Chapter Text
˚. ✦.˳·˖✶ ⋆.✧̣̇˚.
Jisung didn’t know what he expected when getting invited to an academy focused on magic, but it’s been quite the couple of weeks of classes. He’s not a sorcerer himself, but he’s been keen on learning about magic. His roommate, Hyunjin, however, is a sorcerer but is not so fond of him. He’ll get there.
He has befriended a different sorcerer. A sorcerer he found pretty intimidating at first, but turned out to be a big goofball. Lee Minho, whom Jisung met because he accidentally entered the wrong dorm. He opened the door to what he thought was his own dorm, and saw Jeongin— a fellow non-sorcerer he met during introductions— and the intimidating sorcerer in question, who happily offered him to stay and talk if he wanted.
These days, he seems to find Minho naturally, both before and after class, and they talk about magic while going to class or back to their dorms. Magic has always been something Jisung is intrigued by, after all, because it is so complicated.
Casting magic is something that requires both a lot of studying and practice, as well as care. Magic is intricately intertwined with some type of madness. Jisung doesn’t know the details too well, nor does he know the history, but every sorcerer is sensitive to the so-called magic madness, which can manifest in many ways, including violence, sickness, clouded thinking, fear, and hallucinations.
As far as he knows, different people have different susceptibilities to magic madness, too. Minho and Hyunjin have complained about being inexperienced with magic and thus being more susceptible. Magic madness sounds pretty scary, but it fades by itself and apparently gets less serious as one gets more used to practicing magic.
“Hey Jisung-ah, alone again?” Minho greets him with the tilt of his head. Jisung’s cheeks grow warm as he admits that, yes, Hyunjin did indeed rush out of their dorm before Jisung, leaving him to walk to class by himself. Minho huffs. “Oh well, he probably just needs to get used to the new environment.”
“Well, I think I might have pissed him off somehow,” Jisung admits with a shrug. Minho raises an eyebrow at him, silently asking him how? “I don’t know how. I asked him how magic classes were going. And if there were any good sorcerers around. He did not want to talk about it. Looked at me all like if I asked him about a dead pet…”
“Hm. Strange. Maybe he’s competitive. Or maybe he has a strange relationship with magic. I’ve seen it a lot,” Minho says with a shrug. “Like Jeonginnie. You know how he is about magic, right?”
“Yeah, I know. He’s not a sorcerer, though, so I feel like he makes more sense. And he told me straight up that he’s not interested in talking about magic,” Jisung adds with a sigh. He wishes that he’d get along better with his dorm mate, but perhaps time will help.
“Maybe! Anyways, Jeonginnie went ahead. So you’ll see him then. See you later, Jisung-ah,” Minho bids him goodbye as they reach his class. Jisung waves.
“Bye, hyung. Later,” he says before catching up with Changbin and Jeongin, whom he spots near the classroom. From the other side, Felix walks over, happily waving at Jisung. As he approaches and greets Jisung, he bumps into Changbin, who grabs Felix to prevent himself from falling over.
“Oof. Sorry, hyung. I was distracted, so I didn’t see you there,” Felix apologizes with a chuckle. Changbin scoffs.
“Yah! I’m not that short, okay?” he retorts, but he’s smiling as he says it. Felix hugs him from the side and apologizes, ever the affectionate man.
“Sorry, Changbin hyung. How’s your headache, by the way? Better since yesterday?” the man asks as the four of them walk into class. Changbin nods, a sheepish expression on his face.
“Yeah, it’s fine. My roommate is never there, so I can just turn of all the lights and lie in bed until it subsides,” he answers with a loud laugh. Jisung chuckles, but he does feel bad for the man. This isn’t the first time he has had headaches like these, and Changbin keeps saying that medicine doesn’t really help.
He wants to ask if he has tried asking sorcerers to help him with magic, but the class is starting, so Jisung decides to ask later. He’s a bit bored during the lectures, and he finds himself staring out of the window. The spring sun filters through the trees that are surrounding the academy, and it looks peaceful.
Suddenly, Jisung’s eye is caught by someone moving around outside. He recognizes the man. It’s a sorcerer. A short guy with curly hair and broad shoulders.
He pats Changbin’s arm and hisses, “Hyung. Hyung, hey, isn’t that your roommate outside?” He nods his head at the curly haired man in the distance. His name is Bang Chan, if Jisung remembers correctly.
Changbin makes a noise in the back of his throat and squints. He sighs. “Oh. Yeah, that’s him. Bang Chan. He… He’s doing whatever he wants again, I suppose. Like always.”
