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Joshua felt weird. His head pounded as if someone had been using it as a punching bag and he had no idea where he was.

As he tried to look around he soon found that everything around him seemed to be shrouded in a foggy twilight,

like muddy water, it even felt that way when he tried to move, as if his muscles were fighting through something

thick and oily.

Breathing seemd to work normally though and yet he had no idea how he'd gotten here.

Slowly the foo-dog tried to move forward, he had no idea where it would take him but it was better then floating

around doing nothing.

A slight chuckle, acompanied by some bubbles, escaped him before he turned his head, Joshua could've sworn he saw something move right in the corner

of his eye but there was nothing except more of this weird twilight.

Something wasn't right here, he knew that, just a few moments ago he was in Hammer's office, showing his 'power' and then,

a second later, he was here.

A short shake of the head as he tried to convince himself that it was probably just his imagination.

As he tried to move again though he found he couldn't and as his gaze slowly went down his eyes widened in fear.

Thick, gooey tentacles had wrapped themself around his ankles and wrists, holding him, but even as he saw them he didn't feel them, as if they weren't there.

Still, he couldn't move, even when he tried to put every ounce of strength he had into it he couldn't move.

As he tried to fight them off though he saw it again, right in the corner of his eye he saw movement, but this time it didn't vanish as he tried to look directly at it.

It was another tentacle, but this one was different, it looked the same as the others but it felt different, dangerous.

Slowly, almost like a drop of ink, it moved through the water, Joshua tried to scream, to call for help, only more bubbles escaped his muzzle.

Soon it was right before him, almost as if it was looking at Joshua. Slowly it swayed from side to side, like a snake looking at it's prey and just like a snake

it moved back a bit.

Joshua's eys got wide again, he shook his head before the tentacle shot forward...

---

Screaming he woke up, a hand pressed to his forehead, right at the spot the tentacle was aiming for. His eyes moved fast to identify his surroundings.

He was in an unfamiliar room, was it another dream?

The door slowly opened and he could see the face of a worried Hammer.

'Everything okay in here?,' the rottweiler asked as he moved in before he sat down right next to the bed Joshua was lying on.

Slowly Joshua calmed down, taking a few more seconds to look at the room. It was pretty nice, a bit neutral but nice, the bed was comfy as far as he could tell,

there was a couch, a small coffetable as well as a bookshelf and a desk with a keyboard on it but weirdly enough no computer monitor.

'Had a bad dream, eh?,' Hammer smiled after the foo-dog nodded a bit.

-What happened? Weren't we in your office just a few seconds ago?,- he was obviously confused, looking at Hammer for answers.

'Well, a few hours would be more accurate...you...fainted, probably my fault, shouldn't have asked for a demonstration,' it was obvious the rottweiler was sorry

although he probably couldn't have seen this coming, at least that's what Joshua told himself.

-It's okay,- he still was trying to shake off his headache, trying to smile back at the larger canine.

'Noxfire had a look at you while you were uncoscious, he said you'd be fine, just a bit of magical overload or something like that.'

-Shouldn't i see a doctor then? I mean...overload doesn't sound good.-

'Believe me, it's okay, not the first time this thing happened here. When someone with a link to the arcane planes is still inexperienced he sometimes gets

more energy from there than he wanted, think of it like driving a car for the first time, you have to get used to working the gas pedal and sometimes you

hit it too hard, right?,' he smiled a bit after the explanation, hoping it would calm the foo-dog down.

Joshua thought about the whole thing a bit, he now knew that Hammer could've seen it coming, still, it sounded more like a little accident than something

to worry about and it wasn't like he felt bad at the moment, a bit fuzzy maybe but the slight headache seemed to fade and was almost gone.

'If you want to see a dcotor you can still do that of course, i should show you around the campus anyway.'

-I ... no ... no it's okay, really, i feel okay, just was worried a bit.-

'Okay, well, as you may have gathered this is your room as long as you're here. The canteen is on the first floor of the building, if you want to eat something,'

as he talked the rottweiler handed Joshua a plastic card.

'That's your Campus ID, it's used to log into the computer, open your room, pay at the canteen and so on, try not to lose it.'

-Computer?,- Joshua took another look around the room, yes, there was the desk with the keyboard on it but he didn't see a computer.

Hammer smirked a bit as he saw the foo-dog looking around.

'I'll show you,' and with those words he stood up, moved over to the desk before he stuck his ID card into a reader that apparently was built into the keyboard.

As he did so the wall behind the desk seemd to come alive before it showed the school logo.

'It's built into the wall, there's a second one next to the couch you can use for watching movies or TV. The ID cards only start the computers up, you still have to set

a password so no worries, no one can open up your files if you don't want them to.'

