Chapter 01

Everyone needs a healer right? 

I’d always looked up to famous healers of old legends. Like Pyrrhon, who founded red health potions and brought this fifth member to the adventurers party.

Gryf, the winged healer, who flew above his armies and buffeted allies with wings of golden light.

Axthose, the gourd master who threw exploding gourds of the world's first full strength healing potions.

Juna, the silver hand healer who was said to bring dead allies back to life.

Those legends and more have inspired me since I was an infant. Today I got to realize the first step of my aspirations!

“Ok honey,” mom said, “you’ve got everything? You have your map of the guild? You know we’re going to miss you right? You’ll send us letters won’t you? We’ll think of you everyday…”

Sheesh. This could go on for hours if I didn’t say anything. My head was going to fall off from nodding so much.

“Yes mom, I’ll be fine. I’ve been away from home before, remember?”

Her face froze for a moment. I probably shouldn’t have reminded her of the time I ran all the way to Klayvale in two days to fetch dad some simple life saving medicine. That was the longest I’d been away from home. That journey was brutal for me. Now my dad tended a small herb stand in town to support us. He couldn’t come with us to see me off on account of having to tend to the stand and the farm and all that. Honestly, it was hard to say goodbye for what would come to be a whole year.

My mom grabbed my right hand. The hand. I let her inspect the knuckle where I was missing my index finger. Her visage darkened with grief and aged tremendously in the morphing of one second to the next. Her eyes saw both the horror I’d faced when I’d saved dad’s life and the missing piece of me in front of her that she couldn’t hold in her hands.

“You have extra gloves?” she said. She knew I had extra gloves. I had sheepskin lined gloves in my pack. 6 pairs. She just asked because she was fighting back tears with words. Silence would have let tears shed unobstructed. Any words would do, and it was a way for her to reassure herself that I would be alright.

“Yes mom,” I said gently. “I have 6 pairs of gloves. I won’t… I won’t lose anything else to frostbite ever again. I promise.”

As she exhumed herself from the haunting memories of my horrific ordeal, her eyes brightened until she was almost wholly present again. Her smile was sad. She was sad for an extra reason today. I was leaving for the beginners guild. Sadness and grief weren’t the only emotions governing her today. She was also excited for me.

She sniffed, drew her thumb under her nose, and gave a brief shake of her head to clear her mind. Together we looked upon the Verglade Beginners Guild. 

Massive bells rung, indicating the beginning of my future. It was time to part ways. I was a bit sad too, but I was mostly thrilled to be here.

“Alright then, hugs,” mom said. After goodbyes, I watched her leave. She waved from the traveling carriage with a tear in her eye. I waved on tip toes until the carriage was just below the rising sun and it blared in my eyes.

Then I turned to the glorious, magnificent, gargantuan, elaborate stone building right in the middle of the beginners guild. Wow. Boys and girls about 16 or so—around my age— streamed by me and entered through the open bronze gates. It looked like some older teens were returning for their remaining years. Some for their last. For me, it was my first and I was beyond thrilled.

“Declarations,” said a man as he strolled up the line. He was having everyone sign a scroll. In return everyone received a small item and moved up.

“Declarations,” he said again and got to me. “Sign your name here, declare your class here, write ‘unknown’ for us to randomly assign you, and then show Ms, Tul your badge.”

“Alright,” I said and signed. I’d been practicing my penmanship with only four fingers and was happy the man didn’t notice. I would rather not have the attention, the questions, nor the pity. The man glanced at my declaration and his eyebrows rose.

“Not too many healers, this is good! Here’s your badge, congratulations! Welcome to the beginners guild”

After that, the line quickly wound into the building. One by one, we showed the young lady our badges. She gave them quick glances, made a few notes, and welcomed each one to the academy. 

“A healer,” she said. “We’re happy to see more than usual this year. Very interesting. Tosin Siege. Welcome to The Verglade beginner’s guild: Magic & Lance.” She gave me a warm and bright smile before pointing me in the direction of my new dorm for the rest of the year. “Axthose lodge. Room 506. Top floor.”

I was so ecstatic I was speechless. Ms. Tul gave a wild laugh and shooed me through the door before attending to the student behind me.

Axthose lodge! Axthose the gourd master! I was beyond thrilled that I got a room on the top floor. I wonder if my roommate had already passed through, or if they were in the long line behind me, yet to declare their class.

Axthose lodge was easy to find, since I’d memorized the guild layout a thousand times already. It was massive. Stone blocks made up most of the lodge. Massive wood beams were patterned throughout the walls on the exterior. They converged to outline huge A-frames over the stone roof. Pools of light sent beams to the sky around the perimeter of the building. It was as if the building were in a cage of wood and divine light. 

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Lodge of Axthose! Come on in,” a student said at the entrance, waving me forward. He wore a brown long sleeve undershirt and a simple straw colored tunic. 

“Hi I’m Tosin. Healer,” I said.

“Then you’re in the right place my friend! I’m Jack. I’m a second year--healer too--obviously. What’s your room number?”

“506.”

“Top floor,” we said together and laughed.

“Well I’m on the first floor,” he continued. “I’ve got to greet other students, so why don’t you go get yourself situated in your room and explore the lodge? You can't get lost so don’t worry about that. We’ve got lunch arriving in a bit for everyone.”

