Esoterico: A Hidden Land

Chapter Seven: The New Year's Ceremony

The students bustled and pushed themselves down the boat as soon as the boat had reached the Magicademia campus and the special part of the boat had parted to make a stairway down. It was half past twelve now.

After everyone had come down, Jean suddenly looked back and said, "Where's Ryan?"

"Here!" Ryan shouted at the others, hurrying down the stairs along with the boy who had fallen asleep during the boat journey. His eyes were blue, and his face was full of wonder and an unidentified gloom. Ryan, however, was helping him prepare himself.

Right after all the students were out of the boat, the astounding transport slowly levitated upwards, its wall was back in place again, and it shot straight to somewhere towards the school building. Robben will come after a while.

Newton watched it go and said, It's returning to its home. Robben will come after a while."

"That filthy bunny," Bob scorned, "he shouldn't be here leaving that place fixed for him-Freakfield. It's disgraceful-people like him don't deserve staying among us Scyphers."

Ryan sharply said, "There ain't no place fixed for anybody, froghead; and if you start discrimination among us too, then you can go live among humans. Go-can you do it?"

Bob gnashed his teeth at him.

Minutes later, Robben returned, opening the main gate. He called at the students, "Ahoy! Here, everyone!"

The students left the snowy main ground and entered the practicing yard behind Robben.

The practicing yard was fully covered in snow. The red-brick building, however, looked the same-only except its roof was snow-covered and its walls were a bit of an icy blue. The doors were all closed, but the windows were open.

They strode forward and approached one of the doors of the towering building. The door was purple with a golden lining. It also had complex designs carved on it in gold and a large "M" engraved on its middle.

Robben said to the others, "Wait while I say the password." He climbed the stairs to the door and clearly spoke, "Meisley Magelan, a magicless minister, is mesmerized in Malaysia after a masked murderer approached him in a malevolent manner."

This door didn't say anything. Instead, the M engraved on it shone in a blinding golden glow and after the glow gradually faded away, and the door flung open. The door was in two parts however.

"Come," Robben said, and the students followed him inside. The door slammed shut noisily and by itself right after the students were all inside. Still the glimmering sunlight which sneaked inside through the windows, left no room for darkness.

Ryan looked around at the corridor they were standing in. The mixture of light and shade made it look so ancient and mystical... the stonebuilt floor and the red-brick walls added some nostalgic theme, and finally, this place was looking magical with the closed doors glowing, and Ryan was full of wonder thinking that these corridors will have his foot pounding upon its surface most of the year and the upcoming years.

A girl with short and curly blonde hair, pinkish skin, and light green eyes asked Robben, "Where do we go now?"

"To the Magicademia Central Hall. You eat in there, the teachers and students all sit there together, and every ceremony happens in there. There everybody is waiting for us."

Ryan couldn't help asking, "I saw no hall in here!"

Robben chuckled, "I suppose you didn't explore more than the second floor during the admission test; the hall is in third floor. Come with me, but be careful; the corridors have endured plenty of magic activities, incidents, and accidents. So it's not very reliable. Same about the stairs too."