Chapter 1:Not Your Ordinary Mall
Brendan Spyrn stood rooted to his feet. It had been only one week since the fateful letter had arrived, carried by an owl.
He reached down into his one of his pant pockets and fished out the ragged piece of parchments, in it's current condition from being read over and over again. He checked it over one last time, just to make sure that it he hadn't misread the letter's message:he was a wizard.
Dear Mr. Spryn,
The Neryh School of Magic has detected magical ability in you.
Thus, we are offering you a seven-year scholarship at the school for absolutely
nothing(the Neryh School is a low-profit organization.) Term begins
August 21rst. The train shall depart on August 19th.
This letter is essentially breif due to the fact that a Neryh teacher
will be your guide for a tour. This tour shall take you to the Wizard
Mall to shop for your school supplies. The teacher will also give
you essential advice to get on the train on the 19th. This tour shall
occur on the 12th. We shall come to pick you up.
Send a reply by the owl that delivered this message to confirm your
attendance at Neryh.
-Syrok Derifer
Headmaster of Nehyr School of Magic
That had been three weeks ago. After a lengthly discussion with his parents, Brendan had sent a reply with the brown owl that had delivered the letter.
But he hadn't been expecting this.
It was around noon on the 12th. Brendan had been camped out since breakfast waiting for the teacher to pick him up. He had expected a car or bus or something sensible. But a bus had just appeared in front of him suddenly. But it wasn't really a bus. For one thing, it didn't have wheels. For another, it was floating two feet above the ground. It was almost sort of transparent, but he was sure it was solid-it just didn't look it.
"Well, don't just stand there all day gawking." a curt, feminine English voice came from inside the bus. "The invisibility boosters are going to blow the way you kids just stand there. I mean, I know you kids are Muggle-born and haven't seen a floating bus before but you knew stuff like this was going to happen! Honestly, it's not that hard. Kids these days, they don't have any openness in their minds..."
Eager to get the voice to stop yacking, Brendan bunched up his legs and springed up to the stairs. He climbed up and saw that the interior of the "bus" wasn't transparent at all. It was full of kids about his age, all of whom looked utterly uncofortable. The teacher was still droning on about the close-minded kids today or something or other. Brendan sighed and took a window seat two rows back from the driver. He looked at the teacher who finally stopped lecturing. She was tall and wore black robes. Neatly combed brown hair topped the stern face.
"Only one more stop and then we're going to The Mall." the teacher said, her English accent this time set to "moderately cheerful." As this was said Brendan was looking out the window. His neighborhoud looked faded from the bus's windows. The steady hum of a motor filled the bus. Suddenly, the vehicle lurched foward. Brendan's neighborhood vanished from sight, a white abyss taking it's place. The bus shot ahead like a rocket. Brendan hadn't put his seatbelt on and veered off into the aisle and in a few second, ended up being flattened against the back of the bus by the g-forces. He tried to step foward, but his foot fealt like it was made out of lead.
"NEXT TIME PUT YOUR SEAT BELT ON!" the teacher/bus driver yelled at Brendan. After a minute, they left the abyss and now touched town in a classier neighborhood. The bus stopped in front of a three-story home. Nobody was waiting on the lawn. The bus driver hummed impatiently for a minute then finally punched the middle of the steering wheel several times, each one letting out a honk louder than the last. Finally an energetic girl about Brendan's age appeared at one of the second-floor windows. And screeched instantly. The busload of kids all instantly clapped their hands onto their ears.
"GODAMNIT, KIDS TODAY ARE SUCH NARROW-MINDED BRATS!" the teacher yelled, and with one movement, had one hand outstreched, pointed at the girl, and holding a twelve-inch wand. "MUTIO!" A ball of silver light formed at the end of the wand that was pointing at the girl. The girl didn't move out of the screaming posture, but she suddenly stopped making a sound. She soon realized this, shut her mouth, and ran out of view.
The bus driver/teacher sighed. "Karen, can you please go up and talk to her?" A ginger-haired girl near the back nodded and ran out. "It'll be another minute, kids." the driver said as the silver ball at the end of her wand sparked out like a fire.
Brendan could see the bus riders' expressions change instantly. Now that they had seen the power of magic, they were eager to learn how to do stuff like the spell-Mutio, maybe that was what he had heard-that the teacher had cast. In fact, one of the students had moved up to the front already and was shooting rapidfire questions out at the bus driver. Personally, he wasn't so estatic. Sure, it was cool, but they'd probably have to do a bunch of easier spells before they learned stuff like that. And anyways, it was probably really hard to learn. If they could just point a wand and do whatever they wished for, the world would have been blown up eras ago because of some angry teenager.
