One Chosen update

And the public beta is updated! The current version contains 355,000 words, with an average playthrough length of around 155,000. You can play the game here.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or find any bugs, or even if there’s something you wish you could have done but weren’t allowed to (within reason). Thanks!

A student at a magical school instigated a school-wide wizard fight by tricking a teacher into nearly killing the student's sibling.

꧁★꧂

There's a lot of people who really, really love the "magical school" setting, but for obvious reasons don't want to support Jowling Kowling anymore.

So, I wrote a YA novel.

Jonathan Rosewood is, not to put too fine a point on it, dead. Well, almost dead. Like, basically dead. But he's being given a second chance: to become the familiar of a young witch-in-training. Luckily for him, that means a second lease on life, access to a magical world and incredible abilities, not to mention a whole host of new friends. Unluckily for him, he does still have to go to class, and occasionally giant monsters seem to try to kill him.

With a whole host of young characters, several of which are some form of queer, Jonathan has to figure out how to navigate his own burgeoning identity, the fact that he's a female cat sometimes, as well as the growing realization that there is more to this magical world than meets the eye.

Any Other Name is a queer reimagining of the genre, with a more anti-authoritarian, anti-status quo bent, and hey, this one is by a trans author! You can buy it on Amazon or wherever else you get your epubs :)

His hands in his pockets, shoulders squared and eyes to the ground, Jonathan crossed the road and tried to bury his face in the collar of his jacket. It was eerily quiet when he almost bumped into a chair he realised was in front of a table. Already strange to see these things outside, but on a zebra crossing? He looked up and saw a woman sitting behind the table. She looked a little bit like one of those well-meaning middle-school teachers, who rewarded thirteen-year-olds with stickers (who would pretend not to be proud of them), all rosy cheeks and smelling faintly of incense and a minimum of two cats. She was wearing what appeared to be a dress from the Fifties; the only thing ‘off’ about the presentation was a tattoo of an eye peeking out of her dress at her collarbone. She smiled at him, and indeed, her cheeks were rosy and round.  “Hello,” she said.  “Um,” Jonathan responded.  “Please, sit down. My name is Charlie. Charlie Ferman.” The lady’s smile was unwavering and eerily genuine. It wasn’t predatory or scary, just… disarmingly honest.  “You’re in the middle of the street,” Jonathan said.  The lady giggled, a sound like sleighbells ringing through the air on a christmas morning. “I don’t think that will be a problem,” she said, and rolled her eyes at her surroundings in an exaggerated display. Jonathan looked. The world had stopped. Cars had all braked for some reason, he thought, until he realised that people, too, had frozen in place. A man was trying to get a pigeon from pecking at his hotdog, and it was hovering just a few feet from his face.  “I don’t understand,” Jonathan said. He sat down out of shock, more than out of any obligation to do as the lady asked.  “Gosh, I do so hate this part,” Charlie said. “You’re dead.” Jonathan looked at her.  “No, I’m not,” he said. “I’d know if I was dead. I wouldn’t be talking to you.” “Well, you’re not wrong. But you also kind of are,” Charlie said with an apologetic little smile and then waved in the other direction. Jonathan only just now became aware of the fact that there was a sixteen-wheeler only a foot from the table. “You’re going to be dead,” Charlie said. “In just a few hundredths of a second. It’ll be fairly painless, if that helps. Would you like a sweet?” She produced a small piece of wrapped candy out of a little purse. 

Creator Caitlin Like (@jeanne-de-valois ) will be spooping up this year's Trick-or-Read festivities at Books With Pictures in Portland, Oregon with a launch of her new middle-school dark fantasy graphic novel, “The Hundredth Voice” from Dark Horse Comics. She'll sign books, chat about art, and join us in making book-inspired halloween crafts: ghostly will-o-the-wisps! 3:30-5:30, in the garden.

"Dark Horse Books presents The Hundredth Voice, a new middle-grade graphic novel in the vein of dark fantasy master Neil Gaiman. Coming in at over 250 pages, The Hundredth Voice is the first graphic novel by emerging artist Caitlin Like. Uriel Driscoll was born into a family with an amazing gift—and a terrible curse. While his family members all have superb singing voices, they are doomed to lose…"

Announcing Tangled Blessings, my upcoming solo or two-player tabletop RPG!

