Year 3918 of the Almanac of Ages, Kingdom of Solstice capital Whirich.

Elynor Thorne

These meetings were always the same: endless hours of discussions that chased each other in concentric circles, never reaching a definitive conclusion. As an assistant in the Department of Novices, I was now used to this ritual, but it never ceased to irritate me. Thea, my supervisor, had long since given up participating, preferring to delegate to me the burden of listening to the chatter of the senior councilors. "You're the patient one, Ely," she would always say with that cunning little smile of hers, "I prefer to dedicate my time to something more productive."

And so I found myself, once again, sitting in that oppressive room, observing tired and worried faces that chased each other in increasingly sterile debates. The news of an Archmage from the House of Vedragun reappearing after centuries was something so extraordinary that no one seemed capable of developing a concrete strategy.

After the meeting, I decided to distance myself from that suffocating atmosphere and headed toward the Novices Department complex. A place that, despite being part of the imposing Arcanum structure, breathed a completely different life. Here, young people from every corner of the kingdom converged, united by their desire to understand the mysteries of magic.

The department occupied an entire wing of the building, spread across multiple floors. On the first floor were the reception halls, where new talents underwent their first aptitude tests. Here, youngsters of barely twelve or thirteen years - some from families of wizards, others from humble villages where magic was only a legend - were evaluated to understand their predisposition to different branches of magical arts.

The second floor corridors housed the basic laboratories: small rooms where apprentices took their first steps in the art of runes, elementary spells, and simple alchemy. Tables covered with papers full of calculations, shelves crammed with beginner magical instruments, blackboards where the first complex formulas were traced.

The third floor, reserved for advanced laboratories, was my domain. Here the most promising novices began to specialize, to understand the complexity of magical languages, to experiment with the first practical applications of their theoretical studies.

I headed toward Thea's laboratory, knowing I would find my supervisor immersed in who knows what esoteric experiments.

The laboratory door was closed, as always. I knocked three times, and after a brief metallic noise of internal mechanisms, a familiar voice invited me in.

Thea's laboratory, however large it was, always appeared suffocated. It was total chaos: shelves overflowing with ancient tomes, rolled and half-undone scrolls, tables scattered with magical instruments and alchemical ingredients. Many windows had been covered to utilize every available centimeter of the walls, which were wallpapered with notes, schemes, and intricate runic diagrams. The air was pervaded by a smell of magical herbs and ancient dusts.

At a large desk, illuminated by flickering candles and glittering magical instruments, a tiny figure was bent over, writing rapidly. Thea, as always, was totally immersed in her work, tracing runes with almost obsessive precision. I stopped a few steps away, waiting for her to notice me.

Several minutes passed in silence until, without even turning around, Thea addressed me in her usual sweet and seemingly harmless tone, but loaded with annoyance: "So, Elynor, tell me... what did they say at this useless meeting? There must be a really good reason to interrupt my important research with these nuisances."

I waited a moment before responding, searching for the right words. "Nothing particularly surprising, Mage Thea, the usual issues discussed in meetings like this." She made a vague sound, a sort of grunt that could have been either assent or an expression of total disinterest.

I decided to get straight to the point. " This time, however, they discussed a rather singular event. Apparently, an Archmage of the Vedragun house had manifested at the kingdom's borders and used a spell considered impossible to disintegrate an ancient fortress, leaving a distortion in the very fabric of space itself."

For a moment, silence reigned in the room. The regular noise of Thea's quill scratching the parchment stopped abruptly. Then, without any warning, her hand shot out with such force that it tore the paper she was working on in half. She turned toward me with surprising speed, her eyes wide and fixed on mine.

"W-WHAT?!" she screamed, her voice a mix of shock and exhilaration. I stepped back instinctively, surprised by her sudden movement.

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In the blink of an eye, Thea was in front of me, grabbed my shoulders and pulled me toward her, so close that her face was just inches from mine. For someone so small, she had surprising strength. Her reddish curly hair jumped in every direction, like a wild mane.

"Ely, you're not joking with me, are you?" she asked, in a tone that almost reminded me of a desperate puppy seeking confirmation. She seemed... so different from her usual self. That serene and calculating demeanor had disappeared, replaced by childlike excitement. She vaguely reminded me of my kitten when it wanted food.

