Now the dark begins to rise[END]

Jacob had figured that living on an island in the middle of the Pacific would come with its own weather-related challenges. Living on the mainland gave one the impression that the time of the year could be judged by the changing of the seasons and the fluctuations in temperature. As the seasons changed, so did the weather patterns and people fell into their own annual pattern alongside it.

Living in the middle of the ocean, however, meant that the weather was simultaneously very consistent and difficult to predict. Most of the time the weather could be simply be classified as "Nice", with occasional highs and lows and even a bit of snowfall from nowhere. But generally a person's wardrobe need not be that varied or extensive. But then there were the time when a freak storm or shower would come out of the ether, batter the lands, and be gone the next minute. It was all very confusing.

That was why Jacob didn't feel much of anything when it came to the gathering storm coming off the coast. He assumed it was just another afternoon-only storm and that maybe he could even beat it home if he ended his classes soon enough. If not, he could wait a few minutes at school as the storm came and went as they always do. Hell, after he dismissed classes and readied himself to go, he just waited at the entrance of the school for the rain to stop.

Then things got bad. Really bad. Really fast.

The rain became a torrential downpour and the wind hit unfathomable speeds. Jacob would have been content to take shelter in the school, but when he saw debris start flying and heard screams, he knew he had to do his duty.

He ran out into the storm, becoming soaked to the bone in mere seconds, and pushed through the wind to the courtyard. By that point, he had to hold onto a bench for stability as he yelled to any students nearby to take shelter in the school.

A shame Félix picked this day for a walk. When he looked outside, there only seemed to be a few clouds out in the distance. He was fortunate enough to grab a coat anyway, in case the wind proved chilling, but otherwise he expected calm weather and clear skies for a day of fresh air.

Even when he stepped outside and felt it windier than expected, he resolved to continue and went a good ways out from the school. The wind picked up harder and harder, and after a few minutes Félix thought it best just to cut the walk short. The clouds were dangerously close to the island now, and the waters seemed choppy. Strange how quickly the weather changed, but that was all part of being out in the middle of the pacific. Félix thought nothing of it outside of a ruined day for a promenade.

He didn't realize the gravity of the weather until the rain crashed against him like it was poured straight out of a fireman's hose. Félix threw his hood up, but it flapped all over the place in front of his face. Some of his hair, dangling outside of the hood, would catch in the wind and flip itself into his mouth or eyes. Félix wrapped his arms tight around his coat, trying to keep it from flapping violently.

Tabernac. Some weather. Félix was still more upset than anything else. The wind was brutal, but he was close enough to the ground that it didn't pick him up like the trees. Even then, he still didn't think it dangerous. Not until Félix realized some of the trees were almost uprooted, or soon would be.

I need to get inside... The alarm sounded way out in the city. Shit. Was this a typhoon? The clouds darkened out the sky, and rain obscured Félix's vision. He could barely see the campus, and had trouble finding his way towards it when the wind seemed to whip him in any direction it pleased.

Finally, the wind was strong enough that it started to pick Félix himself up from the ground. He panicked, and despite his usual hesitance let loose a single ghostly black tendril from his hand. It twisted through the wind before wrapping around one of the thicker trees. And just in time too, as Félix's body was lifted into the wind and all he had left was a black lifeline. He could feel his arm be stretched out like taffy, and he winced in pain.

He needed to find a way to get down and fast.

It had been an ordinary day just like any other. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about anything, especially the weather. Granted it had been a little cloudy all day, but staring out the window, Noelle had not imagined a violent storm. So, why was she out here exactly? Oh yea, because the moment she'd stepped outside, she'd laid one of her note cards on the ground, placing her foot on top of it, that way her hands were free to pull her hair in a side ponytail. But, when the wind picked up, she moved her fit just a tad, and her note card went flying. it went and then crashed to the ground, hovering bumppily over the ground. That's why she was out here. Noelle bent down to pick up her card, but the wind snatched it away right before the wrap her fingers around it. Then, the rain came. It was just a little at first, but as she chased her card, it started to pour. "what the-" some twigs started violently blowing her way before she could finish. They smacked and poked her as she stumbled across the ground, determined to get her now soaked card. She was sure she heard some one yelling for people to get inside, but there was no going back.