Take on the role of a senior student at a mysterious and magical academy for adults. In fewer than 24 hours, you’ll face your Rival in your last final exam before graduation, and learn about the destiny that awaits you. As you prepare and study, you’ll reflect on the last four years at Brackroot Academy:

the lessons you’ve learned

your experiences

your failures

your friendships

your secrets

Your entire future hinges on this exam, and should your Rival overcome you, you’ll lose access to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Tangled Blessings is a solo journaling or two-player roleplaying game set in the subgenre of dark academia, featuring a wizarding school, ghosts, rivals, houses, and curses. You should be able to play in one sitting, but if you really enjoy exploring the prompts, you can spread out your play sessions. There’s a natural break between each year of school. 

To play you’ll need a deck of tarot cards. If you’re playing alone, you’ll need a way to record your entries. A dark academia playlist may also help set the mood.

The text is nearly complete! We're finishing up playtesting, and then entering editing and layout.

I'm hoping to crowdfund a print run in February 2023! Sign up for my mailing to get notified when it goes live!

To celebrate the birthday of Akko from Little Witch Academia, I'll make a short post about how she shaped one of the Archetypes from our upcoming magical school game They Came From Witchford Academy!

Specifically, as revealed during Onyx Path Con this month, she was one of the core inspirations for the Enthusiast Archetype (which is among the 2 out of 5 we revealed!)

The Enthusiast is all about passionate characters who adore everything about magic. They love spells, they love witchy attire, brooms, magical classes...the whole deal.

They love magic despite everything, even if they're not necessarily as good as others Archetypes when it comes to talent or prestige.

And their passion shines through, inspiring others, making them lovable even when they fail, and ensuring Magic itself loves them back. Even when faced with hardships and shortcomings, the Enthusiasts keep going.

Pure Akko!

Although she's not the only main inspiration I used when writing the Archetype, she sure is a central one.

Want to hear about some of the others?

Luz is another central Enthusiast inspiration. She kept going, pursuing her dream of becoming a witch no matter what. And her determination & sincerity earned her plenty of friends.

Coco from Witch Atelier also left a big impression on Enthusiasts. Coco loves magic and mages. Everything about magic talks to her heart, even when confronted with how the world she lives isn't as gentle as she imagined.

Then there's Frieren. Akko, Luz, and Coco arguably were my main core (although, as fitting for an Archetypes, the Enthusiast resonates to the whole genre), but Frieren appears there too.

Frieren arguably was more important for another Archetype we didn't reveal yet, but I didn't forget her sheer love for learning new spells just for the sake of it.

I hope you found this bit interesting! Odds are I'll talk about They Came from Witchford Academy! more and more as development advances, but this felt like a perfect occasion to discuss the Enthusiast!

Want to explore a magical school but don't want to support the transphobic wizard lady? Have I got the game for you:

For less than $2 on steam, you can expirience this classic 2005 point-and-click adventure about a confused lesbian trying to solve the mystery of Dragonvale academy.

Features include:

Top-tier voice acting

Graphics too powerful for modern hardware

Nathaniel

The game randomly crashes sometimes

Some very good puzzles

A lot of very bad puzzles

A hint system that straight-up tells you what to do

There's an npc named Mustavio with the most over-exaggerated italian accent known to man or beast

Unneccesarily confusing map layouts

A bizzarely sad ending

So what are you waiting for? For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you too can expirience the wonder of Keepsake!

In all seriousness, I had this game as a kid and recently revisited it with a friend. Despite its flaws, it's got charm and was clearly made with a lot of love.

Anyway, vapourwave Nathaniel

Valoria Academy at its best!

Because after all you are a witch too ✨🧙‍♀️

I want to do more complete illustrations this year, not only flat color background character designs.

Concept Pitch: Spirited Witches

Thirty years ago, magic came into existence. Or more so, it became concentrated enough in our world to be tapped into. The aether around everyone got denser than it used to be and some found themselves more greatly attuned to it than others. Minor desires they had would happen, like lighting a cigarette without a lighter or something just out of reach coming to them.

The next twenty years were spent studying and understanding this phenomenon. In understanding that this magic was mostly not dangerous if one didn’t train it but that it had great potential and humans are not the sort to leave a resource fallow like that. So schools began to be built and the magic categorized. Elemental, Transformative, Illusory, etc. and it would take a while to have it be standardized.

