Adam could not remember this place.

In fact, he was not feeling any good vibes from the place at all. It felt oppressive and partial and macroscopic in scale. Too big, and yet, somehow, also too small. Sure, Adam was okay with being with a couple of people at the time, but being with too many somehow reminded him of his weekly feeding and that time so long ago he could barely remember, and it made him… anxious. But if he wanted to get more interesting books with only pictures in them(what a novelty!), he would have to talk to Pete, who was most likely someplace inside the school.

So, with uncertain steps, he entered the school, desperately avoiding the confused, perturbed gazes of the many attending youths. In his minds, he made use of the mantra “don’t worry they’re just ants they can’t hurt you” both unconsciously and repeatedly as he stepped through the winding halls of checkered lockers and doors-to-nowhere.

He got a lot of weird looks, probably because he looked like an adult to most, but there was also the fact that the name Adam B. Windsley was embroidered onto his school uniform. This was strange because, well, he didn’t exactly look like the very popular Adam too much. If anything, he looked like Adam’s total opposite. For a while, he roamed the halls, his eyes sweeping over the student body like whips, forcing them into resignation. He noticed quite quickly that there were small rectangular signs by the doors, indicating them all to be homerooms. But which one was his?...

He knew it was 221something, but all the classrooms he’d encountered so far were of the 1XY variety, so he was clearly doing something wrong. The clock was ticking, and he knew he had to be there at some specific time, so, he had to do the one thing he dreaded. He was lucky to be about 20 cm taller than pretty much every student there, so singling out a target was easy, and catching their attention was even easier.

She was a small, mousy girl, with little brown braids and a cautious way of walking. When their eyes met, she jumped practically a meter into the air, her eyes began to drown in their sockets, and she looked absolutely terrified. This reaction wasn’t too rare when meeting Adam in his “Antenora” form, but in his human form?... Frankly, he felt a bit insulted. Look at how human he was! He even had a mouth hole! How can you possibly be frightened of such a human human?

“I-, uh-, um-,” the little girl stammered, and Adam realized that he had unwittingly blocked her path, which was a good thing since he did need her help. As she was trying to weave her way past him, Adam spoke up.

“Where is 221something?” he asked, glancing down at her petite figure. She shrunk from his gaze.

“I, i-i-it’s on the second f-floor, sir, on the le-, right,” the little girl stammered, her eyes darting around to look at pretty much anywhere except his face. Which included the little patch on the right side of his chest where his name was embroidered.

Adam quickly turned around to give off the impression that he knew where the stairs were, but before he could do so, the little mousey girl weaved around to stand in front of him, turning the tables on him. Her face was flushed and she looked about ready to pass out, but, somehow, she also seemed to be faintly determined, her eyes glued to his.

“What is it?” he asked, staring back down at her. She immediately cowered and averted her gaze, but she still blocked his path.

“I-, I was just w-wondering, um… why are you wearing A-Adam’s suit?...” she asked shyly, glancing up to try and read his expression. The ears of the surrounding students all suddenly perked up. Adam’s expression did not change, and it was as neutral and uncaring as it always was, but inside, he had been dreading this question. A quick escape, he figured. That would work.

“Because I am him,” Adam stated, quickly making his way around and past the mousey girl, his short yet true statement acting as a cover as he used her stunned moment of silence to pass her. Quite clever for a slug. For a few minutes, he wandered the halls at a brisker pace, trying somewhat desperately to find the stairs. People had already started disappearing into the labelled classrooms, and Adam was pretty sure he should be doing the same.

On the second floor, which he eventually found the stairs for, he discovered various rooms, ranging from 200 to 229, a few of the having abbreviations in the form of A, B, C or D at the end. And, there it was. 221A, B, and C. Adam only had one problem now. There wasn’t a single student out and about in the halls, and he didn’t know which 221 was the one he was supposed to be in. If his memory of Earth wasn’t as hazy as a drunken night’s debaucheries, he might have been able to recognize a few faces if he pulled open a door on random. But it wasn’t as if he had much of a choice.

