Chapter 2: I'm Enrolled at Penderghast?!

"Thanks for the help. I thought I was a goner there. I never learned how to swim."

"No problem," Griffin said, extending his hand and beaming a smile. "I'm Griffin."

"I'm D-" I stopped myself, unsure of something.

"am I Donny?!" I rushed towards the lake and looked at my reflection. The face I had lived with for 17 years was gone, 

replaced by a handsome young brown skinned man with luminescent silver-colored dreadlocks and red-colored pupils that didn't seem to be contacts. His teeth had an oddly beast-like sharpness to them.

"Yeah, this confirms it. I'm the main character from The Elementalists." A little somber at the loss of my godly looks given to me by my parents, I walked back over to Griffin with a goofy look on my face.

"My bad. I felt like I was gonna barf. I might've swallowed more water than I thought back there," I said with a chuckle.

I thought for a moment and extended my hand for a handshake with confidence and a serious glint in my eyes. "I'm Tumashye Grimthorne, the man who'll be the greatest Attuned in history. But you can just call me Mashye."

After taking my hand with a firm grasp, Griffin said, "Most people would doubt you, Mashye, but I can tell from your aura that you might be the only person who can actually back up that ambition." He seemed a little taken aback by my seriousness but was still smiling.

"My aura?" I asked, a little confused about his meaning.

"It's a little hard to explain, but it's something that some Attuned can sense. It comes more naturally to us earth-atts. Think of it as something like the energy you give off, but a little more complex.""It's not something that's set in stone like good or evil, but it's a good indicator of somebody's prowess."

"What's my aura like?"

"Bright,"

"The brightest and most overbearing i've ever seen from somebody before in fact" he said with an impressed look on his face

"So basically, you're saying I have the strongest 'aura' that you've seen," I said with a proud grin on my face.

"Something tells me that if I admit that, you'll never let it go," Griffin chuckled.

"You missed the hall of mirrors by a mile, but you made it. Welcome to Penderghast College of Elemental Magicks,"

Griffin said, confirming something I had known long ago. A strange sense of excitement and foreboding hit me, as I pretty much knew most of my future for my freshman and sophomore years. It was kind of weird.

"You're a first year, right? We should get you to the dining hall for orientation if you're feeling well enough, that is?"

"Yeah, I am. Let me get my bearings a little bit," I said, brushing off dirt and grass with a lot of difficulty.

I was irritated, knowing Griffin was looking at me, trying his hardest not to laugh, as I futilely removed wet blades of grass.

I noticed a familiar tall, haughty brunette eyeing me disdainfully from nearby

"Beckett Harrington." i whisper to myself

as he said, "I suppose I should have listened to my dad when he said the admissions standards are in decline here."

"Didn't you read the information packet? There are protocols, you know."

"DiDnT yOU rEAD ThE inforMaTION packet? There are protocols, you know," I mocked him in the most annoying voice I could muster up.

"PFFFT-," Griffin started dying in laughter.

Beckett's face turned red in embarrassment, and his lips curled into a sneer. He said, "I'll remember this," as he gave me a look that could kill before he turned and stalked away.

Knowing his character, I said, "Yeah, I know. Just like how you remembered those protocols." I noticed he sped up as if trying to speed-walk away from my words.

I continued trying to clean myself for a good 15 seconds before Griffin done laughing for now, said,

"Need some help?" He held back another giggle.

"Yeah, that would be perfect. Thank you," I said, resignedly knowing I wasn't making any progress.

Griffin did a smooth flick of his wrist, and a faint blue magic circle appeared above his hand. A comforting gust of wind left me completely dry and clean.

"WOAH, okay, magic is cool as shit in real life. Why did nobody tell me this?" I exclaimed.

"Sorry if it's not the best. Air magick doesn't come easiest to earth-atts. But prof-- Wait, you've never seen magic?" Griffin said, a little shocked.

Realizing my mistake, I came up with an excuse. "Uhh... Yeah, my parents never were keen on the use of magick. Just getting them to let me come to Penderghast took an eternity," I said, hoping he would believe it.

"I feel you. My grandparents were the same way with my parents, but they just had to accept it once they went to college. But enough small talk we can do that on the way to the dining hall. We've wasted enough time," Griffin said with a warming smile.

As we made our way to the dining hall, I began to think.

(I know that my current potential is exponentially stronger than what it was in the original plot. If my wishes that I asked for were actually granted, i'll have to try and activate the system when i'm alone, just in case,

I could naturally feel that I was weaker than in the original plot. Also, I wasn't as fit as I remembered the main character being. I felt a little self-conscious, as I was taller than Griffin, yet he was way more muscular in comparison. 