After a heartfelt thanks I made my way in and I found a winding staircase just inside, front and center. Beyond was a long open space with rows of tables and benches. 

By the time I reached the top floor, I was almost sweating. 

“Of course I wanted the top floor.. Top floor would be awesome, I’d said. Top floor was gonna be the coolest I’d said..” 

I found room 506 near the end of the hallway. It would have been absolutely pitch black if it weren’t for white and gold glowing sconces between each door. 

My door was big and ancient. It was engraved with a depiction of Axthose swimming in a cross section of a gourd. The gourd was still on the vine and the plant was bearing hundreds of different kinds of fruits. One pass of my hand over the engraving confirmed that it was wood.

The room was quaint with slightly melted window panes that had aged in black brackets. Thick velvet curtains were tied in folds of gold at either end of the windows. There were two downy beds, two thickset wooden desks, two closets, and the rest was trivial.

How could it be that I was already exhausted? The day had yet to begin! Must have been the traveling and the emotions wrapped up in goodbyes. For some time I looked out the window as guild members flooded the grounds.

I fell into the pillowy floof of the bedding and made myself comfortable against the bed and wall. From here I could still see out over the guild towards the center building, and out over the mountains that cocooned Verglade city. The guild was half a day’s march outside the city and overlooked it dramatically. Around us was all nature. And dungeons.

While I waited for my roommate, I practiced flowing mana. I concentrated and flowing the ethereal and gossamer blue into a ball in front of me. It hovered like a blue potion without a bottle, splashing back and forth in it’s sphere. 

This did nothing at the moment--besides proving that I could manipulate mana of course. The foundation of spell casting was built upon this simple act of flowing mana. All that I needed to do was stay studious and listen to my trainer. 

I hoped to advance into a legendary healer. Not for the reputation. Not for the accolade. I wanted to be powerful enough to bring healing to people like my father when he was ill. Our town was small and far from cities like Verglade. In towns like mine, you had what you had. If you needed something specific--something life saving--you had to travel to the city, no matter what time of year.

The door to my room burst open and a female voice sang, “Hello!” A beaming grin of sparkling teeth chased the voice into the room.

“I’m Pelle!”

Pelle was around my age. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Guilds were always coed so it was no surprise my roommate was a girl. She bounded over and threw a hug around me. 

“Tosin,” I said and gave a brief hug back. 

“Nice to meet you Tosin! I was told we had more healers this year than last year.”

“Yea they seemed happy about that,” I said. “You nervous at all?”

“A little, but who isn’t, right? Whoa,” she said and pointed to my hand. “What happened to your finger? I’m sorry. Is it ok if I ask? Just say no if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“No it’s alright. Frostbite.”

“Frostbite wow. Does it hurt? I mean did it hurt?”

“Uhh.. yea, I-”

“That’s ok, you don’t need to talk about it. I saw you were flowing mana when I came in, sorry if I was interrupting.”

“No, it’s alright I was really just passing time waiting for you. I thought I would get to know my new roommate and we could train together. I think training starts in a couple hours right?”

“Right!”

While Pelle got settled in, I returned to flowing mana. While she unpacked we shared our hopes for this year. 

“Well I’d like to follow in the footsteps of Gyr,” she said. “Can you imagine flying above your party with giant gold wings and supporting them through the longest and deepest dungeons? What about you?”

“I’m not sure actually. I’m kind of fond of all the legendary healers. If I’d have to pick one, I honestly don’t know. I just want to learn as much as possible. I’m sure the time will come to get really good at one type of healing. In the meantime, I’ll just keep my eyes out for something cool I guess.

We were getting along quite well and came down to street level with an hour to spare before our first training. Axthose lodge was teeming with healers and food had arrived to fill the tables inside. Pelle and I grabbed a couple of sandwiches and explored the grounds while we ate. 

“Must be the warriors,” she said as we passed buildings constructed of iron and red stone. Massive warhammers and battleaxes stuck from deep in the ground. Their handles towered above the buildings. A few sparring battles encircled by spectators were sprinkled throughout the warriors guild area. 

We passed by the mage lodges with blue molten metal forming giant lodges. Nearly everyone was showing off their abilities to flow mana. 

A boundary of enchanting gardens away, were the Ancienne lodges. They were clad in skeleton white sheets of marble. In place of architectural beams were fountains of yellow and green flames. The Anciennes brooded together over their lunch as one entity. Their heads were bowed in whispers and in silence as they ate. Pelle and I didn’t speak until we passed.

“Then at last we have the Rogue lodges. These lodges were awesome. They were a series of cantilevered buildings with no direct access. Obsidian glass panes reflected the autumn sun in sheens of gold, bronze, silver, and rainbow. Cloaked figures swarmed quickly to and fro as they began to head for training.

“We’ve basically done a loop,” Pelle said with a chuckle.

Just beyond the training buildings we could see our healer’s lodges. Before us was our destination. The training buildings were similar in style to each of the main class lodges. Except they were longer and shorter. 5 paths led to a building each. Trainers were welcoming their students and ushering them in.

“Welcome warriors!”

“Welcome rogues!”

“Anciennes.”

“Welcome mages!”

“Welcome healers! Please come in and find yourselves a seat!”