Chapter Text
Blinking and gasping for air you finally managed to get your eyes open through the mud and murky dark water. You were surrounded by fog, confused you tried to find a sense of where you were.
Through the fog, you could see shadows of children treading through floating bags and trunks, hunting for their luggage. Those that managed to find them continued downstream, towards ominous howls in the distance. you followed these floating silhouettes until the fog cleared to reveal the shore, where a pack of wolves, standing on two feet in bloodred soldier jackets and black leather breeches, snapped riding whips to herd students into line.
Confused you got up from a sitting position in the low water and started walking towards the gate.
The last thing you remember before getting here was walking through the forest near your town, you'd been getting bullied by classmates and ran away to the safety of trees and leaves staying in the woods until it was dark having lost all sense of time.
But then something grabbed you and dragged you over the ground until it had left you in an open space in the middle of the woods.
And then a huge pair of boney claws picked you up and flew you straight into a thunderstorm
The rest of your memories were hazy. You remember falling before splashing into the murky dark water.
And now you were here,
wherever here was.
As you got up to the shore you turned your head up to get a sense of your surroundings. You found yourself at a shore near dark murky water, leading up to two gigantic castles sprawled across the forest. One castle glittered in sun mist, with pink and blue glass turrets over a sparkling lake. The other loomed, blackened and jagged, sharp spires ripping through thunderclouds like the teeth of a monster.
The School for Good and Evil.
You’d heard the stories of children being kidnapped, one good, one evil, and brought to this place.
You’d never thought about ever being brought here, you weren’t the kindest person but surely you weren’t a villain.
You turned around towards the dark castle your eyes quickly going over the other children here with you.
Most of them wore black clothes now soaked by the dark murky water, One boy only had one eye in the middle of his face, and another was bald although all of them seemed around your age. you wore a simple cream shirt and dark brown pants held up by braces, your hair was tied in a braid that rested on your shoulder, and just like everyone else, you were soaked.
Quickly, you joined the line of shadowed children, dragging their trunks through the fog. If any dawdled, a wolf delivered a swift crack, so so you kept your head down and walked at an anxious pace.
The tower gates were made of iron spikes, crisscrossed with barbed wire. Nearing them, you saw it wasn’t wire at all but a sea of black vipers that darted and hissed in your direction.
Startled you hesitated while looking back at rusted words over the gates, held between two carved black swans:
THE SCHOOL FOR EVIL EDIFICATION AND PROPAGATION OF SIN
Ahead the school tower rose like a winged demon. The main tower, built of pockmarked black stone, unfurled through smoky clouds like a hulking torso. From the sides of the main tower jutted two thick, crooked spires, dripping with veiny red creepers like bleeding wings.
The wolves drove the children towards the mouth of the main tower, a long serrated tunnel shaped like a crocodile snout. As the tunnel grew narrower and narrower you could barely see the child in front of you. You squeezed between two jagged stones and found yourself in a leaky foyer that smelled of rotten fish. Demonic gargoyles pitched down from stone rafters, lit torches in their jaws. An iron statue of a bald, toothless hag brandishing an apple smoldered in the menacing firelight. Along the wall, a crumbly column had an enormous black letter N painted on it, decorated with wicked-faced imps, trolls, and Harpies climbing up and down it like a tree. There was a bloodred E on the next column, embellished with swinging giants and goblins. Creeping along in the interminable line, With ease you worked out what the columns spelled out—N-E-V-E-R—then suddenly you found yourself far enough into the room to see the line snake in front of you.
As you entered the huge hall filled with students and wolves you felt overwhelmed and closed your eyes for a second taking the time to listen to all the different voices around you.
you could hear a group of students excitedly talking about different kinds of poisons they would be learning this year, while a bit further two wolf guards were whining about how much they hate ‘Move in Day’
You opened your eyes again now looking at the room you found yourself in, going over all the small details as if your life depended on remembering this place.
dark stone pillars seemed to be growing out of the ceiling and looked like they could fall any minute now and bash someone's head in. The walls were made out of dark stone and decorated with cobwebs in every corner although most likely not intended. Most of the light came from a single tall window above the entrance while the rest of the room was dimly lit by candles and chandeliers giving it a gloomy vibe. It wasn’t particularly uninviting, it simply gave you a slight unease, as if terrible things were awaiting you, pulling you in with no way of escaping.
As you continued looking around, you abruptly came to a stop due to a cane harshly poking into your stomach. ‘auch’
‘’Back up and get your head out of the clouds’’ you heard a smooth authorial voice say.
You turned your eyes away from where you previously were looking and stared at the woman in front of you, you were in shock.
She was beautiful, she had a dark and mysterious air about her, wild red curly hair caught your eyes, It almost seemed out of place in this gloomy dark room you found yourselves in.
Her purple eyes were looking at you and made you feel intimidated, She seemed to be in charge around here. She was waiting for your reply and you realized that while you were ‘admiring’ the scenery you must've almost bumped into her.
You cleared your throat ‘’Um..sorry i’m--’’
‘’Wait I wanna guess it’’ She interrupted while placing her cane down on the ground.
‘’W-what?’’
