"Follow me then." Jonathan stood up, and we walked through the trailer park at night. It was cloudy out. I couldn't see the stars or the moon. We went to an open field near the trailer park, and Jonathan held his hand out.

"What are we doing in the middle of this area? Is this like a gate to Lementum, and I didn't even know it?” I asked.

"Not exactly," Jonathan said as he moved his hand around in a circular motion. He closed his eyes, and emerald smoke emanated from the ground.

"What's happening?"

"Just a moment, Rollie." More smoke came out of the ground. It had a cotton candy scent to it. I squinted through the cloud until it dispersed, revealing a detailed wooden house the size of a shipping container. The black roof curved, peaking at the center. It had an arched door, and above that was a circular glass window shining with yellow light through the fog. "This is our vehicle back to Lementum."

My eyes were so wide open I thought they'd fall out of my head. It felt like a dream. "This giant block of wood can teleport us to a different land?"

"Kind of. Yes. It will take us from point A to point B, but it's a complex, arcane magic spell. You ready to step inside?"

"Arcane magic?"

"Yes, every mage is capable of arcane magic. You'll learn more about that later, but it's basically magic that can do all sorts of things, depending on your studies."

"Ah. So, just to be clear, I can come back after a few hours, right? Or maybe I'll stay the night and come back here to tell my parents what I think?"

"It would be best if you stayed a full night. I'm planning on taking you to Lementum, but we are going to the main transportation hub first, and then we have to take a ship to Attleton."

"Why can't we just take this lump of log straight to Attleton?"

Jonathan snickered. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude by laughing, but if only it were that simple. I agree that would be the way to go, but we can't."

"Yeah, but why?"

Jonathan smirked. "You're a curious kid. I think you'll do well here. Come on, let's go to Lementum." He stepped forward, and the doors parted down the center.

"Didn't think this thing would have automatic doors," I said.

"It may look old, but it still gets the job done."

The transporter had plush purple cushioned seats around the entire perimeter. A small chandelier made of turquoise hung from the center. Jonathan approached a golden cube in the corner of the cabin and put his hand on top of it.

"Just give it a moment. Take a seat while we wait," Jonathan said. The doors closed, and a glowing white light emitted from Jonathan's hand on the golden cube. The transporter shook like a mild earthquake. "All right. We're good." Jonathan walked away from the corner and sat next to me. The container vibrated as if we were on a train. It felt like we were moving forward. Or backward? I couldn’t tell, it was the strangest feeling. If I thought we were moving one way, that’s what it shifted to.

"What did you do to get this going?"

"A good thing to know is there's arcane magic flowing through your veins at all times. You can make it do a lot of different things. For instance, to fuel this machine and get us to teleport back to Lementum, I had to give the golden mechanism over there some of my arcane magic. It drains my energy, but since I'm a mature adult mage with a lot of training and practice, it doesn't affect me too much. In a way, I have more arcane magic power than most people in Lementum."

"So there's arcane magic in me?"

"Yes. You have a unique elemental ability, fire, but just like every other mage in Lementum, you can use arcane magic. It's mostly used as fuel, to make things float, or open a door, etc."

"Whoa." I was thinking of more questions by the second. "So, what's your elemental ability?"

"I'm a bit of a renowned water mage myself."

"I don't mean to sound rude, but water sounds kind of bogus. Like, you may as well use a squirt gun."

Jonathan chuckled. "You're hilarious, kid. You know how in your world they have fire hydrants with a lot of pressure coming out of the hoses? Imagine that power, but even greater. Honestly, all the element magics are balanced. No element is better than the other. If you shot a fire bolt at me and I shot a water bolt at you, they would cancel each other out -colliding in midair."

"That's kind of dumb. It would be cool if one element had an advantage over the other."

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The corner of Jonathan’s lip curled up. ”Because of the differences in elemental magic, it makes for fun rivalries at Attleton. All the fire kids -the Fyrons- stay together. Their biggest rivalry is with none other than with water kids, the Aquasos.”

"Right on. Kinda like Michigan vs. Ohio State, huh?" I said.

"Uh, I don't follow, but if that's a big sports rivalry, then sure." Jonathan smiled.

"So, how much longer are we on this bumpy ride for?"

"I'd say about 20 minutes. It's about a half-hour ride."

"Where exactly are we traveling through?"

"The subspace layer between Earth and Lementum."

"And what is that?"

"I'm not exactly sure."

"What? The renowned water guy doesn't know?" I joked.

Jonathan laughed. "I guess I don't."

I reclined further into the chair and folded my leg. ”Tell me more about yourself and what you do. You just take kids like me and bring them to Lementum? That's your job?"

"In a way, yes. I act as the head counselor and head tutor for Attleton. I put together class schedules and select the tutors on campus. Then there's the mentor program where first years are paired up with an older student that helps get them acquainted with the campus and welcomes them as a first friend. So yes, you will have a mentor upon admission to Attleton, should you find that you'd like to attend."

