Chris had to shield his eyes for a minute from the sudden brightness, he couldn’t see Serenity in front of him when he stepped into the portal, but he could still feel her hand on his. After what felt like hours Chris looked at the green grass beneath his feet, trying to get rid of the dancing dots from his eyes, he saw Serenity who was still there with him.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I uh are we here?” Chris asked confused.

“Yeah we’re here, sorry for the ride.”

“It was an interesting one that’s for sure, never experienced that in my life.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Serenity chuckled.

Chris took a look around the place, everything was something beyond his wildest dreams, he literally saw a walking skeleton waving at him, ghosts, witches and warlocks laughing with one another, vampires. Everything seemed so colorful and happy, there were also pumpkins and black cats around.

“Beautiful isn’t it? This is actually the good side; do you remember what I told you about the bad side?” Serenity told him.

“Yeah I remember.”

“It’s all the way on the edge of town, that side is split from this side, nothing can come in or come out, but that side always tends to have ways, just because they like destroying things; on the bad side, it’s always dark and dreary, raining most of the time, it is so dangerous and they have powerful forces living there, but luckily, I don’t think nothing is gonna go wrong of what I’m sensing.”

“That’s good to know.” Chris said looking around. “So, are you gonna give me the grand tour?”

Serenity smiled at him, “I’ll be glad too.”

They both arrived in the middle of a green luscious field, surrounded by small houses which looked like castles, Chris thought like it was something from a fairytale book, speaking of fairies, he actually saw them flying around the area throwing pixie dust here and there.

“Are those really fairies?” He asked her.

“Yep.”

They both entered a small convenience store, a wizard with a long beard was behind the counter, he waved at them, “Come in, come in.” Chris saw a ton of potions and a jar that looks like gumballs.

“Can you eat those gumballs?” Chris asked the wizard.

“You can, but it’s not for you, it’s for my enemies, I have a ton of enemies, this is the store where I practice all of my magic, and I have to prepare myself just in case.”

“Chris, this is Merlin, the wizard, he’s an old friend of my parents and my aunt.” Serenity introduced him to Chris.

“Nice to meet you sir, welcome to The Realm, are you enjoying yourself so far?” Merlin told him, his eyes twinkling.

“So far, I’m still trying to get used to this entire magical world.”

Merlin nodded and said, “it can be tough but you’ll get the hang of it and since you have at Serenity here, she is very clever and can get out in difficult situations.”

Merlin wondered why Serenity was here in the first place, “Why are you here my dear? Besides giving your mortal friend a tour, he has a protective shield on himself right?”

“Oh yes he does, but you see? I came here because I have an open house to attend to, it’s the Bluestone University, I received this letter saying they wanted to see me, even though I didn’t apply to this university.” Serenity handed him the letter so he can see it.

“Strange.” Merlin muttered and put his reading glasses on; he read the letter silently to himself, then said to her, “They are giving you a full-tuition?”

Serenity nodded yes.

“Hmm, well I have heard about the university, the previous owner of the university disappeared a while back; so they hired all of these new employees, counselors and were recruiting new students from all around the area, I’m guessing you were one of the new students.”

“What happened to the owner though?”

“Beats me, one minute he was in the halls of the university and the next minute he just disappeared, no one who attended there knew where he was, they checked the whole building.” Merlin told them.

“Wow.” Chris whispered, “We have got to check that place out then, come on let’s go!” Chris was ready to turn to the door but Merlin called out to him.

“Hold on a minute, before you go do you know where it is?” Merlin asked then turned to Serenity.

“Um, well is it still by the carnival?” Serenity wondered.

Merlin thought for a moment and then said, “Let me give you a map just in case.” He opened a drawer that was next to him, it was kind of dusty and a mess of old documents in there, but a rolled-up piece of paper with a blue ribbon was tied on it. “I think this is the map of this area.”

He handed the map to Chris and he opened it, slowly but carefully, Serenity was also looking at the map, a bunch of small castles and parks appeared on the map, at the same time they saw the university, at the end of a road not far from where the convenience store was.

“I think that’s Bluestone right there.” Merlin said pointing at the map.

“Ok, we would find it Merlin, thank you so much for your help.” Serenity smiled at him.

“Yes thank you, you rock man.” Chris joked.

“No problem guys, if anything just come back here okay?”

“Ok, thanks again.”

“Oh and be careful, always keep an eye on anything that doesn’t seem right.” Merlin warned.

“Don’t worry Merlin; I can sense things when they go wrong.” Serenity added.

“That is very good to know Serenity.” Merlin told her.

Chris and Serenity thanked Merlin again and headed out of the convenience store, and both looked at the map to see which road they were going to take next.