I was welcomed by the greasy smell of bacon and meat pie and I realised the students had just eaten dinner.

It made me feel at home, and, besides, I was craving food. But when I found the Professor staring right at me, and the students' faces trying to look from behind, I found myself unable to speak.

Just like every time people asked me 'how are you?' and I struggled to give an answer. I know the standard reply is supposed to be 'I'm fine' but I don't really want to say it unless I mean it. In conversations, I often couldn't find my way out of a paper bag.

Daniel Winter was a tall man tall with a handsome face, refined features and salt and pepper hair.

"Sit down, Ryan Barnes," he told me. "You have all the time in the world to meet your classmates, later, but right now we have things to talk about."

I tried not to look at Edgar victorious, as if to say, see? The headmaster already accepted me. I had no idea what surprise was in store for me during my talk with Daniel Winter.

"Here," he said. "We study the theoretics of time-changing and space-shifting, though we can also accomodate the students like you who haven't learned their Mudras yet."

I knew about time-changing, the art of turning back time, and space-shifting, the art of shifting from one dimension to another. But a question slid on the tip of my tongue.

"Why the theoretics?" I asked. "Why don't you attempt to do those spells?"

Mister Winter looked angry all of a sudden. "Can you even imagine what would happen if someone messed with time and space? Of course it has to remain purely theoretical! Who would you trust with being possibly able to mess up a timeline?"

"Not myself," I felt the need to say. "But my own team, my own classroom, if I had one? Surely. Why can't we learn everything there is to learn?"

Mister Winter was about to snap at me, when a boy with dusty brown hair and light brown eyes stepped up from his chair. He was tall, and handsome.

"Professor, we should learn to welcome the forward thinkers, those of us who stray from the beaten path," he said with a smile. "This is one of the reasons why not everyone has the makings to study those subtle arts of magic. This is the school where every misfit belongs, and judging from his words, Ryan will feel right at home."

"That's Jake Kingston," Jeff murmured to me. As I greeted Jake and shook his hand, I couldn't believe someone was finally being nice to me. He was the first Enchanter who really looked happy to see me.

"I want to see a show of your magic," Daniel Winter said then. "And then, I'll decide if you can stay. I'm tired, and I want to go to bed. We already finished all our lessons and chores."

I looked at Jeff, panicked. I didn't tell him how uncontrollable my powers were, but he seemed to understand all the same.

"He's a hybrid," he said, as if that explained things. I guess it did. "And he's tired. But I've seen him in action and I know his powers are very strong. He's a air Hierophant, like me."

The following day, Mister Winter tried his best to understand how advanced I was on my magic theory before we started with practise.

"You know about Mudras, the hand movements we use for our spells, and you're also aware that they're not the same set as the Indian Mudras, but other, magical ones," he commented. I always had trouble understanding if I impressed him at all with my knowledge. "What you might not know is why we use them, and history is important.

The Enchanters and their magic were very different and uncontrolled, thousands of years ago. We manifested it with our emotions, like causing a hurricane if we felt upset. Then, through the ages, we came up with techniques. The different cultures joined to decide on an unique, international approach. Like the names of the different Enchanters, those come from Tarot Cards. You've seen Magicae Items' signpost, I gather?"

I nodded.

"In India, they had their ways to control the aether. They used movements similar to the Mudra, the symbolic gestures for Buddhism and Hinduism, but new gestures, devoid of any religious affiliation. We still refer to them as Mudras — it's easier. We perform them with our hands and fingers, and to each of them a spell corresponds."

"Legend says Indian Enchanters are still amongst the best at it, because we've handed down those gestures for generations and it's somewhat in our magical DNA now," a teenage girl smiled at me. She had brown skin and long, flowing dark hair. "I'm Ohda Bukhari. I was actually helping Bill with his Mudras yesterday, so I can tutor you, too."

Bill waved 'hi' at me. He had dark brown hair and green-ish eyes.

Mister Winter had me sat down at the table and started explaining the theoretical part. I was a bit embarrassed because it was likely things I'd heard before, but it was different, hearing them from the lips of a man who was a much better Enchanter than I and who was there to guide me and teach me.

Ohda sat down next to us. I noticed that other students were lurking around, too. Edgar, for example, which bothered me. But there were also Jake, the nice boy from the evening before, and a girl who followed him around as if she was his girlfriend, a slim girl with a brown pixie cut who sorta looked like Audrey Hepburn.

"Here," Ohda broke the silence and handed me something. "You can study the table I created with the thirty Mudras for the most common basic spells. Everyone in the Aether Realm will expect you to know them, even though we mostly rely on elemental magic."

"Speaking of which," the Professor added. "I know you know many things already, but let's run through the different types of Enchanter. I'm guessing you don't know all of the subtleties of our magic yet.

"Now, now," Jake looked at me reassuringly. "Don't feel bad if the Professor is acting like you're a rookie. Magic is based on the same concepts and gestures we repeat over and over. As the motto says, practise makes magical. Which means we've all heard those things countless of times, but we become better Enchanters only once we make them ours."