With one great lunge, she leapt for her card, grabbing it, but the wind knocked her to the ground in the process. She looked at the soggy card that fell apart in her hands. "I knew I always hated Botany" she murmured angrily to herself. The wing was blowing hard, and tired of being assaulted by twigs and sticks, she was determined to find her was back inside. On a clear day it would have been pretty easy, but now she had stumbled beyond the usual boundaries, the it was impossible to see through the storm. She ran to the nearest tree, of pretty medium size, and held on for her dear life. She would just have to wait till the storm was calmed to try to move inside. To make maters worse, she had not worn a jacket that day. She never carried one around so today was no different. It wasn't the cold wind or rain that bothered her, she was immune to the cold, but the small items that kept hitting her. She sat down, one arm wrapped around the tree, her legs tucked under her. She closed her eyes, and hoped the winds would calm down. Why had this storm come so suddenly? Was there going to be a tornado or a hurricane? Noelle didn't have a clue.

The winter air was fresh. It sore through the academy's ground so nicely. As Skyler looked above, he noticed there weren't any blueness of the sky. It was an odd thing, but it didn't bother Skyler to much. He turned his head away from the sky, and looked around.

The wind blew hard. Gushes of it blasted at Skyler, but it wasn't hard to him. Just normal wind acting weird. He couldn't sense it, but hes been to, to many beaches where the wind blew hard because of the waves/water, but why was it blowing like this here?

Once Skyler caught the sight of the lake, he figured it must of been because he was close to it. The harsh winds rubbing off the lake and rushing up the hill and blowing Skyler's hair, and coat around.

He shivered. It wasn't very nice air ether. The cold wind chilled every bone in his body. His ears twitched, with his tail hiding behind his leg, hoping to get out of the cold. Skyler grabbed his coat to fix it, where it could keep the cold out more then it had.
I better get going to school before I freeze to death.
Skyler began walking towards the school. His tail wasn't very happy, the cold winds blew against its bare fur. To keep it from the cold, Skyler placed it underneath the coat, hugging his leg.

While he was walking, a very hard gush of wind blew him right off his feet, making Skyler land in the freezing snow. Skyler doesn't wear any hats, so the cold snow got in his ears and, covered his face. He wasn't pleased. Skyler quickly got up and brushed himself off, giving himself a shake before looking around wondering what that was.

The harsh wind came again, but Skyler was ready for it, and stood his ground. It took only a few seconds before it gave up and vanished. It was sure becoming very odd. But before anything else happened, it began to rain. And not lightly ether...

With the first drop, Skyler got to his feet and ran. He hated the rain a lot and wasn't going to be stuck in it. With his speed he thought he would be in the school in a flash, but the wild wind keep him there. He didn't know anything anymore... All he knew was he had to get out of this rain, and fast!

What was happening, was nothing like Claire had seen before. Living in the forest most of her life, she had seen a bunch of storms, but nothing compared to this. Of course, because they were on an island, it was natural for there to be bad storms, as they were in the middle of the pacific ocean and all. Claire looked down and herself, seeing as to what she had on. A jacket, sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt. That would do. At that moment it wasn't very bad, though she could feel the wind picking up. She got out of her chair and breathed heavily. "You can do this." Claire zipped up her jacket all the way, and headed for the door that was to the courtyard.

As he reached it, she hesitated, not knowing as to what would happen if she stayed outside for too long. Claire breathed again and quickly opened the door to go outside. The wind hit her hard, making her loose her balance as first, but then quickly regaining it. That's when the rain started. The rain she could handle, as she used her powers to keep it out of her face as she looked for people to bring inside.