Then ten years ago, one type of magic was outlawed outside of specifically government sanctioned experiments with it: Spirit Magic. The spirit realm that this magic commonly opened one up to was simply too dangerous and unpredictable and despite twenty years of time, very little had been learned about it anyways. Rumors said there was a final event that sealed the magic’s fate but it was never televised.

Jump another ten years and we have two girls preparing for a magical boarding school. One is an outgoing girl we’ll call Ellie who is constantly wanting to help people, studying, volunteering, etc. She is as sweet and kind a person as anyone knows, if not to the point of annoying some. The other, Sarah, is a mysterious, quiet girl with dyed hair and a penchant for mischief. When talked to, she rarely talks back, letting her expressions speak for her or quick little hand movements. It’s confirmed she CAN speak but she chooses not to.

And then there’s the boy. A free spirited sort of guy, he believes in freedom and self expression. That no one should be trapped or constrained and that people should be who they are, though he can’t force anyone to be something they’re not. He can just try to open up their mind and maybe help them be who they truly want to be. He also doesn’t really care about names because they’re only one part of someone’s identity so if the fact that his name is Leslie makes you remember him better, wonderful!

He also uses magic the other two have never seen before and teaches them bits of it as they grow closer. A spell to allow Ellie to talk to anyone in their preferred language and understand all languages, even if it strains your throat. Sarah the ability to see ALL that is hidden, even that which might hide from things like True Sight, so she can feel more at home in her surroundings. Empathy for Ellie to better connect and a spell to touch magic itself for Sarah to better feel like she isn’t about to lose control over things.

This has to do with the two girls’ baggage. Both have seen someone who’s recently died, or the moment of their death. For Ellie, it was walking into a room and finding a close friend who had ended their own life. She had thought she’d done right by them, known everything, talked enough to them but it hadn’t been, at least in Ellie’s mind. So her already good nature went into hyper drive, alongside a new level of paranoia where she’s uncertain if anyone’s smile to her is genuine or not. She is determined though, no matter what, to never fail a person again and to make up for this failure in the past.

Sarah on the other hand has never been a loud girl but she didn’t used to be so guarded. One night she convinced her parents to let her and a friend stay the night just the two of them. She was off in the kitchen making popcorn when a knock came on the door. Her friend answered it, uplifted by the good mood and them being tough girls who didn’t need to fear anything. Two gun shots were what Sarah heard when the timer for the popcorn went off and she hid when she realized she was so helpless. Ever since then, she’s never wanted to feel so helpless and, even more so, never wanted to let someone close let she convince them they can do something wild and adventurous and that gets them hurt again because that part of her has never died, as much as she somewhat wish it would.

And so for the first half or two thirds, the story bounces between the two girls as they start the school year, do things like run for office or get into trouble trying to better learn their magic, and keep meeting Leslie. As they both independently grow closer to him, he seems to grow more and more sick, blaming it on the worsening weather of Fall and then Winter. He’s sure with the new year, he’ll feel better. Maybe after the equinox, when the spirit and human realm are at their closest.

He does ask to be left alone for a while and just kind of vanishes leading up to it, though not after asking the Ellie blindfold herself during the Equinox as a way to respect any spirits that might be roaming the halls and don’t want to be seen. She promises but this means that when she’s taken down into the bellows of the school in a surprise trip for all Student Council presidents, she does so blindfolded.

Meanwhile, Sarah doesn’t like not getting an answer at Leslie’s door when the Equinox comes. She knows she shouldn’t worry about him so much, not when she shouldn’t mind him seeming to get distant, but teenage hormones are teenage hormones and he hasn’t technically done anything wrong. Not only that but the peppy girl Leslie also hangs out with, and Sarah can’t stand, is wearing a blindfold today that looks suspiciously like a scarf Leslie used to wear, just like how she now wears his gloves.

So with a combination of spells, she peaks into his room while her advanced form of true sight is going.

That night, in a lower level of the school, the presidents are brought to a memorial. The teacher says that the person who the memorial is for has no name as ten years ago, they used spirit magic to summon something that tore the boy apart and destroyed his name so thoroughly that no record exists. Worse yet, it tied the school with the beast and the spirit realm in general so every year on the Equinox, the teachers and the student council presidents have to shove it back down.

