Ezekiel Thomas and The Kraven Hill Academy

Chapter Five - Sorcery Studies

Nightfall came in a flash. Thomas laid on his bed with his back leaning on the backboard and book in his hand. Manuel went straight to sleep as soon as he quickly changed out of his school clothes. It was a long day for all five of them. Walking around all day with the sun blazing on your skin would take its tole quite a bit. Especially on thirteen-year-olds.
After the tour, he'd spent most of the time by himself, as Jacob was with his other friends. He didn't dare speak to Mafalda or Manuel. Manuel would've annoyed him, and he probably wouldn't be able to get out a sentence to Mafalda. Eating dinner and spending most time to himself, wasn't all that bad anyway. He had spent most of his life by himself in school so this wasn't really any different.

For some reason, Thomas couldn't really go to sleep just yet. With the book in his hand, he was reading but wasn't focused. His parents were on his mind:

What were they doing?

Where were they?

Were they thinking of him?

As these thoughts raced through his mind, he continued reading on until he entered his dreams.

It was now Tuesday morning. The dreadful day has arrived - lessons begin.
Thomas brought out his timetable he was given the day before by Gray, sitting at the table for breakfast.

Sorcery studies - Dungeons.

The first lesson of the day was sorcery studies. Was he actually going to use magic for the first time in his life. This is something Thomas had dreamed about and it was now becoming reality. As he was tapping on the table waiting for the time to go by, He wondered ever so much as to why he didn't bring his book with him. It would have killed time more quickly and learning about this new world he's in would be a plus.
And just then, it was time for him to go to his first ever lesson at Kraven Hill Academy.

Students were on their way, pushing and shoving. Going down the long staircase was going to be a long journey for Thomas. As he got up the steps, one by one, skipping two or three as he went along, he finally reached the dungeons.

The room was large. It was colder than other rooms in the castle but much more neat. The walls are lined with different books like it could be a library of its own. In one corner of the room sat a tiny tree-like humanoid. A blackboard sat at the front of the room beside the teacher's desk. Thomas entered the room going, while some students were already seated waiting for the lesson to start. He went and sat in a free chair that he saw which was in the middle of the room. Next to him was a bushy haired boy.

Rushing inside was a woman. She was wearing an all white Shaolin robe and had her hair in a pink ponytail.

"Hello students." The woman began. "I am Professor Wong, and welcome to Sorcery studies. The language of the mystic arts is as old as civilization. They are called spells."
She began to bring up both her hands from behind her back. "The first lesson today, is about the anima." As she moved her hands further away from each other, a bright orange lit line began to appear. "We harness energy," She directed her hands into a sphere creating a circle around the line. "Drawn from our anima to cast spells," With a click of her fingers the circle began forming into lines forming different stars and one big circle around it. "to conjure shields and weapons - To make magic." And in an instant, sparks flew from it, blowing wind to the students like a fan.

Thomas couldn't believe what he was seeing. His face lit up with impish glee. He wasn't the only one.

"Awesome."

"So cool."

"Holy cow."
Students were whispering, their bodies full of excitement.
Amazing. Thought Thomas. And in one swoop, it disapparated into thin air, leaving tiny sparks to fly to the ground.

"The anima is what gives us the power to use magic and cast our spells. You each all have the anima within you. It's not simply just casting spells - you must awaken the anima and allow it to manifest." Thomas glanced at the boy next to him looking confused as ever before he raised his hand slightly to ask the question. Miss Wong nodded allowing him to speak.

"Um, how exactly do we awaken the-the..."

"Anima." She finished for him. "By acknowledging and vindicating your inner self." Going into her back cupboard she brought out books in packs of ten, bringing it to the front pair of students. "Take one and pass it along. This will be your study book for my class, DO NOT lose it and take care of it."

By the time the book got to Thomas he examined it with the title reading:

Sorcery studies - Level one.

Looking up from it, Thomas saw a scrambled up paper fly past him hitting a girl on the back of her head. She instantly turned around making the students behind Thomas to snicker. It was Leia.
She can't catch a break. Thought Thomas. First Mafalda now this.

Miss Wong then took the name call and called out each student but then, paused on Thomas's name.

"Ah," She said softly, "It is truly great to meet you. I'm expecting great things from you." Thomas didn't know how to reply to that.

Expecting great things from you.

If he couldn't get much decent grades back in school how was he supposed to do great things from something he barely knows anything about? This was going to be much harder than he thought.

An hour later the lesson ended with the students leaving. Thomas stayed behind taking notice of the creature once again. "Um, Miss Wong, what is that exactly?" Thomas asked, pointing at it.

"This right here is Rex, he's a Draconian Woodtail." Thomas stepped closer to the creature, seeing how it had a cute baby face with red beaming eyes.

"It's very small and cute." He said softly, smiling at it.

Miss Wong whistled. "Oh, it may look it but its bite is very...lethal. Now go on off to your next class you don't want to be late." Thomas nodded in reply and went on his way.

"Ezekiel," Miss Wong called out. He stopped, turning around. "It really is good to see you at the academy."

Thomas had to question why. Because Miss Wong wasn't the first to say those sort of words to him. "Why exactly?"

"Off you go, you can't be late." Said Miss Wong. She completely avoided his question leaving him confused as he left the room.