Early in the morning, when almost no student was walking to class, William stumbled about trying to stay awake. The black and white painted walls of the school felt almost hypnotic, causing him to grow a bit nauseous.

He had spent most of the night skimming through the book Daniel had given to him. Apparently, Daniel had missed giving out some information to him.

First of all, he wasn't just a teacher for a class. He was their main teacher. William had believed that he would just hold a two to four hour lecture a day and repeat it until the weekend, but no. He was apparently the one in charge of these students.

In Elysium, things worked a bit differently. In Elysium students were grouped up with students around their level or age. Then they would be assigned a teacher that will be in charge of teaching them what they believe the class needs and choosing teachers that could teach in other subjects outside their field. The assigned teacher would also be the one in charge of taking the students on outside school lectures.

William’s phone buzzed and when he checked he saw a message from Daniel.

The text read: "Btw I left some stuff for you in the teacher’s lounge on the second floor."

"How did he... You know what, no I'm not gonna even try to think how he did that." William mumbled.

William stumbled down a flight of stairs where he found the teacher's lounge. As he opened the door he was greeted by the sound of a coffee machine brewing. There were two others in the lounge with him.

A woman, wearing a black blouse and blue jeans, she had black hair and a pair of round glasses. She had a small red rose tattoo on the side of her neck. She stood by the coffee machine looking like she could barely be kept awake.

On the other side of the room, sat a man. He was wearing a gray suit with a beige tie. He had his hair slicked back and sat typing on his laptop.

It took a while for the two to notice William.

"Oh! Hello, you must be that new class teacher Daniel brought along. For class 45 I believe." The woman said, offering her hand out for a handshake.

"I'm Jenny, the school nurse." She said.

William took her hand and said.

"William, I believe I am the school’s new history and spell theory teacher."

"That over there is Bernard. He is one of the school’s Economics and Spell theory teachers." Jenny told him.

"So, is it just the two of you here or?" William asked.

"Oh, for now it is. Most of the teachers have already gone to prepare for the new students." Jenny explained.

Here I thought I was early. William thought.

"Well, I'm only here to pick up something, but it was nice to meet you." William said with a tired smile.

"Nice to meet you too." Jenny responded.

William then went over to where Bernard sat and saw a box labeled "William.". In it was a map of the school and its classrooms, a key chain with different keys, a clipboard that contained the names and pictures of the students he would be teaching, a piece of paper that told him what classroom he has assigned and so on.

"Room 4009" William mumbled, as he read the note telling him what room his first class is scheduled to be at.

Making his way out he noticed a pack of energy drinks sitting next to Bernard. So, when Bernard wasn't looking William took a can and made his way out.

William made his way up to the fourth floor and easily found the classroom he was assigned.

Room 4009 was a miniature auditorium made for bigger classes. That’s what he interpreted from the note, and it was spot on. When he opened the door, he saw six rows of padded seats. All rows containing ten seats each.

William turned all the lights on and sat down on the chair in front of the whiteboard. He unpacked a small bag he had with him. He laid out the book he got from Daniel along with some notes he had made the other night. William also took out a hip flask and poured the energy drink he stole into it.

he took a swing of it and sat it down on the table again.

Suddenly the classroom doors opened and in flooded a variety of students. They started to fill the empty seats of this small auditorium. As the clock hit 8, William stood up and moved over to the whiteboard and wrote his name.

"I am William, no last name, and I will be your teacher for the coming year." he announced.

"I am a sage and have been for my entire life. I was born in Germany and have gone around the world for different studies. I’m a converter and I mainly use origami when it comes to fighting. That’s all I will give you for now. If you want to know more, you can read about me on the school’s registry." William explained.  

"I will be guiding you all through How to be sages. I will teach you what I think is necessary for this." William told them.

"Now I will begin with a short roll call and then I will begin with the basics of basics and we will go from there." William told them.

After roll call and noticing that there isn't a single person missing, he begins.

"What is a sage? Well, they are, in simple terms, an evolution from humans. They have the ability to cast spells and magic through Yade. And all of you here are sages. Be it that you have been from birth or that you have just recently become one." William explained.

A brown-haired man in an oversized sweater, that seemed to have just turned 20, then raised his hand.

"Yes."

"I-I'm sorry but how exactly do humans evolve?" the man asked.

"I don’t know." William shrugged.

"In fact, none does. Some speculate that eventually humans are just destined to evolve into sages, while others believe it to be the result of overexposure to Yade. No one knows." William explained.

The man didn't look happy with the result, in fact, he looked more worried than anything.

William glanced over to the student list and saw that the man was one of the humans who had recently become a sage. Hector Ramos, it said next to his picture.

"Any other questions?" William asked.

The class was silent.

"Then let us continue."

"Other than being able to cast spells, sages and humans are pretty similar. The only biological difference between them is that sages have an extension of their heart."

