“This is one of the gyms on campus. This one is used for spellcasting practice. There is one for physical training with or without magic and one for sports, like a normal high school gym.” Blaze explained as we entered a very spacious room.

The room was the size of a football field and had a very high ceiling, like at least 300 feet or more. The floor and walls were a soft foam. In the middle of the gym was a class of about thirty students and two professors.

“Today, we will be practicing basic taking and expelling from your opponent’s hand.” One of the professors, a tall, thin woman with knee length blonde hair spoke. Her voice seemed to carry throughout the entire gym.

“That’s Professor Lynda Victors and the short, older lady is Professor Caime Johnson. Let’s go introduce you to them.” Blaze padded his way towards the crowd. “Professors!”

The two women turned around. Professor Victors looked annoyed before her features relaxed at the sight of Blaze. Professor Johnson’s face full of wrinkles brightened and stretched as a huge smile appeared.

“Mr. Royal. How nice of you to join the freshman for their first spellcasting class. What brings you by?” Professor Victors’ voice reminded me of the stretchiness of taffy. Her words were elongated and drawn out.

Blaze smiled and pulled me in front of him, his hands still grasping my upper arms gently. “New student, Professor. This is Nova White. I’m showing him around today.”

Professor Johnson walked closer to me, eyeing me up and down like I was an aisle at a grocery store. “Seems tiny for a boy.” Her voice was aged just as much as her face.

“Pay her no mind, Mr. White. She’s an old crone.” Professor Victors smiled as she patted the older woman’s shoulder. “Would you like to stay and watch for a moment?”

“Yes, we will stay out of the way.” Blaze spoke calmly before taking my hand and leading almost back to the doors we came in.

Once he stopped, he sat down on the foam floor. I stared at him for a moment before sitting beside him, facing the crowd of students who were now paired up in twos. One student in every pair was holding a black water bottle.

“Okay. To begin, we will start with forcing the object in your opponent’s hand to fly away. It will most likely only go a few feet behind them, but once you get better at the spell, it can make an object go far distances. Now, the word to say is “Perdet”. Take a deep breath and then say the word.” Professor Victors was smiling as she watched the students.

One by one the students’ voices began to grow louder as they repeated ‘perdet’. It seemed nothing was happening.

“It’s not working. A bit strange. Does anyone know why?” Professor Johnson was smiling as she walked between the students.

“Because we have to have a holder to do magic.” One male student stated, a little annoyed.

“That is correct. Now, who here knows whether they are a holder or a wielder?” Professor Johnson glanced around as half the students raised their hands. “The rest of you will be tested at the end of the week, correct?” The other half nodded.

“Let’s go. We can stop and meet the rest of your professors and then grab lunch.” Blaze stood up and walked out of the gym. I followed closely behind, wondering what food there would be for lunch. It would be nice to have something other than instant ramen and fast food.

~~~

Blaze took me to meet the rest of my professors. I found my chemistry professor, Professor Heaven Willow, very strange. She seemed like she had a screw loose and Blaze explained that she was from the Willow family, a very wealthy family with magic in every person except her. My algebraic teacher, Professor Liam Jones, seemed kind and welcoming. I was actually looking forward to learning math. The only professors I was terrified of were my physical training coaches, Coach Nicholas Wright and Coach Lisa Zinke. Meeting them was a terrifying experience and I know I will hate physical training.

“Let me warn you before we go into this gym. Physical training is very intense and it is very hard. You might feel overwhelmed, but please know the coaches are just preparing you and everyone else in case there is another war.” Blaze looked down at me, worried, causing his eyes to seem darker.

Once I nodded, he opened the two metal doors. The gym was massive and seemed to look like a small forest with obstacle courses everywhere. I could hear loud voices yelling commands somewhere in the forest part of the gym.

“The gym is made of three areas, forest, field, and water. There’s a small man-made lake on the other side of the forest.” Blaze explained as we walked along the edge of the gym.

Once we passed the forest part, the area opened to a small field and a small lake. There was a group of fifty students, bent over or on the ground, panting and covered in sweat. The two coaches were yelling at how lazy and unfit the students were. I was frozen in fear. I hate being yelled at and I hate negative comments towards myself.

“Hey, it’s okay. They do this to prepare yourself mentally and physically for whenever we have to face someone trying to kill us.” Blaze’s voice was calming and his hand on my back was warm.

“Who’s there?” The female coach turned around, her hand aflame with a white blue fire. “Oh, Royal. You shouldn’t be here till tomorrow.”

Blaze nodded as he walked closer to the coaches. “I’m showing the new student around. This is Nova White.”

Once the female coach laid eyes on me, her whole demeanor changed. The fire went away and she dropped her hand from the male coach’s arm (which I just now noticed). A huge smile stretched across her face. “Oh! Welcome to Whitehall. I am Coach Lisa Zinke and this is my holder, Coach Nicholas Wright. Sorry if we scared you a minute ago. We have to be a bit hard on the students during training, but I promise we are always here to help with anything you need.”

I nodded as I hid behind Blaze. “He doesn’t talk much. We are going to grab lunch, but he will be in class tomorrow.”

The coaches nodded and went back to yelling at the students as Blaze led me out of the gym through the door on the other side of the lake and down a hill towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was massive, which was necessary as there were thousands of students. The cafeteria had multiple buffets for any food you could imagine, burgers, sandwiches, tacos, chinese takeout food, a sushi bar, and so many more it was insane.

Blaze told me to find him once I got what I wanted to eat then he disappeared into the crowd. I headed over to the Chinese takeout area. The cafeteria lady behind the counter loaded a plate up with fresh fried rice, teriyaki chicken, and two vegetable egg rolls. I took the tray and grabbed a bottle of water. I had to wait in line to charge my card. After a worker swiped my credit card, I went towards the thousands of tables to find Blaze.

Blaze was sitting at a round table with the people from this morning. I already forgot their names. I sighed heavily as I weaved my way towards the table, trying to avoid hitting anyone. Once I reached the table, I quietly sat down next to Blaze and the female friend. Victoria was her name I think.

“Oh, hey Nova,” Victoria waved.

Lunch was calm and quiet. The group of friends chatted away about classes and other nonsense. Soon, it was nighttime and Blaze and I had returned back to our dorm. I don’t remember much of what happened. All I knew next was I was laying in bed staring at the opened window that allowed the moonlight to pour and cast a soft grey light. It was very relaxing.

I wonder how school will be tomorrow, was my last thought before darkness fell over me and dreamworld awoke with life.

Chapter 2 is next !!