Academy of the Countless

Log RME4Y-002

The room we stepped into was nothing like the room we were just in. Our arrival room, as I later learned it was called, was rather small and looked like the night sky. Even the floor was covered in sky. It was kind of creepy. It made you feel as if you were floating on solid ground. Meanwhile, the main hall of school kind of looked like it was the entrance hall to a castle made of solid rose gold. Which it was. There was a single white chandelier dimly lit in the center, but it provided more than enough light. There were no windows and a grand staircase that had a long ass line leading to a desk.

"I guess we hop in line?" Gavin said.

"What else would we do?" I replied.

"C'mon guys!" Jake grabbed our arms and pulled us toward the line.

Gavin managed to keep up with Jake, as he was taller than either of us and had a long stride. Me, I was basically dragged along like a toddler, seeing as I was and still am four foot nine.

"Slow down!" I cried. It didn't work.

We stood in line for about thirty minutes. When we finally got up, the lady asked us for our names and hometown. After that, she gave us each our dorm room key and a paper telling us where we were to be tested. She then pointed at a door and told us to hurry up.

"So... do we just insert the key?" I asked.

"What else would you do?" A snotty voice asked.

"Hey, we're new to all this. Cut us some slack!" Jake wheeled to face the source of the voice.

The girl was wearing silver earrings and a light blue dress. Her outfit left little to the imagination. I hoped she would be forced to change clothes.

"Oh, the three of you are newbies? Well that makes it perfectly okay for you to hold up the line!"

"Alicia, shut up!" A familiar voice yelled. Benedicta appeared beside me.

"Oh, it's you. Well, I-"

I turned and opened the door so I wouldn't have to listen to that mess. From what Jake told me, he and Gavin quickly did the same.

The dorm room was actually a lot like a standard college dorm. Simple bed, basic decoration. Back and gray striped wallpaper. There was a fireplace with a cauldron hanging over it, but I kind of expected that. There was also a painting of a building that I later learned was the school hung above the fireplace.

I sighed and sat down in a chair that had been provided along with a matching desk. Everything was a little much, so I took some time to process it all. Once I was done with that, I looked at the slip of paper with my testing room on it. It told me to go to Room 304 with Mrs. Lilac Nightheart.

I looked around the room and spotted a guide of sorts. It looked like one of those programs they hand you at musicals. Laminated and stapled together paper. It was labeled "Your Guide to Navigating the Academy." I picked it up and discovered that the door to my dorm, when opened with the key from the inside, to an elevator with a keypad. To get to the right classroom, you typed in the room number and hit enter. Obviously, I used the key to open the door. It opened up into an elevator as promised, and I found that the waiting music was quiet death metal.

I put in the room number and the elevator rocketed off. I had to grip the handrails for dear life. I nearly threw up. Thankfully, I arrived at the correct classroom. I ran out of the elevator to discover that it was yet another odd room. The floor was dark brown earth, and the walls were covered in various greenery. Flowers, fruits, berries. If it could vine, it was there. The desks and chairs were trees grown into various shapes. Most of them had grooves grown into them to store textbooks and other supplies. Some of the trees in the classroom were not grown into furniture. The ceiling was transparent, but I could tell it was there as some of the plants were trying to grow on it. The room was possibly the size of ten football stadiums, but the actual classroom space was average-sized. There was yet another line. Lucky for me, it was shorter. Even luckier, Gavin was at the end. I walked right up to him.

"Hey, stranger. Long time no see," I said.

He simply smiled and shook his head.

"I take it you also enjoyed an elevator ride of doom?" he said.

"Yes. Quiet death metal was an odd choice, wouldn't you say?"

"Quiet death metal? What I heard was... well, it's hard to describe. The best words I have... casual bongos."

"Casual bongos?"

"Casual bongos."

It was my turn to shake my head.

"Do you know when the teacher will get here?" I asked.

"Actually, she was here. She took a student with her to test him. But I don't know what they're testing us for."

"Probably our... power level? I mean, we all have magic, but that doesn't mean we're all equal."

"You two are new to this whole thing, aren't you?" the boy in front of us asked. He was wearing goth clothing and had his hair dyed bright purple. Black lipstick on too. Bunch of bracelets and a few things. He also had gauges and a thick Irish accent.

"Yeah, we are. I'm Gavin," Gavin reached out for a handshake.

"Name's Lorcan. If you couldn't guess by the accent, I'm from Ireland," he said as he shook Gavin's hand.

"We're both from the US. My name is Rose," I said, offering my hand. He shook it.

"Anyways, you're being tested for your type of magic."

"Our what?" I said.

"Type of magic. We're all Countless, but we're not all the exact same. Some are elemental, some aren't. Some enchantment specialists, others are combat masters. Really, anything is possible. Sometimes a completely new brand of magic pops up. Although, what you said about testing how powerful you are is true. It's just less important for your classes."

"That makes sense. How do you know all this?" Gavin said.

"Well, most Countless are the children of other Countless. We grow up with it. Others, like you two, have ordinary parents. Maybe you two had Countless ancestors a little ways back, maybe you're just oddball mutations."

"You're parents are both Countless?" I said.

"Nah, just my mom. Dad's clueless."

We talked for a little while longer. It turned out Lorcan had no clue what his magic could possibly be since he and his mom worked to keep this a secret from his dad. Only magical creatures are supposed to know about magic, and etc. The line moved slowly but surely, and eventually, my turn came.