Part 1: Quinn
The tests concluded smoothly, albeit boring. The secretary(name still withstanding) brought us back to her office upstairs, which was right across from the grand staircase.
"As I take these results into account for your classes, you may do what you want until they start," the secretary told us.
"And when is that?" I asked.
"In a week," she responded curtly. "And there is no need to worry about your lodging or funds, you can use the building you slept in last night, and the Headmaster has given you an allowance. Now, I must get to work, so good day."
She then quickly escaped back into the office, shutting the door in our faces, and sealed it with a loud locking sound.
"She was nice, I think," I told Balder in a sarcastically sweet voice.
"Too bad I don't remember the way back to that building, though," he said in response.
"I kind of remember," I told him as we walked back down the stairs and out the door.
I started down the path we walked on this morning. It was pretty simple, but there were a few other paths too. I recognized it as the right one because it led into a field of short-cut and well-kempt grass to the left of the school building.
The walk back was peaceful and quiet. The campus was surrounded by trees that looked older than the ones around the village by at least a decade or two. The sun was just below the horizon, and the lighting was in that weird state where the sky was still visible, but not bright enough to do anything. I was about to get worried when lights flickered on all the way down the path. It was a pale white light that illuminated the pathway, and it didn't reach far into the green grass surrounding it.
Well, there was a little bit of reflection on the trees some thirty or forty feet away, but that was negligible at best.
This scene was bliss.
"City folks sure have it nice, huh?" I asked my brother.
"Folks? Who are you, grandma? No one says that anymore," he proverbially poked at me.
"Whatever, you know what I meant," I lightly chuckled, somewhat in defense.
"Sure I did," was his response. "But about earlier, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I still believe what I said, but I shouldn't have been acting like that. I'm sorry."
"And I still believe what I said. You're not gonna have me back down on that."
"You'll see why I'm against him eventually, I'm sure. My gut is accurate more often than not, and have a feeling in my gut about him. He just seems so... ominous."
"Well, you're wrong on this one."
"I don't want to get into another argument, I just wanted to apologize. And again, I'm sorry." He did a little bow with his hands clapped together like he was praying.
"Apology accepted. For now at least."
As the conversation was wrapping up, we had gotten to the building. I let out a sigh as we walked in, tired and ready to relax.
Somewhat surprisingly though, was the Headmaster sitting with Charlie in the kitchen-living room area, clearly having just had a serious conversation.
Part 2: Charlie
Sensing the familiar figure approaching, I threw the sweatshirt back on the chair and jumped into the chair myself. 10 point landing and throw, by the way. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why do that when you have literally nothing to hide?" That, my friend, is an excellent question.
Just as I pretended to look busy, he walked into the room.
"Hey, buddy," he said vaguely tiredly. A solid open.
"Hey," I tried to say in a tone that suggested I had been working. "What's up?"
"How have you been holding out?"
"All things considered, I could be much worse." I started thinking back to yesterday, but forced myself to stop.
He cast a poorly hidden forlorn glance away from me. "That's very true, I can't deny."
Not knowing what to say, I simply nodded in response.
After a moment in silence, he looked back at me and said, "Come on out, it's dinnertime. I'll make you something."
"That time already, huh?" I looked out my window to see a nearly pitch-black sky, only a few stars visible. Surprised, I turned back to him. "You have some good lights in here."
"I suppose so," he said, walking out of the room.
I grabbed the sweatshirt on my way after him. I had the feeling this was going to take a second, and I wasn't completely sure about the central heating yet.
It was a short walk to the kitchen/living room. He went straight to the kitchen part, and I sat on a couch. I was expecting to wait a little while for him to finish cooking, but it took him no more than 10 minutes. He walked out with two plates of some sort of pasta I couldn't remember the name of.
"I wouldn't have guessed you had rigatoni in another world," I guessed a pasta at random.
"It was probably passed down from another Traveler," he told me. "Also, this is penne, but you weren't far off."
"Oh, penne, that makes sense. Simple mistake." Now if only I had any clue what either of those looked like.
We finished the food in silence, which was a little awkward considering my plate was noticeably larger. After we had both finished, he turned to me.
