Chapter 3

“Welcome everyone!” Said the man, who was now probably known as the Master Knight. “I hope you all had a fantastic summer and are ready for the coming year, and for our new students you will report to the room given to you on your bags and prepare for classes. If anyone has any questions ask any of the staff and faculty, welcome to the Multi-Dimensional School for Combat and Magic!” The crowd erupted into cheers as the man floated down and snapped his fingers, the metal detectors all shuddered and a wave of light erupted into the giant stone wall behind them. Revealing a massive door, with the same symbols that the wall had on them before. People started to walk through the metal detectors, which none seemed to work, but was the only way in.

“Come on Johnathan! Let’s go!” Albert tugged Johnathan through the crowd through the metal detectors. 

When they finally went through them the room opened up into a massive space that looked like it could have gone on forever. Johnathan looked into the distance and could have sworn he saw some people in tents, but decided to ignore it. The more he entered this magical world, the more he decided to accept that things were just going to get weirder. They walked through the bigger door leading into what seemed to be a hallway leading through a bigger school system, when they walked through he expected to feel really weird. Instead he felt really nice actually, he felt calm for the first time since he’d learned about magic. The hallway seemed endless and looping around in different patterns, there were strange patterns on the walls, and the windows on the side seemed to look like you were looking off into space. Overall Johnathan felt really calm, and very intrigued.

Albert waved a hand in front of his face, “Johnathan? We have to go! What’s your room number?”

Johnathan looked at his duffle bag, which read ‘Dorm Room 18.’ Johnathan quickly looked up, “Dorm Room 18.” He said.

Albert's smile grew, “We have the same room!”

He didn’t know why, but Johnathan was starting to feel right at home. He’d usually like for there to be more comics, but he felt at home. “Let’s go then! Unpack, then I got to go to the Master Knight!” Before Albert could say anything Johnathan pulled him along the hallway, then noticing he had no idea where he was going. Especially because there was a horde of kids they had to go through, “Um, where is our room exactly?” Albert smiled.

“Upstairs, I think.” They ran off through the halls, this time Johnathan was following Albert. Which, all in all, seemed like the right thing to do. They ran straight down the hallway, then took a sharp left. They ran up the stairs running up to what Johnathan thought was the third floor. Albert looked at all the dorm numbers and then Johnathan saw it and went to the door, he knocked on it, but nothing happened. Albert laughed, “Nobody’s in there! All we have to do is open it.”

Johnathan nodded and looked to where there should have been a doorknob, but there was just a strange rune pattern. “How?”

Albert put his thumb onto the rune pattern, and the runes glowed. The door then made a creaking noise, and opened. When the door opened Johnathan thought they must’ve gotten the wrong room, or that they just messed with some kind of magic thing. Because the place was massive! It had two beds on either side, bookshelves piled with books, and multiple desks, pictures, runes, you name it. Johnathan observed the room for a bit, then went to one of the beds. It read ‘Albert’ on it, and it had many strange mirrors and crystals all over that side. He also saw it had strange chemicals and materials. Before Johnathan could look any closer, Albert went in front of him.

“No touching my alchemy equipment! This is very rare and valuable.” Albert said, “What’s up with yours? It has a lot of papers and comics of the Xeno Force, what’s that about?”

Johnathan turned around to see many comics and posters of the Xeno Force, New York's unofficial superhero team. Believe it or not, Johnathan was a huge fan. He ran over to his side, with his bed reading ‘Johnathan’ and having a different carving style to it. He had a desk too, but with papers and pencils. There were posters with the Xeno Force, and then there were piles of comics and comic boxes everywhere. This was his new happy place, there was every Xeno Force comic edition. Including the exclusives!

Johnathan grabbed one that he hadn’t read before and jumped on his surprisingly comfortable bed, “Ok, this is really cool.” He opened the book to show the Xeno Force’s recent battle with Red Dash’s arch nemesis Dark Dash.

“Johnathan, shouldn't you be getting to your thing with the Master Knight?” Albert said.

Johnathan jumped, “What? I just got to the good part of the comic!”

“You can’t just ignore a call from the Master Knight, and you can’t actually choose your classes until you get your magical discipline. You know the thing you didn’t get because the Master Knight needed to speak with you about it?”

Johnathan groaned, “Come on! Can’t they just tell me outright? What’s so crazy about what I am? I bet it’s nothing, just a mishap.”

Albert squinted his eyes, “Go, or else.” Albert summoned a light in his hand.

Johnathan nodded, making a mental note to never mess with Albert. He jumped out of his bed still holding his comic, and ran to the Master Knight’s office. Which he needed directions to, didn’t he Albert?