Hello Everyone! Anybody new here or anybody who doesn't pay attention to my other updates I should tell you I've recently developed some truama as well as become financially unstable. I am unable to work with commision artists, they're too freaking expensive, and everytime I see an email from one I get a chill and a pit in my stomach. For the sake of my financial future and mental health, I am blocking anyone who is terribly peristant with me.
In other news, I am in the mood to work on Daganronpa! I am going to post this today and get started on the next chapter tomorrow, because things are really picking up. In order to keep all the big events in this chapter I had to summarize some things I could have gone into more detail in. If you want, I'll go into more detail in that later. For right now, enjoy the chapter!
Once upon a time, there was a necromancer who went by the name of Malistere Drake. He taught Necromancy at Ravenwood's School of Wizardry. He was a wonderful teacher and his students loved him. He was capable of incredible feats of Death magic, which saved many lives. Of course, he loved no one more than his wife Sylvia, the professor of Life Magic at Ravenwood. You would never have expected the two to fall in love, but they did.
The tragedy came when Sylvia got ill. No manner of Life magic could heal her illness. The loss grieved Wizard City, but none more than Malistere. He was resolute, if Life magic couldn't save his beloved wife, than Death magic would.
DING DONG
"IT IS 7 AM! IT IS OFFICALLY DAY-TIME! HAVE A PLEASANT DAY!"
I figured the dream I just had was weird, but it wasn't ironic like the announcement was. It reminded me of my situation. I was a spider's prisoner, and the sadistic arachnid wanted all his prisoners to kill each other in order to escape. How could any day in here be pleasant?
I was tempted to sleep longer. It was difficult for other people to get into my room so I'd probably be safe. We crafted our own curriculums so it's not like I was needed in class.
I had trouble falling asleep last night, thinking over and over about my situation. I'd love to think no one here would try to kill me, especially the ones from my old life. I've only known these people for a day, as for the rest the only safe bet I have is Colin.
I eventually consoled myself with the fact that besides freedom, no one had a reason to kill anyone, as if anyone wanted to do what that spider wanted.
I still wanted to stay inside; it was slightly depressing to be in an empty city, my sister nowhere to be found. It may be an over-reliance but she was my only friend back home. Everyone here seemed nice enough, except for Nolan and Duncan…and Austin was a jerky friend. They certainly would listen to what I had to say.
I was certain no chaos was going to happen today. Of course, what if things changed over the next few days? I could be an easy target, easy enough to hide who did it if the murderer was female. The newly invoked killer would make it into my room and take me out, and they wouldn't be able to tell who did it or probably even notice for a few days. If worse came to worse I'd have to be able to defend myself. I'd be fine against a fellow novice, but against a senior…I'd need to be more prepared.
There's also a small chance they'd find a way out, and I wouldn't want to miss that. Who knows if we would find something that would jog our memories? That convinced me enough to get up and get to lessons.
I looked into my outfits, as Duncan said these might be handy. There was as something a little outside my style, a red dress robe and cloak rimmed with yellow, a red hood with yellow on the rim, and some red shoes with white socks. I tried looking for equipment I saw the older kids using. I found a purple wand with a globe on its end that thrummed with electricity. This was a storm wand, it made me miss Gen. There were also spell decks and Athames which I figured would be safer if I didn't bring them.
On the desk was a chocolate chip muffin and chocolate milk…of course the spider knew my breakfast of choice. Yet, chocolate would not be able to perk me up here. I sat down and ate my breakfast, eating which…it felt wrong. I shouldn't be enjoying this. I couldn't order eggs for next breakfast, as those fill me up too much.
"I think I'll just have toast with butter tomorrow, two slices," I said somberly. "The drink will be same as today."
After I cleaned myself up in hair, face and mouth (as the room had a vanity for that), I put up my hood and headed outside to meet the others. Everybody was already meeting in front of Bartleby wearing their own clothes that they had discovered.
"Sleep well?" asked Skyler seeing me approach.
"I think so," I said. "We can only get through this if we trust each other."
"Attention everyone," said Nolan. "We have a lot of work in front of us today, so we should keep the chatter to a minimum."
"Anyways," said Regina. "We have a lot of ground to cover if we're going to face this threat."
"Agreed," said Simeon. "We must see if we can uncover anything regarding our past memories, that way we can determine what situation we're in."
"It's pretty obvious what situation we're in," said Austin.
"Yes, but if we figure out how we got here, we could remember how we can get out."
"Yes, but here's another option," said Duncan. "We work on being able to defend ourselves."
"Why are you suggesting that?" asked Penny.
"We don't know what the spider will do to try to get us to play his game. If we become powerful enough the spider won't be able to harm us."
"We can't harm the spider," said Colin. "What good would having that power do?"
"We might be able to break out of here with sheer might," said Duncan. "Also, we don't need the power to harm if we could use it to defend ourselves."
"I'd be careful Duncan," said Marla, "The more power someone has the more tempted they are to use it."
"Well I'm hoping we use it to get out of here."
"The spider won't like that," said Mindy. "We're not allowed to go anywhere prohibited."
"He'll kill anyone who goes against him, through actions or violence," said Ceren. "We shouldn't try to provoke the spider."
"Why don't you just call me by my name?" said an irritatingly familiar voice. We turned and saw Cob was standing by the exit of Ravenwood, behind the group. "It's very disrespectful."
"There's no rule against it," I said.
"Careful Em, or I might change those rules."
"Don't call me that."
"Don't call me Spider, call me Cob dang it!"
"Okay Cob dang it," said Skyler.
"You know what I meant!"
"We're not happy with you," I stated. "It's either that, or we call you 'that guy'"
"You really know how to piss me off, don't you?"
"There's no point in making a rule everyone is going to break," said Simeon approaching. "Your game would end too fast."
"Yes, you keep throwing that at me, almost like you think it will keep you safe."
"What fun is a killing game if there are no players to play it?" said Duncan, coming up behind Simeon.
