An explosion of fireworks went off behind their heads. Everyone screamed out of shock from the fireball. They turned back around to where it came from and couldn’t believe what they saw.

At the front of the room, four fireballs floated in the air a few feet off of the ground. As they watched, one fireball slowly grew bigger and bigger. One looked like someone blew it out. The next one went out but you could hear something warbling in its place. And the last just seemed to disappear.

Whispers broke out all around the room. "What in the world is going on?" Parker thought.

“Hey, does anyone else think this is amazing? But also extremely creepy? Or is it just me?” Parker heard Alexis ask this and was thinking the exact same thing. They were both on the same page thinking how awesome and creepy this show was.

The lights flipped on, showing exactly what was happening. There were four people at the front of the room, three men and a woman. In front of the first man was a giant fireball. Parker’s table shouted, “His hands aren’t even touching the fireball! It’s just floating there!”

Alexis’s eyes turned to the next man in line. He was standing there, nothing in his hands, nothing in front of him. “What’s the next person doing? There’s nothing there with him.” As soon as she said this, his black hair and white robes began flapping around, like there was a giant fan in front of him. Then, it seemed to pick up its intensity. He stared out over everyone’s heads, focused on something.

As the dining hall stared at the second man, he began to rise off the ground.

“Is he connected to a wire?” a voice shouted out.

“He’s must be on some sort of platform,” another voice said.

The man began moving forward, six feet off the ground. He was floating over the first table of kids and looked down at them. His hair lay down flat, his robes stopped moving, and he dropped onto the table making everyone scoot back quickly. He turned and pointed to the woman that had been standing next to him. She was much younger than the others that were standing with her. She had to have been in her mid-thirties, whereas the others had to be around their sixties or older. Her hair was silver and down to the middle of her back and she had on dark rimmed glasses.

Once everyone’s eyes were on her, she raised her hands into the air. When they were over her head, two streams of water came from her sides out of what seemed like nowhere. The streams of water shot into the air over everyone’s heads doing exactly the opposite of each other. They did a one-eighty and went straight back to the woman at the front. She raised her hands in the air and the streams followed. Crossing her arms back and forth multiple times, the streams did the same, forming a double helix.

“Whoa…” the whole audience said at once. When the streams were about to crash into the ceiling, the woman clapped her hands together making the water explode in the air, raining down on everyone.

The kids’ eyes went straight to the last man, finally catching on to the flow of the show. He stood there, staring at everyone. Alexis leaned in to whisper to Parker. “Do you think he’s going to do something cool? Or is he just going to stand there and stare at us?”

As if he heard exactly what she had said, he straightened his muscle-covered arms out in front of him and clapped his hands together. The clap echoed through the dining hall, ringing in everyone’s ears. He was now staring right at Alexis, as beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

He raised his right foot and stomped it on the ground. At the same time his foot hit the ground, everyone’s chairs scooted back a foot. He then raised his arms above his head and pulled them straight down making a fist.

At that moment, all of the tables in the room disappeared into the floor. At everyone’s feet was now a colored circle, the same as the table they had been sitting at. Everyone stared at him, slightly scared of what was going to happen next.

He started moving his hands back and forth in front of him, as if commanding the chair to do what he wanted them to. And they did just that. Every chair in the room started moving around.

Parker and Alexis quickly grabbed onto their chairs so they didn’t fall off. Not everyone was so quick. Many of the kids fell from their chairs but continued to stare straight at the man doing all of this. Then with one last movement, every chair was back to where it had been moments before. He held his arms out in front of his body with his palms open facing the ceiling and slowly raised them into the air. The tables began to slowly rise back to the position they had been.

As soon as the tables were in place and their chairs had been scooted back into the table, the dining hall exploded with applause. The applause went on for a minute or two and then the four people took a bow.

The second man, the one that controlled the air, raised his hand and a wind blew through the room making everyone quickly quiet down. “Welcome First Years! This is going to be a great year at Lancastre!” The room erupted in applause again.

While everyone was clapping, Parker leaned to Alexis. “How did they do that? It’s gotta be all controlled by someone behind the scenes right? None of that was actually real. I bet they’re going to teach us how to fool others into thinking we can control the elements.”

She looked at him hesitantly. “I don’t know. That all looked pretty real to me!”

