The girl opened her eyes, hearing something bang.
"What's...that noise?" She tried to look up, but there was only darkness around her. She tried to move, but she then realized she was confined into a tight space. "What the?"
"Crap! People are coming! Gotta find a uniform!" She heard someone speak, she could hear it came from outside her place of confinement. "Grr!"
She could feel everything shake, now thinking someone was saving her. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could the voice spoke again.
"This is too heavy!" The voice whined, before growling in frustration. "Time for my secret move then!"
She could hear the voice make a noise before suddenly her place of confinement felt hot. Light now entering the dark place, showing the plush inside of some box. She didn't think about it further, for what lit the small dark place was extremely hot blue fire.
"G-gah! Fire?!" She screamed, finding her voice. She rushed to push the wall in front of her, opening herself free. She fell to the ground, bracing herself on her knees as she felt the blue flames barely burn her.
"Aah!" The voice screamed back. "Why are you up?!"
She looked up to see a grey creature in front of her, looking at her with wide blue eyes. She could see the creature's ears were on fire, and its tail resembling a devil's pitchfork. Her own eyes widened at the sight, fear seeping in.
"A-a talking tanuki?!" The girl screamed.
"Who are you calling a tanuki?!" The creature yelled in rage. "I am the Great Grim!"
"But enough of that..." The creature called Grim then pawed at the girl's pants. "You, human! Give me those clothes!"
"Wh-what? Why?"
"Cause if you don't...I'll roast ya!" Grim smirked, blowing flames at the girl. Fire surrounded her, before going out quickly.
"Getting roasted by tanuki in my dreams...that's a new one." She thought out loud.
"I'm not a freaking tanuki!" The creature then blew more fire, frightening the girl.
"A-ah! Someone help me!" She screamed as she ran out of the room. She could hear Grim scream after her, causing her to run faster as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She knew this had to be a dream, but that didn't make it all the less terrifying of being burned alive.
She finally ran out of breath, stopping in a place that seemed like a library. But she noticed how books just floated around the area, lanterns glowing a low green. She panted as she caught her breath. "I wanna wake up from this stupid dream."
A blue fireball barely missed her head, causing her to gasp. She tried to make a run for it, but she tripped on something and fell. She quickly turned when she saw more blue flames surround her once more.
"Did you really think you'd get away from my nose?" Grim smirked, feeling powerful from seeing the girl's frightful expression. "Dumb human."
"If you don't want to get roasted, you better- yah!?" Suddenly the sound of a whip crack reached the girl's ears, followed by a black rope wrap around the small grey creature. "Hah?! What's with this rope?!"
"This is no mere rope! It is a lash of love!" Another responded, stepping into the girl's line of sight. She could see the new party was a person, a tall male with eccentric clothing. He donned a mask, covering most of his face. She could still see his eyes, only seeing two yellow dots glowing in the darkness the mask made. His eyes moved to make contact with hers.
"Ah, found you. You are one of the new students yes?" He smiled, reaching out his hand to help the girl up. She hesitated to lift her hand, but eventually grabbed his hand.
"H-huh?" She stuttered. He pulled her up, letting her fix her clothes. Only then did she realize she was wearing clothes she didn't recognize.
"You shouldn't do things like that! Leaving the gate on your own!" He chided her. "Not only that, you have yet to tame your familiar too! Which has broken a number of school rules!"
"Wait, gate? Familiar? He's not-"
"I'm not her familiar!" Grim said, struggling against his binds. "Let me go!"
"Sure sure. The rebellious ones always say that. Just be quiet for a moment." The male replied, put his clawed hand on Grim's mouth.
"Mmmph!"
"Goodness, it's unprecedented for a new student to leave the gate on their own." The man sigh. "How impatient..."
"But-"
"The entrance ceremony is well underway. Let's head back to the Hall of Mirrors."
"Wait wait, what the heck is going on?" The girl asked, looking at the man in confusion. "Gate? Hall of Mirrors? I don't..."
"It's the room where you woke up, with all those doors." The man explained.
"Wait so those coffins...are doors?" She asked. "Or is it those mirrors that are doors? God I'm so confused..."
"Yes, All students must pass through those in order to arrive here." He explained. "Though normally, the students only wake up when the doors are opened with a special key..."
"I think he did it." She said, pointing at the still struggling creature. "He almost burned me alive from within the coffin...door...thing."
"So in the end, the culprit appears to be this familiar." He looked at Grim, then back at the girl. "If you're going to bring it with you, you have to take responsibility and properly take care of it."
"But, he's not-"
"Oh my! Now is not the time to be long winded!" He exclaimed. "The entrance ceremony will soon be coming to a close. We must hurry."
"But-"
"Let's get a move on now." The man placed his hand on her shoulder, guiding her to walk. "It seems you are a bit dazed from the teleportation magic. It's nothing to worry about though, it happens often enough."
"M-magic?"
"Fret not, I shall explain everything on our way!" The man smiled. "For I am gracious."
They walked out of the library, the man a step faster than the girl. She tried to keep up, but her short legs made it difficult. After running on adrenaline, her energy went way down. She desperately wanted to sleep. The man seemed to notice her struggle to catch up, but did not slow down one bit.
"This is Night Raven College, magicians blessed with a unique aptitude for magic gather from all over the world to here." He explained. "The most prestigious magical academy in Twisted Wonderland."
"Twisted...Wonderland?"
"Yes! And I am the headmaster of this academy, appointed by the board chairmen to take care of it. Dire Crowley."
"I see..."
"Only those magicians seen as worthy by the dark mirror can attend this school." He explained more. "Chosen ones use the gate and are summoned here from around the world."
"An ebony carriage carrying a gate should have gone to meet you as well."
"Ebony carriage?" Suddenly an image of a familiar carriage entered her mind. "I...yes I think I remember that..."
"The carriage goes to welcome the new students who were chosen by the Dark Mirror." He said. "The carriages carry the gate to this academy. The Market decided long ago that carriages are used to welcome people on special days."
"The...Market?" She asked, before registering the rest. "Wait so that carriage brought me here on its own?!"
"Mmph!" The creature screamed into the man's, now known as Crowley, hand.
"Come, we must hurry to the entrance ceremony." Crowley quickened his pace, leaving the girl behind to catch up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A little note for the next chapter, I know said pants. But just a heads up, you are wearing the same ceremonial robes that everyone else wears. I mean...it would make logical sense, but the uniform in under the robes. Okay? Okay
I had to put this in just in case anyone gets confused about a certain point regarding the reader's feminine appearance (cause ya know...they a girl)
Edit: NEVERMIND I FINALLY SAW WHAT THE ROBES FULLY LOOK LIKE AND THEY AREN'T AS LONG AS I THOUGHT THEY WERE. So the pants still work!
Can't believe I actually was right lmao