Consciousness returned to Flynn like a tidal swell. His eyes snapped open, and all the sensations of the waking world gushed forth with the force of a punch to the gut. Flynn staggered for a second, his mind aquiver with dizziness and his gaze lost without focus.

  It took him moments to gather his bearings, and moments more to remember what’d happened. He’d been eating in his closet – well, the girl’s closet but his for that day – and then he’d fallen unconscious.

  A nap?

  He took them sometimes during lunch, but this had felt different. Less drifting asleep and more being pulled under.

  And afterwards?

  His brow furrowed with concentration.

  Nothing. He remembered nothing.

  And now? The first thing he noticed was the fact that he was lying on the floor if the hardness against his back meant anything. The second was that he wasn’t in the closet anymore. It was too bright, and the ceiling too high for it to be the same room. The third was that there was a bow by his hand.

  And the fourth? Someone was a heavy snorer.

  Flynn shifted up and eyed the figure of Gunner sound asleep a few feet away from him. The teen had no bow by his side, or anything else. Corey was also asleep a few feet away with a pair of bronze knuckle-dusters on his fists. Further afield, he saw Eustace and four other kids that he didn’t know but recognized as students from other classes. Only some of them had items next to them. Eustace had a keyboard, for whatever reason, and one of the girls had what looked like a make-up brush.

  Everyone was asleep, and a quick glance around him revealed that they weren’t in a classroom either. Or if it was, it’d been designed by someone who only tangentially knew what a classroom was supposed to look like and AI-generated the rest.

  They were in a corner of the space, but the rest of it that he could see was vast, so much so that he couldn’t even see the other side of the room from where he was stood. Scattered around the area were tables and chairs, but they were all bizarre.

  Some of the chairs stood on legs longer than ladders, and others curved at angles that kinda went against the whole point of a chair. Unless people could sit upside down.

  Some of the tables were massive things, with smaller tables protruding from their surface at odd angles like tumorous growths, and others rose up towards the ceiling as if they’d been made for the comfort of giants.

  And as he studied the rest of the room, Flynn discovered that the strangeness didn’t just end with the furniture. The layout of the space was just as odd, with walls that jutted at random intervals and unwarranted dips in the floor, like something had raked a massive claw through the tiles. At other points, massive tangles of paperclips sprouted from the ground like metal bushes, and backpacks with unreasonably long straps and bulging innards hung from the ceiling like the fruit of some leathery tree.

  Scattered bits of paper and other stationary littered the floor, and long rows of notices and posters beyond counting lined parts of the wall like a carpet of vines.

  And there was more. So much more. And none of it made a lick of sense. Flynn blinked and then sucked in a deep breath. First things first, he flexed his fingers and grabbed the bow. He had a feeling that he might need it.

  It was light, as he tested it in his hands. Compound and of good make. Not as good as the bows he used to use, once upon a time. Still, despite how good it was, a bow was useless without arrows. Flynn scanned his surroundings again, but he saw no quiver. Weird.

  Alright. He asked himself what the facts were.

  He’d somehow fallen unconscious in the closet, and then woken up in an impossible, distorted classroom along with seven other students, some with weapons or objects by their side. There was no easy way to explain that logically.

  A prank? Too weird and too complicated. Who’d design a room like this just to prank a bunch of high schoolers? A dream? He slapped himself hard enough to taste blood on his tongue. Nope. It was all too vivid, besides. A hallucination. He’d never hallucinated before, and he saw no reason why he would start now.

  So, what then? This was real, and it was purposeful? Someone had really dragged him here for some possibly nefarious reason?

  Maybe. Flynn frowned and was about to rise to a stand when something blinked into being several inches away from his face.

  He flinched away on the wings of instinct, his body carrying him up to his feet with his arms raised protectively. Stepping away, he eyed the... book, that’d appeared out of thin air.

  The book that hovered in mid-air in front of him, like gravity was an old fad not worth paying attention to.