"I'm going to have to say it how it is, kid. You're stuck here. Your parents probably think you were kidnapped, and are freaking out looking for you. There's not much anyone can do about it. What we can do is decide how we're going to move forward." He looked at me firmly after dealing one hell of a metaphorical punch.
"Well, for starters," I started carefully, "they most likely think I'm dead." I paused, not sure how to continue.
Noticing the hesitation he asked me, "Why is that?"
"Well, we were hiking a local mountain. It was around midday, and we were a good ways up. I turned around to make a joke to my sister, but my foot caught. I, uh... I fell. Unluckily, off a cliff. I heard the beginning of a shout, but the wind was too intense. I closed my eyes, waiting for death, enjoying my last moments. Then the wind stopped. Completely. I opened my eyes to see myself floating at the side of the cliff, no family in sight. I touched the cliff, and my world flipped." I paused for a second, stopping the tangent from going on much longer. "Anyways, they probably have a search going for my body." I was failing to hold back tears, but managed to keep my voice.
"I... understand." he paused for a moment, probably looking at me. I couldn't tell for sure though, as my head was down and in my hands. "You're always welcome here, but you can do what you want. Whether that's staying here or going out into the world, I'll support you."
I Just nodded in response, taking a moment to calm myself. He waited for me to be ready to decide. It wasn't that difficult to decide, but I couldn't answer right away because of the aforementioned calming down. Once calmed, I told him "I'll stay. I have some things I need to do for people, and here I can probably start being ready for it."
"Ok. I'll support your decision. I'll help you look into some classes to take," He told me. "But do remember; don't just do this for others. Your problems matter too." he then cautioned.
"Don't worry, I can deal with it" I assured him. "This is my problem to deal with, but I understand that help is allowed."
"Good," he responded. "Remember that."
Right as the conversation was wrapping up. Quinn and Balder walked in.
Part 3: Quinn
The headmaster and Charlie were sitting in the living room, looking somber. I didn't know what they were talking about, but I thought it best to let them talk by themselves.
"Excuse us," I said as I passed through them back to my room.
"No, excuse me," the headmaster said as he got up from his seat. "We had just wrapped up our conversation."
He walked past us, right out of the building. When the door was closed, I looked back to charlie. his gaze met mine for a moment, but he looked away quickly, after only a moment.
Balder walked past me without saying anything but "Goodnight." I said it back, but didn't return to my room. I turned back towards charlie, walking to and then sitting down in a chair adjacent to the couch he was sitting on.
"Hey," I said. "Mind if I ask what you two were talking about?"
"Yeah, it's fine. I was just explaining how I got here," he replied.
"Let me guess. Was it a crazy forest witch?" I joked.
"You know, it might have been. Rude of her to throw me off a cliff without making an introduction, though," he chuckled in response.
"Wait, you fell off a cliff? I hope you survived."
He felt his chest, then his arms, and then his face before nodding back at me.
"I'm like ninety percent sure I did, I might have to get back to you on that one."
I giggled at his sarcasm. "Please do, I would hate to be haunted by such an angry-looking ghost."
He scowled in an exaggerated way. "After taking an insult like that, I think I would haunt you."
"But you seem to have forgotten something."
"And what might that be?" He asked while leaning in.
"We're going to a magic school now, so I can just ask a teacher how to exercise you." I leaned in as well.
He leaned back and took a moment to think.
After that moment, he asked, "How close do you think you would need to be to exercise me?"
"Umm, I'm not sure. The same building, probably."
"Then I could just harass you from a distance. Sand isn't hard to throw, you know."
"Damn, you're right." I leaned back at that. "I'll just have to practice it for longer to get you."
"And so will I. Becoming stronger as a ghost surely isn't that difficult."
Our banter went on for a few more minutes. It was mostly a back and forth about ghosts and the like, but I cut it short. It was getting late, and we had things to do the next day.
Part 4: Charlie
When I sleep, it doesn't feel like I go unconscious. But that's weird because I do wake up refreshed. When I close my eyes and eventually drift, I'm even more aware of my surroundings, like that quasi vision I have when I really focus on it. But it's also different because when I'm asleep it's difficult to focus on any individual thing.
But I digress.
I woke up with the morning sun shining gently on my face. I tried to ignore it for as long as I could, but I was already awake. After a moment of shallow sadness, I sat up.
