Fuck.. Marls whispers in his mouth.
I'm lost..!
Marls is sweating. Despite being an old structure made generations ago, the academy is an impressive feat of the kingdom and a marvel to behold. Marls does acknowledge the built quality of the academy, since going everywhere, the walls are literally a free canvas for sculptors to tell their story, and they, really, did. But a building this massive just has an insane amount of corridors and hallways that are just crazy! Marls never thought he would be reminded of the feeling when he was a kid. Any building you enter when you're little feels so massive, and this situation felt the same when he was lost.
But when he was little, at least people understood the reason you are lost. But it is different if you're already grown up..!
The students of the academy are dispersing from their classes at this time of the day.
Not a few of the students stare at Marls walking around the academy aimlessly, which only adds more pressure to an animal that already feels cornered.
Marls is sweating profusely, he does not expect the students to leave around this time.
Part of the reason he goes for a night shift on his work is to avoid these types of situations.
At some point when he passes the hallways, he accidentally hears a snippet of a student talking to another.
"Hurry! There's a creep walking around there..!"
Thunder strikes Marls' heart.
I got called a creep..!?
He holds his heart, he feels like he wants to cry. He walks faster to avoid the students. After finding a quiet spot, he goes to sit on the nearest wooden bench he finds. His head
leans to the wall, looking, up, he scrambles his hair in frustration.
I should've waited there outside the room instead of walking around..!
At this point, Marls has given up. He looks at the bench and with a painful smile, he is beginning to accept that he may spend the rest of the night here on the bench, in the academy. At least, the spot he sits on has a nice view.
"Mr. Marls, is that you?" William says.
Marls' eyes lighten up, he immediately looks in the direction of the voice. "WILLIAM!"
William is stunned and confused.
"Uh.. hello?"
"Williaam! I'm glad you found me..!" Marls runs towards him.
"Err what happened?" William asks.
"I thought I would sleep in that bench over there for tonight, thank god you're here.."
"Did you get lost?"
"yes..!"
William chuckles.
"Don't need to worry, I was lost too the first time." He says smiling, holding some kind of weird device in his hand.
"Feels like a maze isn't it?" He asks.
"So true!"
"Hahaha, well if you keep traveling here you'll notice that their design choices are actually intuitive in the long run."
"I doubt it."
William scratches his head. Marls' situation reminds him of when he first started.
The sky is about to turn dark, and the orange light of the sun washes over the dusty brown-grey color of the walls. The academy is very quiet, compared to the bustling chaos that Marls previously witnessed.
"What were you doing just then?"
"Oh, well. There is an event that will occur."
"What event?"
William takes the device he is holding and then makes it float between his two hands. From it comes the sound of clacking, as if something is being unlocked inside. A loud ting pops and the device is split into two, with several other debris floating around it, it seems like a lock. In the middle of the pieces, there are multiple small holes. From it, trickles of sand slowly seep out. Marls is watching closely.
The sand floats mid-air, in between the two main pieces. Some sand is still accumulating from the split device, creating strings of sand that are flowing like a Laminar flow that sounds like a soft whistle, slowly forming a sphere of floating sand.
William clenches his hand into a fist, and in reaction to that, the spherical sand immediately forms a miniature structure.
"This is memory sand," He says.
"Usually used to help us visualize and plan structures or machines.."
"..and this, is the blueprint I was planning with friends earlier!" He smiles.
The sand forms an intricate spherical vehicle with several rubber rings surrounding it, and two lopsided surfaces that are opposite to each other, which most likely will serve as the design of the vehicle's door. There are three seats on top of the engine. Another set of rings circles the sphere inside, whose duty is probably to roll the ball, propelling it forward.
What the heck is this..? Marls thinks.
"This is very impressive..!" says Marls.
William smiles at Marls' reaction. He rotates his arm forward, which starts the engine of the sphere. A simulation of the ground forms under the sphere, it moves quickly as a showcase of the speed of the vehicle. The sphere reacts to bumps, elevation changes, and different kinds of rocks that hit it as an obstacle.
Ooh, it's those ball cars..!
"The event is a racing competition?" Marls asks.
"Yep, though some of them probably consider it a mega-marathon. It's a really big race!"
"Mega-marathon? You're saying some of them would run against the cars?"
"The professors haven't told you about the academy?"
