They were finally here. The Grand Forge academy stood in front of them. A castle with several spires that touched the clouds. Instead of walls or gates there was a dome of mana. Rumor had it that the enchantment for the barrier ran almost entirely on the headmistress’s mana. The castle itself seemed to be made of a white marble, it shimmered in the afternoon sun.
The shimmering blue dome didn’t just cover the castle but also the grounds that surrounded it, protecting almost 15 square miles. Azura had his breath taken away by the majesty of the castle and barrier. It was vibrant with life, so different from the castle he had lived in for most his life.
“We’re finally here.” It came out as a breathless whisper. Even if seeing was believing, he almost couldn’t believe it.
“Was there ever any doubt?” Katy was smiling proudly. She gestured forward. “Well come on we have to go in don’t we? It’s quite the walk from the edge of the barrier to the center, and we have been walking for days, I’m really looking forward to a bath.”
They started walking towards the barrier. “I thought you didn’t mind being dirty.” His smug expression dropped upon glancing down at his own filthy state. His clothes were torn and stained with blood, dirt and mud stubbornly sticking to them. Katy, while just as dirty was in a better state, lacking the blood and rips.
“I don’t, I just like warm baths.” She shrugged at him.
“Yeah I guess that’s fair. I honestly don’t care as long as I’m clean.” His unhappiness at his state of dress disappeared as the entrance committee came into view. A group of 6 people just inside the barrier, they were all decently dressed in white tunics with golden outlines and brown trousers. It was the standard outfit given out by the school. He had seen it a few times before.
“Welcome to the Grand Forge Academy. State your business. The man in front spoke. He was old and gruff. He was taller than Azura but not by much. His dark blue eyes followed them closely.
“My name is Azura Silver, and this is Catherine, my attendant.” He gestured to her. “We have come to attempt the trials taking place 2 days from now.” His voice was polite as was his posture. He managed to look like a noble even with his clothes in tatters.
The old man stiffened up. He looked him up and down, before coughing in his hand. “I’m going to need proof of nobility.” He winced, likely expecting him to rage like most young nobles would if their claims were doubted.
“Sure here.” He pulled a silver pendant from the pocket of his surcoat, if it could even still be called that. The pendant had a dragon head engraved on it. The man gently took the pendant and inspected it, clearly surprised by the lack of offense. A dark blue glow covered the pendant for a second.
The old man sighed in relief. “You’re good to go.” The man handed him his pendant back and he put it away. “You have a good head on your shoulders for one so young, so I’ll offer you a bit of advice. Don’t underestimate the trials, this school takes fewer than 100 students out of the thousands that apply.
Azura nodded gravely, but smiled confidently. “Difficult or not, I have no intention of failing.” He took his first step past the barrier as the old man gave him a small chuckle.
“Well good luck to you then. Hopefully you don’t need it.” The man sent out those parting words before returning to stand with the rest of the committee.
“2 more days huh? It almost feels like a dream.” Katy looked towards the grand spires. “Well guess we better get going.” She started walking towards the huge castle in the distance. He nodded and started walking quickly to catch up.
They walked in silence for a while enjoying the amazing sights all around them. He had heard that the academy was self-sufficient, but to see it was entirely different. There were farms growing vegetables, tree orchards for fruit, and all kinds of different animals milled around behind gates.
“Hey, are you guys here to take the trials too?” They turned towards the voice to see a small girl. Her long hair was white on top but slowly faded to a light purple by the bottom, but not as dark as her deep purple eyes. She wore ornate purple robes. She had a shy smile. Something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Luckily she seemed intent on ignoring the state he and Katy were in.
“Yes.” He had learned his lesson, if someone seemed off they probably were. He gave his one word response politely and began to walk forward again. Katy gave him an odd look but shrugged and followed him. The other girl sped up to keep up with them.
“I’m Lily Re… Oh wait, non-nobles don’t use their last names for introductions in this country right?” He glanced at her again, maybe that’s what was off; her mannerisms were just something he wasn’t used to. He had been to all 5 of the kingdoms on this continent, though they were separate, their cultures were more or less the same.
