While in the forest heading to Zeul City, I saw a wall. A wall where its end is not seen. That"s one great wall.

We head out in the forest and a big wooden door in the wall welcomed me. With a sign above it saying

"Welcome to Zeul Academy "

I saw Fourth mesmerized as we entered the wooden door.

"Halt. Identify yourselves. " the gatekeeper said as we got out of the carriage.

"I am Prince Fourth of Zelda City. " Fourth introduced, the gatekeeper nodded and then transferred his gaze unto me.

"I am Azrael Gideon, Sage of the Great Library of the South." I introduced, I saw the gatekeeper shocked, I can tell it by his aura.

"The Sage of the Great Library of the South? Are you certain?" He asked, as if he doesn"t believe what I"ve just said.

"Yes, I am certain with what I"ve said. " I replied, keeping a believe-it-or-not-but-I-don"t-care-if-you-don"t aura.

"How about the Mistress? Where is she?" he asked.

Is she talking about my mom? Does he know her? If so, how? Is he an acquaintance of her? Maybe an old cla.s.smate since mom also studied in here, and he looks around the age of my mom.

"How do you know my mom?" I asked.

"You"re also his son? Where is she? " he asked, ignoring my question. Also? What does that mean? Mom has another son?

"She"s dead, for three years already. How do you know her sir?" I asked, emphasizing the sir.

"She"s dead?" He whispered to himself. "It doesn"t matter how I know her. Now, come. You need to pa.s.s the trials before you can enter the school. Go to the SM (Student Maven) receiving area and fill out what kind of maven you would like to enroll. After that, wait for the Staff Maven"s instruction. Do it right after we arrive in the Starting Grounds. " he said, as he entered in a levitation transport. He"s eyes says what-are-you-waiting-for when he saw us just standing in there. We entered in the levitation transport. The levitation transport lifted itself and it sent us to a higher ground with a signboard saying "Starting Grounds".

"Now that way is the SM receiving area. " the gatekeeper said pointing out on a tavern the moment we arrived.

"Thank you sire." Fourth said. The gatekeeper just looked at us and then left with his levitation transport. We looked at him as he disappeared right down below us.

We scanned the whole area. It was crowded, filled with students our age, enrolling at same school as we are. I saw students bringing weapons like swords, bow, crossbow, guns, staffs, whip, orbs, and knuckles of different varieties. There are also students taming pets, talking to an invisible ent.i.ty, and playing instruments. This place looks like a top of plane. There"s nothing else beside some taverns, the fountain, the Big Clock Tower in front of the tower, and some benches in park-like area.

I heard Fourth taking a deep breath.

"Now we"re here. Let"s go." He said.

I walked towards the tavern leaving Fourth behind, he caught up to me.

"Azi you idiot, why"d you suddenly left without me?" He said, with his loud childish voice. I just looked at him with a why-do-you-care look.

"You terrible Azi. " I just didn"t mind him and just went ahead to the tavern.

"Welcome young men, are you here to fill up?" a woman, I think around 28-30 welcomed us.

"Yes ma"am. " Fourth answered.

"Follow me then." the woman lead us to a table. "Please fill this up." A scroll appeared in front of us. I started filling it up.

Name: Azrael Gideon

Age: 18

Place: The Great Library of The South

Desired Maven: Tome Maven

Major: Ancient Enhancement and Defense

"Done!!!" Fourth said with his usual loud voice. The woman approached us.

"Another Swords Maven. " the woman said as he scanned Fourth"s scroll.

"Tome Maven? That"s rare. " she said looking at me. Her smile is like telling something I can"t decipher.

"Very well young mavens. Welcome to Zeul Academy. Though you still need to pa.s.s the trials to be officially enrolled."

she said as she pointed out the door. "You still need to wait for about an hour or two outside before the trial, can you wait for that long?" She asked.

"Sure we can. " Fourth said, loud as ever. I just nodded.

"Okay, take these rings. Wear it for the meantime. It will serve as a sign that you"re done filling up." She said.

We head out and wander around. Fourth saw some friends so he went ahead and talk to them. I saw an empty bench in a dark corner. I went there and sit.

I was sitting there for more than an hour already when a girl suddenly sat beside me. It was all awkward when she suddenly talked.

"Hi. My name is Alice, and you are?" I just looked at her.

"Can"t you talk? Hmm that"s good. Since you can"t talk, and you"re a stranger, maybe I can share my grief. I just really need to let this out. " she added, still, I"m looking at her.

"You know, I"m from a land of Mavens , Zeul City. You know that right? My mom is a Queen from a certain kingdom in there. She"s got a really bad sister, the Red Queen. She"s ugly and her personality is ugly well. There"s one time, that..." she suddenly stopped when a bell rang loudly.

"Oh, it"s time already. Sorry for talking to you. Thanks anyways. " she said and then she ran off.

I walked to where Fourth left me and then I saw him standing there.

"Here you are, where have you been. " he asked, I just ignored him. I remembered the girl because of his question.

"Hey, you smiled just now. What happened?" He asked, surprised.

I just gave him a deadly gaze. "There"s no reason for me to smile." I said, then walked away.

