"Wow! I can't believe we're flying!" I yelled.

Jonathan laughed. "It never gets old, no matter how many times you get on a dragon bike." We weren't flying too fast, so I could hear Jonathan just fine. It was a leisurely cruise through the sky. I could feel my face hurt from smiling so much.

"How come we didn't take this over the water?" I asked.

"With the way this magic works, it doesn't function over long trips, especially over water. It flies better over solid ground," Jonathan said. "Not to mention, trying to fight hellions on one of these would be brutal."

"That makes sense," I said. "So, what's up with the dragon aspect of the bike? I mean, it's really cool, but why isn't it just called a flying bike or something?"

"Well, you would certainly learn more about it in your history class at Attleton, but long story short, we used to fly dragons in this world."

"What? You used to fly dragons around here?"

"Yes, it was common practice. Kind of like how in your home world horses used to be the mode of transportation."

"What happened? Why did you stop?"

"Like I said, it's a long story, and you'll learn all of this in your history class, and you'll understand it better. But dragons are an endangered species nowadays. Mages used to use dragons for transportation and sport. Dragonstryke was played with real dragons, but obviously, we stopped. The sports still lives today, but instead, we use these dragon bikes to emulate what we used to do."

I couldn’t believe everything I was hearing. The wind kept breezing through my mohawk. ”Wow. I'm sold. I want one of my own! They must be expensive, huh?"

Jonathan was focused on flying. We drifted, going from left to right at a leisurely pace." Depends. You can get a more affordable one, but it won't ride as smoothly as much as a higher-end one. All students are provided with a dragon bike on the Dragonstryke teams if they don't already have one to bring."

"I assume the school-provided ones are pretty crappy, huh?"

"No, talent has a lot to do with it. You can use those ones and do just fine. They're good quality, a couple steps above the cheapest ones. Not the highest end, of course, but middle tier, no doubt."

"Can anyone drive these things?"

Jonathan carefully reached into his cloak and handed me a medallion. It was silver plated with an engraving of a hooded person riding a dragon. "You need a license to fly it outside of sport. Many people don't need to use them out in the world. We live where everything is walkable or accessible with public transit."

"Wow, I can't tell you how amazing all this is." I relished in the comfortable temperature, warmer than it was back in Ohio.

Jonathan steered towards the central clock tower building at the center of the campus. The numbers were Roman numerals, and the hands were black against the yellow disc. We flew towards the upper half, and more of the buildings came into view to my left and right, but since it was night out, I could barely see much other than the occasional room with the orange glow through the window.

Landing on a small balcony, we stepped off the dragon bike. There was only a chair in the corner and a small table.

"So, where are we now?" I asked.

"This is my room where I stay on campus. Come on in." Jonathan slid open a marble door and then a glass door.

We stepped into his space. It was clean. Free from trinkets but art hung on the walls (paintings of landscapes). His couch and chair had a fancy frame with navy cushions. Everything looked like it belonged in a medieval royal castle. Jonathan passed through until we left the room, hardly staying inside for a minute.

The clock tower building looked like what I had imagined a castle to be like on the inside. Tall arched ceilings and wide floors of flagstone. We walked toward a spiral staircase with windows out onto the campus which looked peaceful and beautiful. Reaching our stop, Jonathan approached a red wooden entrance and knocked.

An older man answered. He was bald with glasses and a long white flowing beard. "Jonathan? It's awfully late. Everything go okay?"

"Principal Pine, I have the guest from the Nomagi World. You told me to come see you first as soon as we made it to campus."

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"Yes, that's correct, but I'm also surprised because you came out on the waters after the admiral delivered a warning. Was the sea okay?" Principal Pine asked.

"The sea was fine. We had a little run-in with the hellions, but nothing we couldn't handle."

Principal Pine scowled at Jonathan. "I'll take your word for it, but you best heed it next time the admiral issues a warning. I don't want you to take another risk like this."

"I'm sorry, but the prospective student needs to return home to tell his parents his decision as soon as possible. Before making any commitments, he needs to see the classes and get familiar with the campus."

As if he had forgotten I was there, Principal Pine smiled and looked to Jonathan's right, where I stood. He shook my hand, a soft, gentle grasp.

"Pleasure to meet you," Principal Pine said.

"This is Rollie Magpie. The grandson of Logan Magpie."

Principal Pine's brow raised. "How wonderful, I know your grandfather. He's a good man. If you can stay for a while, we will definitely do our best so you can get in touch with him."

"That would be great," I said. "I would love that a lot."

