“Dad, if you ask me one more time if I’m sure I have everything, I will melt that fancy new sword you weren’t supposed to buy into slag.” That wasn’t an idle threat and judging by how his mouth snapped shut my father knew it.
“Joseph!” my mother said, whirling to face the man. “We agreed, no more weapons! You barely got your foot reattached after the last incident.”
I winced, recalling the Great Ax Catastrophe. Although my family came from a long line of merchants and scholars, my father always claimed that he had missed his calling as an adventurer, pushing the frontier of our Empire forward. Last time, he had tried to prove that by showing mother and I some of the sparring moves a customer had taught him for a discount. Luckily the limb wasn’t fully severed– the town healer is only so good.
“Jae! You would truly betray me like that?” Dad clutched at his heart, pretending to have been mortally wounded, “My favorite child, I was only trying to look out for you!”
“I’m your only child, Dad,” I said, failing to hide my grin at his theatrics, “Besides, I’ve been packed for days.”
“Oh cut your father some slack,” Mom said, throwing a half-hearted kick at the man, who was now lying on the ground, limbs akimbo, “It’s not every day parents send their child off to university, let him worry a little.”
She wasn’t wrong. It had been several months since I had received that letter that would change my life forever: Meithnil University of Arcanum and Magery had “deemed my test scores sufficient and would be pleased to offer me a spot in the upcoming freshman cycle”. I had nearly burst into tears when I found out I was accepted.
Ever since I could remember I had been obsessed with becoming a mage. Some of my earliest memories were begging my mom to read just one more story from Archmage and the Noble Knights before bed. Every birthday it was almost a guarantee that I would unwrap another book about Mages and their adventures. As I grew older the stories shifted from fantastical tales of heroism to biographies of the Empire’s greatest spellcasters to eventually beginners instructions for Mana Enhancement and Zeroth Star spell casting. I would never forget the thrill of the first spell I cast, a small candle flame that I accidentally snuffed out in my excitement to show my parents.
“Fine, fine, I’ll stop bugging you,” Dad said, brushing the dirt off his pants as he stood, “If you’re all packed up I guess now is as good of a time as any to give your gift.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” I denied, “besides, I have too many bags as it is!”
“Well then this should be perfect,” Mom said, reentering the room with a small box nestled in the palm of her hand.
“Thank you?” I began unwrapping the box, more than a little bemused. I had never been a jewelry person, and to my knowledge both my parents knew that.
“We are both just so proud of you. The first one in the family to go to the Arcanum,” Mom said, beginning to choke up.
“We know how hard you’ve worked for this, Jae. We thought that…”
Whatever they were trying to tell me went unheard as I stared at what I had just opened. My heart began to race as I took in the small gray ring, perched atop a little satin pillow. No matter how hard I pinched my arm, the ring stubbornly refused to vanish, its hundreds of inscriptions glinting in the morning sun.
“Honey I think we broke him,” I heard my dad stage whisper to my mom, snapping me out of my stupor.
I spun to face the two of them. “Is this what I think it is?”
“If you think it's your new storage ring, then yes, it is,” Dad confirmed with a grin.
I was dumbstruck. “How could you possibly afford this?” Storage rings were expensive, hideously expensive. To my knowledge not even my father, the largest merchant in our town, owned one.
“Easily,” Dad said, “with your college fund.”
“My what now?”
“Oh please, we’ve known you were going to Meithnil since you were eight years old, so we started stashing away some gold so you could afford the first year.”
Mom nodded in agreement. “But, with you earning a full scholarship we decided to spend what we had saved on a little gift instead. I hope it's big enough, we could only afford one with about a closet’s worth of space.”
“It’s perfect,” I said, wrapping both of them in a hug, “I love it.” Suddenly the blood drained from my face as I realized what this meant. “I can pack so much more now! Why couldn’t you have given me this a week ago?” I bolted for my room, my father’s laugh chasing me down the hall.
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The morning passed in a flurry of packing and repacking, and soon it was time to meet my friends for our last lunch in Wrenfall.
“I can’t believe your parents got you a storage ring,” Trevor said, once again glancing at the ring I now wore on my left hand. “What could you even be keeping in there? No, don't tell me. Every single book you own.”
“Not all of them,” I denied, “just most of them.”
