An entrance that won't let me in

After reading and memorizing a couple of chapters of that book, I prepared to leave the library.

Probably at that moment, I had a shocked expression on my face, due to what I had just read.

'I didn't think runic magic was so complicated...' Even with my memory improved by the metamorphosis, managing to memorize even just two chapters of that book was quite a feat.

My head felt tired and heavy, but there was a place I wanted to visit before going back home.

'The entrance to the academy should be on the other side of the square...'

With this goal in mind, I left the library.

I quickly crossed the square, and soon I found myself in front of the academy's entrance... or not? Well, at that moment, I didn't understand what I was looking at...

I was facing an impressive arch made of dark gray stone, decorated with floral patterns in white or green marble.

The attic of the arch was massive and had an inscription in the center that read "ENTRANCE TO THE PRAG ACADEMY OF MAGIC".

'I don't understand... it says this is the entrance... but I don't see any structure behind it... this... just looks like a massive arch...'

I looked around, it would probably be wise to ask someone for information, but I didn't feel like it.

'The strange thing is that this place isn't even guarded... well, if this is an entrance...'

I decided to pass through the arch's archway, thinking that maybe that structure was a kind of magical entrance, also because I indeed felt like I was in the presence of something magical.

Passing through the archway, I felt a strange sensation, as if I were being scanned by that arch.

'As I thought... this structure is magical... however... I can't understand how it works...'

I focused as much as I could, channeling my aura all around the arch, and then passing through its archway again.

This time, in addition to the sensation of being thoroughly scrutinized, I also perceived something else… I felt judged and rejected by that arch.

'So, it really is a door!'

I had figured out how that arch worked: by passing through the archway, the arch would scrutinize you and judge whether to let you in, probably to the academy, or not.

'So, access to the academy is not for everyone... you probably have to be a student or a professor to enter... however, there's still something I don't understand... the academy is in another place, so does this door teleport you there... or... the fact is that, a part of me perceives as a structure that is both here and not here in front of me... as if this structure is in a parallel place to where I am...'

It was already evening, and with these doubts, I decided to go back home.

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*tap-tap-tap

A robin was tapping on a large window of a room on the third floor of an extravagant building.

"Oh... Phi, you're finally back..." An elderly gentleman, who still appeared somewhat healthy and youthful in some aspects, spoke to the little bird. He then opened the window, allowing it to enter the room.

Phi didn't wait a second and flew into the room, faintly illuminated by a six-armed chandelier that cast a warm light.

"Twee-tweet-chirp!" chirped the robin, fluttering around the high-ceilinged room.

"Oh-ho, I see, the person I instructed you to observe visited the academy's entrance... so, is it as I suspected?" asked the older man with a thick, gray mustache, and long, wavy, well-groomed platinum hair.

"Chirp-TWE-tweet-chirp-twee!"

"Oh... then he's even more talented... and more dangerous than I thought!" After saying this with an amused smile, the elderly gentleman took a slightly yellowed piece of paper, and meanwhile, the little bird brought him a falcon feather quill with a dark blue gem acting as the tip.

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I soon arrived at the entrance of the "Desert Rose." To my surprise, the establishment was closed, but the light in the bar area was on. From the outside I couldn't quite understand what was happening in there as the windows with the orange reflections on the facade of the place were designed to blur the interior.

'How strange...' I pondered on the possible reasons, and being the pessimist I was, I immediately thought of worst-case scenarios.

I hurriedly entered through the back entrance, the one leading to the storage room. The only entrance to the building for which I had keys.

I entered quietly and, still being silent, made my way to the bar area.

The voices coming from the room belonged to two women. I recognized one of them… it was Rasha, but the other... the other seemed like that of a girl.

'There doesn't seem to be cause for worry...' The discussion taking place didn't seem worrisome at all.

As soon as I opened the door to the room, the girl whose identity I didn't know, although she seemed somewhat familiar, turned abruptly towards me, standing up and raising her arms, facing palms of her hands towards me, as if she were ready to cast some strange magic on me.

On instinct, I moved towards her, enveloping myself with a protective aura.

However, before everything could escalate, Rasha positioned herself between the two of us.

"STOP STOP, both of you, calm down!" She demanded.

Both the girl and I stopped.

"You two... are a little too paranoid!" She scolded us.

At her words, I scratched my head a bit, while the girl looked at me questioningly.

"Mom... who is he?" asked the girl. Her voice was less high-pitched than her mother's, but with the same particular accent.

'Mom?... so... that's why she seemed familiar... she's the girl in the photo with Rasha... what was her name... um, Raya? Yes, that should be it...'

She seemed to be about my age and was as tall as me. She had a slightly dark complexion, a delicate face, a small nose, pointed ears, and reptilian pupils. The color of her straight and long hair and her eyes were very similar to her mother's. The most noticeable change from the girl in that photo was certainly her physique... let's say she had a physique that increasingly resembled her mother's...

"Raya... this is Umut. He's a year younger than you and has been living and working here for a while," explained Rasha.

Rasha then turned to me, "Umut... you might have already figured it out... anyway, this is my daughter, Raya."

Raya's gaze relaxed a bit, although she still didn't seem to fully trust me. She scrutinized me from head to toe, then looked at her mother's serene face, and finally sighed.

"Umut... thank you for helping my mother..." she said, "... Just know that if you try to harm her..." she added with a falsely kind smile, implying with a gesture that she would cut off my head.

'She has a bit of her mother's character...'

I smiled at her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too..."