Vic entered the runemaking classroom. It was more of a workshop. She passed by the front but wasn’t in the mood to talk. A woman sitting on the main desk removed her goggles after putting down a white, hot-tipped pen in a twirly looking support tool that made its tip not touch her desk.

  She had warm, kind brown eyes that reflected the light coming from some background runic machines. No students could be seen from here.

  “Oh my! Hello, are you lost?” the woman asked.

  Vic, for a half-second, was tempted to answer “not as lost as your mother”, but she didn’t.

  “No”, she said. She stared back at the round-eared, human lady.

  “Oh-ho! Well you know where the door is, then!” the teacher said happily, putting her jointed hands against one another and smiling while closing her eyes.

  Vic marked a beat. The teacher opened back her eyes. They didn’t look mischievous, but it still reminded her of her former mentor Ava.

  “I guess you’re right”, Vic said coldly. She turned her back and walked out of the door.

  She didn’t slam it. Just left it open on her way out. She walked fast.

  What was she thinking? What was she even doing there? In this school? What even was the point of all of this? Why was she losing her time here?

  In the hallway, Vic stumbled on her feet and crashed abruptly on the ground. She sputtered and immediately got back up. Huh?? No way she’d fallen on her own! Something had tripped her!

  The ground was flat now. But she was sure she’d heard a piston like mechanism.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry, the hallway is trapped!” someone yelled from inside the workshop she’d just left. The voice sounded distorted and very loud, but the words still sounded spoken at a normal level. Was this just a runic-megaphone? “Would you mind coming back for a minute?”

  So something had tripped her. She’d been right. Tsk.

  Vic walked back, not too fast. She was at the door that she’d left open. The teacher put down a machine that didn’t look like a megaphone.

  “Oh my! That was me. Shocking, I know”, she said. This felt a little painful in her chest. There was an awkward little silence. “I meant that the voice was me. The hallway’s traps were intended for someone else in case a certain someone left my class early. The traps get more dangerous the farther you are from the workshop.” She fake-coughed. “Metaphors.”

  Vic hoped the way she was blinking reminded the teacher of a lizard.

  “Metaphors about the consequences of skipping classes over a long period of time and the harsh obstacles that that creates”, the teacher explained with a smile. “That is, until you turn the first corner fully. That’s where the traps stop. I’ll… deactivate them for now.”

  Vic heard a student groan from somewhere in the mechanic room. Vic frowned. She couldn’t see where the sound had come from. There was no one else in the class besides the teacher.

  “Okay”, Vic said numbly. “Why did you call me back? What do you want?”

  The teacher blinked.

  She took out a thermos and drank from it.

  She put it down.

  “Oh my. I thought you’d tell me that. I’m not the one who came here of my own volition, young lady”, the teacher said.

  Vic sat on the ground, in an unbalanced lotus position.

  “Did I ever?” Vic said lightly. “Did I ever do anything out of my own volition?”

  Had she ever had a choice?

  The teacher blinked, high up behind her desk.

  “I don’t… think I can answer that in your place. Maybe try asking other questions? It sometimes helps”, she said. Then she blinked again. “…Helps understand where that question comes from in the first place.”

  Vic felt bitter. She didn’t laugh. Usually she’d laugh.

  A hand brought itself to her head. She didn’t want to acknowledge that she’d heard the teacher.

  “Am I just the result of everything that’s around me? Are my choices just the consequences of where I am? Is there nothing more?” Vic said, her throat tightening, and she held her knees close. “Is that thing that I think is my free will just the product of what surrounds me?”

  She didn’t care if the teacher answered or not.

  “Is there a point keeping going if all I’ll ever do is the consequence of everything else? Did I ever have a choice in being alone? Was it natural for me to be alone? Is that why people couldn’t help looking down on me or… being scared of me now that I have power? Because I don’t have a choice in being unlikeable and choice doesn’t fucking exist in the first place.”

  Vic tore the tears away. They didn’t belong there.

  “I’m never getting home, am I?” Vic said. She stared at the open window of the game system.

  No answers came from it.

  She was so tired.

  “That’s not… the questions I expected today”, the teacher said, getting up, motioning for her to come. “Maybe let’s go in my personal lab”, she spoke, and looked on the side, towards a wall. “No need for an audience. Be good, kids!”

  “No”, Vic said, face hidden within her grasping hands.

  The teacher blinked at her. Vic closed the space between her fingers to not see her anymore.

  The teacher made a noise like she was sitting back down.

  “Alright then!” she said, clapping her hands.