I turned so my legs went off the side of the bed as I still sat on it, and started to fully wake up and collect my thoughts. Looking around the room, I saw my backpack. Thinking back on it, I only took a quick glance inside it. 'My phone should be in there, among some other things,' I thought.
I got up and grabbed my bag, taking it to the desk for a proper inspection.
I put the bag on the floor next to the chair and started taking things out, starting with the main part. On top of an extra sweatshirt was a deck of cards, the camera my mom got me last Christmas in its case, and the card game and the card game Une. Next, a slightly smaller pocket had the water bottle, compass, and emergency lighter, as well as a swiss army knife I must have overlooked the first time. The smallest pocket had my phone, a pair of earbuds, my wallet with a now useless ID and twenty-five dollars, and my keys.
I started to put the stuff back, but I left out my phone. I checked the percentage to see how long I had with it in this world. I was surprised to see that it was at one hundred percent, even after having been on for a few days. 'I don't even think it was at full charge when we left the house.'
It had zero bars, though. Obviously.
I got up and put it in my pocket, pleasantly surprised to still have it. Set for breakfast, I went for the door, but quickly doubled back to grab the earbuds. With those in my pockets, I walked out to the kitchen.
After a short walk past some empty rooms and couches, I was there. Balder was just outside, visible through the window. Quinn must have still been asleep. I made and ate an omelet with some eggs I found in a cupboard and cheese from the fridge.
"It's a tad burnt," I noted as I put down a glass of water I used to chase the charred eggs.
Then I heard a soft knock down the hallway, followed by an opening of a door and words I couldn't understand over the white noise of outside, audible through the now open window. After a moment of silence, Quinn came down the hall.
"Didn't think you would be up so early," she said while scrounging around the kitchen for food.
"I would still be if these windows had shades," I took another sip of my water.
She had found a bowl and some leftover pasta before replying with "Well, I suppose that makes sense. City boys don't have to be real people until later in the day, I hear."
"Hey, you watch what you say about city boys. We're just more productive later in the day is all." I switched the glass into my non-dominant hand, sat up, and pointed at her like she was in trouble.
"I'm sure you are," she sat down in a recliner with her food as she responded.
Not being awake enough to come up with a clever insult, I sighed and took out my phone. I opened it right away, not wanting to see my notifications. The sight of my camera roll gave me a feeling in the pit of my stomach, so I quickly opened my downloaded music.
It still had every song I had downloaded, spanning in genre from depressed Lofi to anime opening and endings. I couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"Having trouble breathing over there? Need me to get a nurse?" Quinn asked sarcastically.
"For yourself, perhaps."
"Big talk for someone with asthma."
"How do you even know what that is? That's a way newer concept than what they had in the middle ages." I was perplexed at her comeback.
"I have no clue what that means, and I think you know that."
"Fair enough, but I digress, confusion not-withstanding. The reason I sighed was over what's stored within this here scientific marvel," I said as I held up my phone like a sleazy salesperson would hold a useless product they knew they could sell.
"Oh? what could such a small thing hold?" She finished her breakfast as she asked.
"Hundreds of hours of music from my world, every song I know better than most," I told her, a proud smirk on my face.
"So memorizing music was what you spent your late nights on?"
"No, the memorization is mostly coincidental. Want to hear one?" I started scrolling, looking for a song I think she might like.
"Sure," she responded simply.
I plugged in the earbuds as I was looking for a song. The search only lasted a quick moment, though, as I found one of my personal favorites. "Here," I said. "Just put these little strainer-looking things into your ears and listen."
"I'm gonna trust that this won't kill me. Just this one time, though," she said, taking them from me carefully.
She put them in right, and I started the song. I knew the song pretty well, so I could listen along in my head. I could hear the sad yet optimistic slow start in my head, and I could see her feel it. Feel the distorted sad strings slowly swell into a crescendo of subdued chaotic emotion. She had closed her eyes, but I couldn't. I could see the depth of the modern music pierce her soul as a streak of water gently made its way down her face.
Stunned, I didn't think to stop the song before it ended. As the music slowly gently faded out, she opened her eyes to see me giving her a concerned look. She took the earbuds out and gave them to me with my phone.