“My name is Master Sora and as you just saw, I am an Air Imperial. To my right is Master Keegan who is a Fire Imperial. And the two on my left are Master Kingston and Master Terra, Water Imperial and Earth Imperial. We are the head staff of Lancastre along with your main instructors. Shortly, we will have you all sorted into your houses and be ready to go. Luckily, when you were on your way here, there is a preliminary check as to which house you belong with.”

Everyone was staring in awe at the four masters. Befuddled by everything that had just happened. Master Kingston began speaking, “There are four houses here at Lancastre; The House of Kenna, The House of Erion, The House of Leith and The House of Gia. Each house can control a different element. The House of Kenna controls fire and The House of Erion can command the air. The House of Leith has the ability to bend water to their will and then The House of Gia is able to manipulate the Earth. Each of you will fit perfectly into one of the houses.”

Master Keegan stepped forward from the row of masters. “We will begin the sorting process in just a moment. Be ready to move so that you can be placed in your house. You will line up based on the color of your table and we will go from there.”

Everyone stood up from their seat and began joining their lines. The green-table line stretched for what seemed like ever. The red-table line and blue-table line were about the same length as each other but still a bit shorter than the green-table line. Then there was the white-table line with only twelve kids in it.

“The line you are in right now, does not necessarily mean that is the house you belong to. The pre-sorting is not always perfect but it does a fairly good job.”

At the front of the green line was Master Terra. In front of the red line was Master Keegan. The blue line had Master Kingston and the white line had Master Sora. “It looks like your theory of the colors corresponding to the elements was correct Parker!” Alexis said as they got in line. “It looks like we’re meant to be Air Imperials. That’s so cool! Do you think we’ll learn the other elements as well?”

Parker thought about that for a second not sure what exactly was going to happen next. He turned to say something but Alexis cut him off. “How are they going to know which house we belong to? Do they just look at us and know? Or is there something they have to do?”

Staring, he wanted to say something but Alexis just kept going, question after question, not even giving him a moment to say anything.

They tried their best to see what was happening at the front of their line but with no luck. Not only could they not see what was happening at the front of their line but they couldn’t see the other lines as well. After a couple of moments for each kid, they turned and walked next to the line and out the dining hall entrance.

“Where do you think they’re going?” Alexis whispered into Parker’s ear. He shrugged his shoulders. He was getting very nervous, his heart started pounding inside of his chest.

Two more to go and then it was his turn. Sweat started to run down his face. “Why am I so nervous?” Parker asked himself. “Are you nervous for this?” he asked Alexis. He turned to look at her reaction and caught her, very slightly nodding her head.

One more kid in front of Parker. “Alexis what do you think is going to happen up there?” When Parker turned around, it was his turn. He missed what had happened to the kid in front of him.

Standing in front of him, Master Sora stood, towering over him. Parker slowly raised his head to look Master Sora in the eye. “Hello young sir! Welcome to Lancastre. So, you think that you’re an Air Imperial. Have you ever done anything specific that makes you think this is where you belong?”

Parker didn’t really know what to think of his question. He couldn’t think of anything he’d ever done that would make him actually say, “Yeah, hasn’t everyone controlled what the air does?” His mind was racing, trying to think of something.

A memory flashed through his mind. “Oh yeah. Right before I came here, I was running through my house and almost tripped on something going down the stairs and it just like—” he paused, trying to word it correctly. “Magically moved out of the way. But I didn’t do that.”

Master Sora looked down at him. “You would be surprised how much you can do without even knowing it.” When he finished his sentence, he held his hands out in front of him, one on either side of Parker’s head. A wind began to twirl in a circle around his head. Faster and faster, making Parker’s hair whip around.

The next thing Parker knew, the wind stopped and Master Sora was speaking again, “… you may now go out the dining hall entrance, turn right and go to the third doorway on the left and take a seat. The rest will join you shortly.”

He turned and started walking back toward the entrance, thoughts flying around in his head. “What house am I in? What’s in this room I’m going to? Is Alexis going to be in the same house as me? What about Caleb, I wonder where he’ll end up.” Parker walked right by Alexis, not even giving her a glance.

“He said walk to the entrance, turn right, and then third door on the left.” That’s not so hard he thought. He turned after he left the dining hall, looking for the third door on the left. The first one was only a few feet away, the second however wasn’t for a little ways and then the third was a little further, being the last doorway on the left side of the hall. The doorway to the room sat right next to the giant spiral staircase that went up through the ceiling.

