Chapter 13: Friday the 13th (and another exam)
It's finally Sunday and mother drives me back to the academy. When I arrive at my dorm room, Virginia and Ellen are already waiting for me.
"Hey, Elise, you're back! How was your holyday?" I smile wryly. "Weird to be honest. My parents feel like strangers to me." Which is the truth, though my reasons for feeling this way differ from the reasons as to why the player felt this way. "It might be side-effects of the memory spell, affecting their memories towards your magic, which makes things so weird between you.", Virginia comments. "What?", Ellen asks. "Well, it's all part of the same thing you know? Outsiders aren't allowed to know about magic. What if your parents went around telling everyone that their daughter was a witch?"I stay silent and continue to observe, how the game reacts to my refusal to say the lines I'm supposed to say. "But haven't they seen us in our robes and stuff?", Ellen asks Virginia confused.
"I don't know how it works. I just know that wild seed parents are kind of encouraged to forget about it, after school starts." "Is… is that why my parents didn't come for me? They forgot me?" Virginia looks at Ellen with a hint of pity. "It's not supposed to make them forget about you. Just to forget, that you're a witch. It's easier this way, isn't it? To keep it a secret? If they knew, they'd ask…" "Well, I still have to answer their questions about school without talking about magic though.", I argue. "Yeah, some people can't handle that. That's why some wild seeds stop going home. And… some of them go home and never come back. But you came back! And we're glad to see you, right?" Ellen agrees. Well, it's not like my parents feel completely like my parents for me, in addition I'm a grown woman at heart, I had already left my nest in my past life.
On Monday morning we get our exam schedules. Since I'm not aware of the dates of the events, as I'm bad with memories such stuff, this exam comes a bit suddenly for me. I decide to attend blue and black magic classes for the day, since they are the most useful in my opinion. After classes I arrive at the door, which will teleport me into the dungeon.
This dungeon is properly lighted, in opposition to the last, so I don't need to cast a light-spell. I cast Awareness, to get an idea about the size of the dungeon. I'm not good at white magic, so the impression I get about the dungeon isn't great, but it's enough to make me understand that this dungeon is a huge labyrinth. The exit is probably hidden behind an illusion. I think in the game you could find it using Track-Scent or simply try out Truesight on various deadlocks.
I feel like cheating for knowing these solutions, even though the real dungeon differs a lot from the game. Simply enhancing my scenting ability with green magic won't be enough, though. I also have to muffle my other senses, otherwise I won't be able to sniff Grabby out. I cast Darkness, so that I won't be distracted by what I see, and cast Truesight in order to detect any traps, which might be hidden nearby. Then I enhance my scenting ability and begin to search for a scent, which differs from the musty smell of the dungeon. Soon I can smell a scent mixed out of… books… and black tea… Earl Grey? …wafting out of a certain direction.
I move towards the direction while raising my hands in front of me, to avoid colliding with walls. Every few meters I recast Truesight for a moment, to avoid stepping into traps. I actually encounter two traps, which I'm able to avoid due to my Truesight, before the scent trace of Grabiner ends on a wall. This wall must be an illusion. An illusion, which also simulates a sense of touch. I'm not on a level, where I could make such an illusion yet. There is still so much to learn, I think with a smile.
I want to keep studying here. Even after the May dance… I wonder, what will happen after that? The game ends with the May Dance after all.
Will I return to my world? Or will I begin the game again? Or will my life here simply continue?
These thoughts occupy me, while I cast a simple Truesight-spell, in order to dissolve the illusion. But against my expectation, the illusion doesn't dissolve. I frown. Maybe the illusion is too well made? I try again, but reinforce my Truesight-spell, by double-casting it. This time the illusion indeed dissolves and I happily go upstairs, to receive my five merits. Makes 30 merits already.
Happily humming a rock-song I head back to my dorm room, where I find Ellen muttering to herself depressed. Right, she should've failed, for not using magic,
but given the width of the dungeon, I'd be surprised, if she didn't use any magic at all. "You alright, Ellen?", I ask her cautiously. "Didn't" "What?"
"I didn't pass. That's what he said." "So why did Grabby not let you pass?", I ask curiously, wanting to know, whether she actually managed to solve the dungeon without using any magic at all. She probably only failed at dissolving the illusion though. "I was in the dungeon. I found a way out. I just didn't use magic to exit."
