ASPELL CITY.....
Richard rushed into the three room apartment in great haste and ran straight into Carter's room. To his relief, the door wasn't locked. Carter would usually lock his room and keep the key in a safe place which made Richard greatly suspicious but he would always go on and on about his privacy.
Richard barged straight into Carter's room and paused for a couple of seconds to observe his surroundings. As expected, the room wasn't the most organized. Carter had a habit of dropping things of and leaving them wherever and however anywhere in the apartment. There were a few clothes spread across the bed with it's linen highly scattered.
"Seriously, how scarcely does he think to tidy up his room?" Richard groaned frustratedly and walked further into the room to carry out his intended mission.
Firstly, he walked over to Carter's wardrobe and opened it, he began searching through his clothes and to his dismay, he found nothing note worthy.
For his second attempt, he walked towards the mirror which was held by a small cabinet. He opened it up and was only met with books concerning Carter's law studies or fantasy novels, that too wasn't note worthy as he let Carter drown himself in his imaginations while reading rather than wanting to experience it himself.
Tired and frustrated, Richard was at the verge of giving up as he slowly massaged his temples. "Oh heavens, there's nothing...then how in the world did he..." He paused immediately at a strange sight.
A pillow surprisingly intact despite the scattered nature of the rest of the bed and for some reason it was raised a little high up like something was beneath it and providing leverage towards it. Richard couldn't just stare at this sight without checking it out, he had to search every bit of this room and find clues leading towards the strange event that had occured back at the law school, he had to confirm that Carter had indeed ran away with a witch.
He immediately yanked the pillow away impatiently and lo and behold, in front of him was a pile of notes with numbers untop of them. "What are these notes?" Richard reached out to the first one with burning curiosity and flipped it open to take a look at it's content. The words presented before him shook his entire being and his eyes widened in utter shock. Carter had been compiling information concerning magic and witches, the drawings and letters he was seeing all involved magic and particularly history concerning one person which was Gressil Helenor.
Richard flipped through the other pages and they all comprised of the same content, what shook him most was the date written on the very first page of the book labelled number one. It was six years ago, back when Carter had just got into high school. "H-he's been doing all this! Right under our noses?!"
Well, to be particular it was right under his nose as the master Hubert couldn't care less about Carter given that he basically handed him over to Richard to take care of him. The mistress as well as the little lady Clara all had their own things to do as well so Carter was all alone and had all the freedom to do what he wanted and yet no freedom at all. Carter had been under his watch for almost seven whole years now, he had done his utmost best to guide him towards doing the right things which included doing only what his father ordered him to do and completely obliterating his silly interest towards magic and witches.
Yet, here it was, solid proof! Carter had been studying about Gressil Helenor and witches without him knowing. How did he even manage to pull it off? Was it the times he snuck out of school and came late at night to get isolated and grounded for weeks? Or was it the times he locked himself up in the school library for hours? But knowledge concerning magic and witches were banned in the southern country and most southerners were made to believe that magic didn't exist anymore, it still didn't make sense how Carter even found a magic book at the Hubert family library in the first place.
"Okay breath in Richard" he inhaled deeply and exhaled afterwards to cool his mind. 'Why am I surprise anyways? It's not like I didn't know Carter had always been a rebellious kid'
Rather than being shocked and harbouring regrets over the situation, it was best for him to think wisely towards his next course of action of which he was presented with two alternatives. He could either choose to travel back to the Hubert family home and report all this to the master Ronan Hubert which was the safest option or keep all this to himself and try to find Carter but that was barely even possible.
If Carter had indeed encountered a witch and fled with her, he had no means to find out where they had gone off to. No one knew where witches resided.
What was he to do?
WITCHES'S TERRITORY.....
"La la la la la la, the little witches stamp their feet. La la la la la la, and all the little birds go tweet" Sera happily sang as she walked with Carter following right behind her.
Carter looked up at her flowing red hair in deep thought. 'I was too reckless, wasn't I?'.
As much as he was excited over being at the witches territory after having imagined this ever since he became greatly interested in magic at the age of ten, the reality of his ordinary life began to dawn on him.
'I left them behind, m-my..' he immediately slapped his forehead with great force
'My precious notes' he flunked down on his knees in agony. 'Those notes contain all I need to give me a clue on this world or at least, witches in particular. Oh shoot!' he cursed barely managing to hide his anguish.
"Something wrong Carter?" Sera turned to him with a curious gaze, she was pretty surprised to see him on his knees.
Carter sighed and stood up to stare up at her. 'Hmmm' he contemplated, "It's nothing, I'll figure it out" he simply uttered and brushed it off as of it was nothing.
"Oh okay then, let's keep going" Sera turned away with a shrug and kept humming happily while they walked.
Carter went back to staring down at her red hair again and that instant, his knees flunked on the floor and he stared down in agony. 'The staff of dreams...'
"Huh?, what happened this time?" Sera turned again with worry afterwards but Carter had already stood up with a neutral expression on his face. "It's nothing, let's keep going"
"You're acting strange" Sera spoke suspiciously. "If you've got something to say, say it"
Carter thought for a while, the two words 'Be careful' popped up in his mind. He admitted it, he had been too reckless over his excitement for the past hours since Sera made an appearance into his life, he instinctively agreed to follow her and practically turned his entire life around by doing so. Considering all this, he had to be careful.
