Chapter 2—University
Fortunately, the way to university was uneventful. With a hoody and mask, most of my facial features could not be seen, for which I was really happy. Not that anyone would've been interested in me anyway, but as usual, I felt like everyone was staring at me.
The university I attended is situated in an old, modernized part of town that maintains the whole charm of the architecture but has upgraded its interior with the necessities for thoroughly modern life. Since campus and related facilities for the humanities branch were located in the heart of the district, it also attracted many international tourists. The buildings that we called our university were built in the Baroque style. It clearly stood out, especially since the surrounding buildings reflected the style of classicism. Moving further and further away from the 'heart', one can see that the coming rows of houses are dominated by the early architectural Bauhaus style.
Funnily, our center of learning was the very first building to be started but the last to be completed. All the modeling of the sculptures took, as far as I remember, an eternity. In addition, the green space that formed the courtyard, which took up a relatively large area, also prevented a quick construction because they did not want to drive through it with the materials and transporters to ensure its integrity. At least the end result was something to be proud of.
I passed through an enormously large entrance, which was always locked at night by an ostentatious fence. I went to the most prominent building—my lecture would be held there today. Usually, we would be in one of the much smaller houses because my major subject 'Kulturwissenschaften'—yes, it is pronounced and written in German because Cultural Studies and Kulturwissenschaften are different things and the English term is more associated with an ideology...at least that is what I was told—was unfortunately not that popular in this city.
For me, however, it was perfect since the major combined everything I liked. It was basically a mishmash of all humanities and more multidisciplinary stuff. Ideal for people like me who don't wanna limit themself to only one thing. However, depending on the university, there were different focal points. For us, these were fashion, gender, cultural origins, and Phantastik of the world. Though, one was not really forced to specify and could also take seminars and lectures that lead in a totally different direction. Although, these courses were usually very poorly attended, which was all the better for me. For example, I had a seminar about Victorianism in the last semester. After a few sessions, we dived into steampunk, its origin, fashion, comics about automaton, etcetera. I couldn't say I wouldn't have liked to see the fashion styles on me. I would also love to wear something like a Lolita dress, but that's something that will never come true.
Today's lecture and the following were held in the big auditorium because of a guest speaker. Their topic will be 'Occult Phantastik—Witches, Magic, and Sorcery'.
I must admit that I was hoping that this theme would keep what its name promised. It wouldn't have been the first time that a course theatrically described a topic but ended up completely dry—only outdated aspects held by people who doubted the records anyway, even if they were supported by facts. Instead of a discourse, a lecture arose, why the professor was always right, and we were not.
Once, when we had to pick our term paper topic, which, of course, had to correspond to the professor's opinion, I cleverly choose something where he had absolutely no inkling of what would await him when he agreed to my draft.
After my stunt, I had to avoid all his other future courses—his reaction was worth it, though. Unfortunately, he wasn't professional enough to not let his own opinion factor into my grade. Well, at least I got a passing grade.
Anyways, I went to the big lecture hall; it's larger on the inside than it appears to be from the outside, which was due to the fact that shortly after entering, you first had to go down several levels to get to the first row of seats. The lecture room was, in fact, to ensure a more significant number of people could partake, built further into the ground than all other rooms. As far as I knew, this technique allowed over a thousand and four hundred people to be seated in the room. The high-quality surround sound system—which was absolutely on par with that in a movie theater—produced enough volume that everyone could hear what was going on whether they wanted to or not. The enormous digital whiteboard was so perfectly placed that even those in the back rows or with eye problems could read everything. It was only installed recently during the last Christmas break. I was more than amazed. Underneath the board was the voice console from which you could control everything. More than often, another student had to help the older professors when it came to this kind of technology since they never really understood it entirely themselves.
The room was pretty empty so far. Only four students had shown up so far. My major doesn't have an overwhelming number of students; thus, I knew what most of them looked like, and I could see that these four weren't with us. Probably just guests. In fact, what I forgot to mention was that our guest lecturer was very popular. She was also a best-selling author who inspired many people with her technical and fantasy literature. Admittedly, I'd never heard of her before. I probably just wasn't in her target audience. But this was also weird since I love fantasy. There must be some reason why I'd never heard of her works before. Anyway, that was the reason why this hall was used. I really hoped it would not be too crowded.
To avoid unpleasant encounters with other fellow students, I placed myself almost in the last row in the perfect position where the professor would completely ignore me, which meant that she would not ask me any unpleasant questions. Also, I didn't need to use my voice this way.