"Hello? If anyone can hear me, go inside, into a building!" She paused for a second, seeing if anyone had heard her. A few seconds later, she heard an alarm, one that she had never heard before, but remembered somehow. "A warning alarm? How bad is this storm?" She gasped as the rain hit harder into her. With one hand, she blocked the rain, and with another, she put her hood up to protect herself even more. This didn't even seemed like to worst of it. It was just getting started, which made Claire worry. 'Should I just stay inside?' She thought to herself as she tried to go forward. She was afraid that the wind was just going to knock her off of her feet any minute now.

She spotted someone in the distance, someone she hadn't ever seen before, which probably meant it was a civilian. She wondered how many people had been out today, how many people would be lost right now because of this storm. After a few seconds, she could barely move, as the wind kept getting strong and stronger. "Stop it, damn it!"She lost her footing and went backwards. Thankfully, she grabbed onto a bench, and pulled herself up. "This is crazy." She said, fearing for what was to come next.

How was she supposed to save anyone in this type of storm? How was he herself going to get back to the school without hurting herself? If she were to loose her footing again, she would probably go flying. "How the fuck am I supposed to stay in this weather?" Claire had to at least try to see why this was happening. Was a tsunami coming? It was getting worse, and fast, so maybe. She looked up quickly, seeing that the sky was very dark now. As Claire looked forward, she saw someone. The same person she had seen before. "Hey! over here!" As the person came towards her, she grabbed the girls hand, and then told her to go inside. People without powers, or without any means of trying to help, were not what she needed right now.

She looked over her shoulder, and to her happiness, the girl was safely inside. 'Great, at least one person is safe form all of this.' She shivered and moved her hand up and down on her arm as she continued forth.

For all his yelling and screaming to anyone who might be nearby, Jacob quickly found that the storm had other ideas. Not only was the torrential rain cutting visibility by the second, but the howling winds were drowning out just about any sound that wasn't screaming winds. Jacob was effectively blind, deaf, and mute in the storm and things were only getting worse. If dangerous winds and blinding rain were not enough, the storm saw fit to add in ice, thunder, and he even thought he felt the ground move on its own a bit. The world had turned into a cacophony of the worst noises anyone could hope for outside of industrial equipment and angry animals. What's worse was that the alarms that had once added to the chaos suddenly going dark was more worrying than them continuing to make noises.

But Jacob had a job to do, and that was to look after his students. Using grounded objects like benches and light poles, Jacob clawed across the courtyard trying to find any lost students. His adherence to saving these kids would be the death of him, almost literally on a few occasions. Debris flying past reminded him of the dangers, but a crash rock nearby nearly clocked him over the head. A few shards got past his attempt at ducking and cut into his head, drawing blood.

Despite his minor injury, Jacob pressed on and found a good sized tree that had not been uprooted yet. There, he found a face he recognized. Noelle. He immediately wrapped his own arm around the tree and bent down to get closer to her so she could hear him.

"Noelle?! What are you doing here?! You need to get--"

He was interrupted by the sound of something wetly slapping the tree. Looking up near his anchored arm, Jacob saw a black tentacle of some kind gripping the tree. At first, Jacob thought it was the storm's doing, and that it was now throwing demons at them alongside the horrible weather. But his eyes followed the tentacle and found... a student at the end of it. It took a moment to realize that the student was using it as a lifeline, then Jacob jumped into action.

"Hold onto my legs, Noelle!!!"

After barking an order to Noelle, Jacob reached out and grabbed the tendril, hoping to reel the flailing student back to solid ground.

It wasn't just raining anymore. As intolerable as the rain was in soaking Félix to the bone, he'd have much preferred it over the beating drops of ice colliding against his head. It was hailing, and the longer Félix remained outside the greater the chance the weather would worsen until fist-sized hail knocked him unconscious. Or dead, but that'd happen soon enough once he lost his grip.