"No, Thea, I'm absolutely serious. It's all true," I said firmly, trying to convey the gravity of the situation.

Thea remained silent for a moment, her eyes fixed on mine. Then, in a flash, she let me go and began walking back and forth across the laboratory, her agitated hands gesturing in the air while she spoke rapidly. "I can't believe it! A Vedragun! But what spell could they have used? It must have been something extraordinary... devastation of that level requires an immense concentration of mana... And that degree of control..."

I watched her, momentarily perplexed, as she continued talking to herself, completely forgetting my presence. But then she stopped suddenly and turned back to me, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "You must tell me everything! Details, Elynor! You can't leave anything out!"

I gathered my breath and began to summarize everything that had been discussed during the meeting. Every word seemed to fuel Thea's excitement, as she bounced from one part of the laboratory to another, taking notes and tracing calculations on scattered parchments everywhere.

The file she had given me was now unrecognizable: torn pages, rewritten pieces, additional notes I had never seen before. Thea had transformed an already detailed report into something so complex it looked more like a research thesis. Each section had been reorganized, corrected, improved – at least according to her – until it became "more complete," as she liked to say. Even the margins were full of dense annotations, with small runes scribbled here and there, almost confirming that she had thought of every possible magical scenario.

After a long moment of frenzy, she finally calmed down, though she remained excited.

"In the end... what did they decide to do?" she asked me, her tone still full of expectation.

Surprised by the question, distracted by her extravagant behavior, I responded somewhat absently. "What?"

"What did the council decide about it?" she repeated, this time with more emphasis.

I returned to reality and tried to gather my thoughts. "Nothing concrete yet. No immediate decision was made."

Thea paused for a moment, thoughtful. Then she nodded slowly. "That's understandable, but... if it's all true, there will be major repercussions. Both magical and political." She took a pause, perhaps to process the weight of the situation, then completely changed her tone, as if the Vedragun matter had been momentarily set aside. "Anyway, let's put this aside for a moment. Let's talk about the intermediate exams. Are they ready?"

That sudden change of topic caught me a bit off guard, but it was typical of Thea. "Yes, they're ready. The first classes will take their exam on magical fundamentals tomorrow."

Thea frowned slightly, thoughtful. "Hmm, good. I want you to go supervise. I want to be sure the concepts have been properly assimilated, and... maybe do some extra tests. It might be interesting to see how they react under pressure."

I nodded, even though inside I already knew that "supervising" would transform into something much more complex. Thea was never satisfied with simple results; she always wanted to push her students' limits further. And now she was entrusting me with the task of evaluating those young novices.

"Alright, I'll go myself to test some concepts. Maybe I'll add some small magical puzzles to see how they behave when faced with unexpected problems," I responded, trying to meet her expectations.

"Yes, exactly!" Thea responded, enthusiastic. "Theoretical concepts are important, but how a wizard reacts when faced with the unknown is what distinguishes them from others. Test them on this. Knowing the formulas isn't enough; they need to understand how to use them when the situation gets complicated."

I watched Thea as she rose from her position, heading toward one of the shelves full of dusty tomes. "Oh, and don't forget to evaluate their runes," she added in a more serious tone. "Some of them show great potential, but I wonder how much they've truly understood about runic language. It's not just about knowing how to trace them; they must also understand their essence."

I nodded again. "I'll conduct a thorough examination. I'll make sure they clearly understand what they're doing."

She turned to me with a satisfied smile, returning to browse the book titles on the shelves. "Perfect, Ely. You know how much I care about these exams. And you also know how curious I am to see who among them will prove worthy of further studies."

As we talked, her gaze became thoughtful. "Ely," she began, "I'm a bit worried about the situation with the new associate professor. He hasn't shown up yet and it's happened several times already, I've heard some rumors... they say they've seen him wandering in the peripheral quarters. It's already late, and if there really is a problem, we need to find a way to solve it."

"I understand," I replied, noticing Thea's anxious expression. "If you think it's important, I can take a walk around and try to find him."

"Thank you, Ely," she exclaimed, her face lit up with a smile. "You're the best!" And, without thinking twice, she jumped to hug me, her arms closing around me like two vises, blocking my breath.