Steeling his spirit, he nervously pulled open the door to 221B, where he was greeted by thirty or so pairs of owlish eyes, including that of one certain man who was standing in front of the rest of them by a blackboard. However, in the midst of all those wide eyes, Adam could recognize a pair that stared at him with just a twinge more horror than the rest.

“Pssst! Pete! Over here!” Adam whispered, pointing to Pete and then jabbing a thump in the general direction of the hall: an invitation to join him. Pete did not seem too willing, but when all those moon-like eyes turned to him, he practically shot out of his chair and sprinted out the door.

“dUDE! You can’t just-, Jesus fuck man I thought you were a hallucination!” Pete shouted in a whispery sort of voice, which kind of cancelled the effect of shouting. Adam was about to say something in his defence, but Pete wasn’t quite done. “Seriously man I couldn’t even fucking sleep tonight cuz I was so damned sure I’d get tentacle ra-, eRHERm, so, uh… wassup?” Pete said, leaning on the lockers in a casual sort of manner. Adam didn’t really know what he’d been about to say before he coughed weirdly, but he was sure it would have been bad.

“Well, for one thing, I’m not a hallucination, I’m right here, and secondly, uh… can you show me where my homeroom is?” Adam asked slowly and clearly as if Pete was some sort of child.

“Huh? Homeroom? Umm, hold up,” Pete’s gaze wandered up and down Adam’s uniformed body, “...holy shit, you’re actually going to school?... bRo, okay, umm, question? What the fuck are you doing?” Adam stared at Pete for a second before answering.

“Well, I mean, I’m back here on Earth, right? So… I want to live my life, y’know, like I used to,” Adam explained humbly, smiling a little at the thought.

“You… what? That's-, okay, um. Look, I gotta get back to class, we’ll talk about this later, cuz’ it’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard, okay?” Pete said, chuckling lightly as he took a step back towards his classroom. Adam was a tad bit too desperate to find out which homeroom was his to get offended.

“H-, hey! One year!” Adam called out, reaching for Pete without any real intention to touch him.

“...Alright, that'll be example numero uno, what the fuck do you mean by “one year”? If it’s supposed to be some sort of slang from your previous world, that’s not exactly gonna fly over here. God, it still feels weird saying “other world”, umm… where the fuck did you even get it from? I kind of understand it’s supposed to have the same meaning as “one minute” by how you used it, but… seriously?” Pete ranted, doing the very un-brotherly thing of pointing out the little mistakes in character you can’t really help.

“I, uh… it’s an in-joke. Between me and Ptolomaea,” Adam confessed, nervously rubbing his hands together. He felt like a child being reprimanded for holding his fork in the wrong hand.

“You and fucking who? What sort of stupid shit-name is that? Actually, you know, whatever. It doesn’t matter where you got it from, we’ll take this later,” Pete said, throwing his hands in the air. But before he could turn around and leave, Adam made up his mind to actually ask the real question.

“Um, what I was wondering, is, um… which classroom is mine?”

“Seriously? You don’t know?... I thought you had all of Adam’s memories?”

“I do, but small details like faces and names and numbers are kinda gone, been a while, and all that,”

“Um… alright, it’s 221C, on the right,” Pete said, pointing to the sign for the 221C classroom as he slipped back into his classroom, leaving Adam to stare at the entrance to his classroom with no little amount of nervousness.

He’d been pretty confident before, but… to be honest, he hadn’t really planned any of this. He was completely unprepared, and now he was sort of scared of what he might meet. Maybe he should just head home?... No. He was an Evil God, damn it, and no group of human adolescents would scare him into submission! And if they so much as tried, he could just blast them off the face of Lutu-, erm, Earth, and they (probably) wouldn’t stand a chance!

With newfound confidence, Adam pulled the door open and was once more greeted by a room full of plate-sized eyes. This time, it was even worse, since he would have to be subjected to these gazes “until the bell rang”, however long that would take. All of the seats except one were taken by youths in black-and-white uniforms, his classmates. Adam quickly made the assumption that this would be his (Adam’s) seat and strode up to it, the wide-eyed gazes of the student body following him like meerkats, until he finally sat down. He had to sit at a weird angle since the chair was not made for someone as tall as him, but it’d do.