Speaking of grip, Félix could feel the tree underneath him start to uproot. He could hardly see anything thanks to the blinding rain, nor hear anything between the raging winds and massive downpour. But Félix could feel his body lift just a little more into the air, and he knew he had little time before both the tree and himself flew away.

There was nothing else to hold onto. He couldn't see anything to grip either, other than more trees that already started to sail towards the sky. Félix was wincing in pain just trying to hold on, his arm pulled by the force of his body and the force of his tendril...

Suddenly, he realized he was being lowered. Félix couldn't hear or see anything at all. He couldn't even yell out, as he feared both chocking in water and ice as well as simply being unable to yell through the wind. He heard faint noises though... and short tugs on his arm. Someone was trying to reel him in!

His tendril... ah, of course! Félix didn't bother to think twice. He'd rather risk turning into a monster than dying in some hurricane or whatever this was. Félix started to tune out the rest of the world, even the wind driving along his ears. He concentrated, and tendrils grew out from any part of his body he could manage. The more tendrils he produced, and the larger he made them, the heavier he was and the less danger the wind was to him.

Félix wrapped himself in thick, black tentacles. Eventually his body was heavy enough that the wind no longer could hold him, and his helpers would have a substantially easier time lowering him. Félix smiled a little when his feet finally managed to touch the ground. He kept some of his black weight hugging his body, keeping his surface area low while raising his mass. He wouldn't be flying anywhere soon.

“Hello!?” Félix tried to yell over the wind. Still, it was hard to make out his own voice. It was a big figure, but it was about all he could make out in the storm. “Thank you! Not that you can hear me.” Félix grumbled and ultimately tried to stay close to company. He'd rather not be lost in the storm again. Some of his tentacles still flapped through the wind, working as feelers to try and guide Félix's way through the storm.

One of his tentacles inadvertently brushed against someone else. There was another person with this big gentleman, but Félix could hardly make them out either. “Sorry!” Félix fruitlessly tried to apologize for his tendril's collision. Even in the worst storms, it wouldn't do to be impolite.

Félix tried to get as close to Jacob as he could manage before attempting to communicate. “We should head back inside! It won't to get lost out here!”

Félix was exhausted already. The weight of his expanded body, his arm being torn across the wind, the strain of his power... he wouldn't last more than a few minutes outside before he fell in the mud.

The wind bashed against Noelle like nothing she'd ever known. 'Where the heck is this storm coming from' she thought furiously. The days before showed no sign of violent weather, and it wasn't in the forecast. Noelle was pretty sure that over all the wind and destruction that was happening she heard a voice.

She peeked an eye open. It was Mr. Jacob, the teacher she'd met it the city. Apparently he was trying to reach a student. Noelle attempted to do as she was told, but suddenly a gust of wind knocked her feet a way from the tree and Mr. Jacob. She landed with a thud on the ground, her back aching, and her head just missing a tree.

She tried to sit up, but the wind pushed her down against the wet ground, onto her sore back. She waved her arms frantically, wondering if there was a way her powers could help her. But if the wind moved her snow or solid ice and it hit some one- not good. She was going to have to get herself out of this one.

She wanted everyone outside to go back inside and be safe, but by now she was sure no one could get to it. She was sure people were telling other people to get inside, but how could they? The wind was to strong, and by now, large objects were flying around the place.

Noelle hadn't been this scared in a long time, fear was not one of her weaknesses. But, this storm terrified her, and she couldn't do much about it. She scooted a few inches back, that way if the wind blew, her head wouldn't be smashed into the tree.

Once again, all the did was squeeze her eyes shut, and place her arms protectively over herself, not that it was going to do much good. Noelle perked up at a noise, one she hadn't heard the whole time because it was to loud. Sirens. How bad was this storm going to be? It was pretty bad already of course, but could it get much worse? Noelle hoped it wouldn't.