Leaving for Alfea

There was a sort of buzzing in the air and for once in Nick's long life, it wasn't the buzz of magic.

The morning came rather quickly, taking away the fatigue of yesterday evening as soon as the first rays of the sun began to appear in the windows. Nick was lying on his couch in front of the window, drinking coffee and looking accusingly at the passers-by. He never understood how these people get energy in the morning without a cup of coffee or hard drugs.

'Early birds. Ridiculous.' He thought and finished off the hot liquid in the mug in one gulp.

Bloom was the first to come down from the second floor, sleepy, still in her pajamas and spouting a rather impressive show of bed hair. Even so, she still had a huge smile on her face as if she had just won the lottery.

Which – Nick supposed – she did. Being the only fairy on Earth is like winning the lottery. At least the chances of such an incident were about equal.

"Mornin'." He said, and from the kitchen where Bloom disappeared, a surprised squeak was heard. The girl peeked out of the kitchen and looked at Nick, not expecting to see him there.

"Good morning. How long have you been up?"

Nick defiantly raised his hand in front of his face to look at the imaginary watch. "For thirty-six hours? Sounds about right."

"You should sleep more." Bloom said seriously.

"Meh. Magic fills me with energy better than sleep," he grunted and got to his feet.

Bloom looked interested. "Seriously?"

If magic could give people the energy to stay conscious longer, then she should definitely look into it. It would be dead useful.

"Nah, that's bullshit. But my magic helps a little with my irregular sleep schedule." He said and also went to the kitchen for a second cup of coffee. "What did you decide? Stay here and study only Earth magic, or go to Alfea and try not to die learning two kinds of magic at once? Of course, you can always study only fairy magic, but I think you will lose your potential then." He said.

Last night could have gone better, but Nick was stuck thinking about the Black Mages and his late Master. He could have brought the news better than he did. In fact, Bloom had a lot more choice than she realized, but what Nick was talking about was the easiest to achieve. Especially considering he's going to Magix anyway.

"Yes, I have decided, I want to learn the magic of fairies and wizards." Bloom smiled. "After all, it's in my blood. And how can I forgive myself if I don't learn my planet's magic?"

Nick smiled, happy that the girl had enough motivation to move forward. Many people gave up learning magic when they realized what they had to learn in order to use it. That's not even counting the "rulers" of the various dimensions who didn't like wizards taking energy from their home. They scared more people than mathematics.

"If everything goes smoothly, then maybe I'll teach you sorcerer magic." Nick added and levitated himself a fresh mug of coffee. Bloom tilted her head in confusion, believing that the terms sorcerer and wizard were synonymous. Nick didn't bother correcting her for now.

Gradually, the kitchen filled with people. Vanessa and Mike were quietly discussing something near the stove, preparing breakfast for five, Stella was nodding off, still not fully awake and Bloom and Nick were discussing what exactly the sorcerer was planning to do.

"Ideally, I'll talk to Faragonda and take a position as an Earth Magic teacher or something. Sharing knowledge and all that." He said.

Stella dropped her head on the table next to them and looked up, as if contemplating her decisions in life. "I don't think I can start thinking of magic as a bunch of weird formulas and shapes. How does that even work?"

Nick opened his right palm and slowly drew a perfect blue circle on it. "Just to do this, I use the formula for the radius of a circle, taking the center of my palm as the center of the circle." Another smaller circle appeared inside the circle, and runes began to appear between them one by one. "To draw the runes, I do something a little more complicated. I plot the formulas for each letter in my head, as if drawing them on a chart."

He looked at his future students with Vanessa and Mike, who were listening to his short lecture with interest. Even an ordinary person will be interested in how magic works.

"Each rune is responsible for its own parameter of the spell. One for the range, one for the force with which it will be performed, one the speed and casting time and a bunch of others to stabilize the spell. Although the casting time is calculated from other parameters, but that's too early for you to know." He snorted. Nick has found that he's been telling people that quite a lot lately.

Bloom looked at the circle in his hand. "And what does it do?"

Instead of answering, Nick activated the spell and his hand was covered in ice shards, forming an armored glove. "Grayham's Ice Armor. Useful against fire elemental creatures, but useless against most others, especially at this power." He flicked the glove, and gossamer cracks went along it. "Looks cool though."

Stella shook her head, still not understanding how these people could base all their magic on logic. She didn't like it. "Can you make cookies fall down the sky like rain?" She asked, not expecting an answer.

Bloom though was interested in something else, "If even such a weak spell requires knowledge of mathematics, then how did people in ancient times used magic?"

Nick vaporized the ice glove and scratched his chin. "Yes, Stella, I can. At least I can create the illusion of cookie rain. As for your question, Bloom, no one really knows. There is a theory that druids and shamans of the primitive societies used magic, contacting nature directly and seeking guidance from the Spirits or even Gods. Maybe they worshiped the gods who gave them their blessings, but now it doesn't work anymore. Due to lack of faith or something else, again, I don't know." He shrugged. "When will we need to leave for Alfea?"