"Well... I know the academy teaches magic."
William looks at Marls suspiciously.
"Sir William here is referring to the students of the School of Transformation." A deep elegant but grim voice appears behind them, with his hand gently gripping William's shoulder.
"Ah, good afternoon, Professor Fachnan!"
"Good afternoon, William. And good afternoon, Mr. Marls." His head turns to him.
Professor Fachnan is a tall skinny man. His skin is cold pale white almost like snow in contrast to the way he dresses. He wears a striped suit in the colors of black and red and white pleated trousers. His eye color is yellow, wearing a monocle with a golden frame. His hair is dark blue, wavy but neat.
This person... he's the one who speaks against that scary lady. Marls thought.
"Transformation student is able to their bodies at will, although it sounds simple, in reality, only the gifted benefit from this fact." He continues.
"But that's a story for another day. We have pressing matters at hand, aren't we all? And if you don't mind, I shall take Mr. Marls here with me."
He observes Marls and William for quite a while.
"Y-yeah, sure," William says.
"Great! Have a nice day William, to your sister too!"
"Right, see you later Professor, Marls!" He walks away.
"Mr. Marls I have to say it is quite a fuss you created when you were not seen outside the room." He says calmly. His right hand is behind Marls, pushing him forward while he walks.
crap... Marls blushes.
"You were lucky if it weren't for me convincing the teachers you're just lost. You wouldn't want that red-haired lady chasing you, would you?"
"M-many thanks, sir..."
"You are very welcome."
He stops and puts his left hand on the door handle. A slither of warm orange light casts a straight line on the hallway. Both of them enter, and then the door is shut.
The room is quite big, with the most notable feature having a tall ceiling. The wallpapers are very clean, it is decorated with the shapes of hearts, diamonds, and spades that are still shiny when lit.
The light comes from a simple chandelier hanging in the middle. Opposite the entrance is a large decorated window that spans from the floor to the ceiling. The window is divided into three sections from left to right, each having its own decorated frames. The sky is grey, so it casts cold dim dispersed light to the ceiling that is defeated by the warm color of the shining chandelier.
In front of the window is a wooden table, and a seat that almost looks like a throne, if not its size that is much smaller than the actual one. The room has a lot of carved wooden boxes everywhere, open containers that have scrolls and assortments of objects, and one that caught Marls' eye, which is a simple door that is placed on the right side of the wall seen from the entrance point of view.
Marls walks towards it, curious, he tries to open it. Immediately the wind pushes Marls away while the door is sucked in. The sound of it shocked Marls. Inside, spanning millions of miles is an endless sea of shelves of books with multiple levels down and up shown by the glass floors.
PANG!
"Mr. Marls I suggest you to not touch that door anymore without my permission."
Marls finds himself holding the door handle, with the door still shut.
He looks at Prof. Fachnan.
"What was that..?"
"Library of Mimir. My personal library." He smiles.
"Interested?"
Marls gulps.
"I'm... fine."
Prof. Fachnan stands there, observing Marls for some time, before he sits on the wooden chair, proceeding to rummage through the drawers of his huge table.
Marls keeps a distance off him, his instincts keeps telling him to be against this person.
"I heard your potency from Aiden."
Marls sweats.
"I am surprised his pride is not shattered knowing an untrained earthling manage to skip his illusion. Well, not that he has one from the looks of it."
He pushes the drawer in which causes a loud thud reverberating across the walls. A dangling sound of keys soon follows, and then he puts it on top of the table.
"But still, you manage to do it against a head teacher. And that makes me interested." He grins, his eyes have not lose sight of Marls at all, he is thorough.
"Come here, take the key. This key is yours."
Marls walks to the table. He does not hurry, but instead takes careful steps. His hand reaches for the key, but then Prof. Fachnan slides it back to him. Marls stares at him.
"It would pleases me if you have an interest in The School of Illusion as well." He puts pressure on the key as he slides it to Marls, creating this piercing grating sound that is hard to be oblivious to.
"I... will think about it."
Marls backs off, he turns himself to the exit. Before leaving, he takes another glance at Prof. Fachnan, not expecting him to still looking. He sits still, his sillhouette casts a shadow when the lightning flashes. With that, Marls closes the door.
..shit, I forgot to ask for directions.
Marls opens the door back in.