  ‘Okay. That’s new.’ he thought warily. Flynn glanced around him and saw no other weird intrusions into his personal space. No other unexpected surprises. Just the one book.

  It just sat there, hung in the air like it was waiting for something. Waiting for him, he realized. He could feel it. A call towards it, like he’d been called to archery and DnD. A desire. And he... he wanted to go to it. Flynn considered the strange feeling welling up in his gut. It bloomed, growing and gushing until it started to feel like familiarity. Like he somehow knew the book. Trusted it, even.

  The feeling pushed him to approach, but he was cautious as he did. It was a worn thing, and it reminded him of the dusty old tomes that he’d seen in game-art over the years. A thick leather cover, simple and undecorated, wrapped around unevenly bound yellowed pages. No words were etched across the cover that he could make out. Nothing to signify what it was.

  Hesitantly, Flynn stretched a hand towards it. A finger brushed over the rim of the cover, only to recoil when the book flipped open.

  Pages fluttered by at rapid-fire speed until it finally settled onto the very first page.

  Flynn studied the words scrawled on the paper in iridescent black ink.

  Flynn Killwen

  Lvl. 1

  Initiate

  Traits:

  -

  Stats:

  STR:10 | SPD:11 | END:11 | PERC:15 | MPO:12 | MCP:9 | MAL:14 | MCT:10

  Syscoins:

  0

  Class Spells:

  Illusionary Archer

  [Spectacle Arrow] [Illusionary Self] [Summon Bowst]

  Quests:

  -

  The words were in proper English, and they listed things that made complete sense to him, in a way. But it was still fucking weird. It was... beyond what common sense dictated should’ve been possible.

  Because it was a goddamn character sheet. There was no way in Hell that he’d mistake one for anything else.

  An actual, game-like character sheet, with his name on it to boot.

  Flynn sucked in a breath; his eyes wide.

  Whatever was going on, it’d suddenly become way weirder than even his wildest expectations.

  Cautiously, Flynn raised a hand towards the book again. Some new, alien part of him continued to call him towards it. His finger lingered a breath away from its surface, doubt fighting against a blooming surge of expectation, before he finally pressed against the glimmering letters on the page.

  A page seemingly tore itself out of the book and fluttered free before it came to rest by its side, words scrawled across its length.

  Spectacle Arrow

  Class Spell - Rank 1

  ?

  Unleash an arrow of illusionary power that can have one of three effects.

  - The arrow explodes in a burst of light upon impact

  - The arrow produces a sound upon impact

  - The arrow is wreathed with the illusion of an element

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Flynn’s lips curled into a smile as he read what was undeniably a tooltip. It was... it made his heart flutter. Fucking crazy. He laughed breathlessly.

  What it spoke of...

  What it outright stated.

  A proper, actual spell, and there was more.

  Illusionary Archer

  +3 PER + 3 MAL

  The echo of a whisper. A glint of light that catches the eye. A pinprick against the senses. And then death comes, unseen, unfelt, unexpected until it is far too late.

  That is the domain of the Illusionary Archer. They are a walking contradiction, simultaneously masters of quiet deception and purveyors of gaudy attraction.

  They are just as comfortable using their powerful illusions to disguise themselves until the time comes that they can set upon their targets as they are distracting and

  hounding their prey with flash and pomp until their weakness is revealed, and an arrow can finish the job.

  Create Illusionary Self

  Class Spell - Rank 1

  ?

  Create a false image of yourself that will follow your commands. Your image cannot physically affect anything and does not produce sound or smell. It can last for up to 10 minutes and is not bound to you by proximity.

  Up to three Illusionary Selves can be maintained at any given time.

  Summon Bowst

  Class Spell - Rank 1

  ?

  Summon a small autonomous crossbow capable of hovering several feet off the ground that will follow your commands. It can cast any projectile-based spell that you can, but at a lesser potency. It is permanent and draws from your mana pool to cast its magic. It is not bound to you by proximity.