"Gah! Fine, call me what you like. For your information though, how long do you think that excuse can save you if you folks aren't even planning to start yet?"
"It's only our second day here," said Regina.
"We haven't learned that much magic yet," said Colin.
"Fair point," said Cob. "I guess it's just a waiting game, seeing if you break out before I get bored." He then scuttled away, laughing as he went.
"He knows something we don't," said Penny, "Otherwise he wouldn't be so humorous."
"He knows a lot of things we don't" said Duncan. "Is that going to stop us from trying anyway?"
"Perhaps not," said Marla. "Of course maybe we should talk about what we're learning."
"So we could help the others in other areas of magic," said Mindy.
"It also will help if we know what everyone can do," said Jaimie.
"Everyone should learn a healing spell," said Nolan. "Other than that it can be whatever they want."
"All the seniors know healing?" asked Dorothy.
"We learn them the first year," said Ceren. "I taught Emily and Skylar yesterday, but I can teach any other newcomers."
"The more healing spells we know the better," said Colin. "We must depend on the Life students in these trying times."
"Look at you, acting like you know everything when in reality you just got here," said Austin.
"It's easy enough to understand the basics."
"I guess you could teach us everything being a balance student and all."
"Stop it," said Skylar, "Attacking each other is what he wants."
"We're good at what we're good at," said Jaimie. "We should focus on that most of all."
"Exactly," said Nolan. "The better we get with our magic, the better we can help each other."
"Nolan," said Regina. "I think it's better for everyone if everyone focuses on one other area of magic a day. You can't just keep to yourself."
"Yeah," said Anna. "We need to work together and understand each other. Once the day is done we can go over what we know with everyone."
"Also, going over the facts might help too," said Simeon. "We might be able to piece something together."
"Nobody does that better than you Simeon," said Anna. "You can lead that, there's probably not much else for you to learn in fire anyway."
"Alright then," said Duncan. "So we're all agreed. I say we focus on our own school before lunch, and focus on another school afterwards, with maybe some touch ups on spells if you feel you need them. Anyone opposed to that." No one raised their hands. "Alright then, we'll see you at lunch."
Simeon had gone off by the boy's dorms, with his Spell-book open. He did have a point; I wanted to know what had happened as much as he did. What did I do to get myself into this mess?
"Hey?" I said.
"You were rather quiet this morning," said Simeon, "except for antagonizing the spider."
"I don't like him," I said bluntly. "I'm a little sad to be honest, trapped in this situation. I feel helpless, and I don't like that feeling; it brings up my trauma."
"I bet this experience will make you even more traumatized."
"Yeah my PTSD is definitely going to get worse no matter what happens." After a little silence I spoke up again. "How are you holding up?"
"You're asking me?"
"I had yesterday to be upset; I'm letting you have a turn."
"In all honesty, I'm just focusing on what I can do right now. What I can do is try to spot details."
"Let me see if I can help you," I said. We spent some time thinking about it.
"Unfortunately, the memories still cut off when they do. No sounds, no passing images, nothing."
"Let's go over the theories of what's going on," he said.
"Nothing benevolent, that's one part done."
"The trees have no faces, the kitchen is staffed by magic, the death school has been removed, the city is empty save us fifteen and Cob the Spider, the only accessible places seem to be Ravenwood, the Fairegrounds, the Commons, and Castle Tours."
I saw the towers circling Bartleby.
"Have we checked the towers?" I pointed in the direction of the purple one with a storm sigil on it.
"No, we haven't," said Simeon standing up. We went over to the storm tower and tried the door: Locked of course. "That's another area unavailable."
"What areas are unavailable?"
"Teacher's towers, Golem Court, The headmaster's office, the Library, the Pet Pavilion, Unicorn Way, The Shopping District, and any other streets beyond that."
I put my thinking cap on. Why weren't we allowed to go there? According to Cob there was nothing behind these gates, so why block it off? He said it was to remind us he was in charge and that he was corralling us.
"Simeon, do you know what else could be in these places besides people?"
"Well Golem court has a tower full of Golems as well as Pyromancer cave."
"Pyromancer cave?"
"It's a cave that pays tribute to the Grandmother of Dragons. It's usually sealed off because of how hot it is in there. Golem tower also has some scrolls and books now that I think about it."
"Maybe whoever did this started there, looking for something…that's where the initial disturbance was."
"Could be…you know the other streets (besides being the main focus of one of the seven magics for this world) also have towers with books and scrolls in them, much like the headmaster's office and the teacher's towers."
"That means whoever is behind this doesn't want us to find the information hidden in those locations, I bet whatever is hiding there could tell us more about what is going on."
"Then we'd be able to find a way to go against this. That's actually a good breakthrough, of course that won't mean much if we can't break into prohibited areas."
"Another theory is we could find something there that could help us break out, like a spell or something."
"Like a treasure card in the library…"
"Or we could siphon some power from the streets."
"That's not a thing."
"It's not?"
"It might affect our power if something happens to the street, but not entirely."
"I guess if our powers are fine that means the streets are fine."
"At least that means they're not overwhelmed with undead like how Dorothy remembered."
"Great, we could tell everybody this later. Right now though, we should focus on our skills. Will you come with me to the Fire school?"
"I was thinking of doing an independent study, but you go ahead."
Today we focused on the integral functions and how they coincided within creatures and worlds. With a suggestion from me, we also focused on how street magic worked. Apparently magic within the street flows more with the magic from within the wizard. It's not like we get more powerful, it just fizzles out less.
We learned how to harness the magic easier from within ourselves (focusing on our emotions for power and mind for control) as well the magic of dreams and communication within Scryer pools.
There was a Scryer pool in the class, but unfortunately we could only use it to contact other Schools here.
"Normally, they can contact anywhere in the Spiral," said Regina.
"They work like wands do," said Anna. "Of course wands don't always connect."
"Right," said Regina. "Wands work more if you know the person or they're in the same world (if they have a wand). Scryer pools can contact anybody from a long distance, the downside being that they have to have a Scryer pool near them in order for it to be received."