But still...a vision flashed into his mind. His mom was yacking to him about responsibilities after he had forgotten to take out the garbage. Suddenly...mutio! His mom couldn't make a sound! He laughed to himself, but was brought to attention by the questions of the kid in front of him, like peas being shot at his head. He shook his fantasy away and started paying attention to the kid in front of him with the quirky voice that had brought him to attention.
"Waddaya teach?"
"Charms." the teacher mumbled disgrunteldly.
"Waddaya teach in Charms?"
"Basic magical spells."
"Waddilwe be learnin' first?"
"Probably the Light Charm." The driver fidgjeted in his seat, and his tone of voice was becoming more annoying.
"Cool. Waddother classes do we take?"
"Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Herbology, a bit of Astronomy, a bit of Flying, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, I think that's all."
"Waddare-" The boy'snext question was cut off by the doors swooshing open. The girl who had left five minutes before was back, with the girl they were picking up standing next to her. The second girl wore a distraught expression on her face, and she had obviously been crying.
The two girls walked towards the back of the bus. "Alright, we'll be going to ther Mall now." the teacher said, streching her arms and putting her wand away. She looks glad to be rid of that kid's questions Brendan noted with a smile. "Better buckle up." she said cheerfully. Brendan quickly obeyed.
Soon enough, the dim, high-class neighborhood faded away to the white void they had been in earlier. The float-bus let out a burst of speed and once again Brendan was pressed back against his seat. But this time he wasn't flung into the aisle. The g-forces were killer.
Hey, look at it this way. he said to himself, managing a grin. Some people have to pay a lot of money for rides that aren't half as good as this. You never go on those rides, of course, but...
Suddenly, the oblivion ended. The wheelless bus was now hovering above a cobblestone sidewalk. The sun shone brightly on the sidewalk, and he could now see perfectly out at the row of stores(instead of the faded views of the neighborhoods before.) The people buisily bustled about like any mall. Unlike a normal mall, most of the shoppers were wearing weird robes. They could be found in any colour, but most noticably all of them were wearing black robes and a few had point witch's hats.
"All right, time to go shopping." the teacher's English voice said cheerfully. "I'll hand out the lists of the things you need to buy and guide you along." The teacher walked down the aisle, giving each student a piece of paper. As soon as Brendan had recieved his list, he flipped it over impatiently to see what it said.
Nehyr School Supply List
Going into your first year you'll need:
Books
A Guide to Spells, Volume 1
Curses and Creatures
A Begginer's Guide to Transfiguration
Magic Throughout the Ages
Your Magicl Creatures:An A-Z for begginers
Potions, Potions and More Potions
Wardobe
Three standard sets of robes
Pointed Hat
Formal set of robes
Shoes, preferably matching your robes
Other Important Equiptment
Wand(obviously)
Small Cauldron(Pewter, size 4)
Basic Potion Ingrediants
Pets
The following pets will be permitted at Nehyr:
-Owls
-Toads
-Cats
-Small Dogs
Broomsticks
First years are not permitted to bring broomsticks. Second
years and above may bring broomsticks of any kind as long as they are not
deemed unsafe.
After Brendan had finished reading it, he saw that all of the other students were filing out of the bus. He quickly ran up to catch them. The entire Mall had an English appearance, but a very North American atosphere. Why the sidewalks and roads were seperate he couldn't understand because people walked across the road freely and there were no cars. His thoughts were quickly interrupted as he saw the tail end of the tour entering a large golden building. He rushed foward. As he ran up the steps, he saw that a sign hanging on the building said "Official American Wizarding Bank of Congress." So this is a bank he thought to himself as he swung open a lightweight door.
The students were all lined up behind the Charms teacher. Brendan ran to the back of the line and saw what was happening. Each student was being passed a blue bag tied up at the top, like those from old fairy tales. At last Brendan walked up and recieved his. He instantly tore it open to find a mixture of gold, silver and bronze coins. This must be wizard money he thought to himself incredously.
"The gold ones are Galleons, the silver are Sickles, and the bronze Knuts." the teacher explained as they headed to another store. Gold:Galleons, Silver:Sickles, Bronze:Knuts Brendan stored in my memory as he stared into shop windows. There were broomsticks to fly on! He noted to himself that the fictional world of wizardry wasn't all that inaccurate. They reached their next stop:a bookstore called Books, More Books, Even More Books, Yet Even More Books, and Gargantums of Yet Even More Books.
Chuclking to himself, Brendan stepped into the modern-looking bookstore. It looked quite like a normal bookstore, except for, obviously, the books. Brendan read off the titles, each one more amusing than the last:
Curses in Combes
Yagami Mind Puzzles:Test your Mind and Magic
The Gryphon Connection
Elixir:The Life and Times of Nicholas Flemming
"Excuse me Mr. Spryn." his teacher/guide's voice said, piercing through his cluttered mind. "But the 'Students' section is back there." Brendan nodded and grumly picked up the books on his list. Each one was a thick, hardcover book. They were for studying, and looked it too. Not that he was regretting it, he found magic fascinating. It wasn't like in cartoons, he guessed that witches and wizards had their own society, their own sports, their own shops and schools.
