It only took a few more minutes until Rynus stopped. In front of Kira was a massive metal-bar gate with two stone pillars, easily ten Kira’s tall (and that was her standing on her tippy toes), supporting either side, with carvings of various magical creatures wrapped around its exterior. She spotted what looked like a dragon breathing fire, a gryphon flapping its wings— oh and she recognized the carving of a wand weaver near the middle. At the peak of the pillars were two human statues; a handsome man wielding a staff, and an ethereal woman carrying a wand, both wearing traditional wizard attire.

  Kira recognized those statues instantly, as almost any wizard would. They were statues of Thorn and Rose, the two greatest wizards to ever live. Just from being in the presence of their form made stone was enough to send shivers down Kira’s spine. If she was correct about what she had read about the capital Orshon, and its various locations, then this place must be…

  “Can I help you sir?” A knight dressed from head to toe in polished metal armor, except for two distinctly brown leather gloves, came forward and asked Rynus.

  “I have an appointment with the principal in about…” He looked down at his watch, “5 minutes.”

  “Name and badge please?”

  “Rynus Drell Thorn, and here you go.” As Rynus said his name, Kira noticed the knight's posture straightened up.

  “Lord Thorn! It's a pleasure to meet you.” The knight excitedly said and bowed, his voice going up a tone. “If you're here, and the rumours are true, this girl must be… What an honor!”

  “Here's my badge.” Rynus smiled at the knight while re-holding out his badge for the knight to see, as the man was distracted.

  “Oh yes, apologies, right away Lord Thorn. I just need to verify your badge if you don't mind.” The knight said and received a nod in response from Rynus. The knight took the badge from Rynus’ hand, and Kira could feel magic flow out of his leather bound hand into the badge.

  “Everything looks good. Thank you for your patience.” The knight said and motioned to his colleagues near the gates, causing the metal bars to rise. “The principle should be in the summoning tower, top floor.”

  “Thank you.”

  “It's a pleasure Lord Thorn, and too you as well young Miss.” The knight bowed.

  Kira’s mind was so preoccupied with countless thoughts, each more exciting than the rest, that she completely missed out on how formal the knight was treating them.

  With that out of the way, Rynus led Kira through the gate and into the grounds of the place Kira was looking forward to more than almost anything— the Wondrous Academy. This academy was located in the center of Orshon, and it cut through multiple of the city's districts due to its vast size. Dozens upon dozens of buildings of all shapes and sizes could be found throughout its campus. Some were dormitories, some were places of learning, while some were even meant for magical combat. Anything you could learn about magic could be found somewhere on this grand campus. It was the only academy for learning magic in the entirety of the Relia Empire, and had wizards from all across its territory, and some from beyond, coming here to learn and socialize.

  That's the summoning tower! And that's the great hall! And those must be the dormitories way over there! Kira’s eyes were darting left and right, spotting buildings she had read about hundreds of times.

  Wait, why are we here? The school year doesn't start till early September. It was only mid June, which meant school didn't start for over two months.

  “Amazing isn't it?” Rynus broke her away from her raving thoughts. “Unfortunately this was made long after my growing years, but at least I've had the chance to visit campus over the years. It's truly a sight to behold each time.”

  “It's… its…” She couldn't even put into words how thrilled she was to be here right now.

  “Haha yes, I know, it's hard to describe.” Rynus chuckled. He could never get over just how much Kira showed her joy plainly on her face. “And that's where we're going.” He pointed to the summoning tower on their left. It was constructed of a greyish wood with a black stone as its foundation. Little sections jutted out from all sides of the circular tower, while the very top was made of pointed cyan roof. Around the outside of the tower were spiraling floating steps that lead to doors on all levels.

  “Didn’t the knight say we need to go to the top?” Kira craned her neck upwards and could barely see the top of the tower. Did she have to climb all the way up there?

  “I can see the despair written all over your face.” Rynus pointed out. “But don't worry, we don't have to climb. There's faster ways up, but only if you know who to ask, and where to find them.”

  Huh?

  “Let's go inside, I'll show you.” Rynus walked through a pair of wooden doors leading into the first floor of the summoning tower while explaining something to Kira. “Now while this tower is called the Summoning Tower, it has many other purposes. There are empty rooms on higher floors for training your magic, the first floor is just one large cafeteria/lounge area, while a few instructors have their own little rooms and offices near the top floor. But as the name suggests, the main purpose of this tower is for wizards to summon their familiars.”