'I barely even know her, she might as well have brought me here to harm me, but I doubt that's it considering our past relationship'
He closed his eyes in deep thought once again 'Also, I completely abandoned my mission back at the city and came all the way to this foreign territory with no plan at all. Urgh, Carter you dumbass!'
"Carter!" Sera called out
Carter was driven back to reality by the sound of her voice and looked up to stare blankly at her face. That was right, he was here now and there was no going back.
He almost smirked at that moment. 'What am I even saying? This is bound to be more fun then..'
"Oh it's nothing" he faked a yawn. "Just getting sun burn and fatigue from all this walking you know" he blew some air on himself with a hand to make it more believable.
"Hehe, I should've known that was the problem" Sera chuckled. "Well, look no further for we have arrived" She raised her hands presenting the sight before them.
Carter was wowed once again as he looked up, he hadn't noticed the academy due to his lack of attention. The venerable school building stood with a victorian facade, it carried a beautiful presence and it was very much obvious that this school building had stood there for over centuries. Excluding the sound of Carter's heart beats, silence filled the air accompanied by the ticking sound of the large clock by the far apex of the building.
"Wowww"
Sera chuckled upon the sight of Carter's excitement. "Your face says it all"
Carter immediately looked away in embarassment. 'Come on Carter, keep your cool' but there was no use keeping his cool anymore.
Sera smiled ever so brightly and walked towards the large gate, she then released three knocks onto it. That instant, a voice echoed from a corner, "Name?"
Carter's heart almost skipped a beat as he was greatly taken aback by the voice. He looked towards it's direction and was surprised to see a small audio device connected to the gate, what was it called back in the southern country, oh a speaker!
"Sera Leuman, reporting for duty" Sera spoke and the gate slowly opened as it instantly recognized her voice.
'Woahhh' Carter was surprised. The town on it's own appeared to be well supplied with technology, it seemed the witches made use of it too.
"Follow me"
Without hesitation, Carter followed behind Sera further into the academy. The two walked past the massive entrance and towards a field right in front of the building. That instant, Carter felt the hairs on his skin stand still. What was this odd feeling he was experiencing?
He kept his cool and continued to follow Sera, his eyes fixated on her flowing red hair as they danced after each step she took. Sera walked past the field and straight towards the academy, they were immediately met with a massive hallway and walked further into it.
As they made their way towards wherever Sera intended to take him, Carter glanced around curiously at the massive paintings placed horizontally on each side of the walls. Each one comprised of elegant women, women who had left a mark in the world through the existence of magic, he knew non of them but it still fascinated him, he was determined to learn about each and every one for these legends.
As they walked even further, Carter couldn't help but notice how awfully quiet the hallway was, not just the hallways, the entire school. Were there no students?
Soon enough, they reached the end of the hallway and infront of them stood a bright red door. Sera spoke that instant "Brace yourself" and without hesitation, she turned the handle and opened the door to reveal a beautiful sight.
Had he actually called this building big?, it surely didn't hold a candle to the one in front of him. Vast stone structures stretched outward in layered symmetry, numerous towers that seemed like they were touching the sky when glanced at from the angle he stood, and now the environment was bustling with life, female students all in their uniforms surrounding the place, birds also filled the air, their sounds melodious, it was a sight to behold.
"Wait, this isn't the actual academy?" Carter was puzzled
"Yes, it's an illusion that leads people to the actual academy. It's usually to protect the students from unwanted quests who try to invade the school" Sera looked towards Carter and noticed his confused and amazed expression. "I'll explain everything you need to know, for now let's make our way towards the school"
Sera shut the door lock and stepped forward but noticed Carter not moving an inch. "What's wrong?"
'Now that I'm actually here and seeing all these witches, it's all too much to take in. I-I think I'm nervous' Carter thought as he stared at the academy at the far distance.
As if reading his mind, Sera spoke. "We won't be making our way to the academy straight away, I'll quietly take you over to the head of the school so follow me and stay unnoticed"
"It's gonna cause quite the ruckus if the girls notice a male in the school when you haven't even been properly introduced"
Carter understood her words and nodded. He followed Sera towards a quiet end of the academy, far away and unnoticed from the students flocking around. They soon arrived at a small tower and Sera went inside with Carter following right behind her.
They were met with stairs and began to climb them. As they moved further, Sera turned to him sternly, "Be sure to be at your best behaviour, this is your first introduction to the witches and the head and staffs of witchdom academy themselves, you have to make a good first impression you hear me?"
Carter nodded enthusiastically. "Of course"
'First impression matters most when brought into a foreign world'
Sera led him further towards a door right after the stairs. She turned to him with a smile and he nodded in return. That instant, she released three knocks on the door.
"Come in" a frail feminine voice spoke from inside and Sera opened the door with Carter following right behind her.
Inside stood about six women all dressed in distinct dresses, a similar piece of clothing they all wore were their astonishing long hats. The women ranged from young looking to middle aged women.
At the middle of them all sat an old women. Despite her obvious wrinkles and frail frame, her face carried such beauty that was difficult to deny, her long silver hair fell right under her hat and she sat proudly before the large desk in the middle of the office. Carter could immediately tell that she was superior to them all.
"Hello everyone" Sera ever so joyously, smiled and waved at them all.
The witches gasped at the sight of the person who stood behind her.
"Uh...hello" Carter couldn't think of what to say the moment he locked eyes with them.
"Oh my!!!"
"Is that.."
"That boy.."
At that moment the oldest woman stood up to meet his gaze with a bright smile.
"I see you have arrived...."
"Gressil Helenor"