Otherworld Academy Vol. 1 Capitulo 3
Chapter 3
Nox dropped him off at a plain oak door bound with iron straps. The thing had an ugly fixture on it that resembled a squashed bird clutching a knocker in its beak. Levi raised his hand to grasp the door knocker and the tattoo sunk into his skin turned as cold as ice. Access to Raven House granted appeared across his vision as the door swung open on its own with an ominous creak to reveal a long, spiraling staircase made of fitted stones. The windows were slim and done in abstract-colored glass. The light was minimal: a few torches that burned silently and brightened when he walked closer to them. Levi paused as he shook his head and tried to understand why a fine script had just passed over his vision. He looked down, then caught a glimpse of the raven emblem as it faded back into a normal tattoo. “Okay, some kind of magical pager or something, I hope that doesn’t happen often,” he said with a sigh.
The door closed once he had stepped through and a creak and boom echoed up the stairs. “Oh good, that’s not ominous at all,” he muttered to himself. He wrapped his hand around the knob of his cane and started walking up the stairs; the clack the metal tip made when it hit the stone amused him. He raised his hand and used his middle finger to push the spectacles up his nose, frowning at the motion. “I’ve never had glasses before, so why did that motion feel familiar?” he asked himself. He had the disturbing thought that he had been reincarnated into a body with memories of its own. He shivered in distaste, then pushed the thought out of his head. After a few minutes he was glad for the cane—he felt like he had been walking the stairs for hours and his calves were starting to burn. He came to a halt and looked closely at the window, noting that the color patterns seemed familiar. Levi pursed his lips and frowned, then he raised his cane with the intention to break the glass as a test.
“Please don’t. You’ve caught on, so we’ll let you in now.” The voice was cheerful, though anxious, and the spiral stairs faded out around him before dissolving into mist. When Levi turned to look around, he saw that he was in a large wood-furnished sitting room with leather padding and bookshelves everywhere. There was a large fireplace against the left and right walls. Across from the door he stood in, he saw several hallways. He turned his head and caught sight of a yawning woman stretched out on the couch. She straightened up, and Levi noted her black-trimmed uniform, only instead of a soft gray vest, she had a black corset on over her button-down shirt, as well as a black bowtie. “I’m house mistress Tawny Goldenrod, and welcome to Raven House.”
She climbed to her feet and Levi took in the fact that she was a few inches above five feet tall. Her smoke-gray hair hung down her back like a silk curtain and her skin was a dark brown. Her ears stood out to either side of her head like daggers and she had huge gray eyes. Holding out a hand, the woman smiled at him in amusement. “You’ve never seen a dark elf, have you?” she asked with a smirk.
“No, ma’am, I have not. The world I came from only had humans, outside of stories,” he said finally, once his brain was working. There was something sleek, almost sinful, about the way she walked toward him. Her skin was very soft, and he was careful not to squeeze her hand too hard when he shook with her. “I’m still not sure I’m really here. This is all pretty out there,” he finished with a shrug, figuring she should know beforehand.
Tawny Goldenrod let out a sardonic snort that immediately set her apart from the relentless cheerful nature Regina Applebottom had demonstrated. “Understandable. You aren’t the first new arrival to come from a backward world. Having your body swapped is unusual, unless you were a homo draconic in that world as well?” she asked. Seeing him shake his head, she continued, “As I thought. We’ll get you up to date on the delights of your new body after we get you into uniform. It might seem like an archaic formality, but rules are rules.” She turned, then motioned for him to follow.
There was an ethereal grace to her movements that was hard to overlook. Levi noticed it, but he tried to focus on adjusting to the new world. She opened one of the doors opposite the main room entrance, and he saw a hall with several rooms coming off of it. She began lecturing, and he made himself focus on what she was saying. “Fortunately, our numbers in Raven House are low enough we can each have our own room. The blue candle acts as a privacy ward; light it, and sounds are contained in your room until you snuff it out. It isn’t fool proof, but it helps. We do ask that you be considerate about having guests.” Her tone made it more than clear she was referring to intimate company and Levi found himself grinning. His old college had a strict rule against coeds spending time in each other’s rooms.
When she opened the door, Levi was impressed by the set up before him. Sadly, there was no window—however, one wall was an empty bookshelf from floor to ceiling. Across the far wall was a very comfortable-looking bed with a plain oak headboard and the footboard to match. Opposite the bookshelf was a dresser and a desk with several candles on it. Hanging over the bed was a simple lantern, or so he thought. It looked like a bronze hose ran from it to the wall, and the inside was a solid crystal block. A bronze wheel sat where the wick adjuster would be on an old camping lantern. He studied it for a moment, missing part of what Tawny said. She tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to look at her, drawn away from his investigation.
“Are you aware of mana vapor technology?” she asked. When he shook his head, she explained: “The world around us has a great deal of free-floating energy called mana. There are two easy ways to release it in a large burst. The oldest method is to kill a creature and harvest the mana released from its flesh. This method is powerful, but sloppy. Much of the mana is tainted by the environment the creature lived in as well as the habits of said creature. Those who use this system often find the mana being absorbed by their body mutating in strange ways after a while. The newest method came about nearly a thousand years ago. Areas where the ambient mana is particularly high have a tendency to develop crystals that have aligned themselves with the natural energy, which some say are made from solid energy. These crystals can be harnessed, and when they’re submerged in heated water, they release their energy in the form of vapor. This vapor can be collected, directed, and used to power other crystals that are shaped by skilled craftsman. This allows us to use technology like that mana lamp. Turning the dial allows mana vapor to reach the crystal and the lantern glows. There are drawbacks, but mana vapor is the foundation of most of our current technology.”