("I'll have to work on gaining some muscle. I don't know who or what is the reason that I'm here, but as long as I'm here, I'm gonna live a better life than before. I'm going to get the full college experience no matter what.")

During my motivational inner monologue, we passed by a statue which swiveled its head towards us. I jumped a little before Griffin chuckled and said, "That's just the security statue. It won't hurt you... yet. Make sure you get in before curfew. It vaporizes any intruders it sees after 10:00 PM."

I made a mental note of the cyclops fallen angel hybrid as we moved on. We entered two large brown doors, and Griffin led me towards the staircase. But the loud chiming of a bell stopped him. He looked at his watch, startled. "Oh crap, I totally forgot about the thief team meeting I'm supposed to go to."

"Wait, you're leaving?" I said, a little worried I might lose my only way of maneuvering around this campus. "Of course not. What type of upperclassman would I be? I'll drop you off at the dining hall. We're just gonna have to speed this tour up," he said with a warming smile.

We went up the stairs, and Griffin led me to an adjoining hallway. "The dining hall is just at the end of this hall and to the left. This is the school's main building, so there are a ton of offices and stuff in here: reception, the dean's office, classrooms... Some of the attunement placement exams are held here too." "Attunement placement?" I asked.

"Right? I think it's kinda silly too. I knew earth was my thing when I caused a mini earthquake in my room when I was younger." "Uh... Yeah, same totally," I replied. As we passed one of the doors in the hall, I heard a small commotion coming from inside.

"Oh HELL!"

"Uh, Griffin, what's in this room?"

"That's the hall of mirrors, where you were supposed to come through." The first thing I saw when I opened the door was a beautiful girl with dark curly hair and flash desperately trying to pull her foot out of a floor-length mirror.

"Oh thank goodness some assistance, s'il vous plait?" (Please)

Griffin and I rushed over and took one of her hands each and tugged until she came free. She stumbled right into my arms and blew her bangs out of her face with a smile, looking up at me with a look that could make any straight man weak in the knees.

"Oops, Shreya Mistry in your arms and at your service."

"Nice coc- i mean catch, by the way," she winked and spoke to where only I could hear, confused by that, I just felt a slight breeze away from my lower area, feeling a little violated and impressed at how she copped a feel without me even realizing it.

"Tumashye, but you can just call me Mashye," dismissing my thoughts about her. "How'd you get stuck in the mirror?" I asked, a little confused.

"I always have trouble with these stupid mirrors. I prefer air travel if I'm being honest. But at least I made it. I was about five minutes away from starting my freshman year a month late."

"Why a month?"

"That's when the first visitors' day is, when the wards reopen, of course. Guess Penderghast is stuck with me now!"

"Well, welcome. I'm Griffin, a sophomore, and Mashye here is a freshman too. I was just showing him to the dining hall. If you want to come with, seeing as the two of you already have a little connection going on," Griffin spoke with a knowing smile.

"No need, I know just where it is. I'm a legacy student. It was nice meeting you two, though, for some reason, I'm sure we'll meet soon again," she said while looking at me before she strutted out of the room.

We left the hall of mirrors a short while later. Griffin stopped in front of a pair of ornate doors. "Well, that ends the Griffin tour! Sorry it was kind of rushed, but I've gotta go. But good luck with the rest of orientation."

"Actually, if you could jus-" But he's already bounding away down the hall. I sigh before turning toward the giant double doors. "It's now or never, I guess," pushing them open.

As I slip in the hall, I'm a little overwhelmed by the high ceilings, stained glass windows, and countless dining tables, as well as some floating Candles reminding me of another book about a certain magical school,

 A handful of heads swivel in my direction as the dean continues to drone up front. "Hey! Over here!" I turn to the left to see a guy with a giant smile waving me down over to his table. I immediately recognize him and hurriedly take a seat next to him.

"Hey, you're late. I'm Zeph, short for Zephyr." "I'm Tumashye, but you can just call me Mashye." "So Mashye, what's your attunement?"

"I'm... uh, waiting for tomorrow to find out, don't want to jinx it," I said nervously. He opens his mouth to respond but is cut off by the dean loudly clearing her throat.

"In conclusion, I'd like to remind you all that this is an institution, not a playground for children. Put in the work or go home."

(Listening to her makes me a little angry. I can't take anything this woman says seriously after knowing how she is gonna betray me in the future to protect a literal god.) 

Around me, students start to rise and shuffle towards the doors as the dean briskly walks offstage.