With a smile despite the tears, she said "Thank you. I really like it," like she was trying to keep me from worrying about it.
"You don't need to lie to me if you hated it that much, you could have just said so," I gave an awkward little chuckle to try and lighten the mood.
"No, I really did like it. I hope you let me listen again, some time." She gave a genuine smile that I couldn't help but smile back at.
I could hear the trees being gently moved by the wind outside. The light breeze wafting through the open window was brisk and clean, representative of the unpolluted air of this world. What a nice thing to share with another.
"We should go see what town is like, don't you think?" She asked me after she too enjoyed that moment.
"Yeah, let's do it. I've been excited to see what ye olden architecture is like," I jumped up as I said.
"Hey, the stuff here is as modern as it gets to me, you know?" She retorted, standing up with only a little less energy than me.
"It's not my fault your world is so behind mine." I made my way to my room.
"Okay, future boy." She went to her own.
We both entered our rooms and retrieved the stuff we thought we would need, which was pretty much just our wallets. Thinking that I had no clue where things were around town, I had the idea to ask for a guide from the Headmaster. Upon conveying that to Quinn, I walked out the front door, into the crisp morning air. Balder was doing push-ups on the front lawn. Walking by him, I just nodded. He shot to his feet when he saw Quinn follow me out.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Just out for a bit. Why do you as-"
"Why the hell you bringing her along," he cut me off hard, with an equally hard glare.
Stunned from his clear contempt, I couldn't respond.
"It was my idea. He's coming with me," Quinn stepped in front of me.
"I could go with you too, you know."
"I'm not sure I want you to right now." She gave him a hard glare. I did my best to melt into the background.
He sighed and said, "I don't want to fight, but you know how I feel."
"Yes, I do. And you understand me, so back off."
With another sigh, he said, "Fine, but I'm coming with," and jogged inside.
Quinn's gaze followed him back inside, and as soon as the door was closed she looked at me and said "Run."
Initially, I didn't quite understand, but when she started in a full-tilt sprint, I understood the concept. It took a moment to catch up on the concrete-like path. She was way faster than she looked.
Part 5: Koby
Despite only being a viscount, I was at the top of my class. This was for no other reason than my own hard work and diligence. It was something I was quite proud of achieving. And because of my placement, I was used to being called into the office, as I was right now. As for why I was in school when no one else was is simple. I was taking advantage of the enchanted yard they had out back.
I quickly made my way to the Headmaster's office. Steffany was sitting at her usual desk and greeted her with a polite smile, but kept walking. I was hesitant to go into the actual office room, though. I was getting this ominous feeling in my gut, like an overwhelming sense of dread towards whatever was in that room.
"Is there a problem?" Steffanyasked me, seeing my hesitation.
"I'm getting a feeling that going in there would spell my doom." I wanted to turn around and leave right then and there.
"He called for you by name, you know. Just go in there, you'll be fine."
'Damn, she's right.' I gave a heavy sigh and carefully trudged through the door. Upon my entrance, I immediately noticed the terrifying show of power that I had bumped into the other day.
"Oh, hey," it said, "You're the guy who dropped his books the other day. Sorry about that."
I fell to my knees, my legs unable to handle the pressure I felt.
The headmaster gave an alarmed look and asked me if I was alright. Not getting a response, he walked around his desk to help me up.
"I barely even said hi, that's his reaction?" it asked itself. The girl sitting next to him just patted him on the back.
"You seem why physically fine. What was that about?" The headmaster asked me.
It answered for me when I couldn't eke out a response.
"I bumped into him on the way into the building when I came here for the first time. He reacted like I stabbed him."
"Well, that does explain it." He turned to me.
"Hey," It said, sounding offended.
The headmaster continued without pause. "This is Charlie, and this is Quinn." He gestured to both of them in turn. "Charlie here has the power of a duke, but has never received mana concealment training. The terror you felt was just him not knowing how to interact calmly with opposing mana. He's not gonna attack you, don't worry."
"I can vouch for him, he hasn't fought me yet." the girl, Quinn, chipped in for him.
That did explain it somewhat, so I regained some composure. "Well, that's good. But what do you need me to do?"
"I want you to take them out on the town. I trust your knowledge enough to guide them properly."