"In the meantime, would you like to get some rest or have a campus tour? Although if you have time, I might recommend waiting until morning. That way, you can observe some of the classes going on, and you can really get a better feel for what a normal school day is like here," Principal Pine said.

My eyelids felt heavy as I yawned. "I think I will take you up on that offer and get some rest. And if I'm really going to commit to the school, I want to experience it on a normal day."

Jonathan gave me a concerned look.

"Don't worry, I'll handle my parents. They can wait a little while longer," I said.

"I think that's a wise decision. There's a room for you on another floor. We'll let you stay there. Jonathan and I will come get you in the morning."

"Not too early, I hope," I joked.

Principal Pine smiled. "Whenever you're ready, you can knock on Jonathan's office. Jonathan, will you show the young man to his room?"

Jonathan nodded. "Yes, sir."

Going back to the spiral staircase, we went down another floor, and Jonathan took me to a room below. It was nicer than anywhere I've ever stayed. I had a furnished living room, a bedroom, and a small kitchen.

"Well, this is where you'll be staying for the night. Do you have any questions for me, or do you need anything else?"

"No, I'm okay. I still can't believe all of this is real. If you had told me a week ago what my life would be like, I would have never guessed this," I said.

"I hope that's a good thing," Jonathan said and smiled.

"I think so," I said.

"Pleasure meeting you, Rollie. Have a good night, and we'll talk soon. Knock on my door whenever you're ready." Jonathan shook my hand and exited.

I ran to my bedroom to see what it was like; it was two times the size of my room back home. I had a king-size bed and a desk next to a window. Staring out at the campus at night, I saw the dark uneven shapes of trees and the other buildings with lights on in their windows, but I couldn't really see what was happening inside. Regardless, my lips curled up ear to ear, and I drifted to my bed and collapsed onto the mattress. After a deep breath, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

It was like I blinked. I didn't even remember my dream. The morning light beamed through, and I had excitement in my chest. Jumping out of bed, I gazed out the window and saw students wearing different colored cloaks walking around the campus together.

There was a logo on the back of each cloak. But I couldn't discern what the images were, just the colors. Scarlet, light blue, navy, purple, emerald, and maize. I thought the scarlet cloak looked awesome.

The trees around the field had a tinge of autumn colors. I imagined them looking spectacular in a couple of weeks. I pushed open my window and took in the sounds of the campus. Kids were laughing with each other and having conversations. I noticed the white noise of the freeway in the distance was nowhere to be heard. Attleton seemed quieter and, in a strange way, more peaceful.

I checked my phone and saw that I had no service and my battery was about to die at any moment, but it was 9:00 a.m. I thought it was a good idea to get a move on. Looking at my room one last time, I noticed six rods on the wall with a flag draping down each one. The same six colors of the different cloaks I saw from the students, along with the images, and the names. The logos appeared to be a scarlet flame, a light blue snowflake, a navy water drop, a maize bolt, three emerald boomerangs, and a violet skull.

Scarlet flame - Fyron.

Light blue snowflake - Glacien.

Navy water drop - Aquaso

Maize bolt - Voltrun

Emerald boomerangs - Winderon.

Violet skull - Venomaus.

I went to the bathroom and looked at my hair and the mirror. My mohawk was down and flat, I tried running my fingers through it to get it to stand up, but it wasn't really staying. I kept it down and brushed it back.

I wish I had my hair gel with me.

Walking down the hall, I went to Jonathan's room and knocked. The door swung open, and Jonathan stood before me, wide awake. The smell of freshly made coffee filled the air as he held a mug.

"Good morning, Rollie. How did you sleep?"

"A little too well. I can't remember the last night I slept like that."

"That's a relief. Sometimes hellions can shake a man to his core. At least you know you'll be getting good sleep while you're here. So, are you ready for a tour?"

"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Looking outside, it seems like such a fun place already."

"Let me get Principal Pine, and then we can be on our way." Jonathan closed the door behind him and we went downstairs a few floors, going into a new hallway I hadn't been to before.

We went to Principal Pine's office, where Jonathan had to hold his hand to a stone slab to the side. It glowed for a moment before the arched metal door split from the center. It led to another entrance with a dragon's head, its mouth holding an iron knock, which Jonathan used.

"What was up with that secret door you had to open?" I asked.

"It's a barrier. You can use it to talk to Principal Pine if you're a student and it's an emergency. But to get to this one, you have to have a certain level of arcane ability, which all of the professors have, but the students don't. Like when we used the transporter to get here, I had to dispel some of my arcane magic on that golden cube to get it going."

The door opened, and Principal Pine stood in front of us, broadly grinning. "Well, gentlemen, are we ready for the tour?"

I nodded, and so did Jonathan.