A Secret World

The sound of a running tap could be heard from outside the room. He placed his hand under the tap, splashing some cold water over his face before looking at the mirror, sizable, expressive, teal-green eyes peering into its reflection.

He runs his hand through his neck-length long dark hair "Maybe I should get an undercut fashion," he says to himself as he ties it into a bun.

"At least turn off the tap," a voice instructed from outside, coupled with a knock on the door, "we are trying to cut down the water bills."

"Right, sorry," he shouted back before throwing on a brown hoodie and walking out of the washroom.

Just outside was a lady, in her early thirties, she had long brownish-blonde hair that extends past her shoulders and frame her forehead. She also had triangular eyebrows and asymmetric bangs.

The woman wore a light-colored button-down shirt and a dark blue tie, pants, socks, and brown shoes. "You must be Hunter, the new kid," she said, extending her hand for a shake, he shook the hand before she spoke again. "I'm Lauren Gibbs-White, the utility, and maintenance officer," she said.

"Nice to meet you," Hunter said.

"Come with me," she said as she turned towards the other side of the hallway. "We are not used to having new students at your age so you'd have to pay attention in class and pick up things quickly. Your classmates already have eight years of training ahead of you."

"Okay."

She takes a dark green cloth and hands it to him, "here's your uniform," she stated.

"I ... I don't look good in green," Hunter replied.

Lauren raised an eyebrow, "It's a requirement that all the students wear green."

"Can I wear just the pants instead?" He pleaded.

Lauren frowns but her face settles into a small smile, "of course," she replied, "what's your shoe size?" She asked.

"43."

Lauren takes out a pair of brown shoes from a rack close by and hand it to him, the corner of her lips curling upwards as she spoke, "Here ... You do look good in brown," she said, her eyes darting down to his hoodie and then back to his eyes.

He takes the shoes from her, "Thanks."

Lauren suddenly stops in front of a room before handing a key over to Hunter, "... And this would be your room, if you have any questions now would be the best time to ask."

"Alright, what exactly goes on here?"

"Straight to the point huh? Well, the Metropolitan School of mysticism is a place created for special beings like yourself to learn more about your powers and skills. You might not know but different types of beings walk the face of the earth. There are sorcerers like you, werewolves, fairies, dark mystics, and vampires. There are subclasses or more accurately, orders. For example, among the sorcerer class, there are witches, mages, conjurers, intellectual animals, etc.

"Wait, hold on, Vampires and werewolves are real?"

"Yes," she replied, "although there are only werewolves and sorcerers in this school because of how scarce the other classes are in the Met."

"I have so many follow-up questions ..." Hunter said confused.

"Those would have to wait," Lauren glanced at her watch, "We've wasted enough time, get dressed, meet me outside in five."

Hunter stepped into the room, it had a bed and a nightstand in one corner and a cupboard and a wardrobe in another. He smiled at the sight, this was certainly better than his old place which was filled with an ugly stench and swarmed with cockroaches and rats.

He sighed as he thought about what Lauren just said, vampires, werewolves, and what did she mean by 'intellectual animals'? 'this would take some time to get used to' he thought to himself.

He changes his pants to the dark green ones before putting on the brown shoes and heading out to meet with Lauren. "Ready for your first day in school?"

"I guess," he shrugged.

She lead him to the western wing of the building which was where the classes were. "One second," she says to him before walking into a class and whispering something in the teacher's ear, and walking back to Hunter, "this is your class," she says to him, "Good luck," she added before walking away.

"Alright settle down class," the teacher instructed, "We have a new student,"

"My fellow students,"

"Just introduce yourself," the teacher whispered.

"Right, my name is Hunter Heffernan and it's an honor to be your classmate, let's study well and have a great year!"

Hunter walks over to an empty seat at the far end of the class and sits on it, he could feel a pair of eyes peering into his back. He turned to catch a girl with mid-length orange hair that reaches her neck that is styled with bangs that cover the right side of her forehead watching him. She had orange eyes, long eyelashes, and thin eyebrows of the same color. She had a curvy figure and wore a dark green button-down jacket, a short brown skirt that stops mid-thigh along with black stockings and brown loafers.

