Return of the Runebound Professor

The halls were a vague blur to him, and Noah wasn’t exactly sure where in the building they went. He recalled walking up several stairwells and traveling through halls lit only by the light outside, but everything melded together in his addled mind.

They finally came to a stop before a plain stone door with a keyhole in its center. A metal plaque to its side read Magus Vermil. Richard sent Noah an expectant look.

“Key?” Richard asked.

Noah stared blankly at him. Richard sighed.

“Override it is, then.” He pressed his hand to the door and thin lines of white energy stretched out along it, illuminating a pattern hidden within the rock. The door clicked and swung open smoothly.

“I’ll have someone sent to check on you soon,” Richard promised. “I suggest you remain here until then. Perhaps some of your memories will be jogged.”

Noah nodded absentmindedly and stepped inside. A small frown flickered across his lips. The room was a complete mess. Piles of papers covered a large wooden desk and had fallen to the floor around it. A metal key sat on top of the desk beside an unlit candle.

This is probably for the door. Why did Vermil leave it behind? 

The bed was messy and unmade, and the window behind it was covered with grime and dust. A small door in the side of the room led into a bathroom, which wasn’t in much better shape.

There was a soft thud as Richard wordlessly closed the door behind Noah. He glanced over his shoulder.

Something tells me he doesn’t like me much.

Noah pushed the haze and pain to the side. He walked up to the desk and leafed through the papers, trying to see if there was anything that could be of any use.

“Skinwalker group spotted in the area. Be wary of colleagues or students that you recognize that speak or move in an odd manner, especially those that have been missing for more than three weeks,” Noah read aloud. He tossed the paper to the side.

He leafed through a few more, then paused as something caught his eye.

“What the hell is this?” Noah asked, picking one of the papers up. It had been a while since he’d seen something of its like, but he’d filled out more than enough of them in the past to recognize the key features. It was an extension request for some sort of assignment.

A signature had been scribbled across the bottom, along with an extra line. Noah’s mouth dropped open in disgust as he read it.

Meet me in my room an hour after class if you want the extension. Wear something cute.

Magus Vermil

Noah looked back over the note, desperately hoping he’d misread something, and this was meant for the man’s lover. There was no such luck. Without a doubt, this note had been submitted by a student. It even had their year number beside their name.

“Shit. The last bloke in this body was a creep. No wonder someone killed him.” Disgust washed over Noah’s face. He leafed through more of the papers and some of the blood drained from his face. “Wait. He was a teacher. Am I supposed to teach people magic? I don’t even know how to use it myself.”

Noah ruffled through the rest of the papers, desperately trying to find out if there was any semblance of order to them. Unfortunately, Vermil must have taken some degree of pride in the complete mess that was his room.

Half of the papers were ruined by water stains – at least, Noah hoped it was water – and the others were either outdated, worthless, or just made absolutely no sense. He did his best to organize them, filtering out the most useless papers of the lot and stacking them by the door.

Before he realized it, nearly two hours had passed. His headache finally receded somewhat, though some of the fog remained. The fruits of Noah’s work was a fairly clean wooden desk and somewhat dusted floor. Noah sat down in the chair across from the desk and chewed his thumb.

“Okay,” Noah said to himself, rocking back slightly in his chair. “I can work with this. I’m good at teaching. It’s not like I ever had all that much time to prepare myself on subjects back on Earth. There’s got to be some sort of reference packet, right?”

The back of his hand brushed against the book hanging from his belt. He unhooked the book and flipped it open. His head throbbed again and Noah pressed his hand to his temple. He lowered into his chair, studying the pages.

Maybe, if he could make some real sense of its contents, he could pass his memory loss off and avoid detection.