For the middle of winter, the day could not have been any more perfect of a day to spend out around town. Kids playing in the river, and picnics on the shore in the warm sun unusual for what should have been the coldest time of the year. It was then no surprise when the storm clouds began to roll in shortly after lunch just as families were naturally beginning to head home having had enough. Chase and Tegan had enjoyed just such a day with their daughter Zoe. The euphoric two-year-old had spent hours running in and out of the water, splashing her parents with an endless giggle that became infectious. The dark storm clouds turning the day from a gorgeous warmth to the shivering cold of a sudden storm very much frightened the small child, forcing them to quickly abandon the river for the safety of their manor house on the outskirts of town.
The rain began before the sun went down for the day and with a heaviness that made Chase think it was trying to dig its way through the roof of their home. Inside the safety of their modest manor, the screams of a small girl pierced the pounding of the rain on the roof. Outside the thunder and lightning broke up the darkness of the night.
A few hours later with the storm was in full swing, the girl’s crying was still going and if anything it was getting much worse. As their parents burst into their two-year-old daughter's room, the lightning periodically lit the room more than enough that they could see her surrounded in vomit while trying to bring up more from her empty stomach, only succeeding in bringing up the remnants of stomach bile
“It’s getting worse!” Tegan exclaimed.
“We have no choice, the College of Silversong will have to help her,” Chase said grabbing his sickly daughter in his arms.
Within minutes they were in their carriage departing into the wild weather headed west for the College of Silversong, their horses being pushed as hard as they could in the torrential rain.
The College of Silversong is a centuries-old institute housed in the town of Orriver in the western kingdom of Fraoveth. They stood as the authority of all subjects including medicine, science, and magic. The college was the place where all the doctors from across the world gathered to learn their trade before setting up their practices in various towns and cities. The college hospital took in all manner of cases freely to ensure their students were given sufficient practice treating every manner of illness.
The carriage bounced along the nearly invisible road, hidden from their driver's view by the heavy rain continually pounding down. Lightning flashed overhead giving the driver mere moments of sight before the road vanished again. They raced as fast as they could trying to get their way to the college grounds in one piece.
The carriage road to the college was not the safest road at the best of times, winding its way along a quite high cliff path with a steep fall into a perilous lake below. The carriage rocked as the wheel seemed to find every single hole in the road that had long been crumbling into the water below. The driver struggled with the reins the entire trip but managed to stay on the road by some miracle. Inside the carriage Chase and Tegan cradled baby Zoe trying to calm her as she cried in their arms.
As their carriage moved onto the safer grounds beyond the mountain ridge path the storm seemed to double its intensity and batter down on the carriage trying even harder to get the terrified family wet. The rain was so heavy that the water was soaking the leather carriage roof causing it to sag and touch Chase on the top of his head as he sat in the seat looking over his daughter. Zoe struggled to breathe as the need to empty her stomach stopped, her face beginning to turn a shade of blue as the limited amount of air made its way through, her parents looking down at her with more concern at the changing colour of their daughter.
They were almost at the doorstep of the college before the driver pulled back on the reins trying desperately to stop them before they crashed into the large wooden double doors of the college. The horses, being well trained as they were, stomped their hooves down and immediately dug them into the mud trying to pull up. With a sigh of relief, the driver made his way out of the driver's seat to knock on the front door of the college hospital wing. Built inside a large estate on the northern edge of the town of Orriver and given privacy by the lake to the north and the forest to its east. The western road forking off, one to follow the lake road which was by far the more dangerous path, and the other leading down to the town's farming district which was by far safer but a much longer road to traverse.
The college was built centuries ago but held a dual look to its buildings, the hospital wing in the southern part of the estate was built from smooth marble and custom glass windows, it was unlike any buildings anywhere else in the four kingdoms and gave off a magical feel, the main building to the college was more traditional stone and heavy hardwood beams that had stood for the centuries, with two towers overlooking the estate with imposing stain glassed windows that reflected the daylight around the grounds as the sun moved across the sky. It felt like a place where scholars would reside just from looking at it.
The large iron-framed wooden doors opened while the driver moved to go and help the family out of the carriage. The night custodian who was simply answering the door on instinct paying no attention to where he was walking, opened the door and was confronted with the horse's faces panting at him. He jumped back in surprise almost falling over in the process.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked trying to keep his composure in the face of the horse's intrusion.
“Please! Help her!” Chase pleaded, holding his daughter out to the man the blue of her face becoming obvious even in the dull stormy night.
