Runology

“Hey Hansol. Do you know how I can go to hell?”

“Why you asking me?”

The rapper was rolling around on the common room sofa, surrounded by lose notebook pages, scribbles all over. Mingyu hadn’t asked him for any specific reason, he had just been the first guy the wizard had come across.

“Well, you spit fire, no?”

“Rapping doesn’t make me a dragon.”

“Alright, I’ll figure it out.”

“Wait,” Hansol said and sat up. He fixed his hair, putting the oversized cap on backwards again. “What do you want to do in hell?”

“Uh, just something I’d like to pick up. In the…uh, Crimson Valley.”

“Jun probably knows. He’s from there after all.”

“Yeah, I guessed, but he’s not gonna be back until later. Thanks anyway.”

Hansol rubbed his temples and started collecting his notes. “…Actually, I think the Woozler sometimes pays a visit to the underworld. He’d fit right in there, come to think of it. And as far as I know he visits the valleys of every color. Rare herbs that only grow blablabla.”

“Oh, I’ll ask him right away. Thank you.”

“Anytime, hyung.”

Mingyu walked away, eager to speak to Jihoon again. Not eager enough to run, though. Despite having worked fruitfully with the potion’s master before, he had no plans to disturb the pink haired boy unless unavoidable.

*************************

Chan’s wand was on the top shelf. It was not in his hand and would not get there no matter how much his fingers twitched. He had sworn that much.

It had appeared in his hand - all on its own - occasionally, but that wasn’t his fault. Wands wanted to be used. Technically calling one’s wand was considered summoning, but it wasn’t his doing, so he declared himself innocent. He even put the magic stick back on the shelf every time it popped up in his hand, diligently.

True to his word he was doing his best to distract himself. He had built a pillow fortress on his bed, made from his own pillows and those belonging to other dorm members. But they weren’t going to miss them until bedtime, so again, he didn’t think of himself as committing an injustice.

Chan was huddled up with comics, coloring books and dinosaur lexica. He had found that it was necessary to keep his fingers busy, and even though coloring books were meant for slightly younger demographics, they helped with his “condition”.

And indeed, he hadn’t summoned anything so far.

Having reread the pages on his favorite, obscure dinos a few times left him bored. Which was dangerous. He began instead to doodle on the Tyrannosaurus page.

Mr. T-Rex got glasses and a toupee, Ms. T-Rex soon held a purse and wore stilettos. The Compsognathus got a beard and the Pterodactyl a flowing mane.

Then his mind drifted again and the doodles turned abstract. A line here, a curve there, just whatever Chan’s subconscious supplied. He didn’t realized his mistake until it was too late.

The book burst into flames. They were of a harmless, blue burning, magefire. Regardless, the boy yelled in surprise and kicked the book away from himself. Flickering in all directions to spite gravity, the fire shot sparks into the room. The air ionized and Chan crawled deeper into his fortress.

White smoke – more liquid than gaseous – rose from the pages and amalgamated in the middle of the room.

The first year boy dared to look on but not to move. The smoke ball exploded with an infernal boom.

Still frozen in place, Chan tried to understand what had happened. Eventually he crawled forward, leaving his pillow construct behind. Now that he looked closely he saw to his terror that the scribbles he had so absentmindedly created were perfect summoning runes. He hadn’t even know that he could draw them for memory – or anyone else.

Furthermore the regular doodles – like glasses, wigs and manes – were still there. But three of the dinosaurs were missing! Gone from the paper.

The wand jumped off the shelf and right into the boy’s twitching hand. No, he had to stay strong. He threw the stick onto his desk, still fixated on the book in front of him. He would prove that he could leave his wand behind. Erasing pictures from a library book wasn’t much of a crime. Maybe he could simply draw the dinosaurs back on. He had memorized them well enough.

A shadow darkened the room from outside the window.

With a lump forming in his throat, Chan turned around, staring out the window with widening eyes.

T-Rex stared back.

He had summoned dinosaurs.

Chan screamed.

*************************

Seungcheol held his ear to the wall. Where were these rustling noises coming from? It was as if somebody was making a thousand paper airplanes at once. He didn’t expect this to be the answer to the riddle but at Pledis School you never knew. One time he had found Chan almost drowning in a room filled with origami cranes of magical origin.

The prefect shook his head to clear it of the ridiculous memory. The source of the rustling was… in the air vents!

But where did the vent lead. Seungcheol mentally arranged the floorplan of the school as he knew it. Save for some more or less predictable alterations the building underwent on its own, it was fairly straightforward.

And this vent led straight to the library. Somebody was doing magic in proximity to the grimoire again and doubtlessly making a mess of other books in the process. The old magic thing had a tendency to get jealous of other bound works. Go figure.

*************************

Mingyu found Jihoon in his lab, filling a bag with tools. The lights were dimmer than usual, suggesting the pink haired boy did not intend to stay around.

“Jihoon? Are you going somewhere?”

“None of your business.”

“I was just-“

“Going to ask me for another favor. I really don’t have time to adapt more recipes for you. I’m planning an expedition.”

“To hell?”

“Yes. How did you figure? I haven’t been to the underworld in a while.”

Mingyu mumbled “Your subjects must miss you terribly, tiny satan.”

“What?!”

“Nothing!”

“Anyway, I’ll be gone for a day. And I’m busy the whole week. See you.”

Jihoon went for the door, passing Mingyu without a second glance. The tall boy ran after the potion’s master. “I want to come with you, please.”

“What? Why?” Jihoon waited for Mingyu to follow him outside, closed the lab door and locked it up.

Mingyu walked casually next to Jihoon, who was taking about four steps for each of Mingyu’s. The tall boy had no trouble keeping up. He held his head as low as possible to cause maximum lost-puppy-ness. He had to play every card in his deck. “I… I need something from the crimson valley. Are we going there? Or close by?”

“What makes you think there’s a we?”

“Please! I’ll be good. I’ll carry your bag.”

Jihoon stopped running and slammed the tool bag into Mingyu’s stomach. “Fine. But I’m not making any extra detours for you. Pack your stuff and see me in the ritual room. I’ll call Jun now.”

“Thanks Wooz- Jihoon.”

The shorter boy mumbled a noncommittal reply and rolled his eyes before dashing off.

*************************

What Seungcheol found astonished even him. After spending four years around wizards and their shenanigans he thought he had seen it all. But not this.

The library was a forest of paper. Every book, every shelf, every piece of furniture had been incorporated by gently moving vines and solid tendons running from floor to ceiling. The paper forest was a cacophony of white leaves, filled with black ink. Written words and drawings were this jungle’s bark and grass.

Carefully Seungcheol walked further in. He was fascinated. This was definitely something.

The center of the forest and the origin of the vines was the grimoire’s podium.

Unbeknownst to the prefect, paper was growing around his ankle. When he felt it, it was too late. The gasping boy was lifted into the air, feet first. His own shirt obscured his vision.

Struggling to get free, Seungcheol didn’t realize that he was being moved further in – towards the ancient book. He was swallowed whole, so fast he didn’t even have time to scream.

Seungcheol was no longer part of reality. A written world awaited.

The paper rustled on.