NEXT DAY∞ EUPHORIA INSTITUTE
Celestia hasn't seen Kimora, and it's giving her major headache. All she wants is to see Kimora walk in the room hale and hearty.
She didn't have a single rest till daybreak. She spent the rest of the hours searching all over the kingdom for her, but no signs of her. It's making her sick and crazy with worry.
She was pacing restlessly in the room when Kimora appeared at the door. Celestia screamed and literally jumped on Kimora, hugging her tightly.
Kimora couldn't breathe... She was choking her like hell.
" Baby, I missed you!!! I missed you so much! Aaaaaarrrrgghh!!!" She screamed without care, tightening the hug even more.
Kimora tried to talk... But Celestia wasn't chancing her to say anything with the bone-crushing hug she was giving her.
Celestia broke the hug, checking Kimora's face for any blemishes or wounds like a caring mother, but Kimora was fine. Infact, her skin was void of any defects and looked so fresh and radiant, unlike before.
" Baby, what happened to you! Where have you been since yesterday! I've been worried sick about you! Where did you sleep? How'd you return to the Institute? Did you get hurt? What did Damon do to you?" She bombed her with questions all at once, and Kimora kept quiet.
" Leave the poor girl alone. She's too dumb to answer all your questions at once." Diane said, and Kimora glanced to see her on her reading table, with the same book again.
She was looking mad as she separated herself forcefully from Celestia and stormed to her. She grabbed the book and slammed it on the table, and Diane sprang up at her, making their faces dead-close.
Kimora stared back daringly, not removing her hand from the book on the table.
" Repeat what you just said... Right now, to my face." She dared her, and Diane scoffed.
" You really don't wanna mess with me, ugly. Give me back my novel." Diane returned stubbornly.
" You think you're smarter than me, right? Since I arrived here, I've almost never seen you leave this book. You read it like it would give you more brain cells, but obviously you're still brainless." Kimora fired her, and Diane's face squeezed up dangerously.
" What I do with that novel everyday is none of your business. Drop it, or I'll tear you to shreds." She warned.
" Alright, I'll drop it in your head, since its so empty and spacious." Kimora insulted, and Diane snapped in half.
She shapeshifted into a pterodactyl and screeched, flapping her wings fastly to Kimora. Kimora raised the book fast and hit her with it, sending her to crash in Celestia's water tank.
She got out of the water tank wetly and flew to Kimora again. Kimora raised the book in front of her, making her stop for a minute.
" Hurt me, and you'll regret it. I'm warning you, really." Kimora spoke seriously.
Surprisingly, Diane stopped attacking and turned back into her normal form. She snatched the book from her roughly.
" Dysfunctional b**ch." She spat, but Kimora rolled eyes.
" Aaaaaarrrrgghh!!!" Celestia groaned, and they turned to see her trembling and holding her stomach, then she fell to her knees.
" Celestia!" They both exclaimed and ran to her, but Diane got there faster and helped her up.
" Celestia, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Diane asked.
" Of course I'm not okay! Get me to my water tank, fast!" She retorted, and Diane instantly led her to it.
She lifted her into the tank, and Celestia landed in with a splash. Her legs transformed into a beautiful tail, and she became a mermaid.
Even inside the water, she continued to groan and yell in pains.
" Celestia, how are you feeling? What's the matter with you?" Diane inquired worriedly.
" I don't know! I haven't been able to use my powers lately, and I think it's messing with me! I've tried using potions, but nothing worked! I was just standing over there when I felt a new, sharp pain in my belly!" She responded painfully.
Kimora's eyes bounced about as she ruminated on what to do to help Celestia. A knock came on the door, interrupting her thoughts, and she went to open up.
She was shocked to see Hester, and Hester gave out a witchy smile.
" You are needed in the Hall of Trials, now. I'll take you there." She laid out flat.
" And what makes you think I'll ever stupidly follow you after what you did to me? I won't let you fool me." She rolled eyes.
" Smart and brave... I like you. I think we can be great friends." She laughed.
" F**k your friendship. My real friend is in this room, and she needs my urgent help. It's an emergency." She told.
" Well this is more than an emergency because if you still want to remain long in this Institute, you'll be wise and follow me." Hester walked out on her.
Kimora looked back at Celestia I'm desperation. She was still in severe pain, and Diane was trying to ease her pains.
She looked back at Hester indecisively. She had to choose between this 'important thing' Hester was talking about or her Dearest Friend who needed her more.
" This thing better be more important than Celestia." She murmured and ran after Hester.
HALL OF TRIALS
Kimora arrived with Hester minutes after. Hester took her seat with several other students in the hall, and all their eyes were fixed on her alone.
She walked to the middle, with her eyes darting around nervously. Her eyes finally settled on a person standing a certain distance in front of her who looked very tough and scary.
" Welcome, new girl. I am Master Chaos, and You've been brought to the Hall of Trials because you aren't an approved student of this Institute, and you can't stay here if you aren't a legal student." He explained, and she gulped.
" You'll be given a series of tests to determine whether you're a supernatural or not. There are different levels of supernaturals in this Institute, and you'll be ranked depending on how many tests you're able to pass. If you're able to pass at least one test, you can pass off as a ground-level supernatural. But if you fail all tests, you're definitely an imposter, and imposters are forbidden in our kingdom, so we'll give you only two options: Die during any of the tests, give you another punishment or banishment." He laid down all the rules.
At this point, Kimora wasn't even listening. Her heart was racing fast, as she was looking for any way to just escape or disappear.
Hester smiled wickedly on her spot.
" The first test, is to test if you have fire powers. Try to escape from the circle of fire before it burns you up." He said, and Kimora confusedly looked down to see herself already standing in a red glowing circle.
It immediately turned to flames, and Kimora gasped as she got trapped in the fire with nowhere to run.
She tried jumping over the fire, but as soon as she tried it, the heat became hotter and the fire became taller, preventing her from just going across.
" Please, I don't think I'm ready. Let me out of here, please." She begged scaredly, but they all kept watching her.
The circle of fire started getting smaller, and the fire grew taller as seconds flew by. Kimora couldn't even see beyond the fire and felt the fire biting her from all angles. Her skin started changing colour as she got burnt mercilessly by the unbearable heat.
At this point, there was only thing in her head. She just accepted it as her last option.
" Damon!!!" She shouted with all her strength.
Damon appeared in the next second, and she could manage to see him through the flames. She stretched out her arm to him desperately, but the fire burnt her badly.
The burns were showing on his skin too and he could feel the scorching fire, but he wasn't even showing any signs of pain.
" Damon, save me!!!" She cried out for mercy.
" Save you? Why'd you think I would come here to save you? I only came here to watch you burn." He spoke non-chalantly, then appeared a popcorn in hand and started eating from it.