After they had purchased their books(rounding out to about 3 Sickles a piece), they went down the street to The National Apothacy:Potions For Everyone where they had potion ingredients and cauldrons, not to mention an overwhelming stench. Obviously one of their classes was Potions.
"Ah, first 'ears, eh Mardil?" the elderly cashier said. "I rememba when you were comin' in 'ere. Yeth, you were all jittery and excited abou' Nehyr. Well, marbe I'll be seein' you when yar' all grown up!" The cashier chuckled and poked a girl. "Curmon in, and don't mand the smell, it'll be fian once you get use to it."
"We don't plan to stay here long enough to do that." the teacher whose name was Mardil said curtly as she lead the to-be students to the back of the shop, where the unplacable stench grew even stronger. "Pick up a small cauldron and a potions kit, give two Galleons to the man at the front and get out of here." The cauldrons weren't large like the kind that were seen in comics, they were about the size of a desktop in Brendan's world. Brendan picked both of the items up and flung two of the gold coins towards the clerk.
Once they had left, the teacher stopped holding her nose and split the students into two groups. "The first group will get their wands at Magic Sticks, and the second group will get their wardrobe at Priscilla's Fine Clothes for Young Sorcerers." she instructed. "Then we'll meet up here when each group is done and change places. That should take care of everything required."
Brendan was in the first group. Magic Sticks was a small shop that had a picture of two wands on the door as a family crest of whatnot. However, the inside was not warm and cozy. As soon as they entered, about six members of the hired help jumped out and scrambled over to the kids, each kid having a wand stuffed into their hands for only a second before it was yanked out again and another one was thrusted. The wands weren't all nondescript ones, different ones appeared to be made out of a different type of wood and/or had different lengths. Finally it was Brendan's turn.
The process wasn't any more comfortable than it looked. Wands were being thrust into his hand, and he couldn't possibly see how this would test which wand fit him. "Hmmm...none of these models are working, maybe we have something esle..." The female that was fitting wands into his hands walked back behind a purple curtain. Brendan looked around, and picked up the closest wand-just to know what it felt like to hold one for more than one second. The wand that he held in his hand glowed green suddenly. The attendant walked back in, holding a bunch of other wands.
"Where did you get that wand!" She demanded, prying the glowing wand from Brendan's hand. As soon as she did, the wand stopped glowing. Brendan merely tapped the basket he had pulled the wand out of. "B-b-b-b." the attendant studdered. "That's just a display wand! It dosen't match anyone's energy signirature, it's used for demonstrations and basic spell casting! Yet it glows like it matches yours... I'll have to ask the manager." The attendant dashed back behind the curtain with the wand in her hand. A second later, she re-emerged.
"He says that you can have the wand if it matches your signirature." the attendant said rapidly. "That'll be five Galleons, please." Brendan pulled five of the gold coins out of his pouch and handed them to the attendant, who pushed Brendan aside afterwards. The 11-year-old boy walked out of the shop, marveling at his new wand. He had been able to match the wand's energy signirature, whatever that was. Any wand would have done, but it felt even better knowing that he had an exclusive one. He turned the eleven-inch wand over in his hand, thinking of his power. This was a weapon, stronger than anything from Brendan's world. And it was a defensive tool, too. And dozens and dozens of utilities. Thousands of human-or, as the wizards would say, Muggle-machines mized into one eleven-inch baton that didn't even require any power. It was mind-boggling.
He couldn't say that Priscilla's Fine Clothes sold such powerful items. In fact, all of their robes were black and stiff. Like Magic Sticks, there were several attendants serving the juvenile visitors franticly. But this time it was clothes shopping and not looking for a magic stick. In the end Brendan settled on the least snobbish-looking robes, quickly paid for them and left to meet his group.
"Quiet down, quiet down!" the teacher repeated, simmering down the rapidfire whispers. "Now we have done all neccesary for Nehyr School of Magic. Sometime before noon on August 19th, please report to the nearest Nurcius's Pizza Nebula , there should be one nearby. The store will be closed, but tap your wand on the door and it will open. Go into the kitchen and you should find a wizard able to assist you on your way to the train which will take you to Nehyr. I doubt you will remember this in a week, so I am passing out scrolls which have the directions printed on them." Scrolls? Brendan thought to himself. What's wrong with paper? And a pizza joint? This place sure is different.
But different in a good sort of way he added as the scroll joined his large bag of robes, books and other magical equiptment including his special, powerful wand.