Alex yawned as he shuffled through the towering gates of Celestial Academy. Students rushed past him, clutching thick textbooks and muttering incantations under their breath. One girl had her hair on fire—apparently on purpose, judging by how she kept checking her reflection in shop windows.
What a weird place.
He'd only applied here because the dorm food was supposedly decent. The magic stuff was just a bonus. Or maybe a drawback. He hadn't decided yet.
"Next!"
Alex blinked. The line had moved while he was watching a boy levitate himself into a tree. The examiner—a stern woman with glasses that definitely weren't for reading—was glaring at him.
"Sorry." He stepped forward, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Where do I—"
"Name and strongest spell. You have three minutes."
Around him, other students leaned forward. Someone whispered about "the sleepy guy" and "is he even awake?"
Alex scratched his head. "Alex Chen. And, uh... do I really have to do the spell thing?"
The examiner's eye twitched. "It's mandatory."
"Right. Okay." He pulled one hand out of his pocket and stared at it. Just something small. Don't break anything.
He wiggled his fingers. A tiny ball of light appeared, no bigger than a marble.
The magical detection crystals exploded.
Alex jumped back as sparks showered the testing area. "Oh. Oops."
The examiner stood frozen, her clipboard smoking in her hands. The other students had gone completely silent.
"Is that... bad?" Alex looked around at the shattered crystal fragments. "I can pay for them. I think I have like... twenty dollars?"
The examiner blinked rapidly, then started scribbling notes so fast her pen tore through the paper. "Congratulations. You've been accepted into Class S."
"Is that good?"
"It's the advanced class."
Alex's shoulders sagged. "I was hoping for something quiet."
Behind him, the whispers started again.
"Did you see that light? It was so pure..."
"He overloaded the crystals!"
"But he looked so confused. Maybe he doesn't know how strong he is?"
Alex turned around. A blonde girl was staring at him with wide eyes. "You're really powerful, aren't you?"
"Not really. I'm pretty average."
She laughed. "Right. 'Average.'"
Why is she making air quotes?
The examiner cleared her throat. "Your room assignment." She handed him a slightly singed paper. "Building C, Room 237. Your roommate is Marcus Blackwood."
Alex nodded and started walking away, then paused. "Which way is Building C?"
"Just follow the signs."
There were no signs. Or if there were, they were in some fancy script he couldn't read. Alex wandered around the campus for twenty minutes, passing groups of students who kept pointing at him and whispering. A few even bowed, which was weird.
Maybe they're just really polite here.
He finally found Building C when he saw a guy in expensive-looking robes yelling at a delivery person about "proper handling of family heirlooms."
"Excuse me," Alex said, "is this Building C?"
The guy turned around. He had perfectly styled black hair and the kind of face that belonged on magazine covers. "Are you lost?"
"Yeah, I'm looking for room 237."
"That's my room." The guy's eyes narrowed. "You must be my roommate. I'm Marcus Blackwood, heir to the Blackwood magical dynasty."
Alex blinked. "Cool. I'm Alex. I like pizza."
Marcus stared at him for a long moment. "You're... not what I expected."
"What did you expect?"
"Someone more... imposing. Given your entrance exam performance."
Word travels fast here.
"I just made a little light," Alex said. "It wasn't that impressive."
Marcus's expression shifted. "A little light? You destroyed every detection crystal in the testing hall."
"They seemed pretty fragile."
"They're designed to withstand graduate-level spells!"
Alex shrugged. "Quality control isn't what it used to be."
Marcus opened his mouth, then closed it. Opened it again. "Are you... mocking me?"
"No? I'm just tired. Where's the room?"
Marcus led him upstairs in silence. The room was bigger than Alex's entire apartment back home, with two beds, two desks, and a window that overlooked the training grounds.
"The bathroom is shared with the room next door," Marcus said stiffly. "Lights out at eleven. No loud noises after ten."
"Got it." Alex dropped his single duffle bag on the bed and flopped down next to it. "This is nice."
"That's it? One bag?"
"I don't have much stuff."
Marcus gestured to his side of the room, which looked like a furniture showroom. "What about your magical implements? Your spell books? Your family artifacts?"
Alex pulled a crumpled notebook from his bag. "I've got this. It's mostly grocery lists, but there's some doodles in the back."
"Grocery lists."
"Yeah. Milk, eggs, bread. The essentials."
Marcus sat down heavily on his own bed. "Who are you, really?"
"Just a guy who wants to learn some magic and eat decent food."
"Nobody destroys those crystals by accident."
Alex closed his eyes. "Can we talk about this after I nap? I'm really tired."
"It's three in the afternoon."
"Perfect nap time."
Within minutes, Alex was asleep. Marcus stared at him for a long time, then pulled out his phone and started typing furiously.
'Marcus: Emergency family meeting. My roommate is either the strongest mage I've ever met or the most arrogant commoner alive. Possibly both.'
'Dad: Which one?'
'Marcus: I honestly can't tell.'
Outside the window, students were still practicing basic spells on the training grounds. Their magic flickered and sparked, barely visible in the afternoon sun.
Inside the room, Alex slept peacefully while tiny flowers bloomed in the cracks between the floorboards around his bed.