Kaleb sighed loudly as he zigzagged his way through the crowd. He had a pass to visit the various research centers of the school as a prospective student. It was a fairly standard process. He just had to give them his address and his credentials as a Super. He’d have to wait for next semester to actually attend, of course. But he could still walk the campus and talk to the students and faculty.

  “Stop blowing so much air out of your damn nostrils. People are going to think you can’t breathe properly.” Daivor chastised from his shoulder.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, my young lordling. Shall I endeavor to explain to the peasantry why we are now amongst their number?”

  “Lay off! You had the money.”

  “I had the money! Now I don’t have the money. In fact, I may never have money again. I will remain destitute paying for your spa days.”

  “It’s a onetime thing, boss.” Daivor said.

  Kaleb huffed noisily and pushed past a short alien man. “Bull. Also, why did you have to ask for the full package, you primadonna!?”

  “Self-care is important.”

  Kaleb glared as the gnome’s rosy cheeks seemed to grow more pink. It wasn’t that Kaleb wasn’t happy to pay to spoil the guy. But he was sure they had just been gouged. The manic grin on the mage’s face, combined with the way he had gleefully accepted Kaleb’s credits, made Kaleb feel like he’d been robbed.

  “Hey! There you are!” Jar-Lock’s voice came over the crowds and Kaleb spotted him and Vivienne.

  “Here we are.” Kaleb answered, adding dryly. “A few thousand credits lighter.”

  Daivor said nothing as Vivienne and Jar-lock pulled up next to them and looked around. They were a short distance away from the school’s turnstile. Kaleb started in that direction, but Vivienne grabbed his arm.

  “You need a pass first.”

  “Got it already.” Kaleb smiled, waving his all-access pass.

  “Wow! Sprung for all-access. Big spender.”

  Kaleb frowned. “It was the only one he offered me.”

  “It is the best one. But the daily pass would’ve worked just fine.”

  Kaleb fumed as Jar-lock questioned. “What the hell is this place? A theme park?”

  “It is the premiere academy for raising and keeping magical creatures, Jar. Dozens of mages come every day to take advantage of the grounds.”

  “The grounds?”

  “The entire block is enchanted to increase the bond between a creature and its master. Also, there are enchantments to enhance the growing speed of certain magical creatures. Although that can stunt their growth a bit.”

  Kaleb scanned everything as they passed through the turnstile. But nothing looked any different to his eyes. As they passed through the turnstile, he got his first look at the grounds of the MAARC behind its massive wall. It was the wildest setup Kaleb had ever seen. Ahead of them was a cobblestone path leading further into the school. But to the right and left of the path were two very different views. The right side was a full-on jungle environment, with trees reaching into the sky. Kaleb could hear animals and insects buzzing away behind the massive vegetation. On the left side was an absolute desert. Sand was blown about by a light breeze, and Kaleb could feel the heat coming from that side of the path.

  “What the fuck?” Kaleb said, almost stopping to bask in the heat.

  “What?” Vivienne asked slyly.

  “Don’t give me that. Why the hell do they have different biomes in here?”

  “You didn’t think that they’d keep the animals caged all the time, did you?” Jar-lock asked.

  “Y’know, Jar, I can honestly say that I never thought about it.” Kaleb responded as he caught sight of another odd scene.

  A figure was standing in the desert biome a short creature at his side. The breeze on that side of the path started to pick up as Kaleb realized the figure was a man. The man raised a hand and the small rat-like creature at his side seemed to howl. Kaleb couldn’t hear anything from his position, but as the rat-thing finished its cry, a whirlwind of dust suddenly appeared in front of it. The tiny tornado shot away from the man and rat pair and off into the desert with ever-increasing speed.

  “Ooooh, a Sand-Rat!” Vivienne cooed as she spotted what Kaleb was looking at.

  The name of the creature dragged Kaleb away from the show. “Really? Doesn’t that seem a bit on the nose?”

  The wizard pointed a slim finger at Daivor. “Builder Gnome.”

  Kaleb and Daivor shared a look before they both shrugged. “Fair point.”

