Atropos heard a knock at her door, and looked up at the clock on the wall. It told her that it was six o'clock. Atropos quickly jumped out of the bed, pulling the blankets back up with her mind. She opened the door, and saw an unusual creature on the other side. It was only about two feet tall, and hovered in midair. It wore a shiny white robe, which covered its feet and arms, and it had a pair of white wings folded behind its back. It's skin was light, and its long hair was golden blonde.

"Who...what...are you?" Atropos asked.

"I'm a Domerii; a messenger of the Dome. Your teacher, Mesfido, sent me here to retrieve you," the messenger said in a cheerful and melodic voice.

"Oh. Okay." Atropos kept looking at the Domerii, waiting for further instruction.

"When you are ready, come follow me," the Domerii said. Atropos went back into her room, and put on her sweatshirt and cap. She drew her shoes to her from the other side of the room with psychokinesis, and then pulled them onto her feet. All ready now, she went out into the hallway and closed the door. "Ready? Follow me." The Domerii opened its wings and started floating down the corridor.

Atropos followed it as it drifted through the Dome, passing several doors and turning several corners. Finally, the Domerii stopped in front of a somewhat large door. "The Training Grounds are in here. Mesfido is waiting for you." With that, the messenger slowly faded out and vanished. Atropos hesitated for a moment, and then, without touching it, opened the door. After she'd walked in, she shut the doors behind her.

Inside the Training Grounds, the tall Mesfido stood over five mannequins, his wings outstretched behind him and his arms crossed over his bare chest. "Ah, good, you're here. I've been waiting," the angel said.

"Yeah, okay. What am I supposed to do here?" Atropos asked.

"See these mannequins?" he motioned his hand toward the mannequins at his feet. "They're Training Dolls. I want you to battle them. They're no ordinary mannequins, obviously..." He stepped back a bit, and the five dolls pushed themselves up off the floor, and began standing in a battle stance.

"Okay, sure...I can do that." Atropos pulled out her shears from her boot, using telekinesis.

"Wait, not yet." Mesfido walked over to Atropos with a black cloth, and tied it around her eyes. "You have to fight them blindfolded."

"What!? How am I supposed to know where they are though?" Atropos asked, completely blind.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough." Mesfido chuckled. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Atropos said, brandishing the scissors again.

"Go!" Mesfido said, stepping back out of the way. Atropos started jabbing randomly with her scissors, hoping to make contact. Then the dolls started beating on her, and threw her to the ground. She threw out a burst of telekinesis, knocking back the mannequins, and got back to her feet. Searching with her mind, she was able to grab one of them with psychokinesis. She pulled it forward and stabbed it in the shoulder with the shears. It stumbled back, but then leaped again at Atropos.

She wrapped it up in ropes of black matter, tossing it aside. Attacked by another training doll, she sprayed it with liquid white matter. She could hear the hiss of the mannequins outer material being eaten away, and she kicked it firmly in the chest. She then formed two long ropes of black matter, and on the end of either rope she put a hardened and sharp shard. She flung the ropes around in a circle, making contact several times, but doing little damage.

The mannequins again started to beat at her, and threw her once more to the ground. They then began to stomp on her, and she rolled out of the way. She jumped up with a burst of telekinesis, forming a long sharp spear while she was in the air. Feeling around with her telekinesis, she was able to locate one of the dolls. She stabbed at it with the spear, but it dodged and grabbed the weapon. Atropos quickly turned the spear back into liquid before the mannequin could pull it out of her hands. The black liquid dropped to the ground and formed a sword, then flew up to Atropos' hand.

When she thought the dolls were close enough, she slashed at them with the sword, knocking one of them over. Two of the others grabbed her and started pushing her back and forth between them. She stabbed one of them with her sword, knocking it over. The other one she pushed back with telekinesis. Another mannequin grabbed her, and she covered it in liquid black matter; hardening it as stone to keep the doll fixed in place.

The other four Training Dolls surrounded her, and started knocking her about. Had her eyes not been blindfolded, they could have seen Atropos' irises change color from indigo to deep red. The next mannequin that touched her, Atropos quickly turned about on and shouted at, flying into it with telekinesis. She grabbed her scissors and started to jab them into the mannequin several times. A doll grabbed her from behind and threw her off the other mannequin. She reached out with black tentacles, finding it and wrapping it up completely. She smashed it into the ground several times, and then threw it high up into the air, turning the tentacles into a hard shell to prevent it from moving.

One of the dolls jumped onto her back, dragging her to the ground. It grabbed the shears in her hands, but she stabbed it in the face with a long spike of black matter. It recoiled when it was struck, and Atropos stabbed a few more spears into it. However, the battle was beginning to wear her out. Black Matter took energy to produce. She was breathing heavily now, trying to ignore her many bruises. She wasn't sure what exactly it took to stop these things.

I bet they can't fight back without heads... she heard a voice in her mind say. She gathered some of her spent black matter, which was, at this point, all over the place; and formed a long, razor sharp blade with it. A mannequin bashed her in the face with its fist, knocking her to the ground. She pulled it forward with telekinesis and aimed for its neck with the blade. She felt the doll go slack as its head fell to the ground and rolled away, and she pushed away the useless body.

She suddenly dodged under a swiftly moving fist as she realized that she could detect the mannequin that had black matter stuck in its face. The mannequin stumbled forward as its attack missed, and Atropos tackled it from behind. She quickly removed its head as well. Before she could get up, she was knocked over by another doll, who grabbed Atropos' sharp blade and wrenched it from her hands. She liquefied the blade and splattered it all over the doll.

Now she knew exactly where it was. She dodged backwards as it tried to attack her, and then she jumped onto its back, trying to bring it to the ground. It was able to remain standing though, and tried to shake her off. She held onto its head, twisting it around, and pulled out her shears again. She took the scissors to the mannequins neck, and tore its head off.

Now to deal with the last two... The last two were disabled already, covered in hard black shells. She turned the black matter into a flurry of sharp shards, slicing the mannequins into several pieces with them. Then she tore off her blindfold and threw it to the ground, returned the scissors to her boot, and crossed her arms in a victory pose; her foot resting on one of the mannequin heads.

She then looked around her. The scene was disastrous. The torn apart bodies of the Training Dolls littered the ground, all with their heads removed. Contributing even more to the mess was all the Black Matter. She saw Mesfido, clapping.

"Good job, Nightshade."

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~ [stormcloud] ~ [apokalypsis] ~ [nightshade] ~ [i.s.a.a.c.] ~ [eidolon] ~