“That makes sense, though, right? He has inherited the school last year, if I remember it right. That’s true, isn’t it?” Jisung adds, eyes flicking between the man next to him and the window. Chan has disappeared from Jisung’s sight by now, but he is curious about what he’s doing.
“Yeah, I think so. Not that he told me or anything. I just think it’s odd that they’ve put him in charge of an entire academy when he’s still supposed to be studying. Or why he has decided to stay in a dorm when he’s not there anyway,” Changbin replies with a huff. “Oh well, more peace for me, I guess.”
He doesn’t look happy, probably because, as far as Jisung knows, Changbin is pretty sociable and he likes having people around. Jisung wants to ask him what he knows about Bang Chan, but he’s startled by Jeongin dropping his pen quite loudly.
“Sorry guys!” he squeaks, quickly grabbing it from the floor. He drops it again twice before finally picking it up, his cheeks a rosy color as he’s laughing in embarrassment. Jisung has to hold back a cackle. He can relate to the clumsiness being even worse when you know that people are watching you.
The conversation is forgotten again and the day continues, but Jisung feels distracted. Even during dinner, he can’t focus well. Perhaps it’s because it’s the first time he and his non-sorcerer friends are sitting with Minho and his sorcerer friends, Hyunjin and Seungmin.
He’s too nervous to really contribute to the conversation, because he can’t talk about magic without excluding Jeongin, and he’s still worried about whether or not Hyunjin is upset with him, or if he might have told Seungmin weird things about him. He can’t really bounce his legs to get rid of the nerves either, too embarrassed that someone might hear.
So he stays mostly quiet, only adding small remarks and communicating with Minho and Felix with his face. Minho seems to ask him something with his eyebrows, wiggling them and widening his eyes ever so slightly. Jisung shrugs. Even if he knew why he’s feeling on edge, he wouldn’t know how to communicate that.
It might be nothing. Sometimes he just thinks too much, and that’s it. He’s tired, and doesn’t feel like studying—classes aren’t very difficult right now, anyway—so he decides to call an early night. Hyunjin stays in the shared space to study, absentmindedly wishing Jisung a good night, but Jisung wonders if he actually even heard what he said.
He washes up in the half bathroom, gets ready for bed, and lies down. Despite being tired and distracted all day, he feels awake as ever right after getting in bed. He takes a deep breath, and imagines himself in a field with lizards—
Bwfoom.
A heavy vibration shakes Jisung’s body, and he starts, sitting up so fast he almost gives himself whiplash. The building shakes and a loud blaring alarm starts going off. A static voice announces for all students to immediately leave the premises.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Jisung’s mind is racing, clouded with panic as he wonders what the heck is going on all of a sudden. The building keeps shaking, as if an earthquake is happening, but it feels different from an earthquake. It feels like it’s coming from outside.
He quickly gets out of bed, but his leg cramps up, sending a sting of pain up to his hip. This might be the single worst time to get leg cramps, and Jisung digs through the mess of his mind to decide whether or not to waste time to make sure he can walk better or to just hop on one—
“Jisung-ah!” Hyunjin yells from outside. A second later, he throws open the door and grabs Jisung’s arm to drag him along. Jisung awkwardly hops after him, barely managing to snatch the cane he brought just in case something like this would happen. “What is taking you so long? We gotta get out of here! Quickly! Come on!”
“I’m— I’m coming,” Jisung assures him, eye twitching as his leg cramps again. Hyunjin doesn’t look back at him, even though Jisung is practically hanging off of his shoulder for support. The sorcerer seems… scattered. Maybe he’s panicking. Maybe he’s scared. “Do— Do you know what’s going on?”
“No. No— I can’t use magic. The building is— I don’t know! My hands are cold. Fuck. Shit–!” Hyunjin jumps when a bookcase falls over right next to them and Jisung almost joins the bookcase. The floors and walls are still shaking around them, which makes it hard to keep his balance.
“Guys!” It’s Felix’s voice behind them. Jisung looks over his shoulder to see the man covering his right eye. Seungmin is with him, and Hyunjin immediately walks over to him, leaving Jisung to lean on his cane instead.
“Are you guys okay? What’s going on? Why can’t we use magic? Why—” he asks, cutting himself off midsentence, looking at Felix with wide eyes. Felix waves him off.
“It’s all right. I got hit by a falling book. I—I have no idea what’s going on, though,” he says. Seungmin shakes his head.
“I don’t know either. I feel strange. Something odd is going on,” he adds with a deep frown. “We gotta leave. We— We gotta get out of here. But— But I can’t seem to remember where to go.”
“It’s okay, follow me,” Felix assures his dorm mate, motioning him, Hyunjin, and Jisung to follow him. He clumsily climbs over the fallen bookcase while still covering his eye. Jisung decides to take a small detour around the obstacle, just so he doesn’t have to embarrass himself with his cramping leg.