Sarah sees monsters there. Spirits and not even ones that were new to her. She’d caught glimpses over the course of the year of these things who would have only two of their facial features but they would be connected by black, oily ink scrawled upon the white canvas of their lanky, humanoid bodies. You’d end up with oval mouths that were actually both nose and mouth. You’d have eyes that bled into the mouth and moved in tandem with it. Mouths two thirds up the face that were actually the eyes and ears connected together and there were at least a half dozen within Leslie’s room.

The beast Ellie faced let out a horrible scream as it emerged. It howled in a way that hurt one’s very soul. That beseeched them to speak even as every instinct screamed at you not to. The presidents are told to ready their spells and even for Ellie to take off that stupid blindfold but she won’t break a promise. It’s not who she is. And who she is connects with people so after her an empathy spell to feel the beast is in pain, she casts the communication spell and whispers, “Hi. I’m Ellie. How can I help you?” just as she has a hundred times before.

The beasts in the room seem to somehow know they’re being perceived and stop to look towards the window while one holds what looks like an eye in their hand. Sarah takes away her far sight so she can see around her and sees that the entire wall of the dormitory is COVERED in the spirits. And they’re all looking at her before they come crashing down in almost a wave.

The creature screams for its son. Begs for where they are. That they can make a new name. That will help them, right? The teachers say it has never been so frantic but Ellie tries to stay calm. “Who is your son? I’ll find him.” To which it says that he’s right here but also not and... And that she has met him. Before vanishing back without having to be fought.

The creatures chase Sarah until she trips and falls in the woods around the academy. When she turns around, one of the creatures leaps at her, claws missing their mark but digging into the dirt beside her. Without options and unsure if her magic will even work on these, she punches it. All of them seem to stop at that before their body language reads of curiosity. And celebration?

Everyone is dismissed and told not to speak of it. The ground shakes as the bell tolls, saying the equinox is over. Ellie breathes a sigh of relief at everything turning out fine before realizing she can take off the scarf now. She thanks Leslie quietly, wondering if she’d been able to show the spirit the same sort of kindness if she had seen it for what it was. She then turns around so she can see the memorial too, having only been one step away from leaving entirely.

Sarah watches as they all start leaving once their curiosity is sated, running back the way they had come. She finally gets to relax and think about what she had seen with her magic. The eye, the monsters and something had been on the floor. It hadn’t quite looked like the creatures but not like a person though. She had... felt something though. The same sort of pull that she thought was her heart whenever she used her true sight around Leslie. And whatever that thing that made her feel like that was the one being given the eye in whatever ritual she’d interrupted.

And the statue, of course, is that of Leslie but instead of an emover that covers one eye or his hat doing it, he had two eyes and was immortalized in stone. And the next time either saw Leslie, he was beginning to feel his strength return and they got to see for the first time both of his eyes.

The two don’t immediately know how to confront this though. Both think they must be wrong in one way or another. So the two start spending more time together while trusting Leslie less. Not that either can just abandon him at this point, especially as the new year is kind to either of them personally either. In helping resolve their own issues, such as Ellie’s tendency to try and kill herself for others effectively and Sarah wanting to stop being afraid of letting anyone close, they finally first tell each other what they know before finally asking Leslie what is his deal?

Ten years ago, he sought to commune with a spirit and stop the stigma that was growing against them. He summoned the Mother of Names. Or... Of Identity as she likes to call it. She actually doesn’t like the names that bleed off of her. She feels they say too little about someone. They are a title with no purpose. As such, whenever someone has said their name around her, she sees it as them wanting to be rid of it and taking it. Ellie told her its name though and Leslie explains that that’s what the two talked about. How people use names and the identities they have alongside them. How she has hurt them which she never desired. She is a mother after all and the creatures Sarah has seen her children. They are facets of identity and they have a lot more personality than you’d expect.

The mistake and tragedy wasn’t the spirit’s... It was his. He lost his family at a VERY young age and never found community. He was rejected everywhere he went and was never able to put down roots. Everywhere he went, he left nothing behind. He didn’t want to do that to that which he wished to be his mother so he tried to use spirit magic to make a copy of his very being. The more comprehensive, the better.

HE tore himself apart. In trying to save him, the Mother of Names tried to save him. To put him back together and the best she could see for that was to add him to the brood. She didn’t know how else to though but to rip his name away. And thus he became Nameless. Or Less Enam as he first called himself but Less made people suspicious so he changed it to Leslie. It’s all still a play on the title instead of a name though.

