Now onto the Daily Life. This might get a bit lengthy. I've also planned who Emily talks to in free time based on chance. I'm trying my darndest to put in clues to help you folks solve the overall mystery without being too obvious. I'm trying to make these characters sound distinct, it's still a hassle to wrangle fifteen characters and give them each distinct personalities and motives. If you feel my Daganronpa is lacking, I'm trying my best. But still, I hope you enjoy what I've written.
"Now that that's out of the way," said Cob. He waved his arms and appearing right in front of each of us was a large book and a wand.
"You don't need the wands to cast the magic once you know how," said Cob. "They will certainly help though. The Spell books on the other hand house all your individual knowledge on spells, your maps, your stats on health, energy and mana (not to mention how far along you are in wizardry), as well as the rules."
"They hold more than that," said Simeon.
"Fine, they also act as a backpack of sorts, but you won't find much in there now; that stuff is in your dorms."
"Won't it be a bit cumbersome to carry a giant book around with us?" I asked.
"Just tap it once with your wand and it will shrink to fit in your side bag. Your wands also act as compasses and communication devices just say who/where you want to find or who to contact, and the wand will connect you. Now I suggest you look at those rules, as rule breaking will be punished." Cob said that last part with a wicked smile. With that Cob scurried back up the tree and out of sight.
"He's hoping we break the rules," I said bitterly.
"Then why tell us to check them," asked Austin.
"He's a tyrant," said Dorothy. "So things must be done in a certain way. I bet he only wants to hurt us as a part of this game."
"We can plead ignorance if we break a rule if we don't know them," said Anna. "I bet he doesn't want us to use that as a defense."
"Just to be safe, in case he doesn't care about ignorance, we should read the rules," said Regina.
Everyone picked up their spell books and wands. Opening our books, we noticed there were several tabs inside. The first tab, which had a picture of a wizard with a hat, had all of our stats as well as a note.
"All health and mana can be measured thanks to the crystal balls on your belts," read Ceren. We looked, and sure enough we had crystal balls secured to our belts. The large red one was obviously was for health, the smaller blue one had to be for mana, and the smallest green one was energy.
"It's like carrying a heart monitor on you," said Skyler.
"A what?" asked Mindy.
"A heart monitor," said Colin, "It reads one's condition when one is facing impending critical injury or illness. It's a little disturbing that we have some if you think about it."
"Not really," said Duncan. The people from earth looked at him.
"We had these all the time back at-when school was normal. Why wouldn't we have them now?"
"He's right," said Marla. "These were meant to register our day-to-day wellness, say if we were under the weather and needed healing."
"Seeing as Dueling is a main part of lessons, can you blame them for having these implemented," said Nolan.
I looked at the other tabs: there was the backpack tab, the pets tab (I guess to keep track of our pets if we had them), a tab with a picture of a potion bottle on it (which I was told meant the crafting tab), and then there was a tab with a picture of cards on it. This tab had a collection of spells in it, divided into square sections like cards.
"It looks like we learned a lot of magic already," said Jaimy.
"It does us no good with our memories gone," said Penny.
"We'll just use this time to relearn the magic," said Simeon. "That Spider said that the schools have the resources needed to do so."
Next was a tab that had a map of Ravenwood, which showed where we all were in that moment. Props to magic, I guess, of course this also meant that we couldn't hide from anyone. Finally, we reached the tab that housed the rules.
Rules for Students of the Killing Game:
against headmaster Cob is strictly prohibited, as isdestruction of Cob's eyes.
Cob will not harm the students, unless dealing out punishment.
3."Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.
may only sleep in their dormitories, sleeping anywhere else is prohibited.
are provided within your dormitories, but you are free to eat wherever possible.
minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Ravenwood and Wizard City at your discretion.
to break into closed off areas is strictly prohibited.
are no teachers, so students feel free to craft your own curriculum.
who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.
discovered students guilty of murder, will be punished.
regulations may be added if necessary.
P.S Any broken rules will be met with punishment.
I didn't like how that word was emphasized. So, not only if we can't get away with murder we'll be killed, but also if we don't play by his rules. It's official…we're prisoners. I groaned, my face in my hands. We have to find a way out of…this prison. The problem was, we still didn't know what was going on.
"This seems cut and dry," said Colin. "We have leeway except for anywhere closed off."
"So, we are not presently under any threat," said Dorothy.
"That is…unless somebody wants to start killing?" said Duncan.
"Anyone not tempted by his offer, please raise your hand," said Marla. Everyone's hand quickly shot upwards. "That seems like a no Duncan, unless someone here is a sociopath and can lie about their instincts."
"As much as we miss our past lives, we're not that tempted to see it again," said Austin.
"Also, this place is kind of cool," said Skyler. "We get to learn magic."
"We never even thought it was possible," said Jaimy.
"Are you just giving up on freedom?" asked Nolan.
"Of course not," I spoke up. "We'll find our freedom, it just might take time. Who's to say we can't learn some magic in the meantime?"
"It is what we came here to do," said Anna.
"Alright," said Regina, checking her staff. "It is currently nine o'clock in the morning. We have some time to learn some magic, and some time to look around. I say we meet up at meal times and discuss what we've learned and how that might help us going forward."
"Where will meet?" asked Mindy.
"In the commons by the Pond," said Ceren.
"That seems to be the center of things," said Penny. "It's a good place to hang out. It's also better than eating in our dorms."
"Then it's agreed," said Simeon. "We'll all spend our own time researching and investigating and meet up when we eat to discuss things. Let's get to work."
