Sunday went just like Saturday, passing with an incredible amount of studying. She entered as soon as the library opened, setting up her fortress, and not budging until closing time. She neglected to go to the bathroom or eat at all. When she got back to her room and revealed this to her roommates, they were furious, Ellen more than Virginia. Virginia had some food stored, so she ate that while Ellen scolded her.
She realized she wouldn't need a full week to study and would be sick of the library by the end of the week, so she signed up for all colored classes. Monday was Green, Tuesday was Blue, Wednesday was Black, and Thursday was Red.
When Friday rolled around, she was taking White. Having spent every evening for the last week studying White magic, she felt over-burdened with information and was ready to learn White magic outside of her research. She was surprised, however, when Professor Potsdam leaned against her desk in the front of the room, waiting for the kids to settle down on their own.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable, little cygnets." their Professor began, and the tension rose slightly in the room, no one understanding why she was saying this. Besides that, what was a cygnet? "We have a serious issue to talk about today," she explained. The class murmured for a moment before quieting.
"Many of you will have learned something about this subject from your parents. Others will know less, or nothing at all," Potsdam prefaced, and a girl whispered furiously to another student Is this Sex Education?!
"The world you see around you is only the tiniest fraction of all that exists. There are infinite realms which exist outside of our own space and time. The nearest such realm is that which we call the Otherworld. You may have also heard it called Elfhame, or the Dreaming, or the High Hunting Grounds. There are countless other worlds, but the Otherworld is particularly the realm of this world's shadow. Like a shadow, it is always connected. With enough White magic, an adult witch or wizard can travel the Spiral Gate from anywhere in this world."
"However, you students must not enter the Otherworld under any circumstances. Can any of you tell me why this is?" At this, Minnie's hand shot up. At Potsdam's glance, she stood and began to speak.
"Because the Kahmras feed on the souls of human children, especially magical children, and they are drawn to any unwarded human who enters the realm. It takes the approximately—"
"Thank you, dear, that will do." Potsdam interrupted. Minnie blushed slightly, but she smiled and sat back down. Potsdam continued, "The Otherworld is a wonderful place. Magic flows more freely there, and many witches and wizards choose to live there full-time. But we are not native to it, and we are not immune to its dangers."
Then she became incredibly serious. "Do not attempt to pass the Gate. Not even with an adult to guard you. Not even with a powerful spell or artifact to protect you. Not even with a friend who has been there before and tells you it's safe. Some of your classmates have other-than-human heritage, but what is safe for them is not safe for you."
Her face darkened further. "Most importantly, if a spirit invites you to the Otherworld, do not accept, no matter what you are promised. I am not saying this to frighten you, or to challenge you to find a way around my rules. If you disobey, I will not need to punish you, because you will be gone."
Suddenly, Potsdam brightened, giving the students mood whiplash. "Now! Let's get back to brighter subjects! We can talk about the Otherworld later, and I'll bring in some lovely paintings to show you."
The Horse Hall girl, sitting in the center of the front row, was able to see how the smile never reached Potsdam's eye. She felt sick. She wasn't sure when she'd started feeling it, but she could barely breathe. She raised a hand, asking if she could go to the bathroom. She kept her composure until she made it to the hallway.
Once she was outside, she bolted. Once in the bathroom, she leaned against a wall, breathing heavily as she slid to the floor. She was tempted to put her head between her knees, but her robes were in the way. Besides that, she technically wasn't hyperventilating. It was probably a better idea not to curl up and crush her chest while she was wheezing like this.
How had she never seen that before? Whenever she'd heard the speech before, she'd mentally filtered the beginning and left with the impression that she shouldn't go to the Otherworld until she was older. However, now that she listened closely, she realized she had a lot of thinking to do. She needed to figure out what sources she had brushed by because they called the Otherworld Elfhame, the Dreaming, or the High Hunting Grounds. Had she seen anyone mention the Spiral Gate? What about the Kahmras? They seemed similar to the Manus in her head, but she couldn't remember why. Had she seen the name before this?
Just the idea of completely and totally new information, information she should have seen in previous loops, was intimidating. To have missed so many ideas, all at once, was a mistake. However, she needed to calm down. To quote one version of Professor Grabiner, she wasn't expected to know everything, even at his age. Okay, that's not actually what he said, but when he said it to her he assumed she was young. Really, the idea should be that no matter how much time you spend learning, you can't know everything.
While she mentally debated, her body had calmed; her breathing smoothed out in even, deep breaths. She headed back to the classroom, settling down at her desk and furiously writing notes in the pale blue notebook labelled White Magic. She kept an eye on Potsdam, to see if Potsdam said something noteworthy, but she mostly ignored the class.