  The four of them carried on down the pathway. Kaleb flicked his vision to his magic vision for a few seconds. As expected, the entire school was lit up like a Christmas tree, but he also spotted several nodes of magic moving about the place. At first he thought they were sprites or something similar. But then he realized they were people. There were dozens of mages and creatures just within the desert and forest biomes alone. It was when Kaleb spotted the next two biomes down the path that he stopped cold.

  “Well, that’s just not possible.”

  “Clearly, Professor, it is.”

  “Thank you, Jar-lock. Remind me to explain hyperbole to you later.”

  Vivienne giggled at both of them as they all stared at the massive mountain sticking out of the ground ahead of them. It was covered in bright snow and Kaleb could, again, see a strong breeze flowing through the biome. The few fir trees on the slopes of the mountain were almost artistically decorated with icicles and snow. A dark blur flashed by as Kaleb was watching and it took him a moment to catch the creature that had just flown by. It was only when the tall, muscular-looking creature stopped moving that he got a good look at it.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Ha! Let me guess,” Kaleb said, pointing a finger. “An Ice-penguin?”

  “It’s a Scydian. It’s an alien creature much like the earth penguin, yes.”

  “Except it’s six-feet tall and has fucking icicle dreadlocks.” Jar-lock quipped.

  Kaleb nodded as the large humanoid penguin stood and shook out its ‘hair.’ The creature had been sliding down the mountain on its belly. Kaleb started waking again as the Scydian turned around and headed back up the enormous mountain, probably to slide back down again. A group of mages and other people crowded around the creature as it did it’s best to ignore them.

  “What’s that about?”

  Vivienne watched the mages and other students trip over themselves. “Probably trying to gain the big guy’s favor. There’s a rule that if you can get an animal to accept you, then you can keep it.”

  “It’s probably tougher for them because the thing’s not a magical creature.” Jar-Lock added.

  “Is he saying I’m easy?” Daivor staged whispered into Kaleb’s ear.

  “Oh, trust me. We all know there’s nothing easy about you.” Kaleb quipped back.

  Daivor snorted as Vivienne covered another laugh. Jar-lock just shook his head as they continued further up the path. They still couldn’t see the school proper, although Kaleb was sure he had glimpsed it from the road. Then again, with magic involved, everything was up for grabs. He cast a wary eye over the other biome next to the mountainside. It was a tropical beach, complete with a water slide. Creatures and pasty-skinned mages were flouncing about on the beach having fun. Kaleb shook his head as he smelt sea air hit his nose.

  “Is the smell disturbing you, sir? I can have the mages reaffirm the wards.”

  “No, I’m fine.” Kaleb said before realizing he didn’t recognize the voice.

  He spun on the spot to find who had spoken, but all he saw were Vivienne and Jar-lock. But going by their faces, they had clearly heard the voice too. Realization seemed to dawn on Vivienne as a piece of Jar-lock’s shadow detached itself and grew into a featureless person. Kaleb saw the big mage roll his eyes as the shadowy figure bowed to the four of them.

  “Apologies. I only just spotted your group. Am I to understand that this is Daivor?” The shadow asked, waving a finger-less appendage at the gnome.

  Kaleb backed up a step as Vivienne nodded in answer. The thing was creepy just on the face of it. He was sure that the thing was part of the school. But still, scary was scary.

  “He’s a Shade, Professor. Although why he wants Daivor is a bit of a mystery.”

  The Shade turned his faceless body to Vivienne to answer. “I am collecting Master Daivor for his spa treatment.” Turning back to Daivor, he added. “If you would step into my shadow, Master Gnome, I will take you there immediately.”

  Before Kaleb could say a word, Daivor was off his shoulder and rushing toward the shadow-creature’s legs. They were still embedded on the cobblestone path as the Shade’s torso stuck up from the ground. As soon as Daivor’s feet touched the Shade’s shadow, he sank. The Gnome and the Shade gave them all a quick wave before they disappeared into the walkway. Kaleb tried to control his very real urge to chase the creepy shadow down and get Daivor back.

  “You paid for the spa treatment?!” Vivienne asked in shock.

  Kaleb shrugged. “He earned it. Little bastards been working his ass off. Least I can do is give him a day of relaxation.”

  “What about your little mission?” Jar-lock asked.

  Kaleb waved his pass at the two mages. “I can still do that with this. I just need to find the right lab or classroom.”