My legs nearly gave out again. Luckily I caught myself.
"Delightful," I said. "That's no problem."
Legs shaking, I gave a thumbs up to the Headmaster.
"That's good to hear. Can you get ready within half an hour?"
"Yup. I'll get on it." I backtracked through the door, not turning my back on it. I also tried to keep an eye on its magical energy, in case it showed any sign of movement.
One step out the door, I was stunned into stopping.
"Be back here in that time. Oh, and he can't control that yet, so don't pay too much attention to it."
I just nodded once and used the fastest acceleration spell I could use safely to get out of there as fast as I could.
It was a veritable monster.
Part 6: Charlie
Both my and Quinns mouths were equally agape at the speed of his departure. It looked like he did one of those instant transmission things you'd see in an anime like Wyvern Sphere Z. I literally heard the wind rush behind him as he left.
The Headmaster was nonchalant about this, just walking back to his desk like nothing had happened.
I turned my head to Quinn and said "That wasn't just me who saw that, right? Please tell me you saw that too."
She turned her head to me and said "No, I saw that too. Hey Headmaster, is that what magic is always like?"
"Not always, he is just adept at fire magic," he said while reaching into a drawer in his desk.
"That was fire magic? Looked like super speed to me. And there wasn't any heat or anything. Hey, how was that-" I was cut off by the headmaster.
"Fire magic, at its root is based on an acceleration of particles. He has learned how to accelerate all of them at once, in one direction." he pulled out a small folded stack of paper that was clipped to itself. "Here's some money to spend out in town. Don't go showing it off, and don't get robbed."
I didn't know how to respond, so Quinn did. "Ohh, that makes sense, kind of." She grabbed the money and put it into the pocket of her skirt. "Thank you."
"So a magic type can be broken down into a more basic process then, it would seem. What would gravity be then? Maybe the concept of pulling? There's no way to know without trying, but if it is I can see more uses for it. Hey Quinn, got any ideas about it?" I rambled to her.
"You have gravity magic? I'm not sure on that one, I haven't really heard much about it."
"There is another student with gravity magic that goes to this school. I'll put you in a class with him, if you would like." The Headmaster interjected.
"I would like that, thank you." I was grateful for the offer for a few reasons, the main one being that confirming it was gravity that I had.
It was a quick few minutes until the redheaded kid came back.
It was an awkwardly quiet walk into town. The kid with red hair seemed really tense, and the atmosphere just didn't feel like one to talk in. Out of boredom, I tried to use the quasi vision while walking. Whenever I tried to walk and observe everything, I stopped walking without thinking. Because of the focus necessary, I decided to just focus ahead of me, even if for just now. That ended working pretty well, but I was focusing so hard on that that I didn't really process any sound. That might have been why I didn't think there was any talking, actually.
I opened my eyes when we got past the wooded area and were in an area with bigger buildings. It took me a second to refocus with my eyes, probably because of the sudden change to the switch in information intake. I would have to train that.
"And this road leads right into the market district. Where do you want to go first?" the redheaded kid was explaining to us.
"What are the options?" I asked. He gave me nothing more than a dumbfounded look.
"He just explained all of them, dude," Quinn responded for him.
"Oh, sorry then, I wasn't listening."
"Clearly," they said in sync.
"Hey, I'll let you know that I was training my magic."
"Well I can't tell when you're using magic!" He seemed angry.
"Can you not sense the activation of a spell? Isn't that a normal thing?" I turned to Quinn on the second question. She just shrugged.
"Even if it was normal, I wouldn't be able to tell through that insane aura!" He seemed to be really angry.
"I can't help that, that's just how it flows." I shrugged calmly in the face of his heated exclamation.
He sighed, slowly letting the anger go, seeing as it was useless.
"I won't make you reexplain them. Quinn can choose."
"Well, the magic item shop catches my interest the most," she said, visibly thinking back.
"I'm not opposed to that." I gave my consent to the idea.
"Then I suppose I can show you peasants the way, and tell you what's good." he turned his head away in a snobby manner.
"You wanna say that again, huh?" Quinn seemed ready to deck the guy, but I stopped her. I stopped and called to him.
"Hey, turn around, ginger." I was kind of miffed about it myself, so it came off as a bit aggressive.
