The Devil's Spawn

A rumor — one that the dark-haired girl knew all too well — immediately invaded Prism's ears the moment she stepped foot outside her classroom, her last class for the day finally finished. Students buzzed in excitement at the latest gossip as usual, but Prism could not tell whether the rumor passed around is still considered new knowing how it happened a few years back. Not to mention, it was a wonder why it suddenly gained its popularity back. "Pri!" At the call of her name, the dark-haired girl felt a sudden weight landing on her back, and when she turned her head as much as she could, the girl found her close friend, Hori, jumping onto her from behind. The blonde girl giggled in delight as Prism let out a dramatic groan to express her pain. Hori's bob-cut hair swayed, glowing golden under the setting sun as she excitedly dragged the other girl towards a certain familiar direction. "Hiro and Onyx are already in the clubroom, let's go!" "You're not even a member of our club, why are you coming along? Don't you have practice at your own club?" Prism grinned at her best friend, who in return, only rolled her baby blue eyes. Prism sported long black hair and a pair of unique stormy-gray eyes. To say she is pretty is an understatement for Hori; Prism is a living porcelain doll. If only it weren't for her weird fixation on the supernatural, Hori would bet that her friend would be plenty famous by now, with both men and women. Immediately after arriving, Hori's twin, Hiro — whose slightly longer hair is tied behind his back, and Onyx — a tanned-skinned male whose dark braided hair at his back resembling a tail, were already seated on one of the plastic chairs. At the far left corner near the door sat Leon and Sora, two of Prism's friends that like to hang out in the clubroom looking for peace. Though, the dark-haired girl doubts they ever will in a place like her clubroom seeing as to how loud and chaotic it always is, especially with Onyx and Hiro together, add the obnoxious presence of her other friends that have yet to arrive, frequenting in the same clubroom. The two girls waved towards the other two before getting hastily ushered by Hiro inside, much to the two girls' confusion. Once they were seated across the two males on the long wooden table, Onyx immediately nudged his blonde friend, urging Hiro to finally tell them what they had been talking about earlier. "So, have you guys already heard of a certain rumor going around?" Hiro whispered, his shoulders tense and his eyebrows knitted together, and Onyx beside him looked equally serious. If Prism had no idea what the blonde make was talking about, she would have thought the male twin was about to drop something utterly terrifying such as someone they know dying, or a student in their campus comitting suicide. Hori took matters into her own hands and smacked her twin brother on the head. "Stop acting like you're gonna drop something interesting that is worth our time!" Onyx howled in laughter as the two bickered—with Hiro mostly swatting Hori's attacks, but Prism hushed them, saying how they were all getting sidetracked. Still, the twins kept at it, and seeing them, the girl suddenly missed Yue's presence. Although, the both of them weren't as chaotic as Hiro and Hori. "That hurt!" Hiro wailed but his twin only snickered. "As expected of the star of the track and field club," Onyx grinned before turning to Hiro who, despite grumbling how hurt he was, looked fine. "Those legs might as well be made of bricks!" Hiro whined, earning him another kick from his twin. It was only thanks to Hiro's laziness that he became a part of your little occult club. If not then like Hori, he would be bombarded with various sports club leaders on their knees, begging him to join their club. "Besides, it is worth your time! This one's interesting, at least for our club! So go away if you don't think so, dummy!" Hiro's outburst almost earned him another kick if it were not for Prism stopping her friend. "Anyway," Leon started with a roll of his eyes. "It's impossible to not have heard of the popular rumors mindless students keep on gossiping about." "Hey!" Onyx protested as he was one of the mindless students—as the red-head said, who enjoyed gossiping. After all, it was how he got dirt on everyone. "You just admitted it by yourself, I have no fault if you're just plain stupid." Leon shrugged before plugging in his earbuds to keep Onyx's yapping off his head. He sat on the club room's far corner, near the door where Sora sat quietly with a book occupying his hands. "Prism!" The dark-haired girl heard someone yell in a sing-song manner and immediately guessed who it belonged to. Kou came in barging with Yue in tow. The girl greeted her older brother, ignoring the ginger-haired male's whines. At times, she wondered how the two of them became best friends. Yue was the quiet and calm type, although not introverted. Kou, on the other hand, was loud and can be obnoxious if he chooses to, inclining towards anything that gives him the thrill over safety. Though Prism had never thought of him like that because he is always so sweet to her, and she is equally loud with those she is close with. Kou didn't hold back in annoying the red-haired male, much to Onyx's delight because payback was payback no matter what form. Meanwhile, Yue nodded in greeting to Leon and dragged Kou away, opting to quell a full-blown fistfight before it could even start, and the tall brunette can sympathize with Leon knowing he deals with Kou's antics every single waking moment. "Isn't today your modeling schedule?" Kou asked once he