  Kira’s mouth unconsciously flew open. A FAMILIAR!!!

  “Wait wait wait.” She calmed herself down. “Don't wizards have to wait till the first week of class before getting their familiars? That's what the pamphlet said.”

  “Normally that is the case, but any child of Thorn is the exception. Can you guess why?”

  “Er, do familiars help stabilize magic or something?”

  “Close, in a way they do. Familiars are magical creatures tied to their master in countless ways, which I'm sure you’ll learn all about in class. But, for a familiar to materialize in the physical world, they need to take a small chunk of your magic to continue existing in their physical form. They will continuously sap away their master's magic, not to the extent that it will drain you, but enough that it can affect how fast you recover spent magic. For a child of Thorn who has too much magic in their bodies—”

  “A familiar can help slow down how much excessive mana is being produced?” Kira jumped in to finish.

  “That's correct. Very good.” Rynus nodded. “Just by having a familiar, it will help you reign in on your excessive mana just a little more than if you didn't. So while it's standard procedure to wait, you and any other child of Thorn doesn't have to, because it helps.”

  That made sense to Kira, though honestly right now she didn't even care that it made sense, all she was thinking about was having her own cute familiar of her own. Rynus occasionally brought out his familiar, a large chunky black bear he named Bunk, for Kira to play with, but having her own would be soooo awesome!! They would be a new friend, a lifelong partner, and hopefully a squishy little guy she could cuddle at night— that last part being the most important.

  “Here we are.”

  Kira looked around and wondered why they were in a cramped hallway leading to the kitchens in the back of the cafeteria. They wouldn't cook their way up to the top would they? That doesn't even make sense.

  “Ereddon, you there?” Rynus knocked on the backdoor.

  “Huh!? Is that you Rynus?” A deep raspy voice answered from inside the kitchen. Pushing open the kitchen door, a gnome wearing a pristine chef’s uniform appeared. He had a thick brown beard that hung down to his belly button, which was about half of the gnome's full height. He had bushy eyebrows that seemed to be in a constant state of furrowing, seeing the wrinkles on his forehead. In his hand he held a kitchen knife, a normal sized one, which looked much too big in his hand, and spun it around dexterously.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Ereddon! I thought you might have retired by now.”

  “Bah, this is my kitchen, I ain’t giving it to nobody till I’m dead.” Ereddon grunted. “Watchu doing here? I haven't seen you in, what, 3 years?!”

  “Sorry Ereddon, it's been a busy few years.” Rynus said. “I have an appointment with the principal in… oh 2 minutes now, I really don’t want to keep her waiting. Do you think I could use your gateways, Ereddon?”

  “Mm, whatever.” Ereddon waved him forward. “Who's this pipsqueak? Is that who I think it is?”

  “Yes, this is the one I was telling you about when we last met. This is my apprentice, Kira Funkell Thorn.”

  Kira stiffened up a little at the anxiety of meeting a new person, but gave Ereddon a friendly wave. There were so many new people she was meeting already, she wondered how many more there'd be.

  “Ah, Good good.” Ereddon shoved the knife into his beard and motes of light spewed forth as it disappeared. “Since you're Rynus’ apprentice, I'll make sure you're well fed if you ever need to come here. Though I suspect Rynus already feeds you well doesn't he?”

  “Mm, it's the best food!” Kira looked back at Rynus.

  “Let's see if you'll be saying that after trying my own cooking.” Ereddon laughed and held open the door to the kitchen for them. “Well now, let's not drag our feet, you dont wanna keep that old bat waiting.”

  Unlike Rynus’s kitchen which had more of a chaotic homey vibe, this kitchen was ten times the size that they had back home, and everything here was organized and well kept. The appliances they had were sleek and modern, and Kira could tell they held some strong magic just from the ambient mana coming off of them. There weren't any other people around, probably because the school year hasn't started yet.

  He led them through the kitchen to another room even further back, with walls completely covered in closed cabinets, each roughly about the size of a person. Kira could see that each cabinet was labelled, but the language on it wasnt something she was able to read.

