Cleo woke up gasping, in a comfortable bed. She was in a fancy room with a canopy bed and soft, ivory-white curtains draped over giant, floor-to-ceiling windows. The room was ginormous. Where was she?
Cleo got out of the bed, realizing, only then, that she was not herself anymore. She was wearing a nightgown that she certainly did not have any recollection of owning. Looking into the enormous mirror beside the bed, Cleo noticed that she looked the same as ever, except that her hair had somehow grown a whole lot longer.
"My lady!" a girl dressed in a maid's outfit came running into the room. "You should have called for me if you were awake!"
Cleo blinked. Did she know this person?
"My lady!" the girl called again, worried. "Do you not recognize me? I'm Fiona, your personal maid!"
"Fiona?" Cleo said, not believing her ears, "As in Fiona de la Rousse, who works for the Sinclair family?"
"Yes, my lady!"
"So, uh, who am I?"
Fiona gaped at Cleo.
"You're Cleodora Sinclair! The only daughter of Baron Sinclair! The pride and joy of your father!"
"I'm not dead?!"
Fiona's jaw dropped a few more inches.
"Of course not! My lady, you shouldn't say such depressing things about yourself!"
Oh. So that was it. Cleo had been reincarnated as a very, very, very minor supporting character in "A Song of Sorrow" who was only mentioned at the entrance exam to the Eldritch Academy of Magic, since she was supposed to be there, but had unfortunately been in an accident a month before, and had died.
Cleo racked her brain for any other information she knew about Cleodora. There had to have been something on the fandom about her. But all she could remember was that Cleodora Sinclair was the daughter of Baron Alastair Sinclair, the head of a fallen noble household that resided in a distant corner of the Imperium Solis, the Empire of the Sun.
"Um, Fiona?" Cleo asked.
"What is it, my lady?"
"What's the date?"
"It's August eleventh, my lady."
August eleventh. September tenth was the day of the entrance exams, so exactly a month earlier would have been the tenth of August, when Cleodora got into the accident. So was the original character dead now?
"Anyways, my lady, you should really start getting ready for the entrance exam to the academy. I wasn't going to bother you for a few days since you were almost dead with your heart stopping and all, but now that you're well enough to pretend that you lost your memory, you should immediately get back to practicing for the entrance exam!"
"My heart...stopped?"
"Yes, yes, my lady. Now, you should get dressed and head to the library. You have many books to memorize for the exam."
The entrance exam for the Eldritch Academy of Magic was a combination of a written test, a mana test, and a practical test. The written test was different each year, generally consisting of an essay on some of the most important texts in the empire. The written examination was the smallest percentage of an individual's grade for the entrance exam. The mana test measured the examinee's amount of mana through a crystal ball, ranging from level one to one hundred. The academy generally did not accept students with mana below level thirty, although there could be exceptions. The practical examination tested the examinee's ability to utilize their abilities in battle, using a bracket system, pitting examinees against each other. Or rather, that was how it was supposed to go. The competition was tough, since the academy only accepted twenty students per year.
If an individual managed to place first in the practical, even if they failed both the written and mana tests, would probably still enter the academy, although that situation was rare and has never happened before. But that was all just Cleo's speculation, since it never happened within the book. Cecil, the male lead, had scored fifth on the written test, first on the mana test, and first again on the practical. Rosa, the female lead, had scored first on the written test, seventh on the mana test, and second to last on the practical, barely making the cut.
Supposedly, Cleodora Sinclair was a rare prodigy when it came to magic, according to the laments of the Eldritch Academy professors in the novel, but was worthless when it came to studying.
Studying. Now that was something Cleo was good at. If she could just figure out how to pass the exam without affecting the story too much...
Cleo was mumbling something inaudible.
Fiona frowned. She shook her head. Her lady was going insane.
Cleo groaned. There was no use worrying about the entrance exam, if she could not even pass the written exam. She decided to focus on studying.
Days passed, and Cleo could recite all fifty textbooks forwards and backwards from memory.
Weeks passed, and Cleo finally managed to figure out how to wield Cleodora's extremely powerful magic.
Eventually, the day of the entrance exam arrived.