After class was over, she dedicated herself to transferring her notes into her official notebook. Her roommates gave up on talking to her during dinner, though they did create a scene when Virginia tried to shove a bread roll down her throat to make her eat. Grabiner had come over and scolded Virginia for attempted murder, which made the girls all laugh. Grabiner had legitimately rolled his eyes, which caused even more giggling. The topic held their attention for a while before Ellen and Virginia's crazy roommate broke off and continued her notes.
On Saturday she bolted to the library, her book piles growing exponentially. Virginia and Ellen dragged her out at lunch time, but they lost the battle at dinner. The piles had grown too tall for the girls to even find their roommate, so they instead decided to bring her food back to their room.
The joke was on them, though, when she got the key from the librarian and locked herself in overnight. Virginia furiously banged on the door, and Ellen attempted to use an Open spell. However, the large oak door was enchanted too well for a freshman's magic to make it through, even Ellen's, and Virginia's method of destroying it wouldn't be taken well by the teacher; so she successfully hid in the library through the night.
When Sunday morning rolled around, and the library opened, Ellen and Virginia stormed in. Both girls were furious not only for their roommate's blatant disregard for her own health; they were on a war path for having to deal with her. They had already been to Potsdam, who had neglected to take any action, and they were just about ready to ask Grabiner to knock her unconscious to sedate her.
However, when they entered, they were greeted by an empty library. The huge stacks of books were already gone, each book returned to its place. They scurried around, checking behind desks, under tables, but she wasn't in there anymore. The two ran around campus, checking their room, the cafeteria, the classrooms. As they searched, they spread the word, hoping someone had seen her. No one had, but the news spread by word of mouth, and soon her disappearance was a hot topic.
She was nowhere. No one could find her.
[An Excerpt from the Notebook]
Possession-
-spiritual influence isn't possession, but is last hurrah
-some people are susceptible for recent
-evil attracts evil (x)
-Ouija board, to attract spirits, any spells, some people leave body during (!), drugs, haunted locations (!)
-attached spirit, follows living, not ill will usually, similarity causes connection, can be released
Interesting: an influence to do something, spirit attracted by spell, haunted place, attached spirit. Last hurrah doesn't seem true, and body didn't seem to do anything while I was gone. Shouldn't I have seen nearby spirits like the dance? Doesn't seem likely, pause research, trances can be skipped.
Sudden OBE-
-signs of having OBE, rushing sound, paralysis, vibrations (vibrations related to energy conduction, less with more ability)
-spiritual guides
-mostly from sleep (x)
Interesting: Spiritual guides, help leave body?
No Tether-
-most people see the tether
-can take different forms
-tether disappears when you're dead (x)
-prevents getting lost, might pull back
Interesting: Nobody seems to mention this. Is this a new idea?
Seeing Spirits-
-First Source mentioned S.O.B.E.'s
-OBE into ethereal realm, that's where ghosts go (?)
-religious ascension, spirit guides who are ascended try to help those who aren't (?)
-spirits may try to pull people out to help, good intentions
Interesting: Spiritual Guides, this has come up a couple of times
Magical items-
-quite a few sources believe magical items exist
-change frequency, change level of existence
-Jesus could do this? Briefly mentioned, manifest items from high vibration
-most people say no, doesn't happen
Interesting: this is an acquired ability, possibly the spirit made it physical for me?
S.O.B.E.-
-related to panic attacks (x)
-sudden involve shock, trauma, strong emotion
-for chord, source mentioned that the cord isn't seen as often as research suggest
-Story mentioned: person had spontaneous OBE, was confused, found random object with them that hadn't been there before (it didn't transfer back to life)
Interesting: story seem the most similar to mine I've seen, of it just happening
Spiritual Guides-
-also guardian angel
-mostly just send signs and intuition
-trying to call guide, sometimes call other spirits
-guides help with goals you made before you incarnated (?)
-guides are kind, other spirits may not be, if you get negative it isn't a guide
Interesting: it seems more like just a random spirit than a guide
Conclusion-
It's likely that some spirit decided to try to take over. Ey managed to push me out of my body, but they couldn't take it over. I went and traipsed around, and it left. I returned without trouble. The spirit may be attached to the place. If research is to be continued, it should focus on other stories like mine.
Extra Note: My Tale of Self-Discovery by K. C. Eweng: Try to find the sequel, ask the librarian.
As she stood above the campus, trying to ignore the fact that she was levitating, the partial chaos of the search seemed equal parts unfortunate and hilarious. The part that was unfortunate was the emotional turmoil her disappearance had caused. The part that was hilarious was that no one had thought to use Spirit Sight yet to find her, considering she was standing right up here in broad daylight.
She wondered whether they would find her body or not, considering her mistake. She paused for a few more minutes, disappointed when she saw no progress in their search. Deciding that her potential saviors were taking too long, she began to drift through the air in search of her body.