The Professor laid an old pack of tarot cards in front of me. "Those are the cards we use in the Aether Realm. Their names draw from different tarots, but they are united by the common fact that they are important names in our history."

Mister Winter revealed three cards. The first was the Hierophant. I was aware of what it meant, for I was not a total idiot.

"The Hierophant is the most common magician, the elemental Enchanter. We can make magic using either fire, water, air, light or earth. Still, we must follow the hierarchic order of nature, hence the name."

The second card was Justice. "The Jurist. The mind magician. Some of us are clever and some are not, depending on the assets we were born with, but you should never mess with a Jurist for they have mind power. They can shapeshift, know the locations of people and objects and use their mind powers to teleport with the use of a portal. As for what a portal is, we'll go into details later. A Jurist can never go on the wrong path, though, if they do, their energy will become destructive altogether."

"What about when a Hierophant follows the wrong path?" I asked.

The Professor looked at me as if he wanted to burn a hole through my soul, with his eyes. I was reminded of when he got angry because I told him I wanted to try time-changing, and decided not to ask any more questions.

"A Hierophant on the wrong path could change the hierarchic rules of nature I mentioned before."

I shivered at the brief description.

"The third type is the Enlightener," the Professor proceeded, revealing the third card. The Sun. "This card is also known as Enlightenment. They are the healers, and they work as doctors of the Aether Realm. The card, like them, represents knowledge and accomplishment. Only light Hierophants can become doctors."

"And what happens to them when they go on the wrong path?"

"They are the most positive of the Enchanters, so simply that their powers would start dissipating. But — would you stop asking that?" He looked troubled. He revealed another card, the Devil. "I was about to go through the fourth and rarest type, but you deserve to know something first. This is what happens to every one of us when we follow the wrong path for too long. If we start practising black magic. Look at it. You should be terrified. Aren't you?"

"Yes," I replied. "You told me there were three types of Enchanters, and now I see four."

"You shouldn't joke about that," his voice was so stern it made me a little afraid. "Any Enchanter who practises black magic for an inadequate amount of time becomes a Typhon. It isn't exactly a fifth kind — a Jurist will remain a Jurist. A Hierophant will remain a Hierophant. Only an Enlightener will lose their healing powers. But being a Typhon doesn't mean you're exactly a different type of magic user. However, after a while, the dark magic can rot your soul."

I gulped. I wasn't sure I wanted to joke about it anymore. Not that I'd exactly wanted to, before. Still, I ignored most of the dangers that came with living in the Aether Realm. I'd never even heard of souls being rotten before.

Later, I practised with Ohda in the garden. She asked me to make the a handful of leaves float in the air, but I couldn't get even this simple spell right. I held my breath and closed my eyes. When I opened them, the leaves were floating, but they were about to form a whirlwind. I was suddenly afraid I was going to hurt people, so I let them fall sadly on the ground.

"Don't be surprised if you still suck at it," Jake told me, grinning. "After all, you need a lot of exercise to be good, and you have to really believe in what you do."

"What is your power?" I asked him.

"I'm an Earth Hierophant," he said. He turned the grass in the garden from mud green to bright green with an elegant nod of his hand. The whole thing was crazy, but still I couldn't help but admire his powers.

Lucretia, the girl who acted like Jake's girlfriend, was practising next to me, cradling a ball of fire into her hands. Enchanters couldn't make fire appear, so she must have taken it from one of the lit torches in the garden. I was a bit in awe, because it looked much cooler than my own power.

It was the wrong thing to do. Lucretia narrowed her eyes, and said, "What are you looking at, newbie?"

And it was the way she said it, as if she was also calling me a human. You could hear it in her voice. I was fascinated by everything I saw, and it didn't sit well with her.

"Well, just be careful," I huffed in reply. "I was just worried you were going to hurt yourself, or others."

"If my powers were like yours, maybe I'd spread a fire that killed the entire student body," she just muttered in reply.

"Don't joke about things like that."

"Hey, you started it. I joke about what I want. You know nothing about loss."

"Me? I know nothing about loss?" I exploded. The leaves started floating all around me in a menacing way. "I lost my mother a few years ago in a car accident. My cousin was kidnapped by Set, and I don't even know if she's alive!"

"Trust me," Lucretia said bitterly. "Set does not have the tendency to leave people alive for long."

That said, she stalked off.

I wanted to follow after her, but she looked so shaken, I could have sworn she was about to cry. Lucretia looked like the kind of teenager who was always tough, but in moments such as those it was easy to see that she was wearing a mask. When she was bothered by something, her shoulders tensed and her lips started trembling very slightly.

"I'm really sorry, Ryan," Jake told me. "Sixteen years ago, give or take, was the first time in centuries Set came back to the council."

"I thought he was back roughly five years ago," I replied.

"The first time he came back, we kept it hushed so humans wouldn't hear of it. He went crazy with power and killed a lot of people. I think Lucretia lost someone back then, but I don't dare ask. I know Jeff did --- both of his parents were killed. That might be why his health is so frail... like his bouts of amnesia."

