Sean Brynor
“Remain silent for most of the event,” Aiden Patrinca, our older cousin, said. “You carry the insignia of House Phell, so most of the others will leave you alone. If anyone does question who you are, simply state you are the grandchild of Lord Phell, then say your name. Do not bow to anyone. As far as I know, we’re the only three from the four great houses going to the Archmage’s event, so every other Lord and Lady will be of lower status than you.”
“I know,” I said, irritated. “I heard all this from Titus, then Callistar. They both made it fairly clear.”
Aiden frowned, then sighed, lowering his head into one of his hands. “Listen, I know you’re new to all this. My mother told me about my aunt a long time ago, and I get that you’re still adjusting to everything, but you must be careful with how you refer to people. Callistar is technically a butler, but he is also a knight and Head of the Phell Estate. Even worse, referring to Lord Phell as anything but a Lord could land you in serious trouble. Please be careful.”
I was about to comment on how I didn’t care whether or not Titus was the King, but Isla distracted me by poking my shoulder. I hadn’t gotten to see her much over the last few months, Titus making it a point to separate us for independent studies. She looked completely different, like she’d gone through some kind of transformation, turned into the spitting image of some young noble lady. She wore a dark blue dress with many different layers of skirts, each extremely poofy and taking up much of the seat we sat on together. Her brown hair was up and braided, not a speck of dirt to be found in it. Even her face had changed, covered in a layer of makeup that made her eyes and lips stand out. The only thing that was familiar about her was the wisp of air that hovered near her shoulder, Shaymie.
Isla gestured to something outside the carriage. She pointed to a several meters tall marble statue that stood behind a large gate made of gold. It depicted a man, a sword in its hilt at his side, hand on the pommel. The man’s other hand was held out in front of him, a fire in his palm. He wore long flowing robes that seemed to flow in the wind, despite being made of the white, chalky, stone.
I made sure Aiden noticed it too, then asked, “Who’s that?” for Isla.
Aiden’s posture shifted. I barely knew him, only meeting him a few days ago as we prepared for the Archmage’s event, so I couldn’t get a read on what changed about him when I asked the question. He was short, just like most people that were related to the Phell’s, but he looked sturdy. Calluses covered his hands from his time spent as a squire. In many ways, he reminded me of Blair, which didn’t give me the best impression of him, but Aiden had actually stopped his pursuit of becoming a knight when he learned he could do magic.
He was fifteen, about two and a half years older than me and Isla, which made him an adult in Vistaria. He wore a black suit jacket with similar color pants, and a white shirt that had way too many ruffles on it. A pink, circular insignia that depicted some kind of field was sewn onto his jacket, near his heart, and white gloves covered his hands. I knew how hot that outfit was, even though The City of Marble was nearing the end of summer, because I was also wearing it. The only difference was that I had House Phell’s insignia sewn into my jacket, and my gloves were a dark blue to match it. As I examined him, I finally realized what had changed about him. It was clear as day on his face. He was disgusted just from me asking a question.
Aiden sighed, placing his hand on his forehead. “It’s a statue of the First King, made in his honor after he passed the crown to his son and left to return to his homeland.” Isla’s eyes seemed to light up as Aiden talked, but he raised his hand to silence me. “No, please don’t ask anything else. I’m not your tutor, Though, maybe I should be.”
The carriage suddenly came to a halt, and the driver gently knocked on the door. “Lord Patrinca. Lord and Lady Phell. We have arrived,” the man said, opening the door with a bow.
“Thank you Devon,” Aiden smiled, pulling a gold coin seemingly out of mid air. “For the pleasant ride,” he said, handing it to the driver.
The man took it. “You are far too kind, m’Lord.”
As Aiden and Isla stepped out of the carriage, I reached over to grab my pack. I grabbed onto nothing, forgetting that I’d been barred from bringing it. My shoulders felt empty as I used my cane to stand and walk out to join the other two. When I stepped out, Winter flew down from above, landing on my shoulder. She had started acclimating to the new climate, but I could tell she was getting overheated, so I created a small ice cube from the water pouches beneath my coat and gave it to her. She gave a “Hooo,” as thanks.
Isla and I walked behind Aiden, and I leaned down to whisper to her. “Be careful around him. He could be just as bad as Titus.”
Isla looked up at me, concern on her face. “I don’t know Sean. He seems alright. Better than everyone else we’ve met since we’ve got here, I think. Except maybe Gaige.”
“No, something’s off about him. Didn’t you see how much he seemed to despise us?”