  Vic didn’t answer.

  Was any of that free will?

  “Well, you seem a little down”, the teacher said, in a monotone tone. “A little bit literally, ahahaha. Anyway, back on the usual spiel. I usually don’t hesitate to throw people out, but… well, there is the fact that our Lord mentioned in passing that you might have an interest in learning runemaking, of course”, she said, batting her hand, and then smiling. She wasn’t looking at Vic peer at her through the space between her fingers. She was looking far away. “Wouldn’t want to keep you away from learning runes, haha.”

  “Why would I want to learn runes”, Vic said.

  The teacher tilted her head, still not looking at her.

  “Well, making a staff is the final project students do to graduate”, she said.

  “I’m not making a staff. I’m not graduating here. I’m not staying here”, Vic said. “I’m not meant to be here.” She wasn’t meant to stay this long.

  “Well that’s fine and all, honestly, you’re probably better off… uhm, yes, uhm, where was I. How to say, ah yes, sometimes, if you… feel uneasy, about your place in the world, it’s mostly because you haven’t found it yet”, she said.

  She then looked at Vic.

  “But that doesn’t mean the first place you find when you have that realisation is the good spot where you’d fit in. There’s no such thing as a single spot where you’d click into place, and you’d then be part of the well-oiled machine that would make everything work out.”

  Vic brought one of her hands to a raised knee.

  Her other hand slowly dragged itself to her mouth.

  “And what makes you say that?” Vic said, feeling quiet. But the anger grew like an ugly thing. “Are you unhappy where you are now? How could that be, when you’re meant to have a place here? Does it not feel good to belong, like you do?”

  The teacher raised her eyebrows.

  “Oh my, that’s far too personal. I would say… that what makes me say that…” she said, raising a finger while humming, like she was trying to find something to say, “…is human experience! It’s fairly imperfect, as all things go. When someone doesn’t belong where they are, they either find another place where they think they belong, or try to create it. Build it. Cultivate it to preserve it.” She paused. Then looked away.

  “And others spend their whole life searching for it, never staying in one place”, she finished.

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  “And they’re fucking losers for that, ey?” Vic said, amusedly.

  The teacher gave her a look. She smiled.

  “Some end up liking more the process of that search that finding the perfect spot itself. Ey?” she said back.

  Vic stared at her, then at the ground.

  “Alright”, she said, and got up. She dusted her legs. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  She knew what to do now.

  “Hey hey hey!” the teacher said, making motions with her hands. “Come on now. Learn at least a rune before going. Or would you like to talk to my dear students about what concepts their future staffs will be based on? They have to write a paper on it first. It would help them to have to talk of it!”

  “I don’t see any students”, Vic said jadedly.

  “They’re in the ceiling”, the teacher said, naively smiling like she wasn’t unhinged because she’d basically told Vic that there were students in the walls.

  “Okay, just… show me a rune. I have to go, after.”

  She needed to get a hold of herself. She’d been talking to way too many people after being alone for so long in the wastes before. It wasn’t doing her any favours. She needed alone time.

  The teacher stared, then shrugged, and opened drawers before disappearing behind her desk, searching for something.

  She came out with a metal board, and a piece of paper.

  “Aha! Found it. Alright. Uhm. This is a basic matrix for first years, a practise exercise of a simple light spell. Matrices aren’t just any mana-rich metal, they also need other properties, but I suppose we’ll skip the lesson.”, the teacher said, putting on her goggles before grabbing her searing pen and tracing a few last lines between different components with the help of a ruler put two inches above the board with supports on the sides. “Alright, should do.”

  She handed the pen to Vic.

  Vic stared at it.

  She grabbed it, careful with the white hot tip. It reminded her of the brightness of her plasma attack, in some ways.

  “See this drawing?” the teacher said. Vic saw a circle. Within it where a few more precise scribbles. “Now, to have a good matrix that works… consistently over a long period of time, you usually need to use a couple of these tools”, she said, opening a vertical slot where a couple of rulers, round measuring things and other perpendicular stuff was. She only handed her protective goggles that had been in another drawer. “But you can try without them, with a free hand. It’s not this serious after all.”

  Vic stared back at the teacher, goggles now laying partly on her forehead.

  “No, give me the tools”, she said, pointing at the vertical lid the teacher had just closed.

  The teacher opened it and then handed her a round one first.

  Vic put the goggles on and squinted. Huh. Everything was dimmer except the matrix and the lines pyroengraved through it. Maybe she’d keep the goggles to protect her eyesight when she used her rainbow plasma jet. She traced the circle carefully. Slowly. She eyed back the example.