"Wait. Does Jeff suffer from amnesia?"

"Only sometimes. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. He's in good hands," Jake smiled at me.

That evening, somebody else joined us.

When the doorbell rang, I went to take a look. I was sure that the person behind the door was Raegan McIntosh. If I hadn't known it, I would have said it was hard to tell how old she was, but I immediately thought she was very good-looking. She was skinny and small with hair the colour of autumn leaves, light auburn. She had a gorgeous face and light blue eyes. However, her beauty was uncommon. Most would have noticed the wild look in her eyes.

Raegan was looking at Jeff and I, grinning, and it was impossible to tell what she thought about us.

"If you don't mind," she said, without even introducing herself. "I'd like to go to the library first."

This caused more issues than I thought it would. The Professor and Ohda insisted she took a shower, first, but she was set on it.

Jake and Alice, a redheaded light Hierophant, were supposed to go with her, but they were nowhere to be found. Jeff and I went instead.

"I am curious," Raegan said. "What kind of books does this great library offer?"

Jeff stopped in his tracks. "That depends on what you want to read."

"Do Enchanters have a lot of literature written by members of the Aether Realm, or do you read human books?" I asked. I decided I would have to cut down my daily rations of questions, because I was tired of looking like a fool.

"I like to read about the gods," Raegan said, with a slow smile that I didn't trust one bit. It seemed there was a deeper reason for her words.

"I, for one, believe the gods are very overrated," Jeff replied firmly. And I knew it was because of the thing Jake had told me, so I sympathized.

"A lesson is all it takes to learn what you need to know about magic," Ohda told me during a practical lesson. "Everything else is practice, or reading the correct Mudras for every movement. All you have to do is focus. Magic is inside you, you can't learn it. It's your attention and power that you must strengthen."

I practised enough to let the leaves fly all around me in a graceful dance. From that moment, the rest of the lesson was really fun. I just had to let go of everything I had been taught before.

The Professor thought I was getting better. I didn't know if I agreed. I wasn't very good at focusing on something and my spells didn't look as terrific as the ones everybody else could do.

For the first few days, I mostly practised. I knew I could be good at magic. The fact that I'd caused a complete black out before only proved it. But it seemed like I was only good when I lost control. And I couldn't afford that.

"I was thinking about something," I asked Edgar at the end of the first week. "Do you think the Professor regrets having me here? I'm not very good, but I really want to get better."

I didn't know why I had chosen Edgar of all people to speak with. Perhaps it was because he was knowledgeable. Maybe I had also put in my head the very stupid idea that befriending him shouldn't have been this hard, and that it sounded like it would be worth it anyway.

"Well, let's concentrate on one issue at a time. Haven't you grown confidently into your powers of the air yet?"

I wanted to tell him that I didn't think I ever would. But I couldn't bring myself to do it.

He shifted nervously in his seat, as if he already knew the answer, or could sense it. "You're doing decently," he finally said. "It's having grown up in the Human Realm that the others cannot relate to. You don't know how many times, during history, the humans tried to burn us at the stake."

I did know that.

I think it started during the Middle Ages, with the whole witch-hunt thing. Before that, the Enchanters lived in harmony amongst humans. There wasn't such a thing as 'Aether Realm'. However, around the first decades of 1300, humans in Europe started noticing that the magical users who shared their lands weren't proper humans. And the discovery of DNA only proved their suspicions were right.

Studying the people with magic, scientists came to a realisation — the ability to do magic was in their veins, but the magic is all around us. It's in the aether. It's just that humans can't reach it.

This was during the 50s. Then humans became jealous of the Enchanters and started living separately from them, insulting them and treating them as a lower species. Many people, like Darren Southwart or Adrian Locksley, said that humans aren't envious of magic users, but that it is a scientific fact that the Enchanters are different, and that makes them a genetic mutation. And that being a genetic mutation is a bad thing.

"Well, it's not my fault. And I am not a human," I said. Even having to say those words aloud stung.

"Sometimes you act like you are," Edgar replied. Then, more gently, "I believe in your potential. But I can tell even you don't believe in it. I have my doubts coming here was the best thing for you, but of course, you're welcome to prove me wrong."

I got up and walked away abruptly before I could start fighting with him, too. I headed back to the room I shared with Jeff.

He was already there waiting for me, sitting on his bed and looking sad.

He was looking at a piece of paper — maybe he'd just finished writing. But when I stepped into the room he nodded with his hand, as if to cast a spell, and the piece of paper disappeared into thin air leaving a trail of smoke. Sometimes, Jeff Tanaka was weird. I decided not to dwell on it.

"What's up?" I asked.

"The Professor told me that I have to make sure you're learning, and take some time to practise my air power too. He said I could be just as good as Edgar or Ohda if I wanted to, but there's something about my personality that's always holding me back."

He hung his head low, so I couldn't help but pat his back.

"The Professor takes a certain familiarity in speaking to you that way," I said. I only said it to be empathetic — the Professor was a jerk to everyone.

"Of course he does," Jeff replied. "He's my grandfather."