He’s slow, but so is Felix, while Hyunjin and Seungmin seem to be sort of… mad. They turn the corner to exit the dorm hallways and bump into Bang Chan. The man is carrying Changbin on his back, the latter with his face buried against Chan’s shoulder.
Jisung’s heart drops seeing Changbin like that, but at least Chan is here now, when it matters. Chan spots the four of them and his eyes scan their forms. His gaze drops to Jisung’s leg. He’s the first one to notice.
“Shit! Changbin hyung! Is he okay? This is the worst time to be getting headaches!” Felix calls out, running over to Changbin and resting a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“We gotta get out of here, guys. Quickly. Everyone is leaving and we’re lagging behind. We gotta go somewhere safe—” Chan is interrupted by a chair falling over and books falling out of a bookcase next to him. “Where are Lee Minho and Yang Jeongin?”
Jisung’s eyes widen. He’s surprised that Chan knows that they are dorm mates, but perhaps it makes sense, as he’s in charge of the academy—
“We’re here! We’re here, don’t worry,” Jeongin announces. Jisung turns to see him shakily pulling a very distracted Minho with him. Jisung’s stomach churns in worry. “Sorry, Minho hyung is acting strange. Like—Way more strangely than he’s usually acting. I can barely get him to come with me.”
“That’s okay. We gotta go. Follow me,” Chan says. He seems less affected by whatever’s going on, but perhaps he’s better at hiding it. His eyes are unfocused, and his muscles are taut, but his voice is calm. “We gotta run. Run, okay? If— If you can. Run.”
Jisung can’t run. It seems neither of them can run. Chan has to carry Changbin with him, Hyunjin and Seungmin don’t seem to know where to go so they cannot lead, Felix only has one working eye at the moment, Jeongin has to drag along Minho, and Jisung only has one working leg.
Yet, Chan keeps repeating that they have to follow him, like a sort of mantra. Jisung wonders if he’s talking to them or trying to keep himself sane.
The building shakes again, quite violently. A bookcase falls over right next to Jisung, hitting his shoulder, pushing him over and trapping the leg of his pajama pant under it. Shit! Jisung pulls on his pant to free it, but as soon as he succeeds, a sharp pain shoots up his spine.
At the same time, loud groaning sounds from the rest—Felix is on his knees, his hand is bleeding. Jeongin has stopped, his whole body trembling along with the building. Chan is struggling to stay upright and the other sorcerers are all grabbing at their heads.
Jisung bites through the pain and tries to drag himself over the ground to get his cane so that he can get up, but it’s hard. First he decides to tie the leg of his pajama pant up so that it can’t get in the way like this anymore, and then he tries again.
A touch to his shoulder startles him, and he flinches. It’s Minho crouching next to him. The look in his eyes is strange, unfamiliar, yet he can see some of Minho inside. “Are you okay, Jisung-ah? We gotta go. Come on.”
“Y-Yeah,” Jisung lies, voice muffled by the loud thundering of the building. He grabs Minho’s arm, but the pain is making him nauseous. “W-Wait. I— Fuck.”
“Damnit. Shit. What’s going on? Why—?” Minho asks breathily. Jisung wants to get up, puts all of his weight on his right leg, but he can’t.
“It hurts. My leg. I don’t know why,” Jisung answers, eyes squeezed shut. Minho curses under his breath and puts Jisung’s arm around him and his own arm around Jisung’s back before standing up, pulling Jisung with him.
“I—I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know we gotta run,” Minho says, making sure he’s holding onto Jisung tightly. He starts running to catch up with the rest, who are stumbling towards the entrance hall. Chan is still chanting for everyone to come along to hurry and to follow him—
Gasp.
Suddenly, the pain fades, the alarm stops, their minds clear up and the building goes silent. There’s no one in the entrance hall except for the eight of them. It’s so quiet that Jisung can hear his blood flow through his ears.
“W-What happened?” Seungmin asks, looking around and blinking rapidly, as if he isn’t sure how he got to the entrance hall. Changbin climbs off Chan’s back and runs a hand through his hair.
“I haven’t got the faintest clue, but I still think we gotta get out of here,” he says. He looks like he’s better, too. All of a sudden. “Is everyone okay?”
Affirmative sounds go around the group and Jisung nods. Minho looks at him with a frown, his gaze making Jisung a bit nervous. “Are you sure you can walk? I— Just hold on to me all right? You can tell me where your leg went after we get out of here,” Minho whispers.
