[AVO]

"So is the school big? How many students are there? When will I start learning spells? There are lots of spells, right?"

For every rock the horse-drawn cart rumbled over, Avo would spit out another four or five questions. Avo was having fun extracting every little possible detail he could from Rawlins. He wanted to be as prepared as possible for when he finally arrived at this school. From Avo's point of view, if he put in some real effort he could become a great mage. A mage like in the stories he always heard. He could have everything he ever wanted.

Rawlins did not exactly share his enthusiasm, in fact he was starting to doze off as he held the reigns with one of his meaty hands. His other hand became a rest for his head. Noticing the giant man's slumber, Avo moved to the front of the cart to shake Rawlins' shoulder,

"Rawlins! How long have you been sleeping! Are we still even going in the right direction!?"

Avo was relieved when Rawlins finally snorted a bit and righted himself,

"Huh? Oh, Avo. No, I was only just starting to drift away from your endless interrogation. Looks like you ruined that, eh?"

The man barked out laughter, making Avo roll his eyes as he sat back down,

"You've barely answered any of my questions, Rawlins, I'm starting to think you've been lying to me after all."

As the cart rumbled through the forest they were going through, Rawlins waved a hand towards Avo,

"Look kid, you'll have most of those answered when we get there. Don't worry, we've almost arrived."

Rawlins nodded forward. Avo gasped. The cart had emerged from the forest, and in front of them was a mountain that extended high into the sky. As he looked closer, he could see it was more of a small range. He could make out three distinct peaks, all lined up next to each other. The one in the center rose the highest, its rocky head shearing clouds. It was strange, though. Avo had never heard of any mountains in Escar. The Kingdom was mostly plains, forests, and rolling hills.

Rawlins looked back at Avo, a white toothy grin appearing from his bearded face,

"Welcome to Mount Medici, kid!"

Avo's eyes were filled with wonder. With how tall the mountain was, he wondered how he never saw it from Wilbaum, much less heard about it.

"Rawlins, I've seen maps of Escar before. There are no mountains here."

The beefy man turned back to the road, guiding the black horse pulling the cart, nodding,

"The best way I can explain it is that this place exists in a bubble. The mages from the Early Years created these places as sanctuaries for magic folk. Only those with mana can enter or exit. For normal people this place is just another forest."

Avo was taken aback,

"So magic can create all of this? It's like a whole other world..."

Rawlins shook his head,

"Back then, yes. Nowadays we're much weaker than we used to be. Don't get me wrong, we still have considerable power, but we don't have access to the same spells anymore. The Kings of old wanted to make sure we stayed at a certain level. I don't think anyone in the world knows the right spells to pull something like this off again."

Now Avo was curious. Mages in the past used to be stronger than they were now? That seemed strange to him.

"Shouldn't have mages gotten stronger over time? More knowledgeable? Like how blacksmiths create better weapons over time, or a soldier improves their skill with a blade? Why'd the mages from the Early Years listen to the Kings of old?"

Rawlins was a bit taken aback by the barrage of questions, shrugging his shoulders,

"Listen Avo, you don't know the power mages used to hold. A single mage from the Early Years could destroy an entire nation if they wanted to. That power shouldn't be given to a single person, and the mages from the Early Years knew that, so they helped the Kings of old create schools like this one. It's better to have a proper system for people like us, trust me, kid."

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It still didn't make sense to Avo. People should always improve at their craft, no matter what they did. Wasn't that just human nature? To oppose it seemed... wrong. Why bow to people who couldn't even use magic at all? He touched his bandaged face, remembering what happened in the alley. A flash. A life taken. All in an instant. The power to take someone's life was at his fingertips.

The cart stopped.

"We're here kid! You sure got quiet at the end of the trip, eh? I was starting to actually enjoy talking to you!"

The big man barked out some more laughter.

Avo jumped to his feet, realizing that they arrived at some kind of camp at the base of the mountain. There were about twenty or so brown tents with young kids running between them, talking and eating. In the center of camp a massive fire blazed, some kind of meat roasting over it. Crates and sacks of what Avo assumed to be supplies were strewn about on the ground. Avo turned to Rawlins with a slightly concerned expression on his face,

"This... is the school?"

