Chapter one

A young man was running through the streets in the early morning. It was too early for the sun to be up, let alone a boy about the age of 16. Which, in fact, he had turned only the day before. His name was John Egbert. And he was late for his introduction to the school of magic's, also known as the school of omnes magicae. He had been absolutely overcome with joy when he was told by his father that as a birthday present, they had signed him up on a scholarship to the school. Ordinarily, only those with a great amount of money were able to enter, as most needed a great deal of aid from expensive instruments to use magic properly. But his father had once been a magician of the harlequin sorts as a young man, and had decided he had no further use for them. After reluctantly accepting what he considered to be somewhat creepy tools, he became overjoyed. And so here was, racing through the streets before anyone else had awoken, on his way to the school. Speaking of which, the castle path was only just around the corner!

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A short time later, John was just about to reach the large door of the school, when he bounced off of something big and red that hadn't been there a moment before.

"Ouch!" he cried out as he fell on his back. Rubbing his head, he looked up to see what he'd hit. To his surprise, a skinny, tall and blond boy in red with shades looked down on him, his hand resting on his cheap-looking sword.

"Whoa there, kid. You ok? I guess I should be more careful before I test a new teleporting spell." John gladly took the boys offered hand, and as he was pulled up, replied

"No, no. It was my fault, I should've been looking where I was going. Wait; did you say 'spell'? You must be a student at this school, right? I'm john Ebert, by the way. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

"The name's Strider. Dave Strider. This schools coolest Time Mage. Actually, I'm still and apprentice, but they outta just give me the title now, I'm so bomb at all of this. So what are you doing here so early, Egderp?" John noticed the joke made on his name, but decided that this Strider boys tone was friendly enough, and decided to ignore it.

"I'm actually here for an introduction to the school. It's my first day, and they want to make sure that I have an aptitude for the magic I'm going to be studying under."

"Sounds Interesting. Mind if I like tagging along? I don't have anything cooler to be doing."

"Sure, I need someone to show me to the room of Seers anyway." They headed in to the school, john ogling everything that he could while still moving. Dave gave him an amused glance, but said nothing. After John felt satisfied with his ogling, he began asking Dave all that he could think of. Surprisingly, Dave managed to keep up with johns rapid questioning.

"How old are you? How long have you been going here? You said you're of the Time aspect right? Is it fun here? Is it easy to make friends?" Dave quickly replied

"16 a little more than 5 months ago. I've been going here for about a month, yes, I am learning to use Time magic. It can be boring here when you're as cool as I am, and I don't know about making friends. I don't currently have any." At this last part John stopped.

"You don't have any friends?!"

"Nope"

"…"

"…"

"Um?"

"What?"

"W-well…"
"Spit it out, Egderp"

"Do you think we could maybe be friends?" Dave stared at him for a moment, and then gave a long, quiet chuckle.

"You know John, I think you're the first person to even consider me as a possible friend at this lousy school. Sure, why not? I bet it could even be ironic in some ways." John laughed confusedly at this, but was pleased that he would not be starting school friendless.

"Here we are." Dave announced as they arrived as a small set of doors.

"Uh, isn't it kind of small?" John enquired curiously.

Dave said "Nah. It's more of a storage shed for the orb that tells you what your aspect is, if any. It also gives you your robes that you'll wear to school, in case you didn't know." John looked Dave up and down. Dave was wearing some plain pants, his shades, and a white T-shirt with a broken record in the center. Dave gave another, shorter chuckle.

"These aren't my robes, Egderp! These are my regular clothes that I train in. I keep my outfit in my captchalogue."

"What's a captchalogue?"

You'll find out. It's one of the first things you learn to make here." And with that Dave turned and headed into the closet, John close behind.