I walked down the corridors of the orphanage, when I suddenly froze. It wasn’t the freezing one does when they are shocked. From one step to the next I couldn’t move a muscle, and since I took a step at that moment my momentum took me further and I landed face first on the ground. I recognized the familiar sting of bruises forming where I had hit the ground.

I made out laughter coming from behind me. It was them again. They always bullied me and I could never stop them. At the beginning, when they started throwing spells at me I could neither see nor block, I had cried and asked them why they hated me so much. Now I felt empty and endured. Talking to them had changed nothing and trying to defend myself was useless. It only resulted in them laughing more.

“Hey there, retard. Why are you lying on the ground? Oh right, you can’t defend yourself.”

They all snickered. The reason they do this, is because they know without me they will be the weakest. They are only first tier mages.

“It is boring if you just ignore our polite attempts to make conversation. How about we change the setup a bit?” With a flick of his hand I rose feet first until I touched the ceiling. As I looked down, the bottom seemed to be dozens of meters away.

“Beg us to let you down, and we will consider it.”

I tried to speak, but due to the solidification spell they put on me, I was unable to even move my mouth.

Waiting for a few moments for an answer that wouldn’t come, they finally said: “Well if you feel you are too good to talk to us, we will just let you hang there.”

They left laughing. My blood rushed into my head, making me become dizzy. I hung there for what I perceived to be hours. In reality I knew it couldn’t have been that long, since these guys’ magic was weak and no spell they cast persisted that long. Then suddenly the solidification spell broke. That allowed me to move, at least my upper body.

I rolled my shoulders to get the stiffness out of them. Right at this moment the spell gluing my feet to the ceiling ran out. I wasn’t ready at all and screamed as the ground neared my face.

I woke with a start. The scream still lingering on my lips. I looked around. The room was empty, my roommates having already left for work. At least I didn’t wake anyone. I got my sweat soaked body out of bed, feeling the tiredness in my bones.

Two years ago I left the orphanage, but from time to time I had these dreams, reminding me of the past. I definitely don’t want to go back there.

But my live right now isn’t better. Instead of being tormented by everyone around me, most of the people were nice to me.

In the orphanage I often had no idea what to do with my time. I had to do chores, and we had lessons, but most of the day was still free. Now I had no free time at all. I woke up early in the morning worked until late at night. And then slept.

If I were a candle I would be burning on both sides. During the last two years, my energy slowly leaked out of me. Two years ago, I was thin, now my body consisted of only skin and bones, my cheeks were fallen in and my eyes held a distant, almost apathetic look. One of those days I will collapse and that’s it then.

On the way to the Laundrial’s mansion I stopped at a local bakery to spend some of my meager income on something to eat and drink. While sitting there and eating, I listened in on the conversation three factory workers were having.

“I tell you, it can’t go on like this. Perhaps the Torchbearers have a point”, one man said. He wore dirty and old rags and had a dominant scar showing across his face.

“Are you stupid? These idiots will just get themselves and everyone following them killed,” the only woman of the group told him.

“I agree. There is no point in rebelling. Everyone who has power isn’t poor. We may be many, but even a tier seven mage can kill dozens of us. The problem is that everyone who is at tier five or higher can just get a good job or go adventuring and live the rest of their life comfortable. The best we have are a few tier three mages,” a pessimistic looking man added.

Scarface replied: “But we are still far more. I overheard that over 90% of the population is tier three or below and poor. We need to do something. How am I ever going to support a wife and kids if I can barely support myself?”

As the group continued to argue, I thought about what they had said. The torchbearers were an underground group trying to get the masses to rebel against the wealthy and powerful. They were morons. How would even thousands of low tier mages win against the arch mages who could raise mountains and tame dragons? No way was anything changing the status quo.

On my way to the Laundrial’s I passed by a black metal construction, a mana node. They were strewn across the city forming the mana grid delivering mana across the whole city. Ari told me she saw mana flowing of the node like water off a fountain. I, of course, saw nothing.

Working for the Laundrial’s was ok. They left the servants who did their work right alone and unbothered. But they also behaved like they were miles above a simple servant. The real problem was that they expected us to work ridiculous hours. And for many of us, me included, changing the job was not an option, so we had to put up with it.

Passing through the servant’s entrance, Ari greeted me. “Hi Myra, how are you doing? Did you get enough sleep last evening?” I swear she sounded cheery just to spite me.

“Hello Ari. How can you be so happy? And why are you asking me questions, you know the answer to? I’m doing as always and no,” I replied in a dry voice.