"She's just full to the brim with warm fuzzies, isn't she?" Zeph said jokingly.

"Wait, it's over already? I missed the whole thing!"

"Don't worry, Dean Geoffe's speeches are notoriously dry. She is a resident yapper around here. The gist is freshmen will line up at 7 AM in the foyer tomorrow to get assigned one of the staff as their examiner for their attunement placement tests."

He points up at the stage where a hairy, kind-faced satyr is seated behind a table with a few other teachers.

"Holy shit, he's tall," I said, shocked.

"Yeah, I know. I asked him earlier, and he told me he's a little over 7 feet," Zeph spoke knowingly.

We get up and begin shuffling our way out the doors as well.

"Classes will start right after all freshmen have been placed. Your schedule will be given then as well."

"So what happens now?"

"The rest of the day is free, my friend. Me and my roommate have a lot of bonding to do. You should probably talk to the R.A. and find out what your room number is," Zeph said while slowly getting pushed away from me. I follow the crowd of freshmen out onto the grounds and immediately lose track of Zeph.

"So... uh, now what?"

"Hey! Mashye!"

I turn around to see Griffin jogging towards me.

"You survived orientation! How was it? As boring as last year's?"

"Nah, it was actually interesting. Well, not the actual speech. I missed most of that, but I saw a satyr, I think, and made a new friend. So considering all that, it was pretty eventful for me, considering where I was this morning."

(I was so wrapped up in experiencing all this, I forgot about the fact that I'm literally a senior in high school that got transported into a fucking video game. Am I crazy? Because why am I not actually freaking out about this? I feel almost unusually calm. Is it the gamer's mind that I wished for?)

"Hey!, dude, you okay? You were spacing out for a minute there."

"Shit, my fault. I was just thinking. First-day jitters, I guess. Just a little overwhelmed. What were you saying?"

"It's all good, dude." He gives me a reassuring smile. "It gets better, you know."

"My first day here was awful. I didn't really know anyone at first, but I figured that thanks to my thief scholarship, I'd at least have my teammates... And then next thing I know, I'm running naked across the lawn chasing the clothes my captain magicked to life while I was in the showers." He shivered a bit in embarrassment when he said this.

"No way," I said, chuckling a little. "So you were sprinting just bare dick and balls?"

"Forget that, you're losing the plot. My point is that day sucked. But there isn't a single moment since then that I regret coming here."

"Yeah... maybe it's not the worst thing in the world that I ended up here, but I'm just a little confused why."

"One thing I've learned in my time here is that if something happens to you, good or bad, it happened for a reason. You're meant to be here, mashye. Don't let your thoughts tell you anything differently. Don't think too deep into it, just go with the flow for now."

He pauses for a second, a sly grin spreading across his face. "I've got an idea. I could use your help. If you're up for it, it could take your mind off things."

"Taking my mind off things is all I needed to hear. What do you need help with?"

"Last year, I lost one of my keepsakes on my way back to class. I know where it's at, but it's gonna be hard to spot with all the junk lying around. I wouldn't mind an extra set of eyes."

"You helped me so much already. I'd feel like an asshole if I said no."

"Awesome, I have a feeling you're going to like this." I follow Griffin through the campus and down a hallway very similar to the one from earlier. He leads me past several doors and right into a dead end.

"If this is where your keepsake is, it shouldn't be too hard to find considering there's... nothing here."

"Hang on a second." Griffin presses his palms together, then begins moving his hands back and forth in front of the wall, as if wiping steam from a mirror. With each move, the wall seems to melt away, revealing a door behind it.

"Okay, dead end, invisible door. I should've expected that from a magical college." Griffin laughs my comment off. "Invisibility wards are pretty basic. The key is knowing where to look.

There's a ton of them around the campus. Even I only know a handful of secret places around here. Now watch this." Griffin clenches his hands into fists, then he presses his knuckles together and takes a deep breath. I can see a faint metallic energy go towards his hands.

"There we go." He exhales and places two fingers against the doorknob. After hearing a satisfying click, he opens the door. I shake my head in disbelief at my reality right now as Griffin leads me inside.

The room is packed full with objects. Boxes overflow with colorful knick-knacks, and shelves bend under the weight of an assortment of curios. To my left, a stuffed raven caws loudly. There's a thin aisle that winds through, giving me just enough space to walk.

Griffin starts to rifle through the shelves. My eyes flick about, unable to take everything in. I spot some interesting trinkets - a candle glowing with a bright purple flame and a large spiky ball of metal hovering in mid-air. Griffin, noticing my overstimulation, speaks up.

"The thing we're looking for is a silver ball about the size of my fist with an onyx button at the top."