“You’re from a different continent?” He wondered how she ended up here.
“Yup I’m from the continent north of this one.” She looked down.
“Ah that’s Lindin right, so you don’t really use magic much then.” He had never been there, but he heard that Lindin had pretty harsh reactions to overt magic use.
“No, actually I have an attribute that my mana naturally leans to, so I’m fairly good at fire magic.” She looked up with a bright smile on her face, it didn’t reach her eyes. She was hiding something, but it wasn’t really any of his business.
“A natural attribute, wow that’s pretty rare. Is it the result of a unique magic?” The only other occurrences I can think of for having a natural attribute is a spirit contract with an elemental. If it was the latter, it would mean that he encountered 2 elementals in 1 day. If that was the case then something pretty major must be going on, elementals don’t leave the spirit realm often.
Her face reeled back in surprise. “Wow, got it in one. You must be quite the scholar.” She stared at him intently before smiling, more genuinely this time.” If I ever need help I’ll be sure to ask you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Well I don’t particularly mind, but be careful some nobles won’t take assumed familiarity well.” Well technically a lot of nobles don’t take anything well but he couldn’t really say that, there were after all other nobles like him out there.
Her face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean? Assumed familiarity.”
He sighed. “You said if you had trouble you would ask me for help. Which means you assume I would help you. I don’t mind but most will take that as you trying to get in the good graces of a noble by acting overly friendly.”
She shrugged. “Well that’s fine I don’t care what they think. If they have a problem they can take it up with me, and I’ll send them straight to hell.” Her smile lit up in an innocent smile.
Him and Katy recoiled back. “Woah what happened to overly friendly” Katy spoke shocked at the girl's change of pace.
“Oops sorry did I say that out loud.” Lily shyly looked towards the ground.
Azura wanted to laugh, did she really think they would buy the shy act after that. “Right well I think we should hurry and get to the academy, I would love to be in clothes that aren’t in pieces.
Lily eyed them for the first time visibly noting their current state. She scrunched her nose. “Yeah you guys should probably go get cleaned up.
***
Azura sat in a small, but comfy room. It was a temporary room he was provided with until the trials took place. The staff had also kindly provided him with some new clothes. They were a plain brown lacking any embellishments. He couldn’t say he liked them, but it was better than the shredded clothes he had on earlier. The room was just as plain as the clothes with no decorations, or furniture aside from the bed and a small desk pushed into the corner.
The bed he was sitting on was surprisingly comfortable, despite its regular appearance. He had slept like a log. He yawned as he stretched his limbs. He cast his time reading spell, it was roughly 7. He wondered if the breakfast hall was open. He heard a knock on the door. He went to open the door while trying to figure out who it could be.
“You are Azura Silver, correct?” A well dressed man spoke as soon as the door opened. He had combed gray hair, and a plain black blindfold on.
Azura was taken aback by the stranger. “Yes, that is indeed my name.” He slipped into noble posture even if the man couldn’t see. He couldn’t risk relaxing until he knew who the stranger was.
“Excellent. Follow me.” He turned and left without waiting for a response.
Azura watched his retreating figure in confusion for a second before he followed after the man on reflex. After he closed the door behind him, he started to realize that he had no idea what was happening. “If I may ask, what exactly are you leading me to?”
The man turned his head. “The headmistress requests your presence.” He turned his head back forward.
Azura looked surprised for only a moment, before getting his facial expressions back under control. “May I ask why? She can hardly interview every student hopeful, and I haven’t done anything of note since my arrival.” The man might have said requested, but he knew it was not optional. He only hoped he could at least prepare himself.
“She did not disclose her reasons to me.”
He sighed, so much for being able to prepare. “Very well.” He spent the rest of the time memorizing the route, so he could find his way back. The academy was even bigger inside than out. Its inside was practically a labyrinth. Hallways of white marble light coming from seemingly nowhere. The floors were a brilliantly polished dark wood. After what felt like an eternity of walking the man finally stopped. In front lie a grand pair of double doors, with an intricate carving of a massive tree growing around an anvil and hammer.