She just chuckled and replied: “Don’t be so down. Life will be easier if you just look at its good sides. We have known each other since you started working here and you are still way too gloomy.” From time to times she was getting on my nerves with her happy-go-lucky attitude. But she was also the closest person to a friend I had, despite our different views on life.

“The lord and lady are getting visitors and the whole building needs to be cleaned again. Add this to our regular duties and we will have a busy and long day,” Ari said.

“Isn’t every day busy? I’m getting showered and change into the working attire. Can you please turn on the devices?,” I asked. Ari did so.

After getting showered and dressed, I spent the whole day cleaning up various rooms. It was hard work. My back aching and my stomach rumbling, my thoughts focused on the silver lining. Every time the Laundrial’s got visitors they had far too much food prepared for them. The servants became the food not eaten.

At the beginning I had been mad at such a wasteful lifestyle. Now I always looked forward to getting my share of the meal. It tasted heavenly, like nothing I ever had before.

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Outside the sun started to set, but inside the mansion Ari and I still prepared everything for the guests. This included setting the table and preparing the guest quarters. Everyone was in a hectic mood, the head cook screaming at his staff, the head maid working us tirelessly and even Lord Laundrial paced around at the manor’s entrance.

The guests seemed to be important if everyone was that nervous. For me, it made little difference who came since servants were beneath the notice of any important person. Also, good servants were not supposed to be seen or to be heard. That’s why I wasn’t concerned or excited about the visitors.

Ari behaved differently. “Who do you think is coming? The head servant didn’t answer my questions,” she exclaimed.

I sighed and replied: “Who cares? No matter who they are, we probably won’t even see them.”

“Don’t be such a down. Maybe I will even catch the eye of one guest. Would be a sure way to an easier life.” Shaking my head about her silly ideas, I made out the head servant’s voice shouting: “The guests are arriving.”

“Come on,” I said to Ari, “we better go hide somewhere. You know, servants and not to be seen, and so on.” I dragged her toward the kitchens, where we ended up carrying the meals upstairs and another servant brought them to the table. Through the door leading into the dining hall I saw our guests. There were one young woman at about my age and elderly male, probably her father talking to the head of the family. They had enormous amounts of food placed on the table in front of them. Much more than they could ever eat. And the servants would get everything they couldn’t eat. This alone almost made the job acceptable.

Apart from the food there were also bottles of alcohol being served. But since the servants were not given the left-over alcohol, and I had stayed away from buying anything like that with my money, I had never tried any. This was mostly because I had seen what alcohol does to poor people. I had seen and heard of many cases where people lost their work or parts of their body because they came drunk. Some even spent all their meager income on alcohol and could not pay rent or buy food. Yeah, I did not want to end like that.

The rest of the evening continued to be very hectic. After helping to bring the leftovers back to the servant’s room, the head servant allowed all of us to eat. The meal was delicious. But I also wondered why they needed to prepare so much food that even after three persons ate, it was still enough to sate the hunger of five servants and the cooking staff. But well, I was happy about it.

I sat next to Ari eating when the head maid walked up to us and said: “Myra, Ari our guest’s daughter has asked that a bath is being prepared for her. Will you bring the water to the second guest room and heat it?” Head servant Ersta was a small and sturdy woman in her late forties. She was strict and a bit too stiff but mostly fair. I liked her.

Ari and I stood up our meals almost finished we went to get buckets filled them with water and carried it to the second guest chamber. The room was large and decorated with a lot of golden and red colors. In the middle of the room was an enormous bed. Next to it stood a massive oak desk with a comfortable-looking chair. We got a bathtub from a nearby room and placed it in a corner of the room which was specifically made for this.

After a second round of fetching water, we filled the tub to an acceptable amount. “Okay now we just need to heat it. I am going to get the heating stone. You can wait here if you want,” I offered to Ari.

Ari accepted, and I left to fetch the heating stone. When I came back a few minutes later I found Ari happily chatting with the lady I saw earlier at the dinner.

“Oh, hey Myra, guess who I met. This is Alicia Lachester, she is one of the guests we have today.”

Shock flooded my body. This is bad. Why is Ari talking to someone important this casually? I curtsied and replied, trying to keep the shacking out of my voice: “It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady.”

They both looked at me and laughed. I flushed red. What had I done wrong? This was how I was supposed to great one of high standing. I wanted to apologize for whatever I had done wrong, but before words left my mouth, Alicia spoke. “Relax Myra, Ari and me are old friends and I don’t care about protocol when in private. You can talk to me normally.”