-Okay,- again he took a look around, while it was nice the room just seemed big, too big actually.

-Uhm . . . don't i have a roommate or something?-

Hammer almost laughed and right away Joshua felt a bit stupid.

'Sorry, it's nothing against you, i hear the question a lot. You see, during your education here you will learn to work together with all kinds of people, but many

with such unique talents as you have one don't really mix with others when it comes to personal life. So every student gets his own room, it's a bit expensive

but we would pay more if we had to repair every single room twice a week should a few of you not get along.'

After the explanation Joshua at least understood the reasoning, noded a bit.

-Well, that makes sense.-

Before he could say any more he could hear a beeping noise that seemed to come from the rottweilers wrist.

'Guess i should go now, just wanted to check up on you, see if everything is alright after your short overload but buisness calls,' friendly the rottweiler smiled before

he took his ID out of the keyboard and walked to the door.

'Try to take it easy today, you have a few medical exams tomorow before your first class.'

-Alright, thanks again Sir, hope to see you again,- he returned the smile, still not quite over the fact that he met one of his personal heroes.

With that he was alone for the moment, still sitting on his bed.

---

-So, how was he?,- Noxfire was standing right beside Joshuas door as Hammer came out of the room.

'A bit shaken but he seems to do fine ... just a magical overload huh? Or is there something you want to tell me?'

The black furred lion with the midnight purple, flamelike mane raised an eyebrow at the question.

-I told you, he has potential, it's not that uncommon for people of this caliber to pull out too much with even such a simple incantation.-

'Yeah, i know, you say that pretty often, just want to make sure, it's our students after all.'

-I'll keep an eye on him, he's in my class anyway so i'll be seeing him a lot.-

Hammer sighed as he looked at his watch.

'Okay, but if anything happens i want to know it.'

-Yes, yes, you have my word, should aynthing unexpected happen i'll let you know.-

With that the two heroes parted, Hammer had enough on his schedule and Noxfire was busy on his own mostly, keeping the students with

magical talents in check.

'Mr. Lancaster, no superspeed in the student quarters!,' Noxfire smiled a bit as he heard his colleague shout at another student.

Still, he looked back at the door of the room Hammer had left just a minute ago. Soon enough would he find out what Joshua Williams could do, it really was a

bit unusual to get an overload just from conjuring a doppelganger, but still in the possibilities so keeping quiet about any theories he had was the best course of action till he

knew more.

---

The next few days were at least normal.

After putting his clothes away, getting something to eat in the canteen and even finding someone to give him a tour around the campus since Hammer didn't have the time.

The medical exam the next day went about much as expected, a few check ups, bloodsamples, the usual. Only exception on that was the little Q&A about his powers although he

couldn't tell the doctor much.

Even after that the lessons he went to were pretty much the normal stuff, math, english, he even still had p.e. .

It wasn't till the next week that the first unusual thing went into his timetable, 'Powercontrol - MA'.

He could guess what Powercontrol meant but the MA he couldn't wrap his head around.

At least he'd gotten used to the campus so finding the classroom was not that big a deal when the time came.

Still he was surprised, the room itself looked more like what he imagined from the living room of some hippie or guru, anyone like that.

Curtains hang before the windows, the fabric a deep purple, a few candles lit up the room and in the middle was a circle of beanbag chairs, the same deep purple as the curtains.

In the center of the beanbag circle stood a small table, some crytals aligned on it's surface.

-I hope they don't expect me to do a raindance or something... ,- he muttered, still trying to take it all in.

There were of course pretty normal parts of the room as well, a few bookshelfs, a chalkboard, even if he doubted it would get much use.

As he took a deep breath a pair of hands found their way onto his shoulders, making the foo-dog jump slightly from the surprise, as he looked over his shoulder he could see a black lion standing there,

an unusual, deep purple mane framing his face.

'Well, we don't dance in this class normaly, but i can make an exception if you want to,' the feline grinned, giving the impression that he heard it all before.

-Heh, sorry, didn't try to sound disrespectful...it just...-

'Doesn't really look like a classroom for superheroes, i get it, no worries,' and slowly the grin turned into a warm smile as the lion let go of Joshuas shoulders before sitting down, leaning back into one of the beanbags.

'I'm your teacher by the way, call me Noxfire, everybody does.'

Joshua was still a bit uneasy with the whole situation, probably because not every single teacher here was a superhero and not every studend was looking like one either, most people here looked pretty normal so someone like

Noxfire just stood out.

-Pleased to meet you,- he tried to smile himself, extending a hand for a quick shake.

-I heard the name before, you were the one that got me into the school...and you looked after me when i had my blackout.-

'Ah, that. Well, i scout most of the magically influenced heroes and since i'm the most experienced hero in this area myself i'm also responsible for you all.'