Two years ago, the rest of the family found enough of him to put him back together enough to form a ghost. What he is now. They’ve found almost everything and what Sarah saw was them putting in one of his eyes because they’re still looking. They don’t think they’ll ever find the heart though. A heart is something different in the spirit realm after all. It contains too much of who you are and so is as much its own spirit as the person. Even he has to admit he must have a shade of it as he still has his goals and desires. Without it though, he’ll never be whole and never be able to pass on, be reincarnated, etc. etc. This form is also unstable and the closer the spirit realm is, the closer he comes to tearing apart anew and so he can’t even go see the Mother of Names like this.

And so the ending part is them trying to figure out how to maybe find his heart, even as he tells them not to. They quickly understand why: He’s been alive again for two years with a veritable army of spirits at his command. He has tried and maybe elsewhere could have the answer, but this place wont.

Not that a girl as focused on helping as Ellie, or an adventurous, wild child like Sarah will let that stop them. They know one thing he hasn’t tried after all and she already knows one of them. It’s time for momma to come out and help her kid and for the two girls who still haven’t confessed their feelings to Leslie to go meet their future mother in law.

And that’s when we get the last test. If the two are willing to open themselves up and be tied to Leslie, he can be revived with a new heart born of love and care. They aren’t even forced to love him forever but they will know when he dies. When his time runs out, they will feel it in their own hearts, as well as each other’s. Neither ever wanted to see another friend die, or even consider it, but that past trauma is also the reason why they can see Leslie while most can’t. Are they willing to know the pain will come again when instead they could just leave him in the state he’s in. He says he’s content like this after all. Ready to just accept this as his identity.

But they of course aren’t. So a ritual is performed and Leslie brought down and the moment when he would be torn apart, the two express their feelings, bear their hearts, and the Mother releases her own font of power, all of which is enough to force it to all come together around a new heart.

Now all together, the three hug, though the moment is a bit ruined by the Mother of Names whispering, “You know, I’ve never had grand-children. How quickly can humans start working on that?”

The end.

This was the first of two ideas I got that were inspired by Magical Diary: Wolf Hall and I explained all of this to a friend two days after finishing that game and the idea hasn’t really changed or grown since that chat with my friend because my brain works VERY fast. While I only went big for the big plot points that make up the big story beats, the majority of the book would be about the two girls’ self discovery of how they want to deal with their trauma and finding a balance versus the memory of their friends and moving forward. It’s one I think could be a lot of fun but also by structure versus other works of mine, I could easily see it being a 100k+ words work so it’s a little daunting to put it mildly.

So, at least for now, I wanted to just share it with you all instead. Honestly, I think I’d just like to do this more often in general because I like my ideas but I know I won’t get to all of them so why not share some of them? Anyways, thanks for listening to this long ramble and have a lovely day!

=========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

The One Chosen update 19/01/2024

The One Chosen update today!

You are the one chosen by destiny to defeat the evil Dread Demon Lord Karakan when he awakes from his millennia-long slumber.

At least, that's what the prophets say, and they're never wrong.

The current beta contains 344,000 words, with an average playthrough length of about 150,000. You can play the game here.

To get in contact with me, please message me here, on the CoG forums, or on my Discord.

If you enjoy the game, please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks!

– Sarah Rees Brennan, In Other Lands

<NEBULA CHRONICLE: THE BEGINNING OF THE END>

Bab-2

Penulis: Nurul Azizah

Aku berjalan melewati lorong lorong perpustakaan, sekilas rambut berwarna putih keabuan terlihat. "Siapa di sana?" Sahutku ke arah rambut putih keabuan itu. "Kenapa ra?" Sahut Riya dari sebrang perpustakaan tidak jauh dari posisiku sekarang. Riya muncul dari salah satu deret perpustakaan. "Ah.. ngak ada apa apa, tadi cuma ngeliat rambut putih keabu abuan, kan gak ada murid yang rambutnya putih di sekolah kita, cuma ngerasa aneh aja, kayaknya cuma perasaan aku aja" jelaskan ke pertanyaan Riya. "Eh, ada kok murid yang rambutnya putih di sekolah ini" sambung Riya ke penjelasanku. "Ehh!? Siapa? kayaknya aku gak pernah ngeliat?" Kataku tersentak kaget. "Murid baru sih kayaknya, aku ngeliat pas dateng rambutnya coklat tapi poninya putih terus ada strip hitamnya" lanjut penjelasan Riya.