Neither the man or him moved for a few moments. Growing uncomfortable, he decided to knock on the door but before his hands could even touch the door an old, tired sounding voice echoed through the wood.
“Enter child.”
Azura blinked, unsure of the situation. In hindsight he should have known she would have some way of detecting presences outside her office, but he was perhaps rightfully, more concerned about why he was summoned in the first place.
He slowly pushed the doors open. Not a sound was made, the doors smoothly gliding across the floor's surface. He took a few steps into the nice office. The office looked more like a mini library than anything. It wasn’t overly wide, maybe 50 ft in diameter, but it was tall. Books lined the walls, spiraling further than the eye could see. He looked around in awe. How much knowledge existed in this room? More than anyone could possibly read in a lifetime, he was sure.
A quiet chuckle snapped him out of his reverie. “I have rarely seen a youth gaze upon my office with such enthusiasm.”
His gaze finally focused on the headmistress. She was sitting at a large desk, the only furniture in the room. The desk had stacks of paper cluttered all around it. The woman herself was tall, at least for her age, being a little taller than him. Her eyes were as grey as her hair and despite the wrinkles that lined her face, they still managed to make her almost intimidating. “That can’t be true. This is a school after all, why come here if not in search of knowledge.”
“If only most students shared your opinion, however most come here seeking only answers. I wonder, do you know the difference?” She set the pen she had been using to fill out some papers down and focused all her attention on him.
He didn’t know what it was, but suddenly he stiffened reflexively mimicking the posture his father had drilled into him, his hands met behind his back as he met her gaze. Her eyes seemed to pierce into his soul searching for the answer. “An answer only has any value if you know the right questions to ask.” He spoke somehow knowing that a bad answer here would cause him lots of grief later.
Her piercing look persisted for a few moments before she smiled. “Good answer, you have a good mindset, rare among young nobles. Well rare amongst everyone really but most commoners have a different mindset that isn’t inherently better...” She rambled to herself for a while getting progressively quieter.
After her ramblings continued for a few moments it began to dawn on him that she wasn’t stopping. “Umm ma’am are you ok.”
Her eyes whipped up to meet his once again. “Oh yes sorry I tend to get lost in my own thoughts often, perhaps a side effect of spending more time with books than people.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Silence rained for a moment, before he decided to move this along so he wasn’t there all day. “So if it isn’t too rude, may I ask why you requested my presence?”
“Rather impatient, aren’t you? Impatience and thirst for knowledge don’t tend to mix well. I urge you to be cautious with your impulses, lest you find them leading you astray.” Her eyes closed and she leaned back into her chair as she spoke.
Luckily he had many years of practice hiding his annoyance. “A wise lesson indeed. I’ll take it to heart.” If he was going to be stuck here for hours, she could at least let him browse the books.
She chuckled softly. “I imagine you will, but not for a while yet. Headstrong youths don’t tend to learn those kinds of lessons until they have to.”
He managed to hold back his indignance, if only just. “I would like to think I am capable of accepting the wisdom of others.”
“Many would like to think they are capable of much.” He grit his teeth, but made no outward show of frustration. “Just because you can hide it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. No matter how hard you try your true feelings will always slip out.”
His eyes widened. “I see, I’ll try to keep that in mind.” If she was going to call him out on his frustration, couldn’t she just get this over with.
“I suppose I have held you long enough. I called you up here to talk about your fight with that water spirit.” Her piercing eyes opened again staring through him. The gaze made him uncomfortable, like all his secrets were just words on a page. A page that she could read through at any time.
“How do you know about that?” For the first time his facade dropped as naked shock crossed his face. Did she have some kind of unique magic?
“The 2 that rescued you told me about it. They are teachers afterall.”
He flushed, embarrassed about his oversight. “Ah yes, that does make sense.” He coughed into his hand as he tried to recompose himself."So what about my “fight” if it can even be called that, led you to summon me here? The details are nothing spectacular." He tried to move the subject along.
