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It was early morning when Nimum woke them all up. The first rays of sun had only just started to peek in through the window when Nimum grabbed a pot and a large wooden spoon and started hammering away.

"RISE AND SHINE! ADVENTURE AWAITS!" Nimum made her noisy way to every corner of the cabin to make sure everyone was up. "TODAY WE'RE OPENING THE DIMENSION DOOR! WAHEY! WAHEY!"

"Is it just me or does it feel like Nimum is more excited about opening that dumb door than anyone else is?" Trom said grumpily. His troll hair was poking out in every direction even more wildly than it usually did.

"Oh, come on, Trom! Can't you feel how contagious her enthusiasm is?" Fiff said, beaming with a golden glow.

Sophie and the rest of the class didn't say anything. Tired as they were, they couldn't deny being excited to see the Dimension Door. Skrymir was already up, cooking up breakfast in the kitchen.

"Never a dull moment with your teacher, is there?" he said with a chuckle as he placed a large bowl on the table.

"I don't know how many of you are able to eat this, but if you can: Dig in!"

"What is it?" Elva asked, grimacing a bit. "It's so thick and goopy... it seems kind of nasty."

"That's oatmeal!" Sophie exclaimed.

"Another human thing?" Elva sighed with irritation, but noticed that the rest of the class was sending her looks. She took a deep breath. "Sorry, sorry, I just think it would be nice with some traditional Northfire food."

"You liked the hot chocolate we had yesterday pretty well, though," Fiff pointed out.

"I didn't say it was bad – I'd just like to try something more local as well."

"Actually, Elva, oatmeal is a rad choice for the class, 'cause everyone here can eat it. Beto's the only one who'll probably need something more than just oatmeal – so it's good that I brought some handy-dandy packed lunches with us." Nimum walked over to her huge backpack and retrieved a canteen that she handed to Beto.

"Well, I can certainly make you a traditional Northfire breakfast if you'd like, Elva," Skrymir suggested.

"Yes, please," Elva said gratefully. "At least some of us want to experience the culture when we're visiting a foreign country."

The class shook their heads at Elva's condescending tone, but Skrymir just smiled. "Well, that's great to hear. We've got lots of healthy, nutritious dishes here in Northfire. There are stingbeetles, which can gnaw through rocks... Our hair-snails, those are quite a bit bigger than the ones you have in the Elven kingdom, but that just means that a single snail will fill you up nicely..."

Skrymir kept listing different Northfire breakfast options [https://img.wattpad.com/70be986da6db97fa98411cea507adcf3511d170e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4a5376633447546b696279484b673d3d2d313333303636313735392e313735323663386162363338636238623635313935373138393035372e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Skrymir kept listing different Northfire breakfast options. Quite a lot of them were beetles or other bugs, as well as things like pinecone soup and stinging nettle radishes, which he said could really wake you up in the morning. Elva was starting to look more and more green in the face, until she finally said that she'd like to stick with the oatmeal after all.

After breakfast, they quickly got dressed and made their way out of the cabin. The howling wind from the previous day had calmed down, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Everything seemed calm.

Nimum drew in a breath of cold morning air. "Ahh! Perfect hiking weather!" She excitedly started doing cartwheels in the snow, while Sophie and the rest of the class just stared at her.

"Do you ever feel like Nimum can be a little bit..." Elva began.

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"Crazy," Trom finished the sentence.

"Wahoo! Last one to do a cartwheel is a dull potato!" Varis yelled, rushing past the rest of the class towards Nimum.

Sophie laughed and then ran after him, attempting some cartwheels of her own. Almost the whole class followed. Even Trom was participating – the only exception was Elva, who just sat waiting for them to finish.

"You're crazy, the lot of you," she said with a small smile.

"Guess Elva's the dull potato," Trom said, grinning.

"In that case I'm the most magnificent dull potato to ever exist," Elva replied.

Once they'd finished playing in the snow and had said goodbye to Skrymir, they headed off towards the tallest pillar.

It was a rough hike, especially on the suspension bridges, which were very steep. Each step they took was tiring, and it didn't help that Vix and Rok were both terrified anytime they had to move across one of the bridges.