She seemed quite proud of it, but all Levi could think was that these people were living in a steam age powered by magic crystals instead of coal. He blinked a few times, then nodded. He was sure the details were more complicated, but it all sounded a lot like some kind of magical steampunk to him. “We had stories of something similar in my world, steam engines where heated water released pressurized gas to turn turbines and produce energy that way,” he said, then ran along his ear, still not used to the points as he shifted in place.
Tawny seemed to take that in stride and she nodded. Then she motioned to the dresser across the room. “In there you’ll find your clothing. Just focus on your tattoo when you open the drawer, and it will give you clothing that fits you. I’ll leave you alone to get dressed, and to consider the new world you find yourself in,” she added the last bit quietly, then slipped out the door and shut it behind herself.
It was the first moment that Levi had been left alone since he’d been hit by a runaway truck. He found himself leaning on the silver cane and taking deep breaths as he turned to face the mirror that sat above his desk. The first thing he noticed was that his jawline and neck had more of the scales that lay scattered across his forearms and the backs of his hands. They ranged in color from dark blue to a charcoal gray, and seemed to run up into his hairline. His hair was a deep blue, though he had a streak of black hair on the left side of his face that covered his left temple and dangled in front of his eye. When he looked past the metal-framed spectacles, he saw his eyes were large, dark red, and slit like a snake. His ears popped free of his hair with a pointed tip, and his earlobes merged straight into his head. One ear flicked to the side as though he was listening, and he realized he had been moving them unconsciously the whole time he looked over himself.
Physically, he was still around six feet tall and looked a bit wider in the shoulders than he had on Earth. He was glad to see that the soft gut he had been fighting had faded; too many nights of video games and sitting at his desk had not been his friend. The linen clothes left his calves free, and he noted his lower legs had the same dusting of scales as his arms. Levi turned to try and look behind him and exhaled when he realized he didn’t have any crazy tail or wings—that might have been too much for him at the moment. “Homo draconic,” he muttered to himself. It was going to take some getting used to, but he pushed it aside as he stripped off the shirt and opened the top drawer. The white dress shirt fit well enough, but he rolled the sleeves back to his elbows because he didn’t like the way the fabric scraped his scales. Instead of a knit vest, he found a gray suit jacket with black lapels and cuffs, and a raven patch was embroidered over his heart. He buttoned that on and went looking for new pants.
A simple pair of black socks fit his feet, but he couldn’t find anything to serve as underwear. Finally, he just slid the gray slacks up and buckled them around his waist, noting the black ribbon that covered the outside seam. He didn’t see any footwear and figured he was supposed to ask Tawny about them. Either way, the uniform combined with his silver cane gave him a pretty solid look, almost elegant. He shook his head and laughed to himself. “Dude, you look like such a poser. Like I’m really going to learn magic,” he said before snorting and heading out of the room.
He stopped to grab his cane, still not sure what to do with the thing. “I wish you were a bit more travel friendly,” he muttered to the silver shaft, feeling shocked to see it shrink until it was only a foot long, though the knob remained the same size. Shrugging, he slipped the rod into a convenient loop on his pants and walked down the hall. He found Tawny standing by one of the fires, preparing something in an actual cauldron. The woman held a silver dagger in one hand, the same swirling designs from his cane present along the blade. The fancy knife was leaving glowing green lines in the air, and she seemed to be tracing geometric designs and some kind of alphabet he wasn’t familiar with. The colored lines began moving, circling a central point each time she finished one and he stopped to watch. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he didn’t want to disrupt her.
“Well, come on. There’s no point in enchanting the cauldron to provide your favorite meal if you’re too scared to come over and eat from it,” she teased. Tawny tossed a glance at him over her shoulder, then smirked as the swirling magic began to drop down and form green, glowing lights around the rim of the cauldron. Levi was sure he was imagining it when the smell of pizza hit him.
He didn’t resist the temptation to come over, and she laughed as she flicked her knife and a silver dish floated off the mantel. She plucked it out of the air and leaned over the big cauldron, the action providing Levi a marvelous view of her tight skirt, though he did his best to focus on the fire and the smell rising to tease him. When she handed him his bowl, he stared at it in confusion. He could feel his eyebrows trying to touch over his nose as he stared at the liquid. “I mean, it smells right, but I don’t think my favorite meal is pizza soup,” he said as politely as he could manage.
Tawny laughed and shook her head. “You’re adorable. Sit on the couch and state the name of the meal, then see what happens,” she finally said after she got her giggles under control.
Seeing no reason not to do as she suggested, Levi sat himself and rested the hot bowl of soup on his knee. He stared at it and then gave a shrug. “Pizza?” he volunteered, feeling immensely silly. That ridiculous feeling vanished when the bowl expanded into a silver tray and the soup swelled and flattened into a steaming cheese pizza with bacon, pepperoni, and—if his nose was telling the truth—garlic seasoned crust. His stomach rumbled loudly, and he had to double check to make sure he wasn’t drooling.
“Okay, well…” he quietly murmured as he picked up a slice and took a bite. Chewing, Levi let out a moan of appreciation. The pizza tasted exactly like a slice from his favorite place back home. “Alright, now I believe in magic,” he concluded.
Tawny just laughed and poured her own bowl, then she sat down next to him to eat as well. Her eyes sparkled enticingly as she patted his knee, her lips curling into a grin. “Relax. Let’s eat, and then we’ll start figuring out what kind of magic you have… and how you can help us here at Raven House. Every new arrival has their own knowledge to contribute. I never object to keeping company with a handsome young man.”
Levi wasn’t sure if she was flirting with him, but he couldn’t help feeling hopeful on the subject. House mistress Tawny was a beautiful woman, and if she was as friendly as she seemed… getting hit by a truck might have been the best thing to ever happen to him.