"Indeed, what a boring tale. A 15 year old boy not even in a magic school yet not only surviving against a water spirit that could kill some professional mages, but even managing to get his friend to safety." she chuckled dryly. "Why don't you humor me young man?"
He flinched and then sighed. "There really isn't much to tell... I used ice magic to solidify it and the river in pieces, and I enchanted myself to increase my physical abilities enough to survive." he ran his hand through his hair, mildly embarrassed.
For the first time since he had walked in, the headmistress looked surprised. "you use enchantment magic, that is quite the rarity, and did you say on yourself.... I thought that couldn't be done..." She once again descended into ranting.
"It's not inherently impossible, but typically it's unsafe, so most choose instead to solely create enchanted items." He tried to cut her off before she moved on too far.
"I see, but more importantly before the teachers saved you, I felt a massive surge of mana. Any idea what that was." she questioned him, staring at him intensely once more.
He reeled back in shock. She felt that all the way from here, The mana for his trump card is almost entirely internal even the teachers hadn't registered it, and they were right there. What kind of absurd mana sensitivity was that? He was at a loss for words.
"Don't underestimate the abilities of the teachers, they surely sensed it as well, but most think it rude to ask about another's magic for no reason"
He stiffened, was he that easy to read, or did she have some kind of mind reading ability, he put mana around his head to block any spell to read his mind.
"a good effort, but I don't need magic to read someone like you." She smiled gingerly. "But don't worry I mean no harm, but that mana surge was far beyond what even the most talented noble at your age should be able to summon" she tensed, looking serious.
He desperately thought of anything he could use to change the topic. "Weren’t you the one who said that it's rude to ask about another's magic?"
"Please no need for petty politics here, you may have been raised a noble, but noble or commoner means nothing here, only talent and aptitude matter here." her eyes pierced into him reminding him of the wolf spirit he ran into earlier.
He sighed. "Alright...alright, but please don't tell anyone about this." He gave a hesitant smile. "If people knew, I'd never get to become the kind of mage I want to be. The association would lock me in a room making artifacts forever.
Her eyes widened again, and then she laughed. "You expect me to believe you can make artifacts? That art has been lost for centuries."
"Nothing lost can't be found again or re-discovered." He pulled out his journal and opened it.
"It's blank." She looked confused
he smirked, at least she wasn't all knowing. With barely any mana he activated his journal, the first true grimoire to be made since ancient times. Symbols appeared all over the pages, constantly changing shape and making all kinds of seemingly random patterns, each symbol glowing blue and silver seemingly at random. Mana started to condense in the air flowing into the pages creating a whirlwind around him. Then it all stopped and the room returned to normal as if nothing had happened once he closed the book.
"..." She was speechless, utter shock on her face. "Where did you find that?" She now looked grave like he had committed a crime so vast death would not suffice as punishment.
He knew this would happen. Grimoires were legendary items, any that were found had to be registered and studied by the mage association. "I didn't. I made it, and I can prove it." He handed her the book. "If you can open it without destroying it, it's yours."
She looked at his outstretched hand holding the grimoire. "No I believe you, if you had found it, you would never risk handing it over. Astonishing... know it was possible..." Her ranting was more frantic this time. He couldn't keep up.
"So uh I've revealed my secret, may I leave now." He said nervously. He really hoped that it wouldn't backfire.
Her eyes snapped to his once more. "Don't reveal this to anyone else, Ever. I don't think you fully comprehend how dangerous the knowledge you've uncovered is. Some things are lost for a reason" She looked on with... was that pity. "You may leave now, I have much to think about."
He turned to leave only pausing briefly before he left her office, to head back to his room, the attendant staring intently at him.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" He focused towards me, even with the blindfold removing his sight.
Azura turned back towards him, but he was gone. Azura was beginning to realize what his father had meant when he said, no one would ever understand all the mysteries of this place.
***
It was almost noon when Azura had finally calmed down enough to go find Katy. His talk with the headmistress had been beyond stressful, and as much as he wanted a familiar face to calm down, it wouldn't do to look so shaken in public. Unfortunately he only knew which wing Katy's room was in, and each wing was hopelessly big, so finding her was harder than expected.
