Meet The Roommates
Gentle sunbeams and cheery bird songs prodded Aayla awake late the next morning. Aayla found herself covered with her cloak on a bare bed that she could hardly remember crawling into the night before. She sat up and slowly put her foot down on the cool wood floor. Aayla grabbed her shoes and unsteadily made her way to the door.
As Aayla closed the door behind her, she heard a faint ruckus echoing up from the grand staircase next to her room. Curious about the source of the noise, Aayla headed down the staircase. She finally a good look at the lounge below. The furniture was actually quite elegant and plush, if not a little worn and very outdated. The enormous fireplace had a robust golden fire going. Enormous windows ran from the floor to the ceiling on the wall behind the fireplace. She could see a courtyard completely overtaken with plants outside.
The noise was coming from the two sets of large double doors on the right wall. Aayla meandered across the lounge towards the nearest set. There was a bronze plaque next to the doors that said "Cafeteria". Inside was a massive ballroom filled with rows upon rows of banquet style tables and chairs. On the far end of the ballroom was a thin set of double doors. The commotion became louder and louder as she walked towards the far end.
As she got closer, she could see another bronze panel on the door. This one said 'Kitchen'. Muffled clacking, banging and crashing noises resounded from behind the door. She opened the door to find an incredibly large kitchen with ovens, stovetops and plenty of workspace. The only issue was the chaos. The pots and pans were flying through the air. Flames belched out the ovens. Raw vegetables, fruits and other food items were smashed and scattered everywhere. Tiny little fur balls were screeching, giggling, running about the room and in general creating an absolute mess where ever they went like miniature hurricanes. Aayla gasped in shock.
In an instant everything stopped. The fur balls froze and stared at her like deer in headlights. Aayla stared back. Cookware chasing some of the little terrors froze midair. The kitchen became silent except for the roaring of the infernos blasting out of the ovens. Now that they were standing still, she could actually see them. These fur balls were both extremely cute and extremely weird at the same time, like a Furby. They were about the size of a large grapefruit, and covered with soft fur in shades of bright pastel colors. Each had stubby little arms and legs with large eyes and ears. They had cute little noses and wide mouths that were hidden underneath all of their fluff.
A shrill shriek signaled the fur balls to run away like mice from a cat. They scampered into any holes they could find: in the walls, in the floor, behind furniture or into air ducts. Pots and pans flattered to the ground. The ovens remained on fire. Footsteps sounded out from behind Aayla. She turned around to see Ramona walking towards her with a large paper bag cradled in her arms. Aayla pointed to the kitchen and just stood there spluttering.
"Tiny little flying fur balls! There were tiny flying fur balls everywhere!"
"Tiny flying fur balls?"
Ramona sent a quizzical gaze towards Aayla, but when she finally saw the kitchen Ramona was stunned. Then she let out a knowing sigh and clicked her tongue.
"Ah. You must have met the gremlins. Troublesome little pests."
"Gremlins? What are gremlins?"
"Nuisance pests that are very rare but also very hard to get rid of. Their favorite thing in all of Tellus is to cause as much trouble as possible."
Suddenly, they heard a light rumbling sound. A light blush colored Aayla's cheeks. Ramona held up her bag.
"Well, it seems that I brought lunch just in time."
"Lunch?! Isn't it time for breakfast?"
"No dear, it's way past breakfast time."
Ramona quickly set out some sandwiches and bowls of soup on the table. Aayla almost inhaled her food, as if she was starving for weeks. While Aayla devoured her meal, Ramona stepped into the kitchen to take the mess. When she stepped back out, the kitchen was respectable again and no longer a flaming biohazard. Soon after they finished, Ramona brought out the map of Tellus from her bag again. It was spread out over the table after the plates were pushed aside.
"As I said last night, this world as a whole is called Tellus. Unlike Earth, people here can use a type of energy that we call 'mana'. The patterns by which we manipulate this energy are called 'spells', and the manipulation of mana is called 'magic'. Magic can be as simple as creating a ball of light."
"Like what you did last night?"
Ramona nodded. She then pointed to a green dot on the north west portion of the map.
"We are here at Nafriton University of the Arcane Arts, located near Forest Waypoint, Saintlenee Province, Chinebar Republic. Nafriton University is the best magic school of Chinebar, the leader of magical development worldwide. This leads us to our first problem. Your lack of mana will be easily exposed here. Illness is our best cover story.
I would have preferred to send you to Forest Waypoint to avoid any more attention. However, the extremist True Order has been causing chaos all over, and public order has steadily degenerated. To keep you on campus, I might have mentioned to the headmaster last night that my poor, ill god daughter had paid a surprise visit, and could help solve a tiny little problem that we're having with the dorms. Long story short, the headmaster agreed to let you stay if you can pass an interview."
"Well, at least I almost have a place to stay… Wait, what do you mean by 'tiny little problem'?"
"It's nothing much, really. All students have to stay on campus starting this semester. Not enough rooms and other facilities could be built in time, leaving about 600 students still needing rooms. So, we decided to reopen this one. All that's missing is someone to help run it since it's far from the main campus."
"You're suggesting that I have to manage 600 students from the magical equivalent to an Ivy League school without magic and while keeping my true origins a secret all by myself?!"
"No, no, no. There will be some staff assigned to the dormitory, and as Deputy Headmaster of Operations I will be handling most of the paperwork. Just think of your job as a resident advisor or concierge."
"How exactly am I supposed work at a magical university without magic?"
"Well, there are some non-magical positions here, and we don't really have a choice given your lack of magic and any Tellan education. Most importantly, you will have a very important helper."
Aayla collapsed onto the table, cradling her head with her hands. She always wanted to go to college but this was absolutely not what she had in mind. This school year was going to be a horrendous nightmare.
Ramona guiltily kept her eyes focused on her drink as she sipped from it. Now probably wasn't a good time to tell her that a certain old geezer already has his suspicions. That was the only possible reason why he would allow an unfamiliar person on campus at this time without asking many questions.
"Who is this helper?"
"The artifact spirit of the residence hall."
"The artifact what?"
"Ah, let me give you a brief demonstration about magical artifacts."
Ramona reached into her bag and took out a palm sized badge. A bright green jewel was embedded into the center.
"Watch what happens when I add my mana to this badge."
Starting from the jewel, the badge began to glow bright green. Almost in an instant, this glow extended to cover Ramona as well. In a few seconds, the glow stopped.
"This is an artifact, or a tool that manipulates mana. This entire building is technically a type of artifact. Each artifact has a core. For this badge, it's the jewel. For the dorm, there is a core hidden somewhere in the building. Unlike most artifacts, the core of this building has an artifact spirit. Think of it like the mind of the dorm or a form of limited artificial intelligence.
It's ancient, but it should do it's job perfectly fine. The artifact was created by the first headmaster when the school was founded centuries ago. The First's magical abilities far surpassed his peers by millennia. If a later headmaster didn't neglect it for a grander campus and lose both the instruction manual and its main key, then it wouldn't have sat empty for so long.
By the way, the First Headmaster and Nafriton played an important role in the founding of Chinebar. Pride is deeply embedded into the university. Do not ever insult the First. Even I can't help you if the faculty and staff find out."