An academy to get stronger? How bad could it be? Certainly no worse than what I’d suffered over the last two weeks.

  As I considered the possibilities, a question formed. A small seed of hope. Could I learn how to make portals like the Augur made? It was a long shot, but I was ready for it.

  The Augur and the Warden were watching me closely. “Are you ready?”

  I didn’t need to reply. The Augur’s portal made me ill, but it was a gateway to hope. I stepped through eagerly and stumbled onto white concrete.

  From the breeze, I knew we were outside, but it was the cleanest concrete floor I’d ever seen. It was also a horrible place to throw up, but I managed to keep my feet on the ground and my stomach contents in my stomach. For now. Hands on knees, bent over, I focused on that floor to make sure it stayed that way.

  The Augur actually patted my back as he stepped through last. “Good to see you’ve toughened up, Earther. We might make a soldier of you yet.”

  It was unexpected praise, but I’d take it. The jump hadn’t affected me anywhere near as bad as the last, and I was proud of that.

  I raised a hand to thank him, swallowing repeatedly to make sure I didn’t blow, not even daring to look up at my surroundings until I was certain.

  Thankfully, the nausea didn’t take long to pass, and I was able to l look up and take in my new surroundings.

  Apparently, we were on the top of an enormous tower. The amount of information to take in was insane, yet amazing, nonetheless. In one direction was an immense city of golden spires, majestic flying creatures that I could only compare to dragons, and busy streets as far as the eye could see. To my other side was an incredibly wide rooftop that had multiple portals, opening and closing at regular intervals.

  “We can’t wait here forever, Adam.” It was the Warden. His voice was tight. Irritated. “Are you well enough to move?”

  “Yeah sure,” I said absently, trying to absorb everything and failing. “Is this the academy?”

  The Augur laughed. “No, you fool. It’s the Irala Terminus,”

  “That… That’s the name of the academy, though? Irala? Right?”

  “We are on Irala,” the Warden explained. “But Irala does not belong to House Garazal. We cannot just portal directly into their Warrior Mage Academy unannounced. So we must go through the designated portal.”

  That was too much information for my whirling mind, so I just nodded and let myself be led off.

  I had no idea how the two men navigated the place, but it was clear they knew what they were doing , leading me on an unerring path through the bustle of fellow portal users. I reflected, and not for the first time, that this was insane. It reminded me of the cleanest, but most messed up bus station I’d ever witnessed.

  I started taking in details as we passed the numerous portals. Each one seemed to have a gemstone associated to it, and an operator who greeted the people who passed through.

  We approached a portal near the center. It had two operators, five Archon guards and eight gemstones, all a different shade of blue.

  “Good day!” the Warden said as we approached. “We are heading to the Irala Academy. Dean Erstine is expecting us.”

  “Ah, yes! I received a message to expect you, Warden Anso. It is an honor to be of service, my lord.”

  “Of course,” Anso replied as if that was the most ordinary thing to say to someone who’d just slavered all over you.

  But what did I know? A stranger in a strange land, I kept quiet and I watched.

  The operator picked out a crystal from his selection, while the other operator removed the crystal in place, causing the current portal to blink out of existance.

  I watched in awe at the efficiency that they went about their work, a new portal springing up in seconds.

  With barely a nod of thanks, Warden Anso walked through. I was prodded forward by the Augur, holding my breath as I stepped forward, wincing at the coming sickness.

  I didn’t know whether I should be more amazed by the complete lack of discomfort, or the beautiful tree-lined courtyard. Fruit hung in the trees, and I eyed it hungrily. None of it I recognized, and I wasn’t normally one for fruit, but I was ravenous. The sight of it had me salivating.

  “Your new home for the next two years,” Anso said.

  I spun to see what he was talking about, and found behind me a long row of ornate buildings. They stood with age and importance. Each window was a fine brick archway, guarded by statues of armored figures. Archons, if I didn’t miss my guess.

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  I wanted to stand a little longer and take it all in properly, but the two Archons were already moving, boots crunching as they walked with pride and purpose down the broad gravel path.

  I hurried after them like a dog, worried its master might get too far away and they might lose them. Unlike a dog, I dearly wanted to brutally savage my new masters.

  The walk was short, and ended in a cool hall that reeked of money and power. The receptionist held himself with the kind of haughty arrogance that suggested he owned the whole place.

  “How can I help, Warden?” He glanced at me too, turned up his nose, and moved on to the Augur.

  “Good morning. We are here with Adam Henshaw. A new student from House Garazal. He will be joining your year one class. Please could you let the Dean know we have arrived?”

  “Preposterous,” he said with a second more inquisitive look at me. He clearly still didn’t like what he saw and wrinkled his nose. “We are over halfway through the academic year, and he is…” He opened a filing cabinet to his side and began flicking through files until he found what he was looking for.

  Nodding to himself with a satisfactory smile, he looked up at Anso. “Here we are. The current weakest year one is at Level 19. If you are certain he meets the criteria to join our prestigious institution, then our next intake is in twenty-six cycles. Plenty of time to make up the shortcoming in level.”

