The Foreign Gates

Chapter:5- The Guide

For some reason, my vision transferred me to the universe where various threads connected numerous swirling masses of lights and flashes. The customary gasps after each time I try something magical followed not soon after. To find out what I did wrong now, I opened my eyes. Instead of the classroom in which all of us had been seated in, we were now floating in the universe as the constellations, planets and stars continued on with their business. Everyone one was shocked and I think I saw Ms. Jezebelda's eye twitch couple of times.

Everyone staring at me made me lose my concentration and as the spell broke, we returned to ous classroom. Once again, the final gong of the day echoed and as the streams of questions began, Michelle and I ran toward the dorms to regroup for the second time today. We were almost there when I bumped into a boy at the corner. I was about to trip backwards and fall but he caught me in the knick of time. As I looked at the face of my saviour, I saw strong but kind blue eyes look into my green ones. I collected myself and regained my balance. I realised that this boy was the same knight I had saved earlier. I was pretty sure that a strong blush has crept up to my face.

"I guess we're even now" he said in a voice that sent shivers down my spine. His chiseled face greatly matched with his muscular build. I guess in my hurry and anger I failed to see his amazing radiance.

"I..I...Th...You..."

I was completely tongue tied and was really grateful when Michelle apologised to the knight and dragged me with her to the dorms. Pushing that incident out of my head for the moment, we opened the door to room 77 to find Lazuli and Nickie waiting for us. Having only a few minutes before people got suspicious of our disappearance at the cafeteria, from where we would be going for Companion Time, we hid the books in the similar brown trunks at the foot of my bed for later reading.

We then raced down all the way only to come to a stop when we reached the cafeteria. A long line greeted us as we made our way to the courtyard in single file. I never noticed before but in the middle of the courtyard on the middle stone, was a half of the school's symbol: a wand. The Professor, who was leading us, stepped forward and knelt to touch the wand carving.

He began a sort of chant and the moment he ended it, the symbol glowed and directly above it, opened a swirling mass of light similar to the one I saw in World Science.

"I have set a password for all students to use", he informed us,"All of you are to use this password anytime you need to access the recreational space. Since the password is changed every year, be sure to listen well. It is: Alexis Magradore."

I repeated the word in my mind till I was sure that I remembered them. Next, we each stepped through the portal. What was on the other side was simply breath-taking. We were in a jungle with thick trees making a sparkling canopy above us. The clearing where the portal opened was surrounded by stones on which were etched runes which gave off strong waves of energy. In the centre, stood an ancient stone pedestal in front of which stood a stand quite similar to the one in the library. We were instructed to step up and say our name and race along with our family names.

Since everyone knew of my weird magic, the knew my name as well and since we were all human, race would be no use to them either. However, everyone seemed keen to find out my family name. Companions were given to all Mages without racial discrimination, Nickie told me, but it was only so that the Companions would be given to the proper heir of the family that they had to mention their races. I guessed it helped them manage better. Each family had a particular breed of Companions and their children were often paired with the children of their master.

Everyone began stepping up to the stand and relayed the required information and before long, the four of us were next. Michelle went first.

"Michelle Alabaster, human, Cardignan."

There was a flash of yellow and on the podium stood a magnificent silver wolf. She stepped down and bowed before Michelle and followed her to the side to wait for the rest of her mistress' friends. Next up was Lazuli. She took her place and began:

"Lazuli Nightdrop, human, Crystilla."

In a flash of blue, came a baby dragon who sneezed a small puff of purple fire. The baby glided over to Lazuli and the two joined Michelle. Nickie seemed nervous but with a calming breath, she took her place.

"Nickie Dragritz, human, Destolia."

In a green flash appeared a beautiful but short slender woman with blue-green scales instead of skin and her eyes as completely yellow. Her long flowing hair shone silver and she wore a short seaweed dress. Her legs were partly fins. Everyone went silent at the charisma of the mermaid who was an amphibian. Finally, it was my turn. I remembered asking Mom about our family for a school project but all I could squeeze out of her was that our family name was Ambrose. Keeping that in mind, I stepped forward.

"Lucy Shaw, human, Ambrose."

Another gasp at my family name but they were all interrupted when a dazzling iridescent light shone on the podium, brighter than anyone's. As it died, I could make out a horse's outline. When the light was completely gone, my mouth hung open. I was shell-shocked.

In front of me was not some ordinary Labour stallion. It was a faintly glowing white mare with flowing rainbow hair. Her eyes seemed to change every minute and what's more was that she had a a silver horn on her forehead.

"A...a...a Unicorn!", I thought.

As if I had a phone in my head, a voice spoke into my mind: "I am Ihsura, your Companion whose breed has been passed down through generations in Merlin's own family. Forgive me for the delay, Master."

That strange oddity was in fact the starting of my true destiny...