Jeb woke up the next morning to the tolling of the bells. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he listened to them. His confusion took him all the way to the cafeteria, where a look at the clock confirmed what he had thought: it was only now third bell. Looking around the rest of the cafeteria, he did not see anyone else, which only added to his confusion.
Still, there was hot food and he wasn’t tired enough to go back to sleep. He shrugged and picked up a small loaf of bread and some preserved fruit. When he walked by the urns of hot drinks, he poured himself a mug of some strongly spiced tea.
With nothing and no one to occupy his mind while he ate, Jeb let his thoughts wander. When someone loudly set a tray down across from him, he jolted.
“Good morning, Jeb,” Dean Aquam said, nodding.
“Good morning, Dean Aquam. Do you know why there were bells tolling today at third bell?”
“The bells toll every hour of every day.” The Dean replied, taking a drink of his broth.
“Do you know why I heard the bells in my room?” Jeb tried again.
“Oh! Sorry, my mind has not fully awoken this morning. Yes, the the third bell tolled in your room this morning because today is the first day of the Academy qualifying tournament.” Seeing Jeb’s confusion, he nodded and continued, “every year the Academy, Adventurer’s Guild, and Military compete in a tournament. Today is the first day of qualifying rounds for everyone. As the only member of the Remedial College, I suppose you do technically qualify for the all Academy part of the tournament, though I would advise you not to compete, at least this year.”
Jeb nodded. “So if everyone was woken at third bell today, where is everyone?”
The Dean shrugged, “anxiously awaiting their match, I assume. Despite how important the tournament is to many of our students and alumni, we are primarily an institution of higher learning. Tournament matches are only scheduled during periods when no courses run. People should begin trickling back in at sixth bell.”
Jeb nodded and returned to his meal. The Dean seemed content to eat in silence, and Jeb had no issues with it either. As the bells finished tolling out the sixth hour, he saw that the Dean had been correct. Students started filing in and filling their plates with food. The overall energy level in the room grew quickly.
Dean Aquam sighed and stood. “I assume from the noise that there was a particularly exciting upset in the bracket. All the same, I think that I will return to my office, where the ambient sounds are far quieter. Have a nice day, Jeb.”
“Same to you!” Jeb called. As the Dean walked away, Jeb realized that he had no real reason to stay in the raucous cafeteria either. Putting his plate on the cleaning line, he left the room and went to his desk in the Stacks.
Jeb started writing a letter to his family. Briefly summarizing his travels with the Censusmaster, he made sure to let them know that the debt situation was apparently well in hand. After going through all of the negative to neutral aspects of his time away from home, he transitioned into the brighter portions. He wrote about his new Class and the fact that he had just made a friend. After writing it, he grimaced while rereading it.
None of the content was untrue, or even something that he did not want to tell his family. He was fine with his hometown Librarian seeing all of the text, since he had known Jeb for years. Jeb was just a little worried about having Margaret read the letter. Sighing, he brought it to her. Regardless of how she would take it, talking to his family honestly was much more important to Jeb than looking cool in front of others.
He started walking through the Stacks, hoping that he would find Margaret somewhere within them. After a few minutes of wandering, he saw her. Trying to avoid their usual meeting of a collision, he called out when she drew near.
“Oh!” she said, pulling up just short of running into him again. “Good morning, Jeb. Is that the letter for your family?”
He nodded. The letter left his hand and flew into Margaret’s. “I’ll let you know when your hometown Librarian sends a response,” she said, turning deeper into the Stacks.
“Thank you!” Jeb called after her. He hadn’t heard the bells toll while working on the letter. Hoping that meant that he was early, rather than just completely engrossed in his writing, Jeb asked the Stacks to take him to his Introductory Piano course.
Looking around the empty room, Jeb breathed a sigh of relief. He was early. Since no one else was there, Jeb decided to spend a little bit of time working on his Ephemeral Song. He couldn’t think of a single reason that he would need his Mana for the class, especially since nothing in the Introductory Music Theory course had discussed Magic at all.
His lute had stayed in tune, and Jeb focused on warming his fingers up. Even though he had the Lute Playing Skill, playing with cold fingers was not a habit that he wanted to get into. When his warmup shifted into noodling around the instrument, though, he started paying attention to his playing again.
Jeb carefully started playing out the notes of the Ephemeral Song, letting it spin into the air around him. As he slowly fed his Mana into the Song, he felt it catch and watched the apple he kept working on form. It fell onto the papers he had piled onto desk in front of him, and Jeb saw the way that it depressed the stack ever so slightly. As the scent of a fresh spring apple started to fill his nose, the door behind him opened and Jeb jolted, losing the Song.
“I apologize,” the voice said. “I did not expect anyone else to be in the classroom this early, let alone anyone working on a Song.”
“It’s no problem,” Jeb replied, turning to the speaker.
“Who are you?” the speaker asked, moving towards the front of the classroom. Jeb couldn’t get a good idea of whether the speaker was a man or woman from their voice. The figure they cut in their robe didn’t help either. It was dark as a night with no moon, which called attention to how pale their skin was.
Realizing that he had been too focused on how the stranger looked to answer, Jeb replied hurriedly, “my name is Jeb. I’m a student here at the Academy.”