"Yeah, I can definitely see why you needed help."

A bell rings, and I turn around looking for the source. I spot an eerie doll smiling down at me from a high shelf, ringing it.

"Yeah, I hate that. What even is this place?"

"It's a lost and found of sorts. Anything students forget on campus ends up in here. I think professors put confiscated items in here too. Hence the wards." As I walk further into the room, I spot a jar of jagged ovals shimmering in the overhead light.

"Nah, these are hard."

"Dragon scales. I wonder what they're doing down here... That's a lot of money gone to waste. Findertook!" I stiffen a little at the sound and turn expecting to see someone behind me.

"Oh, ignore that thing. It's just going to spew nonsense at you."

My eyes wander to a pendant with a woman's face in profile carved into an alabaster shell. "Huh, why is this here?" I pick it up, and it yells, "Thibity!"

"What the hell type of language is that?" I turn to Griffin.

"I don't have a clue. I'm guessing it was some kind of prank gift." I spot a unicycle in the corner of the room.

"No way, magical unicycles are a thing?"

"Last year, some kid thought it would be fun to enchant it to fly. Turns out unicycles don't like to be enchanted. The professors confiscated it after he fell off of it about three stories up." I wander to a box filled with magical objects and stumble across a genie lamp.

"Hell yeah, I'm about to get some wishes." I rub it to no avail as nothing happens.

"Huh, a djinn student must've left that here. You know, djinn don't actually grant wishes?" Griffin said with a chuckle.

"They don't?"

"No, they use lamps as a way to hide from danger. But if someone does manage to find them, they offer them a 'wish,' which really means they do a bit of magic, no different than the stuff you and I can do."

I walk a little further down the aisle, squinting at the shelves. A metallic glint catches my eye, and I pick up a silver ball. "Hey, Griffin, I found your... ball thing?"

"What? Nice! I knew inviting you along was a smart move." My thumb slides over the diamond-shaped piece of onyx at the top, and with a click, several panels pop out on all sides.

"Whoa..." I look up at the ceiling. The lights in the room have dimmed, and all around the room, sprinkled across the clutter are...

"Stars."

"It's a star tracker. It maps the rotation of stars! They're a tool for Astro-Weavers mostly, but I found this one here a while ago."

"Astro-Weavers?"

"They maintain constellations mostly. A lot of air-atts go into that field after graduation."

"Is that what you're interested in?"

"Nah, earth-atts are a little more... grounded than that. I'm thinking of majoring in natural preservation sciences. I just like having a star tracker. It makes me feel bigger than myself, being able to see the stars so close and in real-time like this. What do you think? Worth finding?"

"Yeah... this place is amazing. Thanks for inviting me along, dude."

"No, thank you. I'm terrible at finding things. I would've never gotten this back without your help."

"We should get out of here. I don't like to leave the ward on the door down for too long."

"Bet, could you show me to the dorm? This campus is huge, and if I tried to find it myself, I'd be sleeping on the front lawn." Griffin chuckles as he leads us out of the lost and found. I follow him to a building on the other side of campus, reading, 'Fletchly Residence Halls.'

"Here you go. Once you get inside, someone'll help you find your room. And thanks again, Mashye, for helping me find my star tracker. See you around?"

I enter the dorm, greeted by an empty lobby, and an upperclassman with a clipboard waves me over. "Welcome to Penderghast! How can I assist you? Need help finding your room?"

"Yeah, I'm a little lost."

"You can just tell me your last name, and I'll point you in the right direction."

"Grimthorne."

Her eyes skim the clipboard. "Grimthorne... Grim... Here we go! Tumashye Grimthorne, first floor, room 108. Your roomie has been checked in since this morning!"

I take my time walking down the hall, taking some time to digest everything that's going on. Still very confused about how a game can become reality, I'm even more confused about why I'm not missing my friends or even my family. Not that I was particularly close to any of my family members, I mostly kept my distance. But I should feel... something towards the life I spent 17 years living.

But I don't.

Amidst this inner turmoil, I reach my dorm, ready to call it quits for the day when I notice there's no doorknob. "Give me a break, maybe I should have asked Beckett for the handbook, in all actuality." I place my hand where the doorknob would be, wondering if anything is supposed to happen when my entire hand slips right through. "Whoa!" I feel a chill go through me as I fall through a transparent blue wall and onto the floor. As soon as I'm in, the door reforms.