"Hey, you even talked while smiling! You can"t fool me Azi! I know something happened. Tell me." I continued ignoring him.

After the last ring of the bell, the ring given to us by the woman glows and it"s like everything shifted.

"s.p.a.cial magic." I whispered.

When everything is back to normal, I just noticed that we are on a different place. It is like a dungeon entrance. There"s only 8 of us in here, all boys and all of them are bringing books.

"Welcome to the first trial young mavens. Use all whatever magic you can to escape the labyrinth you are about to enter. You have two hours to finish this trial. " a voice suddenly spoke and then the giant door of the dungeon or labyrinth opened. "The trial starts now!"

The eight of us ran in then labyrinth. I saw someone opened his book to a certain page and then he chanted some spell. I saw him float, everyone of us looked at him. I got a bad feeling about that. When he reached at the top of the labyrinth"s wall, Lightning stroke. It casted off his magic. He came falling down. One of us chanted a spell and saved him.

"That was close." Someone suddenly said. I looked at him, he smiled. "I am Heist, from Zeul City"s Northern Division. And you are?" He said.

Not to be rude, I answered him.

"Azrael, from Jurem Empire"s Southern Forest."

"Forest? What are you a sage? And what? You are not from Zeul City?" He said, trying to hide his amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Yes, I"m a sage. And no, I"m not from Zeul City. I"ve never been there." I replied, as I started walking in the deeper part of the labyrinth.

He followed me.

"That"s rare. All of us, taking up Tome Maven are from Zeul City. Are you sure you"re not from there? You somehow symbolize the previous Zeul City head. " he explained.

"It might be just your imagination. " I nagged. I continued walking. He still followed me.

The labyrinth is big, and it"s certainly confusing. There are also monsters that showed up.

I paired up with Heist to finish this trial fast.

This time, the labyrinth divided into two ways. Heist summoned two magic beasts and took surveillance to both ways. One way have monster waiting and the other doesn"t have any.

"Let"s go to this way." Heist said, pointing out the way without monster.

"No, this is the right way. " I said, pointing out the other way.

"But there"s a monster waiting for us in there. " he said.

"That"s the point. The staffs put the monsters for a reason. They may be protecting the way to the exit to slow us down. "I explained.

"Well, that"s right. Okay, let"s go this way. " He said and headed to the other way first.

All through out, Heist do the fighting while I do the support. We finished the labyrinth first, taking up 45 minutes.

"Good job young Mavens, you are the first ones to finish the first trial. Now, wait for 75 more minutes for the second trial. " someone at the end of the labyrinth greeted us. He let us enter in a room where there"s a lot of books. "You can read these books while waiting. " he said and then left us.

We waited for 30 minutes when 3 other Tome Maven Aspirants came. And another 30 minutes for the other 3.

"A job well done young Mavens. You"ve finished this trial faster than the required timed. You guys are promising, specially the first two to finished the trial." The man at the exit said. We clapped.

"I am Gildarts, the head of the Tome Mavens. I am an S Cla.s.s Maven, an arch Wizard, I will be the one to monitor your trials as well as the one who will give you the trials. Do you care to introduce yourself?" He said. "Let"s start from the last one to finish the trial up to the first one. "

"My name is Aorion, from Zeul City"s Southern Division. " the one with a Blue robe said.

"My name is Cyon. from Zeul City"s Southern Division. " the one with a Green robe said

"My name is Hextri from Zeul City"s Southern Division. " the one with yellow robe said.

"My name is Detroit from Zeul City"s Western Division. " the one with a Grey Robe said.

"My name is Orion from Zeul City"s Eastern Kingdom. " the one with a brown robe said.

"My name is Arthas, from Zeul City"s Central Division. " the one with a white robe said. Everyone except me looked at him, that made me look at him too.

He"s quiet and he doesn"t look like the type who talks a lot. He also look like the one who knows a lot, but something about him is telling me to keep an eye on him.

"My name is Heist form Zeul City"s Northern Division. " Heist said, wearing his Violet Robe.

"My name is Azrael from Jurem Empire"s Southern forest. " that made them looked at me as well. I looked at Heist, he"s smiling and is wearing a told-ya look. I looked at myself, wearing a black robe. I was more like Arthas.

The pressure was lifted when Sir Gildarts talked.

"Very well, that"s a good introduction and all of you looks promising. But this is the first time that we have a Tome Maven aspirant that is not from Zeul City since there"s no Tome Mavens outside Zeul City. " Sir Gildarts said, that made everyone looked at me again. I keep my face straight.

"Do you mind if we ask what made take the Tome Maven course?" Sir Gildarts asked.

"My mom is a Tome Maven, and also I want bigger knowledge than what I currently have. " I answered, still keeping my face straight.

"What"s the name of your mom?" He asked. I don"t really know why he asked but I answered him anyways.

"Aika Rose Gideon . That"s my mom"s name. " I saw him got shocked, and with that, I know that he knows my mom.

"That"s why I"ve got this feeling about that boy." He whispered to himself, but I still heard him. I saw him trying to compose himself discreetly. He clapped his hand and says

"Okay, now let"s proceed to the second trial. "

End of Chapter 3