From far away, the academy lie on a vast clearing. It's pale white towers clearly visible against the morning sky and the forest cover.
The castle looks enormous, even from this distance.
"It's pretty big, isn't it", a girl sitting in a carriage says while looking out the window. There were two other girls with her, around the same age.
"Yeah, and it's so pretty too!!", one of them exclaimed.
"Honestly could care less, I just wanna get off this darn thing", the other one retorted.
The carriage continues moving until it reaches the academy gates. The carriage jerked once before coming to a halt, the wheels crunch on the pale gravel. When the door opened, the sudden burst of cool air came in, with small traces of magic present in the air.
A girl stepped out as immediately as the door opened, "Nope, I'm never sitting on that darn thing again." She covers the mouth with her arms to stop herself from throwing up.
The other two girls in the carriage step out slowly, one of them goes towards the girl and rubs her back, "it's fine, not like you're gonna die from this, you're just a little sick".
The third girl disturbed their conversation, " she'll be fine, Right Ez. But do you see this place, it's soo big and pretty!!" She squeels from excitement.
"Lean on me, we wouldn't want you too be the first casualty on the first day of academy, would you?", the girl jokes as she pulled her friend up and helped her walked towards the academy gates.
"Thanks" she then looked towards her other friend, "Darn you Xena" she yelled as her friend had long hopped towards the door.
"Forget it Ez, you know how she's like." she said while try to calm her friends anger.
"Let's just go already, I'm exhausted from the constant travel." She sighed.
They walk inside and see a grand water fountain, with a statue standing on a pedestal. Multiple floating balls of water assigned at different places arround the statue, are spewing small streams of water into the fountain.
The water never splashed where it should have. Each droplet curved towards its designated location, like it's following a command.
Light specks seemingly floating on the air like something magical.
The air felt heavier beyond the gates, not thick but more like aware, like stepping on water that has yet to decide to whether let them float or sink.
Just behind the fountain is a large building, paint like white marble. It's floral patterns are lined with gold and the petals glimmer like colourful crystals under the afternoon sun.
The front door, made of some type of dark wood, has the same design as the rest of the building, with gold lining it's floral design.
As the looks around more, they see many people, a few looked confident, while most nervous.
Aura noticed how older students looked- calm, relaxed, like the academy belonged to them. The newer one's, like themselves, huddled together unconsciously.
A few adults are near the building doors, most probably professors, discussing some things.
More and more students come through the gates and look around, some looking awed, some confident, and others with many emotions.
Suddenly a huge spark of magic followed with a bright light shone from near the academy gates. Before anyone can react, a professor stepped in between, raised his hand and the light vanished instantly.
No one spoke a word for a few moments. After a while, small murmurs started, which then turned into full blown conversation.
"My apologies dear students, seems like one of our apparatus decided to break down on the opening day" a professor came up front and explained.
"Hope this doesn't ruin your first impressions of our academy, these things are some minor errors caused by the faculty. It occurs sometimes.", the professor continue before stopping and wishing them, "hope you enjoy the rest of the day".
"Damn, first day and all this problems already arising", Aura mumbles to herself.
"Forget it, they fixed the issue and all is done. Don't dwell on the past", Xena remarked before turning her back to the chaotic scene and admiring the view.
Aura and Ezra decided to follow behind her to make sure she doesn't cause any problems.
They continue walking for a while before Xena questions something, "Why does it look bigger on the inside?"
"They use spatial magic to make it bigger so it occupies less space on the outside" Ezra replied to her question in a slightly exhausted voice. She seems to have recovered enough to walk on her own without falling.
Suddenly a sound was heard, like a bell, from somewhere within the academy, A low but clear tone.
The academy gates began closing on its own and all the students near flinched at the sudden movement of the door.
The sound echoed longer than it should have, for a moment, no one dared to move.
Suddenly a loud clapping sound came from the fountain area. Everyone looked towards there. A professor, with a smile on her face, stood on top of a floating piece of earth.