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Chapter 8 - A New World Ch8

The next morning I awoke from a dream I had trouble remembering, but it slipped further from my thoughts as I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes. The morning started like all the others as I got ready for a day in this world of magic, one thing I hope I never took for granted was the ever warm showers. At the orphanage you were lucky to be able to have warm water for a minute during your bi-weekly shower. Here though, you could take a shower for as long as you liked and the temperature would never fluctuate from what you set it as. Man, I loved magic. I will deny it to the day I die but that morning I almost skipped down to breakfast. It even got Marie out of her typical morning funk and she giggled at my mood. "Somebody is in a good mood today." I gave her a smile, "And why wouldn't I be excited, if we eat quick enough we can have time to go explore that hallway after breakfast."

Her eyes widened as well, my mood might have lightened her morning gloom but she was still not a morning person and it seemed like she hadn't quite remembered what we found last night. But now that she remembered she grabbed my hand and dragged me to breakfast, where we both finished eating in record time. It didn't take us too long to make our way back to the corridor again, we only got lost twice on our way there and had to backtrack only one of those times. The other time we somehow skipped a couple hallways and then got right back on to the right track. When that happened we paused before looking at each other and shrugging, Hogwarts would probably never stop being amusing. Luckily when we finally made it back we didn't need the crest to be pointed out in order to see it again, especially since the painting from before was still missing.

As we stood in front of the wall I leaned in to take a closer look at the wooden staff and see if I just missed the plants. Last night we hadn't really gotten that close as we needed to be near the painting so we were able to hear what he said. But now that I was closer, more detail popped up and I was able to see the animals clearly but I still had a problem seeing any plants. I could even see what Marie had been talking about, how the different animals seemed to chase after each other around and up the staff, but the plants seemed to copy the animals last night and faded away when I looked at them for too long. As I looked at the wooden staff a thought struck me, if I could see more detail on this one I wondered if I would discover anything new about the metal one. When I was able to tear my gaze away I saw that what I thought were vines were in fact golden runes, etched into the staff so compactly that they seemed like one solid line when viewed at a distance.

"Hey, you didn't tell me the metal staff had vines on it." I looked over at Marie in confusion when she said that, "I thought you knew, I was kind of obvious to me." she shook her head and got a thoughtful look on her face, "I think that the emblem shows a person things that they are more in tune with, I mean I saw the plants and you remember what happened during our first herbology class." I blushed and looked away, "I thought we agreed never to bring that up again." She smirked and shook her head, "Nope, you declared that I wouldn't bring it up again but I never agreed. Now why would I give up perfectly good teasing material like that?" I glared at her as my blushed faded, it was kind of embarrassing how badly magical plants seemed to hate me. Every time I would even get close to one its branches would smack me in the face or brush some irritant against my skin.

Even the herbology teacher seemed exacerbated by the fifth time she had to give me some bruise paste or some sort of anti itch cream. All in the first class, by now I had learned to be more aware of my surroundings through pure necessity. I shook my head and tried to move on, "Well I can see the animals now but the plants keep disappearing again." She gave me a look and I knew I would be hearing about this again, "Yeah, now I can even see streams and rivers carved between the creatures and storm clouds forming above them." I nodded and gave that some thought, "I guess it's like you said the emblem shows us more of what we are in tune with, the golden vines on the metal staff are actually made up of tightly packed runes." Marie's eyes widened before she squinted and leaned closer to the emblem, trying to see the runes I was talking about.

After trying for a minute she shook her head and gave up, "I can't see them." I reached out and patted her on the shoulder while trying not to smile, she gave me a pout before we both turned back to the wall. "Want to go at the same time?" She nodded and reached out to grab the wooded staff while I grabbed the metal one, as we both pulled on each staff we could hear a loud grinding sound. Both staffs slowly uncrossed and the horse behind them started to move, it reared, kicking its forelegs, and shook its head. The horse's mane and tail whipped back and forth as if it knew it would be able to run free soon. When each staff was finally completely vertical the horse's front legs landed and it charged forward. We let go of the staffs and quickly moved to the side, we would later learn that was unnecessary. But for now we watched as it leapt out of the emblem and grew to full size before it even touched the ground.

