Eventually, you ended up in a giant room. Practically every wall was covered in shelves that held hundreds upon thousands of books. There were even more shelves scattered around the room, still filled with books.
Yet, there was enough room for a staircase to lead up to another level of the book room and spaces for areas with tables and chairs.
Your chest was heaving, and you couldn't hear the creature anymore, so you dropped to the ground, laying flat on it as you caught your breath. At some point, you rolled onto your back and looked up to the ceiling of the room.
There were books floating all over the place, some even moving about and putting themselves back onto the shelves.
You quickly sat up, intrigued by all this magic. Back in your home, your mother's spell books and cook books could never fly or even float.
You felt your heart drop at the memory, and you quickly brought your hands up to your face and wiped at your eyes with the back of your wrists, to keep yourself from crying.
As soon as you knew you wouldn't cry anymore, you brought your knees to your chest and wrapped your arms around your legs. Looking down at your shoes, you wanted to go back home and see your mother again.
"...If this is a dream, I wanna wake up..." You quietly mumbled to yourself, burying your face in the small crevice between your knees and breasts.
But thanks to their being lanterns on in the library, you could still see despite having put your face in a dark space. Lifting your head back up, you looked down at yourself, paying attention to your clothing now.
Your outfit had drastically changed. Instead of the patchwork dress you'd been wearing made from rags, the shoes you'd made from gumdrops, and the apron your mother had given you, was something else entirely.
It was a weird looking kind of robe, but still fancy all the same. With fully black long-sleeved undershirt and long underpants, no skin was visible apart from your hands, face, and neck. There was a pair of pointy-toed shoes that were mostly black, but the toes were gold and the bit separating the two colours was purple. The robes had long sleeves that covered your hands if you dropped them, and a thing that looked like a skirt that went down just past your knees. It didn't fall apart because of a thick purple belt, made of the same fabric as the rest of it, held it all together with a gold clasp.
You blink a few times in surprise, touching the fabric to discover how soft it felt. You found a small dip in the belt, and put the iolite in there, not really wanting to carry it for who knows how much longer.
With both your hands now empty, you run them through your hair, slightly working out the few tangles that formed from all the running. While doing that though, you're fingers brush against the soft fabric of a hood that's connected to the robes.
You pull the hood up over your head, the hem of the hood coming over half of your forehead and slightly hiding your face in a shadow. You couldn't help but feel slightly safer with your face hidden from prying eyes, despite nobody being around.
But you couldn't revel in that sense of safety for long, as a plume of blue fire shot past you. And Grim ran into the giant room full of books.
He stopped in front of you, paws on his hipbone(?) as he stood on his hind legs. "Did you really think you could get away from my nose? Dumb human!" He smirked as he insulted you, almost as if he believed he was a higher being then you, which he honestly could be with his capability of breathing fire.
"If you don't wanna get roasted, better hand over-" Grim didn't get to finish what he was saying as a loud whipping noise rung out in the air.
You flinched at the sound; that sounded like it'd really hurt.
"Buwah?! Ow!" He cried, starting to writhe around in the thing wrapped around his body. However, it wasn't falling off, so he started rolling around on the ground, and even then, it still wouldn't come off.
"What's with this rope?!" Grim demanded, still rolling around on the ground trying to get out of the unyielding binding he was trapped within.
"This is no mere rope." A formal voice rings out in the vast room, as footsteps follow suit, the heels of the shoes clacking against the wooden ground as the owner of the voice came into view.
"It is a lash of love!" The man stated, coming into visible view, his arms spread out slightly as if he was showing something off despite nothing being in his arms.
You cocked your head to the side in confusion at him, although there was something about him you recognized even though you'd never seen him before. It was probably the tall hat with a tiny mirror on it upon his head, or the weird feathery cape he had on. The suit seemed normal considering the horned man you'd seen earlier on in the garden. What stood out most though, was the black bird-like mask that covered the top half of his face.