"Ohh... dia kelas berapa?" Tanyaku ke penjelasan Riya, "kelas 3 seingetku" jawab Riya. "Kamu sudah dapat buku yang menarik?" Tanyaku ke Riya, "ini 'konsep sihir dan segalanya' saat masuk ke deret itu mataku langsung tertuju ke buku ini" jawab Riya "kamu mengambil buku yang mana Ra?" Lanjut Riya. "Oh, ini 'Elemental dan cara kerjanya' dan 'apa itu mana?'" Responku. *kriiiinnnnnggggggggg*

Suara bell masuk berdering, "Ayo pergi" kata Riya bergegas untuk pergi. Aku mengikuti Riya berjalan keluar perpustakaan, 'perasaan tidak enak apa ini?'' Aku bertanya dalam benaku. Kami berlari keluar perpustakaan dengan Riya menggenggam tanganku menyeret diriku keluar. Aku menoleh ke belakang sejenak, sekilas seorang laki-laki berambut putih keabuan menatap ke arahku, aku berkedip, lelaki itu hilang dalam sejenak.

POV :????

"Hah.... kenapa kita harus menjalankan misi ini?" Keluh seorang laki-laki berambut putih keabuan, "Kitab Chóro hilang Carmillion, kak Azura mempercayai kita untuk menemukan Kitab Chóro di sini!" Suara seorang perempuan terdengar bergema di perpustakaan. Keduanya mulai bertengkar dengan menggunakan perkataan mereka. Bahkan setelah beberapa menit pertikaian kedua orang itu masih terdengar jelas. "Aku masih tak percaya Kitab Chóro hilang.." Bisikku masih tersentak kaget dari pengumuman beberapa hari yang lalu.

FLASHBACK

"Sebenarnya sepenting apa pengumuman itu sampai memotong jam pelajaran?" Tanyaku sambil berlari menuju aula sekolah, "pastinya sangat penting" Suara seorang perempuan terdengar menyusul langkah kakiku,"kak kayyisah!" Sahutku tersentak kaget dengan keberadaan perempuan berhijab di hadapanku. "Bukankah kakak diutus para osis untuk pergi ke selatan?" Pertanyaan milikku membuat dirinya tertawa, "Galang dan biyan lah yang diutus, aku punya tugas lain" jawabnya dengan tersenyum ramah. "Lebih baik kita tutup mulut dan bergegas pergi ke aula" lanjut kayyisah sambil menambah kecepatan lari miliknya, "tunggu!" Teriakku memanggil sang kakak kelas yang jauh di depan diriku.

Setelah berlari cukup lama aku sampai di aula sekolah, aula itu dipenuhi lautan orang, dua orang terlihat familiar bagiku, "Vivianne! Lloyd!" Teriakku memanggil ke dua orang itu, " seorang perempuan berambut merah marun gradasi pirang dan seorang laki-laki berambut coklat menoleh ke arahku. "Louei!" Teriak keduanya sambil terlihat mencoba meraih diriku yang memang lumayan jauh dari mereka. "Kau dari mana saja?" Tanya Lloyd sambil menggenggam pergelangan tanganku, "anu.. tadi habis pergi ke cafeteria sebentar" Jawabku sambil mengikuti langkah kedua orang di hadapanku. Sihir pengeras suara bisa terasa di sekitar ruangan. "Sudah mau mulai ya?" Kata Vivianne tersentak menoleh ke arah sumber sihir di ruangan, "perasaanku tidak enak" kata Lloyd dengan tatapan khawatir, aku hanya bisa berharap pengumuman ini tidak terlalu buruk.

"Maaf untuk memotong jam pelajaran kalian tapi ada berita buruk yang kami harus sampaikan" Suara seorang laki-laki bisa terdengar menggema di aula, rambut panjang hitam pekat seperti malam tanpa rembulan, matanya tidak terlihat jelas tapi aku tau warna mata miliknya adalah merah seperti darah segar. "Dia adalah kepala akademi kita kan? jarang jarang dia muncul di depan kita seperti ini, pasti berita buruknya lebih buruk daripada yang kita pikirkan" Keluh Vivianne, bukan hanya aku tapi seluruh mahasiswa yang berada di sini juga berfikir seperti itu. "Akademi kita adalah akademi unggulan, dan tentu saja memiliki banyak sejarah, kita juga menyimpan kitab Chrónos dan Chóro, berita buruknya adalah, kitab Chóro hilang, saya dan para osis masih mencoba mencari kitab Chóro, jadi tolong harap tenang, hanya itu yang saya akan sampaikan sekarang" kata pak kepala akademi.

