The dean arrived before an enormous grey building within only a few seconds. Great pillars of marble held up tall, beautifully carved roof. In fact, the entire building was one giant tapestry of stone art.

Two massive stone doors at the front of the building towered over them. They must have been nearly two stories high. They sat open, revealing an equally massive library behind them.

“This is the general library,” Dean Whisp said. “It’s got all sorts of things that will help you in your classes. You’ll be paying it a visit later today, after your rooms have been assigned.”

She launched into the air once more, forcing Damien to tear his eyes away from the huge building. He tried to turn and get a better look at it, but it was impossible. The woman had complete control of him.

“Absolutely not,” Henry said. “I know everything there is to know. I highly doubt some measly little library would hold any information I can’t already teach you. I do not want to spend another year of boredom inside the musty walls of some stupid building.”

Damien didn’t reply. He was already envisioning the countless runes that were inevitably stored within the great library, just waiting for him to learn them.

“Don’t you want to cast real magic?” Henry asked. “I can give you access to powers that your compatriots can only dream of, but you want to study… writing?”

Why can’t I have both?

There was a pause. Then Henry’s laugh echoed through Damien’s mind.

“That’s the attitude, boy. The world is at your fingertips. Never accept compromise. We’ll make a conqueror of you yet.”

Damien would have winced if he were still in his body. Instead, he just mentally shoved Henry away. The dean had already arrived before the next building. It was long and rectangular, with an obsidian plated roof that curled up wards at the edges.

“This is the mess hall,” the dean said. “If you need to eat for free, this is where you’ll go. Of course, you may also cook in your rooms. That’s actually advisable, especially if you want to become a combat mage. Again, I’m sure your teachers will go into it, and I can’t be bothered to explain.”

She flew off again, this time coming to a stop only a few buildings away from the mess hall. The building below them was not much more than a large house. It was made of wood and stone, with a small, quaint looking door and a single window at the front.

“Student service building,” Dean Whisp explained. “In case you’ve got problems with the college. It’s empty, by the way. I’m just contractually obligated to show it to you.”

She brought them to the other side of campus, coming to a stop before a large stone building that resembled the library. The carvings were just as intricate and impressive, but had more carvings of human mages and their companions. It was slightly smaller than the library and had several men patrolling it. They glanced up when the dean arrived, but returned to their duties shortly after.

“This is the Treasure Pavilion,” the dean said. “The school will periodically assign quests for you to complete. Many of them offer rewards that can be claimed from the Pavilion. When I was a student, this was my favorite building on campus.”

She cast a smile down at it before flying a short distance away, stopping at a large arch with a glowing black portal swirling inside it.

“This is the portal to the Central Courtyard, in which you are all currently sitting. The courtyard has portals to just about every other area on campus, including the mountains, a large forest outside the college, and several other fun locations that I’m sure you’ll come to learn of. However, none of them paid enough to get put into my contract, so I’m not giving them any of my time.”

The dean took to the sky once again. She rocketed back over to the Central Courtyard. Once she was hovering above their bodies, Damien’s mind lurched. His vision twisted as he was practically hurled back into his fleshy form.

His stomach twisted and he heaved. Luckily, he’d already thrown up, so nothing came out. Damien groaned and looked up into the sky, where the dean was already receding into the distance.

“Nice lady,” he muttered.

Nolan grunted in agreement. Then he realized he was supposed to dislike Damien and crossed his arms, turning his nose up and looking away from him.

As people slowly got back to their feet, dark portals swirled into being all around the courtyard. About a dozen people stepped out from within them. Unlike the other mages that Damien had seen today, these ones were all quite young.

If anything, they were only a few years older than he was. Their clothing didn’t have any sort of apparent pattern to it, although many of them wore dark hues reminiscent of the ones that the dean wore.

A woman in casual attire stopped before Damien’s group and swiped something away from her face before casting an eye over them.

“Welcome to Blackmist college,” she said. Her voice sounded tired. “I’ve been… elected as your upper level buddy for your first year here. My name is Beth. You can come to me with any questions about how things work. I’m sure you’ve got a ton already, but I’d ask that you hold them until after we get you all to your rooms.”

“We don’t have to room together?” Reena asked, breathing out a sigh of relief. The woman pierced her with an annoyed glance and Reena immediately blushed.

“Not all of you,” Beth said, staring towards one of the portals and waving for them to follow after her. “There was a time when Blackmist College was small enough to give each student their own room, but we’ve grown in the past few years after the destruction of Starfall College. And no, I won’t be telling you what happened to it. I don’t know myself.”

Beth pushed past a crowd of students following another mage through a different portal. She paused in front of the portal a few moments, letting another group pass through it, before stepping in herself. The five followed her in. They popped out at a small, old looking arch at the foot of a huge rock slope.