Everyone headed off in separate directions. I approached Simeon.
"You said you'd talk to me about spiders."
"Right," said Simeon, eyeing the other Fire students headed towards the Fire school, Mindy heading towards the Ice school, and Jaimy headed towards the school of storm. He then eyed Colin and Dorothy rooting through the briefcase in front of Bartleby. "Let's talk a bit away."
We walked through the tunnel until we were just outside of Ravenwood.
"Is this really private info," I asked.
"Maybe not," said Simeon. "Yet I don't want to disturb anyone's learning."
"So what can you tell me about male spiders and female spiders?"
"Well, for one thing, you are right about female spiders. They are pretty aggressive and bloodthirsty creatures. There are tales from the world of Grizzleheim which discuss how heartless and cold they are."
"I might look into that later, when things are not so bleak. Now what about male spiders, how do you know they are just as ruthless?"
"That involves lore as old as the Spiral itself," said Simeon.
"Tell me," I peered in. Simeon took a deep breath.
"You remember what we said about Bartleby, Grandfather Spider, Grandmother Raven as well as their children?"
"They're the precursors. Of course, I didn't know there was a spider among them. They made the spiral and all magic."
"Yeah, the third Primordial is a spider, Grandfather Spider to be exact."
"A male spider," I said. I could see where this was going but I wanted the full picture.
"He was the single father of the beings of darkness," explained Simeon.
"Just because he's dark doesn't mean he's evil."
"His pure children, they are called Father Rat, Father Scorpion, and Father Bat. They are beings of the shadows; precursors themselves of corruption, animosity, strife, violence and chaos."
"So he brought into existence the evils of the spiral," I said. He sounded like the devil. "Why would he do that? Didn't he help create the spiral and all magic?"
"He did," said Simeon. "But they say he's also the one who destroyed the original world, and in doing so he helped the spiral become what it is."
"Why would he do that? Destroy something that he created?"
Simeon shrugged. "No one knows, maybe he got fed up with it. Or maybe it was unintentional and he just wanted to see what would happen."
"What do you mean?" Simeon looked off towards the sealed off library.
"He didn't destroy the world directly just as he didn't recreate the spiral directly. They say he's a puppet master, pulling strings and manipulating events. The spiral was destroyed because the Titans, his children started fighting each other. No one knows who started it or who ended it, but that's how the world was destroyed and how the Titans went into stasis."
"Let me guess, he's the one who made them fight each other?"
"Yes," said Simeon, looking me dead in the eyes. "Grandmother Raven was furious when she discovered what he had done. She ripped out his heart and sealed him into a dark pit. She used his heart to anchor the weave of the Spiral together, after her sorrowful brother Bartleby sang the song of creation to fix the broken world. To this day, they say he still schemes and plots and corrupts; any who encounter his dark shadow are said to be twisted into their worst selves."
"That sounds similar to what's going on here," I deducted. "Wait, do you think he's responsible for all of this?" Simeon shrugged once again.
"He could be, I still don't know enough to be sure. It would be rather petty of him if he was, but as a primordial being of shadow sealed in a dark pit, I believe he can be as petty as he wants to be."
"He'd be someone who might find this entertaining; I see what you mean now about bloodthirsty male spiders."
"If I were him, I'd want to do this on a grander scale, not just a small group. I believe there's a reason why we specifically have been chosen for this. There was a whole school to work with, a whole city, and it's just us here."
"He could have picked us randomly."
"Why is there at least one student from each school?"
"Why are there more fire students than any other school?"
"Touché." We sat in silence for a little bit.
"You could have explained your theory to everyone," I said.
"Excuse me?"
"You took me aside and told me all of this, even though this is important information. I've demonstrated so far I tend to panic when it comes to stress. So why are you just telling me out of everybody here?"
"Give yourself some credit, Emily," said Simeon. "You're not panicking now after everything I said. That being said though, I just wanted to answer your question without disturbing anyone. You were the one curious why a male spider was attacking us, and I didn't think it was the Grandfather until you brought it up. We were just having a conversation."
"Oh…" I said sheepish. "In case you haven't noticed…I haven't have friends before besides my sister."
"It explains why she's your life-line."
"Do you like me, Simeon?"
"You bring up interesting points. You also have an interesting way of looking at things…which we might need going forward."
"So I'm useful," I said a little disappointed.
"Who's to say you're not likeable?" Simeon shrugged. "Give me some time, Emily; I just met you after all." He started to walk away. "You have any questions, or have any theories, feel free to run them by me. We have to put our heads together if we're going to get out of this."
After he was gone, I opened up my spell book. I apparently already learned so many spells, but I didn't remember learning them. Simeon was right about one thing, we just met each other. Who was to say who would be tempted to attack whom? I decided I needed to know how to defend myself. I made my way towards the Fire School. Re-entering Ravenwood, I saw Colin and Dorothy, their noses deep in the notes they found in the suitcase, studying up on Balance magic I took it. Changing the rules of magic, I figured that might be useful to know.
I walked past the Storm School and stopped. I took a deep breath. Genevieve wasn't here, and I was split on what I felt about that. I was happy she wasn't taking part in this sadistic game, but the other half of me missed her, wanted her beside me for comfort, and wondered where she was and if she was alright. I put my hand on the door. I bet inside Jaimy was reading up on Storm magic.
"I'll survive this, I promise you that."
"She can't hear you, you know," said a terrible voice. I jumped, noticing Cob was right behind me.
