Author's Notes: Here's chapter 1. Henley is now in Twisted Wonderland and the story begins.
Chapter 1: Night Raven College
'Ugh. What's that noise?' the boy wondered, scrunching his nose as he woke up to the sound of something heavy being placed and moved around. He blinked his eyes, noting the darkness around him as the sounds of steps faded away only to be replaced by silence for the moment.
He groaned and went to stretch his sore body, only be halted by a firm, cool surface right above him. He froze as he tried to make sense of that. He cautiously moved his arms to his sides, only to discover another surface less than a foot.
He was surrounded on all sides and within close proximity. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He needed to think rationally here.
He placed his palms flat on the surface above him, planted his feet as well as he could under him and pushed. But the surface above him didn't budge even a little. He tried a little longer before stopping, trying to keep himself calm. He was starting to feel lightheaded but shoved it to the side.
AHe was fine. There wasn't any shortage of air here, though he wasn't sure how that was possible considering he was almost certain he was in a box of some kind.
He tried a few other things for a while before he finally gave up getting out. He had to think this through rationally. He wasn't sure what his situation was. He didn't recall much, actually, now that he thought about it.
There were words he knows were spoken to him, but they were faded and hard to make out in his memory at the moment. He knew they were spoken by someone or some people who might be important to him... He wasn't sure really. He hoped they were important to him. Hoped he was important to them if they were giving him words of something.
He really wishes his mind was clearer. That he wasn't so distracted by what he couldn't remember then, to figure a way out of his unknown predicament. He couldn't just give up here though. He was about to try a new tactic but stopped when he heard something outside his confinement.
"... Better find that uniform before somebody spots me." he heard. It was a young, but male voice. A little kid? And what did he mean 'uniform'? He heard shuffling right in front of him. "Ugh! This lid is heavy! Oh well, might as well. Myah-ha!" the voice cried.
Hot, cerulean flames burst and nearly blinded the boy as heat filled the space, followed by the brightness of the flames. He cried out, covering his eyes and face with his arms. He barely noticed how the lid apparently was off.
"You ain't supposed to be awake!" the voice cried, horrified and shocked. He peeked through his arms after the flames and heat had died down. He was breathing heavily in alarm and adrenaline as he glanced at the being.
'Huh? Is that a-' he blinked. "A talking weasel?" he asked. 'No, that's definitely a talking cat.' he thought. It was a feline-like creature of a slate gray, with bright blue eyes that matched his flames, a tuft of white fur on his chest, a pitchfork tail, darker fur along his bottom legs, and a frayed bow of black and white stripes. Then his eyes widened at the sight of floating coffins in the room beyond his own.
He grimaced and stepped out of his own coffin, not realizing there had been a good foot drop and nearly falling flat on his face. He caught himself as he took in the room and its contents. There were several coffins in the air, a fountain pedestal with green liquid, above it a floating mirror that only showed a dark void, rather than a reflection.
He took a deep breath, enjoying the cooler air and to calm himself more. 'This has to be a dream. Right? There's no way this is real. I mean, floating coffins, and a talking cat. It's a dream.' he tried to convince himself.
"How dare you! I'm not a weasel, human! I am Grim, Sorcerer Extraordinaire!" the cat- Grim- screeched in offended insult. He winced at the loud noise and turned to face the cat who was growling at him lowly.
"Never mind, just give me your uniform human! If you don't..." Grim smirked showing off pointy teeth. "Then you'll regret it." And he knew that Grim was thinking something unpleasant. Probably lighting him on fire with his flames.
Which how was that possible?! Was it really... magic? He was brought out of his thoughts by his body jumping to the side, avoiding a spew of bright cerulean flame, on instinct. There was a sense of DeJa'Vu, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he whirled around and sprinted for a large open, double door that led from the chamber he was in.
"Come on! I'm on a tight schedule!" Grim yowled, giving chase after the boy.
Twisted Wonderland: Welcome to the Villains' World
He wasn't sure how long he had been running, though he remembers passing through several locations, such as empty classrooms, the hallway, and the courtyard before he finally came to stop in what looked like a library. He couldn't hear Grim nearby and hoped he had managed to lose him for a bit so he could catch his breath.
His side was killing him for some reason, not a stitch from running for so long. But like he had slammed it into something at high speed.
He straightened up gingerly and looked around him. He had a very strong feeling he was at a school. Then there was the feeling of something all around him. Like an energy that was familiar, but he couldn't name. Just like he couldn't name most things.
Thinking about it, he realized he knew very little. His name, Henley Veil. His birthday, August 31. And that he was just turned 15 years old. That was all.
"Wait, does that mean I have... amnesia? But how?" he wondered. Now he was starting to panic. It wasn't the small, dark confinement he had woken up in. The unknown place he was at. Nor was it the homicidal magical cat beast thing chasing him that was causing him to finally panic.
It was knowing nothing about where he was from or who he was. Who his family was. "Oh Seven, do I even have family?" he muttered, the curse rolling off his tongue rather easily.