Jisung feels embarrassed for still holding the rest back, despite the pain having subsided, but Minho doesn’t let him go and slowly walks over towards the entrance. The windows are white. Changbin, Chan, and Jeongin are pushing against the front door but it won’t budge.
Chan announces that he’ll make a quick round to see if any other exits are free. In the meantime, the rest keeps trying the front door. It’s cold inside the entrance hall, and Jisung wonders what the heck could be blocking the door and the windows.
“So, uhm…” Minho begins softly, still holding Jisung up by the waist as they wait for Chan to come back or someone to figure out how to get out of the building.
“You don’t have to worry about my leg, hyung. It’s just—” Jisung assures him, but stops himself when Chan comes running back with a concerningly apprehensive expression.
“Bad news, guys. We are… snowed in. The windows and doors on the ground floor are completely blocked with a meter or more of snow piled up in front of them,” he says, panting as he gestures around. Jisung’s eyes widen.
“What?! How is that possible? It’s been spring for weeks! It was—It was warm this morning!” Jeongin exclaims, hands gripping the windowsill as he tries to look outside.
“And why did us sorcerers just all suffer from madness without being able to use magic?” Seungmin adds. He crosses his arms, eyebrows knitted together. “Even the non sorcerers seemed to be suffering from some sort of physical madness. Like— Shit, Lix, you’re bleeding.”
Seungmin steps closer to Felix, whose hand is stained with red. His right eye looks a tad swollen and irritated, but his hand is bloody. Felix shakes his head. “No, no, not anymore. I cut my hand on paper. From the books falling. It’s fine now.”
He looks at Jisung, eyes trailing down his body. “I’m… I’m more concerned about Jisung, to be honest. Where is your leg?” he asks softly. Suddenly, all eyes are on him. He knew this would happen.
“What the fuck? How did I not notice this?” Hyunjin’s eyebrows are drawn together as he looks at Jisung. His gaze makes Jisung nervous, and so does Minho’s, who is regarding him from up close, still holding him up.
“It’s fine! My leg is just, uhm, still in my room. I took it off for the night. Hence the pajamas,” he explains softly, a blush creeping up his neck. “And to answer any immediate questions, no I don’t remember when I lost it. No it’s not our biggest problem right now. No, you don’t need to keep this in mind I can walk fine with my prosthetic leg. We should focus on the more pressing matters at hand.”
“You’re right. We should sweep the building to see if there’s any way out or if there’s anyone else left behind who needs help,” Changbin says, and Chan is quick to agree with him.
He looks around the group, pausing to inspect everyone individually. “Jisung-ah, are you okay walking or do you need to go back to get your, uhm, leg?”
“I dropped my cane in the hallway earlier, but getting my prosthetis from my room would be better,” he says with a shrug, avoiding the man’s concerned gaze. He doesn’t know how to feel about Chan speaking to him casually, but he’s not about to correct him. “Otherwise walking by myself is going to be hard.”
“Makes sense. Hyunjin-ah, will you go with him?” Chan asks next, but Hyunjin makes an incredulous noise. “I mean, it’s your dorm, too, right?”
“First of all, how do you know that? Second of all, why are you acting like you know all of us so well? Third of all, who put you in charge?” he asks, eyes narrowed at Chan, whose ears grow red. Seungmin exhales through his nose.
“Hyunjin-ah, calm down,” he warns the sorcerer.
“No, it’s fine. He’s right. Apologies. I’m, uhh… I’m Bang Chan. Heir of this academy. I, uhm… I grew up here and inherited this school, so I know the ins and outs. I know most of the students and the dorm arrangements because of that, too,” he explains. “I thought maybe acting familiar with you guys would, I don’t know, lessen the stress of the situation?”
“I don’t think anything could make this situation less stressful, but you do you,” Jeongin comments with a shrug.
“Guys. We’re getting off track. I’ll take Jisung to his dorm. You guys go scout the building and we’ll meet back here in the entrance hall, all right?” Minho intervenes with a sigh. He doesn’t seem to be in the mood for chatter. He gently squeezes Jisung’s side. “C’mon. Let’s go get your things.”
Jisung exhales in relief, tension seeping from his shoulders. He’s glad that Minho manages to stay level-headed. “Thanks, hyung. Sorry for the trouble.”
“No apologizing. I’m glad to get away from that mess for a second,” Minho replies, a firm hand on Jisung’s back as he patiently lets Jisung set the pace. Once they get to his cane, Minho lets Jisung find his balance against the wall before crouching and picking up the cane for him. “Is it more comfortable walking with the cane or should I just keep supporting you? And don’t you dare lie to me, I’ll happily support your non-existent weight.”
Jisung chuckles. “Fine. I— Let’s just say that the cane is not ideal,” he admits. Minho smiles and keeps the cane in his hands before draping Jisung’s arm around his shoulders again.
