Nicholas DragonBlood

It took Hannah almost a full hour before realizing that the dorms weren't in the commons. Then it took another ten minutes to convince herself to ask one of the students. Shy wasn't usually a word to describe her, but every single student knew magic in that school except for her. They kind of scared her.

Even after all that, she was completely lost. One of the girls she had talked to said that the dorms were in Ravenwood. She was starting to think they were messing with her. All she saw were schools, students and trees.

"Well someone looks a little lost," a cheerful voice said. Hannah spun around. A boy was standing there. He looked maybe a year older than her, at the most. Probably only a couple of months. He was wearing a dark green robe with a satchel strapped to his side. His boots were green, and he had a green hood over his bright red hair. She may have been new to all this stuff, but Hannah was pretty sure she knew what school he was part of.

"Um, a little," she admitted. "I'm trying to find the dorms. You don't happen to know which one is mine, do you?"

The boy laughed. She liked his laugh. "What's your name, new girl?"

"Hannah Fr…er, Hannah NightFist."

"Nicholas DragonBlood, student of Life (she sooooo called it). And yeah, the dorms are on the other side of Ravenwood. Follow me."

He walked along the path until he was just in front of the arch that lead back to the commons. "See the two doors? The one on the left is the boys. Yours is on the right?"

"But, where do the other girls sleep?"

"On the right," he said, as if that should be obvious.

"That tower is not big enough for all of the girls. I doubt I've even seen half of them and I know that."

"Where have you been all your life? Obviously it's enchanted. You can only enter your own room when you step through that door. Kind of like a mini portal," he explained.

"Oh, obviously." She huffed. Then remembered that without Nicholas, she would still be wandering around aimlessly. "Well, thanks for the help. I think I'll just organize my stuff then."

"I can help you take your things in. That is, if I have permission," he said, wagging his eyebrows at her. Hannah became instantly jealous. She had always wanted to do that.

Part of her felt like telling him thank, but no thanks. On the other hand, he things were pretty heavy, and besides. Who knew what sort of magic was in her dorm?

"Uh, sure. You have permission. I guess." She was stammering way too much. "That is, for now," she said, regaining her posture.

Nicholas laughed. "Of course, milady." He grabbed one of her bags. "Lead on in."

She stared at the door for a few seconds. "Am I supposed to say some magic words, or…"

"Just open the dang door."

She turned the knob. The door swung open, revealing a plain looking bedroom. It had a bed, a rug, a bench and some table that looked like it belonged in a witch's house, but the room was empty other than that.

The green boy strode in behind her, and dropped her bags on the bed. "So, are you going to open the backpack or what?" he asked.

Hannah finally saw the backpack sitting on her bed. She opened it with caution. In the back was a large book, a map and a deck of cards. The bag seemed a little big for that.

He must have seen the look of confusion on her face, because Nicholas reassured, "It's going to be empty for a while, until you buy or earn clothes and stuff."

Opening the book, a card fell out. It looked like an I.D. card. It read, 'Hannah NightFist. Novice Sorcerer.' It also showed how much battle health she had and how much mana.

"So what are you then?" Nicholas asked.

"Sorry?"

"What kind of wizard are you? I'm a Journeyman Theurgist. You'll be a Novice to start, but a Novice what?"

"Oh. I'm a Sorcerer."

His eyes nearly boggled out of his head. "Are you serious? A Sorcerer?"

"Yeah. Is that…I mean, is there something wrong with that?"

"No, no. That's just so cool! I don't know any Sorcerers. In fact, I think there aren't any other Sorcerers in the school. Only students that take Balance as a secondary study.

"Professor Ambrose did say that a Balance Student was rare."

"Understatement. Was your mom a Balance Student or your dad?"

"Neither."

He looked confused. "But that's not possible. I'm a life student because both my parents are. There has to be at least one parent with the same magic blood."

"Well not in my case. My mother was an Ice wizard and my father was a Fire wizard."

"A thaumaturge and a pyromancer together? Your whole family is strange," he said in surprise.

Hannah looked down, embarrassed. Of course she was strange. She had always been strange. The girl with no parents. The girl with a crazy grandmother. The girl that had no idea where she came from or what happened to her family.

Nicholas wasn't trying to be mean though. He simply grinned at her and said, "Come on, oddball. I'll give you a tour."

"Oddball?"

"Fine. NightFist." With that he turned and walked out.

Hannah was about to complain, and tell him that he could just call her by her first name. But she found that she wasn't angry about that. She kind of liked the name NightFist. It was different. It was strange. It was abnormal.

Just like her.