The monotone beeping of an alarm clock roused William from his blissful sleep.
Groaning he rolled over to slap the snooze button as per his usual routine, only to stop when he saw the date displayed on the clock. Friday, September 21, 2001. Friday the 21. Awakening day. With a sigh he instead turned off the alarm, forgoing his much-desired wish to remain in bed, and headed to the washroom for a quick shower. Hopefully this gets easier with age, but William was doubtful.
After a steaming hot shower, William dried himself off before wiping down the foggy mirror, taking a moment to examine himself. His raven black hair still glistened a bit in the pale glow of the lumen light as he combed it over to the side, moving his hand to his chin he felt the peach fuzz of adolescence sprouting on his face. He yearned for the day when he could grow a full proper beard, but for now all he had was this horrendous patchy fuzz, best to shave it off.
Clean shaven, he re-examined his face, his dark purple eyes staring back at him, a trait of the Godwine family supposedly, his father never elaborated much on it. Rubbing his now smooth English jawline he nodded in approval before heading back to his room to change into his uniform.
Glancing at the clock once more he noticed it was now 6:00 am. Damn he needed to hurry to catch the 6:30 train into the city. Throwing open his wardrobe with renewed purpose, he quickly grabbed his white dress shirt before buttoning it up with dexterously long fingers. Reaching out he grabbed his tan pants, followed by a belt, then reached for his necktie. Finally, he grabbed his black blazer complete with Prince's emblem embroidered on the left breast. Returning to his nightstand he retrieved his student ID, handkerchief, crystal pouch, and message device before stowing them into his pockets and for the stairs.
The sound of feet lightly thudding against hardwood flooring rang out as William ran down the stairs. The old boards darkened with age lined most of the town house, occasionally letting loose a soft creak under his weight. He passed some old portraits hanging on the white plastered walls of the stairwell, some of him and his sister, some of his parents and other family. Reaching the bottom of the stairs he headed down the wainscot lined corridor towards the kitchen. Upon nearing it the sound of a lumen cast could be heard along with the gentle sizzling of food being fried up.
[..current reports show over two hundred dead and thousands injured after the attack on London Metro. Local authorities have linked the anti-tower cabal called Spectre as the puppeteers behind this latest atrocity. The Lord Mayor of London Magister Livingstone calls this latest terrorist attack, “A day of infamy”, more at seven with Preya Grewal.]
William walked into the kitchen glancing at the lumen caster in the far corner before turning towards his elder sister.
“Morning Steph.” He would say with a smile, eyeing the sausages she was frying up. They smelt like maple.. his favorite. “What was that all about?” He asked her, gesturing towards the lumen caster while putting a few pieces of bread in the toaster.
“Morning Will. Apparently, some crazy asshole decided to coerce an ancient red dragon into attacking the London Metro. Mostly NoM deaths though, sadly a few mages got caught up in it as well.” She replied while cracking a few eggs into the pan to accompany the breakfast sausages.
“Huh... well that sucks. Shame about the NoM’s too though,” William commented with knitted brows while filling a thermos with tea, adding a splash of milk and a few cubes of sugar.
Stephanie nodded in agreement, busy turning the sausages about. “You ready for the PMAE?” She asked, flipping the eggs over.
“Well as ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose. I’ve been studying enchantment glyphs like crazy so hopefully I at least manage that.” He would reply, stowing his thermos into a nearby bookbag.
D-Ding The metallic ring of the toaster sounded as it popped back up, reaching out William grabbed the toast and began to butter it.
“I still don’t understand why you’re so fixated on enchantment Will, wouldn’t you rather be an evoker like your big sis?” Stephanie teased with a playful pout. She then removed the eggs and sausages from the pan setting them aside.
“Yeah no. Besides, think of all the cool stuff I’ll be able to make.” He’d shoot her a toothy grin before continuing. “Perhaps my magic items will even rival the Dwarves one day.”
With a bemused snort, she rolled her eyes, then glanced towards the clock. “Fat chance of tha- Hey shouldn’t you be leaving soon it's already 6:20...” She’d say with squinted eyes.
“Shit.“ Putting a piece of bread in his mouth he slung his bookbag across his shoulder, rushing out of the kitchen, down the corridor, and into the foyer. After slipping on his brown oxfords he paused at the door to think if he forgot anything.
Popping her head out of the kitchen door Stephanie gave Will a scornful look. “Damn it Will, you expect me to eat all these bloody sausages myself?”
Opening the door, he removed the toast with his free hand to return a quip. “Well, you managed Derek’s just fine.” He’d say with a shit-eating grin.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Now listen here you little sh-” Stephanie’s angered retort was cut short by William closing the door, returning the toast to his mouth he ran off towards the train station with gleaming eyes.
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Arriving at Edmonds Station Willian rustled in his pockets for his student ID, reaching the toll gates he tapped it against the reader, allowing him to pass throw to the loading platform. As he waited for the train to arrive, he pulled out his message device. After activating it the time showed 6:29 am as well as three missed messages.
Well at least I made it in time, it’s still annoying we had to come an hour early for the testing. With a sigh for his lost sleep, he went on to check his missed messages.
Let’s see here... one from mom, one from Steph, and one from Alex. Let’s open Steph’s last, she’s probably still pissed.
[Mom: Good luck at your PMAE today dear! I know you will do just fine. xoxo] He would smile a bit from the encouragement before moving onto Alex’s message.
