All was in usual order in Starfel. The usual bustle of citizens running their errands for the day. The streets of the city were full of people trekking towards their destination, stores open and servicing their customers to their satisfaction. The pubs were open despite it still being midday and they were as rowdy as ever. The adventurers guild hall was packed, the posting board was filled with various requests from tradesmen requesting safe passage. Slay quests were also in abundance, the surrounding forest having been more active than normal as of recent. The guild hall in Starfel was an above average outpost for the society, offering jobs for most ranks excluding platinum and diamond which were the highest. The largest quantity of jobs tended to be lower however being of iron and bronze rank. The rank structure was fairly simple starting at copper when you first sign up progressing through copper to iron then bronze, silver, gold, platinum, finishing off at diamond. For most adventurers silver was the highest they would ever reach, providing the most wealth to danger ratio. Getting to gold and above meant you started delving into the realms of protecting royalty on trips and dealing with the nastiest of monsters. Outside the walls the farmers were doing their daily business tending to the fields as usual. Most farmers were common peasants but there were the few that had rudimentary earth magic skills. Most that did, used that ability to plow their fields, though in some cases they had a specialized spell called earth sense allowing them to check on their crops simply by placing their hand in the dirt of their field.
***
The Delvaux family though being honorary nobiles through the fact of being mage born they still lived their lives as farmers. Seven years ago the couple had their first child, a beautiful baby girl with striking dark orchid purple eyes. She had grown into a head of sleek, luxurious jet black hair that trailed down to her waist. Her parents, Zoey and Alex, had given her the name Sallya. Both Alex and Zoey were mage born Alex possessing the baseline skill in earth magic and Zoey able to use water making them a very efficient farming pair. This all but guaranteed that Sallya too would be able to cast magic though most children didn’t have their awakening until their early teens. This wasn't the case for young Sallya she showed her first signs halfway through her seventh year. To the shock of both her parents even further she revealed herself with fire not water or earth which was what her parents used. It was common for mage born children to awaken their powers with one of the general fields that their parents used due to exposure. For a child to display an elemental magic that they had never been exposed to and years before the common age for awakening was a sign of understanding beyond the rudimentary knowledge. A prodigy had been born in Starfel. Sallya hadn’t done anything special in her youth; she did what all kids her age did. Played with the neighbors children when she wasn’t helping plant the fields. Her parents didn’t make her do much manual work seeing as there was no need for it. Alex could use his earth magic to plow the fields and Zoey was able to use her magic to keep the field maintained and plants well watered.
***
Seeing as they had a prodigy in their family, though it wasn’t known outside their own household, Sallya’s parents had gone into the city the next day in search of a tutor for their daughter. They knew she could use fire and had a feeling that if she could develop fire without any exposure or influence to the element that she would most likely be able to pick up the other elements as well. Most families that sought a tutor went to the mage academy within Starfel; for good reason it was the most prestigious out of all the nations having been put into place by The Magus himself. Sallya’s parents however took a different approach; they put a posting on the local adventure guild board requesting a talented mage in a non elemental specialization. They didn’t state on the posting that the student would be their seven year old daughter as a hope to avoid the post being ignored altogether. Magic had many specializations there of course was the basic elemental specializations of wind, fire, water, and earth. Then you had the elementalist specialization which was a mastery of all four. Energy was another specialization which often incorporated trace foundations of the elemental magics, such as fire for heat and water or wind for transference. The energy specialization was a complex one requiring the practitioner to master the fundamental understandings of each element to their deepest components. The healing specialization was a highly sought after specialization throughout the world in all walks of life, be it adventuring or court mages within noble or royal households. The nature specialization was very closely tied with the earth element and often mages that sought that specialization initially specialized in earth magic. The last two specializations were not strictly official specializations recognized by the magic society that governed over regulatory matters throughout each nation, spatial and dimensional magics. Spatial magic was the concept of opening a gate between two locations effectively shortening the distance between the two points allowing one to essentially teleport. There were extensive drawbacks to the field however. The astral forces at work within gates were severe and without proper preparation could leave those who traverse the gate debilitated upon arrival. The symptoms of gate transportation grew more extreme the further the distance between the two points, if a gate went too far and someone who hadn’t taken the time to prepare themselves traversed the gate it could potentially be fatal. Dimensional magic on paper seemed similar to spatial; they were rather different however. While spatial connected two points together Dimensional magic was the concept of compressing or expanding an area or object between the three dimensions of reality. This type of magic was most commonly in use by traders and merchants for goods storage. The implications were obviously beneficial to anyone that had a large quantity of goods that needed to be transported or stored. The field had limits however, in most circumstances the spaces that were affected by dimensional magics lacked breathable air. This meant that live animals or prisoners couldn’t be transported this way and still required the usual means of travel. There were of course other specializations which were either frowned upon, such as summoning, or flat out prohibited like necromancy. Summoning wasn't entirely prohibited but it was looked down on and required more safety precautions than what was worth to actually focus on the magic.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
***
Four days had passed since the Delvauxs had posted their request without a single mage taking up the tutoring job. Starfel was home to the best mage academy on the continent so it was unlikely that there wasn’t a mage for the request, just not one willing to do it. They had posted their tutor request on the adventure board opposed to going to Magus Academy because there was no doubt Sallya would be accepted to the academy eventually, they wanted her to get a tutor that would be able to provide more practical experience based uses of their magic. If adventurers were anything in Starfel they were practical and experienced to the very definition of the words. Just as Alex and Zoey had decided that maybe they should have just gone to the Magus Academy in the first place they heard a firm knocking on their door. Sallya who had been sitting in the main living area of the house joyously ran up to the door yelling in excitement.
