856 C-7, Rain Month 2, Moon 27
At the human’s behest, we headed to my lodgings at this school. She guided me through the school building and then down to its second floor until we reached a pair of double doors. Behind them was a long transparent hallway with wooden railing on either side of it.
“The invisible hallway is one of my favorite places in the school,” the human explained. “You get a great view of the river below and also the sky above. It’s especially beautiful at night.”
I sniffed a little, noticing something. “It’s been reinforced with spells?”
“You can...smell magic?” she asked, astonished. “But, yeah. It’s made out of specially treated glass to withstand all sorts of damage. Thanks to that, no matter how fragile glass typically is, it can endure a lot without even crackin— Hey!”
The hall shook from the forceful impact of my fist colliding with its walls. To be honest, I’d stopped listening to her explanation not too long after she’d begun. Using my analytical abilities to determine the spells cast on the hall was faster.
I grinned. “This spell is extremely complex. It’s not a simple durability spell to make it harder to break. This spell has been appended, hasn’t it? The force is actually absorbed and redistributed not just across this hall but across the very school itself. Theoretically, if one wants to break this hall, they’ll have to be strong enough to take down the entire school itself. Not only that, they added a spell allowing the hall to reflect the conditions outside, making it feel as if you really are walking in the air. Whoever worked on this deserves my praise.”
“Of all the things you could do, why would you punch it?” she sighed.
We continued past the impressive hallway into the tower, entering what seemed like a simple room with chairs, sofas, and a stone spiral staircase.
“By the way, just for future reference, there are several entrances to the dorm. The hallway we passed through is one of them, and there are two more at the base of the tower. Then also, there are the portals—the entrance people usually use.”
“Portals?”
“Yeah. President Victoria may have mentioned it, but magic isn’t technically allowed in the school, or at least outside of classes. That being said, there are some spells and enchantments around the school that are permitted.”
“Like that invisible hallway?”
“Exactly. The portals are in the same category. The school didn’t always have them, but with how big it’s gotten, students found that the time it took to get from their classes to their dorms and vice versa was taking a lot longer than they’d like. That’s why there are designated portal spots around the school. It’s pretty nice since portals are high-level magic that only professionals are allowed to use and set up. You’ll only ever see them in affluent areas or schools like ours.”
“Since when has portal magic been difficult?” I scoffed.
“Maybe for an elder dragon, it’s not too hard, but the caster’s gotta get a lot of things right. Otherwise, they’ll have a lot more to worry about on top of not ending up at their destination.”
Complications with portals? I’ve never heard about this. Elder dragons could fly at unfathomably quick speeds, so we hardly ever used portals. Personally, I’d never used one, and I’d only ever seen them used once or twice. The appeal of going through a magic hole to get to another destination was lost on me.
“Out of curiosity, what exactly could happen from improper portal usage?” I asked.
“Uh, well I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories. For instance, appendages can be lost in transit.”
I can regenerate body parts, so that’s not too huge a deal.
“I’ve also heard of people losing memories.”
Memories are overrated. Besides, I can probably restore them with magic.
“Some people also end up trapped in transit, never to reappear again. Or when they do, they’re never the same person again. Seriously, the slightest miscalculation could be the difference between you arriving at your destination intact or inside out. There was someone who came out of a portal, and they were babbling about being trapped behind a thin curtain between our world and another. Like, they could see the world but couldn’t interact with it as if they were a ghost. But even worse, there were apparently unimaginably horrific creatures in there. I mean, the guy was obviously crazy before he even went into the portal, but still, it’s scary stuff... B-But portals are only scary if done improperly! Don’t worry; the portals here are nothing to worry about!”
I fell silent at her words. It wasn’t as if any of this frightened me, but it was certainly unnerving, to say the least, to hear about all the potential complications that could ensue from portal travel. In my mind, it was as simple as going from point A to point B, but little did I know that there was so much room for error. Perhaps portals weren’t to be trusted. They certainly weren’t necessary to live a normal life, so it shouldn’t have been too much of a problem to avoid using them altogether. That’s right. Portals won’t be a problem if I don’t use them.
“The portals here at school have been set up exclusively by some really talented mages. Who knows how grisly things could end up in the blink of an eye. Thanks to that, our portals are pretty much completely safe!”
“Pretty much”? That doesn’t inspire much confidence despite how pushy she is about these portals...
“How about I just fly into the dorm?” I suggested.
“No. Absolutely not!” she practically screamed. “Your goal is to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. Flying will not accomplish that, especially since you’re supposed to be a human.”
“But I’m not.”
“Here, at this school, you are.”
Logically, I understood what she was trying to impress on me, but it was difficult to wrap my head around it, given that I’d never been restricted from flying. Even in my state right now, though I couldn’t transform into my dragon form, I was confident I could either sprout wings or at least use levitation magic. At the very least, there should be absolutely no reason why I needed to rely on portals.