"I. . . I think I want to know. You can't leave a guy on a cliffhanger like that." Alex responded.

"If you want to know, then get comfortable, this is a long story starting with some background information."

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Back when magic was far more prevalent, long before the crucifixion of Christ and the birth of Islam, there was a standard test for kids turning twelve. All they had to do, was go up on stage and hold the orb. The orb then told whoever was administering the test what icon they were most in tune with. Everyone had to try to learn magic, though most never could get it to work. I was one of the many that, before my test, could get no magic to work. I tried to tap into an icon early, anything really would do, but no dice. During my test, the orb said something that most testers had never seen before, a rare, and hard to cultivate, icon. I had Time.

After getting home I was encouraged to follow any other path, try connecting to an icon farther from my own, or just being a mage who masters the basics. "Anything would be easier than time," they said. I paid them no heed and learned the basics of magic required to connect to an icon. It took years, and I was behind everyone else but I managed the complex math and science required just to draw a simple ritual circle with any understanding behind it. I fell in love with a girl who was also behind. Her icon was odd too, so we made a connection.

"Hey, Elysia! Do you want to study together during lunch?" I asked. A simple question that she tried to find every implication in. Knowledge was indeed pervasive in this one.

I was sure she had found everything I had meant with that question when she finally answered in the affirmative. I was ecstatic that she would have lunch with me.

During lunch, we simply studied, but I was happy as a clam that I could ask her questions and she would answer with no hesitation and only kind words. Her icon required her to seek knowledge and to learn until eventually, it bestowed its specialization on her. I had to know Time, as a concept and a human construct, in all of its intricacies and all of its implications. She was happy to help, having what I know add to her arsenal and getting her ever closer to her icon.

Before a year had passed I asked her on a date that had nothing to do with studying, and she said yes. People weren't as cool with dates then as they are now, so we had to be secretive about it and sneak out. We were young and thought that this only made it more fun, but really parents wanted escorts to dates for many reasons. First was safety, with all the unsavory types, and the rogue magi out that haven't been caught yet, it's just not very safe. Next, they wanted to make sure that the venue was appropriate for both parties and finally, they wanted to make sure that they never had sex, as that was done for children and consummating a marriage.

As we met outside of the restaurant we were going to eat at we started talking.

"Do you think we will have to join the military like most of the other magi?" She asked.

"I might, but I don't think you will. Knowledge isn't a combat-oriented icon. Time is just too useful to leave alone if I ever make the final connection. People always want more time during the war." I responded.

"I hope you don't. You weren't made to fight," she said as she wrapped her arms around me. I led her into the steak shop and we sat down.

"I might just have to learn," I told her. We ordered some food and talked some more.

"Do you think we will ever manifest our icons? They are so complicated and unpredictable in who they manifest in. I just don't know, and it's impossible to know. Isn't that strange that even for knowledge it is impossible to know something?" She asked.

As she made the statement I felt the magic in the air resonate with it. Blue light glowed behind her eyes for a moment and I felt something there, something more than just magic. I felt time and I felt something there, something important. I couldn't grasp it but I knew that it was the key to my advancement.

"Did you just. . ?" I couldn't finish the question and everyone in the shop was staring. They had felt the resonance too.

"I am Knowledge." She said in a voice that was more magic than sound, then her voice was returned to normal. "I unlocked knowledge. The key was to acknowledge that not everything can be known. It makes so much sense that it's a wonder that I never thought of it."

"Elysia, that's amazing!" I said, excited. I was happy as could be that the woman I loved would be a mage. It never crossed my mind that she had made it before me.

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"Lanetli, she was so kind. She had everything anyone could ever want to know right at her fingertips. She gave me a power, a choice, the essence of knowledge. I can see Lanetli, I can see so much more."

"Elysia. . . Did you say she?" I asked. That plowed over everything I knew. I thought icons were concepts or things that had simply gained enough power to no longer be available on this plane, but if the icons were sentient. . . that meant that I could have had my icon at any time, but whatever asshole that was my icon had held me back.

