Chapter 1 : Heid 

An unwilling young Mage is sent out in a new unexplored world to bring back something valuable. But he soon realizes he is out of his depths as the outside world is nothing like the comforts he enjoyed back home. And that his celebrated magic is in fact nothing more than party tricks for this dangerous world.

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Heid stood in the glare of the two suns. He was hot and sweating standing in the empty dry field but wouldn't take his long white robe and hood off. He didn't want people to see his stark white hair. He was young, but the hair made him look old. Heid had a complex with his hair. And here he was surrounded by an entire village. They were in one of the easternmost villages of Zerua. Garabi. It had a population of 50 and about 2 square kilometers of farms and orchards. They grew mostly rice and some types of beans. Rice needs a lot of water. But this year the summer was especially brutal. As the royal Mage, and well, really the only decent mage in the country, Heid was requested to use his powers and summon rain so the villagers could sow the rice in time for a winter harvest. Heid was one of the eight mages in the country. He was the oldest and one with most experience. Three of his apprentices stood behind him, about 10 ft away. Small leather bound books in hand, ready to take notes. Heid squinted in the sun. He raised his hands and roared -" oh great gods of the mountains, bless this village with your bountiful rain" . All the villagers circled around him raised their arms to the sky, mimicking him. He smirked to himself. This was all just for show. Thing with being the only legit mage around is you can do and say anything and people will buy it. But the truth was, he didn't need any of this fancy spell casting. While it did help his apprentices channel their powers better, Heid could control the wind wordlessly. As far as bringing rain was considered, he would just bring in clouds, roughen them up, sprinkle them with some salt to induce rain and voila. A splendid shower. He waved around his hands in all four directions, feeling around for clouds in the sky nearby. But there weren't any. He could ride out to a far away region and bring the clouds from that area. But that could disturb the weather in other parts of Zerua. It sounds simple enough, but the sky was a delicate system in itself. Heid never dared to disturb clouds bigger than 10 ft. Mostly he just preferred to build up smaller clouds. But it was clear skies today. He sighed and brought his hands down a little roughly. A sharp gust of wind blew outwards from him in all directions. The villagers all gasped and braced. But his students stood their ground unfazed. They saw things like this everyday. One of his students, Bitxia, a young girl barely into her teens, walked towards him. She wore a deep red robe, designed just like Heid's. "Master, should we schedule rain for another day? ", she asked. "Yes, I don't see anything happening today.", He replied scratching his neck. She made a note in her small book and turned around and walked towards the village elder. He was an old man leaning on a walking stick. Heid saw his face droop with every word Bitxia said. Heid saw the elder starting to argue with her, so he bowed slightly and made his way back to his carriage. He rarely interacted with people outside of the castle. His students were in charge of things like public relations. Students, assistant, the lines were a bit blurry. They filed in after him. The cart made its way back to the capital city, escorted by a royal guard. It was only tradition at this point. Zerua had very little crime. Even in times of low harvest, the Crown would help out farmers from their stores. Zerua often experienced long winters. 

The carriage made its way through nearby cities and more villages without any incident. Since he was unable to make it rain, Heid would have to take a class after going back now. He yawned staring out onto the highway. His students had slowly dozed off one by one. They were all quite young. Younger than him, all teens and pre teens. Two girls and one boy. And then four more waiting back for them at the castle library. As evening fell, they neared the capital. Castle Zuria looming in the distance. Its various glass walls lighting shimmering from the faint light of the second sun hanging low in the sky. The second sun never set in Zerua. So there was never any nightfall. Heid himself had only ever read of something called a night time. Never seen one. He wondered if he might someday see nighttime outside of Zerua. But he quickly dispelled the thought from his mind. Leaving Zerua was like asking for death. 

The country of Zerua was a collection of valleys surrounded by a tall mountain range. The valleys were separated by smaller hills peppered throughout. The capital city of Arrano was set at the base of the tallest hill, also called Arrano. A castle made of white marble and white stone sat at the top plateau of the small hill. The surrounding mountains loomed over the country and were visible from everywhere. Their tops were usually covered in thick black clouds. Smoking, thundering all throughout the year. Heid recalled reading in one of the history books that back in year 205 the clouds had cleared up for a bit during summer. People reported seeing snow capped peaks. There were scouts sent out from the royal army to investigate exactly what lay beyond the mountainous walls of Zerua. But the stormy clouds resumed their position before they could return. Only an injured horse was found, staggering down one of the mountains. No trace of any of the scouts. No one dared to scale the mountains after that. 