The man was glaring at the creature, one gloved hand holding a tight grip to a small little handle connected to the end of the long black rope that was coiled around Grim.
The masked man looked around for a moment, before his eyes landed on you. His yellow eyes suddenly softened as his hands went to his hips. He turned to face you, keeping a hold of the handle for his 'lash of love.'
"Ah, I've found you at last." He said, completely ignoring the annoyed noises coming from Grim as he kept squirming around on the ground trying to break out of the lash's hold.
You tilted your head to the side a little and the man mirrored you, tilting his head to the side a bit too. "Are you one of the new students?" He questioned you, before doing a quick up-and-down glance over your body.
His eyes narrowed as he made eye-contact with you again, crossing his arms over his chest. "You shouldn't do things like that." He states, earning another head tilt from you which causes him to let out a sigh.
"Leaving the gate on your own!" He clarifies, hoping that'd clear it up for you, yet when it didn't, he pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand and sighed again.
He stopped pinching the bridge of his nose and instead just waved his hand in dismissal before crossing his arms again. "Not only that, you have yet to tame you familiar which has broken a number of school rules."
You frowned, furrowing your eyebrows at the man's misinterpretation about the creature. Yet, as you open your mouth to respond to the man, Grim beats you to it.
"Let me go! I'm not their freakin' familiar!" He yells, throwing his arms up near his head as best he could with the 'lash of love' restraining them.
However, the man just sighs, and scratches Grim lightly behind one of his flaming ears. "Sure, sure. The rebellious ones always say things like that."
He doesn't get to pet Grim for long, as the raccoon-like creature frowns and quickly tilts his head back to try and blow a plume of fire at the man's hand. The man pulls his hand back just in time to avoid it getting scorched. He clicks his tongue as his eyes narrow at him. The hand he has holding the handle for his 'lash of love,' tilts the handle slightly, making the lash's hold on the Grim a slight bit tighter, causing him to growl.
"Just quiet down for a moment," The man calmly demands of him before reaching into his pocket with his free hand. He fishes out a weird looking mask thing for an animal muzzle, which certainly doesn't look like it'd fit in his pocket.
The man attaches it to Grim's face, who struggles in the confines of the 'lash of love' all the while. As soon as the muzzle mask is on Grim, he tries to speak, but the muzzle mask holds his mouth closed, so it ends up coming out as a muffled "Mmmghmmmm!"
You quickly cover your mouth with one hand to hide your snickers, which Grim does end up noticing. In response to your hidden snickers, Grim's eyes narrow and he yells more into his muzzle mask which comes out as more muffled yelling which makes you crack into even more laughter.
The man takes a step back, watching the scene unfold with a deadpan. "My goodness..." He mumbles, exasperated with this whole situation already. He watches for a moment longer before clearing his throat, causing your laughter to cut off and your attention to shoot to him.
"It's unprecedented for a new student to leave the Gate on their own." The man states, crossing his arms over his chest. The hand holding the handle of his 'lash of love' tapping on his arm, causing Grim to be lifted off the ground slightly then dropped back down repeatedly.
"Uuuggh... How impatient can you be?" The man complains, letting his hands drop and shoulders sag while he looks up at the roof for a moment. Grim gets dropped onto the floor with a heavy thud from the movement, causing your cheeks to puff up as you hold in a laugh.
However, as soon as the man's words sink in, your face scrunches up in confusion. What's the 'Gate' and did he just call you a student again?
"The entrance ceremony is already well under way. Let's head to the hall of mirrors." The man states, giving you barely any time to finish processing his previous words.
"...Gate...? .....What's the 'Gate'....?" You mumble to yourself in verbal confusion, but the man hears your words and quickly starts to explain.
"It's the room you woke up in with all the doors." He explains, although that just makes you even more confused. There were no doors in that room except for that big pair of them you ran out of. Although, there were tons of tall, but mostly slim, floating boxes that had lids, like the one you were removed from.