Realising just from the pale look of the child how sick she was the custodian wasted no time in guiding them inside the building as the carriage driver pulled the carriage away from the door. By the time they reached the medical offices the doctors were already waiting for them having been alerted to their arrival, they were dressed in their white medical robes gloves, and even cloth masks over the top of their clothes. As they rushed Zoe in and placed her on the table that was set up in the centre of the room, nobody noticed standing in the back of the room, watching over everyone was a silent man not dressed like the doctor but gave the impression that the doctors were all answering to him without saying a word directly at him but it was clear he was in charge, giving barely noticeable instructions. The doctors rushed around performing their tests and using their knowledge to keep the young girl alive and get her breathing once again all while her parents and the mysterious man watched.
The college was known as the greatest source of knowledge in the world, people traveled from all over to learn and train under their tutelage but on the rare occasion that the doctors in the hospital wing were not able to find an answer, there was always the mages to fall back onto. Along with the greatest library, the mages of the college studied the various magical arts that gave them a distinct advantage against any illness, disability, and even death in some cases. The college was ultimately run by the mages whose magic gave them great influence to keep the doors open and free from being taken over by any particular kingdom. It is the college's choice to offer support to any faction for a fee to aid in the myriad of issues that could affect them.
When Chase finally noticed the man standing in the back of the room, he was instantly intimidated by his presence, there was something off about him. While a child lay sick and everyone else rushed about trying desperately to keep her alive while they figured out what was causing the illness, this man stood doing nothing but watching. His cloth tunic was perfectly clean while the doctor's whites were more tan after years of use and cleaning, this man kept his clothes so clean they looked like they had never been worn before. The gold and emerald blue embroidery on the tunic seemed to radiate a powerful aura over the man that Tegan recognised as being enchanted having been raised around magic herself saw the familiar signs of magic and she knew for certain, that this man was one of the college mages.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Sir, the mages need to speak with you.” The lead doctor said as he approached, “We will continue to work while you go speak with him.”
The mage pushed himself off the wall he was propping up and walked out of the doctor's room without saying a word to Chase and Tegan expecting them to just follow. They started to follow him, confused and scared about what this meant for their daughter after prodding to follow from the doctors.
They walked out and down the hall past dozens of doctor's rooms and offices, some occupied and others left open so they could see directly into the different types of doctors rooms the college had available. The mage led them to a room at the very end of the hall that was somewhat different from the offices and doctor's rooms they had passed by. The room was well lit but there did not seem to be a source for its large clear crystals, taller than them floated slightly off the ground suspended above a stone circle by some strange magic. Floating around the crystals were small black stone fragments no bigger than an apple that appeared to be attracting the lightning sparks generated as they circled before discharging the energy back into a glass pane in the rear wall of the room. The glass pane channeled the lightning into connected tinted glass tubes that spread around the room and disappeared through the walls. As far as Chase could tell this room was powering the entire building with strange magic the likes of which was an uncommon sight outside places like this not that he was familiar with magic theory.
“Take a seat.” The Mage ordered the authority resonating in his voice.
As Tegan and Chase sat before the mage, they felt small in his presence as the lighting in the room dimmed slightly, reacting to a wave from the mage's hand.
“They will keep her alive for the time being but from what I have seen this is a magical illness, likely contracted from something your daughter has come in contact with or an old family curse that is finally manifesting.” He explained, “Do you know of a family curse? Have you come across a magical item? Because it has progressed so far, the doctors will only be able to help her for so long, and to cure her we have only one option left at the present.”
“How? What do we need to do?” They asked in unison the fear evident in their voices.
The mage stood and turned to face the glass pane before he chose to speak again. “There is a spell, it is quite dangerous, but it is the only thing I know of that will work with how far this has progressed.”
“I don’t care what you have to do just save our daughter!” Chase said.
“Very well then I will make the preparations. We will begin as soon as possible.”
It was several hours of waiting before the mages were able to return to collect Chase and Tegan. Zoe remained, at that time in the care of the college doctors, them doing their best to keep her comfortable while the mages got to work making preparations for the spell they were about to perform. The doctors kept rushing in with all manner of herbs and potions brought up from the apothecary and It was in the early hours of the morning when several mage elders from the college came in to visit Zoe. With the assistance of the doctors, they performed more examinations on Zoe to confirm the diagnosis before they took her to perform the spell. In the hours of the doctor's care Zoe had regained some of the colour to her face and the breathing slightly easier but despite them assuring her parents it was only temporary it did give them some hope she would soon be healthy.
“Is she getting better?” Tegan asked enthusiastically.
“They have eased her symptoms slightly but it will not last, if we wait too long she will start to decline again.” The elders said.
There were so many people coming and going as they cared for their daughter, that it took them some time to notice the rather young girl, the blonde hair, blue-eyed pretty girl watching them back.