"Yes. I asked her why I could only get the icon now if she was the power. She was so happy to explain Lanetli. She may be able to direct her icon, but the icon still has unbreakable rules that must be followed." I wanted to be reassured, but what if time didn't have those restrictions? What if I'm just not the kind of person Time wanted to deal with? Time is eternal but so short-sighted. What could I possibly do to make Time grant me the powers that Elysia mentioned? "Your close. I can tell. I don't know what it will take to push you over the edge though." She said.

"Okay, I say we call it a night. We're getting looks and I don't think all of them are happy for you." I said. She looked around and nodded.

"None are overly powerful, but we can't fight off all of them if they choose to fight. I don't know who exactly will fight, but plenty have the look of jealousy and hatred, and we can't stop them all with what we are capable of." I was shocked. She had barely glanced around the room and she had made a reasonable estimate of each person's power level and emotions on the subject.

We left and started the walk to our respective homes. I took her home first, as that was the gentlemanly thing to do. We made it about a block before we were interrupted in our walk by people wearing dark cloaks.

I was prepared to fight until Elysia could get away, so I started twitching my finger in the sword conjuring patterns until Elysia put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't. They're strong mages. One is a blood mage, the other is a sword mage. You won't be able to fight them off."

"Well, is this our new disciple of Knowledge? You know, it's customary for a new mage such as yourself to offer yourself to the existing magi." Said the one closest to us.

"Yeah, tell your little nobody here to go home. We'll take good care of you." Said the other.

"There is no such tradition. You can't intimidate me into giving up my innocence. I know this as I know that you are no legal magi. A mage of blood and sword would be much older and they would have their choice of brides after serving in the military for your full time." She said. She took a step back, ready to run.

"How did you know that? There isn't a known power that tells of others' icons." They said, smiles slipping.

"You said it yourself, I'm the new disciple of knowledge." She said. They started slipping back, afraid of something new and potentially dangerous.

After they disappeared she continued walking home with no problems. When she got home she kissed me goodnight and climbed back up to her room.

I went home, worried that without the protection provided by unknown powers, I would be killed by those men, but I made it home unmolested.

When a person gains a connection to an icon, as soon as possible they hold a ceremony and induct them into the military, unless their icon is better used elsewhere. Each mage must spend fourteen years wherever they are sent upon graduation. I would graduate as soon as possible to be reunited with my love, but there is no telling what requirements Time has. All I knew was, I was just about out of time.

The next morning I got dressed as nicely as I could to support Elysia, still harboring some resentment for Time that I couldn't awaken anything at the same time as her. I put a smile on my face, walking out to see the glow stone outside of the door glowing yellow, the sign for graduation. We all went down to the common grounds and prepared to say goodbye to another fellow student.

As she came down after the graduation to say her goodbyes I smiled, even as tears ran down my face. I spat right in the face of tradition as I hugged and kissed her as soon as she got within arms reach. I whispered in her ear. "I'll be right with you," as I struggled with losing her I thought about how I wanted this moment to last forever. I felt something in the back of my mind but lost it as I tried to hold on to it.

She had been assigned to the army, just as she had said, in a non-combat setting, but still. Knowledge was just too useful on the front lines. When she left I got to training. I learned everything about Time, I read all of the philosophy textbooks, the math, the science, the history, everything I could. Nothing could get me to the next stage of my advancement. It was months, going on a year when I gave up and just started dreaming of a time when we were together. Wishing to have that time back, but knowing I couldn't. I tried everything. I even tried connecting to other icons, but the orb informed the tester that I had grown too close to Time.

If I was so close to Time, then why couldn't I just make the final damn connection! I need that last thing, one thing that keeps resonating with me. Thoughts of wanting moments to be eternal, wanting times past back. There was resonation, but nothing made that final connection. I practiced my summoning magics, thinking that it was the reason the last connection couldn't be made because that was my weakest magic, until I finally gave up, thinking that my last connection wasn't going to happen, so I asked to be sent to the front lines early.

"You think that time needs you to advance in battle?" asked the principal.

"Time has given me this insight, I would be a fool to ignore it." I lied. I tried to be aloof, as one of the oldest people at the academy I felt I could get away with getting to battle early. I would be weak, but I would be with Elysia again, so it would be worth it.

"Fine, I'll give you this one, if you really think it will help. You will have to fight with the other magi though, and you will be targeted, regardless of your relative weakness," he said.

"I find this a worthwhile risk," I told him.