Curiosity got the better of him. He started walking up the steps a little ways, trying to get a glimpse of where they went. “What are you doing?” Alexis shouted at him. “Get down here, you’re not supposed to go up there!”

Parker basically jumped right out of his shoes. “You scared me! Wait. Did Master Sora tell you to come to the third doorway on the left too?” She nodded her head fast with a giant smile on her face.

“I guess that means you’re here as well?”

Parker nodded his head as well. “Yay!” He joined her at the bottom of the stairs and they walked into the room together. Sitting around the room were most of the kids from their station they had arrived at. However, there were a few new faces in the group and a few faces they realized that were missing.

“How much longer do you think it’ll be?” a voice asked.

Alexis sat down at a seat near the chalkboard and Parker took the one right next to her. “So what did Master Sora do to you to decide if this was where you were going?”

Parker thought about what had happened. “He asked me a question and then held his hands next to my head. Then, all of a sudden a wind was blowing around my head super faster and next thing I knew it was over.”

Alexis’s eyes opened wide when he said this. “That’s exactly what happened to me. Do you think it was the same for everyone?”

Someone sitting nearby, who must’ve been eavesdropping on their conversation spoke up. “That’s what happened to me too. So, I would guess that it was probably the same for everyone.”

Two more kids walked through the door, Parker was hoping that it was Caleb; he had started to like the kid. The two kids, neither of which were Caleb, were talking as they took a seat near Parker. He overheard what they were talking about.

“That kid in front of me walked to Master Sora and said something. Then Master Sora told the kid that he needed to step to the side and wait until everyone else was done. I wonder why he did that. Why didn’t he go through the same stuff as us?”

Parker looked over at Alexis, a worried look in his eyes. He asked the two new kids to the room, “What was the name of the kid in front you?”

“I have no idea.”

“What did he look like then?”

The kid thought for a second. “He was shorter, had brown hair and seemed like he was terrified of what the master might do to him.”

Alexis looked at Parker and didn’t have to say anything. They both knew this kid was talking about Caleb.

A few moments later, Master Sora came gliding into the room. “It looks like he’s just floating!”

“Is he even using his legs?” a voice whispered.

Alexis whispered, “He probably doesn’t have to walk if he doesn’t want to based on what he did earlier.”

He stopped right at the chalkboard and looked at all of the kids in the room. In total, there were seventeen kids in the room. “Welcome to the House of Erion.”

Everyone sat still, taking it all in for a second. Parker spoke up, “So, we picked the right tunnel to walk down then?” Master Sora walked over to him and looked down.

“Well, not all of you, but for some of you it was a real toss-up as to which house you truly belonged. The tunnels don’t always give the correct answer. For example, some of the original kids from the air tunnel are no longer here and some that took a different tunnel are now here.”

Parker thought about that for a second. Caleb had chosen the air tunnel and he was no longer here. “What happened to Caleb? What house did he end up in?” Master Sora looked at him, a confused expression on his face. “You know. Short kid. Brown wavy hair. Looks like he’s afraid of everything.” Like a switch being flicked on, Parker could see the light turn on behind his eyes.

“Ah. Yes. That young boy. He is a bit of a different case. I will explain all of that to you later. For now, I will explain how this is all going to work for tonight and then tomorrow you will begin your first lesson.”

The House of Erion’s newest members took seats at the front of the room in order to hear all of Master Sora’s directions. Once the last kid sat down, he began his speech.

“As I said, welcome to The House of Erion. This is going to be your new family here at Lancastre. You will have most of your classes with them. You will live with them and you will eat with them. So, I would highly recommend that you get to know one another. You will still have classes with the other houses as well, but your main studies will be with our house. As I’m sure you have guessed, I am the master of The House of Erion. However, I am not the only one. There is also Master Allgood. He helps me out with everything. You will take all of your element-based classes with us. Some days we will all be together. While other days we will split up to have a little more private lessons. Are there any questions so far?”

They all stared at him, just taking everything in. One boy raised his hand in the back of the group. “Why are there only seventeen of us? There had to have been a hundred new first years.”

“That is a great question sir. As it turns out, The House of Erion is almost always the smallest house in the school. Each year, there are always significantly less first years that fall into The House of Erion than any of the other houses. For example, last year, we had only one. Why that is? I can’t really tell you. But in the end, you will grow to appreciate it because you will receive more one-on-one time than any of the other houses. Any other questions?”