"So you're saying these aren't working like normal," said Austin.
"No, a very powerful magic is hampering the Scryer pools as well."
"So we're entirely cut off from the rest of the Spiral?" said Anna.
"It seems that way," said Regina.
"Where do you think everyone is being kept?" I asked. Everyone looked at me. "If they're not here, they have to be somewhere."
"The spider, I'm sorry…'Cob' said he can't web up an entire city," said Austin. "It's why it's just us here."
"I think he meant he couldn't get the entire City to play his game, it's easier with a smaller size."
"You think he might be holding them somewhere?" said Anna.
"It's possible," I said. "Is there anywhere in this city where people can be held prisoner?"
"We have a few dark caves filled with abandoned houses, where undead roam the streets," said Regina. "Not to mention some towers where we entrap some dark entities."
"I think the townsfolk might be trapped in those houses, while the more powerful people such as other students and teachers might be trapped within the towers."
"That's a good theory," said Austin. "I just don't understand how he'd do it by himself."
He had a good point, even if he could appear anywhere and had many clones of himself; he was still one spider versus an entire city. The guards would fight them off until both were destroyed…man, that got dark.
"It could be possible…"
"What?" Austin and I asked at once.
"Cob presents himself as one being, even though he can replace himself if he dies. He's obviously not a real entity, just a puppet of the real mastermind."
"This mastermind has a sick sense of humor then, presenting himself as a colourful character like that," said Austin.
"That was already established," I said.
"Yeah, and it might not even be one person hiding behind Cob," said Anna. "Maybe it was a large group of people who did this to the City."
"That's exactly what I was thinking," said Regina.
For the final hour, we worked on controlling the fire of our magic, and recognizing the gifts within us that allow us to do the magic we're specialized in.
DING DONG
"TIME FOR LUNCH! FOOD WILL BE APPEARING IN THE DORMITORIES NOW!"
"We should probably meet up with everyone else," said Regina.
"Agreed, but let's get lunch first," I said.
Everyone headed off to their dorms to receive their lunch.
I had received the same thing as yesterday. I would have suggested something else, but I couldn't think of anything. My mind was too focused on trying to solve this mystery.
I went into the commons and sat down next to Simeon. I would have sat next to Colin but the idea of that made me nervous. I got a look at the lunch special today. Skylar had a Sandwich like I did, but it looked more complex than a toast sandwich, on special bread with deli meat, Austin had a hot dog while Colin had a slice of pizza, Jaimy had salad again, Dorothy had apples on her salad, Ceren had fruit salad, and Duncan had kebabs. Penny had shepherd's pie, Marla had meatloaf, and Anna had a pot pie. Regina was helping herself to an intricate noodle dish, Nolan had cheese pasta, and Simeon was having a Pita.
Looking at everyone's different dishes, and thinking of how they must've ordered them for their preferences. We're given all the luxuries of being alive, and the Spider wants us to take that away from each other. How messed up is that?
"What have we learned today?" asked Marla.
"How to power our magics," said Austin.
"What about you Nolan?" asked Ceren. "What advanced spells have you learned today?"
"Dimension shift," said Nolan. "I can swap any spells placed on me with a minion I had summoned." Nolan looked around at everyone. "It seems I'm further ahead than most of you."
"I'm also learning at my own pace," said Mindy. "I'm just not as far advanced as you."
"Well, what did you learn?" asked Jaimy.
"I learned how to protect my friends and how to strengthen my ice magic."
"No offense, Mindy," said Duncan, "but that sounds like stuff beginners learn."
"It's not," said Mindy. "Ice magic is very complicated."
"So much so you're learning beginner spells in second year," said Nolan. "Are you even a Thaumaturge?"
"I am!"
"Settle down," said Skyler. "You don't understand Ice magic, so stop antagonizing Mindy."
"Fine," said Nolan crossing his arms. "I guess I'll be the savior around here."
"Myth magic itself sounds pretty weak," said Penny.
"What'd you say?" said Nolan.
"Everyone calm down," said Dorothy. "This isn't a contest to see who has better magic or who is more skilled, we all need to contribute here."
"For all our sakes," added Colin.
"Couldn't be said better," said Simeon. "Let's put our heads together and wrap them around our situation, we should try to get a better understanding of what's going on."
"We've been busy with our lessons," said Nolan.
"Well, some of us took some time to investigate further," said Simeon. "We've deduced that the answer to our predicament is being kept out of our reach."
"We figured that," said Austin.
"Just out of our reach," added Simeon. "The library, the teacher's towers, the headmaster's residence, the streets with towers of their own, all of them are off limits, and our memories are also gone. These places usually keep information, and why would they be off limits unless our captors had something to hide."
"That's a good theory," said Regina, "We also came up with another in class. You really should have been there."
"We've discovered that the Scryer pools have been tampered with," said Anna.
"All contact is cut off from other worlds, "I said. "Not only that, but we were trying figure out what happened to the townspeople, and we figured that maybe they were being kept in the towers on the streets."
"The towers are normally used to imprison Ne'er do-wells. Where would these creatures be if the towers were being used to imprison the residents?" asked Simeon.
"Nightside," said Marla. "And the caves at the end of the streets. They're usually swarming with undead, a few more wouldn't hurt them."
"They were imprisoned because those places couldn't contain them."
"They could contain the townspeople though," said Austin. "You imprison beings with magic if gates aren't enough. Didn't someone say that most people in this city don't do magic?"
"Well that, or a specific kind of magic like…sewing magic," said Duncan.
"Exactly, it could hold them."
"Then where would the dead be?" asked Simeon
"They'd still be there," said Anna. "They would just be trapped in the houses while the dead roamed the streets."
"Could the dead get into the houses from the street?"
"No," said Ceren. "We learned about this. In each area the sidewalks are safe, while the roads are not, for different reasons in each place."
"If I'm correct," said Penny. "The dead are trapped in their old memories, so they wouldn't enter the houses, they'd just continue to stroll like it's a regular day."