  Erredon came over to one and opened it, revealing a shimmering portal that showed a hallway on the other side of it. He reached into his beard and plucked out a bronze key, which he tossed over to Rynus who caught it.

  “Good luck young one. I got work to do, just leave the key somewhere in the kitchen when you come back. I'll find it.” With that, Erredon left.

  “This my dear, is a one-way gateway, unless you have the key.” Rynus showed the key to Kira and began explaining. “Each of these cabinets have a gateway that’ll take you to a different floor in this building, and maybe even to other buildings, but this one should take us right to the top floor.”

  “A one-way gateway? I thought all gateway’s had to have two portals, each leading to each other?” Kira curiously asked. She had read about most basic magics in her books, but they only ever had basic summaries and were lacking the details. Something Rynus enforced, he didn't want her learning about complex magic until she had built a solid foundation.

  “Hm, this is a little more advanced magic, which I and the school will teach you about more in the second year and beyond. The simplest explanation I'll give you today is that all magic is able to be modified in certain ways. Adding conditions and restrictions to change the way a spell works is the easiest way to do that. I'm sure you'll be experimenting with your own magic soon, but for now, we need to go before Jemina gets mad. You don't want to see her mad, I assure you.” Rynus grabbed Kira’s hand and dragged her through the portal.

  She could feel the portal touching her skin, not physically, but magically, and then her body went through and appeared on the other side. The best way she could describe the feeling of teleporting was like running through a thin layer of mucus that didn't stick to you, then your brain and stomach did a few kicks and twists, and then gravity bore its weight back onto you. Nausea crept its way up her throat, but she felt her master gently rubbing circles on her back and the gross feeling quickly subsided.

  “Thanks master.” Kira said listlessly, her face's colour started to return. “That felt… yucky.”

  “Mm, not the nicest feeling, but did you know most wizards throw up after going through their first portal? You did good holding it in.”

  Kira groaned. She had teleported, that was so freaking cool!... but god did it feel bad.

  “Haha, we're almost there. You can make it.” Rynus helped Kira as they made the last few strides. After climbing some stairs, he pushed open two more grandiose doors and entered the grand summoning room.It was a vast circular room that took up almost the entire width of the tower. Multiple glimmering enchantments were created on the floor, creating a summoning circle, and standing in the center of it all was a woman. She wore white robes that completely covered her body with a faint gray blocky pattern adorned onto it, while gold embroidery lined the edges. In her hands she held a uniformly shaped gray staff with patches of green moss on it, and three white rings were evenly spaced around it. Her green eyes flicked towards Rynus.

  “With 15 seconds to spare.” The woman said, her voice stern. “I almost thought you'd be late, Rynus.” Then her eyes bore down on Kira.

  Like prey frozen from fear, Kira felt her body being inspected by this woman and couldn't move.

  “You know I wouldn't be late.” Rynus wrapped an arm around Kira’s shoulders and gently pushed her forward. “Jemina, meet Kira Funkell Thorn, my apprentice.”

  Jemina, the principal of the Wondrous Academy, stepped forward with an air of power to her. Kira gulped, but remained stoic. It had been a long day, and she had already met two new people today, by now she was used to these old scary people she kept running into.

  “So you're the new Thorn?” Jemina leaned down so their eyes were on the same level and stared deep into Kira’s pupils. “I can sense a passion in you. It's strong. I wonder what your familiar will be then. Come now, let's not dawdle, I have a school year to prepare for.”

  Jemina grabbed Kira’s arm and moved her into the center of the summoning circle before Kira could even protest. She turned and saw Rynus giving her the thumbs up. She was ready for this— no no no, she was absolutely thrilled about this! She thought she'd get her familiar in two months when school started, but this surprise today, as well as getting her wand, was almost too much for her to handle. Her legs were vibrating with eagerness and she could barely keep still.

  “You ready Miss Thorn?” Jemina asked from outside the summoning circle.

  “Huh me?” She’s never been called Miss Thorn before. It kinda had a nice ring to it. “Yes, I'm ready!”