“You know, focusing on you was, well… nice, just now. Between the madness,” Minho admits as he supports Jisung further along the way to his dorm. Jisung swallows thickly, his heart speeding up.
“Really?” He can’t quite believe it, but Minho seems genuine as he hums. Perhaps madness is a bit like anxiety in that aspect—having something or someone else that needs your attention can help focus your mind. Like an anchor. “I’m… I’m glad.”
“Now, can I ask you why I wasn’t aware that you’re missing a leg?” Minho continues, his voice a bit lower and softer. Jisung shrugs.
“Maybe because we’ve only known each other for a month?” He chuckles, because it does feel like he has known Minho for longer than that. “It’s not like I go around showing off my prosthetic leg to everyone I meet. It’s not—It’s not that important.”
“Okay, fair enough. But do you really not remember how you lost it?” Minho lets go of him to let Jisung open the door to his dorm. Jisung shrugs again.
“I don’t. I don’t know what else to say other than that,” he admits. He hopes that Minho will drop the subject, but there’s not enough time to continue anyway, because as they enter the dorm, they see how badly all the windows are blocked here, too. The snow naturally distracts them from their earlier conversation.
“Shit… Chan hyung was right. We’re totally snowed in,” Minho comments while approaching the window in Jisung’s room, kneeling next to Jisung who is sitting down and untying his pajama pant leg before hiking it up to his thigh stump. He sees Minho subtly watching him, but it’s okay. He’d probably be the same.
“How did this happen? It can’t be magic, right?” Jisung wonders out loud, grabbing his prosthetis and fitting it to his thigh.
“If this was done by a single sorcerer, they would have died from madness before getting to even half this amount of snow. Ten percent. Hell, maybe even one percent,” Minho replies with a shake of his head. He has a point, but Jisung can’t imagine what else could have caused this snowstorm. It wasn’t a regular snowstorm, otherwise they wouldn’t all have suffered like that.
He wonders how the other students managed to get away. Were they not affected?
“You’re right, but what else could it have been? What would have caused a surge of madness like that?” Jisung wonders out loud. Minho pulls a sour face.
“I have absolutely no idea. I wish I did,” he says with a sigh, plopping down next to Jisung. He looks down at Jisung’s prosthetis. “Can I ask you more or are you getting the urge to strangle me because of all the questions?”
Jisung laughs. He’s touched that Minho is curious about him. “Go ahead, hyung. I won’t strangle you.”
“Why did you take off your leg?” he asks. “Does it get tangled? Is it annoying?”
“It can pinch or squeeze my skin and irritate the scar tissue if I sleep with it,” Jisung replies, still making sure that all the pieces of his prosthetic leg are in the right place. “I gotta take good care of the piece of leg that’s left, you know? And the prosthetis isn’t perfect, so wearing it for a long time can get annoying.”
“Oh that sounds like it sucks,” Minho comments. Jisung shrugs. It’s not like he can change the fact that he’s missing his left leg. He doesn’t even remember a time that he wasn’t like this, so it’s all right. It’s normal, to him.
“You can go ahead, by the way. I’ll catch up,” he whispers with a chuckle. He feels a bit vulnerable like this, but Minho seems comfortable, which is a relief. Minho is so kind to him.
“Nah, I’ll stay. Don’t wanna go back to the others if they’re going to be all… messy. And besides, we should keep an eye on each other,” Minho replies casually. Jisung smiles, shoulders relaxing.
“You’re right.” They probably shouldn’t leave each other alone right now. He wouldn’t want something to happen to Minho.
After a while, he finishes fitting and securing his prosthetic leg, and they get going. He takes his cane with him just in case. Once they’re back at the entrance hall, the others slowly reconvene as well. Judging by the fact that there’s no one new, and no one is looking particularly happy, Jisung guesses that there’s no one else in the building, and there’s no easy way out.
“There’s snow and ice as far as the eye can see,” Jeongin says with a deep sigh, running a hand through his hair and leaning against a pillar.
“There’s a balcony from which we can safely get down,” Changbin says. “Chan hyung and I tested the snow, it’s thick enough not to sink through.”
“We could at least check it out and try to dig out the front door from there,” Chan adds. He looks around the group. No one else speaks up, and Jisung doesn’t really have a better idea either, but Chan doesn’t start moving just yet. “The door to the balcony is blocked for now. We could free it, but I’d like to know if everyone is all right, first.”
“Hyung, why are you suddenly so concerned about everyone? You barely know any of us,” Changbin says with a soft scoff. Chan’s face falls, and Jisung feels a little bad for him, but Changbin does have a point, and Jisung can understand why it would be annoying for Changbin to see his absent dorm mate suddenly care.