Questions startet poping up in Joshuas mind as he listened. Questions like: How did you find out about my power? Why do you think i'm hero material?

But before he could ask other studends came into the class room, talking to each other, smiling. It didn't take long for everyone to take a seat and before it could get to uncomfortable for Joshua the black lion

gestured towards the only chair left.

'Hello guys, as you may have seen already, we have a new studend in our class. Joshua is a conjurer who, as far as i know, can summon doppelgangers, well...one at the moment but we all had to start somewhere.'

Immediately all eyes went for the foo-dog, most of them smiled, some gave him a quick nod or a friendly hello.

'Since i have to work him into the basics i suggest you guys go through them yourselves. I already put your crystals out so please use this and the next few lessons to get in touch with the ground work again.'

A few of the others let out a sigh, but most of them just took the crystals before them into their hands before leaning back, closing their eyes and meditating as Joshua asumed.

With a smile Noxfire mad his way toward him after he was sure that the others were doing as told.

'Okay, let's give this a try then. Just pick a crystal for starters.'

-A? Aren't they assigned or something?-

'Well, yes they are but each student has to pick one himself, while it may be subconsciously you will pick one that suits your own energy.'

-So...like picking a pet, the chemistry has to work out.-

The lion nodded, a friendly smile on his lips.

'Sort of yes, so give it a try.'

There were a few crystals lined out before Joshua, none of them had been worked on, all looked like textbook examples of how they would look like in their raw state.

His eyes wandered a bit, there was an amethyst, feldspar, lapis lazuli and a few more. Still, his hand went for the amethyst, something about the colour was intriguing, almost as if the stone was glowing a bit.

'Well, now that you've chosen your crystal, let's move on.'

Gently Noxfire placed his hands on the foo-dogs shoulders, started a careful massage.

'Now, take a deep breath, close your eyes and lean back a little. Try to concentrate on the crystal, it's colour, how it feels against your fingers... i want you to try and picture an image in your mind,

you are in a cave made entirely of amethyst, you are right at the entrance and when you turn back it will be right there so that you can leave..but for now, let's go in a bit deeper for this cave

contains your powers and will help you master them.'

He took a deep breath, as instructed, then another, closed his eyes slowly. His ears twitched a little, it was strange but so close the lion's voice sounded different, deeper, stronger but also soothing.

As he tried to follow the rest of the instructions his mind started to wander a bit, he concentrated on the crystal, just as the lion had told him, the amethyst was warm, almost pulsing like a heartbeat

and slowly he could really picture a cave made entirely of it...

Slowly light seemd to wander over the cavern walls, in waves that moved as if water was right behind the crystal surface, he still could feel the lion, right behind him... there was the exit if he wanted to leave.

But even without Noxfire's words he wanted to go deeper, almost as if something was calling him and slowly his feet took him forward.

Joshua didn't see anything special as he walked deeper into the cave, there still were the waves of light that moved over the walls, sure, but all in all it was pretty empty.

That was until the path branched out into two smaller caves, the stone arcs each showing a relatively simple, almost primitive sign.

One showed two stick figures, and that was easy enough to decipher, it probably showed his power to conjure the doppelganger but the other one caused Joshua to frown.

It showed an eye, there was nothing special about how it was drawn, not even a second sign to maybe explain it's meaning, it was just an eye.

Curious as the young canine was he stepped into the second branch of the cave, what could an eye mean in terms of his powers, especially since so far he only knew about the

magical clone.

What followed was more walking, what felt like miles of the same, the same walls, the same rippling waves of light and while he didn't feel his muscles getting tired, it was just in his head after all,

he did feel tired.

Tired enough that he didn't notice at first that the cave was getting wider again, it was only slightly at first but soon enough the walls almost looked as if they were moving farther away with every step until

he felt like standing in a giant hall.

Even the entrance had vanished, he was sure that it would be there if he just wanted to leave but right now he couldn't see it, although he could still see the ceiling of the cave.

'Kept me waiting a long time,' the voice that spoke those words sent a shiver down his spine, there was no threat in it, no hint of malice, what caused the reaction was that the other voice was his.

Joshua didn't know what to expect, sure, he had heard his own voice before when the clones talked but even than it was weird, almost creepy.

As he slowly turned around to see who had spoken though he was in for another surprise.

Yes, the other foo-dog looked like him, but only to a point, the stature, the face, it all was the same but the fur seemd to be color swapped.

Slowly the other Joshua stepped forward, moving one foot before the other.

-Who are you?,- it was the simplest question that came to mind, the first thing he could form into words.

'Well, that's pretty obvious i'd say. I'm you, or at least, part of you. We are inside a reflection of your mind and soul after all.'