It looked ethereal, its coat still looked like brown hair but flickered like an open flame, its hooves echoed a second after each time they hit the stone floor. It moved and shifted like a cloud, never staying in one place for long even when all four hooves were on the ground. It looked at both of us one last time before bolting, going right through the wall and disappearing. We just stared in amazement, but a few seconds after it disappeared a different noise started. We both snapped back to the wall and saw the emblem grow and change shape until it was the size of a door and each staff flanking one side. Once it was finished growing the doors opened and we shared a look at the wall of darkness in front of us. I saw that she was nervous so I reached out and held her hand "Together?" She put on a brave face and nodded firmly, "Together."

After turning back to the doorway we stepped into the looming darkness and the unknown fate that awaited us. The darkness only lasted a single step before our surroundings exploded in a spectrum of colors. Every color twisted around us in a strange pattern, I felt like it was familiar but it ended before I could remember where I had seen it before. As soon as I blinked we had already landed in a field of grass, I had been distracted by the pretty lights and I hadn't noticed the tunnel of lights lacked a sense of up and down. The only pressure was the force that pulled us to our destination, "What is this place?" I looked at Marie and shrugged, "No idea, we could be in another room like the one with the willow tree, but I doubt that. Even though that room feels like we're outside you can still sort of tell that we are in the castle, like the breeze is repeated in a loop and the sky doesn't actually look far away."

"But this is completely different. Here I can smell the freshness of the air, feel the sun on my skin and all of it without any pattern that I can see. Wherever we are, I don't think we are in Hogwarts anymore." That seemed to scare her so I tried to give her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry if we were able to come here then there must be a way to get back too. We just have to find it." That helped her mood brighten and she nodded, now that she was feeling better I started to look around some more. The place we had landed in, while nice and peaceful, didn't actually have much to look at. We were surrounded by hills on all sides but the one in front of us was the only one we could climb without assistance, so we started our climb. It took a few minutes to reach the top but once we did the view was definitely worth it. I turned to Marie in order to ask a very important question "Is it just me or do all wizards have a penchant for dramatics?" 

She turned to me and gave me a glare, "Why did you have to ruin the mood?" I laughed at her pout and turned back to the view. It was spectacular. Stretching as far as the eye could see was an endless forest filled with endless wonders. From enormous trees whose leaves shifted colors depending on which way the breeze was blowing, to glowing flowers that erupted with clouds of powder that had a multitude of effects. The creatures that inhabited this garden were perhaps even more amazing but in a different way, predator and prey walked side by side. A sleeping cerberus had demiguises and nifflers crawling all over it. I shuddered when I saw an acromantula walk past a pack of crups. I never liked spiders, much less ones the size of a car. But they all interacted without any violence, there was an acknowledgement of their presence like when the acromantula had to step over a pair of ruff housing crups but no fear of danger.

Once I got over the sheer peacefulness my gaze was drawn to the few signs of humans in this paradise, a few buildings spaced throughout, a tower, what looked like a large stone building, and a shed. And that was just what I could see right now, I was sure that this place had much more to offer than what I was seeing from here, even if it was a great view. It would take a while to explore everything, there were mountains in the distance that cut off my view of anything beyond them. Now that I was done admiring the view I tugged Marie's hand, and started to pull her down the other side of the hill. She stumbled with the first few steps as she was still admiring the view, but I was too eager to explore. I didn't want to waste time and we would still need to leave soon if we didn't want to be late to class. I laughed when Marie was finally able to keep her feet under her and speed up until I was running full tilt down the hill. 

My mood must have been infectious because soon she was laughing right alongside me. When we finally made it to the bottom of the hill I slowed down, even though this place was beautiful I was still hesitant to be around so many dangerous creatures. But the beasts didn't even give us a glance as we walked past, it started to get to the point that I wondered if they could even see us. It didn't take us long to make it to the closest structure, the tower I saw from the top of the hill and it was even larger now that we were seeing it up close and personal. There was a version of the crest from the wall, only it was much bigger. It stood out on a pair of doors that were slightly smaller than the ones at the entrance of Hogwarts. The crest didn't have the same sort of magic either, it was a lot less detailed and didn't draw our attention like the other one. 