A heavy blanket of silence fell over the classroom, which included the first teacher of the day, who was standing by the blackboard much as the other teacher had. He had a sporty, intelligent look, standing at about 180, his frame mostly composed of lean muscle. His face was sharp as a tack, and he wore a pair of square glasses. Altogether, he was a cat, and Adam could tell from a glance that he was the cunning kind. But it wasn’t the teacher that spoke first.

“Uhhh, bro, what you doin’ in Adam’s seat yo?” a deep, clearly teenaged voice slowly asked from behind him. Adam, in respect of the slow way the youth had talked, slowly turned around to face whoever had asked him. The boy had a large, brawny figure, with biceps for days and a cleft-chin. To top it all off, he had jeans-blue eyes and a blond buzz-cut, the perfect image of a jock. Adam was actually a bit surprised at how warrior-like the young man was. Silence fell once more over the room, and Adam quickly got the hint that he was supposed to speak in reply to him. He was still a bit shaken up by what Pete had said earlier, but he had no choice but to speak once more.

“It’s my seat,” Adam answered flatly, hoping it would be enough of an answer. The blond jock stared him in the eyes, and Adam fought back with a neutral, indifferent glare. After another moment of silence, the teacher finally made his presence and authority known by clearing his throat. Adam whipped his head around to face the front, effectively being the loser of the staring-contest between him and the jock. The jock seemed a little delighted at this but stopped celebrating the moment he realized his unsportsmanlike behaviour, leaving him with a slight blush.

“Sir, I must ask what you are doing in this classroom,” the cat-looking teacher asked indirectly.

“I’m supposed to be here,” Adam said bluntly, his piercing eyes burrowing into the teachers.

“Sir, I understand you believe that but… is there any specific reason as to why you’re sitting in Adam B. Windsley’s seat? And, now that I’m looking a bit closer, you’re wearing his uniform, too?...” the teacher asked, a bit more directly this time. Eyes like a hawk. Those glasses were a lie, that’s for sure.

Adam hated using the same explanation over and over again, but it didn’t seem like he’d stop anytime soon.

“Because I am him,” Adam said, sighing a bit at the end. The teacher, along with all the students, were stunned silent. Eventually, the teacher composed himself.

“I… see. And you can prove this… how?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow. Adam really felt like rolling his eyes or something. Would anybody ever truly believe him?... Adam had, sadly, begun to doubt this. At least back on Lutum, people wouldn’t doubt him being who he said he was. Nobody would ask if he could truly prove he was this person or that person because it was obvious in his Magickal abilities or appearances. Was he truly happy to be here?...

Hold up-, no, that’s not what he should be thinking, is it? He’s happy to be back! Why shouldn’t he be? Here, he can pick his old life back up, live the normal human life he’d always craved! So why did this all feel so… empty?...

Adam hastily shook his head and turned back to the confused teacher.

“If you call my father, he will prove my claims,” Adam answered almost robotically, feeling the passion and emotion drain from him like sludge down a drain. The teacher frowned in disbelief, but, as he could recall, Adam’s teacher was a cop, so if he disproved what this man- hobo(slug) - was saying, he could instantly have a couple of capable cops there at a moment's notice.

The teacher did a couple of weird things with his computer Adam couldn’t understand, grabbed his phone, and did something similar. A soft beeping could be heard from the phone as the teacher held it up to his ear.

“Yes, hello, this is Adam’s homeroom teacher, am I speaking to-, ah, yes? Yes, he’s here. Are you absolutely sure? I honestly doubt it, I’ve known Adam for-, yes, I understand, but, sir-, yes. Yes, alright, have a pleasant day.” The conversation was brief, and despite none of the students being able to hear anything on the other side, they perfectly understood what had been said. All eyes turned back to Adam, who, in response, shrunk back in his chair.