“What? No. I didn’t”
“Back when I asked him about the statue. He gave me this look like I was something he stepped in.”
Isla stared at me, a blank expression on her face. One of her eyebrows rose. “Sean I– that didn’t look like he hated us. I– I think he was pitying us.”
“What? No he–”
“He even considered tutoring you himself. I don’t really trust him either, but it was kind.”
I looked between her and Aiden, not sure what to think. Why would he pity us? I didn’t need his help, nor did I think he was better than us. The idea made me angrier than thinking he hated us. “Just stay away from him, okay?” I warned Isla.
“You don’t have to tell me that.”
We walked into a golden gate similar to the one we’d seen earlier. Inside was a place like a park, grass and flowers everywhere, and a few sparse trees here and there. The area sloped downwards when it got near the lake, a small sand beach at the bottom. I noticed a tiny dock with a single boat jutted out into the water, but no one was there.
“So this is the Royal Castle?” I asked, trying to peer over the walls that surrounded the area.”
Aiden laughed. “Yes, technically. However, this is the least of the castle’s many, many garden’s. It’s why his Majesty gifted it to the Archmage and allowed him to build that,” he said, pointing to the lone building in front of us.
It was, like everything else, made entirely of marble. However, compared to everything else I’d seen in the city, it was very unremarkable. It was just a giant stone rectangle with no decorated carvings or even windows. The only thing that broke up its sleek surface were the barn doors at its front and the crowd of people standing in front of them. Aiden led us into the crowd, the two of us following.
Everyone else here was a teenager. That made sense, since this was an event exclusively for young Lords and Ladies, but it still felt strange to see so many kids without any protection, especially noble ones. Though, kids wasn’t technically correct. Almost everyone looked over fifteen, barring a few younger here and there. Each of them wore similar clothing to what Aiden, Isla, and I had on, the only major difference being the insignia near their heart. There were many different colored ones with many different depictions on them. It seemed impossible to be able to remember them all.
“Lady Lucy of House Trestin,” Aiden said, walking over to a young lady with long black hair. Her face was painted with all kinds of different reds and pinks, and I couldn’t tell where her face began and the make up ended.
“Lord Aiden,” She responded, “How lovely to see you again.”
She held her hand out for Aiden, who quickly leaned down to kiss it. “The pleasure is all mine. Please, may I ask why everyone is standing outside the hall?”
Lucy gave a small huff, pouting her lips. I would have thought it cute if I could actually see her face. “The Master Sorcerer in charge of the event is late. None of the other Mages will let us inside until he arrives.”
“I see. Do you know the name of our host?”
“The other Mages called him Master Averitt. I don’t know much about the Tower or Mages, but I found their behavior very rude.” Lucy batted her eyes and looked up at Aiden. She came in closer, her hands on his chest. “Perhaps if you talked to them, Aiden? They wouldn’t dare disrespect someone like you,” She said sweetly.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I stifled a scoff, then a laugh, as Aiden smiled. He waved at us, probably some warning to not do anything we’ll regret, then let Lucy lead him towards the front of the crowd. “Can you believe that? He was immediately swayed by her pretty eyes.”
Isla giggled. “So you thought they were pretty too?”
I groaned, then leaned heavier on my cane. I had been standing too long, so the pain was growing worse. I stopped myself from forming the ice prosthetic, though. I had a reason not to. Everyone else in the crowd stared at me, a crippled boy that they’d never seen before. To them, I was nobody. So, when I showed off how strong my magic was, I’d stand out even more than if I came in loud and proud. It was actually Titus’ idea, which made me want to do it even less, but I had to play along. If I wanted to learn more about magic and possibly join the Magic Tower, I needed to stand out.
The pain became too much, and I started to fall to my knees. Winter let out a screech as we fell. I felt someone grab onto my arm as I fell, then hoist me upwards. I planted my cane against the ground, then looked to my savior. He was a man not much older than me, but much taller. His arms and hands were massive, and he’d lifted me up with ease. “Uh… thank you.”
“No problem,” he said, his voice a rough whisper. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
His eyes drifted down to my chest, and I knew he understood the insignia when his eyes widened. The man’s head fell into a bow. “I apologize for the disrespect. I was unaware you were a member of House Phell.”
“It's–It’s fine,” I stuttered. “I am Sean of House… Phell. I am Lord Phell’s grandson.”