That was new. I never met someone of a family this down to earth. She seemed nice. I gathered all my courage and said: “May I ask how you know each other?”

Before Alicia could answer, Ari told me: “My mother works for Alicia’s mother. When I was young Alicia, and I often played together. Back then mom didn’t want me to be alone at home all the day, so she asked whether it was ok to bring me. Alicia’s mother gave her ok and the rest of it is history.”

They continued talking about the time they spent together and I was content to listen. It sounded like their childhood had been great. I wish mine had been something else than terrible.

Suddenly I remembered why Ari and I were here. So, I waited for a pause in their conversation and when it came I said: “Before we forget, here is the heating stone.” I gave it to Ari, expecting her to activate it and drop it into the water. She turned to do so. But then she stopped, and she seemed to have gotten an idea.

“Hey Alicia, you are knowledgeable in magic right? Myra is magicless. Are there any cures to it?”

Why did she tell her? I didn’t want anyone to know about it. Shame and anger filled me. Alicia looked at me with surprise and pity. I don’t need anyone’s pity. But apart from these negative emotions I became a bit hope full. Maybe there is a way to fix my condition. I quelled these thoughts down immediately. Hope had never helped me, it just led to disappointment.

“I’m sorry to hear that Myra. Being magicless can have many reasons. It may be inborn, because of an accident or the cause could be something else. If it is due to some accident, and the damage isn’t too heavy your abilities will regenerate in time. But I don’t think you had such an accident?”

I shook my head, looking down. Why did I always feel shame when I talk about this? It isn’t my fault. “I had it all my life.”

“Are you a true magicless?,” when she saw the question in my face she continued. “There are three bodily abilities for magic, the ability to use and see magic and the ability to store mana. You cannot survive without being able to store mana. Your body needs it to function. Someone who is a true magicless can neither see nor use mana. If only one of those abilities is missing you can try to compensate.”

When I didn’t answer immediately, Ari cut in. “Myra is a true magicless. She can do neither.”

“Then, I’m sorry to tell you, that there is no way to help you. But there are a lot of progress in magic right now. Perhaps there will be a way in the future.”

I already expected the answer, but a the sting of hopelessness and frustration still shot through me. If she didn’t know of a way, there was none. I would stay a cripple for the rest of my life.

“Now I need to take a bath and then talk to my father. I hope we see each other again tomorrow. It has been nice to make your acquaintance, Myra.”

With these words we left and went back to eating our meal.

“It has been nice meeting Alicia again. I’m sorry I told her you were magicless. I hoped she might know how to fix it.”

She only meant well, I shouldn’t take out my frustration on my only friend. “Don’t worry about it. It was a good idea. Alicia is nice.”

“Yeah, she is. And she is really skilled in magic. When both of us were four, she had the brilliant idea…” And Ari was in her element, telling me everything about Alicia’s experiments to learn a flight spell and the results. It turned out to be a funny story, and it brought my good mood back.

When we finished with the meal and I was about to head back home, Ari stopped. She gazed seriously at me. Ari and serious? That didn’t fit. I’m not sure I’ll like what’s coming. She said: “Listen, Myra, I want to talk to you about something. You cannot continue to live the way you do. Sleep and work is everything you do and still you are not rested. You won’t make the next year if you don’t cut down on your time at work.”

“I know, but what should I do?” I always was tired and felt weak. “Working less is not an option. My pay won’t suffice otherwise.”

“I want to make you an offer. Please think about it before you reply.” She took a deep breath and continued. “You can move in with me into my parent’s home. There is enough space and my parents are ok with it.”

“I’m not a charity case. I can take care of myself.”

“Just watch yourself in a mirror. You look like a corpse. Please, I’m begging you, live with us. You are my best friend. I don’t want to lose you.”

The desperation in her voice got me thinking, but I focused only on one word. “I’m your best friend? I mean we get along well, but how can you actually like me?”

“Are you joking? You always listen to me going on and on about my live, without being annoyed, you are even mostly interested in it. No one else does that. Also, while you are pessimistic from time to time, it makes it worth more, when I get you to smile. I like you, don’t doubt that.”

My eyes watering, I rushed forward and hugged her. I wasn’t a touchy person, so Ari was surprised at first, but then quickly hugged me back. My voice faltering, I told her: “Thank you, no one ever told me that.”

“Myra. Come live with us please. If you don’t want to be a charity case, you can pay rent, I do the same.”

“Well if it is ok, I would like to accept.”