Kael felt as if he had been in a daze for the last fifteen minutes. They had just left the private room and were on the way to what Barbara called the training area. At first, he had questioned why Barbara wanted to show him one of their rooms in use, but now… now, he understood. The room itself was fairly unimpressive. Two sofas, a few chairs, a knee-high glass table, and a counter along the wall were the only pieces of furniture in the room. In fact, one corner of the room was notably empty, with only a single microphone stand occupying the area.

When they had entered, a young man was caressing the microphone as he sang out his soul. The modern speakers blasted his off-tone voice loudly into the room, and on the sofas, a group of young adults was laughing their ass off. Some of them were waving their hands, and Kael could feel the thick presence of magic move in the room. Sparks of light appeared and disappeared around the singer, tinting the dim room in a colorful mishmash of lights. Kael felt awed by the ease with which these people were manipulating the same energy that he had been having a hard time simply moving. At the same time, magic had been something so wonderful and life-changing to him that their use of it made him feel sick. Here was this amazing thing, a power capable of changing the world for the better. His salvation. His chance to leave his miserable life behind. And these people were using it for party tricks! Awe, disappointment, anger, and a myriad of other emotions bombarded him, making it hard to breathe.

Barbara’s voice suddenly disrupted his thoughts. “We’re here. Take a seat please.” He looked at her, at first not understanding what she was saying. Only when she repeated her instruction did he notice that they were standing in a small room with gym lockers and a bench opposite them. “Are you ok, Kael? I don’t know what got you so distracted. If it is to do with the customers you can stick to the kitchen for now.” She misunderstood his reaction, and the concern she was showing brought quiet tears to his eyes. He took a deep breath, trying to bring his emotions under control. “No, no, that is not the problem. There is no problem, not really. I… I don’t know how to explain it. Before magic, I had nothing. Magic is the reason I am here, the reason I have a friend. It is my future. Seeing them using that very thing for something so trivial… I can understand it, but it still makes me sad and angry.” Even as he spoke, Kael knew that his feelings were irrational they were real nonetheless.

Barbara was quiet and listened to him struggle through his explanation without commenting. There was a moment of quiet when he finished. “That was one of the reasons I showed you the room.” He suddenly heard her voice and looked up. “This is the reality of the world, and you better learn now before you enter a school full of magically talented teens in puberty. If you have trouble handling it, tell me.” There was no challenge or malice in her voice, only compassion. “Are you ready to learn some more today, or would you rather we wait until tomorrow?” - “No, I am ready.” He said as he stood up. “Good. As you can see, this is a locker room of sorts.” She explained and motioned around the room. “Through the door to your left is the physical training area, while to the right is the magical one. The door in the middle leads to a set of showers.”

The shower room was further split into four closed cabins. Tiled in unassuming, white ceramics and brightly lit by artificial light emanating from long tubes on the ceiling, the room reminded Kael of the indoor pool. They quickly moved on to the next area. Through the door, which was marked only as 'Martial' by a small plaque, he saw an array of machines that belonged in a gym. The room was big and wide open. Behind the rows of training equipment, Barbara brought him to something that looked a little like a boxing ring without the ropes. A platform, slightly elevated, dominated the central space of the room. What caught his eye, however, was the row of implements hanging on the opposite wall. Rows upon rows of martial weapons made of wood rested on racks mounted to the wall. Swords, shields, maces, even daggers, and polearms. Kael could only wonder why there were a fighting ring and training weapons below a restaurant for a second before Barbara moved on.

They exited the martial room again and now entered the magic room. Here too, the first thing that came into view were training machines. While he had understood most of those in the other room, where he had no idea what these machines were used for. Compared to their simpler counterparts, these looked as complicated as they could be. Wires and electronic displays were only the tamest of things he saw. There were also far fewer, and Barbara quickly guided him past them. Just like before, in the back of the room, there was a dedicated training area. All of the equipment, name, and sudo shooting-range, made the use of the room perfectly clear. The same displays mounted on the machines were also in the “shooting” part of the two lanes. When he was done inspecting everything a few minutes later, he noticed Barbara waiting for him on the side, sitting at a small table, placed there for rest he thought.

He wandered over and sat next to her. “This is amazing. I don’t know what any of these things are for, but it is impressive nonetheless.” - “Haha! You will learn in the future. Most of what is here is not meant for someone on your level anyway. The machines are actually not for training. They serve as tools to thoroughly test a person's magical abilities and quantify the results. I’m sure your friend will have at least heard of some of them. After all, the school uses something similar for their tests. On that note, yes, you are allowed to bring him here.” They sat in silence for a little while as Kael worked through everything he had seen in the last hour. “I think this is as much as I can take for one day.” He said with a sigh. Despite how much he wanted to learn more, there was just no room in his head left.

“Mhh. I agree. Your next lesson is in three days. Sorry to force my schedule on you, but my time is simply very limited at the moment.” Kael only nodded and thanked her for taking the time to teach him. They left the underground part of the building, and Kael headed off to his room, utterly exhausted.