“Sure,” he said, clearly not believing me. Trevor was my closest friend and most bitter rival in all things magic. Towering above me ever since he hit his growth spurt two years ago, he looked like a classic Northerner, with his tanned skin and dark, wiry hair. He and I both had focused on the more scholarly aspects of spellwork so I knew most of his jealousy stemmed from having to leave his collection of books behind.
“Besides,” I pointed out, “ you’ll be thankful I have them when we’re six hours into our ten day skyship ride.”
At that he could only grimace. Our frontier town was on the far northern edge of the Veladian Empire and the only skyship that serviced this route was a biweekly ship that visited all the northern outposts. I couldn’t complain though; the alternative was a month-long overland caravan route that rarely stopped in our village.
“Have you ever traveled by skyship?” I asked, idly spinning the ring on my finger as I strained to see if Jessica had beat us to our lunch rendezvous.
“Only once.” Trevor kicked at the ground, all the mirth in his voice evaporating into the afternoon air. “When Sarah got sick.”
“Ah shit man, I’m so sorry for asking.”
“It’s okay, no way you could’ve known. We weren’t friends yet.”
He wasn’t wrong but I still felt like an ass. Trevor and I had met our first year at school, where we bonded over our shared love of all things magic. He, Jessica and I had eventually become thick as thieves often ending up at each other's houses, be it to practice spells or work on our more mundane coursework. Over the years it was impossible not to notice the pall that Trevor’s sister’s ghost cast over his household and family.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Before I could dig the hole I was in any deeper, I was spared by the third member of our trio.
“Sorry I’m late, tried to fit one more lap around the town in and misjudged the time.” Jessica jogged up to us, quickly taking in the scene. “Aw, Jae, did you stick your foot in your mouth again?”
“Again?” I asked, indignantly, “but yeah, I did.”
“I told you, it’s fine,” Trevor insisted.
“There you go,” Jessica said, moving on already, “now let's talk about what classes we’ll be taking this year in addition to basic combat magic.”
It clearly wasn’t fine but I was happy to take the proverbial lifeline she was throwing me.
“Jessica, we’ve been over this. Just because you are raring to go and die for the Empire doesn’t mean Trevor and I have to as well.”
As long as we had known her, Jessica had been obsessed with becoming a combat mage. Every morning she ran laps around the town and the spell work she practiced tended to skew more incendiary than Trevor and I. She and her family had moved to Wrenfall when Trevor and I were in our fourth year of schooling and she quickly ingrained herself in our group. She had been pestering the two of us to pick up the class since we had all gotten our acceptance letters.
“I dunno Jae,” Trevor said, “I’ve been thinking I might pick up basic combat magic afterall.”
I shook my head in disappointment. “Trevor! You turncoat!”
I couldn’t say I was that surprised though, Trevor had been in love with Jessica for years, although the man would never admit it. Not that I could necessarily blame him. Jessica was objectively beautiful, her southern complexion marked her as exotic in northern Wrenfall and her conditioning to become a Spear of the Empire left her looking lithe and dangerous. I was pretty sure Jessica returned his feelings but I was equally confident the sun would fall from the sky before the two of them stopped dancing around the subject.
“Success!” Jessica crowed, “that’s two out of three, you have to take the class now Jae.”
“Fine,” I said, “but only because I need to know how to defend myself. I’m not swearing any of the oaths that the higher level classes require.”
Jessica was magnanimous in her victory, although I could feel her smug smile burning a hole in my shirt as we arrived at the best and only restaurant in Wrenfall, the God’s Beard.
The slightly run down tavern was the three of our’s home away from home. If walls could talk I’m sure the stained and weathered pine beams would moan about how many arguments on runic circles and evocation pronunciations they had been forced to listen to. It was nothing fancy but the owner, Carter, always kept a fire crackling and let us stay as long as we’d like.
“Your usual spot is open,” said Carter, not bothering to pause whatever it was he was doing behind the bar. “I hear this will be the last time I see the three of you for a while.”
“‘Fraid so, Sir,” I confirmed, as my friends grabbed their seats, “Trevor and I leave tonight, Jessica not too long after us.”
“Can’t believe you two got the last seats on this week's skyship,” Jessica said, “We were supposed to go together. That's been the plan since we were like, thirteen.”
“Sorry Jess,” Trevor said around a mouthful of food, “don’t worry though, Jae and I will show you everything we learned in the two weeks we were waiting for you.”