“I… I’m simply concerned about you all, okay? I feel responsible. This is my academy, technically. And I know I might have been a bit premature with the acting familiar, so let me start over with some proper introductions,” Chan says with a hand on his chest, nodding his head at every one individually. “I’m Bang Chan, twenty five years old. I grew up here, in this area, have spent a lot of time in this building. I know it inside out, even though I’ve only been enrolled for a year and a bit. I’ve been practicing magic for my entire life, however, and have studied magic and history a lot in my free time. My dorm mate is Changbin, as you might have known, but I haven’t been the greatest roommate. I can cook, though, and we should have enough food in storage to survive for a while, if needed.”
Chan has a small smile on his face, looks around at the rest, but everyone stays quiet. It’s a tense silence, and Jisung would be the one to break it if he wasn’t anxious about it.
Thankfully, Seungmin saves the day. “Well, if no one wants to go next, I’ll go. Nice to meet you, Chan-ssi. I’m Kim Seungmin. Sorcerer, twenty two years old. Enrolled a month ago just like most of you guys, I think. I use magic very sparingly, so don’t go asking me for favors. Magic madness is not to be messed with. My roommate is Felix.”
Seungmin nods his head at the dorm mate in question, who smiles. “Hi. I’m Lee Felix. Twenty two, as well. Normie, so no cool magic for me. I’m mostly here to make friends, actually, so let’s hope we can get out of here soon.”
“Me too,” Changbin continues. “The name’s Seo Changbin, in case anyone forgot. Twenty three. Chan hyung’s roommate. Not a sorcerer, unlike my sister. She should have probably been here instead of me, but she didn’t want to go, so I’m here.”
“Cool. I’m Yang Jeongin, twenty two. Also a normie. Not interested in magic so I’m not sure why I’m here, but the dorms are nice and I guess it’s good to be able to study music like this,” Jeongin adds with a shrug. “It’s also nice to have a guy like Minho hyung as a dorm mate. He’s an early sleeper like me. And a good cook, in case the cafeteria food sucks.”
His comment manages to make the rest laugh, easing the tense atmosphere a bit before Minho takes over. “I’m said dorm mate. Lee Minho. Twenty four. Sorcerer and animal fan. Didn’t know a single thing about magic except for what I found out myself before coming here. Cons of living with your non-sorcerer grandparents. But oh well, now I’m here, knowing less about magic that some of the normies here, like Jisung.”
Jisung takes in a breath, embarrassed that Minho mentions him like that all of a sudden. He looks at the man, but Minho is simply grinning like he has done nothing wrong. To be fair, he has given Jisung a good opening to talk about himself. “I— I’m Han Jisung. Twenty two. Not a sorcerer but I love learning about magic, so I’m glad that I could enrol here. And please don’t worry about my leg. It’s back.”
He chuckles as he raises his prosthetic leg, but he doesn’t think the joke is landing, so he quickly moves on. “My dorm mate is Hyunjin.”
“Yup, that’s me. Hwang Hyunjin,” the dorm mate in question says. Jisung is glad to be able to stop talking. “Sorcerer, twenty three years old. I also know nothing about magic, despite being very willing to learn. I’ve worked my ass off to get here, and was hoping to study without whatever this is happening, but I could help. I’m quite good at fire spells.”
“I don’t think that will help against this much snow, but…” Chan trails off. Jisung is curious just how much snow he means. “Maybe we should all see for ourselves. Thanks for the introductions. Let’s try to fix this as soon as possible. Together.”
Jisung looks around the group. The tension has lowered by now, but no one seems quite relieved or relaxed. It stays silent. They all decide to follow Chan and Changbin to the balcony in question.
Jisung’s eyes almost fall out of their sockets when he sees what the outside world looks like. It’s hard to see any details when quite literally everything is covered in snow. He can’t see further than the edge of the forest, with icy trees, their trunks almost invisible under the piled up snow.
A thick fog has settled near the edge of the woods, limiting the view, and it almost feels like a horror film, so quiet and white. It’s like they’ve been transported into a snow globe version of the academy.
Jisung watches the scenery as Chan, Seungmin, Changbin, and Hyunjin work to clear the way to the balcony from the books that have fallen over in front of the door. Once everything is out of the way and the door is able to open, the eight of them slip through to not only see the outside world better, but to also feel the effects of whatever happened just now.
“How… How is this possible…?” Jisung mutters, mostly to himself. His breath comes out in white clouds. He has never seen nor read about anything like this. He knows that magic used to be way more powerful, but that was generations ago.
