Esoterico: A Hidden Land

Chapter Six: New Buddies

Ryan was walking through Gregory Street. But the problem is, he couldn't find Magicademia anywhere. It's 4 o'clock in the morning, but still Magicademia seems to exist nowhere. And the street seemed to be endless.

Suddenly somebody said, "You'll never find it, boy....."

Ryan looked back immediately and saw an afro-American man wearing a yellow t-shirt; the lower part of the t-shirt was smeared and covered in blood—deep red blood—and the blood was still flowing down his abdomen. The man grinned and said, "Come with me."

"Who are you? What's the reason for you being like this? " Ryan asked. 

"Come with me... come with me... ", the same chant went on, and Ryan noticed that more men were surrounding him—all afro-haired and wearing yellow t-shirts and bloody—and were strolling towards him like drunk people, trying to reach him. 

At this moment, Ryan woke up, panting. He rubbed his eyes and found himself in his bed. He looked at the clock (clocks in Esoterico were each a portrait, which showed the time by numbers appearing in a sun or moon), which was magically operated. The clock showed 06:13:47 in the sun's picture, which means it is 6 in the morning.

The dream made Ryan recall that night when he had seen that stabbed man in that alley.  It's mysterious… Gary said the man was killed by an outcome of a deadly spell.  What does that mean? What spell was that? Gary also tried to say the culprit's name, but he could only say "The". And about the killed man himself, he was talking about some sort of plan, and most of all, he also talked about some "the." Ryan tried to put all of this together like a jigsaw puzzle. What's the meaning of this "the"? But one thing is clear: It's a specific person or group who did the murder. Or else this "the" wouldn't have been included. As far as he could make out, somebody had a plan, and the man probably knew about it, though he shouldn't have. Thus, he was killed. And magic is involved in both the murder and the plan. 

Suddenly, Ryan remembered that today is the day he's going to join Magicademia. And that was enough to make him rush out of bed. 

Ryan did everything in a flash—he freshened up, brushed his teeth, checked if his belongings were okay or not, gobbled down his breakfast with an immense speed he had never possessed in a lifetime, and put on the same clothes he had worn at the admission test.

"Mom! Has the boat arrived yet?" Ryan called as he got ready with his baggage and everything.

"No, dear," his mom replied, " Have you taken all your things, anyway?"

"Yes, mom.  "I've taken everything," Ryan said quickly, showing his heavy trunk.

"Then for your kind information, dear, you're wrong. You've forgotten to take your money."

"My money?"  Ryan said, confused.

"Yes, you have to pay 500 gold for being admitted. And after that, you ain't going to pay no charges until you finish your studies. If you qualify for higher studies, you'll need more money then." 

"Oh," Ryan blurted out.

So he took the bag of gold from his mother and put it in his trunk. Then he waited impatiently for the boat to arrive.  It didn't take too long. After approximately 15 minutes of waiting, his mom announced, "Ryan! Your boat's here, dear. "

Ryan excitedly strode with his trunk and baggage out of the front door. His mother followed him. 

"It's very exciting, mom. But I'll miss you. Staying five days a week without you—it'll be very hard," Ryan told his mother, sorrowfully.

"I know, dear," she beamed, pulling her son into her arms tightly, " But this is life. You won't have me forever in your life. You will always be my little boy, but in real life you'll grow bigger and bigger and have to face lots of things. In order to lead your life properly, you consequently may have to stay away from me. Time never stops... and one day, it'll be time for me too to go away forever. But no matter how far away I am, dear, I'll always be with you. "