“Do you understand EXACTLY how I want it!?” Jax yells exaggerating the exactly.
“Yes” Vault
“I swear to me(god), that if I somehow blow myself up again because you’re screwing with me Vault I’m going to find some way to fuck with you.” Jax
I sigh in frustration, I’m starting to think that I might have a slight anger issue.
“Alright attempt two….. Create” Jax
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Back on Planet Generic Fantasy World
Grumpy Mages perspective
“I don’t know why they insist on testing these filthy peasants, I’ve been here for 4 years and not one of these filth have had the gift.”
I Stare at the boy approaching the Attunement Orb not even trying to hide the disdain on my face.
He pauses before the Orb as if he’s thinking about something.
“Probably another one of those children peasants who think they’re going to become a Hero, Gods get on with it.”
The boy finally places his hand upon the Orb and nothing seems to happen at first.
Then I see blue specks start to form in the centre orb and my jaw drops in astonishment
“Gods he actually has the gift, hmph but that is irrelevant just having the gift isn’t enough you need to have talent with a high attunement to an element”
Jaxs POV
When I placed my hand on the Orb I felt something strange, I don’t know how else to describe it other than that I felt something around my heart being ‘pulled’ out of me.
I’m staring at the Orb and I can’t contain my glee! My Pa told me about how when those with the talent get examined that you can tell if you have what they call ‘Mana’ by the blue specks in the orb.
My Pa explained to me after I nagged him about it that just having Mana wasn’t enough to be a successful Mage you need to be highly attuned to an element, he said that the elements are Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Dark and Light.
He didn’t seem very hopeful but he said if I have mana I should look at the orbs in the sections of the room and depending on how much they glow shows how much talent I have.
I look around me but none of the bigger orbs are even glowing in the slightest, I look back to the central orb in confusion.
The little blue lights were swirling around like normal but suddenly stopped and formed a blue droplet that fell to the bottom of the orb.
From behind me I hear a gasp and hear the mage yell,
“Liquid Mana!? Impossible!”
Hmph didn’t he know I’m going to be a rich and famous hero I don’t know what this liquid mana is but it sounds special.
I’m still confused though the central orb is quickly filling up like a cup of water but none of the sections orbs are glowing at all.
Suddenly the force that’s pulling something from around my heart stops.
“Such condensed Mana but with no attunements… Truly a waste but it seems you have no talent.” Grumpy Mage
I can barely contain my tears as I feel all my dreams ruined before my eyes, my Pa told me not to get my hope up but for some reason I just felt like I was special, like I was going to be a hero.
I guess it was just a dream….
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Suddenly I feel something akin to what a Wine bottle would feel when its Cork is popped out. It was almost as if there was a huge pressure in my chest that I had always thought was normal was finally lifted.
I felt more and more mana flowing out of me, looking around the room I see all of the bigger orbs slowly filling with liquid like the central orb.
I hear another gasp from the grumpy mage and him muttering to himself behind me, the room continues to become brighter.
Finally, the suction force stops, I don’t exactly feel tired and I feel like that I have plenty of mana left over.
The orb has released my hand and I’m looking around the room in a daze, each of the orbs are filled to brim with mana but for some reason the originally deep blue mana has changed colour into what I can only assume is the respective colours for each element. Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder spinning me round so that I’m face to face with the grumpy mage.
He’s squatted down and staring into my eyes, his hand has a firm hold on my jaw so that I do not look away, he doesn’t look grumpy any more it looks more like an excited confusion.
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He eventually releases his hand from my face but doesn’t stand back up, he places his hand on my chest at first I don’t feel anything other than the slight pressure of his hand.
This continues for 10 seconds and I feel incredibly uncomfortable and the man is starting to look more and more frustrated.
“Boy you should be feeling me attempting to enter your mana core near your heart, picture it like im knocking on the door, you need to let me in.” Grumpy Mage
“I don’t feel anything other than your hand mister?” I say in confusion.
The man seems to get even more frustrated at this, he then closes his eyes and continues trying whatever he’s doing.
Eventually I feel something almost like the tiniest flicker of wind near my heart it was a very weird feeling, I didn’t like it but it wouldn’t go away.
I focus on what feels like my Mana in my chest and when I blink my eyes suddenly I’m suddenly standing in a room that’s black everywhere. I turn around and behind me is a ginormous blue ball of light that reminds me of the sun, even though it looks incredibly bright my eyes don’t hurt at all.
I realised standing there that I felt like this entire place was a part of me, I could still feel that weird breeze but it now felt like it was coming from outside the black room.
“Mister said I need to picture him knocking and me opening the door so maybe the breeze is him knocking?” I say quietly pondering to myself.
I clench my eyes and focus on the picture of me opening a door and the breeze coming in, and suddenly I hear a gasp.
I look up and see the Mage in front of me but he’s staring past me at the pretty ball.
“Wh….Wh…..What are you!?” The Grumpy Mage stutters
I tilt my head in confusion not understanding how to reply so I reply with a simple
“I’m Jax mister. Did I pass the test can I be a mage?” I say with a nervous smile on my face.