"There you are, I've been looking all over for you"
"in your own dorm wing?" He said, hiding his relief with sarcasm. He turned, seeing her leaning against the wall with a frown.
"I heard you got called in by the headmistress, figured you would come by when you were ready." She spoke with a worried frown on her face. "I've never seen you take more than an hour to calm down... Just how bad was that meeting?
"Probably not bad in the way you're thinking, just really stressful." he said finally managing to relax a little. "My plan was to relax today for the trials tomorrow, but you want to spar a bit instead. I could really use the de-stresser."
She smiled. "Sure come on, the arena is this way." She pointed to her left. and started to walk off in that direction, falling into step right next to her. She smiled again. "It's much better here, since I get to walk next to you instead of behind you.
He gave her a confused look, then smiled and slowed down enough to walk just behind her and to her right. "Trust me it's not any better being in front."
She grunted but kept walking in front…. For all of 2 minutes. “Ok ok I get it, hurry up will you” her frustration seeping out.
He chuckled and started walking beside her once more. “I get the feeling this place will feel a lot less lonely then that old castle.'' They both smiled at each other.
“Not much of a contest there.” Katy said, relief to be gone from that place clearly in her voice. “Now we just have to make sure we never have to go back.” She took on a determined visage.
“Don’t worry, we’ve trained ourselves to the brink, no way we’re going to lose now.” He said with a reassuring smile.
She simply smiled at him as she continued to guide him through the twisting hallways. After walking for another 20 minutes, they finally arrived at the arena. Though it was called the arena only the big colosseum in the middle was open for spectators, there were many smaller training rooms circling around it for training and duels that aren’t for spectators to see. In the space between the coliseum and all the training rooms, there were empty stalls for when an event was being held and a receptionist behind a desk at the front by the entrance to the coliseum.
He walked up to the receptionist, a young man with long black hair and a bored expression. “Hey, we are looking to get a room for training please.”
The man turned to look at Azura. “3 gold pieces.” his bored expression never leaving his face.
Azura reached for his bag when Katy stopped him. “3 gold pieces, for a training room. That’s absurd, we could just go outside.” She spoke to the receptionist with venom in her voice.
“Then go outside.” he spoke still bored
“Hey Azura you spoke to the headmistress once already right? Maybe we should ask her about this policy.” she spoke, faux innocence thick in her voice.
He knew to play along with her when she got like this. “Yeah sure, she let me go early, because I needed to rest, but there was something else she wanted to discuss anyway.” He said, pretending to think about it.
“Alright alright. You got me, the training room is only 3 copper. You can’t blame me for trying to get a little extra when most nobles don’t even bat an eye.” he gave off a shrug, looking about as repentant as a cat would after catching a bird.
Katy looked like she was about to argue. Azura stepped in front of her and placed copper on the table. “You should make it 10 gold, the nobles will try to haggle you down to 8, then feel proud of themselves for getting a “good deal”.”
The man chuckled a little then handed them an oddly shaped object.. “Thanks for the tip, your training room is going to be on the eastern side of the arena. It will be the 9th one in section C. It will Have C-9 above it in big print.” he said before leaning back in his chair.
“Thanks for your time.” Azura said as he and Katy walked off.
“You’re not mad at all that he tried to scam you?” Katy asked curiously.
“Not really. Most nobles won’t miss the loss of a few coins, and the ones that will won’t fall for it. If anything I’m more concerned it didn’t occur to me that 3 gold pieces was too high. I’m usually pretty good about that, I just assumed that prices were inflated here since it’s out of the kingdom.” He spoke pensively. “I’ll be sure to have my guard up from now on.”
She nodded. “Well worst case I’ve got your back.” she spoke sincerely until a smirk found its way on her face. “You have all our money after all.”
“Ah so I am merely your wallet now.” He responded dryly. “What a shame, suddenly I feel like you will have a hard time purchasing things.”