  “We just need to stay on this path until we hit the training yards. The research building will be on our right-hand side.”

  Kaleb nodded even as Vivienne grinned at him. Clearly, she was pleased with his decision to treat Daivor. On the other hand, Jar-lock was damn near glaring at him.

  “Professor, you didn’t use guild funds…”

  “No, Dad! I didn’t use guild funds to pay for Daivor’s day. Although I bet I could’ve. That little dude has helped us all! So you just calm the hell down.”

  Kaleb pointed a finger at Jar-lock, who took a step back with his hands up. Right into Vivienne’s waiting slap.

  “He’s right, you know. Daivor deserves to be pampered and I bet if we asked the others, they’d reimburse the Professor for the visit. Which package did you get?”

  Kaleb winced and hurriedly turned back down the path. “That’s not important. Y’all don’t have to worry about it.”

  “Oh… You got suckered into the upsell, didn’t you?”

  “So it was a waste of money?”

  “Not necessarily. I just don’t see Daivor being excited about getting a mani-pedi along with the exfoliating body rub that comes along with it. But the oils they use can enhance the flow of magic. So that would be worth it.”

  Kaleb nodded. “The manicure may be a bit much. We work with our hands a lot, so it’ll probably be ruined extra quickly. But the rest is probably fine. If Daivor doesn’t like anything, he’ll tell them. Believe me.”

  “I still think the guild should help pay. Like you said, Daivor has been a treasure… and Roy.”

  “We can’t reward every NPC helper at the Hangar, Viv.”

  “Why not just the ones that have been with us for a while? I bet Farrah would like a day off or something.”

  Jar-lock shook his head. “If we do that, then who decides when an NPC has been around long enough for us to reward? Do we reward them as a group, or do we single out the top contributors? There’s a lot of forethought that needs to go into these things before we just…”

  “We do, as a group, and we hand out better rewards for the best workers.” Kaleb interrupted, answering all of Jar-lock’s questions. “There. It’s all been mapped out.”

  He saw the big Mage grit his teeth in annoyance and a little smile crossed Kaleb’s face. They were nearing the end of the latest biomes and Kaleb could see large green fields off in the distance. As well as a gray stone building. The five-story square building looked really clinical next to the rectangular green fields laid out in front of it. There were another four buildings surrounding the training area, but Kaleb could just feel that the gray one was his destination.

  Flashes of magic in his periphery made Kaleb check the fields. He spotted teams of creatures and their owners fighting it out on the grassy fields. Ifirts threw fireball as two-legged fish spat water balls. All the while, their trainers wrestled and boxed like madmen. Kaleb found the fights surprisingly brutal as a Sand-rat shredded the skin off an opposing trainer with its claws. Healer seemed to be on hand for any serious injuries, but it still wasn’t a pleasant sight.

  “What the hell are they training for? War?” Jar-lock asked as Kaleb turned them down the path to the gray building.

  “Not everything is about war, Jar. Although, yes, some of them are training for battle leagues. But really most of them do it as a form of exercise. Meanwhile, some of the alien species need to be combative. They get sick if they aren’t allowed to fight. Also, some are just research students, trying to discover the best training habits.”

  Kaleb winced as he watched a tornado pick up a trainer and fling them across the large field. The fight was put on hold as the healers saw to the poor sap. They were walking alongside the gray building now, getting ready to turn into the first door they saw. Kaleb reached into his pocket and pulled out the notebook where he had written the formula for the serum. It was one of many pieces of paper with the info on it. He spotted the door and waved his pass over the entrance as he started re-reading his notes. He knew he was probably going to have to bounce around a bit to find what he was looking for.

  BOOM!

  CRASH!

  SHATTER!

  “Fire on level three. Repeat: Fire on level three!”

  Kaleb’s musings were interrupted as his feet took him into the building and he was accosted by noise. People shouted, and creatures crowed all while klaxons blared in the distance. The already deafening explosion from before was being covered by several smaller ones as the entire building seemed to rock. All around people and aliens in lab coats scurried around trying to make it to their next job. Kaleb grinned as he noticed more than a few people not even looking up at the sound of explosions.

  “Oh Jeez.” Jar-lock groaned at the sight.

  “I’ve found my people!” Kaleb shouted over the noise.