"All students who wish to attend this academy must pass through one of those doors to arrive here." He adds onto his explanation, just increasing your confusion even further. So, all that explanation basically did was tell you that other 'students(?)' come out of those weird box-door things to be here at this 'academy.' But what's an academy?
You frowned in confusion, but you didn't get any more time to act on your confusion as the man continued to explain more stuff. "Normally, students wake up only after the door is opened with a special key but..." He trails off, crossing his arms as he looks at you, waiting to explain how you somehow left your 'door.'
You don't speak for a moment, watching Grim dangle sideways, slightly above the ground as the man keeps his arms crossed. You take this quick pause to gather your thoughts and make sense of all the confusing things you'd learned.
So, you were asleep in one of those weird tall floating boxes, which are called 'doors,' for some odd reason. And you woke up because the lid was removed, probably from Grim's fire. And the room you'd fallen into was what was referred to as the 'Gate'? And only students end up here, at this 'academy'? But none of that explains what an academy is still.
As you connected some of the dots in your head, your eyes widened in surprise and your mouth formed an 'O'. Although you were still riddled with confusion, you'd at least made some kind of sense out of all the chaos in your head right now.
"The fire must have blown the lid off." You confirmed verbally to yourself, feeling kind of proud about how your mother's teachings had helped you figure that out.
The man's eyes widened in surprise before they turned to Grim, narrowing in on him as he dangled from the 'lash of love.' Grim winced away, his ears going flat in fear of what might be about to happen if he had incurred this man's wrath.
"So, in the end the culprit was this familiar." The man concluded how you left the door, eyes boring into Grim as he dangles slightly above the ground on his side. "If you're going to bring it with you, you have to take responsibility and properly take care of it." He directs his words at you, not giving you any attention as his anger is honed-in on Grim.
However, his anger doesn't remain for long as his body quickly relaxes from its tensed state. "...Oh my! Now isn't the time to be long winded. The entrance ceremony will soon come to a close." He mumbles to himself, bringing his free hand to his chin and crossing his occupied hand across his body. That causes Grim to get flung off to the side with a muffled cry of panic, still dangling just above the ground thanks to the 'lash of love' still wrapped around his body.
Quickly, the man drops his arms to his sides, making Grim plummet onto the ground again. "Let's get a move on." He states, beginning to walk towards the doors to leave the room full of shelves of books. Grim being dragged along behind the man, digging his hind paws claws into the wooden floor to try and not get dragged along behind him.
You hurriedly speak up, wanting to get a bit of information about the man, at least his name. "Just a second..." The man stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder at you, giving you silent permission to continue your question.
"Um," You look down at your shoes, suddenly feeling self-conscious. You let some of your cotton-candy coloured hair fall over your face, hiding you a little bit more with the hood. "Who exactly are you...?" You question the man, your voice trailing off as you spoke.
Luckily, he heard you, and turned around fully to face you. But there was confusion written over his face that you could easily see despite his mask. He brought his free hand to his chin, his head cocking to the side as he looked at you, before quickly walking over to stand in front of you.
"What's this? Are you still dazed?" The man questions, before removing his hand from his chin. He moves the handle of his 'lash of love' and uses it to softly tilt your chin up so he can see your face, lifting Grim off the ground with it. Your eyes widen as you're forced to look up at him, your mouth slightly open as he moves your hair out of your face with his other hand. You're shocked into silence as when he completes that, he places it on your forehead. After a few seconds, he frowns, removing his hand from your forehead and stepping back.
"It appears the teleportation magic has left you disoriented..." The man mumbles, seemingly concerned about you. Although you didn't feel at all disoriented, you did feel kind of strange, like there was a faint buzzing inside your body or something.
Ignoring that weird feeling inside you, you manage to catch seeing Grim get lifted then dropped back down to the ground by the 'lash of love' as the man shrugged.