***
"I'm very sorry. Her heart rate is normal and everything else is fine, but we cannot seem to find the reason behind he prolonged comatose state. I give you my condolences."
The nurse picked up her clipboard and left the room.
"Don't worry, Ari. I'm sure Cleo's going to wake up soon." Ari's parents patted her on the back.
Then they left. The room was now empty except for Ari, who was sitting next to the bed, where Cleo was lying.
"Please, please, please be fine, Cleo. I'm begging you. Please wake up soon!"
There was no reply.
Ari dropped her face into her hands and cried. She cried so hard, she did not notice a book magically appear on a table next to the bed. When Ari looked up, she saw a book that she was definitely certain had not been there before. The book cover read, "A Song of Sorrow". Ari had read this book only a few times, since Cleo had always talked about it with her. She opened the book to one of the first few pages.
But the story was different.
Ari remembered that Cleodora Sinclair had died before the entrance exam to the Eldritch Academy of Magic, but there she was, her name written many times on the page. Ari flipped through the pages. It was as if the main characters of the story were no longer Rosa and Cecil. Instead, it seemed that the story now focused on Cleodora, a character who never even lived during the time of the novel.
Ari wanted to keep reading, but the nurse burst back into the room.
"Are you a friend of Rosalind Park?" the nurse asked, "She's in the room next door. Her parents are talking with yours. I think it would be good for you to go take a look."
Ari nodded, set the book down on the bedside table, and went next door, where she found Rosalind lying unconscious on the bed. On the table was another copy of the same book she had found with Cleo. Ari opened it.
This time, the story was about Rosa, the female protagonist of "A Song of Sorrow". The same things that Ari had read about in Cleo's copy of the book were happening here too, except from Rosa's point of view.
Could it be that they had both traveled into the book?
Ari heard voices outside.
"So many people just went into comas today. We almost don't have enough space to house all of them." the nurse was saying, "How could this have happened? It just doesn't make sense."
It does not make sense.
Magic did not make sense.
Ari ran through the hallway, looking into each room. Inside each room, there was a different patient, but one thing remained the same. On each bedside table was the same exact book. There were about twenty rooms that were like this.
Twenty people traveled into the book.
Twenty people passed the entrance exam each year.
And as the years went on, they all died one by one, until all that was left was Cecil.
Suddenly, someone screamed. The nurses hurried to the room, and Ari could hear whispers saying that one of the comatose people had reawakened. Ari went to the place of the commotion. The name of the patient that was written on a sign on the door was Mira Delany.
The was only one character in "A Song of Sorrow" that had a similar name.
Mirabelle.
***
The capital of the empire was bustling with energy for the coming entrance exam to the Eldritch Academy of Magic. The streets were packed with citizens waiting to see the potential students who would participate in the exam. Carriages in many different shapes and sizes and of various colors and designs drove through the city. Cleo looked through her carriage window. The Sinclair household's colors were red and black, and the carriage was decorated as such. The carriage was an obsidian black, with intricate details of vines and thorns painted in red. Red curtains partially obscured the window from public view, and the edges of the carriage were decorated with small bits of gold.
Soon, the carriage made its way to the academy gates, golden and shimmering in the sunlight, towers looming over the city. There were five towers in total, one for each generation of students. the tallest tower, home to the seniors, had a rejected and empty energy about it. The dusty gray curtains were drawn, and the tower had vines growing and draping down its sides. The shortest tower, future home of the new class, was bright and polished to perfection.
The carriage stopped, and Cleo got off. She was led into an atrium of sorts, with other examinees meandering about, talking to each other and showing off their skills. Cleo looked around. She spotted some characters that she recognized immediately. Others were not described in the book, as they were insignificant since they were just npcs.
Suddenly, Cleo realized something. There was one person who was clearly supposed to be present, but was not here. They were supposed to cause a commotion that would cause the main characters to meet for the first time, but if they were not here, then what would happen?
One of the many professors with a long gray beard appeared in the middle of the room.
"We are very sad to inform you that one of your fellow examinees will not be able to make it here today. They were assassinated enroute. We give our condolences to their family. May the Goddess Sol bless you on your journey..."
Cleo whispered quietly as the professor finished.
"Mirabelle."