Kalim and the Main Story (pt1)

In the prologue of the story we are introduced to Kalim when Grim sets him on fire, which the other characters do not acknowledge.

Kalim appears briefly in Book 2 to mention receiving VIP invitations to the school’s Spelldrive tournament when he was a child, and express gratitude for Azul introducing the option of submitting player rosters post-deadline for a fee.

Grim’s reaction to meeting Kalim is “this guy throws me off.”

In Book 4 Kalim has refused to allow any member of his dorm to return home during winter break and seems to be suffering from mood swings that leave his dorm mates on edge. He decides to allow everyone to return home one moment and then sets stricter study times the next.

When the prefect and Grim appear Kalim assigns five hours of study time and four hours of practical training to every member of Scarabia. After hearing about the situation from the prefect and Grim, Azul goes to Scarabia to offer help with the students’ studying and Kalim allows it, saying, “turning away esteemed guests out of hand would bring shame upon the Asim family name.”

Jade asks Kalim about the strict training and studying regimes he has assigned and Kalim cannot respond with confidence, saying that he has been “spacing out a lot lately” and that Jamil has told him that it is probably fatigue from becoming housewarden as a 2nd year student.

Despite Kalim’s habit of opening up willingly to others, Jade’s unique magic fails to procure the name of the student who is brainwashing him, though he seems subconsciously aware that he is being hypnotized by that person.

Azul says that Jade’s magic was “thwarted by Kalim’s strength of character.”

The next day Azul offers to take over Jamil’s duties as Kalim’s servant in addition to teaching him more effective study methods, leading Kalim to acknowledge that he had been putting the students of Scarabia in an unfair position.

The students begin to warm up to Kalim again (“It feels like I’m waking up from a nightmare”) and Jamil attempts to mind-control Azul, revealing that he had been using the player character and Grim to get the students to eject Kalim without getting his hands dirty.

Jamil declares his intentions to use a secret about Crowley to kick Kalim out of the school and become Housewarden himself but Azul reveals that he was never hypnotized, and that the whole dorm (including Kalim) has just heard Jamil’s confession.

Azul explains, “I quickly deduced that Jamil was the only person Kalim would care about enough to fight back against Jade’s signature spell.”

Kalim refuses to accept that Jamil has betrayed him and Jamil says that Kalim has been the same their entire lives, “Oblivious, gullible, foolish…AND I HATED IT! You trot long merrily in ignorant bliss, utterly blind to my suffering.”

Jamil hypnotizes the entirety of Scarabia Dorm simultaneously despite Kalim pleading that Jamil can have what he wants, can be Housewarden, and Kalim will go back to his family.

Jamil refuses, saying that his spell won’t be broken as long as Kalim exists in this world: “I’m through following others’ orders. I’m going…TO BE FREE!” Jamil proceeds to send them to the end of the dimension that houses Scarabia Dorm.