  She did a few more lines. She did mess up a little a few times, going far over the previous ones, but it was… Fine.

  “Well, kind of mediocre, still”, the teacher said, staring at her hard work.

  Vic blinked.

  The teacher pointed at some places within the doodle. “Oh, uh, just look at that triangle. Compare it to the one in the example you were provided. Not the same thing. The differential could be too great.”

  “Whatever”, Vic said. The teacher nodded. “Indeed”, she answered.

  Then she took the pen back, and smiled.

  “Well, now tap the button there”, the teacher said.

  Vic stared at it.

  So this really was like an electric circuit.

  So similar, yet so different. It wouldn’t ache to think about it. Home was far away, yet some things didn’t change. Perhaps they were just transformed.

  Maybe she should have dreamt of being an electrician, if she’d known before how close electricity was to magic. Or maybe something to do with software instead of the cables themselves? Ah, who cared. Her actual education was more than a year behind. It was joever. She was never actually graduating. A dropout. That was her, Vic, a destructive agent of chaos who would never finish school and get any sort of diploma.

  She pushed the button. The rune came to life with a shine. Light was softly emitted from it.

  “Oh my. You didn’t even try to inject your own mana in the circuit before pressing it. Alright, fair enough”, the teacher said.

  “You can do that?” Vic asked, scanning the teacher’s face. What was this? Trying to show her different possibilities in runemaking to spark an interest for the subject?

  The teacher nodded, humming appreciatively.

  “Most elves try it, with mixed results”, she said, mysteriously, one of the corners of her lips slightly curled upwards.

  “You won’t make me interested in runemaking this way, you know?” she said.

  The teacher smiled fully, leaning on one shoulder.

  “Perhaps there are other places you could discover and see. There are many other cities exploring this science.”

  [You have gained 10 exp from hearing [wise counsel]]

  Vic stared back at the notification’s window. She wiped it away. The teacher raised an eyebrow at her motion. Her stare didn’t matter.

  Vic smirked, opening her mouth to tell a half-truth about what she’d just done.

  Instead, there was an abrupt mechanical noise at the door. Vic immediately glanced at it.

  Two huge, imposing bipedal rune constructs were at the door, with silly little heads with shadow like eyes hidden behind a helmet. Her nose smelt vague demonic energy coming from them.

  Vic raised a single eyebrow at the puny things blocking the door. She eyed back the teacher.

  The teacher shrugged sheepishly. “It’s been months since those runic golems have been used by the school”, she said. “Not my direct doing”.

  One of the golems extended a fist, and held out a folded piece of parchment after its hand mechanically opened.

  Oh. Oh, they were too big to get inside the classroom.

  Wasn’t it just inconvenient if they were meant to protect the school? Or was… this door specifically too narrow to let them in?

  The golem’s extended arm made a piston-like motion with its arm, like to bring attention to the thing it was holding in its hand.

  Vic wasn’t taking that. It was probably a letter from gaudy ass Alberon. She didn’t want to have to read his words and let them exist inside her brain. Not rent-free. Ugh, even if she was paid she wouldn’t read that.

  “Is there another exit from this room?”, Vic casually asked. “I don’t want to go on another sidequest. I’m bored of them”, she said quietly, lightly, mindlessly.

  The teacher shrugged again.

  “Yes… but… I’d just read the letter if I were you”, the teacher advised.

  “Lucky me, you’re not me”, Vic said lightly. She straightened up, and dusted her pants. Now now, it was time to fuck off. “If you’re not showing me the way out, do you mind if I slap them into a wall? I’m asking cause they’re probably your creations, right? It’s only polite to ask first.”

  Vic frowned. Behind them wasn’t a solid wall.

  “Do you care about the stainglasses behind those golems?” she said, pointing at them. Now that she thought about it, they were weirdly very intricate, representing mankind discovering runes and building up a runic robot. What a bunch of nerds. Only an otaku would have that sort of thing in their home. Actual stainglasses with mechs. She was going to joyfully bully someone if that someone who had commissioned them was Alberon.

  Anyway, she was very much doing it, Vic slapping them into oblivion through them was just going to be poetry.

  “Well… I’d say…” the teacher said, but she got interrupted.

  “Goodness, you strange girl, you really like to antagonise everyone for no reason at all”, someone said. Vic squinted. She’d heard that nasal voice before.

  “No, only to the people who deserve it”, Vic replied dryly.

  “Let’s not blow up my classroom now please, ahahaha”, the teacher said. “Hahaha. Come on. Only my students have that right.”

