Exploring the Gateway

John’s day continued being strange with the next of his class involving the mysterious Miss Wentworth. The teacher had never been a favorite of John, but today he found she, along with the room itself, held a strange air that he was sure anyone would find disconcerting. His body with every fiber of its existence screamed at him to escape from inside that classroom. A place that was utterly devoid of anyone but himself and Miss Wentworth. Who, with ominous fervor and intensity, stared at some blank space behind John. She continued sitting just as still once he entered, his appearance provoking no response, but somehow that only increased the eeriness that John felt.

Fighting his every instinct, John sat down, fear welling within him, and waited for the class to start. Slowly, the other students began pouring into the room. None of them seemed to notice the frightening air as he had. They entered the class and found their places just as casually as they would any other time. It seemed the air in the room was only noticeable to him. He supposed whatever it was targeted him in some, or perhaps his powers let him notice it.

’It might be that somebody else with magic has found me,’ John thought, slightly concerned about the implications that might have. He spent the next few minutes pondering that exactly. At first, he thought that it would have to be someone who was not hostile. Since otherwise, he probably would have died already, as he had no way to defend himself. Then he thought that it might be someone attempting to lure him into a trap, as he did not know if whoever had found him knew the extent of his abilities. If it was a trap, John believed it would be unlikely it was anyone in the classroom who had made it. Which gave him just the reason he needed to stay inside it. Neither option was comforting, however, and he understood that he needed some sort of offensive spell. Endeavoring to obtain that later, he tried to stay alert for now, hoping that would help.

A few minutes later, the stream of students entering the classroom had stopped. Miss Wentworth then began the lesson. Hoping he could find some more information, John used Psychic Connection, figuring it would help spot a trap and not require him to pay attention to class. At first, he noticed nothing unusual about the class or the people in it, but a few minutes after he had started, he suddenly dropped out of Psychic Connection. Shortly after, when he tried to use it again he found himself unable to, leaving him trapped within his own mind. For a moment, John panicked, assuming the trap was being sprung, but nothing seemed to change, so he relaxed once more. Miss Wentworth still continued the class, which John now had to pay attention to. He realized it was about the colonization of America. Since John had no interest in the topic and was still unable to use his Psychic Connection he just sat there and waited for the class to end. He constantly looked at the door and the other students, worried that they might be springing the trap. Until eventually, the class ended.

For the whole time John had sat there he considered what he could do now. He had some powers but nothing that he wanted to use to impact his life in a more significant way than he already had, and he wasn’t even sure if someone else with magic was even out there. The blocking of Psychic Connection

seemed to indicate that there was, however. Eventually, John concluded that he will just have to see what happens. At the moment, he couldn’t much but wait and see what the world has in store for him. Though of course, he had a date with Alice tomorrow, and school would probably leave him busy for the day. So he would not have much free time tomorrow, but what would happen afterwards was a complete mystery to him. Which he liked far more than knowing that every day will be entirely mundane.

He had no real information magic at the moment, or at least none he could use to further explore his powers or understand what was going on. No particular ideas on how to increase his powers presented themselves just yet either, though John had begun to think of a way. For a moment John hoped that he might have more time with Alice on his way back home, but he remembered that medicine came with an almost completely different schedule, especially in regards to how many classes they have. A bit later, the class ended and when it did, John got up and made his way out of the school and towards the busses, intending to go straight home.

On the way there, he found himself incredibly bored and faced with many people he had not seen before that day. He decided to restart his quest to Observe as many of them as he could. Most of the people he used Observe on were completely ordinary, just as they were earlier that day. When he was almost out of the school he noticed someone who seemed like an average person. She was a girl with straight brown hair and nothing to set her apart from the crowd when viewed from behind. The name above her head, however, told something different.

“Jennifer ‘Melody’ Hollmey” it said, it wasn’t the strangest nickname he had heard, but it was the first he had seen above someone’s head, and he was curious as to its source. That being interesting along with her title of <Fun Loving Rave Girl> made John quickly decide to use Observe on her, hoping to read something of note.

’Well that's definitely intriguing,’ John thought, figuring that her belonging to a guild indicated there was something more to her than just being a normal person. Since if guilds were just regular organizations, he would have seen someone in a guild when he used Observe on them during the day. There were two other things that indicated to John she might also have magic. First, her level was the highest he had seen. She was significantly higher level than even his mother and the teachers, who all had their levels around 7-9, and were much older than Melody was. The second was that one of her parents was apparently part of the “Abyss Auction” whatever that was. As John had never heard of it and given all the previous clues, he assumed it must have been of at least a somewhat magical origin. He knew there was more going on here than he understood, and his mind raced. For a moment he considered the possibility that it was her who had found him but dismissed it just the same, as she would have probably not let him gain this much information if she knew about him. Scared out of his mind, John retreated away from the girl he now knew as Melody and ran out of the school and towards the busses. On his way there, however, he found another surprise.

A redheaded girl he recognized, one by the name of Aria Brighton. She was the student council president, from his memory, and curiously, under her name was a strange title: <Warden of the Lady>. When John saw that title he stopped in his tracks, the momentum he carried almost causing him to fall over. It was such a weird title for anyone to have, so he rushed to use **Observe** on Aria just as he did Melody only a moment earlier.

There were so many questions that John could ask just from that single sheet but one thing he knew, there were definitely other people with magic. After all, Aria seemed to fit the common archetype for a paladin.

’The Order of the Lady doesn’t sound too bad, maybe I should ask her for some help,’ John thought at first. He almost went to tap Aria on the back to get her attention when he reconsidered, ’no. I can’t do that. I have no idea who the Lady is, and I can’t prove to her that I’m not hostile. If she decides to attack me for whatever reason, or I am misunderstanding them, or even if I'm being fed false information by somebody with magic that can counteract my Observe, I could be killed. Not a risk I can take right now,’ he concluded.

An instant later he would have sworn he had seen something, but it was so fast he didn’t know what it was. Purple flashed before his eyes, but quickly disappeared again. For a single second John was sure the purple was someone’s hair, but it was too quick to tell. Panicked, he hurried towards the bus once more, and before even his mind could argue, he quickly entered the bus going and sat down.

’I need some way to defend myself before I can try to find out anything else,’ he decided, ’especially with something so fast I couldn’t see it running around.’

John now had two good candidates for where he could get some more information once he had a way to defend himself. Which he knew could be immensely useful, 'once I have an offensive spell, I’ll approach one of them,' John thought to himself, strangely relaxed now that he had gained a way to find out more about his situation even with the possible threat to his life.