"What do you want? Last I checked, the rules said I'm not getting hurt unless I'm in trouble."
"How black-hearted do you think I am?" he said with mock hurt in his voice. "I wouldn't put blame on you for something I didn't already spell out for you; I wouldn't be such a good headmaster otherwise." I glared at him. "I just wanted to ruin this little moment you were having."
"So you are a sadist," I huffed.
"Yes, and I know you have a rough history with those sorts of people. You just can't stomach them can you?" My eyes got wide.
"You seem to know a lot about me."
"Oh yes," he grinned maliciously. "I know quite a bit about every single person here. Why web up a bunch of strangers? I'd just kill you and be done with it like any spider would. No, no, since I know everyone so personally, I decided to have fun with you, play with you; make a game of your demise."
"Is that so," I said. This was useful information.
"Look at those cogs whir inside your head. I wonder what you'll do now that you know there are no secrets with me. I wonder what you'll do to survive and see that sister you want so badly."
"I'm not killing anyone," I said defiantly.
"So much for your promise of survival, sometimes it's what you have to do to do it." Cob then climbed up a silk rope that was right behind him. He was in the tree; that wasn't comforting. Colin and Dorothy were watching that little exchange. I thought they might say something, but they just went back to reading, occasionally whispering amongst themselves. I continued onwards towards the Fire school.
Once I made it inside the Fire school, I saw everyone nose deep in a textbook. I went and sat beside Simeon.
"Just talked with Cob," I whispered.
"Really, what'd he say?"
"He knows us all personally, at least according to him. He knows about my history with bullying."
"Interesting," said Simeon as he turned a page. He then put a textbook in front of me. "It seems he is someone close to us, if he can get to know stuff like that. Either that or he took the time to read all of our minds."
"It's useful stuff," I added opening the book. "That way he has a way to play mind games with us."
"And he knows how to hurt us deeply."
"What are you guys whispering about?" asked Austin, looking up from his book. I didn't know if I wanted to tell Austin to be honest.
"We're trying to figure out who Cob is," said Simeon.
"Do you have anything?" asked Regina.
"A theory and some hints."
"How can you possibly know anything if we just got here?" asked Austin.
"Well I know things," said Simeon. "I'm a senior remember?"
"Well why are you discussing with Emily? She's new here like I am."
"She's the one asking the questions and paying attention to details."
"What details?"
"Cob just spoke with me," I told him. "And he mentioned some things that can clue in his identity."
"Like what," said Anna. "Tell us what you think guys."
"Well, one theory is that it's the primordial Grandfather Spider, a being of corruption and Chaos," said Simeon.
"You think a god is responsible for this," said Austin incredulously.
"Primordial, and maybe not, Emily just told me that Cob says he knows us all personally and he could prove it."
"He knew about my bullying past," I said.
"Well, he was watching us you know, and in the two hours before we met him you told everyone that people were hard on you in the past," said Austin.
"This was different, Austin," I corrected. "It's like he knew my personal thoughts on it."
"Like how you believed everyone hated you and you thought you were better than everyone."
"No, he said I don't like sadists. I never said that."
"You did say people liked to hurt you for laughs though," said Regina.
"You thought you were better than us because you didn't do that," added Austin.
"I did say that, but I didn't say it like 'I don't like sadists,' it could be interpreted as pride. Proud I'm not immature as you, I said I hurt you in self-defense, but I could have implied I enjoyed it."
"He might just be good at putting things together like we are," said Anna.
"But it does make sense for him to know us," said Simeon. "Why else are we the ones that are captured and put in this game? How else would he know how to mess with us? It's the perfect predator ideology: know your enemies."
Everyone was quiet.
"So we know him," said Austin.
"Correction, knew him," said Regina. "Our memories are gone, remember."
"Yes, but if we just analyze the circumstances of who might know us so closely, we might be able to determine who we're up against," said Simeon.
"How would that help us?" asked Anna.
"We can call them out, bring the fight to them," I said. "But for that, we need to know magic. Where do I start?"
"We were reading up on the history of the Spiral and magic, and the city, etc.," said Austin.
"Once you read up on that, we'll teach you some basics," said Simeon. "Like teleportation."
"And summoning fireballs," said Regina.
"I can teach Cantrips," said Anna.
Reading up on the history of the Spiral, the city, the school, Magic (more specifically Pyromancy), took about an hour and a half. We learned our power came from the Grandmother of Dragons…YAY! They ruled the land. Funny, I thought that since they could fly they would rule the sky and the Giants who actually ruled the sky would rule the land. Simeon explained to me that Giants have a cloud walking ability, able to craft kingdoms in the icy clouds. Meanwhile while Dragons could traverse land, sea, and sky; they made their homes in the mountains on land, close to the magma. Pyromancy history says that the other two titans started fighting and the dragons ended the war. I bet the other schools say their Titan ended the fighting and only got involved because of the other two.
Simeon got to the basics of teaching Austin and I teleportation. I found it surprising that something so difficult was being taught the first day. It involved turning ourselves into a puff of smoke, travelling through the air and to our required destination. Turning our bodies into fire seemed difficult. Simeon had to explain to us that fire was the main core of our being; we just had to tap into it. We struggled, but eventually we were able to move a few feet.
Regina taught something simpler, conjuring fireballs to throw at people. Expelling flames outside of our bodies was easy, moving the heat within ourselves to the outside and concentrating it in a small space. Then we just throw it. We couldn't do that much damage yet.