  With a wave of her hand, Jemina activated the summoning circle. The enchantments started glowing a faint yellow and Kira could feel her mana being stirred around. Energy was flowing through her, up from her feet and into chest where it began to collect and condense. Slow streaks of mana snaked their way out of her body and swirled into a ball in front of her. The ball grew and grew until it was the size of a small dog, then, with a final flare of light, something appeared where the ball was. Kira didn't immediately recognize what the creature was, but it had a thick plump body covered in bristly brown hair, and a large oval head with an adorable snout. It kinda looked like a beaver, but it didn't have a beaver's tail or any obvious buck teeth, instead it had a flat bottom and a more rounded face without any teeth poking out.

  Whatever creature it may be, it didn't matter to Kira. This little guy was the greatest thing she had ever laid her eyes on.

  “AH! YOU'RE SO CUTE!” She had no fear and scooped up the darn thing into her arms. The connection between them felt similar to the connection she had with her master, but a little different.

  Mmm, your arms are warm. A voice sounded in her head.

  “Is that you?” Kira asked her familiar in a squeak.

  Yup! It replied.

  “Wahhah!” She laughed and rubbed her cheeks on her familiar’s face, letting its fine hair tickle her skin, which only caused her to laugh even more.

  “Your familiar isn't very common, I fear I haven't seen another student with one, though I have seen other older wizards with one.” Jemina's voice came from behind Kira. “I believe they are called ‘capybaras’, or at least that is the name of the animal your familiar resembles. All familiars are spirits, so it's not truly a capybara, but it has the appearance and generally takes on the mannerisms of one.”

  “A capybara?” She looked back to her familiar that she held in her arms and pondered. She’d never heard of a capybara before, but once she got home, she would beg her master to find her some books on them. She wanted to know everything about them.

  “Yes, they are gentle creatures who enjoy the slow parts of life. I believe they are also known for being stubborn and highly passionate about specific things.” She wanted to say that all familiars represented their master's personality, but she’d let Kira find that out later.

  “Before you go, there's one last thing you must do.” Jemina said. “You must name your familiar.”

  “Already? I-I haven't even thought of one yet!” Kira cried out. She didn't even know she was getting her familiar today, she hadn’t had the time to think of a name!

  “You shouldn't need to. Familiars are tied to you in so many ways, you won't even need to think about a name, it should just come to you. Close your eyes and empty your mind.”

  Kira wanted to say something, but she knew better than to deny the teachings of a highly experienced wizard. So she closed her eyes and tried to stop thinking. It took a while, there were too many amazing things that had happened to her today that kept playing in her brain. Eventually, a soothing blissful heat encapsulated her body and she swore she could smell the scent of… an orange? And then a name blipped into her mind.

  “Capsian!” Her eyes opened and she watched her familiar’s reaction.

  Caspian… Caspian… yes, that's good. What's your name?

  “I’m Kira, nice to meet you Caspian! Let's be best friends!” Kira smiled and raised Caspian up.

  Okay!

  Kira shouted in joy and spun around Caspian, eliciting small chirps and churtles of delight from the capybara familiar. This might just be the greatest day of all time for all Kira cared.

  “I must get back to work.” Jemina said, “It was good to see you again, Rynus. I'd be delighted if you came back to teach for a year or two, whenever you have the time of course.”

  “Maybe in a few years, perhaps when Kira’s in her later school years.”

  Jemina nodded, then looked down at Kira. “As for you Miss Thorn, I'll be seeing you in a few months. I'm sure this school year is going to be anything but boring with you around.” And with that, Jemina simply walked off.

  Kira took in Jemina’s words, but her brain switched thoughts when she saw her master inching closer to her. She lifted Caspian way over her head and charged at Rynus. “Look, look master, it's sooo cute!!”

  “Mm, I've encountered a few non-spirit capybaras in my time, they are truly interesting creatures aren't they? Hello Caspian, I'm Kira's master, Rynus.”

  Kira’s master? Hello! Capsian’s front legs waved at Rynus in greeting.

  “I'm afraid only the master and other spirits can hear a familiar. I'm assuming he said hello?”

  “Yup!”

  The two of them— now three, used the gateway key to return to the bottom level, and then kept going until they were out of the academy campus. The trek home felt short to Kira. She was pretty much glued to Caspian and spent the entire time chatting with him. When she realized she also had a new wand, the amount of happy energy radiating off her would be as bright as the sun, if happiness was made of light.

  It couldn't get any better than this!