I was born in the village of Windale, in the kingdom of Eryndor, in the year 1700.

The best way to describe my childhood is simply to say that it was average. I was born as the second son of a blacksmith. My older brother, Torrin, was closely mentored by my father, who wanted him to also become a blacksmith. My father focused almost solely on Torrin, and as a result I never had too much time to spend with him. Despite all that, I knew that he still cared about me and the family.

My mother was quite sickly, and would spend most of the time in her room. However, whenever she could, she would try to spend time with me. She was both my teacher and my parent.

I have a good memory, but I don’t think I could be blamed for not remembering much about the first few years of my life. I can vaguely remember our family cat, who died when I was five. I also have a distinct memory of a large man with blue hair who must’ve visited us sometime.

Windale was not a large village. If I had to guess, I'd say that not more than than 250, maybe 300 people lived there. The village was in the middle of the countryside, on the eastern edge of the Seduri forest. We mostly relied on farming, though the occasional adventurer looking to explore the forest would pass through.

The first concrete memory I have is when I was 7. My mother had been telling me a story.

“...and that’s when the great hero reached the gates of the castle of darkness, the lair of the evil demon- Iksanto!” Here, my mother paused for dramatic effect.

This was my first time hearing this story, and I was very excited to hear the rest. My mother was quick to indulge me.

“Well, our hero then took down the entire castle, mowing down any enemy that he saw! None were strong enough to even hold a candle to him, and all he needed to do was just use his fire magic to incinerate them. The hero barely sweat a drop- that is, until the final room. Kicking down the door, he saw the great demon- but it was only a little girl! Our hero was shocked, but luckily the demon was too eager to attack. Convinced that the hero, a lowly human, would be unable to fight him in this form, the demon confidently attacked. This was enough to convince the hero that this little girl was really a demon, and he quickly took up his wand and sword against it. It wasn’t an easy fight, but eventually the hero prevailed, saving all of humanity from a terrible fate.”

I was ecstatic with happiness for the hero, but my mother soon calmed me down.

“Never again have all seven moons been seen fully in the sky, and never again has there been a hero like that one. That hero would go on to take over all the lands that had been ruled by the demon, and became the first king of Eryndor. To this day, we are still grateful for the protection of his descendants.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

It was here that my mom finally closed her storybook. This story was told to me many times, but the first time was definitely the best. I loved my mother’s storytelling- especially how she would put just a little bit of history at the end, just to make things more connected with the world I lived in, one without great demons and heroes.

Anyways, let's move onto to when I had reached the age of 11, and when my younger sister, Liora, was born. After her birth, practically all my mother's time was spent caring for her. Time she used to spend on me was now dedicated to my sister. I guess it should come as no surprise that a year later, my parents made plans to send me off to school.

I had been playing outside, when I heard Mother shout: “Alric! Come in!”

“Coming!”

Inside the house, there was a man sitting at the table. He wore a blue robe with an unfamiliar crest on his chest. At his wrist hung a wand. A mysterious clear crystal also sat in front of him.

“Hello Alric.” Father said. “This is Vergah. He's from the church.”

Vargah smiled kindly, and then pointed to the crystal. “Put your hands on the crystal. It’s to measure your magic affinity.”

I did as he told me. The crystal felt cold to the touch, but not overly so. It started glowing with a green glow, creating around half of the light our fireplace created. Oddly, the light seemed to be coming from around the crystal, rather than the crystal itself. I thought I saw a brief flicker of surprise on Vargah’s face, but he regained his smile quickly.

“Thank you, you can leave now.” Vargah said, still smiling.

I left as asked, but instead of returning outside, I listened through the door.

“...wind affinity.” Vergah was saying.

“His mana reserves are the largest this town’s ever seen!” That was Mom.

“Is it enough to get him anywhere?” Dad followed.

“He’s abnormal for sure, but you need to realize that we live out here in the countryside. Toward the capital, his level is probably just average. But you could still send him to one of the lesser schools, and I think his affinity level would give him a pretty good chance.”

“That’s good to hear, but how much will it cost to send him to one of those?”

“Around 20,000 atlu.”

Even at a young age, I could tell that that was an exorbitant price. There was a brief pause in the conversation, and then-

“But 2 years of my earnings!” My dad exclaimed.

“Are there any other options?” My mom asked.

“The only one would be the Eryndor National Academy of Magic. They’ll give you admission in return for a decade of military service. But if you want my honest opinion, I wouldn't recommend it. The issue is, Alric would probably be placed in the bottom class. From what I’ve heard, that’s not something I would want for him.”

I heard footsteps, followed by my dad saying “It’s not perfect, but it’s the best chance he has. Thank you.”

I ran off before they could open the door.