Stella took a button phone out of her pocket to check the time and started typing something on it. The girl had managed to change somewhere and was now wearing a green top tied at her chest, the same green high-soled shoes on her feet and an orange skirt with a gold "chain" around her waist. Nick wasn't sure exactly where the pockets were on that thing, and frankly, he didn't want to know.

"We have to be at the opening ceremony in two hours, so we have time." She finally spoke.

Vanessa saw her chance and took it. "Bloom? If you're going with Stella, you need your stuff."

Bloom blanched for a moment, "I completely forgot about that!" She screamed and, together with her parents, went to pack for a long journey.

Stella and Nick sat in awkward silence, looking at the door and hoping that the Prices would be back soon. But like a real extrovert, Stella started the conversation again.

"Sooo… what do you do in your free time?"

Nick let out a pained sigh. He felt that today would be a long day.

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Is everyone ready? Portals aren't really my thing, but unfortunately we don't have much choice." Stella asked the people in the room.

Bloom is back with her parents a couple of hours later, her luggage packed and her interest high. Nick noticed how red her eyes were – most likely she was crying – but decided not to ask her about it. If she wants, she will talk about what happened herself.

Vanessa and Mike decided to go with them to see Bloom's new school with their own eyes. They still didn't feel comfortable that she couldn't learn magic on Earth, but they understood why. As much as they wish Nick could teach their girl magic, he just didn't know fairy magic. Bloom learning magic on Earth sounded better than going to college on another planet.

Nick himself had no luggage, at least not one that could be seen. Instead, a rather thick metal band with Chinese characters on it appeared on his right index finger. 'As much as I hate Chinese Artifacts and magic, I can't deny they're damn useful.'

"Can't you just tell me the coordinates of the planet?" Nick asked. "I can open the portal without too much trouble."

Stella shook her head. "I'm sorry, but no. My portals rely on a picture of where I want to teleport to and my will."

Nick chuckled. "I feel like I already heard that somewhere."

Picking up her staff, Stella hit the ground with it and cheerfully said, "To Magix we go!"

The ground beneath them opened up into a hundred bright colors and all five – plus Kiko – fell into the portal, screaming in surprise. The portal was some kind of long tunnel full of strange twists and turns. Nick calmly looked around, enjoying the free fall and trying to understand the structure of this tunnel. The main color was, of course, yellow.

Nick felt the chaotic magic around him and quickly realized on what principles Stella's portal worked. She moved people and objects from place to place by folding space and moving them at the speed of light. What she was doing couldn't be called a portal, but rather the act opening of a path between two points. A more appropriate name would be warping.

A few seconds later, the tunnel ended and everyone landed softly on the ground – Nick slowed their fall with his magic – and they got their first glimpse of the magical realm of Magix.

They were on a hillock in dense forest, with a beautiful view of the landscape below. On level ground, not far from the blue lake, stood the pink campus of Alfea. The building was in the shape of a crescent, with a huge gate at the front, where dozens of female students had already entered. The building was very symmetrical, with two tall towers on the sides and the main building at the back of the campus.

Nick frowned at the choice of location for the magic school. Such an arrangement does not give much advantage when attacking from the outside, even the hill they were standing on would be better. He shook his head, clearing the unimportant thoughts right now. His instincts told him that this place would not last long under organized attack, but he decided to test the defenses first before judging it.

"Welcome to Alfea!" Stella announced throatily and waved her hand towards the school.

Nick felt that he was looking at was something old, something new, something borrowed, something… well, not blue, but the roof counted, right?

His face broke into a huge smile. "It's a great place."

-=-=-=-=-=-

The 'pastor' sat in his office and read the reports of his lower followers without much interest. Fred 26 to 41 didn't find anything that needed attention, Fred 48 got hit by a bus and died on the spot, Fred 54 found a real demon and asked for help, and the rest of the Freds were still on missions.

Mumbling thoughtfully under his breath, Pastor put the documents he had read into a drawer of his desk and leaned back in his chair. The mission was progressing too slow for his taste, but with limited resources, that was to be expected. Especially considering that all of his pawns were just prints of the detective Fredrik Baul, who unfortunately left their Order three years ago.

His sacrifice will not be forgotten.

The Order of the New Hunters served their master faithfully, gradually drawing closer to their final goal. The pastor found it amusing that people were fighting for something without even knowing their ultimate goal, only assuming they were protecting the Earth.

Another stack of documents appeared on the table, and he took another sheet to read it. As soon as his eyes found the letters on the paper, he stopped, rereading the first line one more time.

"Hmm… Nicholas Fyre? Gardenia?" His face broke into a huge smile. "It's a great place to meet, old friend."