Rawlins chuckled,

"Oh no, that would be sad. This is just where we've been gathering new students. You should be one of the last ones. Now, go and meet some of your new classmates!"

Avo looked towards the camp. There were a lot of kids. Were there really so many mages just running around in the world? It made him wonder if he had known any back in Wilbaum. He supposed he should go and talk to some of them if he was truly going to be learning alongside them. He still had several questions, though.

"Say, Rawlins, do you-"

When Avo turned, he found that the behemoth of a man was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was the cart and horse.

Great... just great...

Avo approached the camp, which was filled with raucous laughter. He began to hear music fill his ears, and when he turned his attention to it, he saw a blonde boy sitting on a crate was making a lute float in the air and play a jovial tune. Other kids began to surround him cheering, yelling out requests. Avo stared at the act for a bit, trying to figure out if there was some kind of trick.

No. This must be magic, there's no other way.

It was crazy to believe that this was the world he lived in now. Avo enjoyed the performance by the back of the crowd for a bit before he heard a light scoff to his right. He turned to see a brown haired girl, shaking her head at the boy playing. She was wearing a dress made of white cloth and what looked like gold bracelets on her wrists. Avo addressed her, in his usual neutral tone,

"What's the matter?"

She turned to him, at first raising an eyebrow at his bandaged face, but then dismissing it,

"That blonde boy always starts some kind of show while I'm in the middle of talking to people, it's so annoying. I'm trying to network here. Knowing people is the only way I'm going to survive this horrific school."

Avo wondered what she was going on about,

"Horrific?"

The girl's eyebrows shot up, and her mouth formed an 'O',

"Don't you know? This school is only for screwups. I failed every placement test for other schools because I was terribly sick, so my parents had to send me to this dump! I cried for days. My older sister is going to Serafina's School for Spirited Sorcerers, while I'm stuck here, oh it's all so unfair!"

The girl got close to him, whispering into his ear,

"I hear that they even bring young mages who have killed people here. Imagine! There might be psychos in this very crowd!"

Avo backed up a bit, he was a bit concerned for this girl's mental health by the way she was rapidly talking in such a distressed tone. He decided to try and introduce himself, despite him being a supposed 'psycho' in this girl's eyes,

"Well, I didn't really have a choice either. I didn't even know I was a mage until a couple days ago. My name's Avo, by the way."

The girl nodded rapidly,

"I'm Bruna Browne. I'm sure there are many other new mages here too. I come from a family of them, though."

Bruna pointed to his face,

"What's with the bandages, by the way?"

Avo shrugged, thinking of what to say,

"I went through a rough awakening. The spell that I accidently cast hurt me a bit."

He decided to omit the truth. No one needed to know that he murdered someone, especially not this girl due to her constant worrying. Bruna nodded in understanding,

"Yeah, I hear that happens with kids who are first generation mages. Which I'm assuming you are?"

Avo thought for a second before responding,

"If by that you mean I don't come from a family of them, yes."

Bruna gave him a look of confirmation. She looked like she was about to say more, but she was interrupted by the sound of a loud crunching noise and yelling. Some kids in the crowd were pointing up the mountain. It seemed like a large boulder was rolling down Mount Medici and was coming straight towards the camp. Everyone began running away from where it looked like the boulder was going to make a landing, including Avo and Bruna.

What the hell is going on, is this some kind of avalanche? This better not happen often.

He dove for the ground once he thought he was safe and looked behind him. The boulder landed with a loud crash, slamming into the large fireplace in the center of the camp, completely crushing the wood and extinguishing the flame.

"My pig! I was roasting that since morning!"

Some kid was whining while everyone else was calming down.

Suddenly the boulder began to crack. After a loud crunching noise the rock split into four distinct sections. The pieces of rock floated outwards before dropping to the ground with a thud, spewing dirt and dust into the air. The kids around Avo began whispering to each other. Avo himself was very curious to know what was going on.

Finally, a figure emerged from where the rock once stood. It was a short, bald man, with an intense expression. He wore a black vest with a grayish undershirt. He stomped towards the crowd of students, black boots on his feet. Everyone quieted to see what he was going to do.

"New students!"

The man's voice was loud, but clear. Commanding.

"I am Sir Alaric and it is time for your first test!"