  The voice from before haughtily spoke.

  “Of course not, professor. Victorya will most like not escalate farther, as she is here to help, after all”, the voice said.

  Vic put a hand above her eyes, in the same position that people used when they were trying to see something from far away.

  “Who’s speaking? Woa, there must be a ghost!” Vic said.

  There was a weird sound coming from nowhere that sounded like a sigh.

  “You truly are childish.”

  “Is it just the wind?” Vic asked, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “Must be the wind, right?” she asked to the teacher. The teacher’s mouth flat lined.

  The other golem lowered its hand and raised something within it. Vic squinted. Was there… someone on that hand?

  The folded paper held by the runic golem was taken by something very, very tiny.

  Vic blinked.

  There probably wasn’t anyone there. Her eyes had to be playing her. A mere trick of the light.

  “Dear Victorya, please come to my office once you have finished your inspection. Signed, Arcmage and Grand Sorcerer Lunbumster”, the nasal voice read.

  “I’m still hearing things, it’s incredible”, Vic said, lazily putting a fist beneath her chin. She exchanged a look with the teacher. She didn’t seem to care. She’d stared back and forth a little before, but she didn’t look offended or anything. Huh. Maybe mildly worried about a sudden mage related implosion happening in her classroom in a few seconds, but otherwise, not much. Oh, nevermind, her hands were hidden beneath her desk. She probably had a comically red button there that would send Vic flying through the roof.

  “My liege and you are quite alike”, the nasal voice said, and Vic snapped her eyes at the demoness who’d been standing straight on the golem’s open hand, arms held behind her back. “He too prefers to have his letters read to him.”

  “Never compare me to him ever again, you imp”, Vic said coldly. Ew. Fuck. A cringe climbed up her spine. Disgusting. Vic grimaced.

  The demoness blinked at her, half-unimpressed, half-hiding whatever was going behind her empty expression.

  “Dully noted, and ignored”, the demoness said, dropping back the piece of paper on the other runic golem’s empty hand. “I owe you nothing, you ought to know better than to make demands of demonkin.”

  “I don’t care”, Vic hissed. “I’m just giving advice for your own sake and wellbeing. Understood?”, Vic said, articulating each word meaningfully.

  The demoness hummed.

  “If you accept my piece of advice, mayhaps I will listen to it”, the demoness said, tilting her head. “Pick your battles. I’m not here to trifle with you. I do believe you’re here for an inspection, yes?” Damn. Vic had forgotten about that. “The current issue you’re supposedly taking care of is one of my current duties. What has sprung up to your attention so far, mm?”

  “Your mom”, Vic said.

  “After discussing with Principal Lunbumster your unlikely stay in this school for the gifted where you clearly don’t belong, my Lord informed me that he wished to speak with you further”, the demoness said, impassively, but with very intense eyes.

  Vic didn’t answer. She stared back.

  They didn’t know she was leaving. Lol, lmao even. Maybe she should say it outloud. No, no… Why would she even stay in a school where she had nothing to learn and everything to lose, particularly her sense of self-respect?

  Better not reveal her hand too soon. It was better to keep her future moves secret.

  Vic smiled sweetly.

  “You’re just the bearer of terrible news, aren’t you?” she said.

  The demoness squinted, then smiled with her eyes.

  “Quite the contrary, as I don’t bear you. May you like a proper tour of the inaccessible parts of the school? I am still curious. Will you prove useful in finding something no one else has been able to spot? I was hoping to be done quickly with it so we may both soon part ways.”

  Vic rolled her eyes.

  Now she was a building inspector. Great. She was going to be able to add that to her long list of odd jobs on her resume for when she returned to earth. Yeah. Yiha. Would a signature from that chicken-sized demoness be proof enough of her experience?

  Her smile turned bitter. No more, tho. It turned toothy. After all, she couldn’t afford to show weakness in front of these cultists. No more than she already had anyway.

  “Sure, whatever, lead the way”, Vic said. That way she’d “pacifically” leave out of this room. Sure.

  She leisurely walked forwards with her arms behind her back, right beneath her bag.

  The runic golems slowly stepped out of the way. The demoness didn’t even comment on her cooperation. Pfuh. Bunch of ingrates.

  At the threeshold of the door, Vic stopped, however. So did the runic golems. Bunch of pricks.

  “Thank you”, Vic said, turning her head, but at the last moment, not looking at the teacher. “For everything.”

  “You’re welcome”, the teacher said.

  And with an unneeded annoying escort, Vic left, unbothered.