Anna, the second year, taught us a bunch of basic magic. Cantrips, she called it. She taught us how to make things levitate; spell books and ourselves for instance (that was fun). Making flares and displaying the symbol of our school, heating things up, cooling things down, turning on lights, turning them off. Also being able to sense things, like other magic, fire, life, even people's moralities.
All of that training took about two hours, but before we broke for lunch Simeon decided to fill us in on what he was looking into: Prophecy magic. It helps if you have a scrying pool or even can slip into your dreams. It can give you portents of past, present, or future, all it involves is clearing your mind, gazing into the element of your magic. In a sense you were attuning to the magic within its essence, accessing hidden knowledge.
DING DONG
The sound went off at around noon.
"TIME FOR LUNCH! FOOD WILL BE APPEARING IN THE DORMITORIES NOW!"
"That won't get old real fast," I said sarcastically.
"Let's go see what's on the menu," said Austin. "Hopefully he won't torment us with food."
Upon approaching the dorm tower, Regina and Anna informed me that in order to get to your room, you just had to be the one opening the door, and it would lead right to your room. In order to go to another person's room, you either had to message them to let you in, or teleport to their location. I haven't exactly mastered teleporting yet, so we wouldn't have to worry about that. Of course, I wasn't sure how to message people; simply enough they explained that too. Just wave your wand and say who you wish to contact. I didn't know people well enough to contact anyone, except for maybe my old world friends and Simeon. Simeon, for right now, seemed like someone I could trust. He's someone who keeps his eye on things, and knows a lot. I felt that if I wanted to figure things out, I'd go to him.
Entering my dorm room, there was nothing too extraordinary about it. It had a double bed with a red blanket, some plaques and pictures on the walls as well. There were two flower pots by the door. There was a desk with a beaker, a crystal ball and ink for writing, there was some sort of alchemy station across the way, the room was separated by a blue runner. There was a clock up on a shelf, right above a chest. I didn't see where else I would keep my things, so I checked the chest. At first it looked like there was nothing in there, nothing but blackness, but sticking my head in there, I saw a wide selection of things. Several different hats, robes, boots, wands, rings, spell decks (where spells are kept at the ready), gems, a bunch of assorted items including wood, cattails, leather and pearls, and finally a bunch of knives…what was I doing with a bunch of knives on my person? I felt it was safer for the things to remain where they were…but then I remembered something Duncan told me earlier.
"Anything that provides protection?" A bunch of clothing items came to the front. I had a feeling this magic was somewhat sentient. I decided to root through all of that later; everyone was expecting to meet up for lunch. I pulled my head out of the chest and shut it. I looked around the room, as Cob had said lunch would be appearing in the dorm. I looked at the desk and lunch had appeared on a plate with a drink of chocolate milk beside it. It was a toasted cheese sandwich with lettuce and bacon, or what I'd like to call a B.L.C (Bacon, Lettuce, and Cheese). It wasn't my favorite, but I didn't hate it; it was my hallmark when I couldn't think of what to make for lunch back home. There was a note beside the plate.
TIRED OF THE SAME OLD THING, LEAVE A SUGGESTION IN YOUR DORM ROOM OF WHAT TO EAT NEXT MEAL
How would I leave a suggestion? How would he get it? He did have eyes on us all the time? But did I really expect him to cater to us this much? That it was a five-star prison trap? The magic seemed somewhat sentient regardless.
"I don't know what to have for supper. Surprise me…but make sure it's edible…and safe to eat…easily edible...dinner food."
I didn't want to be given a boot, or a frog, or poisonous berries or something. I wanted something that counted as food for supper, and not a last supper. I took the sandwich and the beverage, and made my way towards the commons.
The more senior students were already there, most probably knowing their dorms already. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the food system was the same. I went and sat down with the fire students, but it wasn't like we were all separated. The schools were facing each other, ready for conversation. Others were commenting on the lunch the others had picked: some had sandwiches, others bowls of pasta, and a couple had slices of pizza. The other new people had made their way out. Skyler had a wrap, Austin and Colin had burgers, Jaimy had salad, Dorothy had soup, and Penny had corn beef. I heard sometimes that what people like to eat says something about their character. All of this was pretty standard; no one knew what to make of this situation. Some were a little odd, as Ceren had pasta salad, and Duncan had ribs. If I was better at this I could tell more about them from that.
"Emily, they did give you prison food," said Austin as he arrived.
"What's wrong with what I'm eating," I said.
"It's a cheese sandwich," said Austin blankly. "Pretty plain."
"Some people like plain," said Anna, who had a PB .
"We're all here," said Simeon, who had a hot pasta dish. "Let's get started on what we all learned so far."
"How will that help us?" said Duncan.
"Knowing what everyone else is capable of will keep us all safe," said Regina.
"Or it could invite trouble," said Nolan. "What if someone doesn't feel safe with what someone knows?"
"No one is tempted to kill anyone so far," said Marla. "If anything, they might stick closer to that person for safety."
"Besides," said Penny, "Not like we know much yet?"
"It's true," said Anna. "We've mostly been going over things for the new comers. Not practicing any new spells."
"I've had only enough time to go over the basics," said Jaimy, "that includes history and basic wand magic."
"We've decided to focus on teleportation as well," said Dorothy.
"It could help us get out of danger and arrive to places fast," said Colin. "We figured it would be useful to know."
"Of course, that also means people can disappear fast," said Mindy.
"We've barely broached the subject," said Skyler. "We should focus on it a bit more and improve later."
