He followed the path that was indicated by signs in the common grounds and soon arrived in front of a rather unimpressive stone building, but if there was one thing he had already learned, this place seemed to be always more than meets the eye. Entering the building, he realized that he could be correct as it seemed to be an underground based library with multiple automatons moving around and carrying stacks of books and taking them from the shelves. He heard someone approach him as he looked around, "Welcome to the Mage Haven Library, I don't recognize you, you must be new," The man spoke with a whispering voice, "I am Gilbert Joren, who might you be?"
"I am Uri."
"Just Uri?"
"Uri Geld," Gilbert smiled.
"What were you looking for, Mr. Geld?" Uri shrugged, "Trying to find out more about the academy?" He nodded, "Ah, follow me, I know where that is."
"Is there stuff I should know about the library?"
"Well," Gilbert looked around as they walked through the grandiose halls of the library and then arrived at the top of a staircase, "The lower you get the more authorizations you will need from the headmaster."
"What do you mean?"
"There are books that are reserved for those in the years above you as they contain the recipe for certain potions or they contain spells that you are not supposed to even start learning yet," Uri nodded, "What do you want to know about the school?" They walked down only a few steps but they were on a level that was small and had a large floating book in the middle of it.
"I don't know to be honest with you, Mr. Joren, I am sort of lost here."
"Small town boy in a big place?" He nodded, "I was once like you, Uri," He put his hand near the book and it flipped through like the headmaster's book and he pointed at a page, "Mage Haven is only a hundred years old but it is already rife with history."
"What was here before it?"
"What happened before the creation of common magic will be discussed in your history of magic classes, I will not undercut your teachers so quickly," He chuckled in his whispering volumed voice, "But Mage Haven was founded in 2 after CCM, that is creation of common magic, there is a lot of things that you will cover in your classes."
"Oh, alright, what magic do you use?"
"I am a magicless person, I simply keep the archives here, I have since the beginning of the school," He smiled, "And yes, before you ask, I am indeed very old," Uri nodded and looked around before heading to the door, "I will most likely see you again, Mr. Geld."
"Have a good day, Mr. Joren," Uri walked away as a student walked up to the librarian to ask him a question. Maybe simply seeing the other students practicing magic could help him feel more at home. The young man began walking towards the practice areas that were available for students to practice against a variety of training targets.
The practice area seemed to be the first place all the new students had gone to as there were several faces that looked familiar to Uri among the people who were watching the practice areas. There was a lot of attention around one of the practice areas and Uri decided to take a closer look, "Oh my, she is amazing," One of the watchers commented as Uri made his way to the front and saw who they were watching.
She was a female student with crimson red hair and had black clips holding her hair down. Like the students who had presented the magic to the first year group, she had a unique wand to cast spells. In her hands was a guitar that, with each note that she played, began casting her spells. In front of her was a large ice elemental creature that watched her, as if looking to find an opening to attack her, "Dragon's Breath," A combination of notes lead to the red symbol popping a large beam of fire launch from in front of her guitar and slammed into the elemental, the ice blackening before melting from the heat of the fire. The crowd of watchers cheered her on as the ice creature fell to its knees as if dead, she turned and bowed before the ice creature began to fall forwards, its arm falling towards her.
"Look out!" Uri called out, making her turn to the collapsing golem and move quickly out of the breaking ice's path. The crowd looked at him silently as the girl slung her guitar back and looked at the watchers before walking up the stairs of the practice area.
"Who called that out?" She asked in a nearly menacing shout, "Who said that?" Everyone pointed Uri out and moved away from him to let her pass. She walked near him and eyed him up, "You new?" He nodded, "Well, thanks for the help," She patted his shoulder and walked past him. Looking around, he couldn't quite tell what was going on, the crowd dissipated and left him mostly alone before someone walked up to him.
"You have no reaction to that?" Uri looked at the two students that approached him, "Really?" He shrugged.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you even know who that was?" The second student asked, the new student shook his head, "That girl is Kelly Solven."
"That is the same last name as the Headmaster."
"Yes, she is the daughter of the Headmaster and the head of the fire division of the Academy," Uri nodded, "Yeah, her calling you out is a big thing, you remember that," The male and female students walked away from him and left him alone looking back at the practice area as a pair of automatons cleaned up the elemental.
"What a first day," An automaton walked up to him, "Hmm?"
"Uri Geld, the Headmaster has requested you head to the mess hall, do you know where that is?" He shook his head, "Allow me to guide you to the mess hall," It began walking past him and Uri followed it, "How is your first day going?"
"I think I am sort of getting used to this place slowly," The automaton nodded as it walked next to Uri. He noticed a large number of students heading towards the same place, the Mage Haven Academy Mess Hall, "How many students are in this academy?"
"There are a total of 573 students on campus, your group is made up of 103 students," The automaton explained as they walked towards the mess hall, "I believe your magic will be announced at dinner time for you to join your respective division."
"Oh, I was wondering when we would be given our assigned magic."
"Magic assignment will happen before the dinner will begin, this is the same as what will happen for the next year's cohort as the Academy is only just getting back to being active and engaged in the curriculum."
"Thank you, um, what was your name?"