“...Class, as you might have understood, Mr Windsley affirmed that this man - ‘Adam’ - is who he claims to be, so, I hope you will all accept him as a student,” the teacher said, waving his hand at Adam in a highly extravagant manner. Adam didn’t really know what to say, so he just kind of melted into his chair. “I’d like to start with the lesson, but… would you like to stand up and introduce yourself, si-, Adam? Perhaps you could explain your predicament?” the teacher asked.

Adam had never felt more like dissolving into a sea of slugs to drown all opposition more than he did at this very moment. Slowly, he stood up, his legs more wobbly and noodle-like than when they were literally tentacles.

“My name is Adam B. Windsley, yesterday something strange happened that made me like this, and my memory of everything before yesterday is a bit fuzzy, so I don’t really remember anybody apart from my own family,” Adam half-lied before plopping back down on the chair, just about ready to cast Anonymous and slip out the door. Silence befell the room once more.

“So, like, bro, you don’t even remember me?” the jock behind him asked, once more speaking when no one else would. Adam looked behind him once more, his sulfur-green eyes scanning over the muscular man.

“I literally have no idea who you are,” he admitted truthfully.

If Chad was to be perfectly honest, more honest than he had ever been, he kind of wanted to cry. Really unmanly of him, to be sure, but… who wouldn’t be if his very best friend in the very whole world had just brushed him off like he was nobody? Nobody at all? Chad was more emotional than he liked to admit, and although many could take him for someone who’d be quick to violence, he really wasn’t. Hell, way back in the day, he and Adam had gotten in a tussle more than once, especially when he and his buddies (no longer) were picking on this weird kid… what’s-his-name? Peter or Pete or something. Yeah, that was it, Pete. Poor sucker. And Chad really respected Adam for standing up to him, especially since Chad had always been the more athletic of the two.

Chad had always felt lucky to still have Adam as a friend. But for their friendship to be broken off by something sudden like this… it all felt so weird. Everything had been weird for Chad the past two days, actually. Not only had that huge cool monster appeared up in the sky, but also, he’d, well… he’d felt something. When he saw that girl in the red dress fight it, he recognized something in her, and something in him, something new that wasn’t quite him, recognized something within her as well.

It was a strange feeling, suddenly noticing there was something inside you that wasn’t quite you. Chad imagined that whoever that red-dressed girl was, she must have felt something similar, but, unlike Chad, she had acted upon it. Somehow.

Nevertheless, his confusion over that had passed, and right now, he was more concerned about his best friend had forgotten all about him. But just as Chad was about to open his mind to ask Adam something, anything…

“Holy shit, Adam got cucked over by magic!” somebody shouted, and that opened the floodgates. People rose from their seats and practically rushed over to Adam, some saying things along the lines of “seriously you don’t remember me but we did this and that together” or “I’m your best friend I’ve known you all year” or “bro we have to post this online” or “man you’re tall what’d you eat, a giraffe lol,” others simply asking him weird questions, if he’d seen that magical girl, or what he was doing later, what he knew about the monster in the sky, and he felt like a rotting carcass thrown to a murder of crows, prodded and squawked at and crowded. So many people, all around him, all staring at him with those starving anticipating eyes, shouting, gawking, cheering, surrounding him on all sides, calling for either his death or the death of his opponent, and all of a sudden, Adam was not in that classroom, he never was, no, he was in an arena of death, kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, fighting for his survival and the entertainment of disgusting repulsive humans, and he wanted to breathe but he had no mouth and he wanted to beg but he had no mouth and he wanted to scream but he had no-,

But a scream did escape his lips. Hoarse and childish and absolutely terrified. A scream that had been held in for hundreds of years burst out, the roiling waves of students frozen stiff, all those owlish eyes once again on him and only him. It terrified him. Because he wasn’t Adam anymore. He wasn’t Evil God Antenora, he wasn’t any of those. He was just a scared teen in an unfamiliar world, unable to react in any way apart from fear.

“Bro, you alright?...” a familiar voice asked from behind. Of course. How could he possibly have forgotten?

Looking back at Chad, Adam could feel a genuine smile rise to his lips.

“Sup bro?” he said, and he was only just barely able to ascertain the ecstatic joy spreading across his best friend’s cheeks before he was gone.