"So much for helpful," said Nolan.
"Nolan, we're working on it as fast as we can," said Ceren.
"What about the older students," I asked. "What do they know?"
"She makes a good point," said Simeon. "Nolan, you're the only one here from your school. You didn't need to reproach the basics."
"You might have learned some new spells," said Regina.
"For your information I learned…something," said Nolan.
"What? What did you learn," I asked.
"I learned how to shift lingering damage from myself to someone else."
"What else?" asked Duncan.
"I was looking into the Gobbler spell. Of course, Myth magic requires knowing about the creature you're summoning, so I had to research it with what little knowledge I had."
"There are books on Gobblers in the Ice school," said Mindy.
"There are?" asked Nolan.
"Yeah, Ms. Greyrose had some books on them behind her desk. Maybe they're from her home world?"
"Well, since the library isn't available, I might have to look there."
"Knowing spells from other schools might actually be helpful," said Anna.
"Really?" asked all the new kids.
"Yeah," said Marla. "Teachers always promote students branching out so their spell options are not too limited."
"That might make things more difficult," said Penny. "If everyone knows everything, how can we be sure of who did what?"
"That's very bleak," said Jaimy.
"Yeah," said Austin. "That's assuming that we are going to attack each other. We're not."
"We're acting like this is an ordinary school year," said Colin. "In the meanwhile, we'll try to find a way out of here."
"It's not like we can actually do anything to each other right now, except maybe the older students," added Skyler.
"Do not think that gives you an alibi," said an all too familiar voice. We all abruptly turned and saw Cob standing dead center of the commons. "Poisons and Athames can still be used by those of lower skill sets."
"Athames?" I asked.
"They are like knives that increase magical power," said Simeon.
"Oh so that's what those were."
"You're all so happy-go-lucky, thinking you're safe around each other," said Cob. "Meanwhile, you keep thinking all weird. You think I'm your main threat. How many times do I have to say it? I AM NOT GOING TO HURT YOU! Not unless you do something wrong, Emily."
Everyone looked at me.
"What?"
"I did not like what your food order implied," he said approaching me. He then began jabbing my chest with one of his legs. "Maybe…give me a better one."
"Maybe stop being such a sadistic freak."
"Why do you keep picking on her?" asked Austin.
"She makes it easy," said Cob. "Now give me a better dinner order!"
"I don't have a preference; just make sure it's actually food."
"Like I would neglect you?! I want to see you tear each other apart, and I can't do that if you're dead from starvation! Stop spinning the game; I'm not your enemy, I am your only salvation!"
"We barely know anything. Can't be too entertaining if we only approach the basics," said Regina.
"Yep, you do have a point," said Cob, making his leave. "Got to let things build up, otherwise this game will end all too quickly, and we don't want that. So I'll give you kiddies some time. One of these days though, I'm going to get bored of waiting; that's when things will get really interesting." He then disappeared in puff of smoke.
"Okay, on that interesting note, when do you think we should go over what everyone knows?" said Duncan.
"First, let's try to find a way out of here," said Marla.
"We'll review any new information at the end of the day," said Anna.
"Tomorrow maybe we go over what we know," said Mindy.
"Alright, but we'll also have to set some ground rules tonight," said Ceren, "to ensure everyone's safety."
"Right," said half of us.
"Agreed," said the rest.
The Life students began to investigate the trees (more specifically, Bartleby) to see if there was any way to get through to the portal within. As luck would have it, the inside of Bartleby was where the only portal between worlds was. Yay. Meanwhile the rest of the students were trying every barred gate and locked door. The only other option would be to attempt to climb the wall, so that was what I attempted to do. Along with me were Austin and Simeon, Regina was trying Golem court with Duncan and Marla, Anna was searching the fairegrounds with Nolan and Penny. Colin was investigating Unicorn way with Dorothy, and Jaimy was investigating the Pet pavilion with Mindy.
It would have been difficult considering the walls were not meant for climbing, but if I could just get up on the archway; I figured I would be able to climb to the top. I had Simeon carry Austin a tad, and then I climbed up on both of them to a high point on the brick archway. It certainly was difficult in trying to climb over someone's head onto a high platform.
"Why don't you try getting me closer to the wall?" I said.
"If you think that might help," said Simeon, strained already. He shifted his feet a little, angling our bodies to be closer to the bricks. It was very hard to grasp the bricks.
"I just need to get my leg up there," I said, reaching with all my effort.
"And then what," said an all too familiar voice. Hearing it made us all topple to the ground. Getting up and rubbing my sore bottom and back I confronted the spider.
"There are other people to annoy you know!"
"Oh I know," said Cob, rolling his eight eyes. "I didn't realize everyone wanted to die that badly. A LITTLE REMINDER FOLKS, ATTEMPTING TO BREAK INTO CLOSED OFF AREAS IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED." The last part was said in an effect so the whole school could hear it.
"Why? What's on the other side?" asked Simeon.
"If you're so curious, so much you become suicidal; I'll tell you…NOTHING! There's a whole lot of nothing on the other side of those bars."
"Then why keep us from it?" said Austin.
"I have to remind you kiddies what's going on here, can't have you getting too comfortable. Besides, it's easier to coral you that way." He then scampered off.
"He may be lying," said Austin.
"Shouldn't chance things though," said Simeon. "I have a feeling he won't give us a second warning."
"He only let us live because everyone else was doing it," I realized. "He doesn't want to kill us all or that would end the game too soon."
"Well that sucks," said Austin. "Now what are we going to do? Should we just sit around and accept our fate?"