"I-isn't there another w-way up?" Vix stammered, his bones shaking from fear.

Sophie felt the most sympathy for Rok. He was looking nervously at each worn-out looking bridge, and with good reason – his stone body weighed several hundred pounds. But the material that the suspension bridges were built from proved more durable than anyone had expected. They neither creaked nor groaned, and there was no sign that they were going to fall apart.

The only thing that made it feel actually unsafe was Varis making the whole bridge rock up and down by jumping around. Mek immediately started yelling at him and telling him to stop, while the snakes in her hair hissed at him. Vix clung onto whatever he could reach, and it took the class several minutes to calm him down enough for him to let go. Just a moment later, Varis was leaping into a new jump, but Nimum grabbed him before he could land and asked him to walk more carefully. So he did – for a while, anyway.

Fiff and Beto were having the easiest time out of anyone. Beto had transformed into a bat and like Fiff was flying alongside the rest of the class. Nimum was in the middle, walking effortlessly on the rope that held up the right side of the bridge. Sophie felt a bit silly when Varis once again started rocking the whole bridge and she had to grab onto the ropes of the bridge with both hands, while Nimum was standing unaffected on top of one of them like a professional tightrope walker.

It hardly seemed possible, but Nimum was actually growing even more cheerful the closer they got to the tallest pillar. The students were all in high spirits as well, with the exception of Trom, who was still sulking about something.

Elva, who was walking next to Sophie, sent Trom an irritated look every time he started to complain about some new thing.

"I really don't get how Trom got to attend the School of Wonders in the first place, with how much of a sourpuss he is every time we're on an adventure," Elva said [https://img.wattpad.com/7f9055ddc855cf142da78c6f47157c0f7487ef78/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6830336d6c6b72586a6c6c4775413d3d2d313333303636313735392e313735323663393362393839643163383430383438393638322e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"I really don't get how Trom got to attend the School of Wonders in the first place, with how much of a sourpuss he is every time we're on an adventure," Elva said.

Only children who were destined to experience grand adventures in their lifetime were accepted to the school, and Sophie admittedly had a hard time imagining Trom ever setting out on one, considering that he always seemed to prefer staying home in his own bed and lazing about.

"He seemed pretty interested when we explored the tunnels beneath the school. And when we had to solve the Sphinx' riddles... Maybe he just doesn't care about treasure hunting?" Sophie suggested.

"Oh, he's got plenty of adventuring spirit," Fiff interjected, flying next to them. "Sometimes he just needs a swift kick in the pants to get started."

They'd reached the final suspension bridge, which would take them to the tallest pillar and the Dimension Door. However, it was also by far the steepest out of all the bridges they'd been on, and their altitude the wind was starting to gain as well, rocking the bridge back and forth in bursts. The first time the bridge started rocking, the whole class started to yell at Varis, who, for once, was totally innocent.

When the class finally reached the top of the bridge, they saw what had been hiding at the top of the pillar. Like everywhere else, the ground was covered by snow. A ring of trees that looked like they were made completely out of ice surrounded the center of the clifftop, and standing in the middle was a 15 feet tall door. The door was dark gray and made of thick metal, decorated with rune carvings, dramatic patterns and some drawings, depicting five doors, a lantern, a padlock, a lightning bolt, a bird and a chest. The door wasn't connected to anything – it stood separate from everything else, looming large in the cold.

Fiff made excited loops in the air. "We made it! Look everybody, it's the Dimension Door!"

"Do you really think the key will fit that huge door?" Sophie asked, looking up at Nimum.

But Nimum didn't answer, and she wasn't jumping with excitement or doing cartwheels like she had been earlier, either. She was standing completely still, staring intently at the trees made of ice.

"Everybody get behind me," Nimum said. Without quarrelling, the students quickly did as they were told.

"I know you're here!" Nimum said loudly. "Show yourselves!"

- Next chapter will be out on Monday the 10th of April [https://img.wattpad.com/56c85b729d23133d3bf3463f756796ae81b39232/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f527830416239725f6f346e5073413d3d2d313333303636313735392e313735323663613235343461326139663330303734393737313836382e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]