Cavern of Wonders

Roughly ten seconds after entering the academy campus, Morgan decided that she didn't like it.

The teens around her flashed her glances full of judgement, glowering at her plaid dress and stark white hair as she walked through the huge main entrance doors, leading to a reception.

Morgan marvelled at the interior, how decorated and polished everything was, she'd never seen anything like it in her whole life.

"I'm sorry, young lady, but I will not be spoken to in that manner!"

Turning her black eyes to the reception desk, Angie and Jacquelin stood, the orange-haired fury facing off with the bored-looking older lady sitting at the circular desk. "Will you cut it out" Angie cried, struggling to hold Jack by the shoulders as the wrathful vixen bared her teeth in anger.

"what? what do you mean You don't have our names registered? This is the place My mom came to when she was 18, and my grandmother and her grandmother before her, you're bullshitting us aren't you!? Mess with me and I'll punch you straight in the jaw, lady!" Jack threatened.

The Woman at reception was a woman of 40, maybe 45, with a full but pretty face that never broke from its bored expression. Her hair was a dark blonde, tied up into a loose bun, gazing with indifferent hazel eyes through half-moon spectacles. "Threats of **** will change nothing, Ms... Helia, was it? Mmmm, now that I think of it, I do recall that sour look, You're Georgia's daughter correct?"

"Yeah that's right, you got a problem with that-mmmmf!" Jaquelin Helia's cry was muffled by Angie's tight grasp over her mouth.

"Sorry about that, Miss...?" Angie asked. Morgan kept her distance, watching and listening by the entrance doors.

"Blake."

"Sorry, Miss Blake. But could you look up the name-"

Miss Blake held up a hand "No need, Your Father called ahead of your arrival, Ms Uriel...."

Angie smiled, but Jaqueline's eyes went wide "Mmmmmm?mfgmgmhmggmmmmm!!!" thrashing even more in Angie's arms, to no avail.

"If you could please head down this hallway and take a right down the stairway to the basement. You'll wait there for your entrance interview. If you could take Miss Helia with you, I guess I'll the give Dean a call and figure out if there is an error in the meantime." Miss Blake said cordially. Angie thanked her, dragging a flailing Helia off with her.

Morgan had paused in thought, mumbling to herself "A list? not good. There is no way that My Mistress would have registered me here."
"I've got to stop thinking out loud"
She lamented, puckering her lips and trying to squeeze out her personal oddities. These people were 'mortalfolk' or "Thick lumps with bollocks for brains" as her mistress would ceremoniously refer to them... even to their faces.

"Excuse me!" Miss Blake called. Morgan jolted, looking around to see just who she was calling "You in the plaid Dress, come over please." It was her? "That's right, the one talking to herself in the corner."

Morgan strolled over to the desk, where miss Black sighed "There we go. Now, how can I help you?"

"I..." She hesitated, maybe this wasn't the right place after all "My mistress sent me, I am looking for the Lotus."

Miss Blake nodded "Hmmm, I see. you got a name kid?"

"Hedwig."

"Strange name. let's take a look." Blake skimmed through her list "No new entries under that name I'm afraid."

"Well. It may be under..."

"-We are well aware of who you are Miss Blair." Blake grinned mischievously as Morgan raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't told anyone in this city my real name." Morgan stated, as if to steal her name from Ms Blakes lips. Morgan bit her tongue and stared hard, narrowing her eyes.

If she was lucky, maybe she could actually do it... sometimes it did, but not always.

"Aren't you a unique little thing, beautiful, stoic, bold. But, bewitchment you're not ready to anything like that just yet." Miss Blake lent forward, peering over the rim of her glasses, unstirred but with a fascinated drawn on her relaxed face.

"Bewitchment? what? nonsense, Impossible." Morgan Bluffed.

"Pft Impossible. You wouldn't know what's possible if it climbed up your empty snowy head. Now I'd ask you to go with the other two I just sent off, but... *Sigh* I guess I should show you myself, just in case you get lost or something."

"Are you sure I'm on that list?" Morgan asked.

Miss Blake rolled her eyes, quickly picking up her clipboard and pointing at Morgan's name and date of birth, they even knew where she lived, the words "Beneath the Big rock, north of Snowden, Wales." Jacquelin Helia was also there, when Morgan noticed, Blake gave her a wink.

"Let's get going. I like you, Snow-for-brains but I've have got people to see and places to be."

Following the blonde receptionist down the hall to a solitary door, marked in bold as 'Basement, faculty access only'

Blake cleared her throat, knocking on the door in a 2 by 2 then 3 rhythm. the door swung open, revealing... a simple staircase, leading down into darkness. "After you."

Morgan cleared her throat and took a breath stepping past the threshold and looking back to see nobody hiding behind the door, nor any mechanism attached to open it. Miss Blake "Bomvoyage, Snowy-head. Do try and remain calm, deep breaths always help."

Eyes widening, Morgan realised something was very wrong, trying to step back into the light the door slammed shut in her face, shrouding Morgan in darkness.

"Well, shit." That was the last thing she said before the floor literally gave way. Slipping into a free fall, plummeting at breakneck speed for what could have been minutes or seconds, she couldn't tell. Sensing something rapidly approaching below her, Morgan tucked her arms into her chest, straightening into an arrow as she suddenly felt the sensation of herself submerging into a deep pool of ice-cold water.

Blind and deaf, the white-haired girl kept her head, holding in the shallow breath she'd managed to take in during the fall. Morgan was a strong swimmer, she loved the water and so wasn't nearly as afraid as she was under the surveillance of society.

She knew she could stay underwater comfortably for maybe a minute with the breath-hold she took. It was still dark, but not pitch black, she could see a little in the murky depths, but not well enough to see where the light came from.