I looked at Marie as we stood in front of the doors and she stared right back, I didn't want to back down so our contest continued. I blinked first and she smirked, I sighed in resignation and reached my free hand up to the door and knocked. After all there was no way we could open the doors on our own, the sound of the knock reverberated louder than it should have. There was probably a charm on the door similar to the one I learned myself to make different sounds. The knock echoed a few times before there was silence once again, only after that did the doors slowly creak open. "Drama queens the lot of you." I muttered under my breath, Marie snorted and dragged me through the entrance. When we stepped through the doors I looked back, due to the wizards love of dramatic acts I thought the doors would slam behind us and trap us in complete darkness. I breathed out a sigh of relief but I jumped in shock when a figure appeared before us, it was the same man from the painting. 

Only he was no longer in a panting, he was standing right before us and if he hadn't suddenly appeared I would have thought he was a real person. But now that I was looking for it, he was very similar to the horse from before, an ethereal body that flickered in the wind. This time his face was no longer set in a frown but had a slight upperward tilt to the corners of his lips. Though it still looked like it physically pained him to express any sort of happiness or joy, "Welcome to the Tower of Forethought, here you will find knowledge passed down from the age of exploration. Some of the information stored here may even predate the age of the gods. Though unlike in the school you attend, knowledge here must be earned, if you want to learn something you must prove you are ready for such knowledge. Because as much as knowledge can help it can also harm, and with magic some knowledge can do great harm indeed."

"Now, young tricksters, what would you like to know first?" I was confused by what he called us so I looked to Marie for answers, I had never heard someone use that term before. She sighed in exasperation, "Sometimes it's easy to forget you are a muggle born with how well you can use magic, but other times it is glaringly obvious. The term tricksters was used a long time ago and is the first level of magic practitioners. They are only able to use magic to perform tricks, it was used more when we had contact with muggles as they were the ones who called us tricksters because of the pranks children would play. Students that have passed their OWLs used to be called mages, and you were only called a wizard if you reached NEWT level. Of course the titles came long before the tests did so we set the standard of OWLs at what a mage could accomplish and so on."

"They set the highest level of schooling low enough so everyone who passed at least one NEWT could be called a witch or wizard. Of course that eventually changed and nowadays everyone that can use magic is called a witch or wizard." She looked more annoyed at the fact that the title was so easy to get rather than having to explain it to me. She actually looked rather animated whenever she was able to teach me something new. "That is correct young Trickster, there was a time where someone was only allowed to stop pursuing knowledge at the level of sorcerer, two levels above wizard." At my confused expression he continued, "Above wizard there is apprentice, where you study under a sorcerer, or a high mage if you were lucky, to learn more about a specific field of magic. A sorcerer is only granted that title when they have reached their teacher's standards in their chosen field." 

Marie leaned in closer to me and whispered, "Now it's just called a mastery." I raised my hand and the man turned to me, "I would love to hear more about that later but right now we kind of need to learn the basics and then head to class." The man frowned for a moment and I started to worry that something was wrong and we wouldn't be able to go back but his face relaxed. "It would take too long for you to learn all the 'basics' as you said but I will give you an introduction to the place you now stand and all that it encompasses. As I said before, this is the Tower of Forethought and it is the place where all the knowledge passed down and stored for future generations. The Realm itself is called The Garden, not because of the plants and creatures that inhabit it but because it allows those that pass its tests to grow to their full potential."

I smiled at the nice thought but this place made me hesitate a little bit, I hoped I wasn't joining some sort of cult or secret society. As if he read my thoughts the man explained this next, "This place has many entrances and each batch of students has taken different names: the Disciples of Thoth, the Followers of Athena, the Students of Saraswati, and perhaps the most famous, the Curators of the Library of Alexandria. Many groups have come and gone, each one adding to the Tower before they leave this world for the next. Sometimes there will be only one person inhabiting this place at a given time, hoarding this vast knowledge for themselves, so sure that they can do it all on their own. Though they never seem to make it very far. After all one person can only do so much by themselves, it is only when many perspectives come together that greatness can be achieved." 

