Professor Yew

"Well, here goes nothing." Chronias thought as he approached the old, dusty exterior of his old schoolhouse. Aging in this world acts in such strange ways, so what better concept to learn more about than Quantum Mechanics? He's remembering now, the almost M.C. Escher painting like twists and turns of Professor Yew's initial trap. He always was so good at torturing demons like himself. "Must get off at night thinking about all the pain he inflicts on his students." Chronias thought before realizing how screwed up that actually was. "Do I really think this way sometimes? Even the Professor would probably mess with me for that one!"

Three knocks on the, ironically enough, Yew Wooden door and it opens by itself. This is something the new students get taught first thing's first. "I don't fully understand why a demon so intent on creating torturous games would want to actually give people any free information. The absolute idiot!" When the door opens, a literal interpretation of an M.C. Escher painting manifests on the inside of the almost unable to be entered on the outside schoolhouse. While they did call the majority of the school grounds "Convex Academy," each different subject tended to have its own traps to try and make students arrive late. More punishments get dished out that way you see. Always more punishments.

Eclipse had told Chronias to close his eyes and just enter. Now, he finally understood why that would work. He also took some dark tinted glasses from his trusty satchel. The ones he had been told were called "Infinity Specs," due to Eclipse's penchant for the dramatic. He really had changed quite a lot since their days on earth. Chronias did in fact trust him even after all these quantum leaps back and forth between moments in time. So, there was definitely a reason that this time and this place were chosen.

The glasses' tint went against the almost blinding white tint of the trap itself, and so it would help when he closed his eyes to basically "pretend" it doesn't exist. He pushes forward.

"So, you finally made it here." Professor Yew declared almost with a snarling, sneering tone. Typical of fellow demons. Chronias opens his eyes and suddenly, he sees the tiny room, the wooden chairs which would break constantly only to repair themselves and break as soon as you sat on them. Always more torture. That's all this place has ever been.

"Yeah. This time I had help getting through your stupid little tricks you rat. Tell me, WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PARTNER!?"

"Ok, first off, tone it down a bit." The tall, black furred goat's horns curved honestly in a very similar way to Eclipse's. Pointing towards wherever the towering figure was pointed. His voice was sharp, piercing, and could go to a screeching high pitch at his will. Chronias had experienced it himself when roughhousing with some of the other demons, who really tend to be very aggressive children. He'd lived an entire life here in the "Spiral of Infinitum" and this... coward... was a part of so much of his adult life. His eyes were piercing too. Colored red as often is the case with demons. We tend not to get the choice of what eyes we have. Always made Chronias's light blue eyes stand out which definitely got him messed with by demon children.

The angels always so high and mighty while demons still tended to have some level of dignity. Didn't change them from loving to use magic in ways that were meant to deceive. You could never, EVER trust anyone in this place. No one except the people you knew from back on earth. "I can hear your thoughts now you know. I wish I couldn't, but I can." Chronias' eyes went wide in shock and immediate, responsive anger.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?"

"Tell me something little Chronias. Why do you think of demons in the way you do? I thought that we'd taught you better than to typecast like this?"

"How DARE you invade my throughts!? How the FUCK did you even manage to do that with Eclipse's..."

"Eclipse taught me how to use aetherite with you." That pierced Chronias' heart more than anything. It made his blood run cold. Could I, not even trust him now? "Why is trust always something that you feel gets taken away as soon as you don't understand something?" His piercing gaze now fully fixated on Chronias himself. There were only different shades of black in his features, slightly less dark fur covered his face to make sure that students would home in exactly where they needed to look. In the eyes. Chronias refused to look this monster in the eyes and give him the satisfaction. "Satisfaction? You, really do think I did this to torture students don't you? Just like he'd said."

"Ok... I trust Eclipse. Ok? I DON'T trust you. You won't trick me into revealing more information than I need to."

"You two... always with this eternal game that's tearing you apart, aren't you? You were always a very frustrating student to communicate with. However, I understand now. It wasn't something you could actually control. Hey, you know I'm sorry, right?" Chronias' anger boiled over once again.

"SORRY!? You think that actually forgives ANYTHING you did to me!? Always more torture from you. Always more."