‘’Your name I wanna guess it’’ She said with a hint of excitement in her voice.
You looked at her a bit confused but mentally shrugged and gave her a hesitant nod.
‘’Y/N isn’t it? Y/N L/N of Gavaldon’’ She said confidently and proudly, it was kind of adorable you thought.
‘’Did I guess it? I always do’’ She smirked looking down at you, she was a few inches taller you mentally noted.
‘’Uh yes that's--’’
‘’You must be the reader’’ She scoffed interrupting you again.
‘’I read if that’s what you mean.’’
‘’Shh shh shh. It’s not’’ She hushed you.
‘’Every so often, a very lucky candidate from the outside is selected for admission to this hallowed institution. We call them… Readers because they only get to read about the amazing adventures that originate here.’’ She explained the last part dramatically with hand gestures.
‘’Now, please, excuse me.’’ She said turning around.
‘’I have fresh villainy to attend to’’
And with a small bow, she walked away leaving you alone again.
You felt slightly confused, who was this woman? she’d known your name but didn’t even tell her yours, and oh did she look attractive, she wore a gray waistcoat, pants in the same color, and a long vest on top of it.
‘’Attention’’
Once again you were startled out of your daydreaming by her voice, echoing through the room.
‘’Attention future Evil’’
You saw her standing in the middle of the crowd of students, getting everyone's attention with ease.
‘’If you open your tiny little bloodshot eyes, you’ll find your dormitory and class schedules around the hall. It would serve you well to memorize both.’’
‘’Make me proud.’’
A dark-skinned woman with a massive boil on her cheek thrusted a sheet of parchment into your hands, and just like the other students you received what you presumed was your class schedule.
Y/N OF WOODS BEYOND
EVIL, 1st Year
Malice Tower 66
Session - Faculty
1: UGLYFICATION - prof.Bilious Manley
2: HENCHMEN TRAINING - Castor
3: CURSES & DEATHTRAPS - Lady Lesso
4: HISTORY of VILLAINY - Prof.August Sader
5: LUNCH -
6: SPECIAL TALENTS - Lady Lesso
7: SURVIVING FAIRY TALES - Yuba the Gnome
As you read it and before you could respond, an ogre dumped a ribbon-tied stack of books in your hands.
Best Villainous Monologues, 2nd ed.
Spells for Suffering, Year 1
The Novice’s Guide to Kidnapping & amp; Murder
Embracing Ugliness Inside & Out
How to Cook Children (with New Recipes!)
With a closer look, you saw the ribbon tying them was a live eel and had to hold back a scream of surprise, Then a spotted satyr dropped a tiny package with paper wrapped around it.
As you opened it you found a beautiful crest with two silver swans opposite on each other.
You looked at the other girls, gleefully putting on the swan crest, combing through their books, comparing schedules. So you did the same and pinned it on to your shirt.
through the six floors of Malice Hall. Lining the walls, new students stared at you, whispering to each other but the only words you caught were ‘Reader’ and ‘Curse’ but the voices turned silent when the wolves that stood around started growling at them. You walked past Rooms 63, 64, 65, then pushed open Room 66 and flung yourself in, closing the door as fast as you could.
You took a deep breath, the students were already gossiping about you, it made you feel anxious and your hands were shaking. Right now you wished you were back home in Gavaldon where the full population was equal to the number of students that walked around here.
You turned to face the room, once upon a time, it might have been a nice, cozy suite before someone set it on fire. The brick walls were burnt to cinders. Black and brown scorch marks ripped across the ceiling, and the corners of the floor were filled with at least an inch of ashes as if someone tried to clean the floor but lazily ‘hid’ everything in the corners. At least the furniture seemed to be replaced.
In front of you stood a bed sideways, and next to it a small desk with a mirror above it. On the other side of the bed, the wall closest to you was all useful space taken by bookshelves across the rest of the wall. At the back of the room was a nook with a tall window that lit up the room in a somber light. You thought it was at least better than your room in Gavaldon.
You set your books down on the desk and opened up a wardrobe peeking into it you found plenty of different clothes, mostly black. There were dresses, shirts, and pants for any occasion. You assumed these were brought here for you, as you were the only student without luggage. At least you wouldn’t have to worry about what to wear.
There was a door next to the wardrobe, that led to a small bathroom and right then you realized you were still soaked.
You took a pair of black pants and a matching shirt as you entered the bathroom.
And finally, you could get rid of the soaked clothes and take a warm bath.
After you got out, now dressed in warm and most importantly, dry clothes you felt reborn.
you put your hair in a low ponytail not bothering to braid it again and as you were about to plop down on the bed and sleep for at least a 100 years, a commotion clamored outside the room, and your head swiveled to the door. It flew open with a crack and a wolf thundered in, told you to get up, and hurled you into a stampede of black-robed students. Students rammed and elbowed each other; some fell beneath the herd and couldn’t get back up
‘’Where are we going?’’ You tried asking, but the wolf was already out of sight.
A girl next to you answered instead. ‘’The School for Good!” she said. “For the Welcomin—” An ogreish boy kicked her forward before she could finish her sentence