Marie seemed to recognize some of the other names besides the Curators. I was still stunned at the possibility I was standing in the library of Alexandria or at least the original the muggles based their off of. And while I was fine with Maria knowing about this place and I was glad she would be here learning alongside me I wasn't sure about our fellow classmates. None of them seemed to have the same sort of drive to explore the mysteries of magic that we did. "Outside of this tower there are four things that you should know about: the Forge, the Sanctuary, the Mines, and the Battleground. There are more but you do not have enough time to learn about them today." For the first time since arriving at Hogwarts I wished there weren't as many classes, but I couldn't do anything about that so I pushed the thought out of my mind. I could tell Marie felt similarly so we buckled down and listened to what he had to say.

"In the Forge you can learn how to create any kind of magical artifact, from a sword that will only cut magic to a tapestry that can predict the future. Outside of these walls much magic has been lost to the passage of time and the artifacts you see today are pale imitations of what we were once capable of." My mind raced as I thought of all the possibilities, he had sparked my imagination explaining the Forge and I almost walked out right then to go over there. Only the fact that Marie kept ahold of my hand jerked me back to reality as I tried to walk away. They both gave me an amused look as I turned back towards him and I blushed in embarrassment. "Unlike the Forge the Sanctuary is not confined to a single place, instead it is an enchantment that covers the entire Garden. It creates projections of countless magical flora and fauna that you can study without the threat of danger. While they imitate life they will not react to you and will not act aggressively towards any other creature around them."

This time Marie was the one who was enraptured by his words, I could tell she was having a hard time standing still and not running off to explore. I was a little disappointed she did not embarrass herself like I did, but our teacher still seemed to find amusement from both reactions. "The Mines are similar to the Sanctuary as it is an enchantment as well, but it is confined to the mountain range. This enchantment will create various environments to teach you how to harvest different materials without ruining the magic within them. Many of them need to be extracted in specific ways as not to damage them or render them inert. A conviction crystal for instance needs to be cracked like an egg while still connected to the ground. The mist that escapes should be collected and then distilled into a paste, after which the crystal fragments can be collected and ground into fine sand together with the paste."

"Only after each fragment of the crystal has been ground down to the size of a grain of sand and the paste has been completely absorbed by each fragment can it be used." My jaw almost dropped in shock. I had learned that magic can have a lot of strange requirements, especially after our potions lesson, but come on. I heard a giggle to my side but I just picked my jaw up off the floor and refused to acknowledge the blush that once again stained my cheeks. "Last but not least, the Battleground. This place serves two purposes, first it is a testing ground for any magic you want to test. Second, it is the only place the Sanctuary enchantment can be removed, any magical creature or plant will attack you if you remove the enchantment. But only under the same circumstances a real version of the creature would attack. Even if you wish to use this place only for testing spells right now I have a feeling you will use it for both purposes." 

I wanted to interject here to ask a question but he kept going before I could. "Now before we run out of time I have one more thing to tell you. When you return, go straight to the tower and enter the room at the end of the hall, that is where you will be tested for your alignment. You do not have to follow the path the test recommends and you should in fact not follow exactly what it says. Magic is chaotic and confining it to a set path is counterintuitive, but your alignment will tell you what path you have the most potential for. Now off to class, to exit this realm merely go back to the place you arrived and say Hogwarts, you will return to the hallway you came from. It was nice to meet minds as inquisitive as yours once more, you will not see me again for quite some time so goodbye and good luck." Neither of us were able to get a word in before he disappeared, "Well that was fun." My comment set her off and she started to laugh, I followed her soon after and we both clutched our stomachs as we struggled to stand.

Even after our laughter petered out our smiles refused to disappear and we started to walk back to the entrance. Neither of us spoke as we were too busy thinking about what we had just learned. A quiet shout of Hogwarts at the place we arrived and we were surrounded by the tunnel of colors once more, I blinked again and then we were standing in the hallway once more. I turned to see if Marie was still with me and I opened my mouth to ask what we should do now but before I could the bell started to toll. Our eyes widened and we raced off to try and make it to our Transfiguration class on time. I had to stop myself from laughing, this was the second time in two days that I have had to run to make it to class on time. I wasn't the biggest fan of exercise but you wouldn't be able to tell with the grin stretched across my face. I was learning magic and a bit of running couldn't dampen my excitement, even if we hadn't done much actual magic yet. But hopefully Dumbledore would follow the pattern and today would be our first real lesson in transfiguration.

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