Suara perbincangan tentang kitab Chóro yang hilang bisa terdengar dimanapun kami berada, aku, Vivianne dan Lloyd mencoba keluar dari kerumunan orang orang yang panik. "Kak kayyisah! Kak rahma!" Aku memanggil kedua perempuan berhijab di hadapanku.

FLASHBACK END'S

Aku masih memikirkan tentang kejadian di perpustakaan, sebenarnya siapa pria itu..., "Ra!" Teriak Riya ke arah ku, aku tersentak kaget dengan keberadaan dirinya, "ah! Ya apa?" Kataku sambil melihat ke arah Riya yang sedang khawatir. "Dari tadi kamu aku panggil tapi gak jawab, lagi mikirin apa sih? Kayaknya fokus banget" kata Riya dengan wajah khawatir atau mengejek, aku tak tahu yang mana. "Enggak ada apa apa kok. Cuma mikirin bentar lagi kak ravi pulang" jawabku dengan senyuman. "Eh!? Kapan? Udah lama banget gak ketemu kak ravi!" Sentak Riya dengan bahagia. Kami bertiga memang sudah mengenal satu sama lain dari kecil, kami bertiga sangatlah akrab. "Besok, kalo gak besok ya hari kamis" jawabku dengan singkat. "Yah... aku ada les piano besok sama kamis..." Keluh Riya sambil menundukan kepalanya. "Gak apa apa kok Riya, bisa ketemu kapan kapan lagi" Kataku sambil menepuk nepuk punggung Riya dengan halus dan pelan. "Udah.. jangan sedih ya?" Ejekku ke gadis berambut hitam pirang panjang dihadapanku. "Ah! Gak seru! Zara mah ngejek mulu!" Kata Riya dengan ekspresi cemberut.

Tak lama kemudian, bel pulang berdering, dan murid murid mulai mengemasi barang mereka masing masing. Sama halnya dengan aku dan Riya. "Besok lagi ya ra! Dadah!" Sahut Riya sambil berlari ke mobil jemputannya, aku hanya bisa melambaikan tangan sambil tersenyum ke arah gadis itu. Setelah itu akupun berjalan ke mobil jemputanku dan pergi pulang.

Sesampainya di rumah, ayah hanya mengatakan ada urusan penting hari ini dan kemungkinan akan pulang malam. Aku hanya diam tak berkutik dan mengangguk sambil mengambil kunci rumah dari tangan ayahku. Aku pergi ke dalam rumah dan pergi ge dapur untuk memasak mie instan yang ada di laci. Setelah makan, aku menjalankan hari seperti biasanya.

Aku terbangun di ruangan putih yang terlihat kosong dan tak mempunyai batas. 'Apakah aku sudah mati?' Hanya pertanyaan itu yang terpikirkan di benaku saat ini. "Tak lama lagi..." sepasang suara perempuan terdengar menggema di belakangku, aku menoleh dan melihat dua perempuan dengan rambut violet, keduanya menggunakan dress yang tak menutupi lutut mereka, aku bisa melihat mereka menggunakan banyak aksesori bertema mawar putih, wajahnya tak terlalu jelas hampir tak bisa terlihat, keduanya sangatlah mirip... mungkin mereka kembar, "Hanya sedikit lagi..... kita bisa bertemu..." Suara keduanya masih bergema jelas di telingaku, mereka mendekat dan aku bisa melihat sekilas mata lilac yang indah milik keduanya....

Aku terbangun dari tidurku. 'Apa yang tadi itu?' Banyak pertanyaan yang tak terjawab mengema di kepalaku... "sudahlah... itu tidak penting" aku keluar dari kasur dan bersiap siap untuk menjemput kakakku di bandara.

Wands at the Ready was an immersive Harry Potter convention I attended this past weekend, and it was super fun. Herbology class was awesome and very informative. Detention was fun too.

Wouldn't it be great if there could be an immersive Harry Potter experience at some college or community college somewhere?