After almost half an hour of waiting, the auditorium was packed. Somehow, I was a little bit glad about getting fired so early in the morning. Because of this, I arrived earlier and wasn't bombarded with the typical stares that you always get when you come almost as last. A distorted smile spread across my face. I guess that's what they call lucky? I had long forgotten that such a thing even existed.
After another ten minutes, the hall was packed. Many people had made room for themselves on the stairs and steps. Shortly after, our professor came into the room. She was followed by what I thought was a woman who absolutely didn't look her age. I'd read up on her beforehand— according to her profile, she was supposed to be in her mid-fifties, yet, she looked no older than twenty-six.
But that wasn't all; her waist-length black hair that occasionally shone burgundy, her black blazer, with obsidian buttons, under which she wore a dark purple shirt, showed an elegance that I'd never seen in real life before. Her hot well-shaped body—which she trained one hundred percent regularly—nestled against her outfit. Her bust was not too big, not too small, just right if you could put it that way. Two stud earrings, each with a green sapphire, light makeup—which consisted of mascara, eye shadow, and lipstick—completed her look perfectly. Her skin was so flawless that any skincare products or concealer would have been superfluous.
However, what absolutely captivated me was her heterochromia iridis. The left eye literally glowed in a beautiful purple. At the same time, the right housed an icy blue, which would send a shiver down the spine of anyone who looked into them. I'm convinced that those who stared into them a bit longer would lose themselves entirely in them, and their own soul would be trapped there forever. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that she was a magical being who is simply enjoying herself and wandering between us mortals. But this was just absurd. There's no magic, not in a cruel world like this.
At the exact moment that I tore my gaze from her, I was overwhelmed with terrible envy. I wondered how there could be someone so perfect, someone who had been born with everything and is admired by everyone without doing anything. I shook my head. It was wrong of me to think that she had done nothing to achieve what she had accomplished. Just how much effort did she put in to look the way she does? Still, it simply wasn't fair because I knew no matter how much I would work on myself...never be anything like her—that's what I'm jealous of.
I was so deep in thought that I had forgotten entirely that the lecture started some time ago. But as it seemed, nothing remarkable occurred so far anyway. Today's lecture was probably more of a preparation for the upcoming sessions. They would like to structure the following lectures so that one of the two always explains their part of the subject and questions can be asked throughout. This was very important to the guest lecturer because she wanted to have an open discourse with everyone and share opinions and feelings about all these topics.
I got lost in thought again, wondering to myself what all this would mean. At the same time, I fervently hoped that they would keep me out of these discussions. I don't want to talk; I don't want people to look at me. Not when there was someone in the room who really deserved to be admired.
The rest of the lecture went rather quickly. After the organizational stuff was done, our professor talked about some historical beginnings of the first magical occurrences, like the source of magic, which was often linked to the Arthurian Saga and the search for the holy grail—the magic's origin—and the first so-called Queste. Hence the birth of the term 'quest' in games, huh.
After the lecture was over, I've waited ages—because a crowd of students was assailing the guest lecturer with questions—until the passageway was empty enough to finally pass through unnoticed.
However, as I walked past the lectern, I heard a voice.
"Unbelievable!"
I turned to the source. The person, who absolutely did not look even more incredible and beautiful up close and totally did not trigger anything strange within my soul, looked at me.
"How can you still be alive?!" she asked with eyes full of curiosity.
However, at the same time, she said it, a world shattered for me. Was it really that obvious that I suffer from depression...?
I-I just couldn't, just couldn't. I had to get away.
Without saying a word, I turned tail. Now the rest of the people who were still here were looking at me. My world was spinning; I had to get out of here!
Without paying attention to anyone else, I sprinted out of the building into the green space. I didn't stop until I found a spot wholly surrounded by trees. It was my little secret hideaway inside the university if everything was just too much for me to handle.
Once again, hot tears flowed down my face. This world was just cruel. When I thought for a moment that I had calmed myself, my cell phone rang. I was being called. On the cell phone, I saw my landlord's number.
"Burg," I said, sniffling.
"Yes, hello? I'm sorry to inform you, but apparently, there is a problem with your rental property, which is why you will have to leave within the next four months at the latest. We will send you the details by mail. I apologize once again and hope that despite all this, you will find another place to stay. Good day!"
"Ahahahaha," I laughed hysterically, completely unable to cope with the situation. "Could it get any worse?!"
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God these first couple chapters have been sad as f*ck but is that a magical glimmer of hope I see? I really hope this girl gets the love she deserves
Thx for the chapter