When I opened my eyes, the room around me was clear, clean, and much smaller. A few of the bunks had been removed and replaced with shelves and other materials. My bag of books and such laid in the corner of the room, untouched by whoever had cleaned the place up. Fresh sheets had been placed on me, and I felt refreshed and ready to go. September 3rd, 2 days before classes began. Orientation. Initiation. Whatever Mom had called it before, I knew it was today. Staring at the small clock on the desk, I realized I only had 30 minutes to get ready.
I leaped off the bed and grabbed my bag, pulling out fresh clothes and other supplies. I lugged my materials with me, and placed them outside the washrooms, took a shower, and let the hot water run off my body. It felt so relaxing, almost numbing. I dried off and changed into fresh clothes, grabbed my bag, and walked down the stairs to the entrance room.
Right before I opened the door, a sharp knock came at my door. I pried it open to find Vinny, floating above the ground, with a casual look in his face.
“Come on, Rey,” he squeaked. “Time to go!”
He hovered forward, and I hastily followed suit. With a second stroll through the Academy, I appreciated the size of the place. It was for sure a lot larger than your average New York apartment. Vinny took a turn towards a staircase, lined with flaming red torches, its wood strong and firm. Vinny flew forwards, and I had to break into a trot to keep up.
By the time we finally reached the hall, I could already hear the cries, shouts, and chatter that flowed from the massive room, which felt more like a theater than a room. The stage had teachers bustling about, except for an angry Professor Hilton, who stared intensely at the crowd of students in his wake.
Right as I entered the room, a booming voice loomed over the crowd. Mr. Abrov, who for some reason still refused to be called Professor, as I noticed, happily smiled across the wave of heads that instantly turned towards him.
“Welcome,” Mr. Abrov began, his smile almost infectious. “To all students, new and old, practiced or dumbfounded, calm or confused, or even quite frightened.”
On that last bit, he looked directly at me, his eyes fierce and almost scared to approach me. But it was quickly glazed over with another surreal smile, and a turn back at the crowd.
“As you know, this Academy’s prestigious halls, walls, teachers, and previous headmasters have tried as hard as they can to produce the most fabulous mages of their time. This year, as always, I wish to break every record we can possibly imagine.”
The crowd of students still stared in awe, and I have to admit, I was sort of gaping as well.
“This year will spark a new era. We will show the rest of the world how great we can be, and how far we have gone.”
This came with a massive round of applause, students cheering and laughing with so much glee, I felt a river of goosebumps travel down my neck.
“Hoorah!”
The crowd of students began chomping down on the food in front of them. Vinny hovered to a table backstage. Soon enough, I realized that he was leading me to the teacher’s tables.
“Wait, Vinny, shouldn’t I be-”
But Vinny continued hovering, either oblivious to me or just blatantly ignoring me. He led me through a bend in the small hall, and I could see the sharp, calm, and collected eyes of Professor Hilton bearing down on my small body.
“Why hello, young one,” the professor snarled, clearly annoyed with my appearance. “What brings you to restricted perimiters?”
I was about to open my mouth, but Vinny cut in. “I have been ordered by Mr. Abrov to bring Mr. Karn here. Do you have an issue with that, Hilton?”
“Professor Hilton, you worthless servant. Why, of course, I do have an issue with him being here. Allowing the dark forces of the past to infect our bright future-”
“I don’t think that is your call to make, Hilton. Let the boy go.” Said a new voice. I turned around to see a bright orange face, his hair, specifically. Bright blue eyes sparkled, and he had a thick orange and red mustache. He smelled of sea salt so strong I thought my nose would fall off. He wore jet black robes with small badges of gleaming gold, and his demeanor was firm and imposing.
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“Professor Naro,” Hilton voice was rough and angry. “What brings you here? I assumed you were on special missions, of course, I’m sure your brother knows plenty about that-”
“Silence, Hilton.” Professor Naro calmly replied. “As I said before, if Mr. Abrov wishes for young Karn here to be at his side, then I believe the boy can go in peace.”
Professor Hilton, I noticed, had been shifting towards the doorway on the stage, his hands moving with dangerous intent. Every few seconds, I could’ve sworn I saw green slime drip and evaporate on the floor.
