Chapter 343 - The Matrix

It was the first time that the matrix was reading her. It surrounded her completely – the various letters, numbers and different signs and for a few minutes she found herself being scanned by it. She could feel its energy. It was as if it had a lot of life in it. She could see numbers and signs running in front of her eyes. They were changing at a rapid speed. The matrix read her within a few minutes and then suddenly retracted. It allowed her to go inside the ministry. She was intrigued at the way it worked. She looked at Isidorus who was at the moment being read by the matrix. As Isidorus walked in, he looked at Adrianna and said, "That was the longest I had see matrix working on an individual. You are the first person that the matrix spent almost three minutes in reading the DNA."

"Maybe because I am half werewolf…"

"I don't think so. Many werewolves have entered the ministry earlier and all were scanned within a matter of seconds," replied Isidorus as he counted the number of werewolves who had entered the ministry. He couldn't recollect more than five. Isidorus made a mental note of looking at her DNA in the data that was now filed somewhere deep undergorund amongst all other data.

Rest of the people who had accompanied Adrianna followed them one after the other.

When Adrianna walked inside, she was impressed by the building's majestic architecture. It was shining masterpiece of while marble. There were tall pillars that supported the arched ceilings in the porticos all around. The building was stretched in 4 sides around a central quadrangle. There must have been over 100 rooms all around it. In the quadrangle there was a large table right in the center that had the ministry map.

The main rooms were in the north block where all the ministers had their offices. In the east and west block there were those who were working below the ministers. It was the south block, which was the most intriguing. Here the ministry kept a huge army. In fact those were the training grounds of highly specialized wizards and witches, each of whom knew at least five types of martial arts that humans knew apart from all the magic they were laced with. It was from this army that the ministry sent spies in the different realms so that they could protect themselves without the help of magic when the situation demanded. 

For the next one hour, Adrianna was given a tour of the entire building and she was highly admired it. In the end, she was taken to her place of work - a room that was located a floor above the rooms in the north block. There was a spiral staircase, which led to her room. At the bottom of the staircase there was a white lion sitting as if guarding the entrance. 

As soon as the lion saw new people, he got up. "Good afternoon, Adrianna," he greeted her swishing his tail behind him in excitement. He had been guarding that from a long time now waiting for the ruler to come and visit the office again. It took a long time for her to come. 

"Hello Seashell!" she replied as she patted his head. "That's a weird name for a lion," she laughed at him. 

Seashell growled. His growl was a light roar that scared Ziu. "The fifth ruler found me as a cub near the sea in the human realm and he brought me as a pet. I was his wand for a long time, but he released me before he died. I miss him..." 

"I am sorry..." she replied. 

Isidorus and Ziu started at the way she was dealing with the lion. Most other rulers were right away scared. The lion had to be taken away for a few days before they were comfortable. 

"How do you know his name?" asked Ziu because no one had told them about it. 

"I know a lot of things Professor Ziu," she said with a half-smile. She climbed the stairs as the two of them followed her. They noticed that even Seashell followed them. Ziu was out of his wits and he rushed in front of Adrianna. 

"I don't like him," Adrianna heard Seashell and she laughed mentally. 

The room that they now walked into was tastefully decorated over the years. She looked around and was appreciating it when Isidorus said, "You can change the décor of the room as you like."

She smiled and replied, "No, I don't want to change a thing here." She didn't want to waste her time in changing the décor. 

She saw that there were various sculpted bronze statues of previous rulers that were kept in a small gallery that was on the left of the room. She thought that one day even her bronze statue would also be decorating the place…

On the right there was a room that had a large aquarium. Numerous exotic fish that were caught from the human realm inhabited it. She walked in the main room where had to sit. In the center was a large table and plush cushioned chair. All the sides of the room were covered with white and golden motifs. There were valuable manuscripts and books. Around twenty paintings decorated the walls on all sides. 

Isidorus introduced her to the various things that were present in the room. He pointed her to look out the window that was on the south side. When she went over there, she noticed that she could actually see the entire training grounds from there and surprisingly there weren't too many wizards or witches there. "How many people are there in the training as of now?" she asked Isidorus wondering if she should increase the numbers. 

"There are about a hundred wizards and witches," replied Isidorus cringing at the word 'people' but he couldn't blame Adrianna. She had lived with humans for the most part of her life. "These are all here on a voluntary basis. Not all parents are happy to send their children to these grounds. Since they are inducted at a very young age, they are taught everything in these grounds itself."

"What age are they admitted her?" she asked thinking that they must be here after completing the academy. Suddenly she saw a group of five very young wizards marching behind the older ones. 

"At the age of six," he replied nonchalantly. 

"What?" Adrianna was shocked. 

"Yes, and then they are hardly allowed to go and meet their parents."

"This is twisted," she said in anger. 

"Why do you say that Adrianna? You were hardly with your parents right from a young age," Isidorus commented. "These children do go once in a while, maybe ten days in a year to meet their parents. Training them is not easy. You should totally go and see what they are capable of. Also we send them as spies in different realms."

Adrianna felt terrible at Isidorus' statement. Yes, she was denied parental love right from the beginning and it hurt her. "Who is your spy in the human world?" she asked. 

Another shock for Adrianna was in when Isidorus replied, "Howard." He looked at the children in the training ground and added, "But there are more." 

"W- who?"