The Dormitory

Standing before you is a structure ripped straight out of a story book, a monumental spire complete with a pointed cone resting upon it, not unlike the pointed hat of a wizard.

You move forward up its steps before being greeted by a large door that seems to resemble a strange stone mural, depicting a man and a woman, standing in a field, the man holds a sword and shield while the woman holds a heavy looking tome.

There doesn’t appear to be any kind of mechanism that opens this door, no knob or lever or chain, nothing.

Suddenly as if sensing your presence the mural animates, the figures glancing around the area before resting on you.

“Ah, I don’t recognize you little one, I take it you’re a new addition to the academy?” Said the woman, she had a strange accent, that you could not place.

“Hm, indeed, though a lackluster one it seem..” the man had a deep grizzled voice, you could imagine befitting a general or a monster hunter.

“Oh don’t be callous, beloved, what business have we to pass judgment on new students?” Says the woman crossing her arms around her tome.

There’s a brief moment of silence between the two as if they are taking part in a conversation that you are unaware of.

“If I might ask…. What… are you…. Exactly…?” You ask trying to phrase it in as inoffensively as you could manage in your moment of bewilderment.

They both cast their collective gaze downwards upon you before the woman takes to her knees to be at eye level with you, you’re not particularly short, she’s just exceptionally tall.

“We, are one of the tapestries, there’s 5 of us, you see, an….” They’re cut off by the man, clearing their throat causing the woman to stand back to her feet.

“Ah, well you needn’t mind that, here allow us to welcome you to the academy” with that they step back into their original positions a seam forming in the space between them before the door slides open.

Past the door is an ever shifting void, shimmering with purple and blue energy that swirls and churn, taking a deep breath you stride through.

You had expected a similar experience to being teleported to the academy grounds, however instead the purple and blue void eclipses your vision, when it clears you find yourself in a long hallway, each one numbered with a small golden plaque.

You start knocking on doors hoping to ascertain which room is yours, making your way from one side of the hall down to the other end when a door at the far end swings open.

Past the door you swear you could see greenery like bushes or tall grass, stepping out into the hall is a goblin, standing at roughly half your height wearing a strange combination of tribal fetishes and academic clothing.

She steps over, holding what appears to be some kind of ledger in her hands, glancing at it as she reaches a couple feet from you.

“Y/N?” She asks her tone cold and clinical

“Yeah, that’s me, and you are…?” You say sticking your hand out in greeting, it seems she doesn’t really know what to do as she just stares at your hand.

“I’m Nika the RA in this dorm, and you are new here yes?” Her voice is nasally and high pitched, some people could describe it as annoying, others might consider it cute.

“Uh, yeah I didn’t know what room was mine…” you say looking back at the line of doors behind you.

“Hmm…” she scrunches her brow as she flips through her ledger, seemingly trying to find your name.

“Follow me” she says as she scuttles past you down the hall ending at a room 5 doors down from her own.

“This will be your room” she says gesturing for you to open the door, upon doing such you find it unlocked, or perhaps it unlocked itself for you?

Stepping into the room you find yourself… in a void, the floors are spotless and white, the room itself seems to stretch on in all directions with the only furnishings before a bed, desk, chair and the door you came from, though much to your amusement it’s not attached to any wall, acting more like a portal.

“Huh… kinda…. Empty… right..?” You ask turning back to your RA who stands out in the hall.

“These rooms are what’s known as Liminal Cells, they configure themselves based on the imagination of their occupant, they have nearly no limits to what they could conform to be”

“Huh… and… what did you do with your room?” You ask both out of curiosity and in hopes of getting some idea of what you’re capable of doing.

Unfortunately the RA has deemed that information classified. “Irrelevant, focus on your own property” she doesn’t seem to mean it as an insult, more as a helpful suggestion.

“Do you need any other assistance?” She says her voice a perfect monotone not giving away any hint of interest or annoyance.

“No, not yet at least” you say, still taking in the perfect amount of nothing that fills your room.

“Very well, come find me between classes or at my dwelling if you require anything” and with that she takes off down the hallway, locking herself away in her strangely verdant room.

When you turn back to the room you spot something that had gone amiss before, a small flyer lays on the desk.

Picking it up you see the list of classes and there locations, strangely enough it seems that the times are missing, kind of an important thing to put in the flyer.

Well, now that you’ve found your room and you met your RA maybe now you’ll be able to actually go to a class now?

(A/N: Greetings Students! We at the academy are interested in which choices are most popular among the student body, so if you’d be willing to write a comment about which choices you make, we’d be very interested in reading them!)