  Only one Bowst can be maintained at any given time.

  Initiate

  One newly inducted to the methods of magic.

  STR (Strength)

  A measure of the physical power you can exert

  SPD (Speed)

  A measure of how swiftly you can move

  END (Endurance)

  A measure of your ability to endure physical strain and harm

  PER (Perception)

  A measure of the keenness of your senses

  MPO (Mana Potency)

  A measure of the power inherent to your mana

  MCP (Mana Capacity)

  A measure of the amount of mana you contain

  MAL (Mana Alacrity)

  A measure of the speed with which your mana flows

  MCT (Mana Control)

  A measure of your control over your mana

  Compound Mana Bow

  Weapon - Bow

  Lesser Graded

  +2 PER

  A simple compound bow that can manifest arrows of mana.

  This was fucking crazy. It was like a game, and the cynical, sensible side of his brain whispered that none of it couldn’t be real as he finished reading the last tooltip. That none of this was in any way possible. That there was something to it. A con. A falsehood. Something logical.

  Waking up in a weird classroom was one thing, but this...

  But it was too late. Another part of him had already accepted what he saw as truth, and it spoke louder and more clearly than the mistrustful part of him did. It wanted this to be real, as much as he did, and everything he’d seen so far had no answer in logic.

  He believed what the pages implied. Believed that he was suddenly a character out of an RPG and could cast spells and go on grand adventures. Believed in magic.

  Flynn wasn’t gullible. He didn’t care about palm readings and fortunes and horoscopes. But this...

  Maybe it was the influence of the force responsible for all this, whatever it was. God. Merlin. Aliens. Maybe it was making him believe... or... maybe he just wanted to imagine that there was a magical escape from the mundanity of his life.

  Maybe...

  Flynn flicked the thought from his mind like he would a fly buzzing around his ear.

  He didn’t really care why, he decided. Didn’t care for the truth.

  Flynn figured that the answers would come in time. And if it didn’t, he couldn't care less. He had more interesting content to sick his teeth into after all.

  After re-reading the tooltips again, this time with less breathless amazement and more critical focus, he found that most of the information contained within them was standard fare stuff for an experienced veteran of many MMOs. Still, there were a few oddities. Like the initiate label under his name.

  What was he supposed to be an initiate to?

  And was it a title? A rank? Maybe both. It clearly wasn’t a class, since he already had one of those, and it was incredible. It wasn’t much different compared to what he played in his DnD campaign, in fact, and though he was suspicious of that, he was still grateful for the familiarity. It made the craziness of his situation slightly easier to swallow.

  His stats were easily understood, and he also had a level, which just further cemented the weird game-like nature of it all, but the fact that his level looked like it was divorced from his actual class was pretty strange. He guessed that it might've been attached to ‘initiate’ instead, or maybe it wasn’t even bound to anything at all?

  The bow’s tooltip also explained why he had no quiver or arrows.

  ‘Cuz, of course. He was no scrub that needed physical arrows. No. He had mana arrows. Real, proper magic. His heart did a little palpitation at the thought.

  He grinned, before a thought struck the smile from his face.

  Were the others also a part of this? Eustace? The randoms? Corey and Flynn?

  Did they have classes and magic too?

  A groan caught his attention, and he figured that he’d be getting his answer soon enough.

  “Fuck, my head. What happened?” grumbled a familiar voice. The book blinked away as soon as he tore his attention onto Corey. A deep yawn pulled apart the bully’s lips, and for a moment he seemed just as unaware as Flynn had been to the strangeness of their surroundings.

  That blessed ignorance died as soon as their eyes met. Flynn recognized the flash of shock in his eyes that came first, and then the fear that came after. And then, very in-character, came the rage. Corey shot up to his feet, almost stumbling onto his ass in his haste, and wove a snarl across his lips.