“Good morning Jeb,” the speaker replied. “I am Lecturer Thistle. I will be teaching this section of Introductory Piano. Tell me, do you have any experience with the piano?”
Jeb shook his head. “I assume that the keyboards throughout the room are pianos, but that’s about as much as I could tell you.” The two continued staring at each other, for what Jeb had to assume was different reasons. Jeb was continuing to notice new features in the Lecturer, such as their blood red eyes and subtly traced scars across the entirety of their face. If not for the fact that they were his instructor, Jeb would have felt nervous being in the same room as them. The silence grew deeper, until Jeb felt like the sounds of his own heart’s beating were beginning to fade.
“Interesting,” they finally said, breaking the silence.
“What’s interesting?” Jeb asked, grateful that the room had returned to its normal level of quiet.
The Lecturer opened their mouth as though to answer, and Jeb saw glints of metal where their teeth should have been. Before they could, though, the door flew open as a number of students poured through.
“Sorry we’re late!” the frontmost student called. “College of Music trials took longer than they were supposed to. I have a note from the Dean if-” her voice cut off as she saw the Lecturer.
“If?” Lecturer Thistle asked, voice carrying deeply, silencing the crowd.
“If you need it, Lecturer Thistle,” the young woman said, dropping into an impromptu curtsy.
“That will not be necessary,” they replied. “If you all take a seat, we will begin.”
Each of the students rushed to sit behind one of the keyboards. Jeb, taking the hint, moved behind a keyboard himself. When everyone was settled behind a piano, Instructor Thistle spoke.
“I am obligated to ask this question due to University policy, for all that I assume we all know the answer already. With a show of hands, who is Bound to an instrument?”
Jeb raised his hand, confused by the preface. As he looked around, though, he understood. His was the only hand raised in the room.
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The Instructor nodded. “I assume it is the lute you were playing when I came in?”
Jeb nodded.
“Put it in that locker,” they gestured to a row of storage lockers that Jeb knew without a doubt had not been there a moment before. As he closed the door to the locker, Jeb suddenly lost the feeling of his lute. Like his aunt had warned him, it felt like he was suddenly missing a limb. Carefully making his way back to his seat, Jeb almost missed the Instructor’s next question.
“Is anyone here bound to something other than an instrument, which is in the room?” No one raised their hand. Instructor Thistle nodded, as though they had expected that answer. “And finally,” they rolled their eyes, “is there anyone here bound to something that is not within the room?”
Jeb once more raised his hand. The Instructor’s eyes locked on the hand, and Jeb blushed as every other eye in the classroom seemed equally drawn to him.
“That makes this slightly more complicated,” the Instructor sighed. “Does anyone have a course immediately following this one?” Seeing no response, they nodded. “That, at least, makes this easier. We will be cut off from standard reality for the duration of our class periods. At the end of the session, I will return us to the Academy. That may take a few minutes, especially during the first sessions of the term. I apologize in advance for any discomfort,” they said, nodding at Jeb.
Before Jeb could ask what they meant, the room shifted slightly. Jeb couldn’t quite describe what felt different, but it felt as thought the entire room had somehow rotated five degrees without disturbing anything within it. The slight tilt was far less notable to Jeb than the sudden loss of the Hive and Swarm.
Jeb fell off of his bench gasping for air. It felt like no matter how much he took in, his body could not do anything with it.
“I had worried this might happen,” Thistle said, unconcerned. They rapped the desk in front of them, and the tone seemed to resonate throughout the entire room. As the sound kept bouncing into Jeb, it slowly worked against the pain in his soul. By the time that the thud had stopped echoing, he felt like he could breath and move again, despite how wrong everything felt. He sat back up at the bench, choosing to ignore the open stares of his classmates.
“Now, then,” the Instructor said. “Could I see with a show of hands who already has the Musician or Pianist Skill?”
Jeb raised his hand, already bracing for the increased pain. Thankfully, he was not the only one to raise his hand this time.
“Good to know,” the Instructor said, and they put their hands down. “Thankfully for all of you, shifting out of our reality to prevent Bound interactions also removes access to Skills, so there will be no added discomfort.”
Jeb breathed a sigh of relief. The rest of the lesson proceeded fairly easily. Despite the fact that he did not have access to his Musician Skill, Jeb found playing the scales and rhythmic passages the Instructor set out for them relatively easy. When the period ended and reality returned, Jeb felt his connection to the bees return. For whatever reason, they seemed somehow slightly closer than they had before their connection was temporarily severed. It wasn’t until he pulled his lute from its case, though, that Jeb felt complete again.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Humdrum Human Age: 16 Class: Wizard Level: 3 Experience: 1015/204
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Total Statistic Load: 633 Physical Load: 228 Strength: 52 Dexterity: 53 Endurance: 54 Vitality: 55 Presence: 14
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Mental Load: 405 Intelligence: 83 Willpower: 85 Magic Affinity: 89 Mana Depth: 74 Charisma: 74
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Mana: 1755
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Glyph Attunement: 31 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Water (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Meditation Spell Glyphing Gift of Gab Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Glassblowing Magic
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic Glyph Specializer
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)