"Why not just escape through the sidewalks then?" said Simeon.
"They can't stay on the road too long or risk being attacked by undead," said Nolan. "If the gates are locked they wouldn't be getting out of them too soon."
"Alright, you convinced me, but not about the towers."
"Who's to say the towers can't house multiple inmates," said Colin. "And the undead become the jailers instead of the jailed."
"That could be true," said Simeon. "However, the undead are not roaming the streets. Otherwise our powers would be acting funny."
"Of course," said Mindy. "They want our power at full capacity so they wouldn't let the Undead go free."
"Then what about that memory I had," said Dorothy.
"Two years have passed," said Jaimy. "It's possible that that was already dealt with, maybe by the people imprisoning us."
"It'd have to be pretty powerful to pull that off," said Skylar.
"Another theory," I spoke up. "Is that we have more than one mastermind." Everyone looked towards me. "It might be a group of people behind all of this, and it's how they managed to take out the entire town and keep them all imprisoned."
"In normal circumstances that would make sense," said Simeon.
"How does that not make sense," said Austin.
"I feel it would be easier for someone really powerful to take everyone out in one fell swoop rather than multiple people trying to do the same thing."
"No one is that powerful aside from the headmaster, and don't tell me you think he's behind this," said Duncan.
"He's most likely not," said Simeon. "Yet you do have a point Duncan. It could be possible…"
"What?" asked Regina.
"It's possible that it's a group of people coordinated by a mastermind. Who knows who's controlling the spider? Yet I believe one person came up with this entire idea, and is the one calling the shots."
"What did I say about calling me spider!?" We all turned to look at the voice.
"We can't have a group meeting without you showing up?" asked Penny.
"Can't have you guys conspiring against me, I have to do check-ups."
"And yet," I said slow clapping, "you showing up, right on the clock, reminds us just what situation we are in. Good for you."
"I see you youngsters have a lot of questions you're trying to answer," he laughed. "Unfortunately you're never going to get them."
"Is there a problem if we do get them?" asked Anna. He quickly turned towards her, and circled around to look at the group.
"All your questions will be answered once you graduate. So if you want them so badly hurry up and start killing."
"We still need time," said Duncan. "Some of us only know healing spells."
"You don't need magic to kill! Grab an athame, brew some poison, forge a noose, just keep them away from healing magic long enough for them to kick the bucket." He started to leave. "Oh yeah, I'm adding this as a rule, No necromancy is allowed in order to ask the victim who killed them. That just takes the fun away from the mystery. In fact, No necromancy is to be used on the victims. Period. When they're gone, they're gone for good, GOT THAT!" He then scuttled away laughing as he did.
"He needed to make this worse for us," said Mindy.
"Of course," said Simeon. "We did get something from that. He doesn't want us to know anything."
"Trying to support your theory," said Marla.
"Remember how easily he told us what was on the other side of the gates; that's because there was nothing to gain from the information."
"There is something to gain in his secrets, there's something important we don't know about," I said.
"Yet how are we supposed to find out what he's hiding," said Jaimy. "He'll make sure we can't find the information."
"He didn't tell us we were wrong, putting us back at square one," said Simeon.
"Some of our guesses might be true," I said. "We're on the right track."
"What are we supposed to do with that," asked Austin. "So many people are involved, not like that information helps us."
"Right," I said. "Yet it is something we have over him. We're not as clueless as he wants us to be."
"We're not helpless either," said Dorothy. "You mentioned earlier the Scryer pools were not completely working?"
"Yes," said Anna.
"We can help with that," said Colin. "We were learning about communication magic today as well, it apparently has a huge origin within Sorcery. We just need a Scryer pool to examine."
"Most are filled with the energy of the school," said Nolan. "You might hurt yourselves plunging into one."
"You can use the life school's scry pool," said Ceren. "It's the most harmless energy there is."
Inside the Life School, the scrying pool was filled with green fluid. If I remembered correctly, Life Magic had a green aura to it. It was probably filled to the brim with its magic. Colin and Dorothy approached the pool.
"Right now we can just contact the other schools," said Regina.
"Which is pointless as we can walk," said Austin.
"And normally the scryer pool can contact anywhere with a strong enough concentration of magic," said Skylar. "Like another Sryer Pool."
"Yes, but contact with the outside world has been cut off so we can't call for help," said Simeon.
"What we will try to do is determine which sort of magic is affecting this," said Dorothy.
"Maybe together we'll figure out whose magic this is," said Colin.
The two of them stuck their hands inside the pool. Lines of green energy started snaking up their arms, and they clenched up with some pain but they held firm. Their eyes started to glow green from connecting with the pool, and their hands glowed with red energy.
"That's balance magic at work," said Ceren to me. It seemed to me that Colin quickly learned how to harness his balance magic. He was really smart; it's why I liked him.
"We're getting something," said Dorothy.
"I can see the magic as branches like in a tree," said Colin. "There's a branch that has the pools in our world, but it's been cut."
"What cut it?" asked Jaimy.
"We have to get a closer look," said Dorothy. Dorothy and Colin squinted their eyes and reached their hands in deeper.
"It's black," said Colin."
"That would be death magic, right?" asked Nolan.
"Not necessarily," said Marla. "Death magic can be purple, burgundy, gray, white, it's not just one color."
"Are there any other colors mixed in there?" asked Penny.
"You really think death magic might be behind this?" asked Duncan.
"Doesn't hurt to ask?" They reached their hands in further, their arms almost entirely encased in fluid.
"It's hard to get a grasp on it," said Dorothy. "It's resisting us."
"Must be strong," said Mindy.
"Black is pretty opaque," said Colin struggling. "It also seems…purplish and…blue."
"Blue?" Most of us said.
"Death magic is never blue," said Marla.
"Maybe they also know myth magic," suggested Anna.
"Isn't Ice magic usually blue," I asked.
"It's white and blue," said Mindy. "Any white in there?"
