"Welcome to Mage Haven," The small group's guide announced as the automaton walked ahead of them, "Your new home for the coming 5 years, given that you don't choose to stay a little longer after your courses are over," The small robot let out a small laugh before continuing. It was the first day for the group of mage students and the first time that Uri, an orphan mage who was given a chance to join the academy of Mage Haven, had ever seen a place like the academy, "Do any of you know how you will get assigned to your schools?" The automaton stopped and the group of seven students stopped with it, "No?" They shook their heads, "Well, once you have gotten the basic guide of the school and be introduced to the several branches of magic, you will complete a few tasks and then be assigned a school that suits you best," The automaton seemed to have a voice that tried to imitate a person's cheerful tone.
Uri followed the automaton as they walked towards a large building near the square the campus guide had called the 'Academy Square'. It moved to open the door and indicated for the students to enter the building, "This is Headmaster Solven's tower, Owliver will call him down if he is not in his office," The group of seven did as the automaton said and they entered a room before they saw a large owl familiar sitting with a book on a stand in front of its bird stand.
"Hoo is there?" The owl turned around on the bird stand and seemed to smile as it saw the group, "You must be the new students, yes?" It used a wing to adjust a monocle, "I will call for Headmaster Solven," It flapped its wings and headed through a doorway that led to a visible staircase. Uri looked around the room before hearing footsteps coming down the stairs and a tall man entered the room as the owl returned to its stand.
"Thank you, Owliver, apologizes for the unceremonious welcome, I am Benjamin Solven, the headmaster of Mage Haven Academy, I am glad to have you among our students, have you had a brief tour of the campus?" The students nodded, "Very well," He turned and pulled out a book, "We are rather old fashioned, so I would appreciate if you seven could sign your names in these free spaces," He placed the book on the table, Uri wondered why the book looked so small before the headmaster opened it and the pages seemed to multiply and spin through the books cover and disappear until it opened to a blank page.
Magic hadn't been something present in Uri's life as a child until he was detected to have a magical presence and was offered a chance to seek a better life than being a simple citizen on his home plane. He stepped out of the headmaster's tower with the 6 other students who were chatting together before another automaton walked towards them, "Welcome to Mage Haven, new students, I am tasked to bring you to the presentation of magic as you are the last group to join the first year student group," It turned and began walking with the small group following.
The group was lead passed the headmaster's tower and then turned and arrived in a large open amphitheatre where there were free seats for the group to use and most of the other seats were taken by other first year students, "Ah, thank you, Cogsworth," A woman smiled at the automaton as it indicated that it had delivered the group, "Now that we are all here, we can begin," Uri looked around and observed what was happening around him being both nervous and excited about the new place he had arrived in, "My name is Georgina Hollow, I am responsible for the orientation of the first year student group, which you are part of," He turned back and paid attention to the person speaking, "Unfortunately, I am not adept enough to have a mastery of all the branches of magic so I have a few fifth year students to assist in my presentation," She spoke as five students joined her on the stage, "The six branches of magic that are studied and practiced in our academy are death, life, nature, storm, fire and ice magic," The group was silent as she began casting a spell, "I am an adept death magic mage, the most extensive tree of magic and the most difficult to master," A symbol began forming in the air as she used a feather as if she was drawing it in the air, "Students who join this division of the academy will need to be able to study and practice a lot and be able to control their magic as it is the most complex and dangerous both for the user and the other people around it, Reaper Call," A thick fog rolled into the center of the amphitheatre and then a black figure appeared. It was a winged creature with a pair of skeletal wings and it held a scythe in its right hand. It faded away as Ms. Hollow shooed away the smoke and the students began watching in awe, "Now I will let Michael Helvette present the branch of life magic."
"Well, hello everyone, I am Michael and I am a fifth year student of the life magic division of Mage Haven Academy," He didn't seem to have as much text planned like Ms. Hollow and a spell quickly began forming in front of him as he drew it with his wooden staff, "Life magic is a one branch type of magic unlike death's three branches and students of this branch of magic will need to be able to depthen their knowledge of the people around them and themselves and be able to understand and react to other magic, Fairy Assault," As soon as the white outline of the spell popped, the buzzing a wings appeared and it seemed like hundreds of fairies appeared out of nowhere and formed three groups flying around his head, "Life magic is all about protecting yourself and those around you while also being able to counterattack or counteract the opponent's attacks and actions."
"Thank you, Michael," He nodded and the fairies didn't leave right away and moved with him as he stepped aside and a woman stepped up, "Now, Julia, please present the division of nature magic," The female student smiled and had a very friendly feeling. She didn't say much as she looked at the first year students before a green symbol began forming in front of her as she used both her hands to draw it.
"Nature magic is simple, act and react, the students of this branch will need to be able to understand what creates the power of this two branch magic while also knowing what needs to be blocked or stopped, Petal Dance," A huge amount of petals were thrown up from the ground and floated in the air before, swirling and dancing around her. "Granting yourself and those around you with real protection from physical and magical attacks while also being able to send out powerful magic from the two branches of this type of magic," The petals fell back to the ground and she stepped back, "As simple as that," Ms. Hollow nodded and gestured for another student to step forwards.