They were now nearing the city borders. While the rest of Zerua barely used lamps or lighting, Arrano was lit up like a starry night. Small camphor and oil lamps burned in every stall, every shop, every cafe. People moved about the bustling streets. He saw a family with 4 kids exit a restaurant. A couple in matching pink tunics and beige trousers shopping at a small jewelry stall. He saw bars starting to light up. And a guard running after a few teens telling them to go home.  While the rest of Zerua pretty much went to sleep after the first sun set, bigger cities like Arrano would keep their markets open well into the evening. It was about 3 hrs away from first sunrise, that their horse carriage finally arrived at the walls of the castle. They took a few breaks for the horses sake on the way, otherwise they would have reached even earlier. Heid readied himself to step out of the carriage for identification, but he was thrown back into the carriage by a loud boom and crack. The ground shook hard and it woke up his students. The horses went wild. Despite being surrounded by mountains, Zerua never got any earthquakes.  And the most extreme crime that had been committed in recent history was the theft of a cow, so it's not like anyone was expecting an attack. Heid looked at the kids, they nodded back to show they were ok. Heid opened the gate of the carriage and stepped outside. "It sounds like it came from inside the castle", the guard said, trying to calm his jumping horse down. Heid saw a large black plume rise up beyond the castle boundary walls. It came from the east side. An ember light soon filled the area where the smoke came from. "Don't let the kids get close", he yelled to guard and dashed towards the fire. He ran past the gate shouting his name out. The guards didn't stop him. The East wing of the castle had blown up completely. One of the castle's four big towers was leaning dangerously inwards towards the main building. He saw people rushing out of the smoking building. A giant hole had blown up where the kitchen used to be. The kitchen, Mrs Bun. Heid thought of his closest friend and ran towards the smoke. Heid spent most of his days in the library, either reading or teaching. He quickly realised he wasnt meant for running as his legs burned only after 100 m. He spotted a familiar figure as he got closer. A short plump middle aged woman, covered in soot, was half dragging and yelling at a girl. " I asked you to light the stove, not set the whole bloody thing on fire, you idiot girl, you're going to kill us someday, or worse, executed for treason, if the king doesn't have you hanged, I'll kill you myself and then I'd have to kill my own self too you absolutely lazy useless excuse of a….."

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 "Mrs Bun!", Heid yelled and ran towards her. She looked at him and collapsed in his arms. 

"Oh my god, you poor boy, get away, it's burning",

 " I am alright Mrs bun. Are you okay. Are you hurt anywhere?", He asked, running his hands over her arms. There were a few scratches and light burns but nothing serious. Heid looked over to the girl. She was coughing her lungs out. He grabbed her and asked "are you alright miss?", She didn't say anything and kept coughing. Her hands were burned right down to the bone. He grabbed his handkerchief and wrapped it around them. He looked around for water but was startled by 5 men in armour riding past him on horses. He spotted a familiar tuft of blonde hair sticking out of one of the helmets and the Prince's emblem of a blue Cassowary on his helmet. He turned to Heid , spotting his customary white robe in the mess of smoke and black. "Who set the fire, no, we need rain first" , he yelled over the chaos at Heid. But before Heid could reply, he heard a loud groan and crackling above this head. The tower now leaned closer to the left and had started breaking at the halfway point. " We need to stop that first'', he yelled back at the Prince. The prince motioned to the four soldiers behind him. Two of them shot arrows with ropes tied at the end, towards the tower. After the arrows struck, they grabbed their ends of the ropes and ran behind the tower. More soldiers joined them as they pulled at the ropes trying to make the tower lean away. "It's not going to be enough", Heid said. The tower leaned more and more and now touched the side of the main building. The walls creaked under the massive weight. Beginning to crack. Heid stepped back away from the people rushing out of the burned hall. He took a deep breath in and spread his arms wide. He opened his palm, imagining strings running through him, translucent strings that connected his heart and the air all around him. He closed his palms, holding the strings in place and whipped them towards the tower. A powerful gust of wind pushed the tower back. But the gust only lasted seconds. Heid was tired from his journey. He had only had a light lunch and did not sleep the whole way. He was already exhausted and ready to fall to his knees. He had never had to use this much power before. His arms ached. He felt the tower had barely stopped and now resumed its slow descent into the castle. He felt smaller gusts of wind try and push it back. He turned around to see his three young students imitating him. They were joined by the other four. Running in their sleeping gowns towards Heid. Though their efforts made little difference on the situation, it gave Heid a morale boost. He readied to give a second try but suddenly the dying fire from the blast roared up. All that wind blowing into it gave it a boost. The prince had now dismounted his horse. He took off his helmet and screamed at Heid " I asked for rain you idiot, you're going to burn everything down.", 

"Do you see any clouds in the sky smarty pants", Heid yelled back.

"What's the point in stopping the tower if there is no castle left to save dipshit", the prince retorted.

"You won't die if you lose a few rooms you know….", but before he could finish Heid got a loud smack at the back of his head. "Is this really the time", Mrs bun yelled over the noise. Heid racked his brains for a way to put out the fire. A water line had slowly formed but it still wasn't enough to put out the raging fire now starting to burn through other parts of the castle. Heid and the prince looked at each other, panic starting to set in. From the corner of his eye, Heid saw the dishevelled girl walk towards the fire. "Wait, hey stop", but before he could grab her, she walked into the flames. She bent down and put her hands on the ground. The fire seemed to grow weaker. But within moments the girl collapsed. Some of the kitchen staff threw water over her. Dousing her. Heid and the prince then focussed on getting the tower back. Heid used wind to push it back two more times. The fire was now under control and was put out in the next 10 minutes.  There were now more soldiers holding the tower back with ropes. It took them about an hour to stabilize the tower.  It was now covered in arrows bound to ropes. And a group of men had started nailing planks for support. Another group had started on the castle with repairs. The kitchen staff slowly got their bearings back and started a roll call trying to account for missing persons. Surprising, there were none. No casualties of the fire save some small farm animals that got caught in it. 

"So much for extra classes" Heid sighed as he laid down on his pillow. He watched the first sun rise from his bedside window. That girl was clearly a mage but he would think about that tomorrow now.