"No," said Dorothy, sounding. "Mostly black and blue with a hint of purple."
"No yellow," said Nolan, "That means we can rule out myth."
"It's very dark," said Colin. "And it's strong, and it meshes with our magic, it's unaffected."
Both Dorothy and Colin pulled out. Holding out their hands there was traces of the magic on it, a small fog of black, meshing with the red and green.
"It seems like this magic is compatible with all magics, much like balance," said Regina.
"It's also corrupt, like death," said Simeon. "In short, I don't think any of us have seen a magic like this before."
"A death-like balance," said Austin perplexed.
"A balance-like death," I said a little worried.
"A new magic," said Jaimy. "I don't think anybody here was prepared for it."
"The headmaster might've been," said Ceren.
"He's old," said Duncan.
"He might've then," said Skylar. "If he's lived a long time maybe it just went out of practice."
"Just because you're old doesn't mean you know everything," said Dorothy. "You know a lot of the past not of things that are new."
"Just because you're old, it doesn't mean you're not smart," I said. "He might've figured out a way to counter it, or he's figuring it out right now."
"Given enough time, we might find a way to counter this," said Simeon.
"There is something to note," said Colin. "If we're cut off from the other worlds, they can't contact us either. We have no window to the outside worlds."
"We seem to be rather isolated," I said. "Cob seems the type to want to show off what he's doing."
"Maybe he just wants the pleasure for himself," said Anna. "If he broadcasts what he's doing, people might come to stop him."
"That might be why he cut off communication," said Duncan.
"If we can find a way to message the outside, even just a little, we can get help," said Dorothy.
"It's something for the balance students to do then," said Penny.
"We should help too," said Marla. "This might be at least part death magic, so we could manipulate it to ease up."
"There's not much else for the rest of us to do," said Austin.
"We could keep doing what we've been doing," said Nolan. "Studying all we can, and for all you guys, going to the other schools to see what they can teach you."
I decided I'd learn some more fire magic, and thought Regina would be able to cover some more advanced lessons. When we were in the classroom, Regina taught me three different spells, one that called the Sunbird spell, the fire shield, and another spell called link. It was a healing spell, but it also caused to burn as you were healing, they take the damage so to speak. It was a rather advanced spell.
"I feel a little uneasy with the fact this spell has to burn someone in order for me to heal."
"That's how fire works," said Regina. "Yes it can harm, but it can also heal."
"It does a lot of harm," I mentioned. "The pain and damage tend to linger as well."
"That's because Fire is alive," said Regina.
"I don't think it is," I said.
"Not technically no," said Regina. "Yet, it releases gas like we do, it feeds like we do, it can be strong or weak like we are, it can shine bright or become dim like us. It reflects human nature; it's the reason why it's so strong."
"Yet it can be defeated by Ice and water," I pointed out.
"Ice and water can be defeated by it as well." She gave a humble smile. "Everyone would argue their element is stronger, yet I admire fire, it calls to me."
"You are the fire student of honors."
"I try to understand things from multiple schools, yet fire is where the power is."
"I bet ice and storm would claim the same."
"Yes, but when it comes to fire we actually have to work hard to manage it. I've had the Storm Professor as a teacher, he says all storm magic needs is someone to harness the creativity of Storm; anyone can be creative if they put their minds to it. With fire we need to be strict with ourselves, if we fall out of line we can cause an inferno. Not only that but we have to work to keep our fires fed, fire is a huge responsibility."
"You told me fire was derived from our thoughts and emotions."
"Since the fire comes from us, emotions fuel the flames, and thought controls them. We have to be in harmony with ourselves. There is a golden mean when it comes to handling fire, which Pyromancers have to find."
DING DONG
"TIME FOR DINNER! FOOD WILL BE APPEARING IN THE DORMITORIES NOW!"
"As someone with anxiety, I'd find this reassuring; except I know he's a sadistic monster, so this feels like we're being corralled."
"Yeah, that's exactly what we are," said Regina.
"Why are we learning attack magic, it's giving him what he wants."
"I feel like we're just relearning what we don't remember."
"Is that why he has us, because we were really skilled with magic?"
"Who knows," said Regina. "Even if we weren't, it's still a time for us to try to be better." We smiled at each other. "Let's go get some food."
Heading back to my dormitory, I found the same supper from yesterday on my desk. I was going to get sick of this food if I didn't change it up. I normally decided my meal based on the day. I thought of all my favorite restaurants, and then realized I shouldn't just be eating restaurant food. I tried to remember all my favorite home cooked meals, and I began to get home-sick. I knew it would be easier if I wrote everything down, but I struggled to even pick up a quill.
"Chicken, chicken and potatoes," I said to myself. "Chicken and fries, spicy chicken burgers and sweet potato fries, Chinese food: fried chicken, chicken balls, chicken dumplings, pork dumplings, spare ribs, lemon chicken, General Tao Chicken, Chicken Lo Mein, sweet and sour pork." I paused, remembering when I ate out with my family.
"Eggs: Hard boiled, fried, omelet with onion and cheese, Pizza: pepperoni, cheese, meat lovers, Hawaiian; what else…sandwiches: Ham and cheese, an all meat sandwich with cheese, mayo and lettuce…spaghetti and meatballs, with garlic bread, or mozza sticks, or salad, or all three."
I tried to think of more.
"Meatloaf, with loaded cheese and ketchup glaze, and mashed potatoes with gravy, onions instead of oatmeal…shrimp: cold, breaded or popcorn, bacon wrapped scallops, perch with cracker crumbs, cornbread. Homemade waffles, with butter and syrup."
What else?
"Cheeseburgers, with bacon and cheddar cheese, ketchup, mayo, relish, lettuce, sesame seed and poppy seed bun, with a side of onion rings. Occasionally I'd like a vanilla or chocolate milkshake; Dark meat chicken."
I was ready to write, and knew the order the order of dinners I'd like.
"Tomorrow I'd like a drumstick and fries, chocolate milk to drink." My food was cold by this point, but I decided to join the others, if they were still gathered.