“Stay back, Hilton,” Professor Naro furrowed his brow. “Stay back.”
Hilton waited for a moment that felt like hours, then sidestepped out of the way. “Fine. Enjoy your little moment, young one. It won’t last forever. You aren’t safe here-”
“That’s besides the point. Come now, Mr. Karn, we must go see Mr. Abrov. Vinny, chop chop.” Professor Naro spoke, his voice catching a lot more volume than Hiton’s.
Professor Hilton was seething, but didn’t make a move against Professor Naro. He twisted around, and with a flash of his robes, stalked off the stage. Vinny continued hovering towards Mr. Abrov, and the larger, older fairy stared at me with a look of interest.
“Ah, yes, Mr. Karn. It is a pleasure to finally talk to you under better circumstances. Of course, I wouldn’t call this better, really, but that is besides the point. We have very important matters to discuss.”
I nodded in response. Mr. Karn eyed me once more with a look of wonder, as if I was some sort of rare species.
“So, young lad,” he spoke in a much deeper, scarier tone. “How do you feel right now?”
As if I was some sort of client waiting in a therapist’s office. Please. But I couldn’t answer that question, not without making myself sound like I just came out of a warzone.
“Well, not too bad. It’s been nice here.”
“Glad to hear,” Mr. Abrov gave a curt nod of approval. “Have you, by any chance, thought of that strange vision that we had received earlier?”
That stopped me dead in my tracks. I noticed a gleam in Mr. Abrov’s eyes. He was a bit too excited for my taste. Yet, I felt like he was one of the few people I could trust.
“Sort of. Is that normal, or is it rare?”
“Well,” Mr. Abrov had a much more calm look than before. “It has happened on a few occasions before. However, prophecies and visions as those are usually not given by the Shards. More usually, they are given by trained and experienced mages.”
I gave another nod, signaling my understanding. Yet, out of nowhere, I gave a random and uncalled for question.
“Why aren’t you a professor, sir?”
Mr. Abrov stopped dead in his tracks. He gave a quick sigh, then twisted around nervously to surrounding teachers. “It is not something I usually talk about in front of my charges,” he motioned towards the other teachers. “But, I can tell you in my personal study this afternoon, if you wish. I don’t have a very busy schedule today.”
And so, that was the end of our conversation. Vinny fluttered his soft blue wings and guided me back down the stairs, where he left me in the massive hall.
I knew absolutely no one. Nothing, and no one. The hall, the entire school, still felt foreign to me. I slowly walked across the hall, eyeing random students and making side-glances at people.
“Oi, you!”
I twisted around faster than you can blink. It was a boy with hair as blazing as Professor Naro. The resemblance was so obvious I almost grinned. His eyes were blue, just like the Professor, and his posture was confident.
“Sit with us, lad, and don’t look so baffled,” the boy taunted.
I moved towards the table, and the boy slid across the bench and patted his hand down. I took a seat, and right as I did, a plate full of food came flying my way, landing gently in front of my hands.
“You seem to get a lot of attention from the headmaster, don’t you,” the boy spoke. I began to notice a faint accent, similar to Professor Naro’s, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
“My name’s Victor. Victor Naro,” Victor spoke with a sly smile. “Yes, Professor Naro. I’m his-nevermind that. These are my partners in crime, if you will.”
Victor waved his hand across the table, and I saw his little “partners”. The boy who I saw the day before, who had attuned with the Storm Shard, gave a large smile.
“I’m Chris. Chris Bell.” Chris took out his hand, motioning for a handshake. I took it and smiled.
The other boy was taller than the rest of his. His face was focused and determined, and he eyed me without any interest.
“That’s Dmitri. He has family in Russia, but he’s lived in America for a while now.”
Dmitri gave a curt nod. “So, ah, quick question,” the boy spoke, and I noticed the harsh Russian accent in his voice. Speaking of accents, I realized Victor spoke with an Irish one. “What are you affiliated with?”
My grin struggled to stay put on my face. “Er, well, you see, I-”
Victor gave a large slap on my back. “Bah! We can ask him later. What matters is enjoying our food!”
And so, we dug in.