"Don't call me a ginger, you-" He cut himself off as he turned around.
"Remember who you're talking to." Is all that I had to say.
He fearfully nodded his head. He probably saw the aura again. I could tell because I could feel energy running through me, making me angrier and angrier. I didn't know why I was getting so mad about it, it was just a little verbal insult, but for some reason, I felt a deep and primal rage start to well up from inside me.
Seeing him so clearly scared of me chilled me out, though. I regained myself with a deep breath.
I gestured to continue walking, and so he did. It wasn't a much longer walk to the shop, and luckily the roads were fairly empty. We reached it, and the outside had a nice design. If I had to think of a comparison, I'd say it looked like a picture of a french market I saw once. We entered.
The inside was reminiscent of an old toy store, with shoulder-high shelves lined with miscellaneous odds and ends, small cards below each explaining something, probably what it was. The redhead went off to talk to the owner. Not knowing how to read the writing, I followed Quinn and asked what things were.
"It says that this produces a bright light out of the jewel when you put a little bit of mana into it." she read a card below a silver ring with what was (I'm assuming) a sapphire.
"So like a flashlight then? I already have something like that, so no need."
"Fair enough. Next?"
"Next!" we moved on.
"This says it conceals magical auras. Sounds useful, doesn't it?" It was a necklace that was mostly a thin chain, but it had larger squares around the bottom of the neck area. There were complex runes completely covering the squares.
"And quite convenient, considering that issue was just brought up."
"You're not wrong."
"How much does it cost?" I asked.
"Ummm, about 3 gold. Yeesh, expensive."
"But, I would use it. How much did he give us to spend?"
"Let me check," she shielded the pocket she put the cash in from the rest of the shop, and i used my body to further block it. "More than enough."
"That works for me." I didn't know what to do about purchasing it, so we kept in mind where it was, and kept walking.
"I'm fine with just the one thing," I said a second later.
"If something else catches your eye, well get that too."
"Maybe."
We looked around a few more isles, but not much seemed that useful for either of us. That was mostly because of how useful a smartphone was, but still.
The next thing we found was another necklace, this one much simpler than the last. It had a clear gem on it, and it was decently sized.
"What's this one do?" I asked.
She told me "It amplifies magic flow speed and regeneration based on how much it's charged."
"Sounds useful as hell. You should get this one."
"You sure you don't want it?"
"Nah, I already have more than enough mana, and I'm pretty sure it's never not flowing well."
"Alright. Thanks."
"You're too kind to me, don't worry about it."
She grabbed it, I went back and grabbed the one I wanted, and we brought them to the counter. The redhead was waiting for us there. We both gave them to him, and let him do the bartering.
"Is that everything?" a pleasant and deep voice came out of his bearded face as he readjusted his modern-looking suit.
"Yes, it is." the redhead responded. "There was also an item that the Headmaster asked you to put aside though, I do recall him telling me."
"Why yes, he did."
. . .
"Are you going to get it?"
"It's right here." He held up the necklace I had picked out.
"You just left that out in the general items? What if someone else bought it?" I was surprised at his negligence.
"Well then you wouldn't have it, they would." he smiled at me as he told me.
Ok, so it wasn't negligence, it was greed.
"It was prepaid for, I do believe." the redhead chimed in.
"Tch."
"Hey, don't click your tongue at that!" I pointed at him, upset at the greed he wasn't even trying to hide. We walked out of the shop with our new items. I put the necklace on right away.
"You're not going to wait till we get back?" Quinn asked me.
"I was going to, but I don't want to just leave my magic flowing all over the place." I clipped it behind my head and tucked it into my shirt.
"Well now I want to too."
"Then go right on ahead." She put hers on, and the jewel subtly shifted into a golden color. "Not bad," I said.
"Right?" she did a little pose with just her arms, one hand on her hip and the other cupping her chin in between her forefinger and thumb in a point.
"We've still got a few things to get for you two." the redhead ignored what we were saying and hurried us along.
We spent a few hours going to other shops, and even a tailor for our new uniforms. Unfortunately, we had to wear uniforms. We didn't get much else, so it wasn't a laborious walk back. We stopped at our dorm, where Balder was waiting. Without saying anything, he walked over to me and punched me in the face.