Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Prologue

Prologue Chapter 4: Recollection Blanking

Kat sat in one of the chairs in the library, elbows propped up on her knees and face on her fists.

She knew she she was looking blankly at one of the floating books, but she wasn't really LOOKING-- more just pointing her eyes in that direction.

She hadn't really done much of the researching. There were a few books scattered around her feet, but she couldn't remember a single word in any of them.

Crowley, on the other hand, was really getting into it-- poring over a thick volume at a nearby table.
He'd practically built a fort of books around himself, with only the lights in his mask's eyes visible below his hat.

How long had they been doing this-- twenty minutes? Half an hour?
She wasn't the best at judging the passage of time-- probably the ADHD talking-- but she was also exhausted.

None of these books made sense... Oh, she could READ them, or some of them, at least.
A lot of them were in different languages-- French, maybe? Italian?  Some other European-ass languages... Even a surprising amount of what looked like some kind of Asian script. She couldn't really tell, but it looked like either Japanese or Chinese; it didn't look like there were enough circles to be Korean.

Either way, she couldn't read them.

The ones she COULD read weren't much better, either.
All of the stuff was unfamiliar-- interspecies relations? The Treaty of the Valley of Thorns and the Timeless Forest? Sunset Savannah, Country of Sunshine, Queendom of Roses-- what was with these Dungeons and Dragons-ass names?

And none of these historical figures were familiar either. For one, a lot of them didn't have names, just descriptions or titles.
The Mermaid Princess, the Common-Born Prince, the Golden Emperor, the Dreamfinder...

Crowley snapped the book closed and sighed loudly.

Rubbing her eyes, Kat looked around, blinking muzzily at him.

"Just as I thought," he announced. "Nothing."

Great.
She felt her stomach drop-- kind of impressive, since she didn't think it could drop any lower at this point.

Crowley continued.
"The name of your homeland is nowhere to be found on any map-- from any point in history, no less."
Standing up from the table, he walked over to her, hands folded behind his back.
"Miss Kat," he said sternly, glaring down at her. "Are you QUITE sure that you come from such a place? This-- this Washing-tonne? This wouldn't happen to be a lie, or some form of joke, would it?"

Kat gave him an exhausted and, frankly, disgusted look.

"Why. The hell. Would I do that?" She asked flatly. "What would be the point?"

The Headmaster blinked, looking mildly surprised.
"I- I see," he said, nodding. "Understood. Then, in that case..."

He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"The only explanation for this current trouble is that you've come from another planet... Or possibly summoned here from some other realm or dimension."

Kat blinked.

"Another..." She repeated slowly, then slapped herself in the forehead.

"Another DIMENSION. God DAMMIT-- I got ISEKAI'D! FUCK! This is a fucking Oz or Narnia situation, isn't it?! Dammit! Of COURSE it is!"

She noticed Crowley was still staring at her, mouth slightly open.
Coughing, she tossed some bangs out of her face, looking down awkwardly.

"Sorry."