“There is absolutely no way that this was done by magic,” Seungmin says with a firm voice.
“There’s no way this wasn’t done by magic,” Jeongin retorts. “This is insane. It would take way too long to get this much snow, and this happened in what? Twenty minutes? This is some magical curse or whatever and has nothing to do with me, so I think I should just go home.”
“How are you going to do that, Jeongin-ah?” Changbin asks, crossing his arms. “Walk through the snow without freezing to death or getting yourself buried? This doesn’t have anything to do with any of us, as far as we know. We gotta figure out what happened, whether we like it or not.”
“I mean, fair enough, but how are we, non-sorcerers, supposed to help against this?” Jeongin argues, gesturing around at the whiteness, the ice, the fog. Chan raises his hand.
“We all live in a world with magic, that’s simply the truth. You can fight it, but magic won’t disappear. Just like this situation. You can either help us figure out what’s going on and go home earlier or sit by and watch, but I won’t let you risk your life trying to go home when we have no idea what or who we are dealing with,” he tells him, voice stern and brows pulled together. Jeongin exhales and relents.
“Fine. Fine, you’re right,” he admits, averting his gaze and turning away from Chan, who scowls. The atmosphere feels cold, and not just because they are surrounded by snow and ice.
“So, what? This was some sort of attack on the school?” Minho asks, wrapping his arms around himself to stay warm. “Any enemies of the school, Chan-ssi?”
“Not that I know of,” Chan answers after a beat, but he looks hesitant. He doesn’t elaborate, but Jisung thinks that he has a theory of some sorts. He can read it off his face.
“Well, there existed enemies of magic, back in the day. Sort of,” Jisung speaks up, carefully. He isn’t sure about this, but it might help them figure out something. “Two families. Fighting over how magic should be used. The Park family and the Lee family.”
“I know what you mean, but that was generations ago. What could that have to do with this, today?” Seungmin asks in return. Jisung doesn’t have an answer to his question, he’s just saying anything that comes to mind.
“I mean… Uhm… This magic is way too powerful to be anything modern, right? It could be ancient magic?” he suggests hesitantly. His heart is pounding fast for some reason. “I… I don’t know why it could be released now, though. Maybe I’m wrong.”
“Whatever it is, we gotta fix it, and we gotta clear the entrance to the building so that we can get out. And I happen to know just the spell that can help us out. Let me handle this,” Hyunjin says with a grin, rubbing his hands together like a fly. Everyone turns to look at Hyunjin, who doesn’t seem to mind the attention at all.
His hands start glowing an orangey hue. He cracks his neck and wiggles his fingers, sparks flying off. “Time to light this place on fire,” he says, and Jisung’s stomach drops. He wonders what Hyunjin is planning.
Suddenly, the balcony lights up, snow and ice around them melting. Hyunjin’s hands are burning, bright flames licking his skin as he jumps over the fence onto the snow. Jisung watches with wide eyes, awe filling him from head to toe. “Holy shit.”
“Hyunjin! Be careful.” Chan runs towards the fence around the balcony and looks over it as Hyunjin melts the snow to carve out the entrance. The rest follow.
“Don’t be stupid, Hyunjin-ah. You can’t melt this all by yourself,” Seungmin chides him. Jeongin scoffs.
“Show off,” he says, but he’s watching every move Hyunjin makes, the fire reflecting in his eyes. Jisung’s heart is pounding fast. He didn’t know Hyunjin was this powerful. He tames the flames like he was born doing it, using them to free the entrance and carve out a path.
“The entrance is free, you can stop, Hyunjin. You gotta stop before you regret it,” Chan warns him again, fingers tightly gripping the edge of the fence.
“Don’t worry, dad. I’m just getting our ticket out of here started,” Hyunjin assures him. Chan opens his mouth to continue—a deep frown on his face—but Seungmin sighs and rolls his eyes before he climbs over the fence, and Chan stops to watch. Jisung gasps as he watches the sorcerer jump down, too.
He has a bad feeling all of a sudden. His leg is starting to cramp. He’s been standing out in the cold for too long.
Hyunjin’s flames go out in the blink of an eye, and the man looks at his hands in confusion. “Huh? What the— S-Seungmin-ah? What did you do?” Hyunjin frowns and tries again, thrusting his hands towards the snow, but no magic is coming out. No flames. No heat.
Jisung inhales sharply, and his knees buckle. His leg hurts—The cold must be getting to it.
“I’m stopping you from being an idiot and driving yourself mad,” Seungmin says with a stern voice. Hyunjin’s eyes are wide, and for a second, Jisung fears that he’s going to turn around and hit Seungmin, but he keeps watching the snow.
