello! I am Greta, and you are?" I asked her, smiling.

She snorted. "Tired of your company already."

"Don't be rude, little lady, or I'll turn you into a frog. I am Greta Falkirk." I warned her.

She grumbled. "I am Amira. And the children need not fear us. If they leave our young and eggs be, they are welcome."

I smiled and waved the kids down. "Like I said. No messing with eggs or baby dragons, and you'll be fine. Stay inside this Field, understand? You go outside of it, you never come back here. I can and will make you do boring paperwork while the rest of us explore the Demon Realm." I warned them, and shooed them off.

They stayed in a tight group, all crowding near Johnny, who seemed uncomfortable with the attention.

He walked over to an elder dragon, who seemed to have something stuck in his mouth, and hummed. "Do you need help?" He asked clearly.

The elder huffed. "You couldn't help, little one, but thank you."

"Hmm... I'm a Son of Hercules. I think I could help." He said simply.

"Hmmm... perhaps... but your teacher might be angry if you reached into my mouth, so let's assume you cannot help." The elder said, and closed his eyes.

Johnny reached between the dragons teeth, and gripped a sword, hauling until it shifted, and then sprung out when the elder hissed in pain.

The sword started waving itself around, and I grabbed it before it hit Amanda. "BEHAVE!" I barked at it, pressuring it until it submitted grudgingly.

As soon as I looked away, it started waving again, but Johnny slammed the flat against a rock, and it shook, shivered, and staid still. "There! Now calm down!" He said sternly.

The Elder hummed. "That sword has a mind of its own... it's been trying to get into my brain for years. Thank you, boy. What is your name?" He asked slowly.

"I'm Johnny Tender, Son of Marcus, Descendant of Hercules and Zeus." He grinned, and slipped the sword into his belt.

I made a sheath for it, and handed it to him. "Now, that's been exciting, but class ends soon. Tomorrow, we view a favorite of mine... a Roc Breeding Grounds." I chuckled.

---

I focused, building a spire of rock, then land around it, pulling from several different ecosystems. I removed all animals, and replaced them with giant flying squirrels and Dragonets. The Squirrels would be prey for the Roc.

Then I built steppes, Little Rock's of land that descended in a spiral to ocean below. I made some very powerful vines attach each little step, so thick and strong they could easily be walked on, the ends dangling in the water, and sucking it up through the vines, all the way to the top island, the biggest one.

Then I made a few more little floating islands, drifting aimlessly around the world, sitting on top of clouds to collect water. The bottom of each Island held all the Roots that were reaching for water, from the plants that sat on it. When it sat on a cloud, it drank up however much it needed, and moved on.

At the top of the Spire, I created a flat surface, and then a single building. It was a circular gazebo twice the size of a football field, built in the Greek style. In this, I took Master DuBois's idea, and placed the largest, thickest, strongest circle I could build, (which gave me a headache to even look at sideways), then a few more in the air above it, building to an inch high or so.

Then I looked at the gaps between the columns, and grinned. "Doors..." I created portals to literally every major city in the world, and then the major locations in the Demon Realm, and then more dimensions, which all lead to different time-periods.

It was very educational, honestly, to know that in certain dimensions, humans had evolved exactly the same, but not for an extra fifty years, thousand years, hundred thousand, and so on. Demons existed in a very few of them, a little different from ours, but in most they didn't exist at all. In one, the Gods didn't exist, which made me shiver. After all, what would such a Godless place be like? A wasteland, probably.

---

"The children will draw their circles over the circle in the center." I demonstrated for Father, who was leaning against one of the columns.

He grinned. "Very nice. I am very impressed... especially with how you made the Islands fly. How did you manage that, by the way? It must've taken a generous amount of magic, right?"

"You have no idea how completely vast my soul is... do you?" I sighed, shaking my head. "All of this was a drop in the bucket, nothing more. Well... more like an ocean into a Supernova, but hey." I shrugged.

He hummed. "I see... well, I still say well done. Now. About this Willam fellow..."

"Here we go." I sighed.

"Right, well... you've been seeing him for a while, now, and you've obviously slept with him-"

"Father!" I snapped.

He held his hands up. "I'm not judging or disapproving, let me finish!! Now. You obviously like the boy... but..."