"The only way out of here is through Bartleby," I said. "We should have known going through the bars would get us nowhere."
"So?"
"The only way out is through what the Life students are doing," said Simeon.
"Isn't that place also prohibited?"
"It's sealed because it's just a tree right now," I said. "It's not technically closed off. Besides, if that's the door out, it'd have to be within reach in case someone succeeds in his game."
"Wouldn't he keep that door sealed especially so we couldn't escape?"
"I'm not sure, probably; but for now it's our only hunch of getting out without violence," said Simeon.
"Let's go see how they're doing," I said, heading off towards Ravenwood.
"I guess you guys heard the announcement," said Skyler as we approached.
"Everyone did," said Austin, "we were fortunate to be right next to the spider when it was announced."
"Wow, he does like picking on you Emily," said Ceren, stopping his examinations.
"What have you discovered about the trees?" I asked.
"Only a little bit," admitted Skyler. "I'm doing my best in sensing the Life magic, but I'm more of an assistant here."
"She's great at taking notes," said Ceren. "You'll know Life magic in no time."
"Ceren, what have you found out?" asked Simeon.
"I've only managed to examine Bartleby so far, but I figure it's the same with the other trees."
"What did you find?" said all of us at the same time.
"The trees are healthy, like I discovered before. They are like normal trees…"
"That's it?" asked Austin. "Some breakthrough."
"That's the thing, they are like normal trees…there's no magic in them."
"It's just bark and wood," said Skyler.
"No MAGIC!" cried Simeon. "That's impossible. Bartleby is a celestial being; his magic can't simply be removed.
"I can't explain it Simeon, I don't know how this happened. That's just what I found," said Ceren.
"There is something interesting we found before you showed up," said Skyler. "Tell them Ceren."
"Oh yeah, while there is no magic in the trunk, branches or leaves, we've found traces of the lingering magic in the roots."
"So was the magic drained from them?" asked Austin.
"We're not sure," said Skyler. "We're theorizing that it may be a form of hibernation, like trees do in the Fall."
"In Autumn, trees transfer the nutrients within their leaves to their very cores in order to keep themselves alive in the winter time with barely any sun," said Ceren.
"So the trees transferred their magic to deep within themselves to withstand some sort of cataclysm," I pondered.
"Well there's certainly enough magic to keep the trees in certain schools containing their attributes," said a female voice. I turned and saw Regina returning with Duncan and Marla, slowly coming in after them were the rest of the students. We explained to them what we were already told.
"There's enough magic for Burnie's leaves to still burn," said Anna.
"For Kelvin to remain icy," said Mindy.
"And for the Storm tree," said Jaimy.
"Torrence," said Duncan.
"Yeah him," she continued, "to remain wet."
"Maybe their magic is not gone," said Marla, "Just subdued."
"I'm guessing it's still pretty powerful to affect something like Bartleby," said Colin.
"It is," said Penny. "It's scary honestly."
"Scary we have to rely on life magic to save us," said Nolan.
"It's scary none the less," said Dorothy. "We don't know what dark force we're dealing with, but it's still pretty powerful to affect the trees like this."
"Okay," I said. "So we're dealing with a powerful force of dark magic, enough to manipulate the entire city without any other people here. Also strong enough to make the trees subdue their magic, and now that we're at their mercy; they want us to fight each other to the death."
"Sort of," said Duncan. "It seems they want to see who can survive the longest in isolation, who will snap under the pressure. They want to see how we tick, and they're doing it through a means of a sadistic game."
"So they're curious," said Regina. "They might not even be human, but they want to see how humans work."
"Or they want to see how Ravenwood Students react," said Anna. "That's the only people here."
"If this is about Ravenwood, why not do it to the teachers?" asked Austin.
"The teachers would know more about different magics, they would know what's going on and how to combat it," said Mindy. "We are not as knowledgeable, especially the ones from a different dimension."
"So we have special skills, which makes this interesting," said Jaimy, "yet we are still helpless enough to be played with."
"He's a predator and we're his prey," said Simeon. "Everyone knows targets are younger usually because they're easier, however, much like a cat he's playing with us."
"He knows he's more powerful, and this is a way to gloat that power over us," I realized.
"Yet he's not going to kill us," said Skyler.
"Yeah," said Ceren. "He wants us to kill each other, he's not hunting us for sport, he wants us to do that."
"Technically, he wants us to turn on each other," said Penny.
"That's right," said Duncan. "We're all trapped in the same situation, but he doesn't want us to trust each other."
"What type of life would that be?" I brought up. "All we have is each other here; we're all trapped, separated from the ones we love. All we have is our magic and each other; it's all we can trust, unless we want to hide ourselves away from everyone. It's a scary and sad life filled with despair. It's one I don't want to live, and I don't think anyone else wants that either."
"You say that like it's so easy," said Duncan. "Sometimes life isn't about what we want."
"Cob, he wants to make killers of us, turn us into monsters," said Simeon. "It's easier to do that with a small group than a whole city, it's probably why we've been separated."
"Then he's going to unleash those killers onto the spiral, people with magic and killing intent," I concluded.
"Murder darkens your heart," said Marla. "The more you're guilty of, the less human you become."
"He wants to ruin us," I added. Just great, I had to deal with that in my past life and it wasn't fun. I held on strong then, hopefully I could hold on strong now.
"An Unknown entity with amazing power, enough to transform a city and turn us into pawns for his game, a being that wishes to corrupt us," said Nolan. "What can you do?"