So caught up in his panic, he didn't even notice when Grim had finally caught up to him. "Did you really think you could get away from me, foolish human!" Grim cried, startling Henley who whirled around, tripping over his clothing and falling onto his back as a result.
"Oof! That hurt." he winced.
"Now take off that uniform unless you wanna be burned to a crisp!" Grim growled, only to let out a pained yelp as the sound of a whip smacking into the cat sounded in the once empty library. Grim went rolling back from the downed child and sat up rubbing his head. "That hurt! What gives?" Grim cried.
"Consider it tough love." a voice said cooly, and the cat and child glanced up to see a pale man, about 6'1, towering over the both of them. The top half of his pale face was covered by a half mask that resembled a raven's beak, through which they could see eyes that practically glowed a bright yellow. He had pointed ears and short, wavy black hair.
He wore dark slacks, a white long-sleeved, button up shirt with a black, tie and vest. He wore blue and black loafers. Over his suit was a great coat with thick blackbird feathers curling out from its blue collar, the tips of the coat cut in a way that resembled bird wings.
He wore black gloves on either hand with golden claw rings over each finger, giving the man an unsettlingly dangerous air. There were three mirror-like accessories attached to his hip, with four golden keys dangling from them.
On the man's black top hat which was wrapped by a blue ribbon was another mirror like charm, this one which held three keys, making a total of seven Henley counted. And in one of the man's hands was a dark black whip.
Henley was brought from his observing when his eyes found themselves looking directly into the golden lights in the darkness of the mask. "Ah, it seems as though I've finally found you. Splendid." he smiled, and Henley noticed then that his lips were painted purple.
"One of this year's new students, I believe." He glanced over the boy who was still sitting on the ground, having sat up. "My, were you ever eager to make your debut."
"And bringing an untrained familiar with you? That is a clear violation of the school's rules." the man added. Henley blinked, so it was a school.
"As if I'd serve some lowly human! Now let me go!" Grim growled.
"Yes, yes. Rebellious familiars always say that." the man sighed. "Do be quiet for a bit, won't you?" the man said before snapping his fingers and suddenly all that came from Grim were muffled grunts. "That's better." the man said before turning on Henley, who was finally standing up again.
"Dear me. Of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first with temerity enough to open his own gate and step out of it." The man mused.
'Huh? Is this man a teacher?' Henley wondered.
"Does the very notion of patience elude you?" He asked. Henley blinked up at him, not completely comprehending. The man sighed and looked away as he made for the exit of the library.
"No matter. Your orientation has already begun. Let us return to the Mirror Chamber." The man said.
"Sorry, but... Who are you? And where am I? You said this is a school?" Henley asked softly.
The man turned back towards the child and really took the kid in. Small, for a teenager. He could make out some silver bangs covering his right eye- the other blush pink- the rest of his covered by the ceremonial robe's hood. Skin that was most likely usually pale as porcelain, but now possessed some pink hues from burns that had been acquired.
Unseen brows furrowed as he approached the boy and used a more complex spell to cool the burns until he could get him to Divus in the infirmary.
"The time space teleportation seems to have not worn off yet, it would seem. Very well. I assume you awoke in a room full of gates. They symbolize leaving your old world and the student's rebirth into a new one. A metaphor for the start of a new chapter of their lives." The man said.
"Students typically arrive here through these gates. As I'm sure you've surmised, it was your familiar that blew the lid off of yours." He added. "As the one who brought it, it's up to you to curtail it's behavior." He added to the boy before glancing at his watch.
"Hm. We're running out of time and you have an orientation to get too. Come along, I shall explain the rest to you as we walk. I truly am magnanimous." The man told the boy who agreed realizing he didn't really have another choice.
"Very well, to begin. This is Night Raven College. An institute for students the world over who possess an aptitude for magic." He paused, allowing the boy to take that in.
'Okay, so a school makes sense. I thought that at first anyways. Magic, though?' Henley thought on that. For whatever reason, that wasn't a shock to his system.
Seeing the boy nod, thean continued. "I am Dire Crowley, and care of this school was entrusted to me a century ago by the chairman, making me the head mage."
"Students arrive through those gates which should have been born by a black carriage. One should have arrived to collect you as well." The man, Crowley, stated.
Henley thought for a moment and sure enough, he did remember a black carriage and a dark forest. "That... That's about the only thing that seems familiar. Wait, was I brought here against my will?" Henley said with a frown. One that was mirrored by Crowley.
'Well, it's a good thing I'm already taking him to Divus after the ceremony. The memory addlement shouldn't be lasting this long.' Crowley thought.
"If you didn't enroll, then a family member did so and was approved by the Dark Mirror which is the artifact that chooses the students of this school." Crowley assured him.
"Really?" Henley asked... Could he possibly figure out who his family was? Get his memories back sooner rather than later?
"Yes. Now, let's get you to your orientation." Crowley said as they approached the large double doors that would lead to many drastic changes in the time to come.
Author's Notes: And there we go. I made it much more streamlined, I believe, though we don't have too much from Crowley's thoughts, though we'll get more of that with some extra things in the next chapter once it's finished.