  “I’m sorry,” the Warden said, placing a hand on the desk.

  The receptionist nodded with sympathy and was about to speak again, possibly to offer condolences when the Warden continued.

  “But the last time I checked the academy roster, your name did not come up as the Dean, nor the head of admissions.” His voice was cold and dangerous. The once smug receptionist was now rapidly shrinking under his glare. “So why you have chosen to speak to me as you would a simpleton who does not know their own business is a mystery to me. A mystery I have no interest in solving. I will offer one piece of advice.”

  He leaned closer still, and I thought the receptionist was going to fall off his chair.

  “DO NOT presume to know my business better than I do. I am a Warden of House Garazal and Marshal for the UCPF. I know what I am about. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, please let the Dean know we are here. We will walk to his office now, so try not to be as incompetent in that duty as you have proven in the fine art of greeting people to your fine academy, or she will no doubt be very upset when we arrive unannounced.”

  He stammered to find a reply. It sounded like he was trying to form an apology, but it was too late for him. We were already heading down a corridor deeper into the building.

  The Dean was an older Archon. How old I had no idea, but her face showed a shadow of wrinkles around her eyes, and her golden hair had been almost completely replaced with silver, though no less vibrant. She smiled as we entered, and I checked her details.

  Name: Malai Erstine

  Title: Dean of Irala Academy

  Level: 43

  Class: Mage/Warrior/Tradesman

  I goggled at the score and the trinity of paths. This was a powerful Archon and someone I definitely didn’t want to get on the wrong side of if I had any hope of sneaking out of here.

  “Ah, Warden Anso!” She seemed to float over the floor as she moved to greet us. “How lovely to see you after so long. I hear you have been terrorizing my staff?”

  “They terrorized themselves with stupidity,” he replied, though he too smiled. A first to my eyes.

  “And this is the mysterious dross portal find? Let’s have a look at him.”

  She came to stand in front of me, around the same height, though she felt taller with her bearing. She proceeded to look me up and down as if I was something a dog had just dropped on her sparklingly clean floor. “He is weak. The weakest in the academy by a wide margin.”

  “He is highly competent. Well trained in martial matters and his base stats were strong.”

  “Not to mention he developed a Mage skill without help or training,” Augur Stannis added.

  “That’s right,” Anso added. “He has already encountered many hardships culminating in an instinctual talent. Far too dangerous to leave in a work colony until next intake.”

  The Dean’s eyes hadn’t left me as they spoke. They seemed to look through me, and deep into me at the same time.

  Her bright, sapphire eyes flashed with excitement. “Discovering the path alone is something of a double-edged sword. It can speak as much to being unhinged as it can to a talent. I wonder. Which is it?”

  I wasn’t exactly sure she was asking me a direct question, nor how to answer it if she was. I remained silent rather than overstepping the mark.

  “Answer me, boy. Are you unhinged?”

  “That’s not an easy question to answer.”

  “Why not?” she fired back before I could catch a breath.

  “Because unhinged is an opinion.”

  She smiled. “I disagree, but I also see your point. In your opinion, are you unhinged?”

  I shrugged. “No.”

  “Then we have an answer. See, it was easy in the end. Don’t over think everything, Adam, trust your gut.”

  “I will,” I agreed. Though overthinking wasn’t something you could just turn off.

  She returned her attention to Anso, and I deflated.

  “It will be difficult to integrate him. Many of his peers will attempt to exploit the racial and level disadvantage. I hope you understand that I am not a babysitter here, nor can I be seen to be showing favor. But...” She looked back and waved a hand at me. “From what I’ve seen so far, he should fare well. I will house him with our other Union students.”

  Anso nodded along as she spoke, face neutral, but I could see he’d already thought of all this. I, on the other hand, wondered what other types of students there would be apart from Union students.

  With a motherly expression, she directed her next words at me. “Archons make up the vast majority of our students. Out of all the races in the Union, it is we who produce the highest rate of those suited to be a Warrior Mage. They will not appreciate your arrival.” She sighed, eyes flicking back to Anso for a brief second before returning to me.

  “For my sake, please, turn the other cheek when you can, and try not to complain or cause too much trouble when you can’t. Life is hard, and it's unfair no matter where you look. No matter how arrogant the offender, they will have suffered in their past, and they will suffer again in their future. We all will. That is the nature of life. That is why you should enjoy it when you can, and keep your head down when you cannot. Do you understand?”

  “I understand. I will be the perfect student.”

  “Good, now take this,” she said, pulling a square of parchment from a pigeon hole shelf on the wall. With a few seconds worth of quill swishes, she handed it over to me.

  Gingerly, I stepped forward and took it.

  For that brief moment, both our hands were on it, and she met my eyes. “Take that to the school office. We should not need to cross paths again until the inter-academies end-of-year tournament.”

  I looked to both the Warden and the Augur, who pointedly ignored me, and then I left the room alone. Baffled that I was allowed to go by myself without an escort.