reached the table where Prism, the twins, and Onyx sat. He showed a grin to his braided friend before going for a high five. "No?" Onyx answered, unsure. "Isn't it your schedule today?" Meeting eyes, the two stared each other down for a few silent seconds before bursting into fits of giggles. "Our respective managers are gonna scold us for this!" Kou laughed. The audacity, but Prism figured the both of them will not be fired as they are the most in-demand, fitting no matter what product brand they promote and selling it out in a hot minute. Losing them would mean losing a fortune, and that is mainly why they are lax when it comes to work, because they know just how much worth they have in the modeling industry. However, that did not mean they had to be such a pain in the ass to their coworkers! If Prism were their manager, for sure she would have had wrinkles on her face by now at such a young age. "At least spare your staff a headache," Sora commented before releasing a sigh from where he sat in the corner, his gaze finally tore away from his book and landed on the two tall males near Prism. The ash-blonde prodigy hung out in the occult club, thinking it was way better than in the library. But having both Onyx and Kou in a single room, laughing like a bunch of hyenas, Sora wasn't so sure anymore. At least he still has Prism as a reason to stay, the peculiar girl who loves to explore the unknown. And it's not like Sora knew a lot about her, but he did not need all the facts. Everything he knew about her was enough to call her his precious friend, one that erased his boredom whenever it struck him at random times. It was the same for Prism anyway, she doesn't know everything about him or anyone in this room but still calls them her friends. "Great, most of the Scooby squad is here!" Prism grinned as they all scrunched their faces at her choice of name, enjoying their internal cringe knowing they would let it slide as long as it was her. Not everyone is even a part of the dark-haired girl's occult club. Only Kou — her vice president, Onyx, and Hiro are members. Being interested in the supernatural, Prism created the occult club and no one protested thanks to her being friends with Princess, the daughter of the owner of Elysian Royal Academy. However, Princess is not the only elite one in Prism's large circle of friends. The Lion Fang's Empire — with Leon as their sole heir — sits at the top of the wine industry with their company as the biggest wine supplier in and outside the nation. Onyx and Kou are bigshots in the modeling industry, as mentioned earlier, garnering over a millions of fans around the world thanks to their good looks and good humor, making them very influential. Nana and King — who still have yet to arrive — are in a band rising in popularity, Wintry Winds, that went viral on the internet. Sora, on the other hand, was born as a child prodigy and if only he did not dislike being in the spotlight, Prism is sure he would have already been hired by some famous organization focused on research or something by now. And then there was Prism's adoptive family; Terra Mining happens to be one of the biggest mining institutions globally, and Yue being the eldest son, is their heir. And just like the dark-haired girl, they all have their secrets that they prefer to keep in the dark, never seen by light. "So about the rumors—" Hiro began again, only to let out a surprised yell as Amber and Rose came crashing into the clubroom unannounced, the door slamming open with a loud bam. The petite, bespectacled girl timidly hid behind Amber who had stars twinkling in her eyes. "It's that rumor right?! We must write a whole magazine about it seeing as to how the students are very much interested! We'll make a fortune plus it will boost the popularity of both our clubs!" The brunette chattered. It was understandable how excited she was considering how she is the president of the newspaper club with Rose as her vice president. As if the surprise was not enough, a high-pitched greeting soon filled the room. "Yahoo!" Hiro glared at Wintry Winds' vocalist, Nana. "Tone it down!" But the ravinette only ignored the blonde male and proceeded to vigorously wave at Sora and Leon — who in return, ignored him — before skipping to annoy Yue like he always does, and Prism could only hope her brother would survive both Nana and Kou pestering him. King, who had his electric guitar slung on his back, sighed at his raven-haired friend's antics. Prism got up and bothered him to sit next to her—which, according to Kou, was unfair. The black-haired girl only grinned at the ginger-head before shoving him off her seat with a tired King held prisoner in her arms. Only Princess and Sky are missing in her odd circle of friends but Prism doubts they'd have time to come. Being the president and vice president respectively of the student council, both are busy with various issues that continuously ensue around Elysian Royal Academy. However, they weren't at the forefront of Amber's mind as she was too eager to start the discussion of the said rumor that circulated around campus. Hiro gave up on telling the rest — and it gave Hori a laugh — what the rumor is and allowed Amber to take the lead. Prism is already familiar with it. No gossip related to the supernatural escapes her radar. "The rumor is based on a brutally dark story of a wealthy family turned occultists, the late Hellstine family," Amber started with the deepest octave her voice could dip. "But first, how many of you have heard of the Devil's mansion?" Curiosity peaked among the group, and all it took was a single question.