“Who is that?” Tegan asked pointing her out to Chase.
“The child?”
“Yeah, how long has she been watching us?”
“I assumed she someone just starting their medical training, though she does seem rather young.”
Sometime before lunch, the mages returned, four men in the same white tunics as the first mage who decided on the treatment entered the room, they carried various shards and other magical items. Most of the items were foreign to her parents, metal tools, several plants and animal parts in bowls that gave off a truly horrible stench, so much so that Chase and Tegan were forced to take a step back to avoid throwing up from the smell.
“You will need to stay back, no one can touch her while the spell is underway, or else it will fail to take hold.” one of the mages explained.
The lights dimmed as the four mages surrounded Zoe’s bed, the doctors clearing out leaving them to set up their work. They placed their equipment onto the table they dragged over near her. They placed the shards around the bed before pulling out a thick ancient book from their robes, opening it to a specific page as it was put on the table.
“Do Not Interfere! No matter what happens.” They warned again.
They started chanting, their words seeming to send power to the various crystals they had placed around her, the energy bouncing from one crystal to another, growing in strength with each bounce. The words they spoke added more and more power to the crystals as Tegan and Chase began to find it harder and harder to understand the words they were saying, almost like they were muffling their voices and talking some strange language they did not understand. While they chanted they chopped and mixed the ingredients into the bowl on the table mixing them. Coming to the end of their chant the mage standing over the bowl, with a wave of his hand used another spell to light the ingredients on fire and let the whole thing burn before their child. Very quickly the bowl was empty as the flash of fire consumed everything in the bowl and it was all over.
The charge in the crystal stopped as if it had transferred enough power to them, they glowed with the same level of light, dimming and brightening in unison. There was one final line the mages rose together to speak, Tegan and Chase were only able to catch one as they strained to hear.
“Destiny.”
Beams of light and heat from the crystals shot up before reflecting down to hit Zoe from all angles, the beams obscured her from sight of her parents. Tegan jumped up as soon as she lost sight of her daughter, reaching out desperate to grab hold of her. She was almost able to reach the light before Chase pulled at her arm pulling her close.
“We can’t touch her.” He said. The look of concern across the mage's faces didn't last long as Tegan and Chase were consumed in the same light that was hitting Zoe.
When the light faded from Zoe there was something different about her, the mages looked on and they could see she was different just by looking at her. She looked healthy, like she had never been sick at all, she had an energy already allowing her to sit up and smile, clearly feeling better not concerned she was in a strange place with a bunch of strange people looking over her.
“It worked. We have crafted the first child of destiny.” The mages proclaimed together.
It had become apparent very quickly that during the spell something bad had happened to her parents. When Tegan attempted to reach her daughter it looked as if she had interrupted the spell and caused a reaction that caused them to in all likelihood be killed by the energy. Despite this belief they still sent people out to search for the missing pair, hoping that they had only been teleported a short distance away.
The heads of the college of Silversong had gathered very quickly after news about Zoe and her parents spread as all rumors spread, like wildfire. While some of the heads marveled at the miracle they had created despite not entirely understanding what it would eventually mean, a more pressing concern started to arise soon enough. Without her parents here to take care of her there needed to be a decision regarding Zoe’s future. The scholars were quick to point out that the college was not built for children to be running around, there were plenty of dangerous experiments and monsters brought into the college and she could be injured who would teach the child, giving up their research time to do so. They demanded to know who would be caring for her as she went about her day-to-day business and teach her all the things that her parents were no longer around to teach her and ensure they had yet to fully digest.
The mages were less practical in their decision-making. Never before had they had a chance to study the effects of the spell they had performed and never had they seen a child of destiny in action. The last child was born several hundred years ago and their records were difficult to understand with changes to the language. The opportunity to study her as she grew up was something that they were unwilling to pass up regardless of their other research.
The final argument that the mages made was one that the head of the college could not pass up. The college was a place of learning that required a great deal of funding to keep up and running, and the moment word got out that the college was studying a child of destiny people from all over the world would flock to the college to enroll and make donations in an attempt to be apart of the great thing they were trying to achieve, this was a major concern for the college at all times and easily began to sway everyone else in the room.
The decision ultimately came quickly by a majority. The child had nowhere else to go and no one to care for her, what she was now was too important to simply pass off to any old orphanage so she would be brought into the college to be given the best opportunities they could provide, access to every subject and the greatest teachers they could ensure that she was able to more than simply grow but flourish in a rich environment. The college would also employ a handmaiden to care for and raise the child until such a time that the college was done studying her and she could be let out into the world to see what destiny truly had in store for her and hopefully flourish despite the terrible start to her life.