"Well, it is fine. It happens often enough. I shall give you an explanation as we make our way there. For I am gracious." He states a large smile spreading across his face before he turns on his heel and begins to walk off, dragging Grim along behind him.
You quickly scurry after him, not wanting to be left behind and wanting to at least learn more about this situation you've ended up in.
––––––––––––––––––––––––
The walk is silent as you end up back in the little 'indoor forest clearing(?)' following along behind the masked man as Grim is dragged along beside you, writhing around in his bindings. You couldn't help but to look around the area, checking to see if that horned guy was still around.
However, your attention is knocked back to the masked male leading you through the area as he cleared his throat. Grim's struggling paused for a moment, also knocked out of his focus to escape the 'lash of love.'
"This is Night Raven College." He states, gesturing around to the building's hallways surrounding the outside themed area you're currently walking through.
"Those magicians blessed with a unique aptitude for magic gather from all over the world, here at the most prestigious magical academy in Twisted Wonderland. And I am the headmaster, appointed to take care of this academy by the board chairman, Dire Crowley."
You now had a name for the masked man, Dire Crowley, but that was an information overload. What's a headmaster? What's a board chairman? What's a magician? That's way less answers and way more questions.
"Ma...magician?" You ask, wanting to get the simplest seeming thing out of the way.
"Only those magicians seen as worthy by the Dark Mirror can attend this school. Chosen ones use the Gate and are summoned here from around the world." Crowley answers, explaining as if all of this is just common knowledge.
You just awkwardly nod, a very perplexed expression on your face as you reach up and tug the hood further down. You had genuinely no idea what he was blabbering on about at this point, none of his explanations explaining anything, instead just adding more questions.
"An Ebony Carriage carrying a Gate should have gone to meet you as well."
That rung a bell.
"Oh! I remember going through a dark forest!" You stated, remembering that weird house on wheels and the talking mirror with the green flames. How the ground had started trembling and the dizzying feeling the sound of hooves elicited. That could be the 'Ebony Carriage' Crowley was talking about!
Crowley nods at you, before continuing with his monologue of an explanation. "The Ebony Carriage goes to welcome new students chosen by the Dark Mirror. They are special carriages that carry doors to the academy. The market decided long ago that carriages are used to welcome people on special days."
Market? You'd never heard of a market before, but your mother had once spoken of a place where people would gather to trade and used a similar name for it. What was it again, trading post?
Wait, the Ebony Carriages go to 'welcome' new students? Does that mean they're alive?!
"You're telling me that carriage just brought me here on its own?!" You yelled, more in a mixture of shock and surprise then anger.
If carriages are alive, then that'd mean somebody had gotten your mother's spell and had brought other inanimate items to life! You basically had siblings then!
The grin that was slowly forming on your face at the thought instantly dropped as your train of thought was cut off by Grim's muffled yelling, although it was quieter now. You barely picked it up over Crowley's rambling.
"Muggamm! Muggghh!!" One of Grim's paws slipped out of the 'lash of love' and he quickly let his claws snake out before slashing at the rope binding the rest of his body. It took a few swipes before part of it snapped off and fell away from his body, causing him to drop down to the ground, where he landed on all paws with a small squeak.
Grim quickly shook himself, shaking out his fur, before glaring up at you and running off in the opposite direction you and the 'headmaster' were heading. Just as you were about to speak up about it when Crowley finally stopped speaking, he beat you to the punch.
"Come. Let us go to the entrance ceremony."
With that he began to walk faster, making you have to double your walking pace. If Crowley was gonna keep being a blabbermouth, you weren't gonna bother to tell him that Grim had broken out of the 'lash of love.'
The 'headmaster' could deal with that problem himself!
A/N: Sorry about these two chapters taking a while to come out, school was being a pain and writer's block kicked back in. But they're now here so enjoy them while I work on the 4th chapter, since I got an entire class off school to sit in the corner and write because my period hit and they felt bad for me cause I was crying from cramps :3