23, loop 1, part 3

The room was dark when I woke up. There was no gray afternoon glow through the windows, just unbroken black. My windows were enchanted to turn dark after around 5:30 p.m., long before the sun finally crested over the horizon. The only light came from the crack under the door, a thin line of amber that caught the edges of the desk and chair.

I sat up and cast [Illuminate] on the lamp next to me.

“How long was I out?” I decided not to investigate. I had been asleep for what felt like a whole geological era, and my body had lots of opinions about being woken from it. Every single one of them negative and loud. My neck cracked, and then my back. My shoulder popped.

Our room was split almost down the middle. Finn’s side was organized with books on the shelves arranged as if by Grimm. Textbooks in their specific categories, supplies in their proper receptacles. Chair pushed in neatly. The wooden desk, polished once a week with the proper charms. Bed pristine and white, with hospital corners. His side of the room looked like a recruitment poster for responsible adulthood.

My side, in comparison, looked every part the toddler’s playpen: books in disarray, the corner of the bed linen bunched up where I hadn’t bothered tucking it around the corner. Two or three weeks of laundry curled up around the bed like a halo.

But my desk had a sandwich on it. That was new. It was cold, wrapped in a linen cloth, the fold tucked under so it didn’t unravel. He always wrapped them that way. He had been here and checked on me, found me asleep, and actually left me alone. That was nice.

I picked the sandwich up and turned it over. He’d been doing this since I went through a stretch where I accidentally didn’t eat enough. I never asked him to, but he always said he wouldn’t let me starve myself again. He’d have made it this afternoon. Likely after his match, which I assumed he’d still won, even without me in attendance. But who knew how the brackets changed?

But I was content for the first time since he’d woken me at breakfast… yesterday? Today? The point was that I’d overslept. The room was dark. The sandwich was cold, and I was alone. Three out of four conditions for a perfect evening. The fourth was not having anywhere to be, which, unfortunately, I did.

It was almost seven. I was supposed to be meeting my uncle in ten minutes. It wasn’t an optional meeting. It had never been optional. In two years, I had missed it exactly once, and the resulting conversation had been worse than the dinner itself—his vegetables included.

“I should go,” I said with a sigh. But really I was excited to see my uncle. Even late, showing up was better than not showing.

I grabbed my wand off the nightstand. The blue crystal flashed with a pulse of mana as I picked it up. My HUD tried to activate at the brush of my hand, but I waved it off. And that was when I realized I had collapsed into bed in my day clothes like an uncivilized person.

A normal human being would stand up, walk to the bathroom, undress, wash, and put on fresh clothes. But that was five steps too many for me.

I pointed my wand at myself and cast [Undress].

[Undress – Enchantment]

Cost: 4 mana.

Removes the caster’s clothing and deposits it on the nearest available surface.

A shirt peeled away off my chest and floated up over my head, drifting toward the desk chair. Trousers followed, sliding down my legs and pooling on the mattress. My socks rolled off my feet and dropped to the floor. The whole production took about four seconds and didn’t require me to leave the bed. Heaven.

The next problem: I smelled like I had slept in my clothes, which I had, after spending the morning on a bench. Normally, this was Finn’s department. The man cast [Cleanse] on me almost every time he saw me. Reflexively, without asking, without looking at me while he did it. Finn wasn’t here, and the bathroom was all the way across the room. [Cleanse].

[Cleanse – Enchantment]

Cost: 5 mana.

Removes dirt, grime, and odor from the caster’s body and hair.

The grime and sweat vanished in an instant. My skin felt minty and alert. Not quite enough for anybody else to justify avoiding a shower.. But for me, it was a great spell.

I pointed my wand at the desk chair where my last set of fresh clothes were draped. A black shirt and gray pants. And cast [Dress].

[Dress – Enchantment]

Cost: 4 mana.

Animates a targeted set of clothing onto the caster. Instantaneous.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.