That seemed to make his nerves worse. “Please forgive me for touching you in such a manner. I only worried that you would become more injured if you fell,” he seemed to realize something as he spoke, because he started to become more frantic, “I did not mean to bring up your injury so disrespectfully. I apologize again, Lord Phell.”
As I tried to calm him down, a loud rumbling of earth came, drowning his voice out. I turned in the noise direction, only to watch a carriage made of stone arrive in front of the gates. A carriage made of stone would have raised eyebrows on its own, but this carriage didn’t even have wheels, nor a driver. It simply slid across the roads, skidding to a stop in front of the gates. When it finally stopped, the side of the carriage fell away and into the ground.
A single man stepped out. He wore pitch black robes, which must have been a sauna in the heat, and a hood that came up over his head so that it was difficult to see his face. The only part of his body I could see were his hands, both of which were at his sides and had dark skin. I noticed his fingers occasionally twitching, then I felt the ground beneath my feet begin to shake. The crowd slowly dispersed, trying to get away from the shifting ground, creating a small pathway through us and to the door. The man walked over the shaking path like there was nothing wrong, ignoring all of us.
A smile crept onto my lips. He had effortlessly moved all of us with a flick of his fingers. That was magic. That;s what I wanted to learn to do, and becoming someone's apprentice was my first step there. The man arrived at the door, quickly dispatching the lone Mage that stood in front of them, then opened the hall up. He walked in, then waved at the rest of us.
“Come in,” he said.
His voice had no power in it at all. It was like a lazy man welcoming me to a store or market. It sounded tired and exhausted. Not at all what I expected from a Master Sorcerer, though I didn’t really know what that meant. Maybe they were lower ranked than they sounded.
The crowd pushed into the doors. Inside the hall were a couple dozen people, all of them lined up in front of a platform made of a gray stone that took up about half of the entire building. At the sides of the platform were large troughs filled with water. They all bowed to us as we came in, something over their heads. It was either a rock, a fire, a ball of water, or a visible gust of concentrated wind. “Greeting Master!” They yelled in unison.
“Yes yes, thank you,” the man in black robes said, waving his hand. “Enough of the damn salute. One of you explains to the children what they need to do.”
The Master Sorcerer walked to a corner of the building, sat down, and closed his eyes. The entire room stayed still as the man seemed to turn into a lifeless statue. The other mages in front of us exchanged glances, then one of them stepped forward. He was a thin man with light blue robes, and I remembered seeing a small water ball above his head. I stared at him, wondering if he was the Mage that would teach me in the future.
“As all of you know, the Archmage and his Majesty the King have called you here in an attempt to bring new apprentices to the Magic Tower. In this joint effort, his Majesty has gifted the Magic Tower this part of his Royal Palace. Our new Apprentice Hall. If one of us,” he gestured to the other Mages behind him, “Decides to make one of you our apprentice, we will train you here to be prepared for entry into the Magic Tower.”
The crowd started whispering to one another, so the Mage held his hand up for silence. He didn’t get it. Instead, a woman, whose magic type I couldn’t remember, stepped forward and swiped her hand. A gust of wind erupted in the hall, blowing against each of us. “Silence,” she said, then stepped back into the line of Mages.
“Ahem,” the first Mage cleared his throat, “As I was saying, we are here to take on Apprentices. As you can see, there are more of you than there are of us. So, impress us. The Magic Tower doesn’t just take in anyone who can do magic.”
The group stayed silent, but there was a very clear anger amongst all the other young Lords and Ladies. One of them behind me, a lady shorter than even Isla, finally spoke up. “What was the point of coming here if you can’t guarantee us training?”
The thin Mage seemed to be sweating now, but that could have just been the heat. Another very tall woman stepped forward and spoke for him. Her voice was sharp, and fierce. “The Mages of The Magic Tower do not bow to nobles, little lady. We operate outside of the nobility, and answer only to the Archmage. Do not pretend to hold power over us when you have none. You are here to show us whether or not you are worthy to be a true Mage. We are not your tutors paid by your family to teach you a few flashy tricks. We study, explore, and expand magic. The title of Lord and Lady means nothing to the Tower.”
That seemed to do nothing except for angering the crowd of nobles further, so the thin man cut in again, his voice cracking, “Of course, we do respect your status and importance to the King. Although it is highly unlikely that anything dangerous may occur today, we have one of the Tower’s Master Sorcerers here to watch over us and for your protection. He will make sure everything goes smoothly.”
From his corner, The Master Sorcerer sighed. “We have two ways you can show us your skills,” the Water Mage continued, “A display of magic, or a duel. Those that wish to duel another can line up on the right, and those that wish to do a display of Magic can line up on the left.”
