[Joshua Cross]

Brilliant. That was the only word that came to mind when he first experienced the windows of his room. He’d heard a little about Arcana, but never expected anything like this, most of the time what he’d heard was usually considered to be hearsay, conjecture, rumors, lies- the ranting of madmen. In truth, the young boy had even doubted that he would really learn anything in this tower, but still decided to risk it anyway even if it made his purse a little lighter. However, he felt that this was proof that he’d made the right decision and that his seven hundred crowns had not gone to waste.

“Amazing, it’s absolutely amazing.” His hand gently brushed against the glass as he peered between his fingers to the vast ocean before him. Many questions came to mind regarding the miraculous glass; was it an illusion; was the window and possibly his room visible to creatures on the ocean; could the view be changed; and the most important question in his mind- will he one day be able to do that as well.

Only two brightenings, and his questions may be answered. But for the first time in his life he felt eager, anxious, as though the passage of time was incredibly slow- so much so that even the joy he got from constantly examining the window from different angles became redundant. Joshua had always prided himself on patience and yet he couldn’t help but pace his room, or lose concentration when doing his job at the library. It wasn’t until he woke up on his first day of class that the calm composure he had been accustomed to returned; that was easily broken but his next encounter with one of the various attractions of the Rainbow Towers.

Inability to reach the lecture room did not pop into his mind until after he’d tried multiple times to see if the same event would occur; Joshua had found himself enamored with this new phenomena. “It’s similar to the windows,” he said to himself. “Except, instead of showing me another place it takes me to one.”

In truth he could have taken the whole day, and maybe more, to experiment the bizarre workings of the hallway; however, he had other duties to perform and a teacher that was waiting to teach. That meant he had to calmly think of a solution to this enigma and get to the lecture hall.

Was it trigged by stepping upon the floor? That was the first thought that came to mind, since it always seemed to be in the direction of the lecture hall after a certain distance had been reached from his room. The only problem with that solution is that it was impossible for him to be stepping on the same area of the floor every time- it had to be the entire hallway that did this. Was it that he was trying to get to the lecture hall and that if he attempted to walk backwards through the hall he could make it through? An interesting theory but also unlikely since it seemed too simple a way to thwart magic of that caliber, but it did bring up a better and more plausible idea. Instead of walking towards the lecture, he could attempt to walk towards the reception area and possibly be transported the same way as before but toward his class. The only other option in his mind was to take the long way around, if there was such a thing.

“Okay,” he inhaled a deep breath and began walking in the opposite direction of his room. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to ask that nice receptionist for directions.”