Changbin groans, and Jisung whips his head to the side to see him grabbing at his head. “Shit! I have a bad feeling about this. We gotta get out of here, guys. Go inside! Now!” Chan calls out in a loud voice, waving his arms around towards the balcony door, urging everyone to come with him.
“There’s someone in the snow,” Hyunjin exclaims all of a sudden, but Jisung looks around and sees no one. A hand grabs his arm and pulls him with him. It’s Minho.
“No, there’s not. Come inside,” Seungmin’s voice sounds. Jeongin is shaking as he dashes towards the balcony exit. Felix bumps into the door as Chan leads Changbin.
“There is—There’s someone there—” Hyunjin stammers loudly. “There is! What the fuck!”
A sting in Jisung’s leg makes him fall down, but Minho’s reflexes are quick and he catches him by the arm. The balcony shakes. Wind howls.
“If you don’t come with me now, you’ll be the one lying dead in the snow, you dumbass!” Seungmin yells. Jisung’s heart goes haywire. He’s worried about the two, but Minho keeps pulling at him.
“Jisung, come on. We can’t help them from up here,” he insists. Jisung takes a shaky breath and nods, pushing through the cramp to follow Minho inside. “You okay? Is your leg okay?”
“Cramps. It’s not as bad as earlier, I—It’s just the cold, it makes the metal cold which makes my leg cramp,” Jisung explains as he tries his best to keep up with Minho and hurry downstairs to see if Hyunjin and Seungmin are okay. The cold seems to be affecting them all. Jeongin is shaking a lot, Felix looks uncoordinated, and Changbin looks like he’s having a headache again.
“Thank goodness.” Jisung hears Chan say it before he sees Hyunjin and Seungmin inside, seemingly safe. The doors are open and a trail of snow has piled inside. Most of Hyunjin’s progress has been undone. But how is that possible?
Jisung’s leg is slowly feeling better and he hurries over towards his dorm mate. “What happened out there? Are you okay?”
Hyunjin looks up at him from where he’s sitting on the ground, eyes wide as saucers. “It—It was you in the snow. In— Just lying there. Without your leg.”
Jisung flinches, his heart hammering against his ribs. “W-What? How? I— I was on the balcony.”
“Felix was there too, I think. Changbin had his head in the snow, Jeongin was digging him out,” Hyunjin continues, voice trembling. Seungmin stands up and stomps over towards them.
“I told you, you went too far! This is the madness taking effect,” he chides him as he holds out his hand for Hyunjin to take.
“No, I— I’ve been practicing. I should have been able to do this,” Hyunjin retorts, letting Seungmin pull him up. Hyunjin runs a hand through his hair, eyes frantically flicking back and forth. “I’m not—I know I get madness easily but I should have been able to do this!”
“Hyunjin, I can—” Chan approaches him, hand held out, but Hyunjin slaps it away.
“No. You— I don’t need your help. I don’t know you,” he whispers. Chan presses his lips into a thin line and lowers his arm. He takes a deep breath and looks around. The snow on the floor, the pale faces, the shivering bodies.
“I… Is everyone else okay? It looks like trying to melt the snow reactivates whatever magic did this in the first place and replenishes the snow,” he says with a frown. “Did anyone get hurt?”
Jisung shakes his head, and so do the rest. Chan lets out a breath. “Okay, good. If— If you guys need it, I’ve practiced soothing magic, so I can help, if you want.”
“Okay, but go back a bit. To the part where you said the magic replenished after Hyunjin tried to melt the snow. This sounds a lot like this academy is trapped somehow,” Minho says, crossing his arms and frowning at the snow inside the building. “That’s— That’s insane. Which means it could be something ancient, but let’s sleep on it. It’s getting late, and we gotta rest. If this trap means that we’re all more susceptible to madness, we gotta be careful and we gotta be sharp.”
“Minho-ssi is right,” Changbin says with a long exhale. “Let’s all sleep on it.”
“Good idea. We can use the sleeping hall, that way we can stay close and keep an eye on each other,” Chan suggests after a beat of silence. Everyone quietly agrees, and the eight of them gather some belonging, clothes and toiletries to put in the sleeping hall.
The atmosphere is still tense and the sleeping hall is quite cold, but Chan promises to get it warmer. Jisung is embarrassed for taking off his prosthetic leg in front of everyone, but he’s grateful that no one is really paying attention to him.
He glances at Minho to see how he’s doing. Minho’s bed is right next to his, and Jisung swears that he sees Minho looking away right when Jisung turns.
“Sleep well, guys,” Chan says, getting some murmured good nights in return. Jisung is cold as he falls asleep.
˚. ✦.˳·˖✶ ⋆.✧̣̇˚.