[Alex: Did you actually manage to wake up on time?] He knows me too well, shaking his head William would send a reply to his good friend of eight years.
[William: Yeah, I’m at Edmonds right now waiting on the train.] The slight rumbling of the platform prompted him to look up, well speak of the devil.
As the automatic doors opened William stepped to the side allowing the morning commuters to exit before entering in with the new crowd of mages and NoMs on their way into the city. Looking around for a place to sit, he saw there was an available seat near a window which he promptly took. Now seated, he shifted his bookbag onto his lap before glancing at his message device once more and opening Stephanie’s message from earlier.
[Steph: I swear to fuck Will I’m going to drown you when you get home.]
Blinking a few times at her message he thought it best not to tease her so much about Derek. Well. on second thought he would be moving into the dorms soon, maybe he should ramp it up instead. With this a mischievous grin formed on his face as he stared out the window of the train watching the blurred scenery of Burnaby zoom by on his way into Vancouver.
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[Ding-Ding-Ding. Now arriving at Granville Station.]
The iconic chime of the train rang out followed by s autonomous mechanical voice announcing the arrival at the station. After a thirty-minute ride, William got up from his seat and exited the train through the throng of morning commuters, navigating his way to the open streets once more. Walking down Seymour Street he headed towards the school campus when out of nowhere someone jumped on him from behind.
“Holy shit you weren’t kidding. I honestly thought you were still in bed Will.” A charismatic voice sounded from behind him.
“Morning to you too Alex, mind getting off me?” William replied, trying to shrug his now human backpack off his shoulders.
“Haha sure thing man, I’m just so hyped up for the awakening.” Letting go of William, Alex joined him at his side as the two walked through the campus on their way to the assembly hall. “Hey, are you still hoping for enchantment Will?”
“Yeah, what about you. Still fixed on being a gold transmuter?” William asked with a cocked brow.
“Yup! I’ve been making sure to workout every day, check these muscles out man.” Flexing his arms and chest, the buttons on Alex’s blazer threatened to pop off while the stitching strained at the seams.
William snorted at this then shook his head with a smile.
“What? You don’t think I can do it?” Alex squinted his eyes in mock hostility.
“Alex we’ve been over this. Just because you work out every day and are obsessed with gold doesn’t mean you’ll awaken as a transmuter mineral mage.” William tried to explain with a strained expression. “Have you at least been studying the transmutation sigil?”
Looking away Alex mumbled something inaudible.
“What was that?”
“N-No I haven’t studied it yet.”
William let out a sigh. “It’s fine man, I’m sure you’ll be okay.” Giving him a pat on the back for encouragement before the two entered the assembly hall. The pair found some seats and waited for the opening ceremony to begin.
William took a moment to admire the large assembly hall, sloping downwards the seats were arranged in rows like a giant lecture hall, with a stage centered at the bottom. On the stage was a raised seating area for important guests and presenters, in the center was a dais for addressing the crowd with the school’s crest prominently displayed. The walls of the hall were covered with oak paneling and reliefs of historical mages while the ceiling had decorative exposed beams with intricate carvings and scrollwork. Gilded sconces lined the walls illuminated them with the warm glow of a continual flame spell, while gilded fixtures hung from the ceiling adding to the ambiance.
An elderly mage who William recognized as the headmaster got up from his seat on the stage and moved to the dais to begin the opening speech. As he arrived at the dais the lighting throughout the hall dimmed, setting focus on the stage as the crowd became silent in anticipation.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Staff and Students, I welcome you to Prince’s 2001 Projected Magical Aptitude Exams. For you young acolytes this will be the hallmark of your future careers within the mageocracy. Some will flourish within the ivory towers of academia, furthering our knowledge of magic. Others may achieve great honours on the front defending humanity’s enclaves against the wildland beasts and reclaiming what we lost decades ago.”
“When our sovereign called upon us for aid we answered, sending mages and resources to support Britannia and humanity in the fight against the undead. Many brave mages were lost but we prevailed in the great war. Then again decades later the undead horde managed to recoup its strength, threatening humanity once more. For the second time our sovereign called upon us to fight in faraway lands, and again we sent our best and brightest to fight at the front. With our best mages gone the few that stayed behind to guard our lands struggled against the magical beasts, gradually shrinking our borders back day by day. When the great beast tide of 1970 scourged across the world we were in no state to defend against it, with mages and resources bled dry we lost most of our land, cities, and citizens to the unyielding waves of magical beasts. We are a resilient race though, humanity may be struck down, but we will always get back up and triumph once more. Pushed to the coasts of our once-great nation we now continue to survive and fight back.”
“Now young acolytes it is your turn to uphold this duty, we shall pass the torch of Prometheus down to you to carry. To defend our coasts and estuaries from mermen, our rivers and lakes from the merfolk, our mountains from the trolls and giants, and our plains from the centaurs. Fear not though, for your fight is not alone. Together we stand on guard, for Canada, for the Mageocracy, for Humanity.”
A rhapsody of applause filled the hall after the moving speech from the headmaster. Flashes of lumen bulbs went off as the reporters took a few shots for the papers. After the clamor died down the headmaster would continue.
“It is now time to begin the exams, they will be held in the central courtyard, be sure to follow your prefect’s instructions and good luck.” With that, the opening ceremony was over as the students began to file out of the assembly hall towards the central courtyard