People were either half done or finished by the time I got there.
"What kept you, Emily?" asked Austin.
"I got homesick," I said. "I'm better now." I sat down and ate my food quietly. Sitting on my own, slightly embarrassed of being late. Once I was done, I went and sat next to Simeon.
"What brings you here?" asked Simeon.
"Maybe we're here because of how skilled we were. Our magic is strong; we'd either be able to play the game, or some other reason."
Simeon thought about it. "It's not because we'd be able to play the game. Cob has made it explicitly clear that we don't have to use magic. We're also not allowed to use every type of spell in our repertoire. If anything, he's worried about our magic. If we're too strong, we'd be able to get out of here; why else would our memories be erased. It puts us behind in skill."
"There's also something being hidden from us. It's the reason why it's us in this game and no one else, as well as what happened to this place. If we knew who was behind this, we'd be able to go against them. We probably do know them; it's why they are keeping themselves hidden."
"Also if we knew what happened, we'd be able to concoct a way to go against this magic."
…People had started break off.
"You know our theory from yesterday, about Malistere?"
"Malistere is more of a solo act, he worked with a man named Dworgyn, but I don't think he'd help with this."
"So…?"
"The theory still holds strong, but we should keep our ideas open."
"Before anyone goes," said Regina. "We should go over what everyone has learned so far."
People started listing to themselves.
"Wouldn't it be easier to go over this tomorrow morning," said Nolan.
"I still think we should know who can do what," said Regina. "I just taught Emily a moderate level Fire spell, and a healing spell called Link." Everyone looked at me.
"It burns someone and heals yourself."
"The elder classmates haven't had much time to learn new spells," said Anna.
"We should still go over what we know," said Simeon. "The fastest way is to open our spell books."
The balance students knew next to nothing. They knew the basic cantrips, and how to shoot energy, how to heal, how to triple an affect as well as something that looked like a Chameleon, and how to cast a scarab. Jaimy was in a similar boat: cantrips, sparks, healing and a Thundersnake. I guess that's what happens when you're a beginner training yourself.
Mindy was a bit better, being a senior student training herself. She knew everything the beginners knew, as well as an Ice Scarab, Snow Serpent, Evil Snowman, Volcanic Golem, Ice Wyvern, Blizzard, Balefrost, Blight Hound, Thieving Dragon, Colossus, Frostfeather, Snow Angel, Impair, Wooly Mammoth, Freeze, Ice Trap, Ice Prism, Steal Ward, Frostbite, Ice Guardian, Ice Blade, Frost Giant, Distract and Mega Distract, Taunt and Mega Taunt, Melt, Draw Health, Snow Drift, Cooldown, Freedoo, Jinn's Vexation, Ice Jinn, as well as several types of shields and armors. At least this demonstrated to everyone that Mindy would not be an easy target.
"Why didn't you mention you knew shield magic, Mindy?" said Nolan.
"You didn't ask."
We moved onto the Life students. They didn't know as much because Ceren was busy teaching everyone healing magic, and trying to train Skyler who barely knew anything. Skyler did know a little bit more than everyone else, emphasis on little bit: She knew Imp, Leprechaun, Legend shield, Sprite, Life Shield, Life Trap, Minor Blessing, Fairy, Pixie, Unicorn, and Nature's wrath, along with the teleportation, sparks and cantrips. So she basically a healer with a few spells of damage. Ceren knew a lot more: Spirit Armor, Legend Golem, Seraph, Satyr, Hunting Wyrm, Regenerate, Earth Walker, Centaur, Sanctuary, Circle of Thorns, Infestation, Sprite Swarm, Forest Lord, Rebirth, Calm, Entangle, Drain health, Mega Calm, Life Prism, Sprite Guardian, Life Blade, Guidance, Guiding Light, Triage, Dryad, Brilliant Light, Gnomes, and Mass Life prism (That spell being a spell he recently learned). Ceren proved he could harm and heal.
Nolan was eager to share. Besides the spells he already told us about learning, he knew a lot of spells which could summon conspirators. He knew: Blood bat, Troll, Myth Trap, Cyclops, Ether Shield, Ether Golem, Humungofrog, Time of Legend, Minotaur, Stone Colossus, Vermin Virtuoso, Earthquake, Myth shield, Golem Minion, Troll minion, Myth blade, Myth prism, Cyclops minion, Pierce, Cleanse ward, Stun, Blinding light, Shatter, Minotaur Minion, Orthrus, Talos, Medusa, Basilisk, Golem: taunt (makes the golem ally a target), Shield Minion, Subdue, Buff minion, Siphon health, Vaporize, Mend minion, Draw power, Mega Subdue, Mass Myth Prism, and Vassanji being a spell he learned since we last spoke.
No wonder he saw us all as below him, his magic is minion based. Also a lot of those spells sound like they would hurt. Luckily, Nolan has no reason to attack any of us.
Next we focused on the Death students, also focused on training a newbie, with little resources, so it's mainly just showing them what they already know. Penny knew all the basics; also it seemed she had a little extra training. She knew: Death Sprite, Ghoul, Dream shield, Banshee, Infection, Threefold Fever, Death Shield, Death trap, Death blade and Death prism. She mainly knew how to cause death instead of prevent it, except for the Death Prism which turned Death magic to Life magic and Death Shield which protected from such deadly magic. Marla, being in second year knew a bit more. She knew: Vampire, Dream Golem, Feint, Skeletal Pirate, Doom and Gloom, Dead Zone, Pacify, Strangle, Steal Health, Sacrifice, Curse, Poison, Beguile, Animate, Plague, Dark Pact, and Empower. Again, sounded like she was pretty deadly despite her demeanor. Duncan seemed really skilled; I guess he was Malistere's Top Student. He knew: Crimson Phantom, Wraith, Monster Mash, Scarecrow, Skeletal Dragon, Dr. Von's Monster, Mega Pacify, Mega Death Prism, Death Spear, Age of Reckoning, Death Trap (Apparently with more power), Purification, Contagion, and Violent Plague. Well, Purification sounded like a good spell.
