Sylvester slowly picked up the strange card that seemed to beckon him and flipped it over to see what lies on the other side. What awaited him however was a contradiction.

He saw something written on the pure white underside. He knows he saw what was written on that card. He remembers vividly yet at the same time it was nothing but a blur.

Then all of a sudden Sylvester could feel a sharp pain stab through his head. An extreme heat piercing and searing into his brain, boiling the flesh inside. He wanted to scream for help but no voice came out of his throat.

His legs began to feel soggy and weak like jello, as if all his strength was sapped out of him.

As he fell to his knees, the antique store started to become unstable. Trinkets and wares splitting into various random colors, separating and stretching out like a rubber toy being fought over by two children. The room itself twisting and contorting violently, bending itself into impossible angles.

Everything was thrown into chaos. Except the mirror that, for some reason, remained untouched and pristine.

As the pain continued to linger and pound on his head, Sylvester glanced at the strangely reflective surface and saw someone or something now standing behind him.

Sylvester could not make out any details about this mysterious spectator, it was hazy and non-existent. Except for the mask.

Sylvester could see it clear as day. Two dark and empty holes at the bottom and one crescent slit at the top, an upside down smile. He doesn’t know why, but he could feel that the visitor behind the mask was smiling at him, taking delight in his torture.

And then all of sudden the mirror cracked and shattered into a thousand small pieces. The room, the mirror, the trinkets that all started to crumble into dust.

It was over, or so he thought.

As the surroundings started to fade into white, he turned around and looked at the thing behind him, and sure enough it was still there silently staring back. The hazy figure lifted its index finger and moved to the front of its face and suddenly-

“Shhhhhhh.”

Sylvester then woke up in a cold sweat, jolting awake and panting. He found himself back in his room at inanis Orbis, the morning sun’s light seeping through the window wrapping him in a warm and welcome embrace.

“That dream again… haaaa… That place… again..” Sylvester groaned and gasped for air as he got up from his bed.

He looked over to the other side and saw that Artian was no longer there. His bed sheet fixed up neatly covering his bed in a snug fit. And as if on cue, Artian came in barging loudly into the room.

“Good morning dude, had a good night sleep?” Artian asked as he placed a bathing towel into a hanger. It looked like he just finished taking a bath.

Sylvester’s thoughts lingered to the nightmare that just passed, but chose to just put it behind his mind like he did so many times before.

“Eh more or less, did I snore?” Sylvester jokingly replied.

“Hell if I know, I’m a heavy sleeper myself.” Artian also replied in jest. “The canteen down stairs won’t be opening for at least 30 more minutes. You should hurry up and take a shower.” He continued.

“I see, thanks. I’ll do just that.”

With that Sylvester got up and took his toiletries along with a new set of clothes and went to the bathroom. Normally he wouldn’t take long to do his business but he wanted to wash away weariness from that dream of his so to speak, so he decided to soak himself just a little bit.

He finished about 20 minutes later and took a few seconds to get dressed. He took his smartphone with him, his ID, and most importantly his that still remains in the shape of a baseball cap.

He then saw his current balance staring back at him. The thought of having to try and squeeze 700 credits through the remaining week was enough to jolt him completely awake.

Artian waited for him out of courtesy and they went down to the canteen together. They are roommates after all, it’s better if they try to get along.

Upon entering the canteen he saw the rest of the dorm residents sitting about at their own tables minding their own business. The canteen was flooded with the sounds of conversation, mixing together into a noisy mess.

All in all a rather lovely morning.

Sylvester and Artian went to the counter of the canteen and looked at the menu posted above. Sylvester was now feeling the full brunt of his folly.

“80 credits for bacon and eggs?!” Sylvester mumbled as he feared for his wallet.

Thankfully, there was something cheap on the menu. Boiled eggs and toast, only 40 credits. Sylvester begrudgingly accepted his fate. Meanwhile Artian bought a rather hearty meal of beans and eggs.

As they ate their breakfast, the two of them made small talk. Talking a little bit about their experiences but not telling the other some rather important details. One could say they were testing the waters.

After they were done with the meal, both of them headed out and to wait for the headmaster’s instructions for today’s activity. Artian however felt something amiss and paused on the middle of the stairs.

“Huh, I feel I’m forgetting something.” Artian said as he scratched his head.

Sylvester simply shrugged. They passed the front desk and greeted the twins a good morning. As soon as they headed out the front door a petite girl was waiting outside looking rather vexed.

The girl had red hair that was tied into two braids that hung down almost reaching her waist. She was wearing what looked like ski goggles completely obscuring her eyes from the sight of others, a pink hoodie, a short skirt, revealing black tights that ended on a pair of brown timbs. To top it all off she had quite the voluptuous figure for someone of her stature. She was glaring, eyebrows furrowed, angrily staring at Artian.

“Oh shi- Sorry man I gotta go see ya later!” Artian said with panic in his voice as he ran towards the woman.

Sylvester simply nodded and looked in another direction. He did want to bear witness to a brewing mess this early in the morning.

“I thought we agreed that we were going to have a morning jog together???.” A small voice but angry voice said.

“Okay okay, I’m sorry. I kinda… forgot…..” A familiar voice replied, seemingly bracing itself for something.

“YOU WHA-!???”

At this point Sylvester wanted none of it and walked away as fast as he could, the argument behind him slowly fading weaker and weaker as he moved away.

He felt like he was in danger of getting dragged into the argument despite him only recently meeting Artian.

“I don't want any trouble in the morning, thank you very much! Having that stupid nightmare again is more than enough!” Sylvester exclaimed in his head.

“Now then, I wonder what Mr Headmaster has in store for me toda-”

All of a sudden he could feel something shaking in his pocket. “It’s probably my smartphone.” Sylvester thought. But to his surprise it was not his phone, but his ID.

Looking around, he could also see some students suddenly stopping and pulling out their IDs to check it out.

The normal display was now gone, replaced by a strange button saying “click me!”. It looked like those scam ads you would find in a dubious website on the internet. Sylvester almost didn’t want to click out of instinct.

In the end he had no choice but to comply.

After clicking the glaring red button, the ID’s display changed once more. Now it looked like it was a video screen that was pitch black at first and then flashing lights suddenly appeared. 7 lights that Sylvester was now all too familiar with.

“Oh look, it's the headmaster!” Sylvester said out loud, with anticipation in his voice.

The changing lights went on for a little while until a final flash that drowned the screen in pure white appeared. A laugh can now be heard coming from the ID.

“Seriously, this thing is just a magic smartphone at this point!” Sylvester jokingly said in his head.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING MY DEAAAAAR NEW STUDENTS!” A loud voice came from the display as the Headmaster’s figure slowly began to take shape.