He received blank stares from his new audience. “Well, I guess that about wraps it up for tonight. To get to your new living corridors, you will now follow me.”

Master Sora walked right passed all of the desks to leave the room. Everyone quickly got out of their seats and began following him.

Parker was in the middle of the pack with Alexis. All he could think about was Caleb and what was different about him. “Look Parker! We get to go up the spiral stairs!” Alexis was shaking his shoulder trying to snap him out of the daze he was in.

Once they were about ten steps from the bottom, Master Sora directed his house to look up. When they saw why he asked them to do so, their mouths all opened and in unison and said, “Whoa…”

“As you saw when you arrived, this castle is extremely tall. Not only is it tall, every floor is accessible by this staircase. It connects the first floor all the way up to the thirtieth floor.” Master Sora continued talking but Parker had tuned him out a little.

He thought to himself about how Caleb had seemed so afraid of everything. He whispered to Alexis, trying not to catch anyone else’s attention. “Do you think Caleb is okay? If he’s different, why didn’t Master Sora just say that he was in a different house?”

She looked at him not really sure what to say next. “Maybe he didn’t fit into any one house. Maybe they just couldn’t figure it out on the spot and it takes a different test to decide. But there’s no reason for us to worry about him right now when there’s nothing we can do.”

Parker knew that she was right but he couldn’t make himself stop worrying. That just wasn’t who he was.

By the time Parker started listening to Master Sora again, they had made it up passed the third floor. The master was giving them a bit of history about the school. He stopped them by waving his hand in the air to gain their attention. “Be ready to take quite the hike! The twenty-first floor is where the entry to our common room is. So, keep up and don’t get lost.”

Out of breath, they finally reached their floor. Master Sora continued down the hall making turn after turn. “How are we supposed to find this again? I can’t keep track of all the turns. Plus, there’s like a hundred doors. What could they possibly lead to?” Parker could’ve asked a hundred questions about what all this school held and what type of people he was going to be working with.

After what seemed like ten turns, Master Sora came to a stop. “All right, if you look here, you’ll see the entrance to our commons room where all of the bedrooms are.”

The group looked around, completely confused as to what he was talking about. Alexis was the first one of the group to notice the entrance. But she couldn’t figure out how in the world it worked.

“But how?” was all she asked.

Master Sora chuckled, “Can’t figure it out?”

Everyone else was lost, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

“You can’t be serious though. None of us can do that!”

“No worries child. You will learn quickly.”

“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Parker said. “What in the world are you two going on about?”

Alexis pointed at the ceiling to a hole. It looked like it went up twenty feet from the ceiling. “You can’t be serious,” he said.

Master Sora spoke up, “Not to worry. Tonight I will help you through the entrance and then tomorrow it will be the first thing we work on. Well, not the first but you should be able to do it by the week’s end.

With that said, he began flying each student up the entrance one-by-one. Master Sora was the last to land in the commons room.

“Welcome to The House of Erion. This is where you will be living for the next six years.”

Parker’s eyes grew wide. He’d finally been given the answer to his question about how long this school lasted. “You mean, we don’t get to leave the school for the next six years?”

Master Sora, who had clearly had this question asked before said, “You will be blown away, no pun intended, at how fast the six years will go. But do not worry about that right now. Girls, your bedrooms are going to be down that hall on your left and boys you will be down the hall on the right. I will just get this out of the way now; do not go into the other gender’s rooms. That is why we have a commons room. This room is plenty big for everyone to fit comfortably. If I find out that you have disobeyed the rules, there will be consequences.”

Everyone was so exhausted they just started to walk down the corridor and entered the door that said “First Years”. Both boy’s and girl’s rooms were the same, simply a mirror image of the other. The room held more than enough of them. There were seven boys and ten girls. When they got to their rooms, they each claimed a bed, threw their stuff underneath and crawled under the covers ready to pass out.

Parker lay there thinking about Caleb and where he was. “Why am I so worried about him? I barely even know him. He was pretty much the only other one that really talked to me besides Alexis. Maybe that’s why.”

The bed made Parker feel like he was floating on a cloud, which could very well be a possibility for him now. His eyes began to feel very heavy and the moment his head touched the pillow, he slipped into a deep, restful sleep.