I stay silent and wait for her to continue. "After finding the fake deadlock by using a breeze-spell, I analysed the layout to decide which wall was most likely, structurally to be false, and checked them for inconsistencies, until I found two walls, that were identical. I was sure one was an illusion, but they still felt solid, so I decided my mind was being fooled into stopping my hand and making me think I felt something. So I jumped at the wall so I would hit it in mid-air and my mind wouldn't be able to pull me back. And it worked." But, uh, couldn't you have chosen the wrong wall to jump against? Since there were two, who looked similar?
In that case you probably would have a concussion!
"But I didn't dissolve the illusion with magic, so he said it didn't count and he wouldn't give me any merits for it.", Ellen finishes sulky.
So your only problem is, that you didn't get the merits? At least he didn't give you demerits for risking getting a concussion! Given Grabiner's over-protectiveness, that is already 'going easy on you' for him, you know? I decide to change the topic. I actually never chose this option, even though I played this game several times.
I ask Ellen about her holydays, and she tells me about how Pastel also stayed at Virginia's house and got declined by her parents even later.
Sounds horrible, I wonder why. It was refreshing, that this event differed a bit from what I know about the game.
The rest of the week I attend classes without focussing on any subjects, because I need to be able to do the basics in all magical colours. Maybe I should focus on red and white magic next week, since I'm the weakest at them.
On Saturday I fulfil my treasurer duties and revise my spells after that. I concentrate on red and white magic while studying, since I feel quite secure with the other colours. Apart from that I practice making illusions on our dorm room ceiling. I go for an underwater scene, with lots of exotic fishes. Imitating the water proves to be the most difficult and as for the fishes… they don't vary as much as I wanted, so I go to the library to look up references. I'm surprised that the library actually has a suitable book on various kinds of non-magical sea creatures. When it comes to non-fictional books about diverse, non-magical topics (except for normal textbooks, which are a rarity), the library is actually well-assembled, but I usually wouldn't read such books in my spare time, apart from a few exceptions. There are also a lot of books with pictures, which can be used as references for creating illusions. Maybe my first assessment of the library was wrong.
The following day is a sports club meeting, but before I can go, Damien knocks on the door. "Hello.", he greets me with a flirting smile.
Always playing the Casanova, huh. "Good morning Damien.", I greet him back politely. "My roommate just got a new set of flowerstones, so he gave me his old ones.
I thought, I might teach you to play, if you're interested." "Not really. And I don't have time anyways. We have a sports club meeting today.", I answer him.
If I ditch the meeting, Virginia would kill me. Damien looks perplexed. Maybe because in the game I could only choose between now and later?
"Oh, ok.", he finally answers. "Well, I have to go. Have a nice day" Full of proud over my victory against the game-fate-thingy, I head towards the gym. I still can't believe, that I managed to finally do something outside of the box. Why did it take me so long? It seems so easy now.
After the meeting, I spent the rest of the weekend practicing drawing and playing in the gym with Virginia.
On Wednesday we assemble in the gym again, and Potsdam let us draw a name for the Secret Santa. I draw 'Virginia Danson' as a name. I guess, that means I get better along with Ellen? Well, I get along quite well with both, so I don't really care.
On Friday I wake up early. Right, todays Friday the 13th, a lucky day. I don't feel particularly tired, so I head to the dorm bath rooms. After that I go to the school canteen. Since it's still early (6 am), the canteen is nearly empty. I choose a seat near to a window. As I sit down, I notice Grabiner sitting across to me, on the table next to mine. He has a plate with omelette, but doesn't bother eating it, being engrossed in his book. I chuckle. The scene fits him so perfectly.
He suddenly looks up. Oh, sh*t, I forgot he has such good ears. I immediately turn my head towards the window and play with my hair, acting, as if I wouldn't have noticed him. "You seem to be in an extremely good mood this morning, Miss Ojousama.", he remarks dryly. I turn to him with a light smile.
"Today is Friday the 13th, Sir. It's a lucky day." He raises an eyebrow. "You believe in such things?" I tilt my head, perplexed. "It's just superstition?" He snorts.
"Of course it is, how could all magical beings be lucky at the same time?" "My last Friday the 13th was a lucky day though? You apologized to me and even gave me merits. That's why I thought, it might be more than superstition. It's hard to tell for a wild seed…", I explain to him. "I see.", he answers, before he returns to reading his book, still ignoring his breakfast. Wait… did I just have a normal conversation with Grabiner?! What the hell is going on! I shake my head lightly.
Weird.