She laughed and shrugged it off. “Not like I need much anyway.” he laughed along, and they both noticed they were in section C. They started looking for their training room. The training rooms were pretty far apart, it took them an extra 30 minutes of walking to get to their training room.
They finally arrived at C-9 and there was an indent in the door shaped exactly like the object the Attendant had handed them, so Azura placed the object in the hole and it vanished as the door opened up revealing a large circular area with polished metal floors and walls.
“So ready to get your ass kicked?” Katy smirked at him.
“Oh it’s on.'' he smiled back.
***
Azura woke up earlier than he normally would. First light had yet to even arrive. Leaving his room entirely in shadows. He didn’t mind, today was the day, the trials would begin and his true journey would finally be underway. That being said, they didn’t have to gather in the grand hall for another couple of hours.
After laying down for a bit he decided to work on enchanting the clothes he had bought yesterday. As always he had a white hooded cloak that would cover his whole body, that gave him plenty of surface area to work with. For under clothes he simply got a long sleeve black tunic, black trousers and black combat boots. All had silver designs running through them. Then the last piece of cloth was a long blue scarf that almost made it to his feet. It was slightly tattered which makes sense, after all it was a makeshift scarf made with the cleaned remains of the clothes he wore for his journey through the man eating woods.
He pulled out his enchantment tools and set to work glowing blue and silver started to flash throughout the room as he worked on his new clothes. He put in basic enchantments first, making them more durable and setting up the framework for the more complicated enchantments. He got lost in his work making arrays, and feeling out the symbols of each thing as they constantly changed. As he worked he was sure the biggest reason enchantment was basically a lost art at this point was simply because people were too impatient to attune themselves to the spirit world just to be able to start practicing their magic.
Well it didn’t matter he decided, it was the path he chose, and he would just have to prove it’s worth. He smiled, his enchantments finally complete. He looked out his window only to instantly panic, the sun had risen. How long had he been enchanting?! He moved his hand in a circle projecting a clock. His eyes widened. “Oh shit oh no, why do I always do this.” He threw his newly enchanted clothes on in a flurry of rapid movement and rushed out of his door. “I can’t afford to be late!!” Symbols began to glow on his skin and clothes as his speed increased several fold. He became a silver, and blue blur rushing down empty hallway after empty hallway.
He made it in record time pushing the doors open as the glowing symbols faded and disappeared. He had made it at the last possible second, meaning thousands of eyes all turned to him as he burst through the door, only the fastest of them caught even a glimpse of the mostly faded symbols before they completely vanished.
A throat clearing rang out quiet yet still somehow enough to grab everyone's attention. The headmistress began once she had everyone’s attention. “Now that everyone is here I suppose it’s time for the trials to begin, but first all of you should know these trials are not easy. Most will fail, many will die, and few will succeed…”
Azura stopped paying attention when he felt someone tap his shoulder.
“Jeez you really cut it close.” Katy said with a worried frown.
“Sorry about that. I had to finish enchanting my new gear, and I may have gotten a tad carried away.” He said putting his thumb and index finger really close together.
Katy relaxed a little. “Sure sure whatever as long as you’re here on time I guess it’s fine.”
They tuned back in to the Headmistresses speech. “... So now that you have a basic grasp on what the trials mean and how dangerous they can be, those brave enough to try them will stay, the rest may leave.”
“Maybe we should have paid attention.” Katy said nervously.
“Not like we can afford to quit either way” Azura spoke, determination blazing in his eyes.
She smiled softly. “True.”
They watched as a few hopefuls lost their nerve and left the room. It seemed like a small amount compared to the huge mass of people here, but it was still at least a hundred people that left. After a few minutes of waiting the people trickling out stopped and they were left with… still an absurdly high amount of people.
The headmistress chuckled. “Well too the rest of you… don’t die!”
The ground split open beneath the hopefuls, revealing an abyss so inky black it looked like a wall of darkness rather than a hole. Azura’s right vambrace began to glow green as he went to release a wind blast to save him and Katy, but the mana dissipated the second it left his body, eaten by the void. Then everything went black.