"You cannot be serious," said Anna.
"That's your take from this?" said Marla.
"I'm being realistic, it's just fifteen students against a powerful and we barely know any magic, what will happen will happen."
"Not if we hold fast," I said.
"Not if we prepare ourselves," said Simeon.
"We could make it through this!"
"Aren't you the optimist," said Nolan.
"Idealist," I corrected.
"Whatever," he said. "You're probably going to be eaten alive. Unlike myself, who knows much more magic, I'm probably going to survive." He then left.
"Where are you going?" asked Regina.
"To study up, I'm definitely making it out of here."
"If you try killing any of us-," said Penny.
"It's for self-defense," said Nolan.
"Wait Nolan," said Ceren. "We need to go over some rules, for everyone's safety."
"Fine, what do you think we should do to try to stay safe?"
"Let's go over the rules again," said Colin. We all took a look at what was written.
"It says we're not allowed to sleep outside the dorms," said Dorothy. "Also, it says some areas off limits at night."
"He only excuses rules if everyone is doing them," said Austin. "But if someone is caught doing it alone…"
"How about we try to be inside our dorms once nighttime comes," said Skyler. "That way no one gets killed by the Spider."
"This rule can be ignored though, right," said Nolan.
"Do you really want to test it?" asked Duncan. "Especially if no one is there to heal you?"
"Fine," said Nolan. "We'll all be inside by 10pm."
"That's agreed," said Jaimy. "Also, maybe no staying in other people's dorms."
"That's fair," said Mindy. "But maybe we should make it that you can stay in their dorm with their permission."
"Maybe entering with permission, but the spider said we can't sleep anywhere but our dorms."
"True, but what if we don't feel safe in the dorms," said Dorothy. "Or we need to tell somebody something."
"We have Athames for defense," said Colin.
"We can't attack the spider," said Anna.
"Sleep with it under your pillow."
"That's assuming the spider can enter our dorms," said Regina.
"If he can see everywhere and we need to sleep there, I'm pretty sure he can get in," said Austin.
"He won't kill us Austin," said Skyler. "As for needing to tell someone something, that can wait until morning. Write it down until then."
"Alright," said Simeon. "Only enter dorms with Permission, stay in your own dorms, and no going out after 10pm. Understood?"
"Understood," we all said.
"Good," said Simeon. "Since we can't find a way out, I suggest we focus on learning more magic. Hopefully, we'll eventually get strong enough to undo the enchantments on the trees. However, if you wish to explore more, just be careful." We then all began to go our separate ways. Austin approached me.
"Pretty gutsy there," he whispered.
"What do you mean," I asked.
"That positive outlook; Nolan's right, trusting everyone might get you killed."
"I can still be careful and choose to trust people. I know no one wants to die, so no one is going to put their life on the line by killing someone."
"That also means that if someone does kill someone, they're going to do a real good job in trying to hide it."
"You see things your way; I'll see things my way." Austin shrugged and left. Simeon approached me.
"If people are untrusting of others, who do you think is going to make the first blow?" I turned to him. "I'd be careful of him." I was already wary around him, he ruined his own reputation for me, yet I didn't think he was a killer.
I had to focus on learning magic, but I decided to branch off from Fire for a bit. First I went to Ceren.
"I was hoping you could teach me some Healing magic."
He taught me how to use the heartbeat spell, like a defibrillator, it gave someone a pick-me-up when they were down for the count. He also taught me to Pixie spell, a stronger healing spell, and how to harness Life energy and throw it at others. I questioned how that could be harmful.
"Why is fire harmful? The spark of energy in its rawest form hurts." He seemed a little out of it ever since the Pixie spell was introduced. I sat down beside him.
"Lady Oriel crafted the Pixie spell herself. She watches over fairies and sprites but Pixies are also a subset in the maze. Fairies know how to harness the life energy that resides there more than any other creature. Yes Unicorns, Dryads and Satyrs all can wield life magic as well. Satyrs just use magic, and Dryads and Unicorns use magic within themselves. The fairies are in tuned with the very street magic. It's like they commune with the Spiral itself, it was a pleasure to know them."
"You miss them?"
"I feel…that I could go to them and they could heal the trees, they could make everything alright. Not only can I not see them, I'm worried about what may have happened to them. Dead infecting the street? Does life magic even still reside there? I'm very worried." He put his head in his hands. "I just want everyone to be okay."
"Thanks for the lessons, Ceren," I said, taking my leave.
I still had some time before Nighttime came, I could see someone else for lessons. I chose to see Nolan, he was one of the most skilled students there, and he kept bragging about his magic so it was worth looking into.
"I was hoping you could teach me some Myth magic."
He taught me to harness the magic and throw it at others; it seemed to be the most basic spell. However, he couldn't be bothered to teach me anything else, as he was too busy with his own studies.
"So Nolan, you're the top Myth student right?"
"As I've said, but don't think that means you can learn better spells quickly."
"How was your relationship with your teacher?"
"Do you doubt my prowess?"
"Uhh…no, I'm just curious."
"I'll have you know Professor Drake said I was top student personally!"
"Drake? That's the same last name as the Death professor."
"Yeah, his twin brother Cyrus taught Myth. That just proves that Myth is the better magic, you don't see anyone in this school turning against everyone."
"What do you mean 'Turned against everyone?'"
"Yeah, Malistere Drake went through some hard times and just abandoned everyone before the school year. They say he had a major personality change."
"So he wasn't going to teach?"