Silence reigns in the room for what felt like a long period of time, the mage appears to be attempting to gather himself and thinking hard about something.
“Boy concentrate on leaving your Mana Core, I need to discuss this with my superiors.” Grumpy Mage
His reply makes me feel disheartened I don’t know if I passed or not, from everything my Pa told me I thought that I had done well.
“Okay Mister…..” Jax
“Boy, you passed…. You have more potential than I thought was possible. Which is why I can’t decide what will be done with you I need to discuss this with the Tower Lord.” Grumpy Mage
“And boy you can call me Preat, now focus on leaving your core we will continue this discussion out of here.” Preat
I nod my head almost jumping from joy.
“I knew I was special! I’m going to be the strongest Hero and I’m going to go all across the world adventuring and learning all sorts of magic!” I think to my self
I clench my eyes again and think about leaving my Mana Core as he put it and when I open my eyes I see Preat drenched in sweat with his eyes closed.
I notice the lights seem to have gone out while we were in my Core and my father has his face near pressed against the window with his eyes wide open staring at me.
“Come with me Jax” Preat says to me and moves to leave the room
As we leave the room my Pa instantly tries to ask questions but Preat cut him off before he could ask anything telling him to go in the waiting room for now, my Pa tries to argue but a sharp glance from Preat makes my father drop his eyes and be compliant.
“Preat is acting a lot nicer to me now but I still don’t like him. ” I think to myself as he takes me to a ring like platform in a tube.
I can’t help but to contort my face in confusion he told me that we are going to the higher floors to speak to the Tower Lord, so shouldn’t we go and take some steps?
As if reading my mind Preat says, “This is an elevator Jax is has been inscribed by runes that soak in loose mana and uses the Mana to move up and down floors of the tower.”
Obviously this amazed me and interested me largely and the feeling of the elevator itself felt like I was floating when going up and upon stopping like something was pushing down on my shoulders.
I follow Preat eventually approaching a door where he tells me to wait outside, he knocks on the door and says “Tower Lord, It is 3rd Circle Mage Preat Vancout I wish to speak to you about an urgent matter.”
I couldn’t hear a reply but Preat must of as he walked inside closing the door, I stood there waiting for what felt like a long time dreaming about my future.
Eventually the door opened and Preat told me to come inside upon entering the room he closes the door behind me and stands to the side.
I look around the room it seems like an orderly office that’s full of books and shelves and in the centre behind a desk sat an older looking man wearing a dress similar to the other few Mages I’ve seen but his dress was black and a white pattern covering his heart. I briefly glance at Preat and note that that his dress is yellow.
A gentle voice fills the silence in the room “Take a seat Jax, I am Tower Lord Nor but you can call me Nor, I’ve heard some very interesting things about you… Do you have any idea what that is?” Tower Lord Nor
“Preat said that I was talented mister?” I say nervously in a quiet voice
Noor leans his body over his desk with his hands clasped.
“You are far, far more than just talented Jax, how would you like to learn Mage craft at the Grand School Arcana?” Noor asks
The first thing that goes through my head is of course raging excitement but a few doubts pop up.
“My families not poor but I don’t think we can afford to go to the Arcana Mister.” I look down and stare at my feet embarrassed.
“You need not worry about that Jax the schools are free to all with the gift, and please just call me Nor.”
“Ye.. Yes Sorry Noor…. I don’t have to wear one of those dresses do I?”
Noor jumps back from his position in surprise.
“Haha, this is not a dress Jax this is a Mage robe many are inscribed for protection and all sort of other helpful things.” Nor says
I felt embarrassed from how silly my question must have sounded so I nod my head.
I was in the room for roughly 30 minutes as he informed me of how the Grand School Arcana runs, what to expect and how to prepare. He also asked me if I could read and write and all sorts of other questions, at the very end of the meeting he told me that my family would be moved to the central district if they wished to be and assured me that they would be well looked after.
Nors POV
The door closed behind Preat as he left to return the boy to his father and inform him of the situation.
I hope his family is reasonable and doesn’t do anything stupid, all with the gift must be taught as it would be too dangerous to let them run wild….
Especially for that boy, I attempted to read his mana subtly but I could not even take a glimpse of his power but it was there without a doubt, his core was protected by an impenetrable curtain and there were no cracks for me to slip through so in the end I had to give up.
I was sure of one thing after meeting the lad however, that the lad will likely become one of the most powerful beings in existence if he is allowed to grow. If for some reason some fool estranges him from the kingdom or the tower it will spell the doom for us all.
Such talent has never been heard of before, not even in the stories of old were the bards exaggerate the tales. Truthfully I know that he is too dangerous and should not be allowed to live, his power could rival empires. But I need to know.. know the limits of the Arcane, know the secrets of the world the gods and anything else, I wish to know it all. And maybe, just maybe that boy can show me.
We will need to watch him as diligently as we watch our enemies for if he has any signs of turning against us he must be put down before the threat becomes too large.