She shot him a brilliant smile and batted her eyes. “You better. I’ll be an innocent little freshman, wouldn’t want some upperclassman to take advantage of me.”
I laughed uproariously while Trevor tried to pretend he hadn’t just inhaled half his sandwich. Jessica was able to hold for a beat longer before she too dissolved into laughter. “Seriously though, it’s going to be so boring without you two here. What am I supposed to do on my own?”
“Maybe pack?” Trevor said, “I’ve seen your room. You’re not even remotely ready to leave.”
“Why have you been in Jessica’s room?” I asked, waggling my eyebrows.
Jessica grinned as she pounded Trevor’s back, him having accidentally inhaled the other half of his sandwich. “Now that was uncalled for, you know Trevor would never do something like that, he’s like my brother.”
I stifled a wince as she continued, “besides, it’s hopeless, I’ll never be able to fit everything I need in the few bags we’re allowed.”
“You know,” I started, drumming my fingers on the table, “if you need some extra room…”
“No!” she said.
“Yep.”
“How? When? Tell me everything!”
“Woah!” I quickly sat on my hands as she lunged across the table. “I got it this morning from my parents as a going away gift. It originally had a closet’s worth of space but it's getting kind of tight. I could be convinced to squeeze some of your stuff in, for a price.”
“Oh shove it Jae,” she said, “I know you’ve just got it stuffed full of all your adventure books. How about this, I’ll let you read any of the books I store until I can pick them up again.”
I reached out to shake her hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal ma’am. Better not accidentally store your diary.” That bought me a quick smack I almost managed to dodge.
“Just make sure you get to the dock early enough to hand over whatever it is,” I said, rubbing my shoulder, “I may need to rearrange the ring depending on how much you want me to bring.”
With that agreed upon, the three of us settled in to enjoy what we all felt was the end of the beginning of our young lives.
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Before I knew it, Trevor and I were standing on the skyship docks, the behemoth vehicle straining at its mooring lines like a stallion champing at the bit.
It was beginning to cool down as the autumn sun finally gave up the sky to the moon. I tried to cement in my mind the image of Wrenfall bathing in the oranges and violets of the setting sun. I knew it would be a long time before I would see it again.
“That should be everything,” Jessica said, “It… got a little out of hand.”
I took in the stacks of books and blankets piled in front of me. “I’ll say. Give me a minute, I’m going to have to unload some of my stuff.”
“You’re a lifesaver Jae. I promise to make it up to you when we get to the University.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I laughed, “what are friends for if not to be pack mules? Just make sure to take good care of my copies of Beware the Beast. They’re a treasured possession.”
She made a face as she looked at the ratty novels. “I’m sure. Don’t worry, they'll be safe and sound in the burn pile.”
Fortunately for her she was saved by the whistle of the ship piercing the quiet evening air. It was time to go.
“Make sure to write us lots,” Mom said, squeezing me so tight my ribs began to creak. “Don’t think that just because you’re going to be a big fancy city wizard you can get away with one or two short letters a month. I expect an essay every skyship.”
“Of course mom, now please don't strangle me.”
“Oh if you insist.”
Before I could recover, my father clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Jae, we’ve said it before but we’re so proud of you.”
“I love you guys too,” I said, feeling my eyes begin to burn with tears, “Now I gotta get going.”
I managed to turn away and make it all of ten steps before I ran into Jessica.
“I’ll miss you Jae, keep Trevor safe until I get there,” she said into my shoulder, “you know he’s too soft. Those city folk will eat him alive.”
“I will,” I promised, awkwardly patting her back.
“And don’t get lazy with your practice, I’ve almost mastered a first star spell.”
“You’ve what?” I asked, “How is that possible? We haven’t even started classes!”
“Better work harder,” she said, “sure would hate for you to lose your crown as top mage. Now go on and get, I have to say goodbye to Trevor.”
I walked up the gangplank, savoring the moment as sailors moved to launch the ship. I turned just in time to see Jessica whisper something in Trevor's ear before planting a kiss on his cheek and sauntering away. While I enjoyed the stunned look on his face, I was bouncing on the balls on my feet, anxious for the ship to cast away. “Hurry up,” I called, “the academy waits for no man!”
Once I was sure he was on his way up I threw one more wave to my parents, took one more look at the town I had long called home, turned and walked into the ship.