Sylvester experienced a rather mundane cab ride, the driver not speaking to him at all during the entire trip. He did not mind the silence however and simply looked out the window like an excited little boy after all how could he not? He was finally entering a new stage of his life, a stage where he can be surrounded by peers in the pursuit of magical knowledge. An environment filled with nothing but the feeling of awe and wonder that only magic can provide. His mind then wandered back to the last exchange he made with his father.

“I wonder what kind of nutjobs I will meet there.” Sylvester said to himself as he closed his eyes and smiled.

After a few short minutes the cab finally came to a halt. The driver then climbed out of the vehicle first and opened the door for Sylvester, all without speaking a word. The vehicle stopped in front of a tall building that had a very modern design.

“That’s it?” Sylvester said in a disappointed tone. “Where’s the wall on a train platform that I have to run into? Heh.” He added, laughing internally at his own joke. Nevertheless he simply thought that building was a disguise made to blend in with the world at large.

Sylvester got out of the cab and gestured by the cab driver towards the entrance of the building, again without speaking a word. Sylvester didn’t think much of the constant silence and simply attributed this strangeness of the driver to the academy. He thanked him and walked towards the entrance.

The building had a regular automatic door with no magical devices he could detect, two elevators on the side, and inside, an unremarkable looking lobby. There were three black sofas furnished with black leather on the side, one longer than the other two. The smaller ones were placed near the ends of the largest one and a coffee table sat in front of all of them.

From the outside it all looked normal.Sylvester tried to sense anything odd or magical about it but there was nothing, but that changed as soon as he entered the building.

He could sense a rather large and dense mana source coming from the two women at the front desk easily dwarfing his own but nowhere near what he could sense from his parents.

Both of them had long jet black hair that was reached down their waist in length. Each of them had bangs that hid one eye, the woman on the left, relative to Sylvester, had her right eye covered while the woman on the right had her left eye covered revealing a pair of bright blue eyes but were on two heads instead of one.

“Finally, something a bit exciting.” Sylvester told himself as he approached the front desk.

As he approached the front desk the woman on the left suddenly spoke.

“Welcome Sylvester Clearsight.” The woman said in a cheerful tone.

“You have arrived at the expected time. Not bad, very punctual.” The woman on the right said in a monotone voice. This weird greeting obviously just livened up Sylvester’s spirits, he was finally in a familiar environment, a world of oddities and upside downs, the world of magic.

“Salutations! My name is Nitri Vanic. This one next to me is Tinri Vanic, my beloved twin sister. Isn’t she adorably cute?” The woman on the left exclaimed enthusiastically while the one on the right ignored her additional comments.

“We are the gatekeepers of the London entrance gate to the academy. Anything that goes in must go through us.” Tinri added with her monotone and serious voice, seemingly uninterested in what she’s saying.

“Kyaa! How cool and serious!” Nitri exclaimed as she tried to hug her sister. Tinri blocked her advance by placing a hand on her sister’s face, halting the advance, all while not even looking at the affectionate twin.

“Hmm, how amusing. I wouldn't call these poeple nutjobs dad, you're just being rude.” Sylvester thought to himself as he was rather entertained by their antics.

“Nice to meet you, miss Nitri and Tinri.” Sylvester replied in a polite but cheerful tone seemingly trying to match the more excitable nature of the woman named Tinri. He wanted to transform his baseball cap back into a hat for added flair, but decided to reel himself back in at the last second.

“Likewise it is nice to meet you Mr. Sylvester Clearsight.” Nitri replied, forming a thumbs up on her right hand and pointing it towards Sylvester.

“Now please before we allow you to proceed we would like you to stand two steps backwards for a preliminary scan!” Tinri said, two fingers standing on her left hand, gesturing Sylvester to comply.

“Scan huh? Probably a modern spell or something.” Sylvester then did what was asked of him and walked back two steps, still facing the two women. Then all of a sudden there was a sharp spike of mana in the immediate area.

Sylvester was suddenly taken over by a wave of excitable anticipation but chose to reign it all in and compose himself, only looking on in expectant silence. As if on cue, the twins closed their eyes at the same time, a light blue haze was forming around them as Sylvester could feel the mana gathering around them.

Without uttering a single word the blue haze around the twins started to form into a sphere slowly condensing until it had more volume despite being translucent. Suddenly the eyes that were covered by the bangs on each of the twins started shining a brilliant blue light, piercing through the dark hair covering them and with that the blue sphere transformed into ethereal blue eyeball floating above them.

“Huh, chantless casting.” Sylvester thought to himself “I guess something that advanced is expected from their staff. After all these two do guard the gates.” He continued his thoughts as he looked on to the spectacle.

Sylvester could feel the eye’s intense stare as it hovered and circled him as if looking at his very soul. He then glanced at the twins who are now standing in front of him completely motionless, but for some reason he could feel their stares through the conjured eye.

“Is this some test of courage? A test to see if this is going to creep me out? Sorry I’m used to being watched so this is practically nothing.” Sylvester said inwardly, with a little smidgen smugness mixed in.

After a few seconds and three rotations, the eye stopped in front of Sylvester and started to dissipate as the light from the twins’ eyes began to fade. Slowly the twins opened their eyes once more, Nitri with joyous exuberance and Tinri with serious indifference.

“Well I guess that’s it.” He said to himself while shrugging. The twins then, who have now recovered from their trance like state, to move closer to them. Tinri grabbed something from under their desks and presented it to Sylvester.

“Thank you for cooperating!” Nitri said in her cheerful tone.

“Please take this and present it to the other side, do not lose because this will be very important once you’re inside the academy.” Tinri said as she handed out a thin blank card that was made from a material that felt like plastic yet had the sheen and luster of silver.

“Important huh? Better keep it close then.” Sylvester then took the card placing it in his left pocket instead of inside his hat.

“Now then mister Sylvester, please enter the elevator and enter the numbers 10, -10, then 0 in order.” Nitri instructed Sylvester, her tone accenting the word “order”.

“Uh, okay. Thank you Miss Nitri and Miss Tinri, it was a pleasure meeting you.” Sylvester said as he nodded and thought to himself “-10? Underground levels? Is the Academy underground or what?” and headed for the elevator. Just before he was about to enter the two women once again called out to him.

“Mister Sylvester?” The two said in unison, with Tinri speaking normally but still monotone for some reason.

“Yes?”

“Please do enjoy your stay at the academy!”. The twins said as they waved their hands towards him.

“Do your best and fight fight on!” Nitri added both her hands sporting a thumbs up, cheering Sylvester on.

“Well now, that goes without saying!” Sylvester replied while smiling.

“We expect many great things from newcomers. Now be on your way.” Tinri added, and sounded a little too overbearing.

“Uwaa where did sudden pressure come from? He thought to himself. “Of course miss Tinri. I surely will not disappoint” He replied with bravado and confidence.

Sylvester thanked them once more and entered the elevator. As the doors of the elevator closed a sudden thought popped into his mind. He realized that the twins didn’t mention the name of the academy.

He then chuckled inwardly as he remembered the disappointed faces of his parents when he asked about it earlier today. He looked to his right and saw the elevator panel that had the numbers -10 climbing all the way up to 10, there was no button for underground or even the lobby it was all just numbers!