"It's you again! Well, aren't I the lucky girl?" I turn to see the curvy beauty from earlier, Shreya Mistry, albeit this time in a more casual outfit: a crop top that poorly holds her massive breasts back and red plaid pajama bottoms that accentuate her amazing figure.and I stopped admiring her body once I saw her get a confident smirk, saying that she knows what I'm oogling, which irked me a little.

"The lady who sexually assaulted me in the hall of mirrors, you again. How lucky!" I said with fake enthusiasm. This seemed to embarrass her slightly, with a reddish hue adorning her silky smooth brown skin.

"You were just sexually assaulting me with your eyes. It's even now! And don't even try to deny it."

"Yeah, we're comparing admiring a beautiful specimen of the opposite gender to grabbing somebody's No-no square, but I'll let bygones be bygones. I was actually looking for you earlier, but I kind of lost you in the dining hall."

"Yes, sorry about that. I had friends waiting, and well, you know how that goes. But I'll be a perfect roommate. I don't know what you've heard about me, but I assure you that it's only partially true!" She said with childlike excitement, which made her look even cuter than she already was.

When she pauses for air, or maybe dramatic effect, I take a look at the surroundings. There's a kitchen to my right with an oddly futuristic-looking refrigerator and some pots and pans hanging up with school designs detailed on them.

And to my left is the living room with some leather couches and chairs and a flat-screen television above a fireplace with warm blue flames.

"Glad to see my roommate isn't completely devoid of style, though you could still use a few pointers. Luckily, you have me to help you!"

"Well? Say something."

"Relax, brodie. Today's been a long one for me. Let me chill out for a second." I take my Shoes off and plop down on the sofa with my legs propped up on the armrest and rest my eyes for a minute before I feel a light pressure on my chest.

As I open my eyes, I see Shreya sitting on my chest, looking down at me with a coy smile. Usually, I would probably be all for this, but as exhausted as I am, I'm not very amused at this gesture. "Sigh, you said before that whatever I've heard about you is only 'partially true'."

She rolls her eyes as she says, "I know you're thinking about me and Fifi's tiff at Mistry Inc.'s annual charity fashion show."

"Never heard of it, or you."

She is absolutely still for a moment before she smiles, albeit looking almost painful, which puts a smile on my face, knowing she's irritated by my answer.

"Is that a problem?" I said with a grin.

"Not. At. All."

"My family is only the number one purveyor of enchanted objects worldwide, but why would you know that? Besides..."

"This was the whole point! To come to college, have new experiences, fly under the radar, become the person I want to be, you know?"

"I know exactly how ya' feel. No matter how hard you try, nothing fits. Like the things that you think are gonna make you happy never do."

"Absolutely. It's how I felt all the time. Until I arrived here, that is."

(Although this Shreya looks different from how I remember, their personalities and problems are still the same. I should be able to trust somebody like her. )

"Shreya, I'll be honest. I can't do magick."

.....

"huh?"

"So, the tl;dr is basically I got transported here out of nowhere, and I don't know anything about this place. But for some reason, I'm actually enrolled here, so apparently, somebody intended for me to come here," I said casually, as if this was just another Monday.

(Which was both a lie and the truth. I know a lot about Penderghast itself and the plot for the first two, but the actual world of the Attuned wasn't detailed too much in the visual novel,)

Shreya is wide-eyed, processing the information I just told her, mocking her with a grin. "Well? Say something."

She side-eyes me before speaking. "Mashye, this is exactly what I've been looking for."

A little puzzled, I try to sit up, forgetting she is still sitting on top of me. I just lay back down after realizing she has no intention of moving. "What does that mean?"

"I'm gonna help you."

"Why would you do that? You just met me."

"Because it sounds fun."

"Part of the reason why I came to college was to meet all kinds of interesting people, and you, Tumashye, are the most interesting, one-of-a-kind, I'd even say."

"But have you considered there may be magick in you? Have you tried any?" she asked quizzically

"No, I don't think I have actually." Shreya places a finger on her lip as her eyes roam the room. "I've got it!"

She jumps off me and turns around. "Let's go before the shop closes."

"What do you mean, let's go? I thought we couldn't leave campus?" I said, feigning ignorance.

She leads me towards the other side of the room to a door with different knobs of different shapes and sizes screwed into it.

"There are a few predetermined places we can go to, like Penn Square, for example. Our rooms are also in this door."

She examines the door until she finds the knob labeled Penn Square, then turns it and pulls the door open as a bustling plaza appears in front of us. She turns and looks at me.

"Welcome to our magickal world, Tumashye. This is just the beginning. Let's go!" she said as she jumps through the portal.

"Oh brother, I curse whatever being forced me here,"I mutter to myself as I jump through as well.

"To be continued."