  He was about to say something, probably an insult or a challenge considering how he usually talked, when his gaze drifted from Flynn and towards their surroundings. His rage died away then, quickly replaced by confusion.

  “What the fuck? Where are we?” He whirled on Flynn. “You do this?!”

  How the fuck...

  Flynn shot Corey a look that he hoped fully conveyed how stupid he thought he was, before he rubbed at the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

  “Yeah. I did.” he said blandly. “This is all a part of my masterplan. See, first I kidnap you, Gunner, Eustace and those four randos who I’ve never even spoken to. Then? You wanna know what the next step is?”

  Flynn raised his bow, and the moron flinched away, afraid that he’d do something. He smiled. Corey was one of those people that made him wonder how they had the brain power to spare towards breathing.

  “The fuck? What’re you gonna do?!” questioned the shaven-headed boy.

  “Nothing. He’s messin’ with you.” grumbled another slightly more intelligent voice. Just slightly, though. Gunner slowly rose to his feet and stumbled into place next to his friend. Flynn studied the guy, and then the figures of the others as they also came awake in quick succession. In moments, all seven of them were awake and up, studying the classroom around them with fear and wonderment.

  Or just fear, in Eustace’s case.

  “What the hell is this place?” questioned one of the randos as he cautiously touched one of the weird desks.

  “It’s like a funhouse version of a classroom.” said another.

  “Nothing fun ‘bout this place.” barked Corey irritably before he shot Flynn a glare.

  “Ah! Help!”

  All eyes turned to Eustace as the scrawny boy shuffled backwards and batted at the air with his keyboard like he was swatting away invisible bees. Or, Flynn realized, alarmed by a book suddenly popping into view. His friend eventually stopped, his eyes wide as he studied something that only he could see, and as if a signal had gone off, the others were probably assaulted by teleporting magic books of their own.

  There were a few cries of alarm, but everyone eventually settled into an amazed silence as they all read through what their books had to say. Flynn idly wondered what kind of classes the two idiots would get.

  Probably barbarian, or a variation of that.

  “A fuckin’ floating book? What the hell is all this shit?” barked Corey, first to finish, or more likely, quickest to give up trying to read.

  “T-This is... it’s a character sheet.” answered Eustace, wide-eyed, miming his exact thoughts.

  “Yeah, like an MMO.” agreed one of the others.

  “The fuck? A character sheet?” Corey clearly had an insult on the tip of his lips, but he held himself back and looked at his book a second time, as if he was finally seeing it.

  “Are we still in school?” asked one of the two girls of the group softly, her eyes lingering on their surroundings.

  “Dunno.” answered Flynn with a shrug.

  “My phone!” exclaimed one of the randos. He had his phone held up to his face. “I’m not getting a signal here. Any of ya’ll have a signal?”

  Flynn grimaced. He hadn’t even thought to check his phone. Thanks, rando. He might even actually bother to try and learn his name for that. Maybe. As one, the entire group plucked out their phones and as one they revealed that no one had a signal. Clearly, whatever had put them there didn’t want them talking to anyone else.

  “Okay, what is this? Some kind of prank or something?” questioned the other girl with a deep frown, her fists clenched by her side.

  Flynn swallowed back a cutting remark. How would a prank even bring floating magical books visible only to the user to life? What kind of budget was this supposed prank meant to have that it could access technologies beyond the public domain? And there was more. But Flynn held his tongue in check. No point in making enemies right now.

  Though, clearly, Corey had no such inhibition.

  “You fuckin’ stupid, bitch? We just had a magic book pop up in front of our faces like something out of a fantasy movie and you think that this is a prank?”

  The girl’s face coloured at the mockery. It must’ve been painful to realize that Corey had made a smarter point than you. Flynn would’ve died from the shame. A scowl swept her lips instead and she opened her mouth, a retort clear on the tip of her tongue.

  Whatever it’d been, the sound of a piercing roar cut her off before she’d uttered a word.