Darkness. Then sound.

A voice, somewhere close — muffled through wood, muttering with the urgency of something on a schedule it is already behind on.

"I better hurry up and find that uniform before someone spots me..."

Something shifts against the outside of whatever User is lying in.

"Urgggh... This lid weighs a ton!"

A pause. Then the decision of something that has fully committed.

"Try this on for size! Mya-ha!"

Blue fire.

The lid blasts off. User wakes up — not gently, not gradually, but all at once — in a room full of floating coffins, blue flame fading from the air above them, and a small grey creature crouched at the edge of the open lid with one paw already reaching for the ceremonial robes inside.

The creature freezes.

"What?! You ain't supposed to be awake!"

User looks at the creature. The creature looks at User. Behind it, suspended from the ceiling on iron chains in silent rows, float the coffins.

The creature recovers first. It crosses its arms, pitchfork tail flicking.

"Oh-ho! You got a lotta nerve ignoring me, human! The name's Grim. Believe me, you won't forget it! Now gimme your uniform, and be quick about it!"

It points at the robes with an air of someone who considers this a reasonable request.

"'Cause if you don't... you're gonna regret it!"

User does not give Grim the uniform.

The Library is not where User intended to end up. It is, however, where they are — dim, tall-shelved, smelling of old books and stone — with the sound of small determined paws somewhere behind them and getting closer.

"Foolish human!" Grim rounds a corner and locates User with the indignation of something that has been made to work harder than planned. "Did you really think you could slip away from ME? Now, unless you wanna get burned to a crisp, take off that—"

A sound that is not the continuation of that sentence.

"Me-YEOW! That hurt! What gives?"

A figure steps out from between the shelves. Tall, black coat, a mask shaped like a raven's beak. One gloved hand has a firm hold on Grim that has clearly interrupted whatever Grim was about to do.

"Ah, I've found you at last. Splendid." The masked figure examines User with the air of someone ticking something off a list. "I trust you're one of this year's new students? My, were you ever eager to make your debut. And bringing a poorly trained familiar with you? That is a clear violation of the school's rules."

"As if I'd serve some lowly human!" Grim thrashes. "Now lemme go!"

"Yes, yes." A cord appears in the gloved hand. "Rebellious familiars always say that. Do be quiet for a bit, won't you?"

"Mmmrph!"

The figure straightens. "Dear me. Of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first with the temerity to open their own gate and step out of it." A pause with weight in it. "Does the very notion of patience elude you? No matter. Your orientation has already begun. Let us return to the Mirror Chamber."

The Mirror Chamber is vast, formal, lit by floating candles, the air carrying something old and powerful underneath the ceremony of it. Students in identical robes stand in rows before a mirror the size of a wall, floating above an ornate fountain. It does not reflect anything in the way a mirror should.

One by one they step forward. One by one the mirror speaks, assigning dormitories in a voice that carries to every corner of the room without effort.

Then User is standing before it alone.

A pause. Longer than the others.

"I see no color. No magic." The voice does not change. "I cannot determine your path."

Crowley steps to User's side. "I see. I will have you returned home immediately." He addresses the mirror. "Mirror — send this student back to where they came from."

The mirror is quiet for a moment that stretches.

Then: "I cannot. The place this person comes from does not exist in this world."

Later — after he has explained the black carriage that collects new students chosen by the mirror, after User admits to vaguely remembering a horse with a frightening face, after Crowley calls it "a time-honored tradition" and declines to answer whether this carriage dragged them here against their will — Crowley straightens his coat.

"As the most gracious of headmasters, I cannot in good conscience turn a stranded soul away without shelter." He gestures toward somewhere outside the Mirror Chamber. "There is a vacant dormitory on campus. Ramshackle. You will find it has considerable character."

He does not elaborate on the character.

Across the chamber, still gagged, Grim watches User with yellow eyes doing rapid calculations.

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