"Oh, that's a relief. I was worried I was going to get thrown to the wolves."

"Not quite. No need to stress. You will definitely receive some special mentorship upon joining Attleton."

"So tell me how you got into your current position. What made you decide to be the head counselor at Attleton?"

Jonathan arched his brow and contemplated. "You know, I've never had someone ask me that. It's a bit of a long story, but the short of it, I always loved my time at Attleton."

"We got nothing but time, man."

Jonathan smirked and nodded. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you what I can. I grew up in a wealthy family. I'm very fortunate for that, and of course, I'm grateful. I grew up in a mansion but still had my own problems. My siblings went into the family business, and I wanted to carve my own path. I excelled as a student at Attleton, had a good rapport with all of the professors, and had an impressive ability. So when the position opened up, I applied."

"Why didn't you want to enter your family's business?" I asked.

"Wasn't for me," Jonathan said.

I could tell Jonathan had been honest with me about everything he said, but something in his tone shifted in his last sentence. He didn't want to have the conversation anymore but didn't say anything because he was polite.

"So what is the family business?" I asked.

"We make dragon bikes. The popular Thunderbird brand."

"I don't really know what that means," I said.

"That's okay. You don't need to know now. You will in time."

"Got it."

"Any other questions?"

"Not yet, but I'll ask them as they come to me, don't worry."

Jonathan chuckled. "I believe it."

The transporter stopped shaking, and a bell chimed from the outside.

"We're here," Jonathan said, standing up and stepping toward the exit.

As the doors parted, emerald smoke entered the cabin, but I followed Jonathan out into a chamber that was like a green cloud. A strong wind came from my left, and all of the fog disappeared.

"Thank you, Becca!" Jonathan yelled.

We were in a marble hall with dark red carpeting around us. Jonathan stepped toward a set of white marble doors, which parted down the middle just like the transporter. Walking out, a woman was sitting at a desk, her workspace filled with metal trinkets and tiny paintings. She had a forest green cloak on and waved.

"Hello, Jonathan. You have a pupil with you, eh? I take it the trip went well?"

"Swimmingly. Fine work as always." Jonathan waved. "This is my friend, Rollie Magpie. I'm going to show him around to see how he likes Lementum. You know, he's the grandson of Logan Magpie."

Becca blinked. "Wow, I feel like I'm in the presence of royalty. Pleasure to meet you, Rollie!"

"Nice to meet you as well," I said. I couldn't believe how cool I felt. We stepped out of Becca's room and down a lengthy marble corridor.

"I guess I should tell everyone I meet that my grandpa is Logan Magpie?" I said.

"I wouldn't if I were you. You might get beat up if you bragged about it to the wrong person. Dragonstryke rivalries run deep with some people," Jonathan said.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I wish I was. I think we sometimes spend too much of our collective consciousness on sports but don't tell anyone I said that."

"What do you mean by collective consciousness?" I asked.

"Nevermind. I probably shouldn't have said anything. You like sports, right?"

"Yeah, they're fun to watch and fun to play."

Jonathan shrugged. ”I don't have the biggest interest as others, but I don't know. I feel like our society in Lementum spends too much time focusing on Dragonstryke. We could be tackling other issues, that's all."

"Uh-huh. I don't know, man. I think people need to have some fun sometimes and an escape from all that. It's good for spirits, no?"

"I suppose you're right, Rollie. Still, it never captivated me like other people."

We walked out of the front doors of the building. On our way out, I only saw one other person at a desk in the lobby. A sign in front of the building read, "Specialty Transportations."

It was a building with a smooth white dome made of marble. The sun was setting, and black lamp posts lit the paths with an amber flame. The air smelled fresher than the air back home. We stood in front of a circular park. Many people were walking by, but something made my jaw drop.

"Jonathan! What are those rubbery blue skin creatures with wings?" I asked. They were walking upright through the crowd, but no one seemed concerned. The skin was bright powder blue.

Suddenly someone strode in between Jonathan and me, bumping into Jonathan's shoulder.

"We're not ‘creatures,’" the deep voice replied.

Jonathan stood there and put his hand on my shoulder, watching the upright winged figure stride away from us. Jonathan cleared his throat and said, "Those are gargoyles. They don't like to be called anything other than gargoyles, so watch your tongue."

"Sorry about that," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "Where are we anyway?"

"It's okay. Right now, we're in a place called Port Harbor. It's a travel hub that's the perfect in-between spot for all the different lands you'd want to go to. Boats are our main form of travel, and they all come in and out of here. You can see different architectural styles from across the world all on this island because it's shared with everyone. But we are going to Attleton, located in the Amerzia islands. We will take a boat to get there, but we have to go to that building over there." Jonathan pointed to a four-story colonial brick building that looked like it belonged in a history textbook. "It's the Amerzia Travel Building."

"Lead the way," I said.