No risk, no reward. Morgan allowed some air to slip from her lips, watching the bubbles float up behind her. Now knowing which way the surface was, she slithered in an expert self-yaw motion through the water. Gliding through the darkness like a dolphin, until the light finally came into sight.

Emerging into the open air, Morgan floated taking deep breaths, pushing her wet locks out of her ivory hair.

That is when she saw it for the first time.

Frozen in awe, Morgan beheld the downward-facing battlements and spires of the inverted castle. The pool she lay in was tiny in comparison to the vast space around her. The ceiling was pitch black with many glowing stars and shapes weaving like a beautiful nebula, drifting like clouds in the momentous cavern.

Built into the room, hanging upside down was the Castle of white marble, seemingly identical to The academy in every way, save for the fact that it was much larger and had many more structures attached which also defined gravity.

Before the pool, Morgan lay in, was a long rock terrace leading to a sudden cliff where a huge silver bridge, affixed with hundreds of murals and statues climbed high into the castle's Iron gates.

Many figures stood before this bridge, dark silhouettes on the gleaming palace before them.

Morgan went to paddle herself up but found her hands pushing against the pool's bottom... which definitely wasn't there before. Standing another oddity became quite apparent, Morgan was stripped of her clothes and stood nude as the day she was born, her perky breasts tipped with firm nipples which stood at attention on the cold breeze.

She peered down at the small violet gem, stuck to her pubis, the gleaming amethyst was set in a ring of silver that could not be removed, no matter how many times she tried.

Courtesy of her Mistress and Morgan's own childish ignorance. "No point in trying to hide it now."

Stepping out of the pond, water falling down her glistening skin, Morgan walked towards the crowd of girls, who too were all stripped of their clothes and all stood uncomfortably before the cloaked figures, blocking the bridge to the ivory palace.

The girls, heard her approach and one after the other began to look at her. Morgan however was not awfully shy about her nudity, even waving to Jaquelin who was too busy seething at everyone around her to notice "YOU GOD DAMN FREAKS, WHERE THE HELL ARE MY CLOTHES HUH? IS THIS SOME KIND OF FUCKED UP NUDIST COLONY OF SOMETHING!? WHOS' RESPONSIBLE, I'LL BURN YOU TO ASHES!"

Morgan beheld Jaquelin's heavy breasts swaying as she pointed and gestured violently.

Angie on the other hand seemed rather calm, maybe even a little proud. Her hands rested on her hips, showing off her flawless form with perfectly pert but round boobs. "Shut up, Ginger-Snap! Ugh, I was really hoping you were just a normal nutjob, of course, you had to go and be a witch, and now I've gotta put up with your bull every day."

Morgan peered around at the other girls, most of whom seemed highly nervous and greatly embarrassed to be so exposed to a crowd of complete strangers.

"They... are all witches, they are all... like me?"

"Hedwig!?" A familiar tone came from the nude swarm. Morgan blinked with disbelief as a petite olive-skinned cutie rushed out to her with a wide grin on her face.

"Haru?"

Haru Omnyo beamed with excitement at first, but then quickly realised how naked she was and tried to politely cover her more delicate parts.

"Hehe, I knew there was something weird about you, Hedwig-San. I'm so glad to see at least one familiar face!" Haru chuckled.

"I'm standing right here you know..." Another voice, similar to Haru's but calmer and quieter came from the figure who walked after the small Asian girl. Morgan jolted as... another Haru stopped next to the original, identical to the first, save for her short bob haircut and looming visage.

Narrowing her eyes, she crept up to the mirror image, going to poke the serious-looking copy. Batting Morgan's hand away the copy scowled "What are you doing?" but Morgan closed in, pinching the girl's cheeks and cooing curiously.

"Haru, You really do have a clone!"

The Clone nudged Morgan off, looking offended "I am not a Clone you fool, what's wrong with you?"

"Calm down, Yuna, she has just never seen identical twins before," Haru defended Morgan who was still mesmerized by the image of two people with one face "Yuna, this Hedwig, the one I told you about, from work. I thought she was dead meat after the Alexandrovs went after her. Oh and Hedwig-san, this is Omnyo Yuna, my Twin Sister."

Morgan blinked "Yuna. Haru and Yuna" She pointed between the two, memorising the differences as not to allow further confusion.

"Did you... glue a locket to your pubes?" Yuna asked bemusedly, pointing at the Amethyst below. Morgan huffed, trying to keep her thoughts clean so the gem wouldn't get worked up.

"Not me," Morgan admitted.

"Shut up, everyone, look someone's coming across the bridge!" a girl with round glasses cried, pointing to the five hooded women on the bridge who walked towards the gathering of nude Witches.

This grand congregation of women were graceful and illustrious, draped in beautiful robes of varying colours, with great hooded cloaks and black veils that covered their faces.

The woman in the centre of the finely gowned group was clearly the greatest of them all. A Tall figure dressed in a beautiful dress-like gown weaved of iridescent aquatic teal, she too was veiled, but instead of a hood, she bore a hat with a ludicrously broad brim, its tall pointed crown weaved with gems and inlaid with gold.

This grand maiden stepped forward as the others paused by the dark braziers that crested the Bridgeway. Stopping before the crowd, the woman lifted her arm and... batted away her hat which slid off into the air like smoke, revealing the woman's face.

With eyes black as pitch, and iron grey hair cropped close to her scalp, she revealed a face that gleamed with a mature but otherworldly beauty.

Raising her fingers, covered in many jewels and bands of silver and gold, the cold braziers roared with a ghostly ivory flame, making them all jolt.

"Let the 666th initiation begin." She spoke her voice a boom in this Cavern of wonders.