"Gearoge, have a good supper, Uri Geld," Uri joined the other group of students as they entered the dining hall. It was rather noisy as Ms. Hollow simply indicated with gestures that the first year students needed to go to a specific part of the dining hall while the others went to sit at one of 6 large tables in the dining room. The headmaster and some others were sitting at a table at the head of the room, it all seemed like a very traditional ceremony. He stood with the first years as the other students were both interested in their own conversations and looking at the new students. Headmaster Solven stood up at the table and the room fell mostly silent.
"As is tradition, every year we make the assigning the magic of our new students during the first dinner of the academic year," Headmaster Solven began, "Once I have called your name, please step forwards and I will tell you which division you have been assigned to after the completion of the magic survey earlier today," Uri looked around the room and for some reason his eyes seem to find the crimson red hair of Kelly Solven. It seemed to draw him in before he was able to focus on the headmaster once more as other students began to move towards the tables of their magic.
It seemed that his name would never come up as he was one of the last students to be standing and waiting for their name to be called and to join a table of magic. Uri soon became the last student waiting as the headmaster called his name and he stepped forwards, "Uri Geld, you have been assigned to the branch of life magic, please join the table of life magic," Uri nodded and walked to the table where he recognized the fifth year student that had presented life magic to the new students.
"Welcome to the family," A student talked to him as he sat down. Uri looked at the student and recognized their face, "I am Gregory, we met earlier."
"Uri," He wasn't the best at interacting with other people since he was taken into foster care as a child and had to put in a lot of effort to get through conversations with people who were similar to him either in importance or age. He sat silently as the others talked and introduced themselves and began to eat and passed around the food. Uri was now a life mage, he didn't expect that to be the magic that matched him but how could he have expected anything and it was true in such a new environment.
He walked with the rest of the students of the life division and was led to the new quarters that he would call home for the time he would spend in Mage Haven, "Here is your room, Uri, if you have any problems or issues, Michael or I are just down the hallway, just knock on the door, I can understand that it can be overwhelming," The older female student explained as she stood in the doorway, "Every morning we eat in the dining room of this building and then we head off to the lessons we have planned," Uri nodded as he looked around the room, "Make yourself at home, it is yours for the year," She closed the door and left him alone in the room. He walked to the wardrobe and saw that he had been provided with more uniforms like the one he was wearing. The door opened once more and Uri turned and saw the same female student standing there, "I forgot to tell you that the showers are on the ground floor and they are shared, just male female, you know, all that jazz," He nodded, it was a situation he had grown used to in the orphanage he lived in before he arrived in Mage Haven. It was the beginning of his new life, a fresh start and a clear direction for him to follow without the uncertainty of his life back at home.
After showering, he headed back to his room in his provided pyjamas and sat down on his bed, "Well, you made it, Uri, you didn't embarrass yourself yet," He spoke to himself before lying down and sighing. Slowly, his eyes closed and he fell asleep, unknowingly tired from his first day and the huge amount of novelty in his life.
Breakfast was similar to what he had experienced back in the orphanage he lived in, everyone sat around a couple of tables and the oldest students guiding and managed everything while the others ate, "All the first years," Helena began talking, "The first class you have today is magical history, an automaton will guide you to your class and around the campus as your classes happen through the day," She held a page as she read out each years work. Uri turned to a student that had presented themselves as Henry.
"Is this what happens everyday?"
"For the first week of your first year, the house representatives will announce stuff," Henry replied before going back to eating, "The fifth years are like the makeshift moms and dads for the rest of the students."
"Oh, okay, thank you, Henry," Uri replied before going back to eating. It was his first day as a life mage and he was starting with a rather interesting class, magical history. The librarian had alluded to the class the day before and Uri had always been interested in history as a kid so hopefully it would be a good first class and an easy start. The building that housed the students of the life branch of magic was decorated with multiple banners with years written in gold letters on them. Trophy cases were full with very similar trophies, some dating back fifty or sixty years before, "What are those trophies?" He asked the other students at the table he was at.
"The life division of this academy has won upwards of thirty Mage Games," A student began before Michael overheard the conversation and walked over.
"Unlike some of the other divisions of magic, we have teamwork built into our magic and it allows us to obtain many points in any event that involves a team," He proudly explained, "In my third year, I was on a winning team that won by a fifty point margin."
"I guess you guys are good at it?" Uri looked at the banners, "Are those the banners of the winning teams?"
"Absolutely, each student name is on the back and the year is written on the front," Michael commented before walking back to his table, "Enjoy your breakfast, you have an hour before your first classes."
Uri walked with the rest of his group as they followed an automaton. The uniform they wore was a white uniform with golden details, just like the banners. He looked around and spotted other first year groups, the fire students were wearing red uniforms with black finishings, the ice students were in a light blue with white finishing. The death students looked like just copies of the life students but with black uniforms with gold finishings while the nature students were very different with green uniforms with brown finishings and the storm students wore purple uniforms with blue finishings. The automaton led them into a building and into a classroom that resembled the outdoor amphitheatre that Ms. Hollow had given the presentation in but at the front of the class was a person he had never seen before, "Please sit down everyone, class will begin shortly," She was a tall, slender woman with a simple white dress, "For those who do not know who I am, I am Helena Rosewood, the head of the life division of this academy, I take it upon myself to be incharge of a class for the first years, notably, the history of magic for my first years," She smiled and took a piece of paper from an automaton helper, "Everyone is here, very well, let us begin."