There’s some shuffling and then the smell of orange chicken enters the room and I don’t know how but my stomach doesn’t growl.
“You won’t find much in the library,” Asher answers. “They stopped teaching runic magic years ago. Professor Asier would be the only one who knows about it. His graduating class was the last one to learn about it, I think. Him or Professor D’etre. Either of them should know about it.”
I can hear him shoving something into his mouth and chewing. A sharp pain slashes through my abdomen and it makes me realize the majority of the pain from my cramps has mostly stopped. I should be finished menstruating today, but now I’m just hungry.
“He doesn’t have hours posted on the portal, does he?” I ask. Going out to ask him will also give me an excuse to get away from that good smelling food.
“Mhmm. Unless he took them off, but you can always go see if he’s there if you really want to. He is a good professor.”
I’d roll my eyes but I’m too distracted by the food. Groaning, I heave myself up and turn to sit on the edge of the bed. Asher is cozy on Jullia’s bed as he shoves food into his mouth while peering over at Jullia’s notes.
She looks over at me with wide questioning eyes. “You going? Want us to come with?”
Asher makes a face that I do roll my eyes at. “Nah, I’ll be fine. Eat your food, I shouldn’t be long.”
Pulling over my heeled boots, I slip them on and then stand. Over the last week Jullia has been leaving clothes in my wardrobe that apparently she “can’t wear” or are “too small”or some other excuse she throws around. So now I have three pairs of jeans, five shirts, two sets of pajama’s, a new pack of underwear – because Jullia “accidently bought them and doesn’t need them” – seven pairs of socks, two baseball caps, and a pair of tennis shoes.
So today I’m in one of her long sleeve, white ribbed turtleneck tops. I have it tucked into dark washed jeans that would drag on the floor but because of my heels they hit an inch above it. Since it’s going to be dark soon I don’t bother taking my gloves or glasses and just grab my tablet and umbrella.
With a half wave, I leave the love sick fools to their dinner and exit the room. My tablet pings immediately with a message from Jullia.
Ice Princess:If you need anything just let us know! Also I’ll be tracking you
She ends the message with a winky face and I roll my eyes but smile at the message. Such a stalker.
Turning off the tablet, I start heading out. There are noises coming out from behind closed doors. Music, shows or videos playing, voices, fucking. The dorms are separated by gender with the first year dorms being furthest from the main building, but there are no rules about anyone going into other dorms.
You would think with how prestigious it is that there would be more rules and regulations. But, of course, this isn’t America – or Earth for that matter. And while English is a widely spoken language here, it is not native and had been brought over with how many people kept traveling back and forth from Miy to Earth.
It’s something Ms. Elaycia and Rosemary had told me. They also mentioned various landmarks and would draw out maps for me before. I never thought I would actually be attending, so I never paid much attention to them. But I remember the gist – even before the map was downloaded to my tablet.
The main building is shaped like an octagon, where the wisteria looking Willow of Lore rests. It was a symbol that was created after a war between gods and right before the university was built. Stories and songs are whispered about it and its spirits who come out once a year to hum their melody.
The main building was built around that tree, with the center of the building hollowed out and a dome of glass above to let in natural sunlight as well as moon and starlight. The rooms and stories that make up the perimeter hold most of our classes, with the cafeteria on the south most side of the main building – opposite of where the main front doors are.
Other buildings that make up the rest of the lecture halls and classrooms surround the southwest side of the main building. With the dorms to the west, and the society houses curving around the east and southeast side.
On the east side there is also the training arena and gym for those that have certain classes, as well as the east field which is past the society houses and extends acres. An expansive space that eventually leads to a cliff overlooking a sea with forests and woods surrounding it.
It’s a beautiful place if you think about it.
If only I was here because I wanted to attend and not because it was either be here or be dead.
I glide down the stairs and pass the girl who gave me my key by the front desk. She gives me a mock salute when she sees me before going back to her tablet. Jullia had told me her name’s Ricka and she’s a lightning mage in Asher’s class.
We haven’t had many interactions but Asher and Jullia said she thinks I’m a bad bitch and votes for me against the celestials. Even though Ricka herself has a RBF and ‘don’t come near me or I’ll fuck you up’ energy, she seems cool enough.
Better than that red-headed vampyr bitch on my first day. Thankfully I haven’t seen her since then.
I open my umbrella right before I push open the doors and to be honest, I could probably go without. If I had worn one of the baseball caps Jullia gave me I’d be good because the back of the dorms face west and the sun is mostly behind the trees now.
Keeping the umbrella open anyway, I rest the pole on my shoulder and slightly twirl it as I walk towards the path that leads to the main building. There’s not many people out. A few on blankets having a little picnic, others out for simple strolls. With no parties on Sunday nights the campus is really calm. It almost feels eerie. Especially with all the gothic architecture and stone statues and overgrown foliage in certain areas.
This is how I imagined it would feel like to study at Oxford. Ana would tell me she always wished she could live that dark academia university life. She loved reading R.F. Kuang’s books and all the intellectual and philosophical writing.
I’m personally a fan of her debut series. . . sometimes I wish I was more like Rin. So much rage. So much burning.
I adjust the angle of my umbrella as I enter an unshaded part of the path. My shadow elongates up the stone walkway.Glancing up, I survey the area before reaching my hand out of the safety of my umbrella’s shadow.
