So you survived Scrollcasting 101," Vellum said, sliding up beside me in the hallway like a linguistic peacock. "Did your scroll explode or just insult your family?"
> "Both," I muttered. "The insult stung more."
He grinned.
> "You're interesting. Come with me."
> "To…?"
> "Everywhere."
I blinked. "Wait, what?"
> "You're new, chaotic, and weirdly French. You're basically my extracurricular activity now."
And that's how I ended up following Vellum — Mr. Top Core Latin — on a grand, overly dramatic tour of Scroll School.
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🏛️ The Institute Tour (a.k.a. Look At All My Medals)
He took me through:
The Glyph Garden, where magical plants bloom based on poetry.
The Hall of Echoes, where archived spells whisper to themselves like a haunted library.
The Great Spiral Archive, which was basically Hogwarts meets a spiral staircase that hated your legs.
> "I ranked top 3 in glyph shaping," he said casually, pointing to a twisted pillar of runes floating in a glass case. "This one's mine. Took me two weeks."
> "Did… did it wink at me?"
> "It does that when impressed."
Everywhere we went, he waved at teachers, high-fived enchanted statues, and somehow made scrolls float over him like adoring pigeons.
> "You're not normal, are you?" I asked.
> "Nope," he beamed. "Gifted. Not cursed. There's a difference."
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🧠 Vellum's Vibe: "Try harder, you'll get there."
He wasn't mean. Just too confident.
> "I read your spell signature in class. Bit unstable, but interesting."
"Cool, cool… I don't even know what a signature is."
"We'll fix that."
We passed a glowing mural of ancient spellcasters.
> "You know, if you ever want help decoding your scroll core, I'm available," he said. "I collect rare spell structures. You could be my weirdest yet."
> "Thanks, I think?"
> "I mean it. Not everyone has your kind of… chaotic potential. It's fun."
> "I feel like a puzzle you're excited to solve."
> "Exactly!"
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🧪 Ending: Something Small, Something Weird
At the end of the tour, we passed a sealed glass chamber. Inside, a floating scroll glowed faintly — almost like it was humming.
Vellum stopped.
> "We don't go in there," he said.
> "Why not?"
> "It's… unstable. Ancient. Dangerous. No one's been able to read it. Just flares up when people get too close."
I stepped forward.
The scroll glowed brighter. Just for a second.
Vellum squinted.
> "Weird. It's never done that before."
> "Definitely not cursed," I said.
> "Definitely cursed," he corrected, cheerfully.
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