On an unspecified day at an unspecified moment, a child was born. This certain child was born into a world rife with despair but also a peaceful life for those who could be satisfied with it. As such, as he grew up in his hometown, Avery lived a satisfactory life. Not too interesting but no harm came to him. He would come to share a friendly disposition with everyone, especially those at the local temple. To call it a temple would be a bit of a stretch but to Avery it was the grandest building he’d ever seen. From a young age Avery would spend countless hours among those who worshipped the gods. In truth, Avery was interested little in the gods. Of course he did well not to offend their local guardian deity but thought the idea of devoting oneself to their worship was pointless.

Avery went to the temple to study. He would start on the conventional topics: language, history and religion. He became relatively well versed in the ways of the world. The thing, however, that interested him the most was the holy magics. His real motivation for visiting the priests was learning how to harness the power of the priests. They had no objection to teaching him simple magic either. By the age of 10 Avery had mastered his first spell, by twelve he extended his arsenal to two. He learnt so fast that some of the priests took to calling him a prodigy. This is where our story begins.

The sun rose slowly on a spring morning. The cold winds of winter had recently faded away and as such the sweet warmth of spring was blessing the town. As Avery lie in bed, it seemed as not a creature was stirring. Then…

SLAM! The door to his bedroom opened with such quick outstanding force. A product of Avery’s thaumaturgy. His applications of it were only weak as of now but he practised it like this every day. The ability to change things with nothing but the power of your will is after all an impressive one.  Avery had decided it was his time to rise so rise he did. Today was his day off form helping his father at the forge so he was to head off to the temple. Maybe I’ll try scare the old head priest with my new technique he thought. Naturally the technique wasn’t new at all. In fact it was the head priest who taught him his magic in the first place.

“Hey, old man!”, Avery barged his way onto the head priest’s office. The head priest himself looked like a respectable fellow. His robes were clearly cut form a different cloth than the rest of the priests but that was to be expected. After all, the head priest was the de facto leader of the whole village, appointed specifically by one of the royal capital bishops. Nonetheless, he seemed to care little for social standing, “Why if it isn’t young Avery. I was expecting you y’know. After all today’s your day off, where else would you come but here to pester me about new magic?” The high priest clearly knew Avery well. “That’s right old man. I’m here to finally get you to teach me that next spell, what did you say it was ca-.”

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“Not today.” The high priests reply was harsh and fast. “As it happens, I have more important guests to see to today. Sorry but you’ll have to be satisfied learning from the other priests.” Just as bluntly as his reply, the high priest got up and walked out of his office leaving Avery in his dust. Stupid old man, I’ll get him back though. As he thought about how poorly he’d just been treated a great idea formed in Avery’s mind. Important guest huh, maybe ill follow you and see just who this is. A lover maybe, oh you naughty old man! And so it was set in stone.

Avery wasn’t exactly a master of sneaking around. That said the head priest was not exactly the most aware person going. With a little magic aid Avery followed undetected. By using a little bit of force on the bottom of his feet Avery was able to make it so his footsteps were almost silent. Impressed yet old man? Of course you aren’t, you don’t even know I’m here. The head priest made his way into a room and cut of Avery albeit accidentally. All he could do was watch though the crack in the door for now. The head priest wasn’t lying, there was definitely someone waiting for him there, but who was it? Avery knew everyone in town, maybe I need to better look. I pressed himself right up against the door and began to listen in, still trying to identify the mystery guest.

“…travel…cle….looking…appren…journey…”, Avery was picking up fragments of a conversation. Did he say he was a traveller? Not many of those pass through… Avery leant in closer to the door trying to find out everything he could. This was very interesting. Pressed completely against the door Avery absorbed himself into the conversation. So its true! He’s a travelling cleric looking for something from this town? I wonder if he knows some powerful magic. Avery’s wondering would however be cut short. As it turns out, the head priest was not so oblivious that he didn’t know what was happening. The door began to open.

“Woah…woah…WOAH”, Avery screamed as he crashed down to the floor. As he did the head priest looked down at him and let out a loud sigh. “He’s probably who you’re looking for.”