//Another ae:cw prompt :( so ooooooOOOo yeaaa theres gon be some bootleg ?:/
"This place wouldn't be half bad if it weren't for the liquid iron rain."
Alain read the words. How peculiar this book was. As to be expected of course– It was from nowhere in this world. He'd been trying to read it, but it just hadn't piqued any interest. It spoke of otherworldly things, things that, admittedly, didn't even exist in this universe.
He gazed upon the stars. Usually, the place he slept didn't catch a glimpse. Or well, he didn't. He usually spent his time studying the magic of other students instead of his own. Surely, Sir Crowbird knew how they all worked, but letting Alain stay instead of having to leave truly proved his kindness~!
Alain was just about finished studying the collar laying on his desk. His means of gaining it were of course questionable at best, but it was a valuable asset in his research- Mere overwrites were easy to study, but studying the magic of control and suppression was some of the largest prey to tackle, and those were the most common amongst the ravens in this perch.
Often spoken of was the contracts from the undersea, but the palace of hearts had its own enigmatic magic ruling over, and even the users truly didn't know how.
Alain wished he hadn't been sent to live somewhere other than home, but it proved incredibly helpful in the long run. Not only was he able to keep himself busy, but he didn't need to watch others take the roles he was supposed to always fill.
Brushing his cloak off, Alain rose, enduring the blistering pain from his foot. Even months after the tragedy, it never truly healed, and although the ribbons adorned one foot, the other was coated in white bandages. He wasn't able to perform, much less the ones needed for his expertise. Even the healers of the troupe hadn't been able to heal the red. Thankfully, he was able to figure out how to make it functionable, but he couldn't even run.
Gazing upon the courtyards, he watched as crowds gathered towards the orientation's place. Many new students would be inducted today, and sorted into whichever mirror-realm suited them best. It was easy to pick out where certain were going- One wearing beautiful clothes might go into the house of poison and curses, while one with the ears of a wolf would go into the plains of rock. A student interested in magitek would be sorted into the underland, one loyal merfolk into the undersea. An enigmatic white rabbit to the palace of hearts, a fae into the dragon's lair.
A smile drifted upon Alains face. He brushed his braids aside and cast a fireball in the direction of a bright blue flame. How truly funny it was, to see an unnoticing figure get hit and feel nothing. Of course, the lord dragon knew of the dancer staring down, and ignored the red and blue mix. A crow swept into the room, but raised no heads. Sir Crowbird was playing tricks again. Alain decided it would be funniest to show up in the shadows, pretending to be a new recruit. And so, the mischievous gremlin swept down.
Only the two outside heard the bellowing "Nyo-ho-ho~", and one played pretend, fooling the other into thinking he was hearing things. A silhouette of a vampiric looking figure was visible for a split second before vanishing.
The shadows of the hall were easier to blend into. I mean, Alain possessed a cloak that was dark as night, provided by Sir Crowbird himself. The feathers at the collar were peculiar, most certainly from the body of Sir Crowbird's form, or some other crow-fae. They were just too shiny to belong to a wild crow. However, it didn't matter, for right now it was time for the show.
One by one, the new ones got sorted, selected, and stepped down. Sir Crowbird inevitably noticed the brightly colored fae through the cloak, but paid no mind- His kindness was truly boundless, no?
Unfortunately, a glimpse of the blue flame was rare as he never even showed, leaving the smaller, more mechanical one to the job.