"I know you don't trust me, but, let me at least explain why I treated you as I did. It's because I'm not a demon. Or at least, I wasn't always one." That perked Chronias' interest intently.

"You... weren't always..."

"Eclipse knew me while I was an angel. I actually got accepted by Calypso and ascended into Infinitum City for a time to study."

"You... never mentioned... WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU!?" Suddenly, a familiar, shadowy presence behind him. Eclipse had somehow warped to him. Then, Chronias had noticed, Yew's eyes had been closed this whole time. Another Illusion?

"When you were on earth, here's something that goat could never know. You were big into card tricks. You would actually try to make shuriken out of small metal sheets, and they would never actually work as weapons, so we just decided to make them into heavy metal drink coasters~"

"Eclipse! You're here!" Chronias turns around and then gets a tap on his shoulder from where he was pointed before spinning around. "Haha... you're going to just keep playing games cutie~? Come on now and reveal yourself seeing as how you for some reason, already revealed a lot of information to this one." He keeps his shadowy paw on Chronias' shoulder and as he turns, not only is Eclipse there beaming at him, so... is... Yew? "Yo, old man, why are you suddenly smiling so much?"

"You finally managed to let someone back into that thick skull of yours, didn't you?"

"Haha... I never thought you did either!" Chronias said actually laughing in this hellish place. Clearly, he must be going mad to be imagining this.

"You're still not getting how my powers work, are you?" Chronias thought for a moment that was Eclipse chastising him, but... no... it was Yew.

"Professor?" Eclipse had moved to his side, holding his shoulder still. "Why... is Eclipse able to just jump around in physical space like this?"

"Did you ever wonder why you were able to time travel in general? Did you think that was an ability inherent to your being Chronias?" Eclipse said that one... I think. Their voices are starting to sound similar. This couldn't be a trick, right? How much did Eclipse actually tell Yew? "CHRONIAS!" Suddenly, everything was sounding much clearer again. He's here. I have to remember, he's actually here... right?

Yew turns around again. "I see. So that's why you talked to me as you did Eclipse. You needed confirmation that I was the source of this time travel singularity bullshit." Chronias' eyes went super wide. This... wasn't my power? What power could I possibly have then? Thoughts through his head that everyone in the room could read like an open book. Out of the corner of Chronias' eyes, he sees Eclipse nodding.

"Vice has been getting to all of us lately. Chronias keeps thinking I'm speaking in codes instead of just saying that Vice is his own entity. Can you help me get him to understand the true danger here?"

"I can certainly try young one. Though I do recommend realizing, that an infinite game is one you cannot win."

"Professor, I didn't come here for a psychological evaluation. We can do that perfectly fine on our own I'd like to think." Chronias said it for Eclipse because he could tell that's what Eclipse was going to say. "So, you're the singularity we've been searching for?" He decided to save his line of questioning along the lines of this "Vice" entity for later.

"You know, in this case I could just outright answer, but you know I looovee my games, right? So, let's play one." The floor fades away and Chronias falls for a bit before the typical glass covering up the Ouroboros Shell submerged in the sea of darkness.

"He... he played..."

"A shadow game with me. Yes." Eclipse finished for Chronias stepping forward, then off to the side so that he could have both of the demons within his line of sight. "Chronias. I love you dearly, ok? You do still believe that right? The aetherite is returning more memory to you now?"

"Um... I don't know if it's... returning... mem... or... eee..."

"Vice is trying to take you over Chronias! You have to keep sight of me!" This time it was from Professor Yew. What is.. this game? I... hate... games? WAIT!

"I REMEMBER! Yew shouldn't be able to read memories because he isn't a Chronicler!"

"Correct dear. I've only let him into this little game temporarily! You truly did teach him really well while he was here Professor! You did a fantastic job as his guardian angel."

"Demon. Guardian Demon. I'm a natural born demon remember?"

"Actually, I hadn't! Sorry about that one old man!" Eclipse was always so dismissive towards moments where he forgot important details. I sincerely wonder sometimes if he even cares about the chaotic way his mind works. That's one thing that's remained consistent ever since that first day at the speakeasy.