All that left was the school with the most students; we assured them that we couldn't all be that dangerous as the higher ups were teaching the lower levels. We still presented our spell books just for the sake of proof. I showed them my spells, which included fire spells protection spells, one spell to enhance my flames, a spell to turn my fire into ice and another spell that give me a little healing while my enemy burns. As well as the basics, Austin was about the same. Looking at Anna's spells gave us a sneak peek at what we'd be learning next. She knew: Fire Trap, Glacial Golem, Meteor Strike, Immolate, Wildfire, Phoenix, Tranquilize, Quench, Take Power, Steal charm, Heckhound, Choke, Fire Elemental, Scald, Fuel, and Smoke Screen. That told us that Anna knew how to be sneaky, not to mention that there was a surplus of Fire students; so if any damage ends up being Fire, it'll be hard to tell who's responsible.
What was I thinking!? Why was I assuming the Killing Game was going to happen? I mean sure, we're learning everyone's spells in case someone does go off the rails and we can be better prepared, but it's also to determine if any of these spells can help us get out of here.
Teleportation doesn't seem to work, we try and we just teleport face first in front of the tree. Simeon explained it works better if you know where you're going or you've been there before. With our memories gone we don't remember the inside of Bartleby, also there's an obvious enchantment on him keeping us inside. The question was why couldn't people who remember home go there? Regina explained that even when School was normal, there was an enchantment on the world doors that kept people from leaving said world when the going got too tough. People would just teleport in front of the door, and then they'd need a key.
I had to hope Regina or Simeon, being seniors, knew a spell that could help us escape without anyone needing to die. They both knew Naphtha Scarab.
"Why don't we try blowing up the way out?" I asked. Everyone just looked at me with a funny look.
"You want to blow up Bartleby?" asked Ceren.
"Just a part of him," I said.
"We didn't try that for a couple reasons," said Simeon. "One, if we managed to create a way out, the spider might kill us all for not playing his game, several of us will still probably die."
"Second," added Regina, "If we blow up the door, it might trap us here indefinitely."
"It could remove the enchantment and we could just teleport back to our worlds," I said.
"Or it could cut off this world from the rest of the Spiral," said Simeon. "It's too risky."
"Not to mention, again, that breaking into a prohibited area would mean I'd have to kill you."
We all turned at the familiar voice. There he was; the bane of our existence.
"I see you're going over all the spells in your arsenal. Are you guys planning your killing strategies?" He said with a fang filled smile.
"No," said Anna. "We just want to know each other's move-set."
"Trying to find the weakest people to kill, the most powerful threats to take out?"
"No," said Skylar.
"We just want to know who needs improvement," said Colin.
"Who can help whom?" said Dorothy.
"Bah, same difference if you ask me," said Cob. "You guys are getting stronger though, and as I said: poison, stabbing, strangulation, smothering, that's still on the table. Just because this is a school of magic doesn't mean you can't resort to the classics."
"We're not going to kill anyone," I said defiantly.
"We'll see," said Cob with a sneer, before he scuttled off.
"I hate that guy," said Austin.
"Who doesn't," said Jaimy.
"Let's go back to looking at you guys' spells," said Mindy.
Regina and Simeon also knew: Helephant, Inferno Salamander, Fire Dragon, Efreet, Mass Fire Prism, Power link (which was a stronger version of the link spell), and Rain of Fire. Regina knew Jinn's Reversal, whilst Simeon knew Caldera Jinn, Detonate and Backdraft.
"Explosions may come in handy for other things," he explained.
"There's also secondary school spells," said Regina. "First year students wouldn't know them."
Regina knew twenty-three storm spells and eleven ice spells, for extra power, ingenuity, and protection; also she liked knowing the triad. Simeon knew twenty-nine balance spells, fourteen life spells, and five storm spells. He knew more than Regina, and Regina was an Honours Student. I had a feeling he was smart, but for some reason he doesn't remember being an honours student.
Anna was a second year, so she only knew one other school of magic, that being Ice. Anna knew fifteen Ice spells. Marla's secondary school was Myth, probably because she was interested in Cryptids. Marla knew eighteen Myth spells.
Mindy knew Life magic as well as Myth magic. Mindy knew twenty-eight life spells, and thirteen myth spells. Then there was Nolan, as obsessed as he was with Myth Magic, I'd be surprised if he even knew a secondary school. Nolan regretfully informed me that it was a requirement. He knew some death magic, the teacher at the time was his teacher's twin brother, so he gave it a shot. He knew twenty six death spells; he also gave Life magic a shot back when Ms. Drake was still alive. He knew seven life spells.
Then there was Duncan, he knew Fire, Myth and Balance. He knew the most balance spells, almost tied with Simeon at twenty-seven, second was myth spells with ten, and then he knew five fire spells.
All us beginners knew at the moment was sparks and healing, unless you counted the prisms changing one magic to its opposite.
"I guess that proves that if you want to waste someone else's time in learning Conjuring magic, there's several people you can go to. Then you can leave me alone so I can focus on my studies," said Nolan.
"We get it Nolan," said Duncan. "We should try to focus on expanding our understanding of other magics though."
With that, we agreed there was nothing else to discuss, and went to do some more training.
I decided to spend some time with Colin. He couldn't teach me much, but he could teach me how to do balance sparks. Instead of honing my heat, my life essence, or my imagination, these sparks were fueled with a drive for order and control. I didn't even know I could manifest that, I guess that's why I wasn't a Balance student.
"Why do you think you're a Balance student, Colin?"
"The better question is, why do I think I'm a wizard?"
"That is a better question," I said. To be honest, I was thinking that too. It was amazing how he got to the root of these things.
"I've always been interested in the fantastic, in magical worlds, despite understanding how the real world works. I think it's amazing how magic can build it's own systems in it's own worlds."
"That answers both questions." He was amazing.
