A Disappointing Welcome 2

"You damned rizzeh-" he stopped as the male to Sky's left coughed and shifted in his chair again. Sky turned to look at her escort as the Chancellor turned his back.

"What the Chancellor meant to say was that we didn't bring you here to talk about his office's furnishings," her escort said.

She noticed that he had a kind smile that somehow didn't reach his eyes. Sky was once again drawn into them by their beautiful shade of red. The soft red light of his eyes pulsed, matching the rhythm of her heartbeat. With each beat, they drew her in deeper. Her awareness of the room faded more with each passing second until there was nothing but that beautiful, pulsing glow filling her vision and her mind. Sky's numb shell slipped off, and a sleepy, dream-like comfort and warmth washed over her. Her escort slid a sheaf of paper in front of her on top of the intricate knot. There were two short blanks and one long one. The loping, cursive writing filling the paper was beautiful and almost as intricate as the knot.

"Fill this out and sign it," he said almost inaudibly. Sky didn't resist because she didn't want the fuzzy, warm feelings to dissipate. Looking into his eyes, she felt a sense of comfort that she did not quite understand. It had been so long since she'd felt anything like it. He quickly thrust the stylus under her eyes. Thoughtlessly, she grasped the pen and wrote her name in the first blank.

"Just initial here and here," her escort intoned said, pointing to two short blanks. Confusion raced through Sky's mind and broke up some of the haze. She glanced at her escort.

"Initial?" Sky asked. The kind male smiled in amusement. Although she didn't want to, Sky couldn't help but return it.

"Gods, you really are ignorant," he said. A claw of hurt ripped through the warm cloud and dissipated part of it in her mind. "It means write the first letter of each of your names," he said. Sky nodded. Her eyes seemed to well up for some reason unknown to Sky. She sat straight, ignored her almost tears, and made the corrections.

Her eyes, finally cleared enough to read again, registered the bold letters at the top of the page. Form 21: Permanent Withdrawal (for Humans), it read. She looked at the line she'd just initialed. It read: In order to complete a magical education, all humans must reside in Regis. The second, empty initial line read: Once a human signs this form and withdraws from Regis, they are ineligible for re-admittance. She knew what this meant. She could never gain her proficiency or get a job as a mage. Staring at the bottom of the page, Sky saw the empty, blank signature line. Another stab of pain lanced straight through her heart and down into her bowels as if she had been eviscerated.

Sky looked into her escort's eyes, watching the red, hypnotic glow. Majestic, she thought. Sky quickly diverted her glaze. She didn't want to fall into her escort's compelling trap again.

Her attention fell on one of the two slim beams of light filtering into the dark, dismal room between the mostly closed blinds. Taking a deep, steady breath, she forced a somewhat polite smile back onto her face.

"This really is for the best," her escort said, not realizing she'd broke free of his spell. "As a human and a female, a woman, you are universally loathed. Here, humans are beaten every day and when they aren't being beaten, they are completely ignored. No one values you. No one wants you here as a woman. You are all alone, and will live each day in pain, before you either die or quit. This is no place for you, Skylar."

"I am already used to that," Sky stated. She looked at the form again with hollow eyes and then slowly and deliberately set the stylus down.

"Wrong choice, Rizzeh," her escort snapped as he snatched the form and stylus away from her.

"Well, Miss Maren," the Chancellor said, "it appears that you have run away from school without submitting your withdrawal form." Sky stared at him confused, which seemed to please him to no end. The Chancellor smiled, revealing far too many sharp teeth and jagged fangs.

"No, I'm right he—". A loud crack of splintering wood interrupted Sky. It was as if the air had been driven from her lungs. A second later, she felt a gnawing pain in her stomach. She placed her hand on her middle. It felt wet and gave far too easily. As she looked down, she saw the blood oozing from her belly. She felt a cough up into her throat, and when she opened her mouth, blood spewed forth. Her eyes, if anyone could have seen them, were dilated and filled with disbelief.