While there still was no threat in the other Joshuas voice there was this tone, he was confident, almost smug.

-Okay, makes sense i guess...so...what do you want?,- instinctively he made a few steps to get distance between them, could feel his ears fold back a little. Why was this guy getting to him this much?

'Getting right to the point, i like that,' even his smile looked smug, like "someone in a buisness suit selling you junk on TV"-smug and Joshua didn't like that.

'What... do... i... want,' he slowly said, tapping his chin a bit as if he really had to think about it.

Joshua was still trying to get distance between them and suddenly flinched as he felt the cold stone of a wall behind him.

For a second he was confused, just moments ago the hall looked big enough to get at least ten football fields in it and now he was there with his back against a wall.

This second was enough, enough for the other Joshua to close the distance between them.

He pressed a hand against the wall, right beside Joshuas head, grinned as his twin looked up before his lips pressed on the other canines muzzle.

What was happening here? Yes, of course, he knew that they were kissing, but Joshua didn't understand the why, why did they do it, why was he even returning the kiss.

The other Joshua moved closer, pressed his body against his twin earning a soft whimper from the confused canine as his hands moved through the soft, red fur.

When had the clothes vanished? Joshua wasn't even sure if the other one had worn anything to begin with, but he had when he came here, that much was certain.

So when had they vanisehd? And why did he still hold the kiss, he even let the other ones tongue slide in, whimpered again, shuddered slightly.

All the while Joshua didn't notice that he was still looking at his counterpart, into his eyes, they had a glow to them, a weird hue of magenta underlined

with strange patterns pulsing in the others iris.

Slowly the kiss was broken, Joshua breathing heavily, the taste of the other canines tongue still in his mouth, his own eyes slightly glazed as he still kept his gaze

on the pulsing glow.

Something wasn't right, something just didn't fit and still he even moaned as he felt his color swapped twin, as a swollen sheath pressed against his own.

'Hrrrrm, feels nice doesn't it?,' again there was a smug grin on the other ones face but this time Joshua didn't really notice, he just nodded slowly as his hips moved back and forth slightly, grinding against the other.

He could feel the warm breath of his counterpart, had even put his arms around him, slowly the muzzle came closer again for another kiss...

But before anything else could happen Joshua felt odd, a weird pull as if he was on a leash...

---

Joshua blinked as he came to. What had just happened? As he slowly sat up he noticed that he still was in the classroom, Noxfire sitting right next to him with a cup of coffee.

'Intense little trip i take it?'

-Uh, yeah...guess so... ,' and suddeenly he blushed, as he looked down a bit he noticed that there still was a noticeable tent in his pants.

-I...uhm...sorry,- he stammered as he tried to hide it with his hands.

All that earned him was a hearty laugh from the lion.

'No worries, nothing i've never seen before. Literally, quite a lot of people get...excited when trying to find out more about themselves.'

Joshua felt like he was glowing under his fur as he nodded.

'Still, you were gone quite a while, had me worried a bit that's why i stepped in.'

-So...that weird pull was you?-

Noxfire nodded, with his gaze fixed to an imaginary point very far away, probably had a lot to think about.

'Yes, that was me, i don't do that often but it's not good to stay in the trance for too long the first few times.'

Joshua took a deep breath, not because of what the lion had said, but simply because it felt good and brought some distance between him and the recent experience

that somehow felt needed.

-Guess i should get going, don't want to waste anymore of your time, Sir,- he could even bring himself to smile as he slowly stoot up, stretched a bit with an audible grunt.

At least the tent in his pants was gone.

'You're not wasting my time Joshua, but you should probably get something to eat. Probably won't get anything fancy in the canteen right now but it's still open for the

members of the night patrol.'

His ears twitched as he heard the last part, looking at the lion, confused again.

-Night patrol? How long was i out?-

'Only a few hours, i told you, you were gone quite a while.'

He nodded a bit, it hadn't felt that long when he was in the crystal.

-Uhm, well, thanks for looking after me, see you next time,- again he could bring forth a smile, Noxfire looked up and returned it.

'Have a good night, Joshua.'

With that he left the room, walking through almost empty corridors while greating a few people that still were awake.

On the way to his room he only made a short stop at the canteen getting a few dinner rolls with topping, he wasn't that hungry but still didn't want to go to bed on an empty stomach.

Since he ate them on his way he made another stop, getting ready for bed, brushing his teeth in the washing room before finally heading for his room and getting out of his clothes.

For a few seconds he stood there in his boxers, looking at the mirror of his wardrobe, he didn't know why or what he expected to happen ....until it did happen....

From one second to the other his reflexion changed, showed the other Joshua, grinning, one hand squeezing the hidden package.

'Missed me?'

---