"You're right, it does. Balance magic, it's about understanding the rules of magic, and being able to bend it to your whim." I was enraptured with every word he said.
"How the spells are even cast, it's about forcing your will into the world, transmuting the magic around you."
"Well with fire, it uses incantations, dominating and convincing the creatures of fire to lend us their power," I told him. "Balance sounds so much more powerful, using all the elements of magic, blending them together."
"Dominating and convincing sounds pretty powerful to me," said Colin. "I mean we're just borrowing from all the other schools."
"There's a lot inside the magic then," I told him. "Balance holds all the types of magic inside it; you just have to call on the right one at the right moment. I believe Sorcerers can be the true masters of magic."
"Just because Pyromancers mainly focus on Fire magic doesn't mean you can't be an Archmage as well. You've already been to a few other schools."
"I only know sparks," I blushed.
"Give it time, you've already grasped the first step, I know you'll be able to do more. I have faith in you." I started turning red.
"Why…why do you…faith in me?" I started playing with my hair.
"If I can do it, you can too. I always thought the two of us were the some of the smartest people in the class." I couldn't stop smiling; I turned my face away as I felt myself getting warm.
"Well if you have faith in me, I'll do my best."
It was about that time, late in the day, when we got that announcement.
DING DONG
"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! ….I'M BORED. MEET ME IN FRONT OF BARTLEBY IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES!"
A chill shot through me. Already? It's only been two days. I looked at Colin: him, Dorothy, Jaimy, they barely knew any spells. I started to think that maybe this was my fault, I kept thinking like the game was going to happen, and now it was happening. Colin put a hand on my shoulder, and it eased my worries only a little. This Spider was going to try to make killers out of us, and that thought made me feel sick to my stomach.
Colin and I were already in front of Bartleby. Most other people were in their schools, by their dormitories, at the fairegrounds, or elsewhere in the Commons. I know Dorothy had to run from where she was in the Commons.
I held Colin's hand, I wasn't sure if he appreciated it. We looked at each other, and he probably noticed the anxious look in my eyes. He moved closer to me to try to ease my discomfort. Austin came over from the Fire School and noticed me with Colin. He gave us a knowing look, and I just glared at him. Simeon came over from the Dormitory, ours eyes locked for a moment and then we turned away. Our gaze was one of understanding, what happened next was going to be bad.
Once everyone was gathered, Cob came out from his web in the tree. Once on the ground he approached us and spoke.
"This isn't a Rom-com, Emily, so stop making me sick." Everyone looked at me and Colin.
"That's not what this is," said Colin.
"He's just comforting me because I'm anxious," I said.
"Well, sooooory your highness, but the world isn't going to cater to you; especially not my world." He started scuttling up the tree. "I'm getting the wrong genre vibe here, you getting all blushy from praise. I don't want to watch that: I want Horror! Slasher! Thriller! I want to see you kids start picking each other off one by one trying to survive until the end, seeking your freedom from my tyranny! WELL WHY AREN'T YOU!"
"You're kidding, right?" said Penny. "We're not going to give into you."
"If you're tormenting us we're not going to give us what you want," said Marla. "You're just a bully."
"Oh I'm way more than a bully," said Cob darkly. "I'm a tyrant. I've been tyrannical enough, haven't I?"
"Not really," said Duncan.
"Am I not?" Cob sharply turned in Duncan's direction. "If you go certain places, you're dead. You're never allowed to go home, never to see your loved ones again. You'd know about that, wouldn't you Emily?" I swallowed as Cob looked at me.
"I do miss Genevieve, but at least she's not here," I said defiantly.
"Yeah," said Austin. "I'm sure our families will understand."
"They wouldn't want us to lose ourselves," said Skylar.
"They'd want us to stay alive," said Jaimy.
"Even if they never saw you again," said Cob, glaring at Jaimy.
"At least we'd be alive," said Colin.
"We wouldn't be suffering," said Ceren. "That's what they'd want for us."
"We have to be the better people here," said Nolan.
"We won't submit to evil," said Mindy.
I actually was feeling hopeful; maybe we wouldn't have to take part in this game.
"Give up Cob," I said. "We're not killers. We won't play your game even if it means freedom."
"Well, forgive me; I thought that Freedom from eternal imprisonment would be enough of a reason to try to escape," said Cob.
"Not if it means killing," said Simeon.
"Oh how righteous you all are," said Cob. "I gave you all time to learn your magic, to get strong, but you're not even going to use this knowledge for what I want so what's the point?
"This is a school," said Regina. "If we're here, that's what we'll use it for."
"None of the spells will help you get out; I've made sure of it. There's only one way out and you won't take it. You all rather be locked up forever than see freedom. I made this place too comfortable, it's my fault." He was in mock sadness. "Maybe I should let you know true imprisonment, being unable to even move or stand, barely surviving off crumbs and drips I give you. Would you want to do anything to leave then?"
"We wouldn't be able to do anything then," said Anna.
"THAT'S WHY I DON'T DO THAT! Yet here you all are, being all buddy-buddy with each other, being all 'we can do it guys,' and 'we'll get out someday,' when you all know that's never going to happen! It makes me sick."
"You are a sad, sad being, with a sad existence," I said with arms crossed. Cob jumped in place and turned to face me.
"We won't kill," said Colin. "We're not killers." Cob gave a small dark smile.
"You know the old saying; 'it doesn't take a killer to murder, all it takes is a reason to kill.' You all have your reasons; I just have to find them." He started to scuttle towards Bartleby. He clapped his feet together and gave a chilling laugh. "Oh how fun this will be for me, how challenging. I cannot wait to see how this plays out!" He then ascended into the tree laughing manically.
Things are heating up...the Killing Game is about to get started. The thing I think I'll have the most problems with, writing the clues which will lead to the discovery. I'm not eager to write that.
I was eager to write what secondary school spells the older students knew, but there was no room. If you want me to give more details on that, just post a review notifying me.
Until next time...Stay tuned!
~Admiringroseblossom11