"It's something we began to call the pouch. It's a small extension of our hearts that connects to our vocal cords. This is one of the things that makes a sage able to use the eternal energy that is Yade." William explained.

"Now what is Yade? Well from what we all know Yade is what builds the universe, and it is what balances it out. It has been here for as long as we know. Yade has three different states it can be in. Anyone care to tell me which?" William asked the class.

A red-haired girl raised her hand.

"Yes erm..." William said, glancing towards the student list.

"Amelia Swanson." William said.

Amelia stood up brushing back her red locks from her face.

"The three forms are its pure state, stable state and its corrupt state." She explained.

"Correct. Care to explain more about them." William asked.

"Its pure form is when it's well, pure. It's the foundation of everything in the universe. It's the most powerful state of Yade there is. It's described to flow like water and form string like structure in an emerald, green color. With it being so powerful it will most likely kill the caster with just an attempt to harness it." Amelia explained.

"Good. Now anyone else?" William asked.

A man whose arms are completely covered in tattoos stands up.

"In its stable form, Yade is more filtered of power and knowledge making it more accessible to sages. It takes on a yellow glow and feels more like silk." The man said whilst moving his fingers. What looks like sunrays flow around them.

"Correct, erm... Jimmy Fletcher." William said.

Jimmy then looked towards Amelia with a competitive grin.

"And the last..." Before William could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Amelia.

She stood up and said.

"The last state of Yade is its Corrupt form. It's more crystalline in nature, taking on a more blackish red form and usually affects the mind and nervous system when being used in spells. Making it more recommended to not use." Amelia explained.

She then looked back up to Jimmy, giving him a smirk and putting up her hands indicating. 2-1 to her.

They seem competitive. William thought.

"So, what is Yade? It's a mysterious energy that builds up the universe and seems to be originating from somewhere. Simply put, it's the blood of God." William explained.

At this, some of the class seemed confused. While others sat silent, as if it was common knowledge, most of the students that were so called new sages were all confused. 

Blood of God as in actual God? One thought.

Oh, I get it he must mean that the universe is God and this Yade thing is its blood. It’s a metaphor! Another belived. 

"We know Yade to be the blood of God and with the death of God in 1888 we can see that the flow of Yade doesn’t seem to stop even with their death." William calmly explained.

"I'm sorry WHAT!!??" Hector then erupted.

"You mean to tell me that God exists and that he is DEAD!?" Hector asked, somewhat stressed out about this information.

"Indeed. The 8th of August 1888 in Luxemburg. It was the first recorded sight of God, and it was also the day they died."

"How..." Hector let out.

At this, a groan erupted from the girl beside him.

Looking at the student list William saw that her name was Ophelia Cosmatos. She stood out from the rest of the class with her black and white streaked hair and expensive clothes.

"It's common knowledge at this point. Do we really have to Mr. William?" The girl asked.

William seemed to almost recoil at being called Mr. William.

"Common knowledge! You expect us to think that God has been dead for over 130 years to be common fucking knowledge!" Hector screamed out.

The class went silent.

Save this William, save this! William thought to himself.

"For some of us sages yes, but not for humans. So why don’t I just sum it up for the ones who don’t know." William said, hoping to calm down Hector and the other newly made sages.

"So, the date is the 8th of August 1888. In a hidden laboratory in Luxemburg, a group of sages and humans had witnessed the clouds split and down a figure descended. It bore a pair of wings made from Yade and over a dozen arms that aligned themselves in a perfect circle. Where its face would be, was a hole. Seeming to go on forever. Other than that, the being looked almost human." William started.

"The group could feel it. This being was God, their father in heaven. He had come down to bless them in person. However, when God looked at the group of sages and humans they seemed confused, scared. Like if it had never seen us before."

"It is reported that the being seemed to flinch when the local priests started to speak to it. The priest praised it and asked it if rapture had come. But God simply let out a whaling moan, apparently, it sounded almost as if it was singing. It continued to let out this song, like if it was calling out to somebody."

"In the mesh of sound that was its song a single sentence could be heard." William continued.

"Get away from me, what are you?"

"That sentence set the spark for what was to come. For that sentence caused the people to realize. We are not God’s children. We are not their creation." William explained.

"This caused an outrage and... Well, they showed God what they were. They killed it. While they did it is reported that God reached out its many hands up to the sky and wailed. When asked later a man said it sounded like a child crying for their mother." William told them.

"So, from that day in 1888, God has been dead. But yet Yade still flows. Anyone know why?" William asked.

No one stood up to answer. The auditorium was quiet.

"Well, it's because of one of two things. One, when God died, they went through a sort of metamorphosis and left their material form, behind to become something more akin to conscious energy within the Yade. Or we killed the wrong one." William explained.

The tension in the classroom was stale and it felt suffocating.

"Okay I'm noticing the overall mood to this information so why don’t we take a short breather? Talk with each other. Introduce yourselves." William told them.