“I’ve got it! I've got it!”
Her parents stood and started to make their way out of the dining area towards the door as Sallya swung it open looking up wide eyed at the stranger on their doorstep.
“Why hello there little one. A nice day outside today. What are you doing inside instead of out playing with the other children.”
The man said with a gruff but caring tone in his voice as he hunched down to be closer to eye level with her. He was a tall man with a darker complexion than what was common for Starfel. Wearing a long leather colored cloak with the hood pulled up over his head and a gnarled staff in one hand. Sallya being the cheerful seven year old that she was answered without taking even a moment of thought.
“Billy got hurt yesterday and Julie went to town with her parents today so I thought I’d stay home and work on learning magic.”
Sallya’s voice held that overly excited timbre that all seven year olds managed to have when meeting a new person. She had the enthusiasm to match, waving her hands around and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as she spoke. The man let out a rough chuckle as he put his hand on her head ruffling her hair slightly as Zoey and Alex arrived at the door.
“You keep at it little one and you'll get there I am sure of it. A spirit like yours and the sky will be the limit. And you two must be the couple who put the tutor request on the adventure board for non elemental specialization. So who will be the student?”
The man said as his gaze shifted up to Alex and Zoey at their arrival. He looked over the pair meticulously, studying them, in hopes of gathering some insight of their magical compatibility to his field of study. When they looked at each other then turned back and looked back meeting the man’s eyes with a smile he thought to himself.
“Did I perhaps arrive at the wrong house? I thought for sure I had followed the instructions word for word.”
“This is the Delvaux household is it not?”
The two looked at the man with equally gleeful smiles on their faces. A hand of each resting on Sallya’s shoulders holding her still.
“We are; I am Zoey Delvaux and this is my husband Alex and our daughter Sallya. But I fear we did not explain the whole truth in our request. We are not seeking a tutor for one of us but for our daughter. It has come to our attention that she may very well be a prodigy in the making. You see I am a water mage and my husband knows earth but four days ago our daughter here, at the age of seven, displayed fire magic. We are farmers there wouldn’t be any reason for her to be exposed to it and even if she had been it's still close to five years early for her awakening. We sought a non-element specialist mage because we believe she will be able to pick up the necessary knowledge of the elemental magics required for a specialization rather quickly.”
The smile never left Zoey’s face as she spoke to the cloaked mage in front of her. Alex was looking fondly down at his daughter, who was looking straight up at her mother in joyful shock, as Zoey spoke to the man. The man in turn contemplated the scenario, took a moment to look down at the young girl then up to the parents before hunching back down to Sallya. In his gruff voice he spoke gently to Sallya, arresting her attention.
“So little one, you were trying to learn some magic indeed. Your parents here are looking to get you tutored in non elemental magic, does that sound like something you would be interested in? If it is, I need to test you first to see how much mana you can draw from the astral at a time and how much you can channel into a spell.”
Looking back up to Sallya’s parents the man continued speaking.
“My name is Astaroth and I have no qualms in regard to having a young pupil; however you must know that you requested a non-elemental specialization, which I am. But I must inform you that I am a spatial magic specialization which if not practiced with the utmost care could be potentially life threatening. If you do not feel that your daughter will maintain the responsibility to follow the guidelines and limitations I set for her then please do not pursue my tutelage for the young mage. If there are no problems with this then I will strive for the completion of spatial magic mastery for your daughter. And of course the two of you are more than welcome to listen in on the lessons I will be providing her.”