I started to walk to the right, but then stopped when I noticed Isla had left my side. She had walked the opposite way, joining the line on the left. I stared at her, confused. I’d expected her to be thrilled at the idea of beating up one of these nobles like I was. Instead, she simply waved me away, telling me to get in a line. I shrugged and walked towards the line on the right, which quickly became twice the length of the other.
“Now then,” the Mage said, “I think we should have a duel to get things started.”
He waved up two people at the front of the line. One was the man who’d helped me up earlier. His head was lowered as he walked up, and he didn’t meet the eyes of any of the Mages. The other was a small boy who was definitely no older than me. He had to keep jogging to catch up with the other, much larger, noble.
When the two of them were on opposite sides of the platform, the Water Mage spoke again. “You are allowed to fight with as much power as you deem necessary to take out your opponent, but any Soul Beast you’ve formed a bond with must sit out. We are here to see your magic, not theirs. Master Averitt will interfere with any spell he deems too dangerous, so you will be safe. This is, however, still a duel. Expect some scrapes and bruises, as well as a few cuts. The duel ends and a victor is decided when one of you either concedes, is pushed off the platform, or is unable to continue. Remember, your objective isn’t to win. You are to try and impress us. I implore that you show us the best you have. Now, begin.”
The second the Mage told them to start, the large man swept his arm in front of him. A gust of wind so strong it almost knocked the Mage on the side of the platform over swept across the hall and at the young boy. The man’s opponent didn’t move an inch. A pair of boots made of rock had surrounded the young boy’s feet, anchoring him to the floor. The boy kicked, sending the rock flying towards the man’s head. Just before the earth was about to slam into the boy’s opponent, it flew straight downward and crashed onto the platform. The boy looked confused, wondering what happened to his spell. I glanced over at the Master Sorcerer, who simply yawned.
Taking advantage of his confused opponent, the large man used a gust of wind to push himself forward, crossing the platform in an instant. The move reminded me of my own Snow Skip Spell. The boy tried to launch an attack in desperation, but his opponent was too quick. With a lightning fast punch probably powered by some kind of air spell, the young boy was knocked off of the platform.
“Winner,” the Water Mage declared.
The large man bowed to the Mage, then hopped off the platform. He landed next to the boy, who was still laying on the ground, and reached out a hand. The boy took it, and the two of them went to the back of the room, near to where the Master Sorcerer was.
The Mage with a sharp tongue smiled. “Shall we continue.”
The duels were all very short. Most of the young nobles had clearly never had any training before, and those who did easily stood out. The demonstrations of magic were fairly long, drawn out affairs of someone trying to show off all they could before they became too exhausted. Those actually ended up being more impressive than the duels, but I found myself growing incredibly bored. They all seemed self taught, and none of them were showing me anything I hadn’t seen before. So, by the time it was my turn to duel someone, my excitement had waned. Based on everyone else I’d seen, I had little doubt I wouldn’t be able to win my duel.
I heard a few laughs and snickers as I hobbled up the stairs of the platform, but I didn't care. I expected all those spoiled noble children to hate me. Part of me even wanted them too. However, I ignored them, keeping my eyes on the person walking ahead of me. My opponent was as tall as I was, but he looked a bit older. His hair was a dark, almost greasy, black that was cut short and close to his head. His eyes stared into me, two brown holes that seemed almost lifeless. That was until he smiled at me. “Haven’t seen you before. What’s your name?”
“Sean,” I answered as we walked up to the platform. “What’s yours?”
He gave me a strange look, one of his eyebrows raised. “It's Graham,” he said confidently after a small pause.
I nodded as he extended a hand. I took it in mine and shook, then took a look at his insignia. Graham was wearing the same clothes as me, as well as every other young lord in the Apprentice Hall, but his insignia was a light green. Inside of the circular sewn patch was a fan. I didn’t recognize it, but I knew only two insignia’s. The Phell’s, and the Patrinca’s. I released his hand as we came to the top of the platform and separated.
As the two of us stared at each other from across the platform a small smile, almost a smirk, came across my face. This was going to be easy. I had already been trained by one Mage, and now I was going to get the chance to be trained by another. I had no doubt in my own skill, but I needed to show off. I’d have to take my time, not taking Graham out too quickly. If I did that, then I’d have a really good chance of joining the Magic Tower. I could already feel all the water around me, empowering me, when the Mage said to begin.