"They say he went on sabbatical before the year started, but that's a weird time to go on a trip. It's not like the Myth Professor didn't suffer either, but he chose to stick around. It proves that he's the stronger twin, the stronger character."
"What happened?"
"Not entirely sure, it had something to do with the life professor though. After what happened to her, Malistere poured himself into his studies, neglecting his students."
Death magic, perhaps the Life Professor died and he had feelings for her. I don't think the Myth Professor was the stronger twin per say, more like he didn't think there was anything to be done about it; similar to Nolan in that way. I spent the next hour reading about the Myth school. They work with legends and stories of the past, bringing imagination to life. It's weird they have a realist approach to life, and then again maybe they separate their magic as imagination and reality as reality.
"Thanks for the lessons, they were insightful." I took my leave.
DING DONG
"TIME FOR DINNER! FOOD WILL BE APPEARING IN THE DORMITORIES NOW!"
Yep, definitely won't get old.
I went to my dorm and found that on the desk were a hot dog and mac and cheese.
"Food?" I said. What did I tell Cob? 'Just make sure it's actually food.'
Back at home, my parents had this little joke: Hot dogs and Mac and Cheese, that was food. Whenever we had that for dinner, that's what they said we were having: food.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't poisoned, but it was still creepy how he knew that. I took my food and beverage outside where everyone was eating together in front of Bartleby. They were talking about their day so far. I sat down next to Simeon.
"What do you know about the Death Professor?"
"Malistere Drake?"
"Yeah," I said, starting to eat.
"He was married to the Life Professor until she died, brothers with the Myth Professor."
"He poured into his work and left the school," I added.
"His personality changed, he became a recluse, and more bitter."
"He was a necromancer," I said. "Bringing people back to life."
"It transfers life energy into others."
"Could something like this…help him?
"Hmmm…A great sacrifice of life to bring someone back to full life…Possibly."
"Yes, we're also being kept somewhere separate, so no one would know what he was doing."
"Yes, but where did he get the magic to pull this off? And this seems rather sadistic to achieve his goal."
"I guess," upset that we were at another dead end. "He knows about my family's jokes." Simeon looked intrigued. I held the hot dog and mac and cheese, "This is food. I have to guess it's someone who spent time around us, might have heard me and my sister talking."
"Mind reading magic does exist," said Simeon.
"Why dig through my head just for that?"
"That's fair; maybe they just found it while they were looking around." I glumly looked at my food. "We should still consider him, but we should also consider it might not be him, and we'd have to consider how they know things. Parts of our memories are gone, maybe they found out then. He then began to eat his ravioli. I continued my dinner.
"Why do you keep spending time with that Simeon guy?" Austin asked me later.
"Why do you care who I eat with?"
"What about the people from your world?"
"A girl who's your friend, a girl who's Gen's friend, a nice guy and you," I looked at him blankly. "If I'd like to clam up, talk about you, or grieve Gen I would consider them. I want to learn things, so I'll talk to him. You can mind your own business."
I had a little bit of time before 10 pm; I decided to focus my efforts on Fire magic. As luck would have it, Anna was there.
"I was hoping to brush up on Fire Magic."
I got a lot of practice in. With Anna, I learned how to cast the Fire cat spell, the fire amplification charm, the fire elf spell, which does damage over time, the fire prism, the glacial shield, and the fire shield.
"You sure know a lot, no wonder you're the Fire professor's aid."
"Everybody in the Fire School tends to have high grades, so it's a real honor if Madame Falmea pays attention to you."
"I take it she's strict."
"Oh no," said Anna. "She's more stern than strict, she's hard on us, but that's only because she expects us to do well." Anna started to get into it. "Fire is a difficult element to master, it can easily harm the user if they're not careful, and that's why she can't go easy on us. You notice how Fire Magic uses incantations?"
"Yes," I said.
"We use those incantations to dominate and convince the fiery magic to do our bidding. It respects strength, so we have to hold fast. Of course, our teacher is also kind, much like fire."
"What do you mean?"
"Fire is life; Fire is the warm hearth that warms the body and soul. Just as we have strong reasoning to understand the fire we control, we must have a strong passion; the flames of our hearts must overwhelm the flames of our magic. Our minds may control the fire, but it's our hearts that give us power. So of course Madame Falmea is kind, if she didn't have emotions she wouldn't be a pyromancer. It's our greatest strength, so don't lose sight of it, alright?"
"Okay," I said.
I took a look at the time, it was getting late. We needed to head back to the Dorms.
"Thanks for the lessons, Anna, I enjoyed them."
We began to head our way back to our dorms, as Anna and I made our way inside, we heard the announcement.
DING DONG
"IT IS 10 PM! IT IS OFFICALLY NIGHTTIME! GOOD NIGHT!"
It was my first day spent in this prison. Who knows if I'll ever leave? Who knows if I'll ever leave alive? I still didn't know where Genevieve was, but I knew I wasn't alone here. At this rate though, there is still no escape. I swore I would find out who was behind this, and then maybe we could find a way to go against them and get out of here. Not sensing any immediate danger, I thought I could go to sleep. However, this situation didn't sit right with me. It must've taken me a few hours before I finally drifted off.
20 pages makes one day, hopefully I zoom through the next days a bit faster. If you want to try your hand at solving the mystery, you can put your theories in the comments, I promise not to laugh at you if they're wrong. You can also put in suggestions for how you think the cases will go, or otherwise just tell me what you think of the chapter. Until next time...Stay tuned!
