It was finally the day of resumption. Jake had packed and was ready to set off. Aunt Hilda had gotten him a winter coat and a hat for the approaching winter and a leather bag to pack a few things, since Jake had only been focused on training and had no time to tend to himself.
His Uncle had called him earlier this morning and had given him a sword, he claimed it was a family relic and Jake had the right to be in possession of it. It was a shiny metal sword with silver hilt and blue stones decorating the silver hilt, the sword was easy to wield and felt so light and comfortable, his Uncle called it the screeder but told Jake he could name it whatever he wanted since it was now his.
Liz and Claire hovered around Jake, making sure he had all he needed even though they were sad he had to go. It was time to leave, Uncle Mike grabbed Jake's bag and headed towards the door. Jake hugged his sister goodbye
"Take good care of her" he told Claire.
"You should worry about yourself" she replied biting her lower lip to stop herself from sniffing "Be safe, okay" she said as she threw her arms around him.
"I will"
"Jake, we're gonna miss the train" his Uncle shouted from the doorway.
"I'm coming" Jake replied
They headed out into the streets and to the opposite direction of the lake. It was a short distance, they soon reached the train station, the train was just arriving.
Uncle Mike paid for the train tickets and they boarded, occupying a seat beside the window.
The ride to the capital was a long and quiet one.
The capital was where all the important buildings and organizations were located even the Magic affairs committee was located in the capital.
It was like the centre of activities in the country.
After a three hour ride, the train soon pulled up at the capital. They alighted the train and headed to where they would get a carriage.
As they strolled the streets of the capital, Jake marveled at the magnitude of the population he saw, and the buildings which were taller than he'd ever seen. It was a memorable sight for him, he felt like he had come on a sight seeing trip.
Mike who had been here on several occasions focused on finding a carriage that'll take them to the school, he soon found one and soon enough they were on their way.
Jake could see more buildings, some higher than the ones he saw before, the people here also dressed differently, they wore plain casual shirt and shorts or pants in contrast to their usual tunic.
Uncle Mike made sure to identify places of interest for Jake as they rode towards the school.
Soon enough, they could see the school. It was located atop a hill in the middle of the woods, there was hardly anything within a fifteen mile radius around the school except a cluster of trees and a dense forest.
From far off where Jake was he could see how large the school was.
Soon enough they were riding towards the large black frame of the school gate.
The carriage stopped in front of the gate. Uncle Mike and Jake climbed out of the carriage, grabbing Jake's belongings. They strolled towards the gate.
The gate was open and there were no guards stationed at the gate. Thus, students and guardians alike were allowed to pass through without supervision.
Jake was finally in within the walls of the school, he stared around and took it the environment.
The compound was larger than anything he'd ever seen. The buildings inside the compound were equally large.
All the buildings were painted brown, some with patches of yellow and others red, and they carried the sign of the school which was an osprey standing on a sword.
Each building had a flowerbed surrounding it except at the entrance.
Jake followed his Uncle through a few buildings, until they got to the building at the far end of the school.
This was the only building without a flower bed and it didn't seem as large as the others.
Mike walked in and Jake followed closely behind, they climbed some stairs and came in front of a door that read 'Headmaster'. Mike knocked twice and entered the office.
"Michael" the headmaster boomed from behind his chair "what brings you here"
"Nice to meet you too Giller" Mike replied the headmaster.
"Ha ha, funny as usual. I guess it's the Michael I know after all. Please have a seat"
Mike sat opposite the headmaster on one of the two chairs across the table and called Jake in.
"Oh, you brought a lad"
Jake looked at the headmaster wondering if he was the one with the loud booming voice.
Because the headmaster had such a small frame, he wasn't a very little man but he wasn't big either. He was short with a round stomach that was barely visible through his large shirt, he had brown hair on his reseeding hairline.
"Hello, Mr Headmaster" Jake greeted politely.
"Hello…" he paused, waiting for Jake the answer.
"Jake, Jake Turret"
"Hello Jake" the headmaster shook Jake firmly before returning to his seat.
Jake sat down beside his Uncle while him and the headmaster delved into a discussion. Jake hardly listened throughout the conversation, he only heard them say, he'll be in Emerald dorm.
Then he heard his Uncle say to him
"Go on down, Jake. I'll be there in a minute."
Jake slowly strolled down the stairs. He exited the building and walked around it kicking a few pebbles as he walked after a few minutes of his little stroll, he returned to the front of the building and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw a hat floating in mid air without any support whatsoever.
He paused, staring at the hat as it floated around then he looked at the next building and saw a boy about the same age struggling to keep the hat floating after a few minutes the hat fell to the floor and the guy he'd saw, bent to pick the hat. Having sighted Jake, he walked up to him.
"Hey, I'm Levi" he stretched out his hand.
"I'm Jake" Jake replied, taking his hand
"You new here?"
"Yeah"
"Same here, I arrived quite early, got to know my way around"
"So, you a spell caster?" Jake asked
"Yeah, haven't gotten used to it but I'm trying. What of you"
"I can't use magic" Jake said, there was disappointment in his voice.
"Don't feel so dejected, there's hope for you"
Uncle Mike came down along with the headmaster. It was getting late and he had to return to Tibeth.
"Jake, I've got to go alright?"
"Sure, bye"
"Bye kid" Uncle Mike replied as he patted his head and set off towards the school gate.
"Levi, is it?" the headmaster asked.
"Yeah"
"Take Jake to Emerald dorm"
"Come on Jake, let's roll" Levi soon continued his discussion as soon as they left within earshot of the Headmaster.
"We're in the same dorm. And we're gonna have a lot of fun, trust me." Jake didn't miss the mischievous glint that sparkled in his eye. He led Jake past the training hall, the assembly hall, the building which housed the classes, making sure to keep Jake informed as they went by. They soon reached the dorms and Jake could see EMERALD carved in bold letters at the top of the building.
"Welcome to our humble abode" Levi said as he stepped aside and threw his hands forward in a dramatic fashion, inviting Jake inside. They walked through a passage and then came out into a large space, to their left was a building which Levi made known to Jake were the rooms and their resting place in general. To the right was the cafeteria. The dorm was a two storey building. They entered the building on the left.
"This floor belong to the third years according to the second years" Levi explained to Jake referring to the ground floor. They climbed up to the next floor.
"Next we have the second years"
There were five of them but Jake could only see two.
" That's Lydia" Levi said pointing at the blonde girl twirling her hair "and that's Daniel".
Getting to the first floor, they entered the boys room, the girls were also there, the room was spacious enough to contain ten people so they had decided to converge there. It seemed Jake was the last to arrive, everyone had already arrived earlier and gotten acquainted with each other. There were three boys and there girls. Jake's arrival made the boys four.
"Guys, this is Jake" Levi announced to the room.
"Hi, Jake" some chorused while the others just nodded their heads in approval.
"That's Percy" Levi stated, starting from the left of the room. " Then that's Lisa and Kayla, the twins"
"Then over there is Tony. He was bent over something, he seemed so immersed in whatever he was doing, he didn't even acknowledge their presence.
"Then over there" he pointed at the other end of the room "is Annabeth. Anna for short"
Jake stood there for a few seconds, she had isolated herself from the rest of the room and was reading a book. She lifted her head from her book and looked at Jake. It was a fleeing moment of scrutiny. She immediately returned to her book.
"Those eyes" Jake thought it was the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen.
Then he realized he'd been staring. The introductions were done, Levi showed Jake the beds that were occupied and told him to pick any that wasn't. He decided on the bed at the end of the room and sat down to unpack his bags