"Hello everyone, I am Samantha Hevion, I am a fifth year fire student," She explained, "Fire is a very powerful and potent single branch magic that can cause a lot of damage and can control the area around you, I won't be showing you a very big spell as I doubt that would be a very safe idea, however, I can show you something a little smaller," A red symbol began forming in front of her as she used a short wand to draw it, "Sunny Day," A small ball of fire formed above her and emitted a large amount of energy and heat, "Another thing about fire magic, it is hot, very hot," The ball of fire dissipated and she stepped back. Uri wiped the sweat from his brow and looked back at the stage before another student stepped forwards.
"Hello, I am Jack, I am a fifth year ice student," He pulled out a small wand and began forming a spell, "Ice magic is a two branch magic can protect you and people around you and retaliate with powerful physical attacks or controlling spells but, unlike fire magic, to be an ice mage, you will need to like the cold, Crystal Armor," Water in the air around him began to freeze and form crystals before they surrounded the ice student and created a sort of armor around him. A few moments later it broke off and he stepped back. Ms. Hollow gestured to the final student, Uri watched as she stepped forwards, this was the 6th and final branch of magic, storm magic. She stepped forwards and smiled before drawing her 'wand', it was a black metal pen that was engraved with symbols and words that Uri couldn't makeout.
"Hello, I am Sandra, I am a fifth year storm student," She began writing out a purple spell, "Storm magic is slightly selfish single branch magic that can help yourself a lot and output a lot of magical power or create powerful creatures, Thunder Storm," A pair of small black clouds formed above the student and a violent downpour started with bolts of lightning striking the ground with loud and powerful cracks of thunder. The storm died down as she moved out of the center, her hair drenched. The students began clapping as if they were watching a show, Uri simply sat and watched, unable to decide what branch he would want to be part of. It all seemed very interesting.
"Well, this is your presentation of the schools of magic, once you have been assigned a branch of magic, you will be able to get a wand that works for you and you will be assigned to your living quarters," Ms. Hollow began walking up the stairs and towards a pair of automatons that were waiting for her, "Hello there, Cogina and Gearalt, can you bring the group to the main study hall for their magic assessment?" The two automatons nodded and she gestured for the students to follow the two mechanical helpers.
The group followed and talked with the ones around them about the magic they wanted to be assigned to and how cool everything was. Uri, however, just walked silently, mostly feeling very small in the new environment of Mage Haven Academy. Someone seemed to move towards him and he turned to look at them and saw a nervous looking, smiling girl looking at him, "Hey there, I am Cassidy."
"I am Uri," The two didn't say much and just walked, "Are you nervous?"
"K-Kinda, this is a pretty big place compared to my hometown."
"I can agree with that," He nodded as they continued to walk with the group, "What did you think of the magic?"
"They all looked great, and seemed so cool, but I hate the cold, so I couldn't be an ice mage," She added after speaking very quickly, "What did you think about it?"
"I don't know what I would pick," She nodded, silently agreeing with his statement. The small interaction was nice and despite not knowing each other, the two nervous new students seemed to feel a little more comfortable than before.
The two automatons left the room as Headmaster Solven stood at the front of the students as they sat down at the many tables. His owl familiar flew in and placed a container of paper in front of the headmaster before he walked forwards with a very decorated staff, "I assume you all have seen Ms. Hollow's presentation of magic, now we will decide what division of the school you will be in," He gestured to Owliver and the paper began floating out of the container and handing itself out to the students, "On the table in front of you is a simple page of paper that will be able to start to define what branch of magic you will study for the five years or more that you are here," A student raised their hand, "Go on."
"What if we don't like the magic we are assigned to?"
"I doubt you will dislike it in the long run," He smiled, "Nothing is certain with magic, nothing is obvious with magic, nothing is as it looks on the surface and you will most likely grow fond of those in your school and of the magic that you are learning," She nodded and put her hand down, "Any other questions? There are no dumb questions," He looked around for a few moments and then nodded, "Use the pens on the tables you are sitting at and begin to work, do ask anything you need to ask," Uri began reading the paper, it looked like nothing but a simple survey with only one question on it. The question had 3 options with which to answer it, yes, no, maybe. He filled in the square of the answer and a pair of new questions appeared.
"If hoo were wondering about the paper, it is a magical piece of paper, it will add more questions as hoo fill it in," Owliver explained, answering Uri's question without him needing to ask it. The young man accepted the fact that a lot of things would be strange in this place and he would get used to it at one point.
The questions seemed to continue for a long time, he was at nearly 100 questions before a written result appeared on the bottom of the page. It was a collection of symbols he could not understand or if they were letters he could not read them. He went to raise his hand but the headmaster was already next to him, "How can I help you?" He looked down at the page, "Ah, you are done, let me see your result, very well," He took the page from Uri's table, "You are free to wander for the time being until supper, the automatons will guide you to the mess hall, or ask any student to help you out, they will know where you will go."
"Um, okay, thank you Headmaster Solven," The older man smiled as Uri headed towards the doors of the building. Owliver was sitting on a bird stand by the door, "Thank you, Owliver."
"My pleasure, here hoo go, a map of the hoo-le campus," Uri took it and nodded, "Have a hood day."
"You too," Uri crossed the doors and was alone, standing in the sunny day, he was alone in a place that was mostly foreign to him and he was free to explore. He found a bench and sat down before looking at the map. The campus was extensive with seven districts, one for each branch of magic and one for the common grounds. The map seemed to be a simple piece of paper, nothing magical about it. Who knows what type of magic he would be assigned to, whatever it was he wanted to find out a bit more about the school, maybe the library could help him.