"Ok, gentlemen, please, let's focus. Can you tell me professor, are you the source of... all my abilities?"

"No. You get one inherent power when you transcend the mortal plane. Either a demonic or angelic power. You really didn't always pay attention, did you? Or is it this 'aetherite' you've told me about before Eclipse?"

"That's likely the problem Professor. You know from years of experience how time travel removes memories yes? What if there was a system to preserve that for the future? That's what me and Chronias developed many timelines ago." Chronias' eyes brightened up. Suddenly a notepad appeared in Chronias' left paw, and Eclipse gave a soft smile, looking at the pad, winking at Chronias, and suddenly a pen manifests in his right paw. With a confident nod, the crimson dragon knew he'd finally learn about the inner workings of this mysterious substance of shadow. As well as how it could always manifest everything they needed. "You're not going to get to know everything, because there are things that even I don't know about my nature Chronias. However, here's how it retains memories so well. It's adding structure to something that shouldn't even be observable through normal means at all! Dark matter isn't something that should actually be able to be observed." Eclipse actually vanished for a moment, but before Chronias could even panic properly... "However, I exist and can speak and behave like a normal being. How should that even be possible?"

Professor Yew took some time to ponder the question. "I think it has a lot to do with how you are a human soul who has passed back into our folds."

Chronias wrote down the word "Folds?" on the notepad and continued. It seemed like his brain was clearer, as if Eclipse had chosen to not... invade his thoughts anymore? "Ok a question from me now. Who are you really Professor?"

"I am a demonic professor on the grounds of Convex Academy. I've stayed here most of my immortal existence. However, I know both of you very well from my travels between planes of existence. Now I also know that Calypso allowed one of my own students to be sent to Infinitum City through being compelled to enter those Convex Portals at exactly the right time! I couldn't be prouder!"

"You're starting to stray away from the question. He asked for who you are remember? Stay on topic."

"Well, I'm a proud educator. I do in fact play tricks on my students, because unfortunately, many will try to play those same tricks on them here in hell without them even recognizing it. I was once married before a separation occurred when I realized that Infinitum City works heavily on Telepathic communication. My wife, named Cynthia, she remained in Infinitum, and we separated on good terms. Sometimes she'll even get the privilege of visiting me here in this dingy little schoolhouse."

"I... don't understand. You always told me in class that those portals were off limits. You told me that they teleport to random locations! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THEY COULD TAKE ME TO ECLIPSE!?"

"Because you were going to find out anyways. You were always so intelligent. You eventually were going to try everything that didn't work and use that as a means of finding what decidedly did work for you." The words, like often they had with his professor, pierced him metaphorically at least, in the heart. He... thinks I'm intelligent? It took a lot for him to keep ahold of the notepad when he told him that.

"If you think I'm so smart, then why couldn't you trust me?"

"Trust is a two-way street. I'm not going to put my trust in someone who's not going to be honest with me about how he feels first."

"Yet, you trust Eclipse. Just because he's an angel I bet right?"

"No. I don't trust Eclipse either. I just know better than to cross him when he tries to intimidate people. Eclipse doesn't really trust himself either. That's why I never respected him. He knows this already. However, this time, he's actually working to properly help someone outside of himself."

"So, if you don't trust me still, then why did you even bother letting me do this in the first place? Saying something like that could just as easily get me to CRUSH YOU right?" Eclipse grew huge for a moment while he emphasized his words and then returned immediately back to normal with a grin.

"Rather, I feel as though I should answer Chronias' real question. Eclipse, you already know what I'd answer you with. At least, you should know in short time. Think through what I've told you before and you'll realize what I mean. You want to know about aetherite?"

"Yes. I do want to know more about that. It beats grilling you over your own nature, since with how philosophical you are, we'd just be here going... in circles.... all... day?" Professor Yew begins to grin and even laugh a little. Not a cackle, but a warm, genuine laugh. "That... was unexpected..."

"Well, that's fine Chronias! That's what I always wanted you to learn! That ultimately, we all learn in different ways! Now I know, that with Eclipse by your side, you're going to be able to actually fight back against Vice and create a permanent protection from his overshadowing nature. If anyone can make Eclipse into someone trustworthy, it's you, my star pupil."