Her gaze was fixed on him even when his eyes meet hers, unmoving until the teacher spoke again, "Today's lesson is Domain," the teacher began.

"For a sorcerer, the most basic and most important aspect of any spell, movement, attack, and the likes is the domain. The domain is the area that is controlled and can be manipulated by the sorcerer. Just like the way you're able to move parts of your body, the domain becomes simply an extension of your body, observe." The teacher pairs his index with his middle finger and moves them in the air as if drawing half a circle.

He closes his eyes and when he opens them again, his once burgundy eyes glow bright red. The walls and ground around him brighten up with runes and suddenly, the entire class turns into a desert and the chairs and tables turn into camels. "... Woah," Hunter muttered.

"The domain is extended as far and wide as the sorcerer can extend it but when manipulated to create a new visual, like now, the sorcerer must maintain every image, every feeling ..."

Hunter could feel the scorching heat of the sun on his skin, it was like he truly was in a desert and sitting on a camel.

"Inside the domain, a sorcerer's powers are near unlimited ..." As he says it, he disappears and appears next to Hunter and suddenly everything changes to a snowy environment with a very low temperature most of the students began shivering.

"... For a strong sorcerer, inside his domain, he becomes invincible!" The teacher stated, "but of course, this is all far above your skills ... I'm sorry I got carried away there," he said and the room returned to its original form.

"You," the teacher called, his hands falling to Hunter's shoulder, how about you form a domain for us?"

"But I'm literally the new kid here ..." Hunter whispered, more to himself than the teacher, "go on," said the teacher.

Hunter got up from his seat and exhaled loudly, "good start," the teacher commended, "keep in mind the domain is an extension of yourself, you don't have to go big, think of the space between your feet, focus on that space. Now, close your eyes and listen ..."

Hunter does as instructed, closing his eyes and paying attention until he could no longer feel all his classmates' eyes on him, they were only to him the space and the voice of the teacher.

"... Listen," the teacher continued, "listen to the space it's calling on to you, sending you pure, natural energy. All you have to do is harness that energy, take the energy in and make that space a part of yourself, your domain..."

Hunter opened his eyes again only to find himself in a dark, endless space, "huh? What the hell is this?" He thought aloud.

"Finally, you've come to me," A broad voice echoed in the endless space.

"What the ..."

Hunter felt a hand grab his wrist and he looks up to see that it was his teacher and he was back in the classroom, "That was amazing, though I'm sure that wasn't your first time given how large your domain was and how you easily use it for a transmission!" The teacher smiled, "a round of applause for Mr. Heffernan," he ordered and the students comply.

'What just happened?' He thought, 'where the hell did I go just now?'

...

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

"Hello,"

"Hey man, I thought you forgot about me after going to your fancy school of magical things," the voice on the other side of the phone claimed,

"Nice to talk to you too, Jacob," Hunter said.

"What's the problem dude, you sound down," Jacob asked

"It's ... Nothing,"

"Come on, you know you can't lie to me,"

Hunter snorts, "It's just, nothing is as I imagined."

"Things rarely are," Jacob noted.

"No, I ... I thought coming to this school would be perfect for me to meet people with the same ability as I have only to find out this is just a place for misfits, people who can't be out in the public ..."

"That's not true and you know it," Jacob stated, "sure, things might be different from what you expected but that isn't necessarily a bad thing is it? You're now in a school learning more about what you are, with people that even if they aren't exactly like you, know what it's like to be different, isn't that what you've always wanted?"

Hunter sighs, "yeah, I guess I'm just overwhelmed."

"Sure, you need to practice a lot though so that when you come back, we can return to our business with a degree to add to your CV, they give degrees right?"

"Right, I almost forgot what your priorities are," Hunter smiles, "which reminds me, I left something in the bottom left drawer for you."

"It's cash isn't it?"

Hunter laughs, "Talk to you later," he said before ending the call.

He looked at his hand, forming yellow energy around his fist. Sure, he joined in the middle of the year and is behind compared to his classmates, but he was going to do everything in his power to make sure he catches up to them.

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