Amr led us through miles and miles in the 5th nome. I realized that we were in a hidden hall, probably far from the human eyes. Mops and buckets came to life and swished around the marble floor, cleaning it up.

"Isn't that a cartoon?" Aria said. "The one about Mickey Mouse making mops and brooms clean the house?"

" 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' ," Amr said. "You do know that that was based on an Egyptian story, don't you?"

Aria made the same noise a mouse would when it would be stepped on.

[Yes, you did! I was there, Aria!]

In a dimly lit room, About six boys and girls, probably between eight and ten, were looking into clay bowls of oil, swishing it around and talking to it.

"Ah, I see you have noticed our Child magicians. Most are disappearing across the world, due to the.......... Current chain of events." Amr said. "Those bowls of oil can you show you anything. Unless it is heavily guarded by magic, of course."

         An open area lead to a huge sword arena, or in this case, was a khopesh arena. The floor was all sand and five foot tall cracked stone blocks were stacked near the edge of the arena. A glass ceiling shaped like a dome was over head, with big holes in it they were probably never gonna fix.

Polished Ivory and wooden wands were hung on the walls, where magicians were dueling each other. Two preteens, maybe a bit older than me, were battling each other. One raised her arms as water rose from thin air behind her. Another threw an amulet on the ground as it morphed into a ring of fire around the girl.

"The battle arena," Amr said, "is the most loved place by young magicians. They admire battling each other, especially to solve, ah, personal issues, I guess you might say."

Amr leaned into the arena. "Hey! No fire elementalists and water elementalists dueling! Unless you want to polish wands and staffs for a week, stop battling!"

The two magicians groaned. The first one commanded something I couldn't hear as the fire walls shrunk down. The water user put down her waves as they walked over to the table to put back their amulets, wands, and staffs. The second one cussed at the girl in Ancient Egyptian. The girl shoved the boy as the traded shoves and punches.

"Can we go there now?" Sophia asked.

"In time, my child." Amr said. Typical.

"Your training shall start tomorrow morning." Amr said, leading us to the second floor.

     On the left hand side, were carpeted floors, the colour of black, that led to a long hall full of 15 spruce doors. At the end, was another hall on the right hand side. The other side was the same except reversed.

"Boys on the left, and girls on the right. "Amr said. He handed one key to me and one to Aria.

"What about me?" Sophia said.

"Children between the ages of 8 and 14 share rooms with their same gender. You and Aria shall share a room together." Amr explained.

"What if they're younger?"

Amr sighed. "The house of life hasn't seen magicians that young in thousands of years, Miss Russell."

"Who's this house of life everyone's saying about?" Aria said.

"The house of magicians. Hundreds of them around The globe. There's even one in Alexandria, where you live from what Ayan said."

"She knows where we live?" I asked.

If we were talking with any other adult, guaranteed they would have had it. But Amr just nodded. "They have been tracking your magic for weeks, godlings. They have just been lucky that you went to the Duat, the highway for all magicians."

"Weeks? It's only been a day or two!" I protested.

"Time can slow down," Amr said. "Especially for magicians. But this is slowing down time rapidly, by at least weeks. In mortals time, it's only Friday in Alexandria. Some how, your patrons have managed to slow down time to such a speed. Still, I suggest that you hurry. If your patron gets too tired, they will burn your mortal body to a crisp."

"Good to know." I said.

"Now then, it is time for bed, my young heroes." Amr announced. "I shall send Ayan to wake you all up for training bright and early."

Amr turned to the halls and yelled, "That goes for everyone! To bed, my heroes!"

Groans filled the halls as magicians, sweaty and covered in armor, headed from the mess hall or the arena to their dorms.

"I hope that you like your training here at the 5th Nome." Amr said to us quietly. He had a sly smile. "Let's see your speciality soon enough, hm?"