"When am I getting grandbabies, is the question he's too shy to ask!!!" Selene appeared, hugging me.

I laughed. "Oh, that... mm, not for a little while longer. I can't fight a War pregnant, so let's hope I can finish that soon... But I'm only 18, I have quite a long time ahead of me to manage that. You two should stop your nonsense, hmm? Now, Selene. How is your... relationship? With Dante?" I asked, changing the subject.

She hummed. "Rebuilding... slowly. And you, James? How is your relationship with Silvia?" She smirked.

He blushed. "That-that's none of your business, woman!" He attempted to leave in a huff, only to find that he was on top of a cliff, and stuck.

I laughed. "Our turn!!! When do I get siblings, huh?" I poked his chest, grinning.

"Ooh! I'd forgotten he's still able to make babies! Ha! Yes, when are there new babies coming?" Selene asked father.

He blushed. "W-what?!? No! There shall be no baby making! None! I have had two daughters, and I think that's clearly enough!"

"I don't. Make some more. Don't try to weasel out of it, either. I'll just ask Silvia to stop taking her birth control." I smirked evilly, and flounced away as he groaned in defeat.

---

"Alright, class, this is your classroom from now on, Capisce? As for how you'll get here... simply tap a wall twice, pause, three times, and tadah!" A Loki's door appeared. "Loki's Door. Think of this place, and you'll be copacetic." I nodded. "Also, don't mess with any of those tapestries. Yes, they hide doors, no, you can't go through them. They lead to various places around the globe and to several different dimensions, and are my transportation around the Cosmos." I sighed.

"Why can't we use them, though? Is it dangerous?" Johnny asked.

"Yes. And, You don't want to get stuck in New Taiwan, I don't want to fish you out of New Taiwan, so work with me a bit." I shrugged.

They seemed to understand, and nodded. "Good. Now who knows how to summon something? Anything?" I asked, looking around at my 4 students. (4 of the Original 8 had been pulled from my class when their parents heard I'd taken them to the Demon Realm on the first day.)

Jenna-May held up a hand. "I summoned an Imp once!"

I nodded. "Okay. Anyone else? Anton?"

He blushed. "I've never managed it..."

"Sarah?" I asked.

"Me neither..." she sighed.

"Okay... Johnny?"

"I made a portal HexBag before, with my papa, but I never summoned anything. I caught a hell-hound before, though, with my hands!" He grinned.

I laughed. "Mm, okay. Jenna-May. Make a circle, and try to summon something. If you don't think you can draw a circle in the air, then just use mine."

She nodded and walked into the circle, and began drawing her own, painstakingly painting the details.

Then she poured a drop of blood from a vial around her neck onto the Circles, both of them, and hers glowed weakly, while mine cracked and snapped with enormous amounts of the Gods' Lightning.

The children gasped, and I smiled. "Alright. Good. Now for some poetry, and boom." I said.

She nodded and cleared her throat, before reciting a Haiku from her memory. The air above the circle shook, but didn't break. She tried again, and nearly shouted the lyrics. This time, the air cracked a little, and a muzzle stuck itself through.

It wuffled a bit, and then pulled back, head-butting the hole, and widening it. A young Werewolf scrabbled its way through, and sat in the circle, huffing, before shifting into a human, about the same age as the kids, around 12-14. Luckily, he was clothed, which meant he was from one of the intelligent clans.

He stood, and grinned happily. "Oh cool! Humans! Hey, can you really not lick your own toes? How do you clean them? Oh! And can you really not shape-shift?!?" He shifted into a russet wolf, and scratched his ear with one of his back paws.

Jenna-May giggled. "Wow! No, we can't lick our own toes... at least I don't think so... and no, most of us can't shape-shift. I'm Jenna, and you?" She asked.

"Tyron. My name is Tyron. Hey, do I have to go back to the Ether? It's terribly boring there, and people are always trying to eat me. People don't eat each other here, right?" He grinned.

I laughed. "No, not often. You're welcome to stay on this island, this is where I teach my classes." I shrugged.

He grinned. "Sounds good. The Circle?" He asked, kicking it gently. It shook, and he hummed. He hauled off and kicked harder, and it shattered. He flinched. "Oops... sorry. Weak circle."

I fixed the breach, and chuckled. "Yeah... well, welcome to Earth, kid."